NHL

In the Stanley Cup playoffs, it isn't so much about how the West was won as it is about who will win the West. You can make a legitimate case for all four of the remaining teams being the last one left standing. The Nashville Predators were last spring's finalist, while the San Jose Sharks were there a year earlier. And you can't discount the Winnipeg Jets or Vegas Golden Knights.

It just wouldn't be the Stanley Cup playoffs without some intriguing storylines to make it more compelling, and this spring is no exception. The Nashville Predators look to win their first Cup, the Pittsburgh Penguins seek their third straight title, and the surprising Vegas Golden Knights look to be the inaugural first-year expansion team to win it all. And what should we make of the perennially-contending Washington Capitals?

The last time the Pittsburgh Penguins came into the playoffs as two-time defending Stanley Cup champions was in the spring of 1993. They did so with an NHL-best 119 points during the regular season, and rode a league-record 17-game winning streak into the postseason. But the Penguins were eliminated in the second round by the New York Islanders. Which only goes to prove that the playoffs are anybody's game.

There's always an intriguing sub plot whenever the Minnesota Wild and Dallas Stars clash. From 1967-93, the Stars performed as the Minnesota North Stars, reaching the Stanley Cup final in 1981 and 1991, until abandoning the State of Hockey for the Big D, where they won the Stanley Cup in 1999. But there's a lingering bitterness among Minnesotans that they were forsaken for a non-traditional hockey market.

There was a time when the Detroit Red Wings were the NHL's dominant franchise, and the Toronto Maple Leafs were mostly also rans at best. Today, it's the Wings, at the Air Canada Centre to face the Leafs on Saturday, who will miss the playoffs for the second straight season, while the Leafs look to be serious Stanley Cup contenders for the first time in nearly two decades.

One of hockey's oldest and most traditional rivalries is back on the ice again Saturday when the Montreal Canadiens travel to Boston to face the Bruins at TD Garden. Having just dismantled the two-time defending champion Pittsburgh Penguins there on Thursday to the tune of 8-4, now the Bruins get the chance to give the same treatment to the team that's won more Stanley Cups than any other franchise.

Not all that long ago, the talk around the NHL was that the Boston Bruins were the hottest team in the league when they collected points in 18 straight games from Dec. 16-Jan. 25. Lately, though, it's the Pittsburgh Penguins who have ascended to the mantle of the team that is bringing the heat. The two-time defending Stanley Cup champions are 17-6-1 since Jangiroux. 1.

All good things come to an end, as do bad things, which the Boston Bruins and New Jersey Devils were happy to recently discover. Boston ended a six-game losing streak against the Toronto Maple Leafs, while the Devils got the better of the New York Islanders for the first time in five games. As these match ups arrive once more on the NHL schedule, will they revert to old form?

As Monday's 3 p.m. EST NHL trade deadline fast approaches, the talk is beginning to heat up. Originally, the speculation was that none of the big name types would be moving because the prices being asked were simply too high. But that scenario seems to be changing as the deadline draws closer, and some major stars could find themselves heading to new homes by the time the dealing is done.