NHL Playoffs: Montreal Canadiens vs New York Rangers Prediction.

The NHL Playoffs Start on Wednesday, A Few Teams Surprised Us All and Made it in the Big Show. But Who Will Finish as the Stanley Cup Champion? Follow This Prediction Series to Find Out!

BREAKDOWN OF THE TEAMS SEASON:
Montreal had a surprising season, to say the least, and I don’t mean where they finished I’m talking about all the off-ice incidents. Max Pacioretty was hounded by the Habs fans as an improper captain of the team until he turned around to play in late January. The fans didn’t stop there with the whole who’s better than who when it came to the P.K. Subban, Shea Weber deal. And the fact the team spent $5 million on a year deal to bring Alexander Radulov over from the KHL after he had two very unsuccessful seasons in the NHL before. Also the firing of Michel Therrien and the hiring of Claude Julien. The Rangers didn’t have such an eventful season when it came to closed doors, but they still did very well for a team who made a lot of off-season acquisitions. The Habs finished fourth in the East with 103 points and 47 regulations win while the Rangers finished fifth with 48 regulation wins and 102 points, now they’re in the NHL Playoffs.

SPECIAL TEAMS:

Apr 8, 2017; Detroit, MI, USA; Montreal Canadiens defenseman Nathan Beaulieu (center) receives congratulations from teammates after scoring in the second period against the Detroit Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports /

Montreal finished 13th in the league on the power play (19.6%) and 14th on the penalty kill (81.1%). They have a very solid power play though with Alex Galchenyuk, Phillip Danault, Artturi Lehkonen, Andrew Shaw, Nathan Beaulieu, Nikita Nesterov, Paul Byron, Brendan Gallagher, Jeff Petry, Tomas Plekanec, and Shea Weber. Those are two solid units that should be able to put the puck in the net at a better rate than 19.6%, so that’s something they will have to fix to go in the playoffs against the Rangers. Their PK is pretty solid too with Byron, Shaw, Dwight King, Steve Ott, Brian Flynn, Torrey Mitchell, Petry, Brandon Davidson, Beaulieu, and Weber. If they can figure out a strategy that shuts down the Rangers offense they may just be in a good position when it comes to special teams.

The Rangers did much better on the power play than Montreal finishing 11th in the league (20.2%) but their penalty kill wasn’t better putting them 19th at only 79.8%. This is partly due to the fact the Rangers are more of an offense-first team and with players like Chris Kreider, Mika Zibanejad, Rick Nash, Jimmy Vesey, Pavel Buchnevich, J.T. Miller, Michael Grabner, Brandon Pirri, Mats Zuccarello, Jesper Fast, and Oscar Lindberg it’s not hard to see why. They still have some solid defensive players that could turn their PK around to help them if this becomes a serious of special teams, cause, after all, they do have Kevin Hayes, Tanner Glass, Taylor Beck, Dan Girardi, Kevin Klein, Ryan McDonagh, and Brendan Smith.

EDGE: Montreal

OFFENSE:

Apr 2, 2017; New York, NY, USA; New York Rangers left wing Chris Kreider (20) celebrates with center Mika Zibanejad (93) after his game tying goal against the Philadelphia Flyers during the second period at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Danny Wild-USA TODAY Sports /

Looking at the lineups for each team it’s a little tricky wondering who has the better offensive core. The Rangers have three lines that can consistently score, with a fourth that will take the body and pot in the occasional goal here and there. If you look at Montreal they have spread out their scoring quite a bit, but also threw in a lot of grinders giving the team basically two solid scoring lines, and in the playoffs, you need all four. Becuase the Canadiens have Danault, Shaw, Gallagher, Galchenyuk, Lehkonen, Andreas Martinsen, and Michael McCarron while the Rangers have Kreider, Zibanejad, Miller, Buchnevich, Grabner, Pirri, Vesey, Lindberg, Zuccarello, Nash, Fast, and Matt Puempel.

EDGE: New York

DEFENSE:

Mar 30, 2017; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Montreal Canadiens left wing Max Pacioretty (67) celebrates with teammates after scoring a goal against the Florida Panthers during the third period at Bell Centre. Mandatory Credit: Jean-Yves Ahern-USA TODAY Sports1 /

Both teams are amazingly solid on the backend, New York has Smith, Girardi, Ryan McDonagh, Brady Skjei, Klein, Adam Clendening, Steven Kampfer, and Nick Holden. Giving the club an amazing balance between offensive, defensive, and two-way defenseman. The Habs have mostly offensive and defensive defenseman with their core looking like Davidson, Petry, Beaulieu, Nesterov, Mikhail Sergachev, Brett Lernout, Weber, and Alexei Emelin. Now when you compare both cores you can see the Canadiens have more experience, but two of their best are injured and can hopefully return come Wednesday. If they can Montreal is a lot more solid on the backend then New York.

EDGE: Montreal

GOALTENDING:

Apr 7, 2017; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Montreal Canadiens goalie Carey Price (31) makes a save against Tampa Bay Lightning during the first period at Bell Centre. Mandatory Credit: Jean-Yves Ahern-USA TODAY Sports /

The Canadiens have one of the best goalies in the world with Carey Price, and backup Al Montoya is pretty solid as well. The Rangers, on the other hand, have another top tier goalie in the world with Henrik Lundqvist who, to be honest, is starting to slow down, but he can also win a series on his own. Now when it comes to the Rangers backup Antti Raanta, he won’t be able to withstand the Canadiens onslaught for long so hopefully, Lundqvist can hang in there the whole series. So right now when it comes to starters, both teams are pretty much even, but when it comes to the backups, Montoya is more of a worthy savior than Raanta.

EDGE: Montreal

Next: NHL Entry Draft: Second Round Mock Draft Number Two.

SERIES OUTCOME:

This serious is going to be absolutely crazy, you got two top-tier goalies battling it out, two special teams that are able to capitalize on each other and one team having a solid forward core while the other is better on the backend. This series will come down to goaltending and special teams.

FINAL SERIES RECORD: Montreal wins 4 games to 3.

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