Stanley Cup – Conference Finals Predictions

The Stanley Cup Conference Finals begin tonight so it’s time for my predictions:

Pittsburgh Penguins defeat Tampa Bay Lightning – Pittsburgh has been on a roll, playing great team defense and getting scoring up and down the lineup.  Tampa Bay’s defense is somewhat depleted due to injury but it’s possible some of their injured stars, including Steven Stamkos, may be back at some point in this series.  The wild card is the goalie matchup between Ben Bishop and Matt Murray – and, if Murray has a bad game, do the Penguins go to Marc Andre Fleury.  This should be a barn-burner of a series with both teams having a potent offense – it might very well go the distance.

San Jose Sharks defeat St. Louis Blues – No one has been able to stop Joe Pavelski and the Sharks offense yet and the Blues defense looked a little porous in the last series against Dallas.  Martin Jones looked a little shaky in nets in the latter part of San Jose’s prior series with Nashville while Brian Elliott, with the exception of one bad game, has been outstanding in goal for St. Louis. The Blues will be trying to grind down the San Jose defense as the series goes along, but I just don’t think St. Louis will be able to generate enough scoring to offset the Sharks’ prolific offense.