from Pierre LeBrun of ESPN,

Where did six weeks go?

I remember flying into San Jose on April 15 for the start of my annual playoff trek like it was yesterday.

I spent exactly 32 days among San Jose, Los Angeles, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Denver and Anaheim over the first two rounds. Then, between the second round and the conference finals, I spent three days at home to reintroduce myself to my three young kids. And then right back on the road, to New York and Montreal for the final four games of the wacky Eastern Conference finals.

That's 41 of 44 days working on the road, seeing the highs and lows of what once again has been a story-filled Stanley Cup playoffs.

Here are my top five memories from the moments I covered:

1. April 30, Game 7, Los Angeles Kings at San Jose Sharks. Outscored 17-8 in losing the opening three games of the series, the Los Angeles Kings stunningly turned the tables on the Sharks by outscoring them 19-5 over the final four games and becoming just the fourth team in NHL history to erase the almighty 3-donut hole. "We just have a lot of heart on this team," Kings stud blueliner Drew Doughty said that night. "We have guys who are so competitive, guys who want to win. That's how [GM] Dean [Lombardi] built this team -- with guys who will do anything to win. I think that showed. We never gave up and came back hard.'' I'll never forget walking into the home dressing room and seeing the look of soul-crushing hurt on the faces of those San Jose Sharks players.

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