2008 Stanley Cup playoffs

The San Jose Sharks were the media's favorite to win the Cup going into the playoffs, having gone the entire month of March without a regulation loss and nearly finishing first overall during the regular season.{{citation needed|date=June 2025}}

In game one of the Western Conference quarterfinals against the Minnesota Wild, captain Joe Sakic of the Colorado Avalanche extended his record for playoff overtime goals to eight, with a goal 11:11 into overtime. Chris Chelios appeared in his 248th career playoff game surpassing Patrick Roy for most career playoff games of all time.

In game one of the Western Conference semifinals in San Jose, Dallas Stars center Brad Richards tied an NHL record for most points in one period of a playoff game, when he recorded one goal and three assists in the third period.

In the Western Conference semifinals against the Avalanche, Johan Franzen became the first player to score multiple hat tricks in a series since Jari Kurri tallied three in 1985. In the process, he set an NHL record for most goals in a four-game sweep and the Red Wings' record for most goals in a playoff series with nine, beating the previous record of eight set by Gordie Howe in 1949.[http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2007030234 Game Recap] of game four of the Detroit-Colorado Western Conference semi-final. Franzen achieved this feat in only four games, moreover, while Howe achieved it in seven.

Game six of the Western Conference semifinals between the Sharks and Stars was the eighth-longest game in the history of the NHL, lasting 129:03. Stars captain Brenden Morrow ended the game at 9:03 of the fourth overtime, tapping in a power-play goal. Goaltenders Marty Turco and Evgeni Nabokov set team records for saves in a game with 61 and 53, respectively. The final score was 2–1.

Detroit captain Nicklas Lidstrom became the first European (and Swedish) born and trained player to lead an NHL team to the Stanley Cup. Charlie Gardiner (born in the United Kingdom) and Johnny Gottselig (born in Russia) both won the Stanley Cup as captains of the Chicago Blackhawks in {{scfy|1934}} and {{scfy|1938}} respectively, but they were both raised in Canada.

In game three of their Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series, while on a five-on-three power play, the New York Rangers' Sean Avery tried to screen the New Jersey Devils' goaltender Martin Brodeur by waving his hands and stick while facing Brodeur. This prompted the NHL to issue an interpretation of the league's rules, stating that an unsportsmanlike conduct minor penalty will be called on actions such as the one used by Avery.{{cite news| url=https://www.espn.com/nhl/playoffs2008/news/story?id=3346729 | title=NHL amends unsportsmanlike conduct rule in response to Avery's antics | work=ESPN.com | date=April 14, 2008 | access-date=April 14, 2008| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080416003542/http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/playoffs2008/news/story?id=3346729| archive-date= April 16, 2008 | url-status= live}}

File:Hhof stanley cup.jpg]]

The top eight teams in each conference qualified for the playoffs. The top three seeds in each conference were awarded to the division winners; while the five remaining spots were awarded to the highest finishers in their respective conferences.

The following teams qualified for the playoffs:

1. Montreal Canadiens, Northeast Division champions, Eastern Conference regular season champions – 104 points
2. Pittsburgh Penguins, Atlantic Division champions – 102 points
3. Washington Capitals, Southeast Division champions – 94 points
4. New Jersey Devils – 99 points
5. New York Rangers – 97 points
6. Philadelphia Flyers – 95 points
7. Ottawa Senators – 94 points (43 wins)
8. Boston Bruins – 94 points (41 wins)

1. Detroit Red Wings, Central Division champions, Western Conference regular season champions, President's Trophy winners – 115 points
2. San Jose Sharks, Pacific Division champions – 108 points
3. Minnesota Wild, Northwest Division champions – 98 points
4. Anaheim Ducks – 102 points
5. Dallas Stars – 97 points
6. Colorado Avalanche – 95 points
7. Calgary Flames – 94 points
8. Nashville Predators – 91 points

In each round, teams competed in a best-of-seven series following a 2–2–1–1–1 format (scores in the bracket indicate the number of games won in each best-of-seven series). The team with home ice advantage played at home for games one and two (and games five and seven, if necessary), and the other team played at home for games three and four (and game six, if necessary). The top eight teams in each conference made the playoffs, with the three division winners seeded 1–3 based on regular season record, and the five remaining teams seeded 4–8.

The NHL used "re-seeding" instead of a fixed bracket playoff system. During the first three rounds, the highest remaining seed in each conference was matched against the lowest remaining seed, the second-highest remaining seed played the second-lowest remaining seed, and so forth. The higher-seeded team was awarded home ice advantage. The two conference winners then advanced to the Stanley Cup Finals, where home ice advantage was awarded to the team that had the better regular season record.

{{#invoke:transcludable section|main|section=Bracket|text=

{{16TeamBracket|RD1-RD2-path=0

| RD1=Conference quarterfinals

| RD2=Conference semifinals

| RD3=Conference finals

| RD4=Stanley Cup Finals

| RD2-group1=Eastern Conference

| RD2-group2=Western Conference

| RD1-seed1=1 | RD1-seed2=8

| RD1-seed3=2 | RD1-seed4=7

| RD1-seed5=3 | RD1-seed6=6

| RD1-seed7=4 | RD1-seed8=5

| RD1-seed9=1 | RD1-seed10=8

| RD1-seed11=2 | RD1-seed12=7

| RD1-seed13=3 | RD1-seed14=6

| RD1-seed15=4 | RD1-seed16=5

| RD1-team01=Montreal

| RD1-score01=4

| RD1-team02=Boston

| RD1-score02=3

| RD1-team03=Pittsburgh

| RD1-score03=4

| RD1-team04=Ottawa

| RD1-score04=0

| RD1-team05=Washington

| RD1-score05=3

| RD1-team06=Philadelphia

| RD1-score06=4

| RD1-team07=New Jersey

| RD1-score07=1

| RD1-team08=NY Rangers

| RD1-score08=4

| RD1-team09=Detroit

| RD1-score09=4

| RD1-team10=Nashville

| RD1-score10=2

| RD1-team11=San Jose

| RD1-score11=4

| RD1-team12=Calgary

| RD1-score12=3

| RD1-team13=Minnesota

| RD1-score13=2

| RD1-team14=Colorado

| RD1-score14=4

| RD1-team15=Anaheim

| RD1-score15=2

| RD1-team16=Dallas

| RD1-score16=4

| RD2-seed01=1

| RD2-team01=Montreal

| RD2-score01=1

| RD2-seed02=6

| RD2-team02=Philadelphia

| RD2-score02=4

| RD2-seed03=2

| RD2-team03=Pittsburgh

| RD2-score03=4

| RD2-seed04=5

| RD2-team04=NY Rangers

| RD2-score04=1

| RD2-seed05=1

| RD2-team05=Detroit

| RD2-score05=4

| RD2-seed06=6

| RD2-team06=Colorado

| RD2-score06=0

| RD2-seed07=2

| RD2-team07=San Jose

| RD2-score07=2

| RD2-seed08=5

| RD2-team08=Dallas

| RD2-score08=4

| RD3-seed01=6

| RD3-team01=Philadelphia

| RD3-score01=1

| RD3-seed02=2

| RD3-team02=Pittsburgh

| RD3-score02=4

| RD3-seed03=1

| RD3-team03=Detroit

| RD3-score03=4

| RD3-seed04=5

| RD3-team04=Dallas

| RD3-score04=2

| RD4-seed01=E2

| RD4-team01=Pittsburgh

| RD4-score01=2

| RD4-seed02=W1

| RD4-team02=Detroit

| RD4-score02=4

}}

}}

The Montreal Canadiens entered the playoffs as the Eastern Conference regular season and Northeast Division champions with 104 points. Boston qualified as the eighth seed earning 94 points (losing the tie-breaker in total wins with Ottawa) during the regular season. This was the 31st playoff meeting between these two Original Six rivals, with Montreal winning twenty-three of the thirty previous series. They last met in the 2004 Eastern Conference quarterfinals where Montreal won in seven games. Montreal won all eight games during this year's regular season series.

The Canadiens held off Boston winning the series in seven games. Montreal took the lead early in game one and never looked back in a 4–1 victory. The Bruins forced overtime in game two by scoring two third period goals before coming up short in the first overtime as Alexei Kovalev ended the game with a power-play goal at 2:30 for Montreal. Boston forward Marc Savard scored the overtime winner in a 2–1 game three victory; the win ended a 13-game losing streak against Montreal by the Bruins. Patrice Brisebois scored the only goal of game four for the Canadiens and Carey Price made 27 saves for his first career playoff shutout in a 1–0 win. Boston scored five unanswered goals in game five, including four goals in the third period as they extended the series with a 5–1 win. For the second game in a row the Bruins scored four times in the third period as they tied the series with a 5–4 victory. In game seven Montreal rebounded from the lackluster performances of their previous two games and eliminated Boston with a 5–0 win.

{{NHLPlayoffs

|team1=Boston Bruins

|team2=Montreal Canadiens

|stadium2=TD Banknorth Garden

|stadium1=Bell Centre

|date1 =April 10

|score1 =1–4

|won1 =2

|recap1 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2007030111

|1-1-1 =Shane Hnidy (1) – 08:34

|1-1-2 =00:34 – Sergei Kostitsyn (1)
02:02 – Andrei Kostitsyn (1)

|1-2-1 =No scoring

|1-2-2 =05:16 – Bryan Smolinski (1)

|1-3-1 =No scoring

|1-3-2 =07:24 – Tom Kostopoulos (1)

|goalie1-1 =Tim Thomas 28 saves / 32 shots

|goalie1-2 =Carey Price 17 saves / 18 shots

|date2 =April 12

|score2 =2–3

|ot2 =1

|won2 =2

|recap2 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2007030112

|2-1-1 =No scoring

|2-1-2 =18:30 – Roman Hamrlik (1)

|2-2-1 =No scoring

|2-2-2 =01:50 – Sergei Kostitsyn (2)

|2-3-1 =Peter Schaefer (1) – 03:58
David Krejci (1) – pp – 09:34

|2-3-2 =No scoring

|2-4-1 =No scoring

|2-4-2 =02:30 – pp – Alexei Kovalev (1)

|goalie2-1 =Tim Thomas 28 saves / 31 shots

|goalie2-2 =Carey Price 37 saves / 39 shots

|date3 =April 13

|score3 =1–2

|ot3 =1

|won3 =1

|recap3 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2007030113

|3-1-1 =06:30 – Milan Lucic (1)

|3-1-2 =No scoring

|3-2-1 =No scoring

|3-2-2 =Tom Kostopoulos (2) – 04:26

|3-3-1 =No scoring

|3-3-2 =No scoring

|3-4-1 =09:25 – Marc Savard (1)

