The NHL is guaranteed to crown a new champion this season and it all transpires when the 16 teams that remain do battle in the Stanley Cup Playoffs beginning Wednesday.
2015 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs Round 1 Predictions: Metropolitan Division Bracket
The matchups are set in the Eastern and Western Conferences as eight teams from each vie for the best trophy in sports and hope to hoist the Stanley Cup in June.
The Atlantic Division bracket has plenty of intrigue as the top-seeded Montreal Canadiens battle the Ottawa Senators in an all-Canadian match up (there are five teams from the Great White North overall in the postseason) and the speedy Tampa Bay Lightning own home-ice over the Detroit Red Wings, a club that boasts a tremendous mix of youth and veteran leadership.
2015 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs Round 1 Predictions: Central Division Bracket
Here are our predictions for the Atlantic Division bracket in Round 1 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs:
[Atlantic Division 1] Montreal Canadiens (50-22-10, 110 points) vs. [Wild-card 1, No. 4 seed] Ottawa Senators (43-26-13, 99 points)
Season Series: The Senators took three of four meetings from the Canadiens this season, out-scoring them 19-9. The Senators defeated the Canadiens in five games in the first round of the playoffs in 2012-13.
Cup Dreams: Montreal is looking to eventually win its first Stanley Cup since the 1992-93 season while Ottawa enters play in hopes of its first title in franchise history, after falling in their last finals appearance in 2007.
Series Overview: The Canadiens finished first in their division for the second time in three years and won 50 games for the first time since 1988-89. The Senators, meanwhile, were rewarded for their late surge from 14 points out and clinched the top wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, returning to the playoffs for the second time in three seasons and third time in the last four.
The most intriguing matchup of this series will be in the crease as Carey Price has dominated for Montreal this season, placing himself as a favorite for the Vezina Trophy and possibly even the Hart Trophy while Andrew "The Hamburglar" Hammond was arguably the best goalie in the final quarter of the season.
Price led the entire NHL with 44 wins, a 1.96 goals-against average and a .933 save percentage while his nine shutouts tied him for second in the league.
Hammond, meanwhile, beat the Canadiens in his NHL debut on Feb. 18 and eventually became the second goalie in NHL history to allow two goals or less in the first 12 games of his career.
Hammond was named the NHL's First Star of the Month for March and compiled an astounding 20-1-2 record with a dazzling 1.79 goals-against average, a .920 save percentage and three shutouts this season.
This series also boasts two Norris Trophy candidates as P.K. Subban represents the Canadiens and Erik Karlsson will lead the Senators.
Subban and his partner Andrei Markov run the defense and can also score when it's needed. Subban led the Canadiens with 45 assists and finished third on the team and first among defenseman with 60 points. Montreal brought in Jeff Petry from the Edmonton Oilers to pair with Alexei Emelin on the second unit.
Ottawa doesn't boast too much depth on the blue line, but it is made up for by Karlsson, who paced all NHL defenseman and the Senators with 66 points while finding the twine 21 times and adding 45 assists. Karlsson is paired with Marc Methot on the top unit.
On offense, Max Pacioretty has carried the weight for Montreal, leading the team with 67 points, but an upper-body injury has left him questionable for the series. Pacioretty finished first in the NHL with a plus-38 rating and placed fifth in the league with a team-best 37 goals.
Tomas Plekanec (26), Brendan Gallagher (24) and Alex Galchenyuk (20) each reached the 20-goal plateau this season for Montreal.
Ottawa has plenty of depth on the offensive side of things. Rookies Mike Hoffman (27) and Mark Stone (26) were atop the scoresheet for the Senators in the goals column. Stone had tremendous success playing on a line with center Kyle Turris, who finished third on the team with 24 tallies.
Karlsson's 21 goals along with Mike Zibanejad's 20 give the Senators five 20-plus goal-scorers in 2014-15, which paired with Hammond's unbelievable streak, is the reason Ottawa surged into the playoffs. The Senators managed 2.83 goals per game, ninth in the league.
Ottawa has some extra motivation off the ice as they will be playing for assistant coach Mark Reeds, who passed away from cancer Tuesday at age 55. The Senators already have general manager Bryan Murray in their spirits as he was diagnosed with colon cancer in November.
Special Teams: The Senators ranked just 22nd in the NHL on the power play (16.8%) and Dave Cameron's team was 11th on the penalty kill (82.9%) while the Canadiens finished just 23rd on the power play (16.5%) and Michel Therrien's club was also a solid seventh on the penalty kill (83.7%).
