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Toronto Maple Leafs: 5 Playoff Predictions For Round 1 vs. Boston

By James Tanner

TORONTO, ON - JANUARY 7: John Tavares #91 of the Toronto Maple Leafs skates with the puck against the Nashville Predators during the second period at the Scotiabank Arena on January 7, 2019 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Kevin Sousa/NHLI via Getty Images)
TORONTO, ON - JANUARY 7: John Tavares #91 of the Toronto Maple Leafs skates with the puck against the Nashville Predators during the second period at the Scotiabank Arena on January 7, 2019 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Kevin Sousa/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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TORONTO, ON – MARCH 11: Tampa Bay Lightning Defenceman Victor Hedman (77) in warmups prior to the regular season NHL game between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Toronto Maple Leafs on March 11, 2019 at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, ON. (Photo by Gerry Angus/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
TORONTO, ON – MARCH 11: Tampa Bay Lightning Defenceman Victor Hedman (77) in warmups prior to the regular season NHL game between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Toronto Maple Leafs on March 11, 2019 at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, ON. (Photo by Gerry Angus/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

Tampa Loses

The Tampa Bay Lightning just finished one of the best seasons in NHL history.

They finished an insane 21 points ahead of both the Calgary Flames and the Boston Bruins, who tied for second.

The Lightning have a deep roster, a great blue line and a goalie who is among the best in the NHL.

But they are going to lose.

Nothing says they should lose.  The Blue Jackets barely scraped into the playoffs, the Lightning are basically everyone’s pick to win the Stanley Cup and everything is going their way.

But hockey is funny, and I just figure a team that found a way to almost go unbeaten using their back-up goalie for a large stretch of the season, and which is the only team in hockey to shoot over 20% on the PP is due for some struggles.

There is no rational reason to pick Columbus, but Bobrovsky and Panarin are two of the best players in the world and their roster should probably make them better than the eight seed.

I’m calling the upset.

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