Bruins Beat: Lets Talk Playoffs

Hello again and welcome to another installment of my wonderful yet terrible medium which I utilize to exorcise the hockey related demons that take up way too much space in my head. We are returning after a two week break which saw the regular season end and the Bruins, once again, fall just short of making the playoffs after losing 8 of their last 11 games in the season. To put it in perspective, before the Bruins took their annual spring California road trip the team was sitting comfortably in first place in the Atlantic and held an 11 point lead over the third place Detroit Red Wings. They of course lost all three games on the road trip and crashed their way to the end of the season in a fashion that can only be compared to a multi car pileup on I-95. The Bruins choked for the second season in a row, and really that's all their is to it. What stings the most is the fact that Bruins went in on acquiring pieces for a playoff run and kept the soon to be free agent Loui Eriksson who will most likely not be returning unless he takes a heavy discount to stay in Boston.
Anyway, I am going to put that behind me for right now and focus instead on the current playoff picture in the NHL as we move into the second round of the gauntlet which decides who get to hoist the great silver chalice in mid June. The first round provided insane action with three of the four favored teams in the west being knocked out already, including the defending champion Chicago Blackhawks. The Kings and Ducks were also put to bed which leaves the second round in the west comprised of the Stars facing the Blues and the Sharks facing the Predators. In the East, things went a little more to plan as three of the four favorites moved on to the second round which features the Islanders facing the Lightning and the Capitals facing the Penguins. In my opinion, the two teams most likely to face each other in the finals would have to be the Blues and the Capitals as both these teams are the deepest and have the most proven goal tending which is usually an extreme factor as the playoffs go later and later and the front line skaters begin to fatigue more and more. If I were to choose one of those two teams to win the cup I would have to go with the Blues as they have a more robust and grindy team which can easily chew up and spit out some of the Caps more finesse players. I may be showing a little bit of personal preference in that pick however as the current Blues team reminds me so much of the Bruins 2013 cup final team which should have resulted in the Bruins second cup in 3 years. which I will leave at that so as to not trigger my postseason PTSD.