My selections for the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals

I am so happy spring has finally arrived, not only does it bring my birthday and the warmer weather with it, but it also brings the most exciting time of the NHL season, the playoffs. Thirty teams have been reduced to sixteen and they must now face off head to head in four rounds until only one remains. Tonight marks the beginning of the quarterfinals and in a just over a week sixteen teams will become eight.

The Boston Bruins finished first in the Eastern Conference and, with the most points in the league, they also captured the Presidents Trophy; but in hockey nothing is guaranteed and if they want to move on to the next round, they must first get through the dynasty that has become the Detroit Red Wings. The Red Wings are making their twenty-third consecutive appearance in the post-season, a feat made all the more impressive because they have spent much of the season without their veteran stars Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg. While the veteran absence has surely been felt, the Red Wings are not without young talent, in fact almost half the active roster is from the Calder Cup winning Grand Rapid Griffins, including forward Gustav Nyquist who has been on fire lately. The Bruins would seem to be the obvious choice to win this series, they have hardly struggled all season and their core still consists of a number of members who won the Stanley Cup in 2011, but their head to head matchups this season seem to favour Detroit, so I am going to go with the upset here. I am picking Detroit in 7 games.

The Penguins clinched their second consecutive division title this season and boasted the second best record in the East so they will be facing the first wildcard team, the Columbus Blue Jackets. This is the best matchup the Penguins could have hoped for in round 1, now all that's left is to see if they can take advantage of it. The Penguins and Blue Jackets faced off five times this season and the Penguins won every game, but if we have learned anything the last few seasons with the Penguins, it is that the playoffs are a different beast. If the Penguins want to be successful they will need to continue to score but most importantly Marc Andre Fleury needs to be on his game. If Fleury can play the way he did in 2009, the Penguins should have enough depth and skill to make it past any team in the league, but that's a big if. The Blue Jackets are making their second ever appearance in the playoffs and while Sergei Bobrovsky has been playing exceptionally well, they are a very young team with little to no playoff experience in their lineup. Unfortunately for the Blue Jackets, veteran forward and Stanley Cup Champion Nathan Horton will be sidelined for at least the first round. It is a huge loss for the young team and they will need to play at another level if they want to compete with the Penguins. Many have predicted that the Penguins will sweep the series, and, while I think the Penguins will win, I think the Jackets will win a couple games. I am going with Pittsburgh in 6 games.

The Montreal Canadiens were the only Canadian team to make the playoffs this season and they will be facing off against the Tampa Bay Lightning, who are making their first playoff appearance since 2011. As with Pittsburgh, I think this is the best matchup for the Montreal. Montreal is a skilled team and they have excellent goaltending with Carey Price, but they are a smaller team and they often get pushed around during the playoffs. They added to their size this season with defenceman Douglas Murray and to their grit last season with Brandon Prust, but if they want to win, they will need to stick to their game plan and work on beating their opponent through skill as opposed to force. Tampa is also a smaller skilled team with excellent goaltending in Ben Bishop. They surprised a lot of fans by not only making the playoffs, but by finishing second in the Atlantic Division for home ice advantage, and they did this without Steven Stamkos for much of the season. They may be down two former captains in Vincent Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis, but they did add grit at the deadline with the acquisition of Ryan Callahan and have grown together as a team during the adversity they faced this season. I think this will be one of the closest series' for this round, but I've got to go with Montreal in 7 games even if just for my dad.

The last playoff series in the first round for the Eastern Conference is between heated rivals the Philadelphia Flyers and the New York Rangers. This series has the potential to be one of the most entertaining in the entire playoffs, they play each other hard and there is little to no love lost between these two franchises. Philadelphia started slow this season, much like their captain, but as soon as he picked up his game, the team started to pile on the points. They have received excellent goaltending so far this season from Steve Mason and their forwards have been hard to contain. If their skill wasn't enough, they aren't known as the Broad Street Bullies for nothing, they are a tough, heavy team to play against, you really need to fight for time and space when you are facing the Flyers. The Rangers are no slouches either, their scorers have started to pick up and they play a frustrating defensive style, backstopped by former Vezina trophy winner Henrik Lundqvist. I can almost guarantee this series will have a ton of penalty minutes, in fact the winner of special teams will likely take the series. For personal reasons I just can't pick Philadelphia so I am going with Rangers in 7 hard fought games.

So now you know my predictions, how do they compare with yours??