|3-4-2 =No scoring

|goalie3-1 =Tim Thomas 27 saves / 28 shots

|goalie3-2 =Carey Price 29 saves / 31 shots

|date4 =April 15

|score4 =1–0

|won4 =2

|recap4 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2007030114

|4-1-1 =No scoring

|4-1-2 =No scoring

|4-2-1 =No scoring

|4-2-2 =Patrice Brisebois (1) – pp – 19:18

|4-3-1 =No scoring

|4-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie4-1 =Tim Thomas 27 saves / 28 shots

|goalie4-2 =Carey Price 27 saves / 27 shots

|date5 =April 17

|score5 =5–1

|won5 =1

|recap5 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2007030115

|5-1-1 =No scoring

|5-1-2 =09:47 – Alexei Kovalev (2)

|5-2-1 =Phil Kessel (1) – pp – 07:45

|5-2-2 =No scoring

|5-3-1 =Glen Metropolit (1) – 03:31
Zdeno Chara (1) – pp – 05:49
Marco Sturm (1) – sh – 15:13
Vladimir Sobotka (1) – 17:48

|5-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie5-1 =Tim Thomas 31 saves / 32 shots

|goalie5-2 =Carey Price 19 saves / 24 shots

|date6 =April 19

|score6 =4–5

|won6 =1

|recap6 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2007030116

|6-1-1 =No scoring

|6-1-2 =Chris Higgins (1) – 09:44

|6-2-1 =01:54 – Phil Kessel (2)

|6-2-2 =Tomas Plekanec (1) – 07:43

|6-3-1 =03:13 – Vladimir Sobotka (3)
12:13 – Milan Lucic (2)
15:45 – Phil Kessel (3)
17:23 – Marco Sturm (2)

|6-3-2 =Francis Bouillon (1) – 10:04
Chris Higgins (2) – 15:56

|goalie6-1 =Tim Thomas 31 saves / 35 shots

|goalie6-2 =Carey Price 31 saves / 36 shots

|date7 =April 21

|score7 =0–5

|won7 =2

|recap7 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2007030117

|7-1-1 =No scoring

|7-1-2 =03:31 – Mike Komisarek (1)

|7-2-1 =No scoring

|7-2-2 =10:45 – Mark Streit (1)
15:13 – Andrei Kostitsyn (2)

|7-3-1 =No scoring

|7-3-2 =17:58 – pp – Andrei Kostitsyn (3)
19:52 – Sergei Kostitsyn (3)

|goalie7-1 =Tim Thomas 30 saves / 35 shots

|goalie7-2 =Carey Price 25 saves / 25 shots

|series = Montreal won series 4–3

}}

The Pittsburgh Penguins entered the playoffs as the Atlantic Division champions, earning the second seed in the Eastern Conference with 102 points. Ottawa qualified as the seventh seed earning 94 points (winning the tie-breaker in total wins with Boston) during the regular season. This was the second playoff meeting between these two teams, with Ottawa winning the only previous series. They last met in the previous year's Eastern Conference quarterfinals where Ottawa won in five games. Ottawa won three of the four games during this year's regular season series.

The Penguins swept the Senators in four games. Marc-Andre Fleury made 26 saves and Gary Roberts scored twice as the Penguins won game one by a score of 4–0. Penguins forward Ryan Malone put Pittsburgh ahead again in game two after they blew a three-goal lead earlier in the game with a power-play goal at 18:58 of the third period; the Penguins held on for a 5–3 victory. Sidney Crosby's goal in the opening seconds of the third period of game three broke a 1–1 tie as Pittsburgh eventually won 4–1. Pittsburgh completed the series sweep in game four with a 3–1 win.

{{NHLPlayoffs

|team1=Ottawa Senators

|team2=Pittsburgh Penguins

|stadium2=Scotiabank Place

|stadium1=Mellon Arena

|date1 =April 9

|score1 =0–4

|won1 =2

|recap1 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2007030121

|1-1-1 =No scoring

|1-1-2 =01:08 – Gary Roberts (1)
12:28 – Petr Sykora (1)

|1-2-1 =No scoring

|1-2-2 =No scoring

|1-3-1 =No scoring

|1-3-2 =13:58 – Evgeni Malkin (1)
18:25 – pp – Gary Roberts (2)

|goalie1-1 =Martin Gerber 31 saves / 35 shots

|goalie1-2 =Marc-Andre Fleury 26 saves / 26 shots

|date2 =April 11

|score2 =3–5

|won2 =2

|recap2 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2007030122

|2-1-1 =No scoring

|2-1-2 =16:10 – pp – Sergei Gonchar (1)

|2-2-1 =Shean Donovan (1) – 11:25
Cory Stillman (1) – pp – 16:11

|2-2-2 =05:22 – pp – Petr Sykora (2)
10:52 – Petr Sykora (3)

|2-3-1 =Cody Bass (1) – 08:51

|2-3-2 =18:58 – pp – Ryan Malone (1)
19:53 – en – Ryan Malone (2)

|goalie2-1 =Martin Gerber 49 saves / 53 shots

|goalie2-2 =Marc-Andre Fleury 27 saves / 30 shots

|date3 =April 14

|score3 =4–1

|won3 =2

|recap3 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2007030123

|3-1-1 =No scoring

|3-1-2 =No scoring

|3-2-1 =01:11 – Nick Foligno (1)

|3-2-2 =Max Talbot (1) – 05:39

|3-3-1 =No scoring

|3-3-2 =Sidney Crosby (1) – 00:12
Jordan Staal (1) – 01:30
Marian Hossa (1) – pp – 08:55

|goalie3-1 =Martin Gerber 34 saves / 38 shots

|goalie3-2 =Marc-Andre Fleury 33 saves / 34 shots

|date4 =April 16

|score4 =3–1

|won4 =2

|recap4 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2007030124

|4-1-1 =No scoring

|4-1-2 =No scoring

|4-2-1 =10:31 – Cory Stillman (2)

|4-2-2 =Evgeni Malkin (2) – pp – 01:40
Jarkko Ruutu (1) – 15:28

|4-3-1 =No scoring

|4-3-2 =Sidney Crosby (2) – en – 19:52

|goalie4-1 =Martin Gerber 31 saves / 33 shots

|goalie4-2 =Marc-Andre Fleury 21 saves / 22 shots

|series = Pittsburgh won series 4–0

}}

The Washington Capitals entered the playoffs as the Southeast Division champions, earning the third seed in the Eastern Conference with 94 points. Philadelphia qualified as the sixth seed earning 95 points during the regular season. This was the fourth playoff meeting between these two teams, with Washington winning two of the three previous series. They last met in the 1989 Patrick Division semifinals where Philadelphia won in six games. Philadelphia won this year's four-game regular season series earning five of eight points.

The Flyers held off the Capitals in a seven-game series. Washington scored three times in the third period of game one as they overcame a two-goal deficit before Alexander Ovechkin scored the game-winner for the Capitals with just over four and a half minutes remaining in regulation time. Martin Biron made 24 saves as the Flyers won game two 2–0. The Flyers broke game three open with two goals just 17 seconds apart in the first period as they went on to win by a final score of 6–3. Philadelphia forward Mike Knuble ended game four at 6:40 of the second overtime period as the Flyers took a 3–1 series lead. Sergei Fedorov and Mike Green each recorded two points for Washington as they extended the series with a 3–2 victory. The Flyers took a two-goal lead early in the second period of game six before the Capitals responded with four unanswered goals to force a seventh and deciding game. Flyers goaltender Martin Biron made 39 saves in game seven and Joffrey Lupul scored a power-play goal in the first overtime as the Flyers advanced to the conference semifinals.

{{NHLPlayoffs

|team1=Philadelphia Flyers

|team2=Washington Capitals

|stadium2=Wachovia Center

|stadium1=Verizon Center

|date1 =April 11

|score1 =4–5

|won1 =2

|recap1 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20072008/GS030131.HTM

|1-1-1 =Vaclav Prospal (1) – 08:17

|1-1-2 =03:16 – Donald Brashear (1)

|1-2-1 =Daniel Briere (1) – 11:46
Vaclav Prospal (2) – 12:19
Daniel Briere (2) – pp – 15:22

|1-2-2 =04:08 – Dave Steckel (1)

|1-3-1 =No scoring

|1-3-2 =01:50 – Mike Green (1)
06:26 – pp – Mike Green (2)
15:28 – Alexander Ovechkin (1)

|goalie1-1 =Martin Biron 22 saves / 27 shots

|goalie1-2 =Cristobal Huet 18 saves / 22 shots

|date2 =April 13

|score2 =2–0

|won2 =1

|recap2 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20072008/GS030132.HTM

|2-1-1 =R. J. Umberger (1) – 05:53
Jeff Carter (1) – 15:17

|2-1-2 =No scoring

|2-2-1 =No scoring

|2-2-2 =No scoring

|2-3-1 =No scoring

|2-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie2-1 =Martin Biron 24 saves / 24 shots

|goalie2-2 =Cristobal Huet 39 saves / 41 shots

|date3 =April 15

|score3 =3–6

|won3 =1

|recap3 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20072008/GS030133.HTM

|3-1-1 =16:10 – Daniel Briere (3)
18:26 – Scott Hartnell (1)
18:43 – Sami Kapanen (1)

|3-1-2 =Eric Fehr (1) – 17:21

|3-2-1 =19:50 – pp – Daniel Briere (4)

|3-2-2 =Mike Green (3) – pp – 07:28

|3-3-1 =17:01 – ps – Mike Richards (1)
18:55 – en – Mike Knuble (1)

|3-3-2 =Brooks Laich (1) – 15:26

|goalie3-1 =Martin Biron 16 saves / 19 shots

|goalie3-2 =Cristobal Huet 27 saves / 32 shots

|date4 =April 17

|score4 =3–4

|ot4 =2

|won4 =1

|recap4 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20072008/GS030134.HTM

|4-1-1 =00:42 – Jeff Carter (2)
18:33 – Jeff Carter (3)

|4-1-2 =Nicklas Backstrom (1) – pp – 02:41
Alexander Semin (1) – pp – 12:59

|4-2-1 =No scoring

|4-2-2 =Steve Eminger (1) – 05:56

|4-3-1 =10:01 – pp – Daniel Briere (5)

|4-3-2 =No scoring

|4-4-1 =06:40 – Mike Knuble (2)

|4-4-2 =No scoring

|goalie4-1 =Martin Biron 38 saves / 41 shots

|goalie4-2 =Cristobal Huet 42 saves / 46 shots

|date5 =April 19

|score5 =2–3

|won5 =2

|recap5 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20072008/GS030135.HTM