Last Thoughts: This should be a tremendous series as it features skilled players at every position and a matchup that pits the hottest goalie against the netminder who had the best season in 2014-15 between the pipes. The Senators have a knack for scoring and are on a magical run, but they could have a tough time against Price and Montreal's defense is deeper than Ottawa's. It can go either way, but home-ice may play the biggest role.
The Pick: Canadiens in 7.
[Atlantic Division 2] Tampa Bay Lightning (50-24-8, 108 points) vs. [Atlantic Division 3] Detroit Red Wings (43-25-14, 100 points):
Season Series: The Lightning took three of four meetings from the Red Wings this season, but Detroit won their most recent encounter 4-0 on March 28.
Cup Dreams: Tampa Bay looks for its first Stanley Cup since winning it all in 2004 while Detroit is hoping to hoist the trophy for the first time since 2008.
Series Overview: The Lightning were neck-and-neck with the Canadiens for the top spot in the division, but settled for second place, which still gives them home-ice. Tampa Bay makes the postseason for the third straight year and coming off of a season where it set franchise records in wins and points, it will look to make it out of the quarterfinals after back-to-back first-round exits.
Detroit, meanwhile, made the playoffs for the 24th consecutive season, extending their NHL record. The Red Wings will look for a lengthy stay after failing to make it out of the opening round in two of the last three seasons.
There are no shortages of superstars in this series as Tampa Bay, which has former Red Wings legend Steve Yzerman at the helm as general manager, boasts Steven Stamkos and Detroit counters with the amazing Pavel Datsyuk and stalwart Henrik Zetterberg.
Stamkos finished second in the NHL with 43 goals this season while tying with Tyler Johnson for the team lead with 72 points.
Zetterberg finished tied for sixth in the NHL with 49 helpers while leading the team with 66 points. Datsyuk, who has arguably the quickest hands in the NHL, lit the lamp 26 times and finished second on the club with 65 points in just 63 games.
Aside from Stamkos, Tampa Bay is supplemented with arguably the best second line in the NHL. Nikita Kucherov (29-36--65) centers a unit that is flanked by Johnson (29-43--32) and Ondrej Palat (16-47--63), giving the Lightning one of the best top-six units in hockey. All three linemates are among the top five in plus-minus in the NHL.
The Lightning led the NHL this season by scoring an average of 3.16 goals per game.
While Zetterberg and Datsyuk provide veteran presence, Detroit still boasts plenty of youth. Tomas Tatar, 24, had a team-best 29 goals this season while Gustav Nyquist, 25, was right behind him with 27 tallies.
Erik Cole (spine) is a big loss for the Red Wings while they're hopeful Justin Abdelkader (hand) will return.
On the blue line, Jon Cooper's team has been banged up, but Anton Stralman has been a force, leading all Tampa Bay defenseman with 39 points and Victor Hedman guided all Lightning backs with 10 goals despite missing 23 games to injury.
Mike Babcock's club counters with a group that is led by steadfast defenseman Niklas Kronwall, who led all blue liners on Detroit with 44 points. Kronwall is paired with Jonathan Ericsson on the top unit while Danny DeKeyser and Kyle Quincey round out the top four. Marek Zidlicky was acquired earlier this season to boost it as well.
In between the pipes, the Lightning turns to Ben Bishop, who missed last postseason's opening-round sweep at the hands of the Canadiens due to injury. The 6-foot-7 netminder finished third in the NHL with 40 wins this season while adding a 2.32 GAA and a .916 save percentage. He also had four shutouts on the campaign.
Detroit announced that Petr Mrazek will start over Jimmy Howard in Game 1 as he continues to become Babcock's go-to goaltender. Mrazek went 16-9-2 this season with a 2.38 GAA and a .918 save percentage.
Special Teams: Tampa Bay finished 14th on the power play (18.8%) and ninth on the penalty kill (83.7%) while Detroit was amazing on the man-advantage, ranking second with a 23.8 percent power play clip and they finished 17th when down a man (80.9%).
Last Thoughts: This series should be a great one to watch as both teams can score and the quick Lightning will battle the playoff specialists in the Red Wings. Detroit's power play should be able to keep them in this series, but the depth and scoring prowess of the Lightning may end up being too much for its defense to handle.
The Pick: Lightning in 5.
If this goes as we have predicted it to, the Lightning and Canadiens, who have chased each other all year, would meet in Round 2 with Montreal owning home-ice.
There are bound to be many memorable moments when the puck drops on the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs, especially in the Atlantic Division bracket.
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