And your match ups will be...

The regular season is done and soon to be quickly forgotten, a six month preamble to some real hockey, where four losses send you home, your hard work while rewarded, in the end comes up a little short if you don't advance.

The hardest path to a championship begins on Wednesday, a two month marathon that will leave but two teams standing for the claim to Lord Stanley's Trophy for hockey excellence.

Here's the match ups as determined after Saturday nights ice chips finally settled back on on the ice.

The schedule for this years playoff competition is to be unveiled by the NHL at 1 PM ET (10 AM PT) live on the NHL Network or streamed online at NHL.com

Eastern Conference

(1) New York Rangers and (8) Ottawa Senators
(2) Boston and (7) Washington
(3) Florida and (6) New Jersey
(4) Pittsburgh and (5) Philadelphia

Western Conference

(1) Vancouver and (8) Los Angeles
(2) St. Louis and (7) San Jose
(3) Phoenix and (6) Chicago
(4) Nashville and (5) Detroit

Over the next few days we'll outline each individual series and offer up our thoughts on the teams involved, as well as provide some background from the two competing cities.