It took some overtime magic but the Conference Finals of the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs are finally set. Derek Stepan scored at the 11:24 mark of overtime to propel the New York Rangers past the Washington Capitals in game 7 on Wednesday night.
It was the final series of the second round to conclude setting up the matchups for this year's Conference Finals. The Presidents' Trophy winning Rangers will play the Tampa Bay Lightning starting Saturday.
The Lightning closed out the Canadiens on Tuesday with a convincing 4-1 victory to win the series in six games.
Out West
The Western Conference Final will begin on Sunday when the Anaheim Ducks host the Chicago Blackhawks in game one. The Ducks dispatched of the Calgary Flames in five games to earn their spot in the third round.
Chicago swept the Minnesota Wild in their second round series. This is Chicago's fifth trip in seven years to the west final. Anaheim has not made a run this deep since winning the Stanley Cup in 2007.
This series features the top two point scorers in this year's playoffs. Corey Perry leads all players with 15 points while Patrick Kane is second with 13. The Blackhawks won two of three regular season meetings with the Ducks.
Bracket Update
| Leaderboard – Staff | ||
| 1st Round | Points | |
| Bill Minchin | 12 | |
| Dain Stiles | 12 | |
| Kate Frese | 11 | |
| Rob Riches | 10 | |
| Mike Watson | 10 | |
| Kevin Durso | 7 | |
| Jack Gambro | 4 | |
| Leaderboard – Followers | ||
| 1st Round | ||
| sweetpea_18 | 11 | |
| Matt Grumbrecht | 10 | |
| Bobby Bish | 8 | |
| btherr18 | 6 | |
Bill Minchin is a contributing writer for Flyerdelphia. Follow Bill on Twitter @wtfd103074
