Round 3 picks

A little late to the party, but I was away all weekend. I couldn't get in on the PPPPPPPPPPPPwhateveritscalled, but I will participate by making my picks here. Only two picks to make, but let's recap the last two rounds first.

Second round: I went with a Head vs Heart theme. Let's see who did better:

Wash vs TB: Head TB, Heart Wash. Winner: Head

Boston vs Philly: Head Phily, Heart Boston. Winner: Heart. I really thought the Bruins were going to get mauled after their performance vs. Montreal. Turns out goaltending really is important after all!

SJ vs Det: Head Det, Heart SJ. Winner: Heart.

Van vs Preds: Head Nucks, Heart Preds. Winner: Head.

So I was 50/50 Heart and Head. What does that tell you? Not much I guess. Ha! For the purposes of keeping score, we'll use my "head" picks as my "real" picks. 7-5 record so far. Not great, but whatever.

For the next round, there are only two series. One game has already been played in each series (I was away for the weekend, ok! If you're interested, here's what I did.) 

In the East, TB vs. Boston. I still love Guy Boucher's coaching. But Boston has managed to find a way to win (usually that way is Tim Thomas) each series so far. I did pick the Bruins to win it all at the beginning of the playoffs, but now, I'm not so sure. As the playoffs move forward, it becomes easier to see which teams benefited from weak touches in the earlier rounds. I think Boston has been lucky. Lucky that Montreal sucks and lucky that Philadelphia has horrible goaltending. While TB do have quite the Quebecois flavour, they, unlike the Habs, do not suck. And while their goalie is bordering on senior citizenship, he's still better than any goalie the Bruins have faced so far. And the Bruins have trouble scoring anyway. I think the Bs will bounce back and win a couple on the back of Tim Thomas, but the Bolts are going to the final. TB in 6.

In the West, SJ vs. Van. The Sharks looked like they had it last night. But then, they didn't. I think this series will come down to which team can hold focus the best. Both teams dominate parts of that game. The Canucks managed to time their domination for the end of the game, though. I think if you strung all the games together, without an end point, you'd have a hard time picking the better team. Focus and timing will decide this series. Oh, what, I have to pick? Hmm. Heart says Sharks, Head says Canucks. Hate meter is pretty high for the Canucks right now. None of these methods have been particularly useful, though. I'm going to go with Vancouver, because as much as I hate to admit it, they are a bit of a juggernaut right now. Vancouver in 7.