Good to see Mikey admitted that I got more right than him. How could you pick the Devils after what Sweet Lou did to them in the offseason? They are one more bad offseason away from being the Sabres – replacing Gomez and Rafalski with Zubrus and Vishnevski don’t cut it.

PITTSBURGH vs. RANGERS
Should be fun to watch and it will be a true test to see if the Penguins young players are ready to battle with the big boys, who are battle tested and have been on long cup runs before. Will Avery be able to get under the Pens skin like he did with the Devils? I would love to see a Pittsburgh/Sharks Stanley Cup finals, but I still think the Penguins are one year away from making major noise and might take their lumps from the Rangers in this series. RANGERS IN SIX.

MONTREAL vs. PHILLY
Were the Habs exposed in Round One or was Boston underestimated? I think it is the former and with the Flyers being on a roll, this is not a good match up for the Habs. Philly is more physical and has a good mix of vets and young players firing all at once – if Montreal comes out slow, they won’t be able to recover against the Flyers. Biron hasn’t been the liability people predicted and Price might not be ready for this much primetime this fast. FLYERS IN SIX.

DETROIT vs. COLORADO
It’s like a time warp and the bad blood surely hasn’t been forgotten. Colorado is physical enough to make this really difficult on the Wings and some have called Theodore’s performance in Round One the best in the playoffs thus far with a .940 save percentage and a 1.88 GAA – but now he has to face a team with a real offense, not a team that is really offensive (The Wild shouldn’t be allowed to make the playoffs in the future – I can’t bear to watch them stink up the joint again. What a terrible #3 seed). The Wings will be battered and bruised, but they should make the Conf. Finals. WINGS IN SEVEN.

SAN JOSE vs. DALLAS
If bad blood is the theme of the Western Conf. playoffs, then look no further than the final game of the season when the Stars and Sharks engaged in a old fashioned Battle Royale. I agree that the Sharks will have more room to operate and I’m not buying that Dallas is the potent offensive force some experts are making them out to be. I would like to think that Round One got the Sharks attention, and we know they will have mental lapses during the series – but my gut says this won’t last as long as Round One and the Sharks will solve early and get in his head. Dallas will win Game Three and that’s it. SHARKS IN FIVE.

Round Two – Are You Ready?