Alas, the Montreal Canadiens couldn’t keep the magic alive. So instead, it is the seventh seed Flyers that make it to the cup final against the Chicago Blackhawks. The Hawks looked mighty strong against a strong Sharks team, and there’s probably no surprise which of the Hawks and Flyers it likes better. But first, here’s a review of the last round:

Philadelphia_Flyers   0.576 0.180
Montreal_Canadiens    0.424 0.106

San_Jose_Sharks       0.441 0.303
Chicago_Blackhawks    0.559 0.411

The predictor goes 2/2 this round making it 9/14 overall. Not a bad recovery after a topsy turvy first round!

The Stanley cup final starts on Saturday, and unfortunately for me, the games all start late — probably too late for me to watch any of them live. Oh wells. At any rate, here’s what the predictor says about the final:

Philadelphia_Flyers   0.287
Chicago_Blackhawks    0.713

No surprise, really. It might be an exciting series though…

Heraldk

What a crazy year for the NHL playoffs. The teams that make the semifinals? Seeds 1 and 2 in the west, and seeds 7 and 8 in the east! Yeesh.

Pittsburgh_Penguins   0.611 0.332 0.122
Boston_Bruins         0.482 0.236 0.078
Philadelphia_Flyers   0.518 0.263 0.089
Montreal_Canadiens    0.389 0.169 0.046

San_Jose_Sharks       0.648 0.304 0.202
Chicago_Blackhawks    0.561 0.341 0.243
Vancouver_Canucks     0.439 0.242 0.161
Detroit_Red_Wings     0.352 0.114 0.059

So the predictor did a good job, going 3/4 this time around. The exception was Montreal’s 7 game masterpiece against the Pittsburgh Penguins. I’m feeling the magic! The question in my head is: will Montreal follow the “canadian team forcing game 7 in the finals and lose” pattern, or will they follow the 1993 pattern of having the stars align and pulling out a win? At any rate, the predictor now has a record of 7/12  (same as last year at this time). So what does it think of the next round?

Philadelphia_Flyers   0.576 0.180
Montreal_Canadiens    0.424 0.106

San_Jose_Sharks       0.441 0.303
Chicago_Blackhawks    0.559 0.411

The flyers are the favourite agains the Habs, but I’ll be rooting for the Canadian club anyways. There’s something special going on there. On the west side, Chicago has a bit of an edge … that should be an excellent series to watch.

Herald

So, umm. That was quite a first round — particularly that first round upset that was the Montreal Canadiens.

I don’t have much time for commentary tonight. It’s late, and I gotta get to bed. But what a topsy turvy scenario the Eastern Conference is in this year. The Pens jumped waaay up in equity after the top three teams in the East were knocked out. Craziness! Here’s how the simulator fared in the first round:

Washington_Capitals  0.823 0.637 0.454 0.291
New_Jersey_Devils    0.599 0.347 0.151 0.071
Buffalo_Sabres       0.593 0.320 0.130 0.058
Pittsburgh_Penguins  0.644 0.268 0.102 0.041
Ottawa_Senators      0.356 0.104 0.027 0.007
Boston_Bruins        0.407 0.148 0.055 0.020
Philadelphia_Flyers  0.401 0.113 0.055 0.020
Montreal_Canadiens   0.177 0.063 0.026 0.008

San_Jose_Sharks      0.665 0.426 0.215 0.110
Chicago_Blackhawks   0.751 0.482 0.294 0.166
Vancouver_Canucks    0.613 0.327 0.179 0.090
Phoenix_Coyotes      0.549 0.233 0.099 0.041
Detroit_Red_Wings    0.451 0.170 0.063 0.023
Los_Angeles_Kings    0.387 0.176 0.074 0.030
Nashville_Predators  0.249 0.083 0.031 0.010
Colorado_Avalanche   0.335 0.103 0.045 0.016

So a bit of a rough (4/8) there. To be fair, that Washington/Montreal series would probably go Washington’s way most times you flip that coin, and the others were much more even coin flips: with the “most likely upsets” from all coming true (Det over Phx, Bos over Buf, and Phi over NJ). So what does the next round hold? Well my sim results look like this:

Pittsburgh_Penguins   0.611 0.332 0.122
Boston_Bruins         0.482 0.236 0.078
Philadelphia_Flyers   0.518 0.263 0.089
Montreal_Canadiens    0.389 0.169 0.046

San_Jose_Sharks       0.648 0.304 0.202
Chicago_Blackhawks    0.561 0.341 0.243
Vancouver_Canucks     0.439 0.242 0.161
Detroit_Red_Wings     0.352 0.114 0.059

The Penguin’s probability of winning the cup jumped over 8%. Chicago is the sim’s favourite though despite the tougher Western conference matchups. Pittsburgh should have a much easier time getting to the finals — but what happens when they get there is a question.

Anyways, I gotta get to bed. Enjoy the next round of the playoffs!

Heraldk