|5-1-1 =No scoring

|5-1-2 =07:31 – pp – Nicklas Backstrom (2)

|5-2-1 =Vaclav Prospal (3) – pp – 12:35

|5-2-2 =01:25 – Sergei Fedorov (1)

|5-3-1 =Derian Hatcher (1) – 15:17

|5-3-2 =14:33 – pp – Alexander Semin (2)

|goalie5-1 =Martin Biron 23 saves / 26 shots

|goalie5-2 =Cristobal Huet 30 saves / 32 shots

|date6 =April 21

|score6 =4–2

|won6 =2

|recap6 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20072008/GS030136.HTM

|6-1-1 =03:49 – pp – Mike Richards (2)

|6-1-2 =No scoring

|6-2-1 =01:18 – pp – Daniel Briere (6)

|6-2-2 =Nicklas Backstrom (3) – 09:34
Alexander Semin (3) – 18:03

|6-3-1 =No scoring

|6-3-2 =Alexander Ovechkin (2) – 02:46
Alexander Ovechkin (3) – pp – 10:41

|goalie6-1 =Martin Biron 36 saves / 40 shots

|goalie6-2 =Cristobal Huet 33 saves / 35 shots

|date7 =April 22

|score7 =3–2

|ot7 =1

|won7 =1

|recap7 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20072008/GS030137.HTM

|7-1-1 =Scottie Upshall (1) – pp – 15:38

|7-1-2 =05:42 – pp – Nicklas Backstrom (4)

|7-2-1 =Sami Kapanen (2) – 09:47

|7-2-2 =15:29 – Alexander Ovechkin (4)

|7-3-1 =No scoring

|7-3-2 =No scoring

|7-4-1 =Joffrey Lupul (1) – pp – 06:06

|7-4-2 =No scoring

|goalie7-1 =Martin Biron 39 saves / 41 shots

|goalie7-2 =Cristobal Huet 31 saves / 34 shots

|series = Philadelphia won series 4–3

}}

The New Jersey Devils entered the playoffs as the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference with 99 points. New York qualified as the fifth seed earning 97 points during the regular season. This was the fifth playoff meeting between these two teams, with the Rangers winning three of the four previous series. They last met in the 2006 Eastern Conference quarterfinals where New Jersey won in four games. New York won seven of the eight games during this year's regular season series.

The Rangers defeated the Devils in five games. Scott Gomez had three assists in game one as the Rangers won 4–1. New York scored twice in 23 seconds to break a scoreless tie in the third period of game two and Henrik Lundqvist allowed one goal against for the second consecutive game as the Rangers took a 2–0 series lead. During the second period of game three while on a two-man advantage, the Rangers' Sean Avery tried to screen New Jersey goaltender Martin Brodeur by waving his hands and stick while facing Brodeur. Devils forward John Madden ended the game at 6:01 of the first overtime in a 4–3 New Jersey victory. After the game the NHL issued an interpretation of the League's rules, stating that an unsportsmanlike conduct minor penalty would be called on actions such as the one used by Avery. Marc Staal broke a 3–3 tie for the Rangers late in third period of game four as New York took a 3–1 series lead. Rangers forward Jaromir Jagr had a goal and two assists as New York finished off the Devils in game five with a 5–3 win.

{{NHLPlayoffs

|team1=New York Rangers

|team2=New Jersey Devils

|stadium2=Madison Square Garden

|stadium1=Prudential Center

|date1 =April 9

|score1 =4–1

|won1 =1

|recap1 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20072008/GS030141.HTM

|1-1-1 =No scoring

|1-1-2 =No scoring

|1-2-1 =Brendan Shanahan (1) – 01:45

|1-2-2 =14:14 – pp – Paul Martin (1)

|1-3-1 =Ryan Callahan (1) – sh – 07:23
Sean Avery (1) – 17:07
Nigel Dawes (1) – en – 19:55

|1-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie1-1 =Henrik Lundqvist 26 saves / 27 shots

|goalie1-2 =Martin Brodeur 24 saves / 27 shots

|date2 =April 11

|score2 =2–1

|won2 =1

|recap2 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20072008/GS030142.HTM

|2-1-1 =No scoring

|2-1-2 =No scoring

|2-2-1 =No scoring

|2-2-2 =No scoring

|2-3-1 =Jaromir Jagr (1) – 04:26
Sean Avery (2) – 04:49

|2-3-2 =18:37 – John Madden (1)

|goalie2-1 =Henrik Lundqvist 26 saves / 27 shots

|goalie2-2 =Martin Brodeur 28 saves / 30 shots

|date3 =April 13

|score3 =4–3

|ot3 =1

|won3 =2

|recap3 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20072008/GS030143.HTM

|3-1-1 =12:17 – Brandon Dubinsky (1)

|3-1-2 =Sergei Brylin (1) – 03:01

|3-2-1 =06:50 – pp – Sean Avery (3)

|3-2-2 =Patrik Elias (1) – pp – 12:56
Zach Parise (1) – pp – 15:19

|3-3-1 =00:55 – pp – Brandon Dubinsky (2)

|3-3-2 =No scoring

|3-4-1 =No scoring

|3-4-2 =John Madden (2) – 06:01

|goalie3-1 =Henrik Lundqvist 29 saves / 33 shots

|goalie3-2 =Martin Brodeur 27 saves / 30 shots

|date4 =April 16

|score4 =3–5

|won4 =1

|recap4 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20072008/GS030144.HTM

|4-1-1 =12:37 – pp – Scott Gomez (1)

|4-1-2 =No scoring

|4-2-1 =02:53 – Martin Straka (1)
12:39 – Chris Drury (1)

|4-2-2 =Patrik Elias (2) – 00:31
Patrik Elias (3) – pp – 06:58

|4-3-1 =16:47 – Marc Staal (1)
19:47 – en – Scott Gomez (2)

|4-3-2 =Mike Mottau (1) – 04:37

|goalie4-1 =Henrik Lundqvist 28 saves / 31 shots

|goalie4-2 =Martin Brodeur 34 saves / 38 shots

|date5 =April 18

|score5 =5–3

|won5 =1

|recap5 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20072008/GS030145.HTM

|5-1-1 =Michal Rozsival (1) – 04:58
Jaromir Jagr (2) – pp – 06:38
Scott Gomez (3) – 18:01

|5-1-2 =04:40 – Brian Gionta (1)

|5-2-1 =Chris Drury (2) – 05:35

|5-2-2 =09:26 – Bryce Salvador (1)
13:50 – pp – Patrik Elias (4)

|5-3-1 =Brandon Dubinsky (3) – en – 19:00

|5-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie5-1 =Henrik Lundqvist 23 saves / 26 shots

|goalie5-2 =Martin Brodeur 18 saves / 22 shots

|series = New York won series 4–1

}}

The Detroit Red Wings entered the playoffs as the Presidents' Trophy winners, the Western Conference regular season and Central Division champions with 115 points. Nashville qualified as the eighth seed earning 91 points during the regular season. This was the second playoff meeting between these two teams, with Detroit winning the only previous series. They last met in the 2004 Western Conference quarterfinals where Detroit won in six games. Detroit won five of the eight games during this year's regular season series.

The Red Wings defeated Nashville in six games, with the home team winning the first five games. Nashville goaltender Dan Ellis made 37 saves in a losing effort and Henrik Zetterberg scored twice in the third period for the Red Wings as Detroit took game one by a final score of 3–1. Detroit forward Kris Draper broke the tie early in the second period of game two as the Red Wings won 4–2. Nashville scored two goals just nine seconds apart late in game three as Jason Arnott scored the game-winning goal in a 5–3 Predators victory. Red Wings goaltender Dominik Hasek was pulled in the second period of game four after allowing three goals; he was replaced by Chris Osgood for the remainder of the series, the Predators evened the series with a 3–2 win. Johan Franzen ended game five 1:48 into the first overtime as the Red Wings took a 2–1 victory. Detroit eliminated the Predators with a 20-save shutout from Chris Osgood in a 3–0 win in game six.

{{NHLPlayoffs

|team1=Nashville Predators

|team2=Detroit Red Wings

|stadium2=Sommet Center

|stadium1=Joe Louis Arena

|date1 =April 10

|score1 =1–3

|won1 =2

|recap1 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2007030151

|1-1-1 =No scoring

|1-1-2 =05:58 – Johan Franzen (1)

|1-2-1 =Jordin Tootoo (1) – 17:47

|1-2-2 =No scoring

|1-3-1 =No scoring

|1-3-2 =06:54 – Henrik Zetterberg (1)
19:41 – en – Henrik Zetterberg (2)

|goalie1-1 =Dan Ellis 37 saves / 39 shots

|goalie1-2 =Dominik Hasek 19 saves / 20 shots

|date2 =April 12

|score2 =2–4

|won2 =2

|recap2 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2007030152

|2-1-1 =No scoring

|2-1-2 =02:26 – Darren McCarty (1)

|2-2-1 =Alexander Radulov (1) – pp – 02:19
Jordin Tootoo (2) – 02:30

|2-2-2 =00:39 – pp – Nicklas Lidstrom (1)
05:00 – Kris Draper (1)

|2-3-1 =No scoring

|2-3-2 =10:03 – Tomas Holmstrom (1)

|goalie2-1 =Dan Ellis 34 saves / 38 shots

|goalie2-2 =Dominik Hašek 25 saves / 27 shots

|date3 =April 14

|score3 =3–5

|won3 =1

|recap3 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2007030153

|3-1-1 =No scoring

|3-1-2 =Kris Draper (2) – 08:56

|3-2-1 =12:53 – Alexander Radulov (2)
15:01 – David Legwand (1)

|3-2-2 =Jiri Hudler (1) – pp – 09:12

|3-3-1 =16:03 – Ryan Suter (1)
16:12 – Jason Arnott (1)
19:39 – en – Martin Erat (1)

|3-3-2 =Pavel Datsyuk (1) – 00:40

|goalie3-1 =Dan Ellis 23 saves / 26 shots

|goalie3-2 =Dominik Hasek 24 saves / 28 shots

|date4 =April 16

|score4 =2–3

|won4 =1

|recap4 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2007030154

|4-1-1 =05:18 – pp – Dan Hamhuis (1)
05:50 – Shea Weber (1)

|4-1-2 =No scoring

|4-2-1 =06:35 – Greg de Vries (1)

|4-2-2 =Pavel Datsyuk (2) – pp – 06:24

|4-3-1 =No scoring

|4-3-2 =Pavel Datsyuk (3) – 03:23

|goalie4-1 =Dan Ellis 39 saves / 41 shots

|goalie4-2 =Dominik Hasek 11 saves / 14 shots
Chris Osgood 13 saves / 13 shots

|date5 =April 18

|score5 =1–2

|ot5 =1

|won5 =2

|recap5 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2007030155

|5-1-1 =No scoring

|5-1-2 =04:20 – Valtteri Filppula (1)

|5-2-1 =No scoring

|5-2-2 =No scoring

|5-3-1 =Radek Bonk (1) – 19:16

|5-3-2 =No scoring

|5-4-1 =No scoring

|5-4-2 =01:48 – Johan Franzen (2)

|goalie5-1 =Dan Ellis 52 saves / 54 shots

|goalie5-2 =Chris Osgood 20 saves / 21 shots

|date6 =April 20

|score6 =3–0

|won6 =2

|recap6 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2007030156

|6-1-1 =No scoring

|6-1-2 =No scoring

|6-2-1 =No scoring

|6-2-2 =Nicklas Lidstrom (2) – sh – 13:44

|6-3-1 =No scoring

|6-3-2 =Jiri Hudler (2) – 03:52
Brian Rafalski (1) – en – 19:55

|goalie6-1 =Dan Ellis 40 saves / 42 shots

|goalie6-2 =Chris Osgood 20 saves / 20 shots

|series = Detroit won series 4–2

}}

The San Jose Sharks entered the playoffs as the Pacific Division champions, earning the second seed in the Western Conference with 108 points. Calgary qualified as the seventh seed earning 94 points during the regular season. This was the third and most recent playoff meeting between these two teams, with the teams splitting the two previous series. They last met in the 2004 Western Conference Final where Calgary won in six games. Calgary won three of the four games during this year's regular season series.

