2024 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs: Picks, predictions for Rangers-Panthers, Stars-Oilers conference finals series

Eastern Conference Final starts Wednesday, Western Conference Final starts Thursday

By Chris Bengel  & Austin Nivison May 22, 2024 at 5:00 am ET• 7 min read

The Stanley Cup Playoffs have provided some stellar drama throughout the first two rounds. After some entertaining action up to this point, it's officially time to shift our attention towards the Eastern and Western Conference Finals.

Three of the four No. 1 seeds still remain in the playoff picture. The New York Rangers will host the Florida Panthers in Game 1 of the East Final Wednesday, while the Dallas Stars will host the Edmonton Oilers Thursday in the West Finals series opener. Our analysts have weighed in with their picks for both both series.

(1) Rangers vs. (1) Panthers

Chris Bengel: The Rangers folded like a cheap suit in the opening round of last year's playoffs, but it's been a completely different story in 2024. New York captured the Presidents' Trophy as the team with the most points during the regular season -- something that's typically a curse for teams once they get to the postseason -- but, obviously, that hasn't bitten them thus far.

After a sweep of the Washington Capitals in the first round, the Rangers were given all they could handle against the Carolina Hurricanes in what turned out to be a very tight series. In fact, if it wasn't for a monumental collapse by the Hurricanes, perhaps a different team advances to the East Final. The Panthers and Rangers are two offenses that match up very well against one another as they both are averaging over 3.5 goals per game this postseason.