TORONTO — The playoffs for a National Hockey League (NHL) season that nearly never was open Tuesday with memories of a bitter labor dispute all but forgotten in favor of an intriguing race for the Stanley Cup. A compacted 48-game schedule that began in January with NHL players and owners apologizing to disgruntled fans and promising a season packed with unpredictable results delivered in spades, setting the stage for an equally fascinating playoffs. The top-ranked Pittsburgh Penguins in the Eastern Conference and Chicago Blackhawks in the Western Conference begin as clear favorites to meet in a best-of-seven games Stanley Cup final that will be played in steamy late-June temperatures. But if there are any lessons to be taken from past years, it is that anything can happen. The Los Angeles Kings proved this just last season by sneaking in as an eighth seed and upsetting the Western Conference's top three teams before defeating the New Jersey Devils to claim the franchise's first Stanley Cup. The Kings are back in the postseason ready to open defense of their crown against the St. Louis Blues as part of a 16-team playoff for hockey's top prize. To get their names engraved on Lord Stanley's famous mug, however, players must survive one of sports' ultimate tests of endurance and win four punishing best-of-seven series before finally hoisting the silver Cup. No team knows more about the playoff grind than the Detroit Red Wings, who are in the postseason for a 22nd consecutive year while the Toronto Maple Leafs snapped what had been the longest active playoff drought by returning to the postseason for the first time since 2004. The Red Wings, who needed a win in their final regular season game to extend their streak, were to open against the Anaheim Ducks Tuesday while the Maple Leafs face the Boston Bruins in an Original Six matchup starting Wednesday. For hockey purists, the playoffs will provide a blast of nostalgia with all six original NHL franchises (Boston, Toronto, Detroit, Chicago, Montreal Canadiens and New York Rangers) competing for the first time since 1996. The opening round will also feature the first playoff clash between clubs from Montreal and rival Ottawa since the Montreal Maroons and the original Senators franchise faced off in 1928. Not since the Canadiens celebrated the last of their 24 Stanley Cups in 1993 has the treasured trophy been paraded through the streets of a Canadian city and the country is thirsting to see that drought end. — Reuters
