Daniel Sedin

After two hard-fought games against the Western Conference's elite—the Chicago Blackhawks and Detroit Red Wings—it is clear that there is little separating the top teams in the NHL's West.  

All-star games themselves normally aren't overly meaningful or entertaining, but the NHL may very well have the best All-Star weekend in sports. It isn't because of the game, rather it is the skills competition which will take place on Saturday night.

Brett Hull broke in to the NHL with the Calgary Flames in 1986. The next year he was to prove to be the bane of the existence of coach "Badger" Bob Johnson.

"Badger" Bob had a system that he liked his players to play. It had worked for him and the Calgary Flames. He had gotten the Flames into the playoffs in each of his first four seasons and made it to the Stanley Cup finals in 1986.

Last season only one player in the entire NHL hit the 50-goal plateau: Corey Perry, with 50 goals in the regular season.

For the majority of the season, it seemed as though no one would reach it.

Sidney Crosby was on pace for one of his best seasons ever, and one surely assumed it included at least 50 goals. However, reoccurring concussion symptoms kept him out of the second half of the season.

The Vancouver Canucks are just two wins away from becoming Stanley Cup Champions and the anticipation level is rising in Van City.

There has been no shortage of outstanding performers for the Canucks in these playoffs. They have had contributions from many sources throughout their run to the finals. But in the end their star players have, for the most part, acted like their star players.

The Vancouver Canucks have been put under a lot of pressure. 

Not only do they have a city of die hard fans who have yet to win a Cup in their team's forty-year history, but now they have the weight of a nation on their shoulders. 

Can Boston rebound after giving up a soul-crushing goal late in the 3rd period to lose Game 1? Can Vancouver deal with more injuries to their defensemen? Can Boston score a goal on their powerplay? Can the Sedin twins figure out a way to beat the Boston defense? 

They did it run and gun against Chicago, they did it tight and close against Nashville, and they did it big and physical against San Jose.

Along the way, they’ve faced some of the league's best shooters (Kane, Toews, Thornton, Heatley), some of defensemen (Keith, Seabrook, Weber, Suter), and goaltenders (Rinne).

The matchup for the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals has been set as the Boston Bruins punched their ticket after defeating the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 7 with a 1-0 shutout win.

After the Bruins' thrilling Game 7 win in the Eastern Conference Finals over the Tampa Bay Lightning one thing is for sure:

Not much will change. 

The Canucks' offence is just too much for the Bruins to handle. Below is a complete analysis of every aspect of the game. 

Goaltending