Round 2 Picks

I’ll have a longer quasi-defense of the Sharks up later this eve., but since the games start tonight as an homage to them I’ll see if I can get under .500 after a 7-1 start picking the playoffs. So, applying the same logic as the first round, I’ll take Chicago over Minnesota in 5, LA over Anaheim in 6, Boston over Montreal in 5, and the Rangers over Pittsburgh in 6. Should Berube wish to weigh in I’ll

update…

Here’s Michael, coming off a 4-0 first round:

Bruins-Canadiens: these storied franchises meet for the blah blah time in their storied blah blah history and blah. After the Bruins dispatch the Habs in 6, I will console myself by watching the quarterfinal matchup in 1971. Now that was a series. (At least, I am hoping it will go 6. I had Bruins in 5 over Detroit, but I can’t say 5 here– though I am tempted to– because it feels like a betrayal of the terre de nos aieux.)

Rangers-Penguins: as in 2012, the Rangers have no idea how to (a) score on a “power” “play” or (b) put teams away when they have them on the ropes. Their only hope here is to mess with the Penguins’ heads, jointly and severally, after that shaky performance against Columbus– such that the more talented and explosive Pens wind up spending their post-game interviews issuing stilted,

unconvincing testimonials to their complete and total confidence in Fleury. As for me, I have never recovered from game 1 in 2008, when the Penguins showed the Rangers that you don’t have to erase a 3-0 deficit one goal at a time– you can do it by scoring two goals in a ten-second span twice. Flightless birds in 6.