For the third straight year, the Chicago Blackhawks will play a team in the Southern California area for the Western Conference championship and the chance to look really weird not touching the Clarence Campbell Bowl.

View photos CHICAGO, IL - JUNE 08: The Chicago Blackhawks pose for a team photo with the Clarence S. Campbell Bowl after they won 4-3 in the second overtime against the Los Angeles Kings during Game Five of the Western Conference Finals of the 2013 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at United Center on June 8, 2013 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images) More

Only the Hawks will not play the Los Angeles Kings, their opponent the last two postseasons. The Anaheim Ducks led by Kingpin-lookalike coach Bruce Boudreau will be Chicago’s opponent. Please don't take offense to that Bruce, you know we love your talkative ways.

Both teams match one another strength-for-strength. They’re both deep at center, strong on the wing and on defense. The only quasi-question for both squads comes in goal with Corey Crawford in Chicago and Frederik Andersen with the Ducks.

With the exception of a few games against Nashville for Crawford, both have been good enough.

The Blackhawks have gone 8-2 these playoffs. The Ducks are 8-1.

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Who will win this match up of really prolific teams? Chicago may have had the third seed in the Central Division (102 points) but they just always seem to get it done in the playoffs. The Ducks (109 points and the Western Conference’s top seed) have staked a lot on this season. This is probably their most talented team since Boudreau took over in 2011-12. The Blackhawks will be a much greater test than Winnipeg in the first round or Calgary in the second for Anaheim

Forwards

It’s an epic force battle between two Mark Messier-like leaders who have been finalists before for the Messier Leadership Award but never won. These two fine fellows are centers Ryan Getzlaf with Anaheim and Jonathan Toews with Chicago. Both middle-men have flown under the radar but have been equally prolific with 12 points in nine games for Getzlaf and 11 points in 10 games for the man they call ‘Tazer’ with Chicago. Both groups have big-time wingers in Patrick Kane (13 points in 10 games) for Chicago and playoff leading scorer Corey Perry (15 points in nine games) for Anaheim. Both teams are deep up front and have threats from top-to-bottom. Toews just does everything so incredibly well, and Kane always seems to score at key moments. Chicago gets the very slight edge in this.

ADVANTAGE: Blackhawks

Defense

Even without Michal Rozsival, who is out for the remainder of the playoffs, I like Chicago’s defense a lot. Mostly because Duncan Keith is having an amazing postseason with 10 points in 10 games while playing 30:37 per-night on average. He’s basically Chicago’s defenseman version of Toews. Unflappable and unstoppable for the most part. Also, Brent Seabrook always finds a way to score in overtime in important games. Don’t ask, he just does it. But here’s a task for you, the reader. Do the Anaheim Ducks have a discernable top pair on defense? Do they have a discernable third pair? I’ll save you the trouble with answering that question now, no. All three pairs could be No. 1 pairs on most NHL teams. The Ducks don’t have any major stars like Keith or Seabrook on D, but they have some players with that type of potential in Hampus Lindholm (six points) and Cam Fowler (plus-7). Also, Sami Vatanen (seven points and a plus-5) is a slick skater who can move the puck. Maybe Clayton Stoner is their only weak link, but he’s not nearly as frayed as Kimmo Timonen on Chicago who gets hidden every night at 9:25 of ice-time per-contest.

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