The Tampa Bay Lightning and Colorado Avalanche are the favorites for the Stanley Cup Finals matchup.
• Read also: NHL playoffs: New York in the semi-finals
• Read also: The Lightning continues to regain energy
• To read also: The expected show between the Oilers and the Avalanche
At least that’s the opinion of our 15 participants, who, with one exception on either side, anticipate that in the Eastern Conference, the Florida squad will have the New York Rangers and that, in the West, the Denver team will eliminate the Edmonton Oilers.
Journal columnist and TVA Sports analyst Michel Bergeron is not only the only one to claim that Canada’s only quadruped team will succeed in beating the Avalanche, but he is also the only one to have predicted, before the start of the playoffs, that the Lightning would win a third straight Stanley Cup.
A perfect score
The sports director of the Journal de Montréal, Denis Poissant, is a band apart in the East. He expects a victory for Rangers, but the outcome will only be known after a seventh and decisive meeting.
All other pundits give the advantage to the Lightning. Four of them, Bergeron, Jonathan Bernier, Mathieu Boulay and Luc Grenier, give the Rangers only one win in this duel which will begin tonight at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Speaking of Grenier, he scored a perfect second-round score predicting wins for Tampa Bay, New York, Colorado and Edmonton.
In addition, the sports director at the Journal de Québec obtained the best record among our 15 analysts with 10 good predictions out of 12, for an average efficiency of 83%.
Pour Connor McDavid
If Bergeron chose the Oilers, it is largely for his appreciation of their captain.
“I love Connor McDavid, he exclaimed in a telephone interview with the Journal. He is a complete player and an outstanding puck handler. On the rink, there is a rolling fire.
“I see him even better than Mario Lemieux, Wayne Gretzky and Bobby Orr,” he said. I had the chance to direct Lemieux and Gretzky behind the bench [avec Jean Perron au Rendez-vous 1987] and I was able to see their talent. But I feel like McDavid is even more dominant. »
