Time for the latest update in my ongoing attempt to predict the outcome of NHL playoff series with Tarot readings. (I do other things besides this, even though it’s all I seem to be posting about. My research and home life have indeed both been very busy of late, but not largely with anything post-worthy. I do have a couple in the pipe that I will try and release later this week.) I got one of the two series correct (and pretty much exactly correct) but missed the other by a fair margin. Read on for the details!
Boston Bruins vs. Tampa Bay Lightning
Prediction: Boston in 7
Outcome: Boston in 7
This was every bit as close a match as the reading predicted, requiring a seventh game to decide, and that game was won by a single goal. And like the Ace of Cups showed, the Prince of Wales trophy did indeed get handed to the Bruins, though of course nobody actually touched it.
In terms of specifics, I predicted that goaltending would be a big factor, and indeed it was, though you might not know it from the scores of some of these games: Tampa Bay scored 5 goals in four of the seven games, and Boston was held to a single goal in only game 7. But considering the number of shots faced by both goalies, their save percentages are still impressive. Technically Roloson did give up fewer goals than Thomas, but that’s only because Thomas played all seven games while Mike Smith played the equivalent of two full games over the series, allowing only two goals (including a shutout performance in Tampa Bay’s comeback in Game 4; perhaps that’s what the Four of Pentacles was really talking about).
As predicted, Boston’s power play continued to be atrocious, going 3 for 24 on the power play in the series while allowing 3 power play goals in game 6 alone. While I admit I wasn’t really watching for Tampa Bay’s use of the 1-3-1 formation in most games, I believe the series-winning goal by Boston was a near-textbook example of how to defeat it. So all things considered, this reading definitely hit the high points of this series fairly accurately.
Vancouver Canucks vs. San Jose Sharks
Prediction: San Jose in 6
Outcome: Vancouver in 5
This reading, on the other hand, clearly did not predict the eventual outcome, and I can name two reasons why the series probably didn’t unfold as my reading predicted: Henrik and Daniel.
To be fair, there’s clearly more to it than just that, but I don’t think their combined 17 points in this series hurt Vancouver at all. In my defense, I did state that the series would probably be all-or-nothing for Vancouver, and that their chances would be a lot better if their top-scoring forwards could start producing, but based on the reading I didn’t see that happening, at least not to the extent that we saw. Even with the benefit of hindsight I don’t see anything that clearly suggests Vancouver’s dominance of this series.
Only one of these games went to overtime, meaning that San Jose didn’t really get to prove themselves in that area as they had in their previous series. The one game that did see overtime, Game 5, ended with Bieksa’s goal on a strange bounce that literally nobody but him saw coming. In the rest of the series they often trailed or couldn’t maintain a tie game when they needed to, and that cost them their shot at the Stanley Cup.
So with these two done, I am currently 9 for 14 in terms of accurate outcome predictions in these playoffs… not as good as I’d been hoping, honestly, but I am certainly learning a lot about what works and what doesn’t. (If you don’t count the four readings without a series outcome card that I did when first figuring out the best way to do these, I am 8 for 10.) Pentacles have almost always hinted at goaltending, and I’m beginning to see hints of what the other suits refer to as well.
Predictions aside, I’m quite pleased that Vancouver made it to the final, and will gladly cheer them on regardless of the outcome of my final prediction reading, which I will do before the first game on Wednesday. Go Canucks!