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I remember mentioning in one of my posts during football season, where I pick the weekly NFL games, that I was doing well enough picking winners that I should go to Las Vegas and bet on some games, and maybe I could win some money. Of course, if I had tried that last week when picking winners of the opening round of the NHL playoffs, I’d be broke and sleeping under a cactus in the Nevada desert right now. I managed to get one series right out of the eight played, correctly predicting the New York Rangers would eliminate Ottawa. In order to get more accurate predictions for round 2, I’ve called in the expert, my 9 year old grandson, hard-hitting sports reporter Connor Pohlman. Here are Connor’s picks, and expert analysis, for the second round series:

New York Rangers vs. Washington – I think the New York Rangers are going to win the series because of  goalie Henrik Lundqvist and John Tortorella has more coaching experience than Dale Hunter, winning a Stanley  Cup with Tampa Bay.

New Jersey vs. Philadelphia -I think the Flyers will take the series. Daniel Briere has been playing great and Jaromir Jagr is a veteran.

Phoenix vs. Nashville – Phoenix is going to win in 7 games because both teams are solid but Mike Smith is playing great in goal for the Coyotes.

Los Angeles vs. St.Louis -this series is going to go to 7 games and in the end St. Louis is going to prevail because of coach Ken Hitchcock.  Also, goalie Brian Elliot is solid and Andy McDonald is playing great.

On January 27th of this year, I wrote a post on this blog titled “Why Lindy Ruff Should Be Fired”. Now that the season is over and the Buffalo Sabres have officially missed the playoffs, I have to say that I stand by everything in that post other than the suggestion that young Kevin Adams would be a good replacement. After seeing the Sabres drub the Boston Bruins 6-0 in the first game that Ruff spent in the press box after being the victim of a fluke injury in practice, I could easily see the man who spent that night behind the bench, assistant coach James Patrick, doing a good job if he were to take the head coaching reins. I really believe that the fact that the same roster that was so underachieving all year could be so dominant against the defending Stanley Cup champions is an indictment of Ruff, and a huge statement by those players that they are tired of Ruff’s methods. There were a lot of subtle comments from players on locker cleanout day referring to Ruff’s handling of them and with frustration with the coach’s “system”. Thomas Vanek stated that Ruff treats him the same way now that he did when he was a 21-year old rookie. That treatment includes a lot of yelling and negativity as Ruff attempted to get his star winger to up his game to a higher level. I have to believe that grown men, some of them veteran players, aren’t very fond of being treated like 5 year olds.

Without a doubt, the Sabre players are responsible for the disappointing 2011/12 season, but when basically every player on the roster has a year that sees a regression from the previous year, the coach has to take the brunt of the blame. It’s his job to motivate the team and put each player in a position to succeed, and Ruff failed miserably at that part of his job. Owner Terry Pegula has already announced that both Ruff and GM Darcy Regier will return next season, a move that hasn’t pleased many fans who are tiring of the stale environment surrounding the team. It’ll be imperative on Ruff to make sure the Sabres don’t get off to another of their awful slow starts next year, as he and Regier will most certainly be on a short leash. There’s no way the fan base will accept anything short of a team that contends for a high spot in the standings and eventually the Stanley Cup, a goal Pegula has set as what he’s looking for from his management team.

The Stanley Cup playoffs, minus the Buffalo Sabres, begin tonight. This year’s playoffs include only 2 teams from Canada, Vancouver and Ottawa. Traditional hockey-crazed towns like Montreal, Toronto and Edmonton are out this year, while Nashville, Phoenix and Florida are in. The opening round includes some interesting matchups, and here are my predictions for those series:

Ottawa vs. New York Rangers – this has been a terrific season for the Blueshirts, but they’d better be careful against the Senators, a team perfectly capable of knocking them out in the first round. I see this series going at least 6 games, but New York should win due to the superior goaltending of Henrik Lundqvist.

Boston vs. Washington – this may be the most one-sided series of the opening round, and I could easily see the defending champion Bruins sweeping. The Capitals had to spend a lot of energy just to get into the tounament. Boston will win, and I don’t see this going more than 5 games.

Pittsburgh vs. Philadelphia – unlike the Bruins-Capitals matchup, this series may be the most competitive of the opening round. The Penguins have a stronger overall roster, including getting Sidney Crosby back from injury, and Philly still doesn’t have its’ goaltending squared away. I’ll go with Pittsburgh in 6 games.

Florida vs. New Jersey – critics are saying the Devils, by finishing sixth in the conference, drew an easier matchup than the Penguins and Flyers, but they’ll be surprised by the young Panthers. Florida wins a hard-fought seven game series.

Vancouver vs. Los Angeles – the Canucks proved they are a solid franchise this year, following up last year’s Stanley Cup Finals trip by winning the President’s Trophy as the top club in the regular season. Their goaltender, Roberto Luongo, can get shaky, however, and for that reason I’ll pick Vancouver to win the series in 6 games.

St. Louis vs. San Jose – the Blues had a great year under coach Ken Hitchcock, and San Jose is notorious for playoff failures, but St. Louis faltered late in the year, and the Sharks have an experienced club, and did have some playoff success last year, getting the loser monkey off their backs somewhat. San Jose wins in 6 games.

Phoenix vs. Chicago – the Coyotes are a surprising third seed, mostly on the strength of goaltender Mike Smith, but this is a matchup of a high seed against a lower seed with more playoff experience. The Black Hawks won the Cup just 2 seasons ago, and will tough out a seven game series win here.

Nashville vs. Detroit – this is similar to the Phoenix-Chicago matchup, with the Predators being the higher seed against a playoff-tested Red Wing team. Nashville has the edge in goaltending, but the Wings should win in 6 games.