NHL playoffs reaching their climax

            The NHL playoffs are now down to the final round before the Stanley Cup finals. Of the four teams that remain in the playoffs, all four of them have won a Stanley Cup in the past four years.  Those teams are the Chicago Blackhawks, LA Kings, Pittsburgh Penguins, and the Boston Bruins.  The Hawks will be taking on the Kings in the Western Conference finals.  The Penguins and Bruins face off in the Eastern Conference finals.  Chicago just pulled off nothing short of a miracle run being down 3 games to 1 heading in to game 5. 

The Blackhawks brought it all the way to game 7, and ended up winning in Overtime.  In the round previous to the one just played, Chicago took care of the Minnesota Wild without much of a problem.

            The LA Kings went 6 games against the St. Louis Blues in the first round and a full 7 against the San Jose Sharks.  The Penguins played the New York Islanders in the first round of the playoffs.  Pittsburgh and New York were tied up at 2 games apiece before the Pens took care of the next two games and went on to face the Ottawa Senators.  Pittsburgh won that series in five games.  Boston in the first round of the NHL playoffs had a tough time against the Toronto Maple Leafs but ended up victorious in 7 games.  They took care of the New York Rangers in 5 in the next round.

            So there are now 4 teams left, only two will move on.  Will it be Chicago defeating defending Stanley Cup champion LA Kings? Or will the Kings take down the Blackhawks.  Will Pittsburgh be able to fend off the Bruins, or will Boston pull off the upset and head back to the Stanley Cup?

Matthew Colan

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