NHL Playoff Predictions: Panthers vs. Hurricanes, Stars vs. Golden Knights, MVP and Stanley Cup Champion

The NHL’s final four are set, with the Panthers and Hurricanes kicking off the Eastern Conference Final on Thursday night, and the Stars and Golden Knights opening the Eastern Conference Final. West Friday.

It’s not a conference-championship field that many of us saw coming. In fact, none of the 41 members of AthleticismThe staff who voted in our second-round predictions correctly picked all four winners – and only six had more than half.

Will the next round come a little closer to expectations?

Here are our picks, with analysis, reviews and a few trolls from senior national writer Sean Gentille, national writer Hailey Salvian, analytics guru Shayna Goldman and NHL betting expert Jesse Granger.

Conference Final Predictions

Eastern Conference: Panthers vs. Hurricanes

Kind: Over 40% of voters think this one goes seven games? I can’t tell if it’s a little or a lot.

Goldman: To me, that says we all anticipate this to be a close series, who… can it be after everything we just saw in Round 2?

Granger: The Hurricanes are now the betting favorites to win it all 2-1. That sound you hear is me running to catch up with the bandwagon after falling in March. I picked Carolina to win the Cup in pre-season and was on board until Andrei Svechnikov was injured. The rods proved to be talented and deep enough to overcome that, and more.

Salvian: We’ve all talked about injuries in Carolina so much that we’ve forgotten (1) Rod Brind’Amour and (2) the quality of that roster. That said, we all keep picking against Florida, and the Panthers keep winning. It should be fun.

Western Conference: Stars vs. Golden Knights

Kind: The total number for the Stars seems fair to me. I know they just had a seven-game streak, but they’re really, really tough to play against, especially if you think (like me) Jason Robertson’s breakout is imminent.

Goldman: The Stars were one of the quietest contenders to enter the playoffs, so they absolutely deserve their moment here. But it’s kind of crazy that there isn’t a bit more support behind a Vegas team that took a serious contender in the Oilers – our staff’s first pick to win the Stanley Cup ahead of the first and second rounds. (Says, of course, someone who also chose the stars here.)

Granger: I think it’s more than a little crazy that Dallas gets nearly 70% of the vote, especially since Vegas is the betting favorite in this series (-140). Dallas won all three regular season games, but two came via shootout. After these teams were involved in many high-scoring games in their previous series, I expect this one to be much more of a defensive chess game between coaches Bruce Cassidy and Pete DeBoer.

Salvian: I picked Dallas in seven, but Vegas seems like a really tough outing. They’re a good five-on-five team with a mix of depth and star power. Adin Hill intervened well after the injury of Laurent Brossoit, but I am a little worried about the luck of their goalkeeper.

Beyond the third round

Stanley Cup winner

Kind: Looking back, it seems like we as a staff went a bit too far on the Oilers.

Salvian: So… 65% of our staff picked the Leafs or the Oilers to win the Cup before the start of the second round?

Goldman: Apparently it took two rounds for the Hurricanes to crush him, despite all their injuries, for us to support them. The Panthers don’t seem to get the same respect, even after knocking out Boston and Toronto.

Granger: The Panthers have the best two-round resume of each of those four teams and a scorching goaltender, but that’s still not enough to get more than a handful of votes.

Winner Conn Smythe

Goldman: Almost all of Conn Smyth’s current nominees, aside from Jake Oettinger, weren’t someone we expected to be here before the playoffs started. Of the remaining players, Matthew Tkachuk is still pretty low, but he (and the Panthers) doesn’t seem to have a problem being underrated.

Kind: Someone else here predicted that Hintz would win the Conn Smythe path at the start of this. I won’t say who.

Salvian: It was me. #HintzHive!

Granger: Take a look at what Jack Eichel is doing in the first playoffs of his career. He leads Vegas with 14 points and is third of all remaining players, behind only Hintz (19) and Tkachuk (16). His game away from the puck was even more impressive. The Golden Knights outscored the teams 10-4 with Eichel on the ice at even strength. If Vegas continues to win, he is the team’s current favorite.

How have we done so far?

First Round Series Predictions

Here’s how our first-round predictions held up, with the actual series result, the percentage of voters who picked the right team and the percentage who picked the right team, and the number of games:

And second round:

(Illustration: John Bradford / Athleticism; photos: Ethan Miller, Maddie Meyer and Jaylynn Nash/Getty Images)