Stanley Cup Playoffs Round 1 Predictions: Boston Bruins vs Detroit Red Wings

Thanks to all who participated in the Fan Chatter posts – Rich will be tallying the final totals and announce the winner.  With that we are going to open up the SabreNoise Stanley Cup Bracket Challenge.  For each round of the Stanley Cup playoffs I will publish a series preview with my predictions, and you are encouraged to leave your comments on each article picking the winners of each bracket.  You get a bracket filled out correctly through the course of the posts, and I will send you a FanSided hoodie.

Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

Here are the rules, it is very simple, you select and comment on each series preview with who you think will win the series.  You can add as much opinion as you want, but all I want to know is what team you think will win and in how many games.  You don’t necessarily need to get the game count correct to move on to the second round – but that will be used in the tie breaker.

I should preface this and say that there is, like every other year, sometimes no scientific fact behind my selection of these teams, as sometimes, I just don’t want to see a team win a series.

Stanley Cup Playoffs Round 1 Boston Bruins vs Detroit Red Wings

For me, this is a relatively easy selection to make.  I cannot, with any fabric of my being, root for the Boston Bruins at this point in the playoffs.  I did however, root for them the year they won the Stanley Cup last, solely because I prefer an East coast team win the Cup.  In the first round of the playoffs, my rivalry hatred for the Boston Bruins is still high, and I hope they crash and burn in the meta-physical sense.

Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

Season Series

There weren’t many teams that could beat the Boston Bruins this year.  With only 28 total losses this year and only nineteen games that didn’t result in at least a point, the Boston Bruins have to be considered a favorite for the Stanley Cup this year.  Of course winning the Presidents’ Trophy is not a lock for the Stanley Cup – as only four teams have won the Stanley Cup in the same year as the Presidents Trophy since the 2000-2001 season.

With that being said, the Detroit Red Wings squared off against the Boston Bruins four times – with the Red Wings winning three out of four contests, the final one being the clinching game that sent the Detroit Red Wings to the Stanley Cup Finals for the 23rd season in a row.

Be Careful What You Wish For

After controlling the Central Division while in the Western Conference, the Detroit Red Wings find things a little more difficult as members of the Eastern Conference and the Atlantic Division.  Instead of making the playoffs and riding the wave into the post season, the Detroit Red Wings needed almost all 82 games to clinch a playoff spot and keep their untarnished regular season record alive for another year.

Playoff Schedule

Prediction

A full breakdown of the series can be found on NHL.com.  If you don’t buy into the theory that the playoffs are a totally different game, then it would be easy to lean on the fact that the Detroit Red Wings were the only team to beat the Boston Bruins three times, but the Boston Bruins seem to be a team built for the post season.  Big, tough, and deep.  While I would like to see the Boston Bruins not make it out of the first round of the playoffs, I think they can overcome the Detroit Red Wings, so I am picking the Boston Bruins in six games.

You can catch all the in depth coverage of the series on our sister sites Causeway Crowd and Octopus Thrower.