Conference Finals Are Here

It's a long road to the Stanley Cup, but four remaining teams are almost there. It's conference finals time, and whoever makes it out of this round, will move on to battle for that ridiculously oversized cup.

The No. 1 Detroit Red Wings and No. 5 Dallas Stars will duke it out for the West Thursday night in Detroit.

The Red Wings had a few kinks to iron out in the series-opening round against the Nashville Predators . But after taking veteran goalie Dominik Hasek out from between the pipes, and replacing him with Chris Osgood, the Wings have sailed through. They dominated the Colorado Avalanche in round two, sweeping the series in four games and outscoring their opponent 21-9.

The No. 1 seed has made getting to the third round look easy, but they'll face a challenge against the Stars. Seeded fifth, Dallas has already mowed through two top competitors, including defending cup champions the Anaheim Ducks . The Stars just pulled off an amazing 4-2 series win against the San Jose Sharks . 
The two teams battled it out in a quadruple overtime game, by far the longest and most impressive game of this year's playoffs, and the longest in the history of the Sharks. The Stars narrowly won, 2-1, when Sharks defenseman Brian Campbell drew a tripping penalty, and captain Brenden Morrow was able to capitalize. Plus, goalie Marty Turco is on fire, making a franchise-record 61 saves in the epic game and posting a 1.73 GAA in the postseason.

The Stars have faced tougher opponents than Detroit, and are still alive, they'll give Detroit a fight they haven't seen yet in this season's post season.

On Friday night, the series between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers will begin in Pittsburgh.

Much like Dallas, the Flyers have taken down top seeded opponents, Montreal and Washington , to make it to the conference finals. On top of that, they owned the Penguins during the normal season. In eight meetings, the Flyers took five games, including a 2-0 shutout to end the regular season. All that, plus, they've got players like R.J. Umberger stepping up, with nine playoff goals and Daniel Briere who leads the team with 14 points.

But confidence and their winning history with Pittsburgh might get the best of them. The Penguins have had an outstanding post season. They're 8-1 in both series, sweeping Ottawa and only giving one up to the Rangers.


Pittsburgh has outscored its opponents 31-17. Plus, the Penguins are playing a consistent game. Goalie Marc-Andre Fleury is boasting a .938 save percentage and 1.76 GAA. As usual top names Sidney Crosby and Evegeni Malkin are coming up big, both tied at 14 points, Malkin leads the team in scoring. Marian Hossa has also been a big contributor, with five goals and five assists, all three are averaging more than one point per game in the post season.

Still, Pittsburgh is making the post season look easy, maybe a little too easy. We'll see if they can hold up their confident demeanor against the Flyers.

The two teams that make it out of this round will take the top spot in their conference and face off for the coveted Stanley Cup.