The eighth-seeded Montreal Canadiens shocked hockey fans throughout the world (even ones in Montreal) by defeating the heavily favored Washington Capitals in a seven-game series that saw the second consecutive Presidents' Trophy winner sent home before May began.
Then the Habs decided that wasn't enough and defeated the not quite as heavily favored, yet defending champion, Pittsburgh Penguins in another seven-game thriller.
Meanwhile, the seventh-seeded Philadelphia Flyers had their own shocking conference quarterfinal, swiftly defeating the New Jersey Devils in five games, then went on to beat the Boston Bruins in seven games and present the NHL with a rather odd conference final pairing.
Both the Flyers and the Canadiens did their best to not make the playoffs. Both teams narrowly made the cut above the New York Rangers and now one of them will play for Lord Stanley's most coveted prize. And it has shown us all that there is certainly parity in the NHL.
At the time this article was written, Philadelphia won the first game of the conference final by destroying the Habs 6-0. However, it appears as though those seven-game series took a toll on them. Expect the Habs to bounce back, but not completely. I think we're in for another long-haul of seven games, but the Flyers will emerge victorious.
On the other side of the continent, the Western Conference's best two teams are battling it out for the same right as the unlikely pair from the Eastern Conference. The top-seeded San Jose Sharks lost the first game of the conference final to the Chicago Blackhawks and you can expect another seven-game series here, ending with the Blackhawks heading to face the Flyers for the chance to have their names engraved into the trophy of trophies.
Expect the West to defeat the East, no matter what the outcome in the conference final matchups and expect it in six games or less.
Currently, there are 18 inter-conference games for each team. Only three teams in the East went above .500 in these matchups (Washington Capitals, Buffalo Sabres, New York Islanders). In the West, only three teams were below .500 in these matchups, and not by much (Columbus Blue Jackets, Edmonton Oilers, Dallas Stars).
Despite the Capitals' dominance in the regular season, overall, the West is better than the East. The West is in perfect order with number one and number two facing off in the Conference Final. The East is confused with number seven and number eight playing who's the bigger Cinderella.
You may well love Cinderellas, but don't bet on either of them to take home Lord Stanley's Cup in 2010.
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