The Ultimate Guide to the Conference Finals of the 2015 NHL Playoffs

When Derek Stepan’s shot in overtime Wednesday hit the back of the net, it brought to an end the second round of this year’s Stanley Cup playoffs in dramatic fashion. The Rangers eliminated the Capitals in a Game 7 for the third time in four years to join the Blackhawks, Ducks and Lightning in this year’s conference finals.

The average regular-season points total for these four teams is 108, which represents the third-highest average for the league’s final four teams since 1978; in 2007 and 1978, the final four teams averaged 110 points. 

That’s a somewhat misleading stat, as there were just 18 teams in the league in 1978, and the bonus loser point gives teams today points for not losing in 60 minutes, but there’s no denying this year’s conference finalists lack a fluky team. The Rangers, Ducks, Lightning and Blackhawks finished first, third, fifth and seventh in the league standings, respectively. 

What other tidbits and pieces of information about these teams can be used to bore your friends during dinner parties? Glad you asked, because we have you covered right here.

Aren’t a couple of these teams conference-final regulars?

This is the third straight season and fifth time in seven years the Blackhawks have reached the West final; this is the Rangers’ third appearance since 2012.

In their two most recent trips to the conference final, the Blackhawks collided with the Los Angeles Kings, with the winner eventually winning the Stanley Cup. The Blackhawks beat the Kings in five games in 2013 and lost to the Kings in overtime of Game 7 in 2014. 

To change things up this year, the Blackhawks are playing the league’s other Southern California team in the West final. Variety is the spice of life, they say.

The Rangers, meanwhile, are on their third new opponent in four years. In 2012, they lost in overtime of Game 6 against the Devils, who eventually lost to the Kings. Then in 2014, the Rangers beat the Canadiens in six games, then lost to the Kings in five games.

The NHL is much like Game of Thrones in that there are about 30 characters you have to remember, and in the end, they wind up being killed by Kings.

There are no Kings this year, so much like Game of Thrones, it feels like anything is possible this time around.

Aren’t a couple of these teams relatively new to the conference final? 

The Ducks are back in the conference final for the first time since 2007. They went on to win the Stanley Cup against the Ottawa Senators that season, which came one season after the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Edmonton Oilers in seven games.

Nothing like coming back from a season-long lockout and getting two straight finals featuring four nondescript teams with next to zero national interest.

You’re probably thinking this current Ducks team doesn't have many connections to that 2007 team, and you’re right. Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry were in their second NHL seasons in 2007, while Francois Beauchemin left Anaheim for Toronto and has since returned to the Ducks.

All three can proudly say that they weren’t just Ducks but members of the Mighty Ducks before the team changed its name prior to the 2006-07 season. 

Jeff Vinnick/Getty Images

The Lightning, meanwhile, were in the conference final in 2011 and lost a 1-0 heartbreaker to the Bruins in Game 7. That team was coached by Guy Boucher, who has since been fired and replaced by Jon Cooper in one of the few coaching swaps involving two incredibly quotable coaches. 

Despite Tampa’s conference-final trip happening four years ago, only Steven Stamkos and Victor Hedman remain from that team. General manager Steve Yzerman spent the past four seasons treating the Lightning like an episode of Flip This House, as he tore down and rebuilt the team into a perennial contender.

How good are these teams? Can you please show me fancy stats?

A request for fancy stats? How delightfully progressive, fictional person asking questions!

All four teams are at least pretty good in this department.

Team	SA Fenwick (season)	SA Fenwick (final 25)	Corsi (playoffs)
Chicago	53.4	51.4	51.8
Tampa Bay	53.3	51.3	47.6
Anaheim	51.5	52.7	54.4
New York	50.5	50.0	49.7

Now, an attempt to establish some context with these numbers, which can be an impossible chore sometimes, but let’s do it anyway.

The Rangers have been a coin-flip possession team pretty much since the puck dropped in October. But there’s something noble about that. They are what they are. If they were a person on a dating website, they’d take a selfie from an unflattering angle, post it and say, "Here I am; send me a message, or don’t."

Goaltending has been the Rangers' ace in the hole all season, whether it’s Henrik Lundqvist or Cam Talbot in his two-month takeover while Lundqvist was out with a vascular injury.

Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

Meanwhile, the Lightning have been slowly slipping into the abyss. They fell off a cliff near the end of the regular season and have continued the trend in the playoffs. Tampa’s .936 even-strength save percentage is second to the Rangers’ .943, while the Lightning's 8.2 even-strength shooting percentage trails only Anaheim’s 9.5, and both are keeping them afloat. 

Ben Bishop has been great since Game 6 of the first round and may need to be better if the Lightning are to beat Lundqvist and the Rangers. 

In the West, Anaheim has been trending in the right direction all season, and that 54.4 Corsi in the postseason is mighty impressive, but only if you ignore the fact they spent five of their nine playoff games facing the Flames. Four of the five games were close, but the Ducks had a 70-27 (72.2 percent) edge in Corsi in the decisive Game 5.

