Hockey Independent Playoff Roundtable: Stanley Cup Finals Predictions

  — Welcome back to the Hockey Independent roundtable where five writers from the HI staff have come together once again to provide you all with our Stanley Cup Finals predictions. The contributing authors to today’s piece will be Cris Cohen (New York Rangers), Seth Levin (New Jersey Devils), Alex Muscat (Detroit Red Wings), Bill Philp (Tampa Bay Lightning) and myself, Benjamin Woodward (Boston Bruins). We’ve also thrown in our thoughts on the potential Conn Smythe award winner. The round one results look like this: Cohen: 4-for-8. Muscat: 5-for-8. Levin: 6-for-8. Philp: 5-for-8. Woodward: 7-for-8. Round two results are as follows: Cohen: 1-for-4. Muscat: 1-for-4. Philp: 1-for-4. Levin: 2-for-4. Woodward: 2-for-4. And finally, round three: Cohen: 1-for-2. Muscat: 1-for-2. Philp: 1-for-2. Levin: 2-for-2. Woodward: 1-for-2.

Here is the leader-board through the first three rounds of this year’s playoffs:

1) Woodward –> 10-for-14

2) Levin –> 10-for-14

3) Philp –> 7-for-14

4) Muscat –> 7-for-14

5) Cohen –> 6-for-14

Stanley Cup Finals

(8) Los Angeles Kings vs. (6) New Jersey Devils

Cohen– Kings win in 6 . X-Factor –> Devils’ Fourth Line

Philp– Devils win in 6. X-Factor –> New Jersey’s Aggressive Forecheck

Muscat– Kings win in 7. X-Factor –> Kings’ Power-Play

Levin– Devils win in 7 . X-Factor –> Ilya Kovalchuk

Woodward– Kings win in 6. X-Factor –> Can Mark Fayne and Andy Greene shut down the Anze Kopitar line?

Conn Smythe Award

Cohen– Dustin Brown (Los Angeles Kings)

Philp– Ilya Kovalchuk (New Jersey Devils)

Muscat– Jonathan Quick (Los Angeles Kings)

Levin– Ilya Kovalchuk (New Jersey Devils)

Woodward– Dustin Brown (Los Angeles Kings)