Loading Up on Game Sevens

On Friday night, it will be the first of two Game 7's in the Conference Finals, as the Tampa Bay Lightning will try to upset the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden, where they have already won twice before in this series.

Leading the charge for Tampa Bay in this series has been Tyler Johnson, Nikita Kucherov and Ben Bishop, as they have all registered 9 points in this series for the pool and they will have to be the team's best players in the most important game of their playoffs, to date.

In order for the Rangers to return to the Stanley Cup Finals for a second straight year, Henrik Lundqvist will have to be at his best, while the offense needs to come out swinging as well.  Derick Brassard leads New York in this series with 8 points in the first six games, while Rick Nash and Keith Yandle each had 7 points.

This series has been unpredictable, to say the least, so offering up an idea of who will come out hot or who has an edge in this series is somewhat moot.  The only thing that really can be said is that this series has been better than advertised, since it has been anything but typical playoff hockey.

Fontanna, our pool leader, has a lot of stock in both teams, which means that either way, she'll likely come out on top.  For the Lightning, her team has Johnson, Kucherov and Ondrej Palat, while for the Rangers, she has Nash, Lundqvist and Chris Kreider.  It's no wonder why her team has pulled away at the top.

On Saturday night, the powerhouse Anaheim Ducks will play host to the very resilient Chicago Blackhawks in the Western Conference Finals, winner take all match.

In the West, home-ice has meant a little bit more, as these teams are 2-1 in their home rinks, respectively, so the onus will be on the Blackhawks to have their best road game of the season.

In this series, Duncan Keith leads all Blackhawks skaters with 6 points, all assists, while Corey Crawford has 6 points, thanks to his .920 save percentage in the series.

On the flip side, the Ducks are led by Ryan Getzlaf, who has 7 points, also all of his points are assists, while Frederik Andersen hasn't seen quite as much rubber, but still has 6 points to show for his efforts.

Our runaway leader has stock in both of these teams as well, owning Marian Hossa, Patrick Sharp and Patrick Kane from the Chicago side, Andersen, Matt Beleskey and Cam Fowler from the Anaheim side.  Potentially, Fontanna could have both goalies in the Stanley Cup Finals, which would be very beneficial, but there is a whole lot more scoring potential for her team, if the Blackhawks were to move on.

No matter which way you slice it, we've got two amazing games coming up and we'll have to give the boot to a couple very good teams by Sunday morning.