The 6th seeded Bruins will face off against the 7th seeded Philadelphia Flyers in the second round of the NHL playoffs. This is the best case scenario for the Bruins as they get home-ice advantage for the second round (with the possibility for home ice in the Conference finals if they win their series and the Canadiens beat the Penguins in the other Eastern Conference series). The Flyers are a big physical team that has a good forecheck and a goalie coming off a stellar performance in round one against the offensively gifted New Jersey Devils. However the Flyers are banged up and have just lost one of their best penalty killers, Ian Laperriere, to a Brain contusion after he took a puck to the face in the clinching game against the Devils. The Flyers have lost other key players including 17 goal scorer Simon Gagne (2 assists in playoffs) and their top goal scorer (33 goals) (2 Playoff goals) Jeff Carter. Both are out for the remainder of the playoffs with right foot injuries. The Bruins have their top center, Marc Savard, coming back for the series against the Flyers and figures to help Boston's powerplay as well as open things up for the wingers. The B's netminder Tuukka Rask is just coming off a spectacular playoff series where he out played his counter part and Venzia trophy (top goalie) favorite Ryan Miller. If Rask can keep up his playoff dominance then I think the Bruins will have a chance to make it to the Cup Finals. I think that the Flyers have too many injury problems to over come this determined Bruins team. The B's have home-ice advantage, Marc Savard returning to the lineup and a goalie that just outplayed the best goalie in hockey. Im going to go with the Bruins in 6 games and they will face the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Eastern Conference Finals.
The Celtics on the other hand have a much more challenging task ahead of them. The 4th seeded Celtics play the 1st seeded Cleveland Cavaliers in the second round of the NBA playoffs. These two teams met in the second round two years ago in the playoffs with the Celtics winning in 7 games and going on to defeat the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Finals. The Cavs have the home-court advantage and in my opinion the best player in the NBA Lebron James. The Celtics struggled through out the year, many saying the Celtics have become to old and can't keep up with young teams. In the first round the Celtics showed that they can keep up with the younger teams as they dominated the much younger Miami Heat. I think this series between the Cavs and the C's is going to be a lot closer than everybody thinks. Tony Allen and Big Baby Glenn Davis have stepped up for the Celts of the bench in these playoffs and give the Celtics good depth. However the Cavs have perhaps better depth than the Celtics with the acquisition of Shaq in the beginning of the season and a trade for former Wizard Antawn Jamison after the All-Star break. With Shaq the Cavs pose matchup problems for many teams but I think the Celtics match up really well against the Cavs front court. Kendrick Perkins is a great low post defender and Big Baby, Kevin Garnett and Rasheed Wallace off the bench match up well with the Cavs big men. I also like the guard match up for the Celtics. Rajon Rondo is one of the best point guards in the NBA and I think he will get the better of either Mo Williams or Delonte West. If the Celtics can slow down King James (because you can't stop him) I think the Celtics will have a shot to pull off the upset. Call me Crazy but Im going with Celtics in 7 Games.
I will be making two more pictures soon for the Bruins Playoff series with the Flyers and the Celtics series with the Cavs so stay tuned.
-Matt Corcoran
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