NHL Conference Finals: The Dawn is Upon Us

It's Mayhem! It's Madness! It's the NHL.

As we last visited my NHL Playoff predictions, Edmonton vs Anaheim and Washington vs The Penguins were each down to their final Game 7 of the series.

My predictions were:

The Ducks winning with 5, the Oilers 3.

The Penguins winning 4 - 3 in one OT with The Capitals.

The actual results of Game 7:

Ducks 2, Edmonton 1.

The Penguins 2, The Capitals 0.

At least I correctly picked the teams, not the scores or the one OT I thought would be a distinct possibility between the Pengs and Caps considering the scores of games 1-6 which ran the gamut from 6-4, 4-2, 4-3...those kind of numbers. One with an overtime, I forget which.

Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury was unstoppable. He deflected each and every shot on goal from Washington. The Caps had a great run. At the beginning of the season, I would not have predicted they'd make the playoffs.

Regarding The Ducks and The Oilers; Wednesday's victory for the Ducks ended their long streak of losing on home ice. Finally!

And we are down to the Conference Finals, the winners of which will play for the Stanley Cup.

Nashville is making its first appearance in franchise history in the Western Conference Finals. Yeah, I know Nashville is nowhere near the West, so how do they end up in the Western Conference? Call NHL Commish Gary Bettman to answer that one.

Nashville plays the Ducks in Anaheim tonight for Game 1 in their series.

I don't have any horse in this game, or any other - just a  matter of which team(s) I'd like to see win and my own fantasy NHL playoff picks.

I think Nashville is unbeatable this year, except if they end up playing The Penguins.

For tonight's game, I'm going to say that The Ducks are going to carryover that "home ice" win against Edmonton in Game 7 and win tonight.

Final Score Game 1 Western Conf:

Ducks 5, Nashville 4

Saturday, May 13, is Game 1 between The Penguins and The Ottawa Senators.

At the beginning of the playoffs, Ottawa beat Boston in their series by 4 - 2.

Ottawa went on to beat the NY Rangers in their series also by 4 - 2. And, coincidentally, The Rangers closed down their series also with a 4 - 2 win against the Chicago Blackhawks.

And in Round 1, in the Eastern Conference Washington wrapped up their initial match-up against Toronto with a series win also 4 - 2.

So I think all some of these odd, numerical similarities make for interesting number crunching.

For Total games and best win record, Nashville takes the cake.

From First Round to these Conference games:

Nashville played a total of 12,  EDIT:  15  games, only 2,  EDIT:  3 losses.

Ottawa played a total of 16 games with 4 losses.

Anaheim played 11 total games with 3 losses.

Pittsburgh played 12 total games with 4 losses.

On the Eastern Side of the country, I also have no horses or Penguins or Senators in the race. I do like the Penguins and I'd like to see them win this year, which would make them the first team to win two consecutive Cups since the Detroit Red Wings won back to back in 1997 and 1998.

I think the Penguins have an uphill battle. Winnable, but uphill.

Final Score Game 1 Eastern Conf; (May 13) - Ottawa playing on Pittsburgh ice:

Ottawa 2, Penguins 1.

Corrections made 5/13/2017