The 2013-2014 NHL regular season has officially concluded and it’s time to start looking at the upcoming playoffs and see who has the best chance to make a run at the title. With 8 teams making the playoffs for each conference, giving a total of 16, it’s really anyone who could be hoisting the trophy in June. For the Eastern conference, the matchups are as follows: The top seeded Boston Bruins play the Detroit Red Wings, the Pittsburgh Penguins play the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Tampa Bay Lightning play the Montreal Canadiens, and Philadelphia Flyers play the New York Rangers. For the Western conference, the matchups are: The top seeded Anaheim Ducks play the Dallas Stars, The St. Louis Blues play the defending champion Chicago Blackhawks, the Colorado Avalanche play the Minnesota Wild, and the LA Kings play the San Jose Sharks.
For the Eastern conference as a whole, for the most part of the season, as really been viewed as a two team race for the best team in the conference between the Boston Bruins and the Pittsburgh Penguins, but I wouldn’t count out wild card team Tampa Bay Lightning to be able to hang with the other two. For the Western conference, the Blues have really taken control until the last week of the regular season, but gave up the first seed to the Ducks. I think each team in that conference has a real shot at winning it all.
In the end, I feel as though the Stanley Cup matchup will be the Boston Bruins vs. the LA Kings, with the Boston Bruins taking it in 6. Hopefully the playoffs are exciting and don’t forget to grow your playoff beards.