After a marathon of 82 long games, the NHL season has come to an end and now it's time for 16 teams to vie for the Stanley Cup.
NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs 2015 Round 1 Predictions: Central Division Bracket
The second season begins Wednesday as the Stanley Cup Playoffs hit the airwaves and eight teams from each conference vie to become the 2014-15 Stanley Cup champion.
In the Pacific Division bracket, there are a couple of great matchups as the top-seeded Anaheim Ducks play host to the surprising Winnipeg Jets and the Vancouver Canucks return to the postseason and hold home-ice against the Calgary Flames, who make a shocking return to the playoffs.
NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs 2015 Round 1 Predictions: Metropolitan Division Bracket
Here are our predictions for Round 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs in the Pacific Division bracket:
[Pacific Division 1] Anaheim Ducks (51-24-7, 109 points) vs. [Wild-card 2, No. 4 seed] Winnipeg Jets (43-26-13, 99 points)
Season Series: The Ducks dropped the Jets in each of the three head-to-head meetings in the regular season, but two of the games went to a shootout.
Cup Dreams: Anaheim is hopeful to make it to the finals and win the Stanley Cup for the first time since 2007 while Winnipeg is looking to reach the Stanley Cup for the first time in franchise history.
Series Overview: For the third consecutive campaign, the Ducks won the Pacific Division and home-ice in Round 1, but history isn't on their side. Anaheim has dropped two straight Game 7s at the Honda Center to a lower seed the last two springs.
The Jets brought the Stanley Cup Playoffs back to Winnipeg for the first time since 1995-96 when the original Jets team lost in the quarterfinals before moving to Arizona and becoming the Coyotes. The last time this version of the Jets made the postseason, they were swept out of the first round as the Atlanta Thrashers.
For the first time since moving from Atlanta to Winnipeg in 2011, the team made the playoffs despite a fifth place finish in the Central Division by clinching the second and final wild-card position with a franchise record 99 points.
The Ducks' offense has continued to run through captain Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry. Getzlaf paced the team with 75 points and 45 assists while Perry had a team-best 33 goals and notched a hat trick on three separate occasions this season.
Newcomer Ryan Kesler also fit right in as the team's second line center, scoring 20 goals for the seventh time in his career in his first season since coming over from the Vancouver Canucks. Getzlaf and Kesler provide a great 1-2 punch down the middle for Anaheim. Kesler is also a solid face-off guy.
For the Jets, Andrew Ladd, Bryan Little and Blake Wheeler guided them and played together as a line a lot while Wheeler was also utilized on the second unit. Ladd led the team and had a career-high in 62 points while Wheeler had 61 and Little put up 52.
Ladd also notched at team-best 26 goals while Wheeler and Little found the back of the net 24 times apiece.
The team also has plenty of depth with the likes of Michael Frolik, offseason acquisition and former Duck Mathieu Perreault and deadline acquisition Drew Stafford.
On defense, Bruce Boudreau's team brought in James Wisniewski and Simon Despres at the trade deadline to add to a group that includes Francois Beauchemin, Hampus Lindholm, the productive Cam Fowler and Sami Vatanen, who led all blue liners on Anaheim with 37 points.
Paul Maurice's defensive corps was mired by injuries and affected by trades, but Dustin Byfuglien picked up the slack when he went he slid back from forward to his natural position.
Byfuglien paced all defenseman with 45 points for Winnipeg while lighting the lamp 18 times. Toby Enstrom had to fight off some injuries, but he is another reliable blue-liner for the Jets.
In between the pipes, Frederik Andersen has emerged as the No. 1 netminder for the Ducks as John Gibson is making his way back from an injury, but things could change quickly in the postseason. Andersen finished 35-12-5 this season with a 2.38 goals-against average and a .914 save percentage while compiling three shutouts.
The Jets flip-flopped between Ondrej Pavelec and rookie Michael Hutchinson this season, but Pavelec emerged as the No. 1 goalie late in the season and is slated to start the series. Pavelec finished 22-16-8 this season with a 2.28 GAA and a .920 save percentage along with five shutouts.
Special Teams: Anaheim's power play has been awful, finishing in 28th in the league (15.7%) while their penalty kill ranked 15th (81.0%). Winnipeg placed 17th on the man-advantage (17.8%) while they topped out at 13th on the penalty kill (81.8%).
