from Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News,

The Pittsburgh Penguins' run to the first Stanley Cup three-peat in 35 years would have been a great story to follow but it's over. Nevertheless, the demise of Sidney Crosby & Co. hardly leaves the NHL without story lines.

In fact, the league will be full of them as the conference finals open Friday night at Tampa Bay's Amalie Arena.

It's Washington at Tampa Bay in the East to get things started, and Vegas at Winnipeg in Game 1 of the West final on Saturday. This will be the first final four in NHL history where the teams combined for just one previous Cup win, that being Tampa Bay's Game 7 triumph over Calgary in 2004. And in quite the indignity to Sabres fans, the West final features two teams who weren't even in the league in 2011, the last time Buffalo made the playoffs.

The Capitals will be playing a conference final game for the first time since 1998 – when they won Game 6 at then-Marine Midland Arena on an overtime goal by Joe Juneau that eliminated the Sabres.

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