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Last night we learned that the first game of the Eastern conference finals between Boston and Pittsburgh will probably be on Saturday. This, to be polite, is fucking stupid. There's one game tonight and one game tomorrow night, leaving Thursday and probably Friday wide open for an Eastern Conference game to fill the void. It's in Pittsburgh, whose arena is wide open right now, so it's not like there's a scheduling conflict with the hilarious I Miss The Nineties tour that's going around (98º, BIIM, NKOTB). It's possible that the WCF could start on Friday, which would be pants-shittingly dumb since the Eastern teams will have both been done for a week. Man. Game 1 of that series is going to suck.
Oh well. Make plans to be outside away from your televisions at the end of the week.
#6 San Jose Sharks at #5 Los Angeles Kings: Game 7!
9:00 Eastern, NBC Sports, TSN, RDS
Sharks have won 3 of 4.
The home team has won every game of the series, and neither of these teams has lost at home yet this postseason.
Their power plays are about the same.
LA has a better penalty kill.
Antti Niemi has allowed 5 goals in the last 4 games.
Logan Couture, Joe Pavelski, and Joe Thornton are producing at a point-per-game or better. The Kings only have one guy approaching that, Mike Richards, with 10 in 12 games.
If you're like me, and don't have a rooting interest here, Game 7 is the absolute best, especially with how good this series has been. If you're actively cheering for either team, here's a beta blocker, here's an oxygen tank, and I'll call in a wellness check on you if you don't check in every 15 minutes.