Toronto Jules

#LeafsNation

I doubt the Hockey Gods will curse the Tampa Bay Lightning for damaging the Cup, but I surely hope that the Toronto Maple Leafs can put a curse on them in round one and remove them from the playoffs.

Close games do add to the amount of adult beverages that are consumed during the game. Players such as Matthews, Marner, Tavares, Nylander and Rielly really need to step it up offensively.

Being a Canadian I want the Stanley Cup to come back to Canada. The Leafs are the team I'd love to see win it all and that leaves two other teams that they could play against being the Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames. I believe the Flames are more the complete team of the two and the Oilers are the offensive team. My pick is the Leafs over the Flames in 7 games.

The way the series are playing out so far with the exception of the Colorado and Nashville series all the series look pretty desirable to me. There is a chance heading into tonight's match ups that all the games other than the COL/NAS series will be tied 2-2 at the end of 4 games. You couldn't ask for any tighter series than that. For me the most desirable though is the TOR/TB series not only because I am a Leafs fan, but also looking at this series it has a lot riding on it. The Leafs of course want to get this series win and get the playoff jinx out of their heads. While the Lightning want to move on and continue their quest for their 3rd cup in a row. This series is also very tight and most likely will go to game 7.

When I saw this match up I got really excited because I knew this was going to be one hell of a series. The Leafs wanted to get the playoffs jinx off their back and what a better way to do it by eliminating the 2 time defending champions. This is not going to be an easy task at all. The Lightning comes with one of the best goalies in the league and also a top notch D. The Leafs I believe have a slightly stronger offense which will push them over the top. This series is going to go back and forth and all the way to the end with I hope the Leafs taking it in game 7.

Matthews is unreal. Many say he is not the most valuable for his team because he plays with the likes of Marner and Tavares, Nylander, and Rielly on the PP, but he is the one who sparks it all. Tavares is the Captain and he deserves that for what he does, but Matthews stirs the pot.

The Leafs ended up with the Lightning as we all know and this series looks like it is headed to go the distance. There are definitely things that lean towards the Lightning taking this series and one of those things is experience in the playoffs. One other thing is the Lightning D and Goalie. I do think home ice is going to be important as well and that has a slight advantage to the Leafs. I also think that the Leafs offense although the Lightning has a great offense will heat up and be the difference. This series will go to game 7.