In Game 1 against the Jets, the Ducks had 63.6 percent of the five-on-five shot attempts. In their other seven games, the Ducks lived between 53.8 percent and 47.4 percent and were in the black in only three of the seven. Sample size and all that. 

The Blackhawks were a dominant five-on-five team before Patrick Kane went down with a broken collarbone late in the regular season. They were in the black in seven of their 10 postseason games, and their current number took a hit as a desperate Wild team had 55 percent of the shot attempts in Game 3 and 60 percent in Game 4 as it tried to stave off elimination.

No matter how you slice it, the possession powers lie in the West.

So Henrik Lundqvist is the best goaltender left in the playoffs?

Yeah. Duh.

Care to expound on that with less condescension?

Sure, sorry.

Goaltender	Team	'14-15 Sv%	'15 Playoff Sv%	Career Playoff Sv%
Henrik Lundqvist	New York	.922	.944	.925 (104 games)
Ben Bishop	Tampa Bay	.916	.931	.931 (13 games)
Corey Crawford	Chicago	.924	.916	.920 (63 games)
Frederik Andersen	Anaheim	.914	.925	.914 (16 games)

The numbers show if you could pick any goaltender remaining to backstop your team, you would pick Henrik Lundqvist. 

Sure, Corey Crawford has a Stanley Cup, but so does Cam Ward. Crawford had to be rescued by Scott Darling in the first round and really only has to have about 92 percent of shots hit him for the Blackhawks to win a Cup, because the team in front of him is so good. 

Frederik Andersen and Ben Bishop have been dynamite in this postseason, but this is uncharted territory for both of them, and both will face more experienced goaltenders this round. 

If you're curious as to where these four goaltenders fall on the late-season workload scale, they are all in good shape.

One man’s opinion: The two best remaining teams are in the West; the two best remaining goaltenders are in the East. 

What’s the special teams situations with these teams?

A handy chart seems like the way to go here. 

Team	Power Play	Penalty Kill	Total
Anaheim	31.0	87.1	108.1
New York	15.8	89.3	105.1
Tampa Bay	18.0	86.7	104.7
Chicago	20.0	72.7	92.7

Stats like these are always going to be nutty when they cover between nine and 13 games, but the only one that really stands out is Chicago’s horrendous penalty-kill number. But is the PK there as bad as it seems? 

Yes. The Blackhawks have allowed at least one power-play goal in eight of 10 games, although one came during the Wild’s furious push to tie Game 4 with their goaltender on the bench for an extra attacker. Going against the Ducks’ power play will be a challenge, although it scored six of its nine goals against the Flames last round.

The only other number worth considering is Tampa’s 18 percent on the power play. The Lightning had four power-play goals in eight chances in Game 2 last round against the Montreal Canadiens; minus that showing, the Lightning are at 11.9 percent for the postseason. 

Of course, if you take away a team’s best day in a four-week window, it’s going to skew the numbers, so maybe just pretend you didn’t read these past two paragraphs.

Are these teams young whippersnappers or old men?

Via NHL Numbers, here are the average ages for each of the four remaining teams:

Team	Avg. Age	NHL Rank
Chicago	29.627	3rd
New York	29.128	6th
Anaheim	27.605	24th
Tampa Bay	27.189	29th

There’s about a two-year gap between the oldest and youngest teams. In real-life terms, the Blackhawks and Rangers spend their days quoting Seinfeld episodes and checking to see when Pearl Jam goes on tour, while the Ducks and Lightning spend all day swiping right on Tinder and saying things like, “I sure hope the rest of 1D stays together.” 

Are there any special connections between the Lightning and Rangers?

You know there are.

Aren't you legally obligated to mention these throughout the next two weeks?

Basically. Fine. 

Martin St. Louis was a member of the Lightning. Ryan Callahan was a member of the Rangers. Both were longtime members of those teams, and then they were traded for each other at last year's deadline.

Then during the offseason, Brian Boyle and Anton Stralman left the Rangers for Tampa as free agents. 

Dan Boyle joined the Rangers after six seasons with the San Jose Sharks, but prior to that, he spent six seasons with the Lightning and won a Cup there in 2004 with St. Louis.

Dominic Moore also spent two years with Tampa and once hit St. Louis in the eye with a puck during a morning skate, which oddly took place at Madison Square Garden in December 2011. St. Louis suffered facial fractures that ended his streak of 499 straight games played.

Even weirder, Moore scored the game-tying goal with 1:57 remaining to help force overtime, then scored the only goal in the shootout to give the Lightning the victory.

So who is winning this round?

I don’t know. 

Come on. Please make a prediction.

I had the Blues winning the Cup. You should ask someone else.

Stop being a baby and pick two winners.

Fine. Blackhawks in six, Lightning in six.

You think Anaheim and the Rangers are losing? Are you an idiot?

Sigh.

All statistics via NHL.com.

Dave Lozo covers the NHL for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter: @DaveLozo.