The NHL Conference Finals -- Lightning-Rangers and Blackhawks-Ducks -- are both heading to a decisive Game 7, and the two series have "rescued what was a very underwhelming postseason through the first two rounds and 69 games," according to James Mirtle of the GLOBE & MAIL. Lightning-Rangers was expected to turn "into a goaltenders’ duel," but instead there have been 40 goals in the six games. There also has been "plenty of scoring" in Blackhawks-Ducks, with 38 goals going into Game 7. What all those goals have done is "brought back the lead changes and momentum shifts that we didn’t see nearly enough of in the first two rounds." This is not "typically how the NHL playoffs progress." Normally, the postseason yields "lower and lower scoring as it drags into late May, with only the hotter goalies going deep and the checking becoming suffocating." Skill currently is "winning out, with high-event teams like the Blackhawks, Lightning and Ducks advancing," instead of a year like '12 when the Coyotes and Devils "mucked and grinded their way to the final four and the Dead Puck Hockey stories flourished" (THEGLOBEANDMAIL.com, 5/27). THE HOCKEY NEWS' Adam Proteau writes one of the "most entertaining NHL playoff showdowns in recent memory would’ve lost a little something" if Blackhawks-Ducks "didn’t end in the maximum-allotted seven games." Proteau: "You didn’t have to be a Hawks supporter to hope this series was extended to a Game 7. If you’re a fan of the game played with a mastery of craft at warp speed, you wanted one more game" (THEHOCKEYNEWS.com, 5/28). In DC, Des Bieler writes there "can be no doubt that the best product in U.S. sports is currently being served on ice." The NHL "is bringing the drama, and then some" (WASHINGTONPOST.com, 5/28).
