I didn't have the opportunity or time to do a Round 1 predication thread so I'll just start at Round 2. EAST MATCHUPS AND PREDICATIONS Providence vs Charlotte Here we have two teams that I believe are heavily skilled with there 1st lines but fall off slowly as you go down the roster. These two have met for a total of 4 times in the regular season where Providence took the series 3-1. Just from taking a quick look at the stats against the teams in the regular season, it seemed to be more of a goal tending issue on the Charlotte team when facing Providence. The Bruins scored a total of 10 goals on just 23 shots against the Checkers. On the other side, the Checkers scored only 7 goals on 37 shots.The starting goalie for Charlotte, Jonas Petersson, is coming off a Calder Cup team from last season and is going to be the one to look for during this series. With being responsible for 33 wins out of the 53 for his team, Jonas is going to have to carry this team through this series. Both of these teams had an EASY time in Round 1 of these playoffs where the Checkers beat the Phantoms 4-0 and Providence beat Wilkes Barre 4-1 in the series. I think the only way this series is taken by the Checkers, is if Jonas can put the team on his back and the Checkers can find the back of the net. Providence in 6 Rochester vs Utica I hate to say it, but there isn't really much to write about here... Utica has absolutely dominated Rochester during the regular season where they took ALL 4 wins during the match ups and beat them all the way down the score sheet. From my opinion, Rochester was the underdog in the Round 1 Laval series and came out as the better team. Now, they have to pray for a miracle to make it out of the 2nd Round. Like I said, not much to write about here. If Utica can pull off this series, they may of had the easiest route to the conference finals out of any team in a LONG time. Utica in 4 WEST MATCHUPS AND PREDICATIONS Manitoba vs Cleveland If there's any series to watch in Round 2, this is most likely the one. During the regular season match ups, these two teams split the series 2-2 where generally, the stats were pretty similar. The one major point I want to point out is the major difference in Goals For during the regular season. Manitoba put up 77 MORE goals than Cleveland did out of the 82 game season. With the Moose putting up on average 3.7 Goals a game, this is where Darcy is going to have to stand out. Kind of like how I explained Jonass previously for Charlotte, this is the only way Cleveland has an opportunity to move onto the next round. Now, without stating the obvious, the Arctic Blur line is the key to success for the Moose. They were the only line to win both of there games during the first round for the Moose while the other lines split. I actually thought the Moose were going to sweep the Griffins but it seemed that the 2nd and 3rd lines for the Moose had some trouble..which is scary moving into this series against the Monsters. Manitoba is VERY top heavy. Meaning the forwards is what carries this team. Line matching is going to be the key to success for this series and if Cleveland can manage to steal just 1 win from the Arctic line, the chances of them winning Round 2 of this playoffs have skyrocketed. Worst case scenario for Cleveland is giving that Blur line two wins this series or forcing the series into a game 7. No team wants to see the Arctic line 3 times. Manitoba in 6 Stockton vs Tucson Now, I'm going to write this as unbiased as possible with no predication on who will win the series. During the regular season, the series against these two teams was taken by Tucson 3-1 with the stats being practically the same. Eldo was the main culprit for handing Stockton the losses with having 10 points during the regular season match up while the next player on his team had 4 points. Both teams had a fairly easy time in Round 1 where Tucson swept Ontario with ease and Stockton turned in a 4-1 series win against the Cuda. While I do believe on paper Stockton has the Best D core in the AHL, Tuscon has the man power up front to give them a run for there money. Both teams have depth from top to bottom and this series is NOT going to end in 4 or 5. I believe we may see a game 7 on Wednesday. Thanks for the read!
Most people over look the fact that Tuscon is the only team that has 3 top 10 goal scorers. Not only that, but they play on 3 separate lines. 4 in the top 25 only bested by Manitoba who has 5 (3 from the same line), and every other team with 2. But most of those teams that have 2 are players that play on the same line. Tuscon's forward depth is unreal when you look at it in an unbiased perspective. (I could only screenshot down to 22 with my tablet, )
I didn’t want to get into detail of bringing up forward stats per team or anything like that. I wasn’t even going to do a write up with our series because no matter what, we both think our teams deserve to move onto the next round. But I appreciate the input of your team
When someone takes the time to make a detailed write up, I'll add to it if it isn't a piece of hot garbage.