San Jose eliminated the Flames in seven games. Stephane Yelle's second goal of the game was the game-winner as Calgary took the opening game of the series 3–2. San Jose goaltender Evgeni Nabokov recorded a shutout making 21 saves in game two to help the Sharks tie the series. The Flames rallied from a three-goal deficit to win game three 4–3 as backup goaltender Curtis Joseph relieved Miikka Kiprusoff after he was pulled just three and a half minutes into the game. San Jose scored two goals late in the third period of game four, the second one with just ten seconds left, to win the game 3–2. San Jose had a three-goal lead in game five and held off a Calgary comeback in a 4–3 victory. Miikka Kiprusoff recorded a shutout in game six to force a deciding game seven as the Flames won 2–0. After being held pointless in the first six games of the series San Jose forward Jeremy Roenick scored two goals and two assists in game seven as the Sharks won 5–3.

{{NHLPlayoffs

|team1=Calgary Flames

|team2=San Jose Sharks

|stadium2=Pengrowth Saddledome

|stadium1=HP Pavilion

|date1 =April 9

|score1 =3–2

|won1 =1

|recap1 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2007030161

|1-1-1 =Stephane Yelle (1) – 02:47
Dion Phaneuf (1) – pp – 05:17

|1-1-2 =06:06 – Ryane Clowe (1)

|1-2-1 =Stephane Yelle (2) – 16:21

|1-2-2 =No scoring

|1-3-1 =No scoring

|1-3-2 =19:03 – Ryane Clowe (2)

|goalie1-1 =Miikka Kiprusoff 37 saves / 39 shots

|goalie1-2 =Evgeni Nabokov 20 saves / 23 shots

|date2 =April 10

|score2 =0–2

|won2 =2

|recap2 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2007030162

|2-1-1 =No scoring

|2-1-2 =No scoring

|2-2-1 =No scoring

|2-2-2 =04:56 – Joe Pavelski (1)
18:09 – pp – Torrey Mitchell (1)

|2-3-1 =No scoring

|2-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie2-1 =Miikka Kiprusoff 41 saves / 43 shots

|goalie2-2 =Evgeni Nabokov 21 saves / 21 shots

|date3 =April 13

|score3 =3–4

|won3 =1

|recap3 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2007030163

|3-1-1 =13:22 – pp – Jarome Iginla (1)

|3-1-2 =Ryane Clowe (3) – pp – 01:31
Patrick Marleau (1) – 03:19
Douglas Murray (1) – 03:33

|3-2-1 =10:14 – pp – Daymond Langkow (1)

|3-2-2 =No scoring

|3-3-1 =01:18 – Dion Phaneuf (2)
16:15 – Owen Nolan (1)

|3-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie3-1 =Miikka Kiprusoff 2 saves / 5 shots
Curtis Joseph 22 saves / 22 shots

|goalie3-2 =Evgeni Nabokov 21 saves / 25 shots

|date4 =April 15

|score4 =3–2

|won4 =2

|recap4 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2007030164

|4-1-1 =03:19 – Jarome Iginla (2)

|4-1-2 =No scoring

|4-2-1 =18:29 – Dion Phaneuf (3)

|4-2-2 =Ryane Clowe (4) – pp – 10:56

|4-3-1 =No scoring

|4-3-2 =Jonathan Cheechoo (1) – 15:06
Joe Thornton (1) – 19:50

|goalie4-1 =Miikka Kiprusoff 29 saves / 32 shots

|goalie4-2 =Evgeni Nabokov 8 saves / 10 shots

|date5 =April 17

|score5 =3–4

|won5 =2

|recap5 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2007030165

|5-1-1 =No scoring

|5-1-2 =No scoring

|5-2-1 =Jarome Iginla (3) – pp – 04:03

|5-2-2 =11:32 – pp – Joe Pavelski (2)
18:07 – Patrick Marleau (2)

|5-3-1 =Daymond Langkow (2) – pp – 09:06
David Moss (1) – 18:43

|5-3-2 =04:52 – Jonathan Cheechoo (2)
08:22 – Jonathan Cheechoo (3)

|goalie5-1 =Miikka Kiprusoff 22 saves / 26 shots

|goalie5-2 =Evgeni Nabokov 33 saves / 36 shots

|date6 =April 20

|score6 =0–2

|won6 =1

|recap6 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2007030166

|6-1-1 =11:33 – Owen Nolan (2)

|6-1-2 =No scoring

|6-2-1 =19:03 – Daymond Langkow (3)

|6-2-2 =No scoring

|6-3-1 =No scoring

|6-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie6-1 =Miikka Kiprusoff 21 saves / 21 shots

|goalie6-2 =Evgeni Nabokov 23 saves / 25 shots

|date7 =April 22

|score7 =3–5

|won7 =2

|recap7 =www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2007030167

|7-1-1 =Jarome Iginla (4) – pp – 12:23

|7-1-2 =10:57 – pp – Joe Thornton (2)

|7-2-1 =Owen Nolan (3) – 03:33

|7-2-2 =06:04 – Jeremy Roenick (1)
09:04 – pp – Jeremy Roenick (2)
14:01 – Joe Pavelski (3)
14:53 – Devin Setoguchi (2)

|7-3-1 =Wayne Primeau (1) – 05:18

|7-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie7-1 =Miikka Kiprusoff 26 saves / 30 shots
Curtis Joseph 10 saves / 11 shots

|goalie7-2 =Evgeni Nabokov 19 saves / 22 shots

|series = San Jose won series 4–3

}}

The Minnesota Wild entered the playoffs as the Northwest Division champions, earning the third seed in the Western Conference with 98 points. Colorado qualified as the sixth seed earning 95 points during the regular season. This was the second playoff meeting between these two teams, with Minnesota winning the only previous series. They last met in the 2003 Western Conference quarterfinals where Minnesota won in seven games. Minnesota won five of the eight games during this year's regular season series.

The Avalanche eliminated the Wild in six games. Colorado captain Joe Sakic added to his own league record in game one as he scored his eighth and final career playoff overtime goal in a 3–2 victory. The teams traded goals in the final two minutes of regulation in game two before Keith Carney ended the game 1:14 into the first overtime period, as the Wild evened the series with a 3–2 win. Pierre-Marc Bouchard scored the overtime winner in game three for Minnesota at 11:58 in the third consecutive overtime game of this series. Five different Colorado players scored in game four as the Avalanche forced Wild goaltender Niklas Backstrom from the game, winning 5–1. Colorado goaltender Jose Theodore made 38 saves in a 3–2 game five win. Theodore continued his strong play in game six as he made 34 saves from 35 shots against as Colorado closed out the series with a 2–1 victory.

{{NHLPlayoffs

|team1=Colorado Avalanche

|team2=Minnesota Wild

|stadium2=Pepsi Center

|stadium1=Xcel Energy Center

|date1 =April 9

|score1 =3–2

|ot1 =1

|won1 =1

|recap1 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20072008/GS030171.HTM

|1-1-1 =No scoring

|1-1-2 =No scoring

|1-2-1 =Kurt Sauer (1) – 01:29
Ryan Smyth (1) – pp – 13:08

|1-2-2 =No scoring

|1-3-1 =No scoring

|1-3-2 =03:02 – Mikko Koivu (1)
06:13 – Todd Fedoruk (1)

|1-4-1 =Joe Sakic (1) – 11:11

|1-4-2 =No scoring

|goalie1-1 =Jose Theodore 28 saves / 30 shots

|goalie1-2 =Niklas Backstrom 19 saves / 22 shots

|date2 =April 11

|score2 =2–3

|ot2 =1

|won2 =2

|recap2 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20072008/GS030172.HTM

|2-1-1 =Peter Forsberg (1) – 17:06

|2-1-2 =No scoring

|2-2-1 =No scoring

|2-2-2 =No scoring

|2-3-1 =Milan Hejduk (1) – pp – 19:16

|2-3-2 =01:37 – pp – Pavol Demitra (1)
18:09 – Mikko Koivu (2)

|2-4-1 =No scoring

|2-4-2 =01:14 – Keith Carney (1)

|goalie2-1 =Jose Theodore 28 saves / 31 shots

|goalie2-2 =Niklas Backstrom 24 saves / 26 shots

|date3 =April 14

|score3 =3–2

|ot3 =1

|won3 =2

|recap3 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20072008/GS030173.HTM

|3-1-1 =15:19 – Andrew Brunette (1)

|3-1-2 =No scoring

|3-2-1 =No scoring

|3-2-2 =No scoring

|3-3-1 =14:56 – Joe Sakic (2)

|3-3-2 =Mikko Koivu (3) – 07:13
Brian Rolston (1) – sh – 11:32

|3-4-1 =No scoring

|3-4-2 =Pierre-Marc Bouchard (1) – 11:58

|goalie3-1 =Jose Theodore 36 saves / 39 shots

|goalie3-2 =Niklas Backstrom 44 saves / 46 shots

|date4 =April 15

|score4 =1–5

|won4 =1

|recap4 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20072008/GS030174.HTM

|4-1-1 =04:01 – Andrew Brunette (2)
05:37 – Wojtek Wolski (1)
11:08 – Tyler Arnason (1)

