After picking seven of eight series winners in Round One, the About.com brain trust slumped to a woeful 1-3 record in our second round forecast.

It's time to go against the grain.

(1) Detroit Red Wings vs. (5) Dallas Stars

Watch Detroit during these playoffs and it's awfully hard to cast a dissenting vote. As many have pointed out, this team looks tougher and more resilient than in recent years.

But if recent years have taught us anything, it's that the Red Wings always look terrific, until they don't.

Nashville and Colorado were weak opponents. Dallas is different. If you had to design a team to beat the Wings, it would look a lot like the team that just beat San Jose.

The Stars have the better goaltender, a strong forecheck, they spread the ice time around, and they won't hand Detroit all those gift-wrapped 3-on-2s and 2-on-1s like Colorado did.

Yes, the Wings have loads of skill and speed and have learned from past failures. That's what we've been saying about them for the last five years. Marty Turco is the hottest goalie of this playoff season, and there's every reason to believe he'll keep it up: Stars in Six.

(2) Pittsburgh Penguins vs. (6) Philadelphia Flyers

Isn't anybody going to pick the upset? I guess it's up to me.

Against Washington and Montreal, Philadelphia showed it can stop - or at least survive - a high-octane attack. Crosby is a great playmaker, but neutralizing Malkin is the greater challenge. The Flyers did a decent job against Ovechkin and Kovalev, so they're familiar with the task.

Everyone's raving about Pittsburgh's defense and goaltending. We'll see how their stamina holds. With their stacked forward lines and clinical power play, the Penguins will score enough to dominate a couple of games. The Flyers have more goals than any other playoff team, so they should score enough to win a couple as well.

Then what? Going in, the Flyers have had the more impressive goaltender. If Martin Biron holds form, and and if they keep the penalties to a minimum, you have to like Philadelphia's chances of stealing two more. That's a lot of ifs, but what the heck: Flyers in Seven.

Update: Well, there's no turning back now. But my Eastern Conference pick just took a devastating blow:

Flyers defenseman Kimmo Timonen was diagnosed with a blood clot in his left ankle today. He will be out for the remainder of the playoffs.

"This was just an awful day for me. I played in Game 5 in Montreal, but it was really hurting me. I have to be honest: I didn't expect this result. How many times in your life do you get a chance to play for this, with a chance to go to the Stanley Cup Finals? This is just awful."

Photo: Mike Ribiero and Jere Lehtinen are part of the deep forward group in Dallas. (Christian Petersen/Getty Images)