NHL Playoffs, Round Two: the Western Conference is Crazy

So, first I'd like to brag that I correctly chose the winners of six out of eight series. I didn't get the number of games right in many cases, and I didn't make my predictions until after game 3, but whatever. The Flames lost, so not all the Northwest Division teams made it past the first round. However, something even cooler happened: all the top-seeded teams in the Western Conference were eliminated. That's right, numbers 5, 6, 7, and 8 are going on and 1-4 are out. I think that's pretty cool. The Eastern Conference is the exact opposite, all the top seeds are going on and the bottom four are out. So, that probably says something about differences between the two conferences. Here are my second round predictions, but I have to admit that the number of games is mostly a crap shoot.
Western Conference:

Avs beat the Mighty Ducks in 6 games -- the Ducks are good this year; they did force game 7 before beating the Flames after being down 3-2 in the series. However, I think that the matchup favors Colorado in most aspects -- we have a solid defense, a red-hot goalie, and a formidible four-line attack that features a few great scoring lines as well as some grinders. I love the Avs, I'm sure I'm not objective.

Sharks beat the Oilers in 7 games -- The real matchup here will be Roloson vs. Thornton+Cheechoo. My prediction is that in the end the league's leading scorer will crack Dwayne Roloson, talented as he is.

Eastern Conference:

Sabres beat the Senators in 7 games -- this is a really tough one, but I think the Sabres played with a lot more energy and intensity than the Senators last round, in my opinion.

Hurricanes beat the Devils in 6 games -- this is another tough one. But again I'm looking at last round. The Devils steam-rolled the Rangers with little competition. It'll be hard for them to gear up to play the Hurricanes. The Hurricanes, on the other hand, just came from being down 2-0 in the first series. They have some good momentum and intensity built up after that.

Not all the series will probably go as long as I've predicted, but I don't feel good enough about any of my choices to predict a faster finish. I thought that many of the series last round were incredibly exciting and I found the games very entertaining to watch. And I think its only going to get better with these new matchups.