|4-1-2 =No scoring

|4-2-1 =07:42 – pp – Ruslan Salei (1)
16:14 – pp – Milan Hejduk (2)

|4-2-2 =No scoring

|4-3-1 =No scoring

|4-3-2 =Mikko Koivu (4) – sh – 03:11

|goalie4-1 =Jose Theodore 24 saves / 25 shots

|goalie4-2 =Niklas Backstrom 24 saves / 29 shots
Josh Harding 11 saves / 11 shots

|date5 =April 17

|score5 =3–2

|won5 =1

|recap5 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20072008/GS030175.HTM

|5-1-1 =Andrew Brunette (3) – pp – 12:24

|5-1-2 =19:20 – pp – Pierre-Marc Bouchard (2)

|5-2-1 =No scoring

|5-2-2 =No scoring

|5-3-1 =Wojtek Wolski (2) – pp – 05:06
Paul Stastny (1) – 06:25

|5-3-2 =19:57 – Brian Rolston (2)

|goalie5-1 =Jose Theodore 38 saves / 40 shots

|goalie5-2 =Niklas Backstrom 14 saves / 17 shots

|date6 =April 19

|score6 =1–2

|won6 =1

|recap6 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20072008/GS030176.HTM

|6-1-1 =08:02 – sh – Ben Guite (1)

|6-1-2 =No scoring

|6-2-1 =12:20 – Ryan Smyth (2)

|6-2-2 =Aaron Voros (1) – 00:36

|6-3-1 =No scoring

|6-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie6-1 =Jose Theodore 34 saves / 35 shots

|goalie6-2 =Niklas Backstrom 28 saves / 30 shots

|series = Colorado won series 4–2

}}

The Anaheim Ducks entered the playoffs as the fourth seed in the Western Conference with 102 points. Dallas qualified as the fifth seed earning 97 points during the regular season. This was the second playoff meeting between these two teams, with Anaheim winning the only previous series. They last met in the 2003 Western Conference semifinals where Anaheim won in six games. Dallas won five of the eight games during this year's regular season series.

The Stars defeated the Ducks in six games. Dallas took advantage of the undisciplined play of the Ducks in game one as they scored four goals on the power-play and Marty Turco made 23 saves in a 4–0 victory. The Stars broke open game two by scoring three times in the third period as they won 5–2. In game three the Ducks jumped out to an early 4–0 lead, Anaheim held on to win the game 4–2. Stars goaltender Marty Turco came eight seconds short of posting a shutout in game four as he made 28 saves in a 3–1 Dallas victory. The Ducks avoided elimination in game five as their special teams contributed two power-play goals in a 5–2 win. Corey Perry gave Anaheim a one-goal lead after two periods of play in game six before the Stars scored four unanswered goals in the third period and ended the series with a 4–1 victory.

{{NHLPlayoffs

|team1=Dallas Stars

|team2=Anaheim Ducks

|stadium2=American Airlines Center

|stadium1=Honda Center

|date1 =April 10

|score1 =4–0

|won1 =1

|recap1 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20072008/GS030181.HTM

|1-1-1 =Steve Ott (1) – pp – 11:25
Loui Eriksson (1) – pp – 17:34

|1-1-2 =No scoring

|1-2-1 =Jere Lehtinen (1) – pp – 03:58
Brenden Morrow (1) – pp – 17:22

|1-2-2 =No scoring

|1-3-1 =No scoring

|1-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie1-1 =Marty Turco 23 saves / 23 shots

|goalie1-2 =Jean-Sebastien Giguere 33 saves / 37 shots

|date2 =April 12

|score2 =5–2

|won2 =1

|recap2 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20072008/GS030182.HTM

|2-1-1 =Mike Ribeiro (1) – 06:28

|2-1-2 =No scoring

|2-2-1 =Jere Lehtinen (2) – pp – 01:28

|2-2-2 =03:41 – pp – Teemu Selanne (1)
16:19 – Travis Moen (1)

|2-3-1 =Mike Modano (1) – pp – 05:47
Brad Richards (1) – 06:42
Loui Eriksson (2) – 14:36

|2-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie2-1 =Marty Turco 20 saves / 22 shots

|goalie2-2 =Jean-Sebastien Giguere 25 saves / 30 shots

|date3 =April 15

|score3 =4–2

|won3 =2

|recap3 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20072008/GS030183.HTM

|3-1-1 =No scoring

|3-1-2 =Todd Marchant (1) – 06:39
Ryan Getzlaf (1) – 10:09
Chris Pronger (1) – pp – 14:31

|3-2-1 =No scoring

|3-2-2 =Chris Pronger (2) – pp – 05:34

|3-3-1 =05:43 – pp – Brenden Morrow (2)
07:22 – pp – Brenden Morrow (3)

|3-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie3-1 =Marty Turco 11 saves / 15 shots

|goalie3-2 =Jean-Sebastien Giguere 31 saves / 33 shots

|date4 =April 17

|score4 =1–3

|won4 =1

|recap4 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20072008/GS030184.HTM

|4-1-1 =16:39 – Joel Lundqvist (1)

|4-1-2 =No scoring

|4-2-1 =No scoring

|4-2-2 =No scoring

|4-3-1 =09:01 – Stu Barnes (1)
17:17 – Steve Ott (2)

|4-3-2 =Mathieu Schneider (1) – 19:52

|goalie4-1 =Marty Turco 28 saves / 29 shots

|goalie4-2 =Jean-Sebastien Giguere 17 saves / 20 shots

|date5 =April 18

|score5 =2–5

|won5 =2

|recap5 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20072008/GS030185.HTM

|5-1-1 =Mattias Norstrom (1) – 18:27

|5-1-2 =08:25 – Corey Perry (1)

|5-2-1 =No scoring

|5-2-2 =11:03 – pp – Ryan Getzlaf (2)

|5-3-1 =Mike Ribeiro (2) – 04:41

|5-3-2 =00:48 – pp – Teemu Selanne (2)
12:05 – Sean O'Donnell (1)
18:36 – en – Todd Marchant (2)

|goalie5-1 =Marty Turco 27 saves / 31 shots

|goalie5-2 =Jean-Sebastien Giguere 40 saves / 42 shots

|date6 =April 20

|score6 =1–4

|won6 =1

|recap6 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20072008/GS030186.HTM

|6-1-1 =No scoring

|6-1-2 =No scoring

|6-2-1 =No scoring

|6-2-2 =Corey Perry (2) – 02:11

|6-3-1 =01:18 – pp – Stephane Robidas (1)
02:10 – Stu Barnes (2)
17:42 – Loui Eriksson (3)
19:56 – pp-en – Mike Modano (2)

|6-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie6-1 =Marty Turco 17 saves / 18 shots

|goalie6-2 =Jean-Sebastien Giguere 22 saves / 25 shots

|series = Dallas won series 4–2

}}

This was the fifth playoff meeting between these two teams, with Montreal winning three of the four previous series. They last met in the 1989 Prince of Wales Conference Final where Montreal won in six games. Montreal swept this year's four game regular season series.

The Flyers eliminated the Canadiens in five games. Montreal fought back from a two-goal deficit early in game one as Alexei Kovalev forced overtime with his second goal of the game in the final minute of regulation time. In the first overtime period Canadiens forward Tom Kostopoulos scored the game-winner 48 seconds into the period, in a 4–3 Montreal victory. R. J. Umberger scored twice for the Flyers in game two as Philadelphia evened the series with a 4–2 win. Philadelphia scored three times in the second period of game three and hung on to win 3–2 despite allowing two power-play goals in the third period after Derian Hatcher was ejected from the game for boarding Francis Bouillon. Flyers goaltender Martin Biron made 36 saves as the Flyers won game four 4–2. Flyers forward Scottie Upshall broke the tie in game five as he scored the series-clinching goal with just over three minutes remaining in regulation time as Philadelphia earned a 6–4 victory.

{{NHLPlayoffs

|team1=Philadelphia Flyers

|team2=Montreal Canadiens

|stadium2=Wachovia Center

|stadium1=Bell Centre

|date1 =April 24

|score1 =3–4

|ot1 =1

|won1 =2

|recap1 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20072008/GS030211.HTM

|1-1-1 =R. J. Umberger (2) – 13:15
Jim Dowd (1) – 16:49

|1-1-2 =No scoring

|1-2-1 =No scoring

|1-2-2 =09:44 – Andrei Kostitsyn (4)
16:03 – sh – Alexei Kovalev (3)

|1-3-1 =Joffrey Lupul (2) – pp – 00:19

|1-3-2 =19:31 – pp – Alexei Kovalev (4)

|1-4-1 =No scoring

|1-4-2 =00:48 – Tom Kostopoulos (3)

|goalie1-1 =Martin Biron 30 saves / 34 shots

|goalie1-2 =Carey Price 30 saves / 33 shots

|date2 =April 26

|score2 =4–2

|won2 =1

|recap2 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20072008/GS030212.HTM

|2-1-1 =R. J. Umberger (3) – 05:53
Jeff Carter (4) – pp – 08:39

|2-1-2 =16:18 – pp – Saku Koivu (1)

|2-2-1 =Daniel Briere (7) – 13:33

|2-2-2 =No scoring

|2-3-1 =R. J. Umberger (4) – 17:39

|2-3-2 =01:26 – Andrei Markov (1)

|goalie2-1 =Martin Biron 34 saves / 36 shots

|goalie2-2 =Carey Price 19 saves / 23 shots

|date3 =April 28

|score3 =2–3

|won3 =1

|recap3 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20072008/GS030213.HTM

|3-1-1 =No scoring

|3-1-2 =No scoring

|3-2-1 =07:04 – Scottie Upshall (2)
15:12 – sh – Mike Richards (3)
18:19 – R. J. Umberger (5)

|3-2-2 =No scoring

|3-3-1 =No scoring

|3-3-2 =Tomas Plekanec (2) – pp – 07:29
Saku Koivu (2) – pp – 08:41

|goalie3-1 =Martin Biron 32 saves / 34 shots

|goalie3-2 =Carey Price 9 saves / 12 shots
Jaroslav Halak 2 saves / 2 shots

|date4 =April 30

|score4 =2–4

|won4 =1

|recap4 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20072008/GS030214.HTM

|4-1-1 =No scoring

|4-1-2 =No scoring

|4-2-1 =07:47 – pp – R. J. Umberger (6)

|4-2-2 =No scoring

|4-3-1 =06:47 – Scott Hartnell (2)
16:22 – pp – Daniel Briere (8)
19:58 – en – R. J. Umberger (7)

|4-3-2 =Tomas Plekanec (3) – 12:59
Saku Koivu (3) – 13:36

|goalie4-1 =Martin Biron 36 saves / 38 shots

|goalie4-2 =Jaroslav Halak 22 saves / 25 shots

|date5 =May 3

|score5 =6–4

|won5 =1

|recap5 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20072008/GS030215.HTM

|5-1-1 =R. J. Umberger (8) – 10:20

|5-1-2 =04:29 – pp – Tomas Plekanec (4)
11:28 – Alexei Kovalev (5)

|5-2-1 =Mike Richards (4) – 14:02
R. J. Umberger (9) – 15:44
Scott Hartnell (3) – 17:00

|5-2-2 =08:15 – Chris Higgins (3)

|5-3-1 =Scottie Upshall (3) – 16:56
Mike Knuble (3) – en – 19:10

|5-3-2 =02:13 – Andrei Kostitsyn (5)

|goalie5-1 =Martin Biron 31 saves / 35 shots

|goalie5-2 =Carey Price 31 saves / 36 shots

|series = Philadelphia won series 4–1

}}

This was the fourth playoff meeting between these two teams, with Pittsburgh winning all three of the previous series. They last met in the 1996 Eastern Conference semifinals where Pittsburgh won in five games. New York won five of the eight games during this year's regular season series.

