Only Four Remain

As stated on Saturday, there will be exit interviews this week on The Hockey Show as the final game of Round Two was played tonight. We now know who the four teams are that will compete in the Conference Finals, and that means that four entrants in the Survivor contest move one step closer to winning the grand prize while four more entrants will look forward to next year's contest. In short, we're not far from finding out who will be playing for jerseys in this year's contest!

Let's take a look at who is still alive in the Survivor contest.

On the Western Conference Final front, it will be Mike and his Vegas Golden Knights against Bryan and his Dallas Stars. Dallas was 3-0-0 against Vegas this season as Vegas dropped two games in shootouts - a 3-2 decision on February 25 and a 2-1 decision on April 8 - while losing the first meeting of the season on January 16 by a 4-0 score. Ty Dellandrea and Jamie Benn both had three points in those three wins as Dallas outscored Vegas 9-3 in the three contests. Jake Oettinger won all three games as Dallas' netminder while both Laurent Brossoit and Jonathan Quick suffered the shootout losses. Logan Thompson was Begas' goalie of record in the regulation loss.

The Eastern Conference Final sees John and his Carolina Hurricanes squaring off against Wayne and the Florida Panthers. Carolina was 2-1-0 against Florida this season as the Panthers downed the Hurricanes 3-0 on November 9 before the Hurricanes rallied to win 4-0 on December 30 and 6-4 on April 13. Brandon Montour and Radko Gudas both had three assists in the three games against Carolina while the Hurricanes saw Brent Burns score twice and add two helpers while Seth Jarvis had four assists in those three games. Spencer Knight and Antti Raanta both recorded a win and a loss in the first two games these teams played, but Frederik Andersen defeated Alex Lyon in the April game. Both Knight and Raanta recorded shutouts.

I'm not here to preview series, though, because Mike, Wayne, Bryan, and John will be watching their teams determine who will compete in the final. Unfortunately, we will be saying good-bye to Daniella (EDM), Dave (TOR), Derek (SEA), and Paul (NJD) if we're going alphabetically. Edmonton's high-scoring superstars will have to wait another year. Toronto's well-financed core of players will look to next season to see if they can ascend higher. Seattle made a heckuvan impression in their first appearance in the dance. And it looks like the youthful New Jersey Devils may have many more opportunties to bring home another Stanley Cup.

Everything gets started on Thursday night for Round Three, so make sure you tune into The Hockey Show at 5:30pm CT to hear the exit interviews of those entrants who are departing after their teams were knocked out prior to tuning into Game One of the Eastern Conference Final between the Panthers and Hurricanes from Raleigh, North Carolina at 7pm CT/8pm ET on one or all of TNT, Rogers Sportsnet, CBC, or TVA Sports if you want to watch en français. The Golden Knights and Stars will start their series on Friday night in Vegas at 7:30pm CT/8:30pm ET with ESPN hopping into TNT's place for the broadcast.

For Mike, Wayne, Bryan, and John, they now have a 1-in-2 chance of winning either a Seattle Kraken jersey or a Winnipeg Jets Aviator jersey. We're a few weeks from handing those out, but two of those four individuals will get a brand-new NHL jersey! For Daniella (EDM), Dave (TOR), Derek (SEA), and Paul (NJD), we'll talk to you on Thursday about your teams' shortcomings!

Until then, keep your sticks on the ice!