Around the NHL: Finals are set, updated Bracket Challenge standings

The Chicago Blackhawks are proving once again why they are the class of the NHL. Down three games to two and facing elimination, they played arguably their two best games of the season defeating the Anaheim Ducks to reach the Stanley Cup Finals.  It will be the Blackhawks third trip in six seasons to the final round. They won it all in their previous two trips.

Chicago entered this year's playoffs on a bit of down note. After holding the division lead at times throughout the season, they ended up finishing behind both St. Louis and Nashville in the regular season standings. The Blackhawks proved once again to be a playoff tough team that is as hard an out as any.

They defeated the Nashville Predators in six hard fought games behind two different goaltenders. They then proceeded to sweep the upstart Minnesota Wild in the second round to force a showdown with the Ducks in the West Finals.

The series with Anaheim was one of the most exciting, if not the most exciting, of the postseason so far. The seven game tussle saw three overtime games and lots of late scoring. In the end, Chicago proved too much and easily won game seven.

Tampa too much for NY

The Tampa Bay Lightning will make their second trip to the finals in the team's history after defeating the New York Rangers in the Eastern Conference Finals. This series also went the distance with Tampa winning 2-0 at Madison Square Garden on Friday night. It was Henrik Lundqvist's first ever game seven loss at home.

Tampa defeated the Detroit Red Wings in the first round. That series also went seven games. Tampa did not play particularly well at home in that series but Ben Bishop stood tall in the deciding game in front of the home crowd. His shutout of Detroit was the first of two game seven shutouts for the Tampa netminder this postseason.

The Lightning would jump out to a three games to none lead on Montreal in the second round before finally disposing of the Canadiens in six games. Montreal was the victim of bad breaks and timely goal scoring by the Lightning or that series could have easily gone the other way.

In the conference finals, Tampa did what few other teams have done. The beat the Rangers in three of four games played at the Garden. Bishop's second game seven shutout tied hime with Patrick Roy and Tim Thomas for most in a single postseason run.

The Finals will start Wednesday night at 8:00 in Tampa. Tampa won the Stanley Cup in their only prior appearance in the finals. Chicago is 2-1 in the finals since the 1967 expansion with five championships overall. 

Tampa  Bay is the first team to ever play four original six teams in one playoff season. 

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Bill Minchin is a contributing writer for Flyerdelphia. Follow Bill on Twitter @wtfd103074