Day 12 Round 2 NHL Playoffs 2009

For the first time since 1995, the Chicago Blackhawks have reached the Western Conference finals, and that may not be the biggest story coming out of Monday night.

Vancouver Canucks vs Chicago Blackhawks: Chicago wins 7-5 (Chicago wins series 4-2)

In an elimination game, the Canucks were involved in the last thing they wanted to be a part of: a high scoring shootout. Patrick Kane got a hat trick and Jonathan Toews scored 2 of his own to combine for 5 of the 6 necessary goals to secure a win. Vancouver put up a fight, scoring 5 goals, but it was likely that they would have rather had Roberto Luongo play a bigger part in the game, especially since they were leading 5-4 with 8 minutes to go in the third. But Kane and Toews scored 3 unanswered a little over 3 minutes apart, and the suddenly very experienced Blackhawks team is going to get much more as they advance to the Conference finals to face the winner of Detroit and Anaheim, both whom boast many times more championship-winning players than Chicago.

Washington Capitals vs Pittsburgh Penguins: Washington wins 5-4 (Series tied 3-3)

And suddenly the NHL is going to get more than they had ever dreamed. A game 7 in a series involving their two superstars, with the last two games having to be decided through an overtime (and game 7 probably will too). All the superstars were putting up points, as Ovechkin had 3 assists, Crosby combined for a goal and an assist, and Evgeni Malkin, the regular season scoring leader, had 3 helpers of his own. But it was once again Simeon Varlamov who stole the show, and the young third line of Brooks Laich and Dave Steckel who provided the game winner to force a game 7 in Washington. Pittsburgh's loss of Sergei Gonchar seems to be minimal, as they went 2 for 5 on the power play, which is very good news heading forward.

Regardless of who comes out of the Detroit/Anaheim series, would anyone bet for the upstart Blackhawks to do what Crosby and the Penguins did last year and drag a relatively young and inexperienced team to the Stanley Cup finals? Anaheim may be the 8th seed, but if they win that would mean they have ousted the President's Trophy winners and the defending Stanley Cup champions in San Jose and Detroit respectively. And Detroit... well, they're the defending champions. It's hard to judge just what kind of Eastern Conference championship we'll see, so I'm not even going to try. But Carolina against Washington or Pittsburgh against Boston would probably be the most even match-ups. Not to say that Carolina can't hang with the Pens or Washington with the Bruins, but you'd have to give the edge to the more experienced Penguins and the depth of the Bruins over the Caps. We'll see.