NHL Opens Conference Finals With Cup Heavyweights on the March

The NHL is setting the table for the conference finals, and the field is packed with teams that have spent the season acting like the Stanley Cup should already be on layaway. These are the heavyweights, the clubs built to survive ugly nights, long series and the kind of pressure that makes depth charts look smart or foolish in a hurry. By this point in the playoffs, everyone is carrying a real path to the Final, and everyone knows it.