Senators-Rangers Predictions

1) Who gets more points in the series, Derick Brassard or Mika Zibanejad?

Adnan: I am going with Brassard. He led all Senators forwards with 22:32 of power play time and the Rangers were among the leaders in the first round in time spent on the penalty kill. Add that to the fact that Brassard got four power play points in round one, and you have to think he is going to get more chances for points.

Ary: DJ Z-Bad, much to the chagrin of the Ottawa Senators.

Beata: Mika Zibanejad, but I think they'll both play pretty well.

B_T: Big Game Brass. I think he’ll get more time and opportunity, and the Rangers scoring is more distributed than most teams.

Callum: Brassard; he's got double what Zibanejad has right now, so I'll ride the hotter hand.

Colin: Is it cheating to say a tie? Both have been fantastic so far in the playoffs, and I'm expecting that to continue.

nkb: Brassard's looked great and he's found a home on the first power play unit, so I expect him to keep scoring againt his old squad.

Peter: I will say Zibanejad, because I doubt Brassard can continue with above-point-per-game production; he'll probably come back down to earth in round two. Hopefully Mark Stone and Kyle Turris will be able to lead the way offensively against the Rangers, because Brassard and Ryan won't be able to maintain their current pace.

Ross: Derick Brassard, just to be contrarian.

Trevor: Brassard. He's looked amazing in the playoffs, and this is exactly why Ottawa traded for him.

2) There are seven forwards with ice time in round one without a goal - Burrows, Dzingel, Kelly, Pyatt, Smith, Stalberg and Wingels. Who is the first of them to net one in the second round?

Adnan: Stålberg had 13 shots on goal and no one else in the group had more than nine. So I will go with him.

Ary: Dzingel is the easy pick here because he generates 1-2 prime chances a game, but I'm going to go with Burrows.

Beata: I'm tempted to say Smith, but I'll go with Dzingel since he's looked really good so far.

B_T: Zack Smith. He seems to get a lot of his goals out of the net-front scrums, and we’re going to need that against Lundqvist.

Callum: The way the Senators are going to beat Henrik Lundqvist is going to be traffic, traffic and more traffic. I like Zack Smith's odds if I'm banking on them scoring garbage goals on the King.

Colin: Although Dzingel's been the hot hand as of late in generating chances, I'll say Burrows solely based on that he's the only who's been getting time on the power play (2:20 per game).

nkb: Dzingel has been very good, he just hasn't had the bounces lately. They're going to come in a flurry at some point so I'll choose him here.

Peter: Although I keep expecting Burrows to do something offensively, I bet Smith will be the first to notch a goal of that bunch.

Ross: Pyatt, because he seems to get a goal every few games even though I have no idea how.

Trevor: Dzingel. He gets too many chances around the net for him not to score eventually. I wouldn't trust him to score on an empty net, but you'd think he'll get one soon enough.

3) The Senators held the Bruins to under 25 shots per 60 minutes of play - the lowest of any team in the first round. What will they limit the Rangers to?

Adnan: I will go with 28 because...reasons. The system isn't too fun.

Ary: 28. The Bruins were a better team when it came to shot metrics in the regular season while the Rangers were around where the Senators were. However, I think the Rangers quick-strike offense will give them the ability to break down the Sens NZ trap a bit more than the B's were able to.

Beata: Around 30 shots. The Rangers are a great offensive team, and I think they'll have a much easier time managing the Sens' defense than the Bruins did. My guess is most of those shots will come in short bursts, as New York takes advantage of those occasional defensive lapses we kept seeing in Round 1.

B_T: Boston was far more high output than the Rangers in the regular season, and I think that holds true here. They’ll get rounded down to 23 shots per 60 minutes.

Callum: 30. Anderson is going to have to be good.

Colin: The Rangers have only averaged only 29 shots per 60 minutes from the beginning of the season to now. Coincidentally in the same time frame, the Sens have averaged 29 shots against per 60 mins. I'll go with that.

nkb: These are two teams with deep, fast forward groups and weak defense corps -- I suspect there are going to be a lot of shots both ways. Rangers will go for 32 a game, but the Sens will get 34.

