West

2. St. Louis Blues vs. 3. San Jose Sharks

This will be a battle of two teams who are hoping to finally break through and make it the Stanley Cup Finals after years of coming up short. Both teams are very evenly matched with good scoring depth, toughness and timely saves from their goalies. This series will really be a coin-toss as both teams are playing at the highest level right now. I’m going to pick the Sharks to win because of the play of Brent Burns, Logan Couture and Joe Pavelski who have been terrific so far and I expect them to be even better in this series.

Prediction: Sharks in 7

East

2. Tampa Bay Lightning vs. 2. Pittsburgh Penguins

Both teams are playing with their back up goalies as Marc-Andre Fleury continues to deal with concussion symptoms and Ben Bishop exited game 1 with a leg injury. Both starting goalies could return later on in the series, but neither side will have a huge advantage in the position as they’re evenly matched. The Lightning have played very well despite not having their best player Steven Stamkos in the line up. Nikita Kucherov has stepped up in a big way leading the team in goals. Tyler Johnson is starting to round into top form like he did in last year’s playoffs. Victor Hedman has arguably been the best shutdown defenseman in the playoffs so far. The Penguins bring a lot to the table as well and no doubt have the two best players on the ice in Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. This should be a tight, physical series that pushes both teams to the limit. I think Tampa Bay’s experience of losing in the Cup Final last season will drive them to victory in this series.

Prediction: Tampa Bay in 6