One night after the Boston Bruins punched their ticket to the Stanley Cup Final, the Chicago Blackhawks locked up their chance to hoist sport’s greatest trophy. Game 5 against the Los Angeles Kings looked like it would be an easy coronation, ended up as drawn-out confrontation, but still ended in celebration for Chicago.
The Los Angeles Kings got themselves back into the NHL’s Western Conference Finals with their clutch Game 3 win over Chicago while the Pittsburgh Penguins weren’t as fortunate in a gut-wrenching double-overtime loss in Boston last night. Los Angeles got another break when the league office stepped in and issued a key suspension for tonight’s crucial Game 4, so it’s this series that our NHL analysis will start.
The conference finals in the NHL playoffs begin with a Saturday doubleheader. It starts in the late afternoon from the Windy City, when Los Angeles visits Chicago (5 PM ET, NBC Sports Network). Then the action shifts to the Steel City for the prime-time battle between Pittsburgh and Boston (8 PM ET, NBC).