By Carl Danbury and David Droschak (Posted 4-08-08)

Gettting the two of us to agree on anything is nearly impossible, so when we tell you that we each watched more than 40 live hockey games this season and close to 300 on television you can take that information to the bank. In fact, we're hockey sicko's, a fact confirmed by our significant others on a nightly basis. Why do we allot so much space to hockey coverage when the majority of sports fans in the Southeast could care less? Because we love the game, and you should too. And, we both like the same teams to make it through to the Stanley Cup Finals.

The National Hockey League doesn't possess one great team. In fact, the No. 1 seeds in both conferences won't last past two rounds in our view for a variety of reasons, and it wouldn't be a great surprise to see a repeat champion for the first time in nine seasons because Anaheim is as capable and maybe even better than they were a season ago. The problem for the Ducks is that San Jose is hot entering the playoffs and their roster is laden with playoff-style players.

In the Eastern Conference, any team could win it but we're going to side with a team that will narrowly win their opening round series: the New York Rangers. However, if the Rangers lose Round One to New Jersey, the East representative for the Stanley Cup will be the Caps.

1) Montreal vs. 8) Boston
Boston might get swept in the series because the Bruins can't score and the Canadiens owned the regular season. But, expectations are so high from fans and the media in Montreal that they are doomed to fail before they get too far. Messers Guy Carbonneau and Bob Gainey tossed Cristobal Huet aside at the trade deadline and although Carey Price is a fabulous young goalie, we don't envision a Drydenesque performance from the rookie. In addition, there are simply too many cottony-soft Europeans in key positions for the Montrealers and that typically spells disaster come playoff time.

Boston exceeded all expectations this year and the return of center Patrice Bergeron would be a welcomed sight for coach Claude Julien. However, neither of us are convinced the Bruins can sustain any measure of an offensive attack from game-to-game.

Droschak's Pick: Montreal in 4
Danbury's Pick: Montreal in 6

2) Pittsburgh vs. 7) Ottawa
Ottawa advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals last year and got beat by Anaheim. After a great start to the 2007-08 season, the Senators look more like Aides these days with uneven goaltending, a struggling power play and a key injury to winger Daniel Alfredsson. Pittsburgh, on the other hand, withstood injuries to Sidney Crosby, Marc Andre Fleury and their prized deadline acquisition Marian Hossa and it will be difficult for many Eastern Conference teams to handle them in a seven-game series. Ottawa won't because they can't recall what got them to the brink of winning a Cup last year, and Evgeni Malkin is the second-best young Russian player in the NHL today.

Pittsburgh is destined to move on, while Ottawa is destined for also-ran status.

Droschak's Pick: Pittsburgh in 6
Danbury's Pick: Pittsburgh in 5

3) Washington vs. 6) Philadelphia
Did the Capitals expend too much energy just to get into the playoffs? That's the question that every prognosticator and Caps' fan wants to know. They enter this series as one of the hottest teams in the league, have the best player (Ovechkin), the best rookie (Backstrom), a budding superstar defenseman (Mike Green) and Fred Mertz look-alike (Boudreau) behind the bench. They've got a hot goalie in Huet and a playoff veteran in Federov but laregly an inexperienced and banged-up defensive corps. Still, that could be enough to beat Philadelphia, a team that appears to have a great near-future ahead of them, if Huet continues to sparkle in goal.

We both think this series might go the distance but both of us are tabbing the Caps based upon the momentum this team has generated through the last few weeks of the season. Whether or not the Caps get beyond the opening round could depend on the match-ups in the conference semifinals.

Droschak's Pick: Washington in 7
Danbury's Pick: Washington in 6

4) New Jersey vs. 5) New York Rangers
The two best teams in the conference finished the regular season as the fourth and fifth seeds, and clearly this is the East's best match-up that would be better served if it were the conference finals. The Devils have continued the same style of frustrating opponents defensively, in large part due to having perennial all-star Martin Brodeur in goal. Paul Martin, Colin White and Bryce Salvador are solid defensemen and Johnny Oduya has been a revelation this season with 20 assists and a team best plus/minus rating of +27. Sophomore winger Zach Parise is an extremely gifted offensive player who in another less defensive-minded system might be a 50-goal scorer. Patrik Elias had a decent season and the normally offensive-reserved John Madden had his career best point total (43) and three more shorthanded markers this year. Yet, the Devils will only be  successful if Brodeur gets hot and carries them.

For much of the season, the Rangers played beneath the level most expected from them but at times looked exceptional at both ends of the ice. Defensively, as shocking as it is to say, the Rangers are even better than the Devils. They allowed fewer shots, had a slightly better goals against average and a better penalty-kill unit than their cross-river rivals. And, Henrik Lundqvist is no slouch in goal and was superb against the Devils in the regular season.

Adding Scott Gomez, Chris Drury, Brandon Dubinsky and Marc Staal to the line-up makes the Rangers a potentially better team than the one that swept Atlanta and lost to Buffalo in the second round last year.

Droschak's Pick: New York in 7
Danbury's Pick: New York in 6

Staff Predictions for the Western Conference