By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 
The Conference Finals are underway and so far both series have played out with very different styles, but similar results.
After two games in each series, one thing is known: it will take at least five games to decide the two teams to play for the Stanley Cup.
Here is an update on the start of the Conference Finals.
Nashville-Anaheim
The Predators and Ducks opened the series on Friday night with a back-and-forth game. Jakob Silfverberg opened the scoring at 5:15 of the first period on Anaheim’s first shot of the game. Filip Forsberg tied the game with a deflection goal at 12:34 of the first, as Nashville heavily controlled the opening period.
That carried over to start the second with Austin Watson scoring his first goal of the playoffs to give Nashville the lead. Anaheim carried the play more in the second, but Pekka Rinne remained solid as he has been the entire playoffs so far, keeping the score at 2-1 Nashville entering the third.
The Ducks tied the game at 7:21 of the third off a faceoff. Hampus Lindholm scored for his first goal of the playoffs to even the score. The 2-2 tie would hold up for the rest of regulation, forcing overtime. It took 9:24 before the game came to an end, with James Neal scoring on a one-timer that deflected off of Corey Perry and in to give the Predators a 1-0 series lead.
The Predators opened Game 2 on Sunday night the same way, scoring the first two goals of the game from Ryan Johansen and Neal. But with less than two minutes to play, the Ducks got a power play opportunity and cashed in as Sami Vatanen scored his first of the playoffs to cut the lead to one after 20 minutes.
That proved to be a game-changer. The Ducks were very much in control after that, getting the tying goal from Silfverberg just 39 seconds into the second period. Forsberg scored to give Nashville the lead back at the eight-minute mark, but Ondrej Kase tied the game back up less than three minutes later. Nick Ritchie broke the tie with 2:53 left in the second, giving Anaheim the lead.
A late push by the Predators was ultimately thwarted by John Gibson and the Ducks very strong defensive play. Antoine Vermette added an empty-net goal in the final minute to give the Ducks a 5-3 win and even the series at one.
Game 3 is set for Tuesday night in Nashville.
Pittsburgh-Ottawa
The overtime trend continued in the series opener between the Penguins and Senators. J.G. Pageau scored at 14:32 of the first for Ottawa. The lone goal held up for almost 40 minutes, when Evgeni Malkin scored at 14:25 of the third to tie the game.
That would set up overtime in Game 1, where Bobby Ryan ended things with a pretty breakaway goal at 4:59 to give Ottawa the series lead.
Game 2 was another tight, low-scoring game, but the ice was clearly tilted Pittsburgh’s way in the third period. The Penguins outshot the Senators, 9-7, in the third period, holding Ottawa without a shot for the first 15 minutes of the third period.
The lone goal of Game 2 came at 13:05 of the third, as Phil Kessel followed up his initial shot, which was blocked, and scored his sixth goal of the playoffs.
With the series tied at one game apiece, the two teams now head to Ottawa for Game 3 on Wednesday night.
