5. Tampa Bay Lightning vs. 3. Boston Bruins

The Lightning have had an unprecedented performance from their goalie Dwayne Roloson.  It should come as no surprise since he has been to a Stanley Cup Final before.  However no one has expected him at this stage of his career to do it again.  Tampa Bay has Martin St. Louis and Vincent Lecavalier to thank for their run to the conference final too.  Both are playing just as well as their title run in 2004.  They also have Steven Stamkos at their side to help with the scoring task.  Sean Bergenheim is tied with the playoff lead in goals scored with 7.  If Tampa Bay can continue their success on the power play and killing penalties, they will easily be in their second Cup Final.

The Bruins will be the Lightning’s biggest challenge.  Boston is a defensive force.  Thanks to Tim Thomas in net they will be in a lot of low scoring games.  Zdeno Chara was dominant against the Philadelphia Flyers.  If he repeats that performance the Lightning will find it difficult to score against them.  Patrice Bergeron will miss most of the series if not all of it due to a concussion suffered against Philadelphia.  It will hurt Boston’s offense, but Nathan Horton and Milan Lucic were starting to heat up at the end of the Semifinals.

2. San Jose Sharks vs. 1. Vancouver Canucks

San Jose nearly had another playoff failure against Detroit.  They were too talented though and were able to get by their playoff nemesis.  Patrick Marleau will have to be more involved in the conference finals though.  If he’s absent for an extended period again, the Sharks won’t be able to recover.  Joe Thornton is having a great playoff run.  If he continues to be the catalyst on offense the Sharks will be tough to slow down.  Goalie Antti Niemi will have to be better.  San Jose can’t get to the Stanley Cup Finals without Niemi getting them there.

Vancouver is the most talented team this year, but they could meet their match with San Jose.  The Sharks aren’t as sound on defense as other teams, but the Canucks showed signs that they couldn’t match up with the Predators big defenders.  San Jose has a few themselves.  The Sedin twins, Henrik and Daniel, will have to play up to their standards during the season.  Thankfully they shouldn’t expect Ryan Kesler to slow down.  He almost single handedly beat the Nashville Predators in the semifinals.  Goalie Roberto Luongo bounced back nicely against Nashville. Vancouver should expect him to be even better with a Stanley Cup appearance on the line.