The Penguins defeated the Rangers in five games. The Penguins scored two goals 14 and 20 seconds apart in both the second and third periods of game one as they overcame a 3–0 deficit early in the second period. Evgeni Malkin scored a late power-play goal for the Penguins as they held on to win the game 5–4. Pittsburgh goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury made 26 saves to earn his second shutout of the playoffs in game two as the Penguins won 2–0. Evgeni Malkin's second power-play goal of the game scored late in the second period of game three held up as the game-winning goal as the Penguins won 5–3. Henrik Lundqvist made 29 saves in a shutout performance as the Rangers avoided elimination with a 3–0 victory in game four. The Rangers battled back to tie the game early in the third period of game five, however they came up short in overtime as Pittsburgh's Marian Hossa scored the series-winner at 7:10 of the first overtime period to win the series for the Penguins.

{{NHLPlayoffs

|team1=New York Rangers

|team2=Pittsburgh Penguins

|stadium2=Madison Square Garden

|stadium1=Mellon Arena

|date1 =April 25

|score1 =4–5

|won1 =2

|recap1 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20072008/GS030221.HTM

|1-1-1 =Martin Straka (2) – pp – 13:40

|1-1-2 =No scoring

|1-2-1 =Chris Drury (3) – 01:52
Sean Avery (4) – 03:37

|1-2-2 =08:13 – Jarkko Ruutu (2)
08:27 – Pascal Dupuis (1)

|1-3-1 =Scott Gomez (4) – 10:04

|1-3-2 =04:40 – Marian Hossa (2)
05:00 – Petr Sykora (4)
18:19 – pp – Evgeni Malkin (3)

|goalie1-1 =Henrik Lundqvist 21 saves / 26 shots

|goalie1-2 =Marc-Andre Fleury 20 saves / 24 shots

|date2 =April 27

|score2 =0–2

|won2 =2

|recap2 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20072008/GS030222.HTM

|2-1-1 =No scoring

|2-1-2 =No scoring

|2-2-1 =No scoring

|2-2-2 =13:55 – pp – Jordan Staal (2)

|2-3-1 =No scoring

|2-3-2 =19:43 – en – Adam Hall (1)

|goalie2-1 =Henrik Lundqvist 30 saves / 31 shots

|goalie2-2 =Marc-Andre Fleury 26 saves / 26 shots

|date3 =April 29

|score3 =5–3

|won3 =2

|recap3 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20072008/GS030223.HTM

|3-1-1 =14:32 – Martin Straka (3)

|3-1-2 =Marian Hossa (3) – 01:02
Georges Laraque (1) – 16:17
Evgeni Malkin (4) – pp – 17:41

|3-2-1 =12:07 – Ryan Callahan (2)
13:11 – Jaromir Jagr (3)

|3-2-2 =Evgeni Malkin (5) – pp – 17:53

|3-3-1 =No scoring

|3-3-2 =Ryan Malone (3) – 02:30

|goalie3-1 =Henrik Lundqvist 12 saves / 17 shots

|goalie3-2 =Marc-Andre Fleury 36 saves / 39 shots

|date4 =May 1

|score4 =0–3

|won4 =1

|recap4 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20072008/GS030224.HTM

|4-1-1 =No scoring

|4-1-2 =No scoring

|4-2-1 =12:45 – Jaromir Jagr (4)

|4-2-2 =No scoring

|4-3-1 =00:44 – pp – Brandon Dubinsky (4)
19:46 – pp-en – Jaromir Jagr (5)

|4-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie4-1 =Henrik Lundqvist 29 saves / 29 shots

|goalie4-2 =Marc-Andre Fleury 20 saves / 22 shots

|date5 =May 4

|score5 =2–3

|ot5 =1

|won5 =2

|recap5 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20072008/GS030225.HTM

|5-1-1 =No scoring

|5-1-2 =No scoring

|5-2-1 =No scoring

|5-2-2 =08:45 – pp – Marian Hossa (4)
12:40 – Evgeni Malkin (6)

|5-3-1 =Lauri Korpikoski (1) – 02:03
Nigel Dawes (2) – 03:25

|5-3-2 =No scoring

|5-4-1 =No scoring

|5-4-2 =07:10 – Marian Hossa (5)

|goalie5-1 =Henrik Lundqvist 37 saves / 40 shots

|goalie5-2 =Marc-Andre Fleury 20 saves / 22 shots

|series = Pittsburgh won series 4–1

}}

This was the sixth playoff meeting between these two teams, with Colorado winning three of the five previous series. They last met in the 2002 Western Conference Final where Detroit won in seven games. Detroit swept this year's four game regular season series.

The Red Wings swept the Avalanche in four games. Avalanche goaltender Jose Theodore was pulled early in the second period of game one after allowing four goals on 16 shots; the Red Wings held on to win 4–3. Detroit forward Johan Franzen's hat trick in game two helped the Red Wings to a 5–1 victory. Henrik Zetterberg's power-play goal just past the midway mark of the second period held up as the game-winner for Detroit in game three. After allowing the tying goal early in the first period of game four, the Red Wings scored the next seven goals and easily eliminated the Avalanche with an 8–2 win.

{{NHLPlayoffs

|team1=Colorado Avalanche

|team2=Detroit Red Wings

|stadium2=Pepsi Center

|stadium1=Joe Louis Arena

|date1 =April 24

|score1 =3–4

|won1 =2

|recap1 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20072008/GS030231.HTM

|1-1-1 =Paul Stastny (2) – 08:53

|1-1-2 =09:46 – Henrik Zetterberg (3)
13:48 – Daniel Cleary (1)
17:23 – pp – Johan Franzen (3)

|1-2-1 =John-Michael Liles (1) – 05:17
Milan Hejduk (3) – 16:29

|1-2-2 =01:13 – Johan Franzen (4)

|1-3-1 =No scoring

|1-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie1-1 =Jose Theodore 12 saves / 16 shots
Peter Budaj 20 saves / 20 shots

|goalie1-2 =Chris Osgood 18 saves / 21 shots

|date2 =April 26

|score2 =1–5

|won2 =2

|recap2 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20072008/GS030232.HTM

|2-1-1 =No scoring

|2-1-2 =04:22 – pp – Johan Franzen (5)

|2-2-1 =No scoring

|2-2-2 =04:04 – pp – Johan Franzen (6)
05:42 – Valtteri Filppula (2)
10:11 – Henrik Zetterberg (4)

|2-3-1 =Ian Laperriere (1) – 02:38

|2-3-2 =08:47 – sh – Johan Franzen (7)

|goalie2-1 =Jose Theodore 16 saves / 20 shots
Peter Budaj 19 saves / 20 shots

|goalie2-2 =Chris Osgood 19 saves / 20 shots

|date3 =April 29

|score3 =4–3

|won3 =2

|recap3 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20072008/GS030233.HTM

|3-1-1 =05:17 – Cody McLeod (1)

|3-1-2 =Pavel Datsyuk (4) – pp – 12:14
Johan Franzen (8) – 13:12

|3-2-1 =08:08 – pp – Andrew Brunette (4)

|3-2-2 =Pavel Datsyuk (5) – 06:36
Henrik Zetterberg (5) – pp – 12:24

|3-3-1 =05:19 – pp – Andrew Brunette (5)

|3-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie3-1 =Jose Theodore 31 saves / 35 shots

|goalie3-2 =Chris Osgood 30 saves / 33 shots

|date4 =May 1

|score4 =8–2

|won4 =2

|recap4 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20072008/GS030234.HTM

|4-1-1 =06:51 – pp – Tyler Arnason (2)

|4-1-2 =Mikael Samuelsson (1) – 04:33
Tomas Holmstrom (2) – 18:34
Johan Franzen (9) – 19:21

|4-2-1 =No scoring

|4-2-2 =Henrik Zetterberg (6) – pp – 02:15
Henrik Zetterberg (7) – 05:45
Johan Franzen (10) – sh – 11:37
Johan Franzen (11) – pp – 17:15

|4-3-1 =10:26 – pp – John-Michael Liles 2

|4-3-2 =Mikael Samuelsson (2) – 08:02

|goalie4-1 =Jose Theodore 12 saves / 15 shots
Peter Budaj 20 saves / 25 shots

|goalie4-2 =Chris Osgood 29 saves / 31 shots

|series = Detroit won series 4–0

}}

This was the third playoff meeting between these two teams, with Dallas winning both of the previous series. They last met in the 2000 Western Conference semifinals where Dallas won in five games. Dallas won this year's eight-game regular season series earning ten of sixteen points.

The Stars held on to defeat the Sharks in six games. Jonathan Cheechoo tied game one late in the third period for San Jose, but Dallas captain Brenden Morrow scored 4:39 into the first overtime to give Dallas a 3–2 victory. Dallas forward Brad Richards keyed a four-goal outburst in the third period of game two by scoring a goal and three assists to lead the Stars to a 5–2 win. In game three the Stars overcame a one-goal deficit in the third period as they won in the first overtime on a goal from defenceman Mattias Norstrom at 4:37. Milan Michalek broke the tie for San Jose in game four with his power-play goal at 3:26 of the third period as the Sharks avoided elimination with a 2–1 victory. Dallas took a two-goal lead into the third period of game five, however the Sharks tied the game with goals by Milan Michalek and Brian Campbell. Overtime was needed for the third time in five games and just 1:05 into the first overtime San Jose forward Joe Pavelski converted on a turnover to keep the Sharks alive with a 3–2 win. After trading goals in regulation time, game six became the eighth-longest game in NHL history (now the tenth-longest game, as of 2024) as Brenden Morrow tipped home a pass on the power-play from defenceman Stephane Robidas to end the game 9:03 into the fourth overtime period and win the series for the Stars 4–2.

