New York, NY (My Sportsbook) - The dates are officially set for the second round of the National Hockey League playoffs after the 2009 conference quarterfinal round concluded on Tuesday.
There were two Game 7s in the Eastern Conference on Tuesday, and when all was said and done, Washington and Carolina moved on. The Capitals defeated the New York Rangers, 2-1, while the Hurricanes shocked the Devils with a pair of late goals to sneak out of New Jersey with a 4-3 victory.
For their efforts, the Capitals will play host to the Pittsburgh Penguins, who defeated the Philadelphia Flyers in six games. Game 1 of the Caps-Pens series is set for Saturday. These two teams are certainly not strangers when it comes to postseason hockey, as the clubs have previously met an amazing seven times. Pittsburgh has won six of the series, including the 1996 installment that included a four-overtime marathon that was won by Petr Nedved's goal. The only series victory by Washington over Pittsburgh was in 1994, when the Caps took the series in six games. The Penguins were victorious in 1991, 1992, 1995, 1996, 2000 and 2001.
The Hurricanes, meanwhile, have little time to rest from their seven-game slugfest with the Devils. Their reward is a meeting with the East's top-seeded Boston Bruins in a series that begins in Beantown on Friday. The Carolina franchise has met the historic Bruins three times in the playoffs, although two of those meetings -- in 1990 and 1991 -- were played as the Hartford Whalers. Boston has won all three meetings, with the other a first-round, six- game victory in 1999.
In the Western Conference, the top remaining team is the No 2. seed and defending champion Detroit Red Wings, who will host the eighth-seeded Anaheim Ducks in Game 1 on Friday at Joe Louis Arena. The Red Wings swept the Columbus Blue Jackets, while the Ducks surprised the top-seeded San Jose Sharks in six games to advance. The playoff history between the Red Wings and Ducks consists of four all-time series, three of which were won by Detroit in a 4-0 sweep (1997, 1998, 2003). However, the lone Ducks win came in sweet fashion -- Anaheim beat Detroit in six games two years ago in the West finals on its way to the franchise's lone Stanley Cup title.
The first of the four conference semifinal series to get underway will see the young, up-and-coming Chicago Blackhawks (No. 4 seed) invade British Columbia for Game 1 against the third-seeded Vancouver Canucks on Thursday. Only twice have the Canucks and Blackhawks squared off in a playoff series, and each side has secured a victory. In 1982, the Canucks needed five games to dispose of Chicago in the Cup semis before they lost in the title round to the New York Islanders. But the Blackhawks earned a bit of revenge in 1995 when they swept Vancouver in the second round.
