Reasons why the Dallas Stars should win the Western Conference Final and a disagreement over who will win the Eastern Conference Final highlight a new episode of the "NHL @TheRink" podcast recorded Wednesday.
Co-hosts Dan Rosen and Shawn P. Roarke go back and forth about the Florida Panthers and New York Rangers early in the episode. Roarke believes the Panthers are the team to beat and picks them to win in seven games. Rosen offers reasons why the Rangers are the team of destiny and picks them in six.
The discussion ahead of Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Final at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday (8 p.m. ET; ESPN+, ESPN, SN, TVAS, CBC) also features a breakdown of the goaltending battle between New York's Igor Shesterkin and Florida's Sergei Bobrovsky.
Rosen talks about Bobrovsky having to be even better than he's been in the Stanley Cup Playoffs to date because his one guarantee in the series is that Shesterkin will be on his game, like he's been since early February, and it will be hard for the Panthers goalie to match him.
Roarke, not surprisingly, disagrees with Rosen's assessment.
They flip to the Western Conference Final and that's when the co-hosts start to agree, both picking the Stars to defeat the Edmonton Oilers in six games.
Rosen mentions the one caveat in his thinking is the Oilers' power play, which leads the playoffs at 37.5 percent, against Dallas' penalty kill (69.2 percent), but Roarke brings up the fact that he doesn't think Edmonton will get enough chances on the man-advantage to make a difference.
They also discuss the coaching moves around the NHL, including a deeper dive into the Toronto Maple Leafs hiring Craig Berube and the challenge he faces.
The "NHL @TheRink"podcast is free and listeners can subscribe on all podcast platforms. It is also available on NHL.com/multimedia/podcasts and the NHL app.
