Summer predicitons: Pens, Magic will be champions

Sure, the weather’s heating up. But so are the playoffs.

There have been upsets… Sure, the weather’s heating up. But so are the playoffs.

There have been upsets abound so far in the first round of both the NHL and NBA playoffs. In hockey, the seventh-seeded Philadelphia Flyers upset the second-seeded New Jersey Devils in five games, even after losing two of their best players, Simon Gagne and Jeff Carter, for the rest of the playoffs with foot injuries. Barring an upset of epic proportions, the Flyers will take on the Washington Capitals in the second round.

Being a native Pittsburgher, I cannot tell you how much I hate both of those teams. But, for the sake of the Pens, I will be rooting for the Flyers. Wow, writing that just made me cringe. Anyhow, I just don’t see Philly being able to keep up offensively with Ovechkin and company. I’m calling the Caps in six.

The Pens, fresh off that exciting series with Ottawa, will most likely play the winner of the Buffalo-Boston series, in which Boston currently leads 3-2 and Game 6 takes place tonight. I think that Buffalo will even the series with a victory tonight, but look for the Bruins to win Game 7. The Pens, led by a red-hot Sidney Crosby, will win three one-goal games and win the series in five.

In the West, top seed San Jose dispatched the pesky Colorado Avalanche in six games, and will probably play the Phoenix Coyotes in the second round. The fourth seed Coyotes sent their first-round series to the seventh game with a blowout win over Detroit. Look for them to carry momentum into the biggest home game the franchise has had since moving to the desert in 1996 and advance to the second round for the first time in over twenty years to end the Wings’ run at a third-straight Finals appearance.

The ‘Yotes will face another team with little postseason success when the play the Sharks. San Jose, after a shaky start against Colorado, found a nice groove that makes it look very dangerous. However, its tradition of playoff futility will continue when it falls to Phoenix in seven games.

The Vancouver Canucks are in a battle with the Los Angeles Kings. The Canucks will close out the Kings and then play the winner of the Chicago-Nashville series. Again I see momentum factoring heavily in this series, and the Blackhawks have all of it after that stunning overtime victory Saturday night that saw Patrick Kane tie the game with a short-handed goal in the last 15 seconds, then Marian Hossa win it with a goal immediately after coming out of the penalty box in overtime. Hawks in six.

For the conference finals, a highly entertaining rematch between the Pens and Caps will be alongside an interesting Coyotes-Blackhawks series. Everyone will have their eyes on the Sid-Ovie rivalry and will mostly forget about the ‘Yotes and Hawks. Well don’t. The Coyotes are an exciting young team that the NHL rescued from bankruptcy, and the Hawks, one of the “Original Six” NHL teams, are hungry for a title — they haven’t won a Cup in fifty years. Anyway, the Washington-Pittsburgh series promises to be just as exciting as last year’s, with the outcome also being the same – the Pens in seven. Call it Yinzer bias if you want, but I just don’t see the Capitals being able to beat the Penguins in the playoffs. Now back to Phoenix-Chicago. As great as the Coyotes’ run has been this year, it comes to an end here, when the Blackhawks close out the series in six.

Now on to the Stanley Cup Finals. Both teams boast young, exciting offensive talent. Expect the Pens to match up their tough guy line of Mike Rupp, Craig Adams and Matt Cooke, who played so admirably against the Senators, against the top line of Hossa, Kane and Jonathan Toews. Both teams’ spectacular but inconsistent goalies, Marc-Andre Fleury and Antti Niemi, will need to step up to the challenge that is their opponents’ offensive prowess. Fleury’s Cup track record makes the difference, and the Pens continue the “Hossa Curse,” winning in six.

The first round of the NBA playoffs is not typically as exciting as the first round of the NHL — maybe that’s just my opinion — but this year some upsets are brewing. The Cavaliers are facing a much tougher opponent than expected in the eighth-seed Chicago Bulls, and Cleveland is currently up 3-1. Yet, King James and the Cavs can’t expect to coast through the first round, but they will pull their act together in time to win the series in seven.

Tonight, look for the second-seed Orlando Magic to finish out the Bobcats and the Atlanta Hawks continue on their way to the second round with a defeat of the Milwaukee Bucks. Tomorrow the Heat will bow out to the Celtics — they will stifle Dwyane Wade eventually.

Now I’m going to jump on the Oklahoma City Thunder bandwagon. Mark my words, Kevin Durant will outplay Kobe and the Thunder will complete possibly the biggest upset in NBA Playoff history and win in seven. All of the other higher seeded teams in the West — Dallas, Phoenix and Denver — will come from behind and win their hard-fought series.

Orlando will continue its dominating season and defeat the Hawks in six, and the Celtics will upset the shaky Cavs, knocking out the other top-seeded team early. Mark Cuban and the Dallas Mavericks will end the Thunder’s Cinderella run and will meet up with the Suns in the Conference finals after they defeat the Nuggets, I’m thinking in seven.

“Superman” Dwight Howard will lead the Magic over the Celtics in seven games and onto the NBA Finals where they will play the Steve Nash-led-Suns, who will defeat the Mavs. The difference-maker in the Finals is going to be a throwback. An aging Vince Carter will hit a buzzer-beater in game six to give the Magic their first ever NBA Championship, and reignite the country full of “Vince-anity.”

In baseball news, the Pittsburgh Pirates have just hit the annual spring snag that will once again send them spiraling into the abyss that is last place. I had high hopes for this year’s team — ok, modest hopes — and the recent series with the Milwaukee Brewers demolished any optimistic thoughts that I had. Being outscored 36-1 is embarrassing enough, but follow that up with a sweep at the hands of the hapless Houston Astros is just too much. I hope the management decides to care sometime soon.

Now on to the rest of the league. The Phillies once again look like the team to beat in the National League — another cringe — Roy Halladay was a great pick up this offseason, and with a 4-0 record and sub-1.00 ERA it seems that when he takes the mound it is an automatic W.

Baseball, as much as I love it, has become entirely too predictable. The Yankees, of $200-million-dollar-payroll fame, will start another 1990s-like dynasty. Oh, and the American League will once again win the All-Star game, giving the Yanks (or whoever else) home field advantage.

It looks like we are in for another exciting summer full of upsets, Pens dominance, Pirates futility and sunburn.

Have fun and wear sunscreen.