Ducks-Blackhawks, Lightning-Rangers both reach thrilling Game 7 climax

Former NHL player Tom Laidlaw predicts there will be "no Knute Rockne speeches" made by anyone before either of the Game 7s that will be played this weekend.

"Going into a Game 7, it's always about preparing exactly the same way you always prepare," Laidlaw said. "If you do something different, then you are getting off your game. A lot of guys are superstitious and if you always tie your left skate up first, you are going to tie you left skate first this time. You don't want it to seem like it is a bigger deal, even though it is."

The players may try to act as if it is business as usual, but there is nothing routine about Friday's Eastern Conference Final Game 7 with the Tampa Bay Lightning at the New York Rangers (8 p.m. ET, NBC Sports Network) or Saturday's Western Conference Final Game 7 with the Chicago Blackhawks at the Anaheim Ducks (8, NBC).

"I can't imagine that we could have drawn up a better script for the National Hockey League than these four teams playing in the semifinals and now both series going to a seventh game," said Nashville Predators general manager David Poile. "Now this is the ultimate."

Two Original Six teams in the Final four. One Game 7 played in California. A Florida team competing in the other Game 7. One of the games on network television. We've seen multiple-goal comebacks, double-overtime, triple-overtime, goaltending battles, unlikely heroes and stars rising up.

"If I were to describe these playoffs in three words, I would use: exciting, unpredictable and sensational," Commissioner Gary Bettman told USA TODAY Sports. "I'm looking forward to a memorable weekend of hockey and the suspense of two 'best-of-one' games for the privilege of playing in the Stanley Cup Final.

Anaheim defenseman Francois Beauchemin said the Ducks-Blackhawks series has been "for sure the most exciting series I've ever been a part of.

"It seems like every game, the team that was down, found a way to come back and make a game of it," Beauchemin said. "Even if you're down by two or three goals, the other team has found a way to come back."

This is only the second time in the post-1967 expansion era that both conference finals have gone to a Game 7.

"This is like having two title fights on back-to-back nights," Flames president Brian Burke said. "Tonight feels like Christmas Eve."

The New York Post, in a column written by long-time hockey columnist Larry Brooks, said Friday's Game 7 at Madison Square Garden is the most important Rangers game since New York's Game 7 win against the Vancouver Canucks in the 1994 Stanley Cup Final.

Everyone you ask struggles making a prediction. "I can't tell who the better team is," Poile said. "Within every game I watch, it looks like this team will win, and then, 'No' the other team looks like it will win. It's the ebb and flow that we always talk about. These games are too close to call."

The numbers from each of series can make you dizzy. The Rangers-Lightning series is a match-up between the No. 1 and No. 3 offensive teams in the league, and yet both teams have been limited to two or fewer goals three times in the six games. Still, both are averaging more than three goals per game in the series. The Ducks, meanwhile, had not lost in regulation in these playoffs until Game 6 against Chicago.

There are storylines aplenty in both series. Anaheim coach Bruce Boudreau is 1-5 in his coaching history in Game 7s. Anaheim captain Ryan Getzlaf is third in playoff scoring with 19 points in 17 games, but he insists that he played "terrible" in the Ducks' last game.

The expectation is that Henrik Lundqvist's exceptional Game 7 history will be a factor. He is tied with Martin Brodeur and Patrick Roy for the most Game 7 wins (six) by a goaltender in NHL history. He is 6-0 with a .973 save percentage in his last six Game 7s. The big question in Tampa is whether Ben Bishop, their 6-7 goalie, can measure up.

It's challenging for coaches and players involved to appreciate how entertaining this series has been because they are fully invested in an agonizing quest to win.

"I've asked people, is this a good series?" Boudreau said. "Is it entertaining? You're caught up in the moment of winning and losing. People say it's unbelievable. But we look at it as a little different right now. It might be something you appreciate one way or another in six months."

PHOTOS: Stanley Cup conference finals