The NHL Conference Finals have begun, and the four teams left in the chase for Lord Stanley's Cup are holding nothing back.  The Carolina Hurricanes and Buffalo Sabres are playing for the Eastern Conference title, while the Anaheim Mighty Ducks and Edmonton Oilers battle it out in the West.  It has been a tough trial for these four teams to make it this far.  Dedication, aggression, and perhaps a bit of destiny have brought them to where they are.  Injuries plague players on all teams, but they have worked all their lives to lift the Cup, and no amount of pain is going to stand in their way.  Here are my predictions for the Conference Finals:

Carolina Hurricanes vs. Buffalo Sabres

These two teams have made it this far playing as mirror images of eachother.  They are both speedy teams, with no real huge superstars to steal the show.  They have great teamwork skills, and huge heart.  Dedicated captain Chris Drury leads the Sabres, while Rod Brind'Amour is the core for the Hurricanes.  The biggest factor for these two teams' success have been the young goaltenders, though.  Ryan Miller has been nearly unbeatable for the Sabres, and since being moved to starting goalie during the first round Cam Ward has let next to nothing get past him.  I think what the series is going to come down to is confidence.  The Sabres have it.  They are backed up by a city of great hockey fans, who show their support for the team game-in and game-out.  Carolina has great talent, and great fans, they just need to harness everyone's energy, and use it.  I think the series is also going to come down to injuries.  The playoffs are the toughest time of year for a hockey player; nobody is playing with one hundred percent health.  It's about who has the heart to play through the pain.
WINNER: Buffalo in six.

Anaheim Mighty Ducks vs. Edmonton Oilers

As in the East, these two teams have a very similar style of play.  They are both very physical teams with strong defenses.  Scott Niedermeyer and Chris Pronger must remain strong for their respective teams, and the goal scorers need to step up.  I think this is where the Ducks have an advantage.  They have genuine goal scorers on the team.  Guys like Selanne and Lupul thrive for putting the puck in the net.  They also have Adam Oates-like players in Penner and MacDonald, who are able to make great passes and set up amazing goals.  Edmonton's heroes of the first two rounds need to keep going to the net.  Ryan Smith and Jason Smyth need to be a presence for their team. 
WINNER: Anaheim in six.

Tonight's game between the Colorado Avalanche and the Anaheim Mighty Ducks was filled with intensity.  Forwards gave wicked wristshots, defensemen threw hard-hitting body checks, and both goaltenders made unbelievable saves.  But the one man who stole the show, and the scoreboard, was Anaheim's Joffrey Lupul.

Lupul scored all four of the goals for the Mighty Ducks, including the game winner in overtime, which deflected over a Colorado stick and through the five-hole on Jose Theodore.  After taking some unnecessary penalties in Anaheim's game seven against Calgary, Lupul has come back strong for the Ducks, scoring a goal in each of the first two games against the Avalanche, and putting his exclamation point on the series with tonight's multitude of them.  In fact, three probably would have been enough to satisfy the young forward, as his first three goals made up his first hat trick in the NHL.  Well, he picked a nice time for it.  And a nice time to take that dream to a new level, because after he scored his third of the game, Rob Blake tied it up- sending the game to overtime.

"This is the best feeling I've ever had," Lupul told OLN after the game.  That's understandable.  Not everyone can be the hero in an NHL playoff game, let alone one in Colorado, beating Jose Theodore not once, but four times.  That is really saying a lot about what a great contribution he is to the organization.  Not just anyone could let a puck fly by Theodore like that.  In fact, nobody else in this game could.  His goaltending was amazing, and was matched just as brilliantly by Bryzgalov.  He just couldn't stop Joffrey Lupul.

Many people don't know who Ilya Bryzgalov is, but they soon will.  The Anaheim goaltender is sending a message to the NHL- S.O.S. No, not a distress signal, his shut out streak.

Proving he is able to play well under pressure, Bryzgalov held the Calgary Flames scoreless on their own ice during game seven of the first round.  The Russian rookie has kept up that same great play for the first two games of the second round against Joe Sakic and the Colorado Avalanche.  In fact, this is such a feat, only three goalies in NHL history have kept their opponents scoreless for longer in the playoffs.

This is wonderful, not only for Bryzgalov, but for the entire Mighty Ducks team.  Knowing they have a solid goaltending behind them in Bryzgalov, and past Conn Smythe winner turned back-up goalie, J.S. Giguere, is a boost of confidence.  They don't have to focus so much on their defense, and can allow defensemen, like Scott Nedermeyer, to join the rush and help contribute offensively. 

In a season where everything comes down to goaltending, the Mighty Ducks are looking down at the rest of the NHL, and laughing, because with other teams gaining so much media attention, they're sneaking in the backdoor.  And they're ready to take the Cup.

Okay, so I wasn't exactly right with my first round predictions; but who would have guessed that every seed would be represented?  This season has been so unpredictable, anything is possible, but here are my predictions for the second round match-ups starting with 1-4 from the Eastern Conference.

(1)Ottawa Senators vs. (4)Buffalo Sabres

Although the Senators are ranked number one going into this round, I think Buffalo has got the energy to make them work hard for every goal.  I think the Sabres have a great goaltending team in Miller and Biron.  They also have great teamwork, and are able to make great passes to set up goals because of it.  The Senators started the season with Dominik Hasek, which I believe is the reason they gathered enough points to rank first.  I think Emery is going to really have to step up to fill his void between the pipes for Ottawa.  Players like Heatley are going to have to keep scoring and motivate others to keep getting the goals.
WINNER:  Buffalo Sabres in 6.

