Conference finals feature best-on-best matchups, will be must-watch TV

Greatness.
Nothing less will be at stake and on display in the semifinals of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The Eastern Conference Final features the Tampa Bay Lightning against the New York Rangers. Each team has one of the best goalies in the NHL -- Andrei Vasilevskiy of the Lightning, Igor Shesterkin of the Rangers.
The Lightning, the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion, are trying to become a modern-day dynasty, the first team to win the Cup three years in a row since the New York Islanders won it four years in a row from 1980-83.
"It really is history now," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "That's what we're chasing."
The Western Conference Final features the Colorado Avalanche against the Edmonton Oilers. Each team has two of the most dynamic players in the NHL rewriting the record books -- Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar of the Avalanche, Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl of the Oilers.
There were 14 goals scored in Game 1 on Tuesday, an 8-6 Avalanche win.
"It's exciting, and we're excited to be a part of it as well," Colorado defenseman Erik Johnson said. "When you can have best-on-best, that's just the best that you could hope for as a player. That's what you want."

The Lightning have won 10 straight series, becoming the third team to do so after the Islanders (19 straight from 1980-84) and the Montreal Canadiens (13 from 1976-80 and 10 from 1956-1960).
They already have eliminated two of the top teams in the NHL this season. In the Eastern Conference First Round, they needed seven games to defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs, who finished fourth in the NHL in the regular season. In the second round, they swept the Florida Panthers, who won the Presidents' Trophy as the NHL's top regular-season team.
Now they face the Rangers, who tied them for seventh in the NHL in the regular season and won two seven-game series, defeating the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round and the Carolina Hurricanes in the second.
Shesterkin is a finalist for the Vezina Trophy, which goes to the top goaltender in the regular season as voted by the NHL general managers, and the Hart Trophy, which goes to the most valuable player in the regular season as voted by the Professional Hockey Writers Association. He is 8-5 with a 2.68 goals-against average and .928 save percentage in the playoffs.

Vasilevskiy won the Vezina in 2018-19 and the Conn Smythe as the MVP of the playoffs last season. He is 8-3 with a 2.22 goals-against average and .932 save percentage in the 2022 playoffs. His last game was a 49-save shutout of the Panthers, his sixth series-clinching shutout, an NHL record. The Lightning have committed to defending hard in front of him.
"We know how to win these games, and we know the style that we have to play, and it's not the run-and-gun game," Lightning captain Steven Stamkos said. "It's the shutdown game."
Will anyone be able to play the shutdown game in the West?
McDavid (549), Draisaitl (479) and MacKinnon (442) are the top three regular-season scorers in the NHL since 2017-18. McDavid has won the Art Ross Trophy as the NHL's leading scorer four times and the Hart twice; he is a Hart finalist again this season.
Draisaitl has won the Art Ross and the Hart once each. MacKinnon is a three-time Hart finalist.
Among defensemen who have played at least four regular-season games since 2019-20, Makar leads in points per game (1.01). He was runner-up for the Norris Trophy as the NHL's best defenseman as voted by the PHWA last season and is a Norris finalist again this season.
In NHL history, Draisaitl (1.61) and Mario Lemieux (1.61) are tied for second behind Wayne Gretzky (1.84) in points per game among players who have played at least 33 playoff games. After Barry Pederson (1.53), next are McDavid (1.45) and MacKinnon (1.37). Makar (0.98) is fourth among defensemen, behind Bobby Orr (1.24), Brian Leetch (1.02) and Paul Coffey (1.01).
McDavid had a goal and two assists Tuesday and passed Draisaitl for the playoff scoring lead, with 29 points (eight goals, 21 assists) in 13 games. Only five other players had 26 points through 12 games of a postseason: Gretzky (34 in 1983 and 32 in 1985), Lemieux (29 in 1992), Mark Messier (26 in 1988) and Rick Middleton (26 in 1983). Draisaitl had at least three points in five straight games, an NHL playoff record. He had two assists Tuesday.

Makar had a goal and two assists Tuesday and leads the Avalanche with 16 points (four goals, 12 assists) in 11 games. MacKinnon has nine goals and six assists,
The Avalanche (4.64) and Oilers (4.46) lead the playoffs in goals per game. Each team has received contributions from others -- Oilers forward Evander Kane leads the playoffs with 13 goals, most notably -- but the stars have been the catalysts. Perhaps no one in the NHL can go end to end like McDavid and MacKinnon, no one can pass like Draisaitl, no one can walk the blue line like Makar, and now they're going head to head.
"Usually, the best players in the world get really geared up when they're playing the other best players in the world," Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft said. "We're in a business where naturally everybody is ultracompetitive, and you want to show well, and when the other team has some really high-end players, you want to make sure that everybody's on their game. And that doesn't just go to our high-end players. It goes to our team in general.
"I think when you're playing a top team, like we're about to, and top players, like we're about to, everybody's antennae is up. Everybody's on their toes and alert."
Everybody's on the edge of their seat.