M&G Writers Playoff Pool (Round 2)

As the 2nd round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs are set to begin, we too at Matchsticks are set to reveal our individual picks for this round.  As with the last round we will pick each series' winner and game amount along with a couple bonus questions to follow.

Here's a recap of our 1st round choices and the standings in our pool:

*Bolded team name or game amount indicates correct choice

With that we now include our pool's standings after the first round of the playoffs with the following points system for this round:

• Each correct series winner gets 4 points
• Each correct games amount gets 2 points
• If a Cup Champ prediction is correct 10 points will be added to that person's score at the end
• Correct leading scorer prediction gets 6 points

Some of us clearly had more luck than others this round but 5/6 of us lost our early Stanley Cup favorites with yearly contenders Anaheim, Chicago, and Los Angeles all biting the dust earlier than anyone could've expected. The playoffs are sure to bring some very interesting matchups in the second round such as the revival of the Crosby/Ovechkin rivalry.

Below are our picks for the 2nd round of the playoffs and we all update our Stanley Cup prediction based on who's left standing. The point scoring system will remain the same except for the bonus questions being worth 3 and 5 points respectively now.

Our picks for the upcoming round revealed some interesting trends among our writers. Clearly Washington is the new favorite to win the Stanley Cup while nobody is thinking that the Predators can upset the Sharks like they just did to the Ducks. We're also majorly favoring Washington for this upcoming round to get by Sidney Crosby and the Pens.

Discuss who you think will win the Stanley Cup and tell us whose picks you agree most with for this round. Also be sure to vote in the poll below to tell us which series you're most looking forward to. We're down from 16 teams to 8 as the playoffs continue to roll along.