The Toronto Maple Leafs and the Boston Bruins took their 4-4 game into overtime and the Bruins came out on top while the New York Rangers are up 4-0 against the Washington Capitals in their game seven matchup.
The Ottawa Senators pulled off one of the biggest upsets in the playoffs this year with their first round victory over the Montreal Canadiens and now the team will face off against the number one seeded Pittsburgh Penguins, who defeated the New York Islanders in a tough series.
In the Western conference the San Jose Sharks will play the defending champion Los Angeles Kings after an easy sweep of the Vancouver Canucks and the team will finally get the chance to try and live up to expectations over the past few seasons. Mike Richards is leading the Kings in scoring with five points and five assists, while Jeff Carter is tops in goals with three and Joe Thornton is tops for the Sharks in assists with five as well. The all-California series will not be too tough on travel, as the flight is less than an hour up and down the coast.
The first game will be on Tuesday night at the Staples Center and the Kings now will have the home ice advantage after eliminating the Blues in the previous round and no matter who wins, the state of California will have a team in the West for the eighth time over the past 10 seasons. The Anaheim Ducks would have been in line for the series had they defeated the Red Wings and that travel for the Kings would have been even easier, but the less than one hour flight is a nice thing for players to dwell on after flying to Vancouver and St. Louis for the first round.
The Kings have been excellent at home at the Staples Center and they have won 10 straight games at their arena, including the final game of the regular season that put them in the fifth seed and giving them this home ice in the second round. The Kings took the hard road to the Stanley Cup finals last season after starting off as the eighth seed and now some home playoff games will be primary. The Penguins got Sidney Crosby back after a jaw injury in the last series and Evgeni Malkin is leading the way with 11 points and nine assists, while Pascal Dupris has five goals in the playoffs.
