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My Second Round Playoff Predictions

The Oilers move onto the second round so here we go with second round predictions. I did a quick scan of the round one blog and it looks like I was fortunately right on all my predictions except for the Avs-Jets series as far as the winners - most of the margins I actually got wrong which is fine by me. For the Oilers this will be only the third time in their history they've met the Canucks in the playoffs, the first being 1986 in the first round when they beat the Canucks 3-0 (I guess the first round series were only five games back then) and the second round in 1992 when the Oilers beat the Canucks 4-2. Personally I think history will repeat itself, read on for more.....:)

By Phil Gretzky

Edmonton Oilers v Los Angeles Kings - Game Four
Edmonton Oilers v Los Angeles Kings - Game Four / Ronald Martinez/GettyImages
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Rangers-Hurricanes

Remember in my first round playoff predictions when I said the winner of the Canes-Islanders series will only go on to lose in the second round? Well, I hate to be anticlimactic but now we're there, and the Hurricanes were the ones that have won the right to lose in the second round.

We'll start with the silver lining for Carolina. Although the Rangers have on paper the most potent D corps in terms of scoring out of all the playoff teams, none of them produced in the first round against the Capitals, which is bizarre considering what a weak team - especially defensively - the Capitals were this season. Adam Fox, Jacob Trouba, and K'Andre Miller produced a combined six points in their series against the Caps. Meanwhile on the 'Canes Brady Skjei had five points in the first round just by himself, not including what Brent Burns and Jacob Slavvin produced - which for the record was 10 points between the three of them. If Brett Pesce comes back from injury and they can once again sit Tony Deangelo (who produced literally no offence in the first round) that will help them out even more. The 'Canes depth is a bit better as well, seeing as how they only have two players on their roster who haven't produced points, while the Rangers have twice as much.

However, the Rangers have the edge in two key areas - defensive play and the biggest gap between the two, goaltending. The Rangers have a mere three players in the minus on their roster from the first round while the 'Canes have four. But the biggest edge is between the pipes. As you would expect, superstar Igor Shesterkin will be between the pipes until he gets injured for the Rangers. He was .921 against Washington in the first round with a 2.00 GAA to go with it. The obviously overcooked Freddie Anderson is at the other end for Carolina, and he's doing.....not so well. Against an Islanders team with a weak attack he finished with an .899 sv% and a 2.54 GAA.

dark. Next. Oilers Have Advantage In Every Area Vs Vancouver Canucks Second Round Series. Oilers Have Advantage In Every Area Vs Vancouver Canucks Second Round Series

He is not going to fare well against the much more lethal attack from the Rangers, which sports two of the NHL's best scorers in Artemi Panarin and Mika Zibanajad, the latter of whom led the Rangers in scoring in the first round with 10 points in five games - and is tied with Leon Draisaitl for second in league playoff scoring thus far and only two points off of Connor Mcdavid. Unless Anderson can elevate his game the way he did in the regular season when he produced career bests in GAA and sv%, then the Hurricanes have no hope at all against the Rangers.

The Rangers have been the most fortunate team in the NHL in terms of their opponents. They started against the weakest playoff team in the league in Washington and dispatched them in a sweep. I predict this one will be almost as lopsided, but not quite. We'll see how they fare when they're up against a REAL team in round three.

My winner - Rangers win 4-1

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