Canada’s lone hope of the postseason survived the second round as the Habs downed the Sabres in game seven. Now they’ll face a team who has played less hockey than Ian has over the last two weeks, the Carolina Hurricanes.
Meanwhile, out west, John Tortorella will try to pause his endless degradation long enough to dethrone the excellent Avalanche.
To set the stage for you, we will now provide expert analysis by a quarter from 2002, plus me and Ian.
Meet Keith, a Coin
This anthropomorphic quarter missed on three of the four series last round. The only one he got right was when he bet against his home state, Pennsylvania, and its Flyers. Given that Keith reliably goes 50/50, I predict that he’ll predict both series correctly.
The results so far
Using the universally understood 
/
score-keeping system.
| First Round | Peter | Ian | Keith |
|---|---|---|---|
| COL vs LAK | |
🚽 | 🚽 |
| DAL vs MIN | |
|
|
| VGK vs UTA | 🚽 | 🚽 | 🚽 |
| EDM vs ANA | 🚽 | 🚽 | 🚽 |
| BUF vs BOS | 🚽 | |
|
| TBL vs MTL | 🚽 | |
|
| CAR vs OTT | |
🚽 | 🚽 |
| PIT vs PHI | 🚽 | 🚽 | |
| Second Round | Peter | Ian | Keith |
| COL vs MIN | |
🚽 | 🚽 |
| VGK vs ANA | |
|
🚽 |
| CAR vs PHI | |
|
|
| MTL vs BUF | 🚽 | |
🚽 |
| Third Round | Peter | Ian | Keith |
| COL vs VGK | |||
| CAR vs MTL | |||
| Finals | Peter | Ian | Keith |
| TBD |
Colorado ❄️ vs Knights ♞
Peter: The fun series. Colorado is a better team in every way except the power play, which I don’t think matters much in the postseason. This will be a sad end for Mitch Marner – as much as I’d like to see him immiserate Toronto fans all the way to the Cup. Colorado in 6.
Ian: As soon as I saw Nathan Mackinnon redeem himself from the Olympics last round, scoring on the same shot he missed in Italy, I went from This team is cursed to This team is the Team of Destiny. Colorado in 7.
Keith: Vegas in 6.
Montreal 🥐 vs Carolina 🌀
Peter: How is this the conference final? The Habs were a percentage-driven team all regular season, which means they’re supposed to crash in the loffs, a la the Capitals in 2010 (god dammitttttttttt). But they’re still finishing their chances. Lane Hutson, all of 22, is one big game away from leading the league in playoff points. And they’re going up against the most un-fun team in the league, who have somehow gone from 26th best goaltending in the regular season to first now. Nonsense. I hate this series. I wish the Caps made the playoffs. They were so close, you guys. Alas, I guess I have to make a prediction. I predict suffering for Canada. Carolina in 5.
Ian: The Montreal Canadiens are tired, surviving a series that just went the distance, while the Carolina Hurricanes had a cake walk to the Conference Finals and are historically well-rested. Everything here screams the Canes, but I just don’t see them winning this series at all. The Habs beat the tar out of the Hurricanes in their three-game regular season series, winning all three games by a combined score of 15-8. They have the speed and the goaltending to handle them. Montreal in 6.
Keith: Montreal in 5.
Your Turn
Do it like (TEAM CITY) in (# of GAMES)