Peter: I will arbitrarily guess... 32, maybe? New York is healthier, faster, and has a more potent offence than Boston, so I doubt Ottawa will be able to keep them quiet for long stretches like they did against the Bruins.

Ross: 26. It'll tick up, but not a lot.

Trevor: I think Ottawa can still keep the shots at under 30 per game, but it'll be around 28 or 29 because the Rangers offense is much deeper than the Bruins. I feel like Anderson will have to be even better, as some defensemen on the team will get more easily exposed.

4) Last round we asked about Chris Neil drawing in for added toughness. For this round, does Colin White draw in at any point to add some extra scoring touch?

Adnan: To borrow a saying, probably not.

Ary: With Ryan, Smith, Stalberg all getting banged up a little during the Bruins series, I'd like to think that Colin White draws in. I'll say Game 4 at MSG.

Beata: No. I don't think Boucher would risk changing things, and he's made it pretty clear that he doesn't trust White.

B_T: No, I think Boucher sticks with experience here.

Callum: You've got to think that Colin White is ahead of Chris Neil in the internal depth charts, but White is still behind Kelly and Dzingel when the Senators have a completely healthy roster. So it's going to be hard to see him in there without a trio of injuries to the top 12. I don't think we see it, and I don't think it's good news if we see it.

Colin: White doesn't seem to have any place in the Boucher hierarchy. I'll pick the negative.

nkb: Colin White's not coming in unless it's a disaster situation and I don't see the Sens getting blown away by the Rangers. No games for the rookie.

Peter: Nope. If we didn't see him in the first round, I doubt we'll see him this round either.

Ross: No he won't. Boucher is happy with the lines he's chosen.

Trevor: Once again, I'll predict that a certain player (this time it's White) will come in for game 4 after Ottawa goes down in the series 2-1. He has to play at least one game at some point, right?

5) Which Senator will have the biggest breakout vs their round 1 performance?

Adnan: Mike Hoffman. He will score every other game and be a point/game. He leads the team in shots and probably scoring chances, but they were just not going in.

Ary: Mark Stone (again)

Beata: Kyle Turris. He wasn't bad in the first round, but he certainly didn't stand out to me. I'm hoping he scores a few more goals and starts to carry the offense a bit more.

B_T: Smart money is on Mark Stone, right?

Callum: I'll double down and say Zack Smith scores three goals this series.

Colin: Somehow Mike Hoffman only ended the series with three points. He breaks out for at least twice that in round two.

nkb: Mark Stone is going to break out in a big way. i thought Stone got better as the series went on, and if he's permanently playing with Mike Hoffman that will help juice his offense.

Peter: Mark Stone.

Ross: Burrows. After a great end to the year, he went quiet in the playoffs. I'm ready for him to start mixing it up, getting someone to lose their head and take a dumb penalty.

Trevor: Chris Wideman. I'm a big fan of Wideman, and I think he has too short of a leash sometimes. He didn't have that great of a first round, and if he's in the lineup, I think he can bounce back. I honestly think he was Ottawa's second best defenseman this season, so I don't see why he'd continue to play so poorly.

6) What is your series prediction?

Adnan: Senators in seven. We will go up 2-0, then back to 2-2 and everyone will panic!

Ary: Sens in 6 because it worked last time!

Beata: I'll say Sens in 7 again, though I hope they manage to do it in fewer games.

B_T: Senators in 6.

Callum: Well, it worked last time, so Rangers in 6.

Colin: Sens in six!

nkb: Sens in 7. It'll be a close one, but I think the Sens are the better squad. They'll win out.

Peter: Sens in seven.

Ross: In my pre-playoff bracket, I had this matchup and said Rangers in 7. I'll stick with it to hedge my bets and my feelings.

Trevor: Rangers in 6. Much like Ary and Callum, this worked for us in the first round.

Who wins round 2?