With the conclusion of the first round in the Stanley Cup playoffs, we know provide our second-round predictions. Our initial guesses weren’t that bad: we were perfect in picking the Eastern Conference matchups (4-for-4), but we only got half the series right in the Western Conference—and the 2 predictions we missed were not even close. For the 6 matchups we got right, we were off by only 0.67 games per guess.

Pretty solid, but now it gets a lot harder.

Florida Panthers vs. Boston Bruins—There will be some bad blood here since the Panthers knocked off the Bruins in the first round last year after Boston had set some all-time records. Florida has the edges this year in home ice (thanks to a 1-point edge in standings), regulation wins (RW), and goal differential. But the Bruins will be focused on some revenge. This is going the distance, and it will be brutal. Florida in seven.

New York Rangers vs. Carolina Hurricanes—The Rangers have home ice (and they already took a 1-0 lead in this matchup last night, as the NHL lets the rounds overlap for some dumb reason), but the Hurricanes were the better team on paper this season. Alas, they don’t play the games on paper, do they? Old joke, we know, but Carolina has slight edges in all meaningful ways: SRS, RW, and goal differential. We think the Hurricanes will use all those sabermetric edges to overcome this early deficit. Carolina in seven.

Dallas Stars vs. Colorado Avalanche—This matchup harkens back to the late 1990s and early 2000s, for sure. The Stars just got pushed to the limit in the first round, though, and that may hurt them here. The Avs are inferior in SRS and goal differential, but they did have more RWs than Dallas did this year. We think the Stars will experience serious fatigue from the first-round test but triumph in the end. Dallas in seven.

Vancouver Canucks vs. Edmonton Oilers—As one of our friends put it, we hate the fact the only remaining Canadian teams have to face each other here. The Oilers have minimal edges in SRS and goal differential, while the Canucks have home ice and a big advantage in RWs. We hate to sound like a broken record, but all these matchups are nasty. The Cup wins you, after all. O Canada! Vancouver in seven.