(2)Carolina Hurricanes vs. (3)New Jersey Devils

New Jersey really surprised me in the first round by sweeping the Rangers.  Players like Elias, who needed to step up, really did lead the team to victory.  If the Devils can keep playing like that, they should be able to get the goals they need in the second round.  Having Brodeur in net isn't a bad thing for their team either.  The Hurricane's rookie goaltender Cam Ward saved the team in the first round.  He stopped nearly everything the Canadiens threw at him, and he needs to keep playing that way for a shot at going to the Conference finals.  Carolina's offense is able to work flawlessly with their defense, and make plays to the goal, because they have learned to play so well together without having any true superstars on their team to pass the puck to all the time.
WINNER:  Carolina Hurricanes in 6.

Western Conference:

(5)San Jose Sharks vs. (8)Edmonton Oilers

The Oilers got a gift in the first round from the Red Wings not playing at the top of their game.  They need to keep playing the forecheck the way they did in the first round, and play the trap in order to keep players like Cheechoo, Thornton, and Marleau from scoring.  Dwayne Roloson has to play strong, like he has for the Oilers, and keep limiting the rebounds, like he has been.  The Sharks seem to have been playing perfect playoff hockey.  They've been physical, defensive, and able to generate goalscoring.  Whoever wins this series is going to win it at home, because their home arenas seem to show so much support, it creates a lot of well-used energy for the teams.
WINNER:  San Jose Sharks in 5.

(6)Anaheim Mighty Ducks vs. (7)Colorado Avalanche

The Mighty Ducks are able to read each other so well, they can create plays that lead to timely goals for the team.  Every player, from Selanne to Getzlaf, is able to contribute for the Ducks.  Bryzgalov is like a wall for this Anaheim team, making saves that seem impossible to stop.  After a grueling first round against the Flames, they have proved they deserve to be taken seriously in these playoffs.  The Avalanche also pulled off an amazing upset, only theirs was against the Stars.  Jose Theodore needs to keep his confidence up, and stop the Ducks' shots.  Joe Sakic needs to motivate his players, and create energy for Colorado, so they don't have ot play such close games like in the first round.
WINNER:  Anaheim Mighty Ducks in 5.

Wing nuts everywhere were devestated on Monday night, as the Detroit Red Wings lost game six of their series against the Edmonton Oilers, and eliminated themselves from the quest for Lord Stanley's Cup.  They played good enough to carry a 2-0 lead going into the third period, but then completely derailed, letting the Oilers score four goals in the last twenty minutes. 

As horrible as it was for Red Wings fans to watch, it shouldn't have come as that big of surprise.  The Oilers have owned the Wings all series.  They've played a successful trap defense, held the Wings on the forecheck, and had an amazing goaltender in Dwayne Roloson.  It hurts to say this, but Edmonton was the better team, and deserves to go to the second round.  It seemed like very few Detroit players gave 100 percent every game.  (I'm not one of those saying he should be traded, but where was Pavel Datsyuk?)  The only Red Wing that looked like a Red Wing was Steve Yzerman.  It will be a terrible blow if he leaves after this season, not only for the hole in next year's roster, but for Yzerman, himself, not going out on top like he deserves.

In fact, I think a lot of Detroit players' should be worried about how much time they have left with the organization after another first-round loss, their third in five years.  Chelios is already the oldest player in the league, Shanahan and Datsyuk are free agents already involved in rumors, Osgood was not up to par all season and then had an injury during playoffs, Babcock was brought in to win the Cup, yet didn't do any better in the playoffs than Lewis, and free agent Manny Legace has already said he doesn't think he'll be back next season after his playoff performance.  I guess we'll have to wait and see what Ken Holland does with this team.

Of course, the Red Wings weren't the only team to be eliminated already.  There were a lot of surprising results from this year's first-round match-ups, especially New Jersey's sweep over the New York Rangers.  It wasn't really so surprising that the Devils won, just that the Rangers couldn't pull out one victory.  It just goes to show what a big part of the organization that Jagr is, considering his injury that forced him to miss playing.

Ottawa beat Tampa Bay, which was expected.  Buffalo beat Philadelphia, which was expected.  San Jose beat Nashville, which was expected.  Carolina beat Montreal, which was expected, but it seemed as though Montreal had a real shot at beating the Hurricanes.  They played brilliantly in the first two games, and Christobal Huet was outstanding in goal.  The turn-around in the series for Carolina was Cam Ward being put in net.  He was like a wall for the Hurricanes, letting hardly anything past him.

The surprise for the Western Conference was Colorado's upset over the Stars.  Jose Theodore stepped up his game, and basically just outplayed Marty Turco.  Colorado was able to build offense, and capitalize on the mistakes made by the Dallas team.  Not to mention, they have one of the greatest playoff producers in the game in Joe Sakic.

The only series left undetermined as I type this is Calgary vs. Anaheim.  These two teams go to game seven in Calgary tonight, and I'm sure it will be a great battle.  Shockingly, it has been one of the most exciting series to watch.  The two teams have had exciting goals, overtime celebrations, and plenty of fights.  It's such a great match-up, no wonder they are going to game seven!