The club bounced the heavily favored Ducks and in turn broke many playoff brackets, including the brackets of all 10 of ESPN's hockey experts who each predicted a Ducks victory in round one.
That obviously didn't happen and the Predators made their feelings felt.
On the Fly, theScore's NHL roundtable series, continues with predictions for each of the second-round playoff series, which, for the sake of this post, rather inconveniently began a few hours before the first round concluded Wednesday night.
The path's been cleared for a new champion.
theScore's NHL editors had mixed-bag results after the Stanley Cup Playoffs experienced a collective role reversal in Round 1. We correctly predicted the Blues dethroning the Blackhawks, but also whiffed on consensus selections of the Kings, Panthers, and Ducks.
Here's who we like in Round 2:
Western Conference
Stars vs. Blues
Editor
Pick
Cuthbert
Blues
Gold-Smith
Blues
Hagerman
Blues
McLaren
Blues
O'Leary
Blues
Vaswani
Blues
Whyte
Blues
Total: 7-0 Blues
A series that appears incredibly close on paper yields a unanimous result. St. Louis needed an extra game to bury the Blackhawks, but quite clearly had the more impressive of the two holds in Round 1. The Stars might have earned more detractors with their six-game victory over Minnesota.
Sharks vs. Predators
Editor
Pick
Cuthbert
Sharks
Gold-Smith
Sharks
Hagerman
Sharks
McLaren
Sharks
O'Leary
Sharks
Vaswani
Sharks
Whyte
Sharks
Total: 7-0 Sharks
With the state of California suddenly their responsibility to defend, the Pacific Division runs through the Sharks and San Jose. We, like Anaheim, ESPN, and everyone else, appear to be underestimating the Predators.
Eastern Conference
Capitals vs. Penguins
Editor
Pick
Cuthbert
Penguins
Gold-Smith
Capitals
Hagerman
Capitals
McLaren
Capitals
O'Leary
Penguins
Vaswani
Capitals
Whyte
Penguins
Total: 4-3 Capitals
The only thing that can really separate the Capitals and Penguins are the first two months of the season, which, of course, hardly matter now. A seven-game series deserving of hardware handed out at the end earns a split decision from us.
Lightning vs. Islanders
Editor
Pick
Cuthbert
Lightning
Gold-Smith
Lightning
Hagerman
Lightning
McLaren
Lightning
O'Leary
Lightning
Vaswani
Lightning
Whyte
Islanders
Total: 6-1 Lightning
The Bolts appear primed to come out of their side of the bracket and return to the Eastern Final even without captain Steven Stamkos (or so we thought). But if the pucks continue to bounce favorably for the Islanders (or Ben Bishop can't recover his Vezina form) the Isles could be that first crossover, moonlighting as an Atlantic Division entity.
Predators eliminate Ducks, Islanders take first game against Lightning, Vezina Trophy nominees announced and more in your NHL morning coffee headlines. NHL Playoff Recap. YAHOO SPORTS/THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER: Appearing in their first Game 7 in franchise history, the Nashville Predators edged the Anaheim Ducks 2-1, eliminating the Ducks and extending their streak of losing […]
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Jack Capuano says he's fine after being struck in the face by the puck Wednesday night.
"I'm good," the New York Islanders head coach said postgame, according to NHL.com's Nick Cotsonika. "A little bit of a headache, but other than that, it's a good victory for our team."
Capuano was forced to leave the bench before returning late in the third period of the Islanders' 5-3 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 1 of their second-round series.
"It's scary, honestly," Islanders defenseman Travis Hamonic said. "I'm glad it didn't take his eye out. I think everybody just immediately was, 'Is he OK?'"
Assistant coach Doug Weight took the reins in Capuano's absence, and the head coach said he left the game as a precaution.
"You want to get back out there," Capuano said. "It's unfortunate I got hit there. I had a headache for a little bit. Just wanted to make sure everything was alright."
He was forced to leave with the Islanders leading the Lightning 4-3 in the final frame.
"I've been hit more times I think than when I played. Just fortunately, it caught me at the tip of the nose there and nothing real serious. But again, you're in there. You hear the horn go off. It's a one-goal game. I just … When I went back out there, the guys battled."
Hamonic was happy to see his coach shake it off.
"He's battling," the defenseman said. "Nice to see him come back and healthy."
ANAHEIM, Calif. - Colin Wilson and Paul Gaustad scored in the first period and the Nashville Predators hung on to win the franchise's first Game 7, advancing to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs with a 2-1 victory over the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday night.
Pekka Rinne made 36 saves for the wild-card Predators, who rallied from a 3-2 series deficit and ousted the Pacific Division champion Ducks with a gritty road victory. Nashville earned just the third playoff series victory in team history - the first since 2012, and the second over Anaheim.
Nashville will travel up the California coast to face the San Jose Sharks on Friday night.
For the fourth consecutive season, the Ducks blew a 3-2 series lead and lost a Game 7 at home.
Frederik Andersen made 18 saves and Ryan Kesler scored a power-play goal early in the third period for the Ducks. They had numerous late chances to tie it while largely dominating the final two periods, but a redirected shot clanked off Rinne's post in the final minutes, and nothing went in during a frantic final minute.
The veteran Anaheim Ducks forward finished off a pretty tic-tac-toe passing sequence, firing home a one-timer on the power play to cut into the Nashville Predators' lead in Game 7 on Wednesday night.
Kesler scored for the third consecutive game and notched his fourth goal of the series.
After jumping out to a 4-1 lead, the Islanders escaped with a 5-3 win, much thanks to a 33-save performance from Greiss as the Tampa Bay Lightning tilted the ice for the third period.
Greiss has dazzled thus far in the postseason, posting a 5-2 record with a 1.94 goals-against average and a .941 save percentage. His teammates have taken notice.
"You don't want to rely on him as much as we had to, but he's been fantastic," said Islanders forward Ryan Strome.
Kyle Okposo knows the outcome of Game 1 could have been much different if it weren't for his netminder.
"They made a good push," Okposo said. "But Greisser stood tall and as a team we were able to weather the storm."
