Badgers in the NHL: conference finals edition

As the calendar turned to September the nation, as is tradition every year, was swept with Stanley Cup fever. The Eastern Conference and Western Conference finals, both taking place in a bubble in Edmonton, have been exciting so far and will hopefully end up with a pair of Wisconsin Badgers facing off for the right to raise the coolest trophy in sports.

The Dallas Stars and Joe Pavelski are tied with the Vegas Golden Knights 1-1 in their best-of-seven series, with Game 3 Thursday night, and the Tampa Bay Lightning, with Ryan McDonagh, lead the New York Islanders 2-0 after their last second win on Wednesday night.

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Pavelski, a native of Plover, has played in 18 games this postseason, scoring a team-leading eight goals (two on the power play) and adding four assists (two on the power play), although he has yet to tally a point in the series against Vegas. He has also won 53.69% of his faceoffs, good for second on the team.

McDonagh, a stalwart defenseman for Tampa, has one goal (including the game winner in Game 1 against the Islanders) and four assists in 12 games. He also had the game-winning assist in Game 2 with this preposterous pass with nine seconds left.

As the two series come to their conclusion lets hope that there is a chance to see a Badger hoist the Stanley Cup at the end of this weird season.