{{NHLPlayoffs

|team1=Dallas Stars

|team2=San Jose Sharks

|stadium2=American Airlines Center

|stadium1=HP Pavilion

|date1 =April 25

|score1 =3–2

|ot1 =1

|won1 =1

|recap1 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20072008/GS030241.HTM

|1-1-1 =No scoring

|1-1-2 =No scoring

|1-2-1 =Mike Modano (3) – pp – 06:06
Brenden Morrow (4) – 09:09

|1-2-2 =04:50 – Milan Michalek (1)

|1-3-1 =No scoring

|1-3-2 =16:58 – Jonathan Cheechoo (4)

|1-4-1 =Brenden Morrow (5) – 04:39

|1-4-2 =No scoring

|goalie1-1 =Marty Turco 25 saves / 27 shots

|goalie1-2 =Evgeni Nabokov 15 saves / 18 shots

|date2 =April 27

|score2 =5–2

|won2 =1

|recap2 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20072008/GS030242.HTM

|2-1-1 =Mike Ribeiro (3) – 15:37

|2-1-2 =10:13 – pp – Joe Pavelski (4)

|2-2-1 =No scoring

|2-2-2 =14:54 – Milan Michalek (2)

|2-3-1 =Brad Richards (2) – 00:32
Mike Modano (4) – pp – 03:39
Niklas Hagman (1) – 13:55
Niklas Hagman (2) – en – 18:45

|2-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie2-1 =Marty Turco 29 saves / 31 shots

|goalie2-2 =Evgeni Nabokov 21 saves / 25 shots

|date3 =April 29

|score3 =1–2

|ot3 =1

|won3 =1

|recap3 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20072008/GS030243.HTM

|3-1-1 =No scoring

|3-1-2 =Patrick Marleau (3) – sh – 19:25

|3-2-1 =No scoring

|3-2-2 =No scoring

|3-3-1 =00:47 – pp – Sergei Zubov (1)

|3-3-2 =No scoring

|3-4-1 =04:37 – Mattias Norstrom (2)

|3-4-2 =No scoring

|goalie3-1 =Marty Turco 19 saves / 20 shots

|goalie3-2 =Evgeni Nabokov 27 saves / 29 shots

|date4 =April 30

|score4 =2–1

|won4 =2

|recap4 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20072008/GS030244.HTM

|4-1-1 =No scoring

|4-1-2 =No scoring

|4-2-1 =05:25 – Jere Lehtinen (3)

|4-2-2 =Patrick Marleau (4) – sh – 09:19

|4-3-1 =No scoring

|4-3-2 =Milan Michalek (3) – pp – 03:26

|goalie4-1 =Marty Turco 22 saves / 24 shots

|goalie4-2 =Evgeni Nabokov 17 saves / 18 shots

|date5 =May 2

|score5 =2–3

|ot5 =1

|won5 =2

|recap5 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20072008/GS030245.HTM

|5-1-1 =No scoring

|5-1-2 =No scoring

|5-2-1 =Jere Lehtinen (4) – pp – 06:14
Brenden Morrow (6) – 19:04

|5-2-2 =No scoring

|5-3-1 =No scoring

|5-3-2 =06:20 – Milan Michalek (4)
11:07 – Brian Campbell (1)

|5-4-1 =No scoring

|5-4-2 =01:05 – Joe Pavelski (5)

|goalie5-1 =Marty Turco 19 saves / 22 shots

|goalie5-2 =Evgeni Nabokov 24 saves / 26 shots

|date6 =May 4

|score6 =1–2

|ot6 =4

|won6 =1

|recap6 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20072008/GS030246.HTM

|6-1-1 =No scoring

|6-1-2 =No scoring

|6-2-1 =04:49 – Antti Miettinen (1)

|6-2-2 =No scoring

|6-3-1 =No scoring

|6-3-2 =Ryan Clowe (5) – 01:39

|6-4-1 =09:03 – pp – Brenden Morrow (7)

|6-4-2 =No scoring

|goalie6-1 =Marty Turco 61 saves / 62 shots

|goalie6-2 =Evgeni Nabokov 53 saves / 55 shots

|series = Dallas won series 4–2

}}

{{See also|NHL conference finals}}

This was the fourth playoff meeting between these two teams, with Philadelphia winning all three of the previous series. They last met in the 2000 Eastern Conference semifinals where Philadelphia won in six games. Pittsburgh most recently made it to the conference finals in 2001, when they lost to the New Jersey Devils in five games. Philadelphia last made the conference finals in 2004, where they lost in seven games to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Philadelphia won five of the eight games during this year's regular season series.

The Penguins eliminated their cross-state rivals the Flyers in five games. Evgeni Malkin's seventh goal of the playoffs held up as the game-winner for Pittsburgh in game one as the Penguins earned a 4–2 win. Pittsburgh forward Maxime Talbot broke the tie in game two just before the midway mark of the third period and Jordan Staal added an empty-net goal for the Penguins to give them their second consecutive 4–2 victory. Marian Hossa scored twice in game three for the Penguins as they won the game 4–1 to take a commanding 3–0 series lead. The Flyers jumped out to a 3–0 lead in the first period of game four and held on to win the game 4–2. Marian Hossa recorded four points for Pittsburgh in game five as the Penguins won their eighth consecutive home game to advance to the Stanley Cup Finals by a decisive final score of 6–0.

{{NHLPlayoffs

|team1=Philadelphia Flyers

|team2=Pittsburgh Penguins

|stadium2=Wachovia Center

|stadium1=Mellon Arena

|date1 =May 9

|score1 =2–4

|won1 =2

|recap1 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20072008/GS030311.HTM

|1-1-1 =Mike Richards (5) – 08:30
Mike Richards (6) – 12:50

|1-1-2 =06:19 – Petr Sykora (5)
14:11 – Sidney Crosby (3)
19:53 – Evgeni Malkin (7)

|1-2-1 =No scoring

|1-2-2 =04:50 – sh – Evgeni Malkin (8)

|1-3-1 =No scoring

|1-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie1-1 =Martin Biron 17 saves / 21 shots

|goalie1-2 =Marc-Andre Fleury 26 saves / 28 shots

|date2 =May 11

|score2 =2–4

|won2 =2

|recap2 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20072008/GS030312.HTM

|2-1-1 =No scoring

|2-1-2 =10:48 – pp – Sidney Crosby (4)

|2-2-1 =Jeff Carter (5) – pp – 05:46
Mike Richards (7) – sh – 19:36

|2-2-2 =13:43 – pp – Marian Hossa (6)

|2-3-1 =No scoring

|2-3-2 =08:51 – Maxime Talbot (2)
19:31 – en – Jordan Staal (3)

|goalie2-1 =Martin Biron 34 saves / 37 shots

|goalie2-2 =Marc-Andre Fleury 30 saves / 32 shots

|date3 =May 13

|score3 =4–1

|won3 =2

|recap3 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20072008/GS030313.HTM

|3-1-1 =10:59 – R. J. Umberger (10)

|3-1-2 =Ryan Whitney (1) – pp – 05:03
Marian Hossa (7) – 07:41

|3-2-1 =No scoring

|3-2-2 =No scoring

|3-3-1 =No scoring

|3-3-2 =Ryan Malone (4) – 09:58
Marian Hossa (8) – en – 19:06

|goalie3-1 =Martin Biron 21 saves / 24 shots

|goalie3-2 =Marc-Andre Fleury 17 saves / 18 shots

|date4 =May 15

|score4 =2–4

|won4 =1

|recap4 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20072008/GS030314.HTM

|4-1-1 =08:27 – Joffrey Lupul (3)
11:48 – pp – Daniel Briere (9)
18:50 – pp – Jeff Carter (6)

|4-1-2 =No scoring

|4-2-1 =No scoring

|4-2-2 =No scoring

|4-3-1 =19:27 – en – Joffrey Lupul (4)

|4-3-2 =Jordan Staal (4) – 03:16
Jordan Staal (5) – 14:11

|goalie4-1 =Martin Biron 36 saves / 38 shots

|goalie4-2 =Marc-Andre Fleury 30 saves / 33 shots

|date5 =May 18

|score5 =0–6

|won5 =2

|recap5 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20072008/GS030315.HTM

|5-1-1 =No scoring

|5-1-2 =02:30 – pp – Ryan Malone (5)
09:50 – Evgeni Malkin (9)

|5-2-1 =No scoring

|5-2-2 =08:24 – Marian Hossa (9)
11:42 – pp – Ryan Malone (6)
19:02 – Jordan Staal (6)

|5-3-1 =No scoring

|5-3-2 =04:03 – Pascal Dupuis (2)

|goalie5-1 =Martin Biron 19 saves / 25 shots

|goalie5-2 =Marc-Andre Fleury 21 saves / 21 shots

|series = Pittsburgh won series 4–1

}}

This was the fourth playoff meeting between these two teams, with Detroit winning all three of the previous series. They last met in the 1998 Western Conference Final where Detroit won in six games. This was Detroit's second consecutive Conference finals appearance; they lost to the Anaheim Ducks in six games in the previous year. Dallas last made the conference finals in 2000, where they defeated the Colorado Avalanche in seven games. Detroit won three of the four games during this year's regular season series.

The Red Wings defeated the Stars in six games. Detroit scored three power-play goals as they took game one 4–1. Red Wings' goaltender Chris Osgood made 17 saves in game two to give Detroit a 2–1 win. Stars' forward Mike Ribeiro was assessed a match penalty at the end of game two for retaliating to an earlier stick infraction with a two-handed slash to Chris Osgood's chest; neither players were suspended. Detroit forward Pavel Datsyuk scored a hat-trick in game three for the Red Wings; while Osgood stopped 16 shots for the 5–2 win. Marty Turco made 33 saves as the Stars avoided elimination in game four winning 3–1. Turco continued his strong play for Dallas in game five as he stopped 38 shots in a 2–1 victory. The Red Wings used the strength of a three-goal first period in game six to eliminate the Stars and return to the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since 2002.

