Team Analysis

Edmonton Blizzard
With the 3rd leading scorer in the league, and tied for 3rd highest goal scorer, Edmonton has a lot of high end skill that could easily blow any game out of the water. They aren't completely lacking depth either with numerous 10+ goal scorers as well as their defensive regularly contributing offensively as well. The biggest concern will likely be how much of the team can contribute if both Tony Pepperoni and Julio Tokolosh aren't able to play at the eye-popping levels at the beginning of the season? So far as the Blizzard have shown, while they're inclined to get the puck going up and focus their efforts on scoring, there's a lot left to desire when it comes to their play in the other two zones, surrendering almost as many shots as they take and allowing almost 3 goals a game on average, 2nd worst out of any playoff team right now. What they will likely continue to rely on is the powerplay difference, scoring 0.9 PPG per game to go with the relative lack of penalties taken.

New Orleans Specters
While Edmonton struggled with questions near the end of the season, New Orleans had struggles at the start as they continued to put together more and more quality performances. Offensively, they aren't up there with most of the other powerhouses currently and their goaltending has been a little suspect at times but they do a solid job of trying to play a two-way game that has shown smart puck possession, tilting the ice in their favor over time in a game. They have their own brand of star power but the main advantage for the Specters is the balanced scoring throughout their lineup. Currently no member of their top 6 has scored less than 40 points a season. With the physical presence of Lil' Manius being the primary distributor this season with the new addition of Olivier Cloutier finally clicking with their new team, there's a bit of bite to the top line in particular as well.

Keys to Series Win

Edmonton wins if...
Their top 2 stars of Pepperoni and Tokolosh capture their league leading forms, carrying the rest of their team to a win in a tight series needing a difference maker or two. Right now Emiko Spector has outplayed Aleister Cain and if they continue to do so, will give a serious advantage to the Blizzard.

New Orleans wins if...
They can weather the Edmonton offense. The season series has been in terms of wins for either team, but Edmonton has absolutely dumpstered the Specters in shots every time. Some of it came at the hands of timely goals with limited chances so if that's to continue with Cain playing like we all expect him to be able to do, New Orleans can squeak out without too much anxiety.

Prediction

Puck possession domination by Edmonton combined with some relatively shaky goaltending by New Orleans has me leaning in favor of Edmonton taking this in 7, even with the New Orleans depth offensively having the edge.