#1 New York Rangers vs #8 Ottawa Senators
The New York Rangers finished the season with the best record in the Eastern Conference, but may have a though first round opponent playing that all mighty tricky 8th seed.
A lot of “experts” including myself picked the Senators to miss the playoffs but a breakout season by young defensemen Erik Karlsson really gave Ottawa another dimension offensively.
The Rangers will have to play a strong defensively minded game to beat the Senators. Especially with players like Milan Michalek, Jason Spezza and Daniel Alfredsson all capable of scoring goals on a consistent basis.
But the same could be said about the Rangers. The Senators will also have to play a defensively minded game, with guys like Artem Anisimov, Ryan Callahan, Brandon Dubinsky, Marian Gaborik and Brad Richards all scoring goals on a consistent basis.
The season series was won 3-1 in favor of the Ottawa Senators, but will they be able to beat a very focused and determined Henrik Lundqvist? Recent history shows that the Rangers tend to fall apart this time of year, but don’t count on it happening this season.
The key to the Rangers winning the series will come to a lot of blocked shots, and very strong net presence to beat Ottawa’s Craig Anderson. Of course strong goaltending from Lundqvist, but that’s already a given, I mean he’s proven himself already this season.
SERIES PREDICTION: New York Rangers to win the series in 5 games.
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