2020 S7S Playoff Bracket Challenge: Round 1
Does this effectively make the Play-in “Round 0”?
The unprecedented 2020 Stanley Cup Qualifiers have concluded, and they were wild. Except for the games actually involving the Wild, those ones could cure insomnia.
Tired jokes aside, if you thought every division leader being bounced in the first round last year was weird, how about the Pittsburgh Penguins losing a best-of-five to the Montreal Canadiens, who were behind them in the standings by fifteen points!? Let’s take a look at how our predictions held up after the play-in.
2020 Playoff Bracket Results: Round 2
| Rank | User | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | MScaptura | 33 |
| 1 | Dbalkwill | 33 |
| 1 | Rockoblue | 33 |
| 4 | Abramov Kadabramov | 30 |
| 5 | Eldur00 | 28 |
| 5 | GoSensGo44 | 28 |
| 7 | DW19 | 24 |
| 8 | otsens11 | 23 |
| 8 | Shaan M | 23 |
| 8 | 98XK8 | 23 |
| 11 | StuInStupid | 22 |
| 12 | Fisher's Man Friend | 21 |
| 12 | MIKEEC67 | 21 |
| 14 | Ross A | 20 |
| 15 | Joshuacanada | 19 |
| 15 | aenesidemus | 19 |
| 15 | kohnan | 19 |
| 15 | Jahiegel | 19 |
| 19 | JeffreyLebowski | 15 |
| 19 | Eugenious von Melnyckson | 15 |
| 21 | SENS_Fan13 | 14 |
| 22 | KCblues | 13 |
| 22 | MG | 13 |
| 22 | bottomofthecup | 13 |
| 22 | alim1236 | 13 |
| 22 | afeene01 | 13 |
| 27 | Danielson6 | 12 |
| 28 | pmurray165 | 11 |
| 28 | Ottablah | 11 |
| 28 | Niachini2 | 11 |
| 28 | ottawabob | 11 |
| 32 | 2020 TML Cup Champians | 10 |
| 32 | 8149423853 | 10 |
| 32 | Alfie's broken stick | 10 |
| 32 | KingJulien17 | 10 |
| 36 | dabber | 9 |
| 36 | hughpouliot | 9 |
| 36 | gerryhughes | 9 |
| 36 | Maestro33 | 9 |
| 36 | 2tough4u | 9 |
| 36 | DaviesTheGreat | 9 |
| 36 | BravoMike | 9 |
| 36 | Xfabb1952 | 9 |
| 44 | Luna B | 8 |
| 44 | Ghazel | 8 |
| 44 | dennis red wing | 8 |
| 44 | KanevsKarl | 8 |
| 44 | Havey03 | 8 |
| 49 | Brandon Maki | 7 |
| 49 | gee.mo3 | 7 |
| 49 | Rubber Duck Dave | 7 |
| 52 | Peterkozel | 6 |
| 52 | 2121212121212 | 6 |
| 52 | GerGer | 6 |
| 52 | mark p 26 | 6 |
| 56 | Hamilton | 5 |
| 56 | Aurelian | 5 |
| 56 | kaz1722 | 5 |
| 56 | afeene01 | 5 |
| 56 | Bodega | 5 |
| 56 | cook time 22 | 5 |
| 56 | SylvainTurgeon61 | 5 |
| 63 | Sensfan88 | 4 |
| 63 | bbell88 | 4 |
| 63 | senatorsrock65 | 4 |
| 63 | Crackeyes | 4 |
| 63 | Winner Winner Chicken Dinner | 4 |
| 68 | Joe | 2 |
| 68 | bigmak16 | 2 |
| 68 | Marvellous | 2 |
| 71 | FilipKubaGoodingJr. | 0 |
Our four leaders thus far, with 13 points each, are aenesidemus, KCblues, MG, and bottomofthecup. All four correctly guessed 5/8 series, which is the most anyone got right. You can thank Montreal and Chicago for that; 5 of 59 picked the Habs to beat the Penguins, and only one had the Hawks advancing; shout-out to otsens11 for that bold prediction! Finally, a special shout-out to FilipKubaGoodingJr. for being the only one to go 0/8 in the play-ins!
It’s alright if you didn’t score high this round; there are four more to make up ground, and everyone’s Cup winner is still alive.
Now it’s time to submit our picks for the first round. As usual, please provide each of your picks and Silver Seven username in the form to follow, also available here. If you missed the boat on the play-in form, here’s your last chance to jump on board; you have until 3:00 PM EST on August 11th.
Points will be the same as in the previous round, two for a correct winner, plus one more for the correct number of games. You’ll also predict the playoff scoring leader (not counting the play-in or round-robin games!), which will be the tiebreaker if necessary at the end of the playoffs. You won’t be penalized for picking teams that you predicted to lose in the play-in. If you think our logic is flawed, please consider it an homage to the draft lottery.
Anyway, it’s a clean slate in the first round, so make your picks with full confidence! Perhaps you’re leaning towards teams with former Sens players? Lots of great options available; Mark Stone, Ben Bishop, Robin Lehner, Jean-Gabriel Pageau...huh, I could have sworn there were more of these guys when I last checked, wonder where they went?
Good luck everyone!