NHL 3rd ROUND SELECTIONS

Colorado vs Vegas

Colorado continued its dominant ways in the playoffs by dispatching the Minnesota Wild in only 5 games. Now they take on a red hot Vegas team making its 2nd conference final appearance in 4 years. Mitch Marner has been an absolute beast so far in the playoffs for Vegas, but will that even matter against this Colorado juggernaut. One potential hiccup for Colorado is defenseman Cale Makar who is banged up. He's considered a gametime decision for game 1 but is expected to play. Colorado has the look of a team poised to hoist the Stanley Cup. Vegas will likely need a monster performance from Carter Hart in net. Marner and Jack Eichel who have been great so far, will need to even better. Vegas will need all hands on deck to take down Colorado. I am just not seeing it though.

COLORADO IN 5

Carolina vs Montreal

After a hard fought gruelling series against the upstart Buffalo Sabres, Montreal is back at it again. Montreal is starting its series against Carolina on only 2 days rest compared to a whopping 12 days for Carolina. To make matters worse, Montreal has played 14 games to Carolina's 8, the worst possible scenario through two rounds. The good news is Montreal is a young team and fatigue might not be quite the factor it normally would be. Even so this is a clear advantage for the Hurricanes. While rust could be a factor in the first game I doubt it will last much beyond the first period. Vegas seems to agree installing Carolina as hefty favourites for game one. Surprisingly Montreal won all 3 games vs Carolina in the regular season but that doesn't count for much in the playoffs. Carolina should roll here. The chances of an upset I think hinges on the goaltenders. Frederik Andersen is due for some negative regression I would think. That coupled with a herculean performance by Jakub Dobes would be the pathway to a Montreal upset in this series. However even if Andersen comes back down to earth Dobes looked shaky at times against Buffalo a lesser team than Carolina. All signs point to a Carolina victory here. That said I expect Montreal to put up more of a fight against Carolina than Ottawa and Philadelphia did.

CAROLINA IN 6