HERE'S AN INTERESTING FACT... TOTAL GAME 7s IN STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS

Tonight, the Los Angeles Kings and Anaheim Ducks will square off to determine which team will go on to face the Chicago Blackhawks in the Western Conference Finals. It will be a Game 7, the most exciting of all games in any sport. Whenever a series goes to the maximum seven, you know that these teams are (usually) incredibly close in competitiveness and talent and thus, more fun to watch. Game 7s don't come around very often and should be appreciated when they do.

Which makes this year's Stanley Cup Playoffs so interesting- through the first two rounds and twelve different series, six have gone to seven games. If that sounds like a lot to you, you're right.

Since the 1987 postseason, all four rounds of the NHL playoffs have been best-of-seven contests (prior to that point, only the last three rounds were best-of-sevens, with the first round being a best-of-five), so that's 27 postseasons in the current format. Only six of those postseasons saw at least six series go to seven games. The record of seven has only happened twice- in 1994 and 2011.

That brings me to my point- could this be the year where the record for most Game 7s in a single postseason is broken?

The New York Rangers and Montreal Canadiens are locked into their Conference Finals match-up. Those teams seem pretty similar, so it's possible their series goes seven games. The Blackhawks are more likely to be taken to a Game 7 by the Kings, in my opinion. Regardless, two of the final three remaining series would have to go the distance for the record to be broken, and while that's possible, it's pretty improbable.

But the NHL has never been more balanced. The days where the first round featured awesome teams against truly crap teams is largely over. The Hartford Whalers and Winnipeg Jets teams of the early 80s that made obligatory playoff appearances only to get tossed quickly from the first round are things of the past. Just look at the match-ups in the first round this year:

Canadiens vs. Lightning
Blackhawks vs. Blues
Flyers vs. Rangers
Blue Jackets vs. Penguins
Bruins vs. Red Wings
Kings vs. Sharks
Avalanche vs. Wild
Ducks vs. Stars

The only series in that group where one team seemed outmatched on paper was the Blue Jackets/Penguins one. And while the Pens did win, it took six games. The Jackets didn't exactly embarrass themselves (and got the first two wins in the postseason in team history, so good for them). Only the Canadiens/Lightning series was a sweep.

That's not to say that some teams that make the playoffs are just plain better than others. The Lightning were flawed from the beginning after trading Martin St. Louis to the Rangers and with an unsettled goalie situation.
The best teams still seem to advance to the later rounds. The Blackhawks, while flawed, are an excellent team. The Canadiens and Rangers are scrappy and talented. The Kings are extremely physical and have Jonathan Quick, perhaps the best goalie in the game today. And the Ducks... well they're just a good team.

But no one knows how long it will take those great teams to advance. That's the beauty. A mismatch can turn into a six or seven game battle of wills. And that's damn fun.