{{NHLPlayoffs

|team1=Dallas Stars

|team2=Detroit Red Wings

|stadium2=American Airlines Center

|stadium1=Joe Louis Arena

|date1 =May 8

|score1 =1–4

|won1 =2

|recap1 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20072008/GS030321.HTM

|1-1-1 =No scoring

|1-1-2 =04:28 – pp – Brian Rafalski (2)
15:34 – pp – Johan Franzen (12)

|1-2-1 =Brenden Morrow (8) – 18:53

|1-2-2 =06:40 – pp – Tomas Holmstrom (3)
15:37 – Valtteri Filppula (3)

|1-3-1 =No scoring

|1-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie1-1 =Marty Turco 27 saves / 31 shots

|goalie1-2 =Chris Osgood 20 saves / 21 shots

|date2 =May 10

|score2 =1–2

|won2 =2

|recap2 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20072008/GS030322.HTM

|2-1-1 =Stephane Robidas (2) – pp– 10:41

|2-1-2 =05:56 – Darren Helm (1)
15:13 – pp – Henrik Zetterberg (8)

|2-2-1 =No scoring

|2-2-2 =No scoring

|2-3-1 =No scoring

|2-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie2-1 =Marty Turco 32 saves / 34 shots

|goalie2-2 =Chris Osgood 17 saves / 18 shots

|date3 =May 12

|score3 =5–2

|won3 =2

|recap3 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20072008/GS030323.HTM

|3-1-1 =15:13 – Nicklas Grossmann (1)

|3-1-2 =Pavel Datsyuk (6) – 09:27
Pavel Datsyuk (7) – 15:50

|3-2-1 =03:47 – Brad Richards (3)

|3-2-2 =Jiri Hudler (3) – 11:54

|3-3-1 =No scoring

|3-3-2 =Henrik Zetterberg (9) – sh – 01:38
Pavel Datsyuk (8) – 17:19

|goalie3-1 =Marty Turco 16 saves / 21 shots

|goalie3-2 =Chris Osgood 16 saves / 18 shots

|date4 =May 14

|score4 =1–3

|won4 =1

|recap4 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20072008/GS030324.HTM

|4-1-1 =No scoring

|4-1-2 =No scoring

|4-2-1 =19:37 – Loui Eriksson (4)

|4-2-2 =No scoring

|4-3-1 =05:35 – pp – Mike Modano (5)
14:34 – Brenden Morrow (9)

|4-3-2 =Henrik Zetterberg (10) – 00:49

|goalie4-1 =Marty Turco 33 saves / 34 shots

|goalie4-2 =Chris Osgood 19 saves / 22 shots

|date5 =May 17

|score5 =2–1

|won5 =1

|recap5 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20072008/GS030325.HTM

|5-1-1 =Trevor Daley (1) – 09:21

|5-1-2 =15:30 – pp – Jiri Hudler (4)

|5-2-1 =Joel Lundqvist (2) – 06:04

|5-2-2 =No scoring

|5-3-1 =No scoring

|5-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie5-1 =Marty Turco 38 saves / 39 shots

|goalie5-2 =Chris Osgood 19 saves / 21 shots

|date6 =May 19

|score6 =4–1

|won6 =2

|recap6 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20072008/GS030326.HTM

|6-1-1 =No scoring

|6-1-2 =Kris Draper (3) – 03:45
Pavel Datsyuk (9) – pp – 11:41
Dallas Drake (1) – 16:17

|6-2-1 =No scoring

|6-2-2 =Henrik Zetterberg (11) – sh – 03:11

|6-3-1 =02:27 – pp – Stephane Robidas (3)

|6-3-2 =No scoring

|goalie6-1 =Marty Turco 25 saves / 29 shots

|goalie6-2 =Chris Osgood 28 saves / 29 shots

|series = Detroit won series 4–2

}}

{{Main|2008 Stanley Cup Finals}}

This was the first playoff meeting between these two teams. Both teams won their last appearance in the Finals; Detroit defeated Carolina in five games in 2002, while Pittsburgh swept Chicago in four games in 1992. The teams did not play each other during this year's regular season.

{{NHLPlayoffs

|team1=Pittsburgh Penguins

|team2=Detroit Red Wings

|stadium2=Mellon Arena

|stadium1=Joe Louis Arena

|date1 =May 24

|score1 =0–4

|won1 =2

|recap1 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20072008/GS030411.HTM

|1-1-1 =No scoring

|1-1-2 =No scoring

|1-2-1 =No scoring

|1-2-2 =13:01 – Mikael Samuelsson (3)

|1-3-1 =No scoring

|1-3-2 =02:16 – Mikael Samuelsson (4)
17:18 – sh – Daniel Cleary (2)
19:47 – pp – Henrik Zetterberg (12)

|goalie1-1 =Marc-Andre Fleury 32 saves / 36 shots

|goalie1-2 =Chris Osgood 19 saves / 19 shots

|date2 =May 26

|score2 =0–3

|won2 =2

|recap2 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20072008/GS030412.HTM

|2-1-1 =No scoring

|2-1-2 =06:55 – Brad Stuart (1)
11:18 – Tomas Holmstrom (4)

|2-2-1 =No scoring

|2-2-2 =No scoring

|2-3-1 =No scoring

|2-3-2 =08:48 – Valtteri Filppula (4)

|goalie2-1 =Marc-Andre Fleury 31 saves / 34 shots

|goalie2-2 =Chris Osgood 22 saves / 22 shots

|date3 =May 28

|score3 =2–3

|won3 =1

|recap3 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20072008/GS030413.HTM

|3-1-1 =17:25 – Sidney Crosby (5)

|3-1-2 =No scoring

|3-2-1 =02:34 – pp – Sidney Crosby (6)

|3-2-2 =Johan Franzen (13) – pp – 14:48

|3-3-1 =07:18 – Adam Hall (2)

|3-3-2 =Mikael Samuelsson (5) – 13:37

|goalie3-1 =Marc-Andre Fleury 32 saves / 34 shots

|goalie3-2 =Chris Osgood 21 saves / 24 shots

|date4 =May 31

|score4 =2–1

|won4 =2

|recap4 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20072008/GS030414.HTM

|4-1-1 =02:51 – pp – Marian Hossa (10)

|4-1-2 =Nicklas Lidstrom (3) – 07:06

|4-2-1 =No scoring

|4-2-2 =No scoring

|4-3-1 =No scoring

|4-3-2 =Jiri Hudler (5) – 02:26

|goalie4-1 =Marc-Andre Fleury 28 saves / 30 shots

|goalie4-2 =Chris Osgood 22 saves / 23 shots

|date5 =June 2

|score5 =4–3

|ot5 =3

|won5 =1

|recap5 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20072008/GS030415.HTM

|5-1-1 =Marian Hossa (11) – 08:37
Adam Hall (3) – 14:41

|5-1-2 =No scoring

|5-2-1 =No scoring

|5-2-2 =02:54 – Darren Helm (2)

|5-3-1 =Maxime Talbot (3) – 19:25

|5-3-2 =06:43 – pp – Pavel Datsyuk (10)
09:23 – Brian Rafalski (3)

|5-4-1 =Petr Sykora (6) – pp – 09:57

|5-4-2 =No scoring

|goalie5-1 =Marc-Andre Fleury 55 saves / 58 shots

|goalie5-2 =Chris Osgood 28 saves / 32 shots

|date6 =June 4

|score6 =3–2

|won6 =2

|recap6 =www.nhl.com/scores/htmlreports/20072008/GS030416.HTM

|6-1-1 =No scoring

|6-1-2 =Brian Rafalski (4) – pp – 05:03

|6-2-1 =15:26 – pp – Evgeni Malkin (10)

|6-2-2 =Valtteri Filppula (5) – 08:07

|6-3-1 =18:33 – pp – Marian Hossa (12)

|6-3-2 =Henrik Zetterberg (13) – 07:36

|goalie6-1 =Marc-Andre Fleury 27 saves / 30 shots

|goalie6-2 =Chris Osgood 20 saves / 22 shots

|series = Detroit won series 4–2

}}

These are the top ten skaters based on points. If the list exceeds ten skaters because of a tie in points, all of the tied skaters are shown.{{cite web|title=2007–2008 - Playoffs - All Skaters - Summary - Total points|url=http://www.nhl.com/ice/playerstats.htm?fetchKey=20083ALLSASAll&sort=points&viewName=summary|publisher=National Hockey League|access-date=April 14, 2009}}

GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; +/– = Plus/minus; PIM = Penalty minutes

This is a combined table of the top five goaltenders based on goals against average and the top five goaltenders based on save percentage with at least 420 minutes played. The table is sorted by GAA, and the criteria for inclusion is bolded.{{cite web|title=2007–2008 - Playoffs - Goalie - Summary - Goals against average|url=http://www.nhl.com/ice/playerstats.htm?fetchKey=20083ALLGAGAll&sort=goalsAgainstAverage&viewName=wlt|publisher=National Hockey League|access-date=April 18, 2009}}{{cite web|title=2007–2008 - Playoffs - Goalie - Summary - Save percentage|url=http://www.nhl.com/ice/playerstats.htm?fetchKey=20083ALLGAGAll&sort=savePercentage&viewName=wlt|publisher=National Hockey League|access-date=April 18, 2009}}

GP = Games played; W = Wins; L = Losses; SA = Shots against; GA = Goals against; GAA = Goals against average; Sv% = Save percentage; SO = Shutouts; TOI = Time On Ice (minutes:seconds)

National Canadian English-language coverage of the playoffs were split between the CBC and TSN, with the CBC holding exclusive rights to the Stanley Cup Finals. French-language telecasts were broadcast on RDS and RDS2. This marked the last season that all playoff games involving Canadian teams had to air on the CBC instead of TSN, even if it mean they had to be broadcast regionally. Under new contracts that would take effect in 2009, the CBC and TSN would begin to select the rights to individual series using a draft-like setup, regardless if they involved Canadian teams.{{cite web |url=https://playbackonline.ca/2008/06/03/tsn-20080603/ |title=TSN clinches landmark NHL deal |publisher=playbackonline.ca |date=June 3, 2008 |access-date=July 13, 2021}}

In the United States, coverage was split between NBC and Versus. During the first three rounds, NBC primarily televised weekend afternoon games and Versus aired evening games. During the first and second round, excluding games exclusively broadcast on NBC, the regional rights holders of each participating U.S. team produced local telecasts of their respective games. Not all first and second-round games were nationally televised, while the conference finals were exclusively broadcast on either NBC or Versus. Versus then aired games one and two of the Stanley Cup Finals while NBC televised the remainder of the series.

• 2007–08 NHL season
• List of NHL seasons

{{Reflist|2}}

{{S-start}}

{{Succession box|

before = 2007 Stanley Cup playoffs |

after = 2009 Stanley Cup playoffs |

title = Stanley Cup playoffs |

years = 2008|

}}

{{S-end}}

{{2007–08 NHL season by team}}

{{Stanley Cup playoffs}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:2008 Stanley Cup Playoffs}}

playoffs

Category:Stanley Cup playoffs