Last Thoughts: The Ducks have had a tremendous season, but will have to stick to their game while the Jets play very physical and will need to use that to their advantage. Anaheim has plenty of depth at center and should be able to rely on their big guns to score goals while Winnipeg will have to hope to not be wiped out after virtually playing playoff games all throughout the second half of the season. The Jets have had a nice run, but Anaheim should be able to overcome them and get to the second round.
The Pick: Ducks in 5.
[Pacific Division 2] Vancouver Canucks (48-29-5, 101 points) vs. [Pacific Division 3] Calgary Flames (45-30-7, 97 points)
Season Series: The Canucks and Flames split their head-to-head meetings this season with each team notching a home and road victory. Three of the four games finished with a one-goal differential.
Cup Dreams: Vancouver is looking for their first ever Stanley Cup in these playoffs and to get back to the finals for the first time since 2011. Calgary, meanwhile, is in search of its second championship and hopes to get back to the Cup Final for the first time since 2004.
Series Overview: After a disastrous 2013-14 season under John Tortorella that snapped a five-year playoff streak, the Canucks are back to the postseason under coach Willie Desjardins.
The Flames, meanwhile, have been on a tremendous run and made it to the postseason for the first time since 2008-09 after finishing third in the Central Division and eliminating the defending champion Los Angeles Kings from playoff contention.
Head coach Bob Hartley will look to guide his team to their first playoff series win since 2004.
As usual, the Canucks offense runs through the Sedin twins.
Daniel Sedin reached the 20 goal plateau for the ninth time in his career while he led the team with 56 assists and 76 points. Henrik Sedin was second on the team in points (73) and helpers (55) and found the back of the cage 18 times. The Sedins were third and fourth in the league in assists.
Offseason acquisition Radim Vrbata had a very productive campaign, lighting the lamp 31 times and notching 63 points while Vancouver had 11 forwards who scored at least 10 goals, getting productive seasons out of Alexandre Burrows (18 markers) and Nick Bonino (15).
Calgary had one of the most dominant offenses in the league this season, all led by two youngsters and a veteran.
Jiri Hudler, 31, led the team with a career-high 76 points while Sean Monahan, 20, thwarted off any notions of a sophomore slump by tying Hudler for the team lead in goals (31) and Calder Trophy candidate Johnny Gaudreau had 24 tallies and 64 points.
The Canucks had a tough time on defense throughout the season, ranking 19th in the league in goals allowed per game with 2.68, but the team got better toward the end of the season. The most consistent pair for Vancouver is the top duo of Alexander Edler and Christopher Tanev.
It seemed as though the Flames were in trouble when captain Mark Giordano, who was having a Norris Trophy caliber year on the blue line, went down with a season-ending biceps injury, but the team has managed to stay afloat.
The key pieces behind Calgary remaining strong in their own end were Kris Russell, who set an NHL single-season record by blocking 283 shots and Dennis Wideman, who established a new career-high and led all Flames d-men with 56 points.
In the crease, Vancouver lost Ryan Miller to a knee injury in February, but he made his return for the regular season finale on Saturday in a losing effort to the Edmonton Oilers. The goaltending role is up in the air as Eddie Lack may get the nod to start the series.
While Luongo has experience (27-26 playoff record) in the postseason, there's a good chance Lack could make his playoff debut. Lack went 18-13-4 this season with a 2.45 GAA and a .921 save percentage while adding two shutouts in the regular season.
Calgary also has a bit of a goaltending dilemma as Karri Ramo has dealt with a lower-body injury and they could go with the veteran Jonas Hiller to begin the series. Ramo has never had a playoff start while Hiller has played in 26 games in the postseason.
Hiller finished the campaign with a 26-19-4 mark along with a 2.36 GAA, .938 save percentage and one shutout.
Special Teams: Vancouver's power play ranked ninth in the NHL with a 19.3% conversion rate while its penalty kill finished an astounding second (85.7%). Calgary was 13th on the power play this season with an 18.8% clip while they finished 20th on the kill (80.6%).
Last Thoughts: The Canucks clinching home-ice could loom large in this series and the depth they have down the middle mixed with the scoring touch and familiarity that the Sedin twins have with each other could be dangerous. The Flames, meanwhile, are on a tremendous role and have a great mix of youth and veteran leadership to aid their high-powered offense. Vancouver's defense going against Calgary's offense could be a mismatch and the Flames have been strong on the blue line despite the loss of Giordano. The goalie situations being up in the air makes it seem as though this could be a long series. It could go either way, but Calgary's run may not end in the first round.
The Pick: Flames in 7.
In this scenario, the Ducks would host the Flames in Round 2.
The quest for the Cup begins Wednesday when the lights come up on the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
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