The Eastern Conference Final is set as we have the defending East champions New York Rangers going up against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Marty St. Louis faces a homecoming to Tampa where he asked out just a year ago and there's no doubt Lightning fans will be all over him when he touches the puck. This figures to be a great series and the winner of course goes to the Stanley Cup Final to play for the Cup. Who will in this series? Let's take a look and preview this series.

Offense: These teams are very good offensive teams but scoring goals may come hard in this series due to very good goaltenders in Ben Bishop and Henrik Lundqvist. For the Lightning, they need to get Steven Stamkos going. He hasn't really been that good these playoffs and had a very bad goal drought during the first round but he finally broke it against the Montreal Canadiens in the second round. Tyler Johnson has had a fantastic season for Tampa and in the playoffs he's been even better. He's shaping up to be a serious candidate for the Con Smythe trophy which goes to the playoffs MVP as he has eight goals and 4 assists. Nikita Kucherov has also been a stud for Tampa and they should get a boost when Ryan Callahan comes back from the emergency surgery that head.

For the Rangers, they really need to get Rick Nash going. He has one goal in these playoffs and hasn't done anything the past few years for them. He's getting paid to score goals in the playoffs and he just really hasn't done it. Chris Kreider is going to be a force in this series since he has been a beast for the Rangers during the first couple rounds and can also be a candidate for the Con Smythe. Derrick Brassard, Derek Stepan,  and the Kevin Hayes line will also be hard matchups for the Lightning because that the Rangers are so deep of a team. Advantage: Lightning

Defense: Defense is going to be one of the more bigger focuses in this series. The Rangers have the best blue line in hockey right now so it may be hard for the Lightning to generate pressure on Lundqvist. There's no doubt the top pairing of Ryan McDonaugh and Dan Girardi will be seeing a heavy dosage of the Stamkos line  Keith Yandle will see a lot of Kucherov and Johnson I'm sure too. The Rangers blue line will certainly be up to the task when they go out against Tampa. 

The Lightning's blue line is solid but it isn't as deep as the Rangers is. Victor Hedman leads the way on the top pairing with Anton Stralman which is a very good first pairing. They'll see a lot Stepan and Kreider in this round. Matt Carle and Braydon Coburn is also a solid second pairing and they will see a lot of the Kevin Hayes line. Jason Garrison and Andrej Sustr round out the Lightning blue line. Tampa's defense has a huge task in front of them as they will have to stop the deepest team in hockey. Advantage: Rangers

Goaltending: This is going to be a great goaltender battle betweeen two very good goaltenders. Yes Braden Holtby vs Henrik Lundqvist may have been the best goalie matchup in the playoffs in awhile, this one could shape up to be very close to it. Ben Bishop has had another rock solid year and has played very well for the Lightning in the playoffs. They didn't have Bishop in the playoffs last year because of injury and that was the reason why they got swept by Montreal. It's amazing how one player can make the difference between a team getting swept one year and getting to the Conference Final the next. 

Henrik Lundqvist may not be the best goaltender in the world right now, but he is certainly top five or top three. He played very well against the Penguins giving up only one goal in four of the five games and came up huge in the second round against the Capitals when the Rangers were down 3-1 in the series. He is going to have to do that again as he faces one of the best offensive teams in the league. I'm sure he will give the Rangers every chance to win the game just he does all the time. Advantage: Rangers 

Prediction: This series is going to be fun to watch as a spectator since these two teams are so good. I ultimately see an upset coming as I think the Tampa Bay Lightning will serve Marty St. Louis karma for going to New York. The Lightning will win this series and advance to their first Stanley Cup Final since 2004 when they won it all. Lightning in 7.