It’s fair to say that the 2017 Stanley Cup playoffs have been fairly surprising so far. For example, for the first time in over 15 years, no first round series went seven games. The big story of the first round was how close we came to having both top seeds in each conference bounced in the first round. The Capitals rallied from a 2-1 deficit in games to beat Toronto in six, but they needed two overtime games to pull that series from the fire. And perhaps the biggest story of all was the upstart Predators sweeping number one seeded Chicago, allowing only three goals total in the process.
With matchups for round two set and play scheduled to start tonight, Unanimous A. I. wanted to bring back a swarm of NHL fans to predict the rest of the playoffs. The swarm took a look at the current conference semi-final round, and also a longer look ahead at some hypothetical matchups created by their second-round playoff picks.
The UNU Swarm of hockey fans doesn’t see anyone having too easy of a time in the second round. The surprising Predators were picked to prevail over an equally feisty St. Louis team, while the Ducks are predicted to have just enough to win out over a talented young Edmonton club. The closest thing to a best bet in this round is the swarm’s pick for New York to win out over Ottawa. In the final playoff series this round, the UNU Swarm sees an absolute war between Alex Ovechkin’s Capitals and Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The swarm was also asked to look ahead. Based on the UNU picks from the second round, how did the group see the rest of the post-season playing out?
As you can see, the swarm predicts that if Washington can somehow survive their round two clash with the formidable Penguins, they should be able to navigate their way to the finals. In that matchup, UNU predicts they’ll meet Anaheim, with the Capitals finally bringing home Lord Stanley’s Cup to long-suffering DC hockey fans.
Unanimous A.I. conducts swarms about movies, music, sports, and politics every week. If you’d like to get more information on these UNUs and their predictions, please drop us a line below.
