. The Blackhawks and Flyers had previously met in the 1971 playoffs; the Blackhawks beat the Flyers in four games. Chicago Blackhawks The Chicago Blackhawks finished the regular season as the Central Division champions with 112 points. This is the 14th division title in franchise history for Chicago but the first since when it was called the Norris Division. As the second seed in the Western Conference playoffs, the Blackhawks defeated the seventh seed Nashville Predators and the third seed Vancouver Canucks in six games each, and then swept the first seed San Jose Sharks in the Western Conference Final to advance to the Final for the first time since . Chicago's Marian Hossa is the first player in NHL history to appear in three straight Stanley Cup Finals with three teams, having previously made the Final with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2008 and with the Detroit Red Wings in 2009. Along with Hossa, the other half of Chicago's preseason acquisition from Detroit, Tomas Kopecky, was also playing in his third straight Stanley Cup Finals. Philadelphia Flyers The Philadelphia Flyers earned the seventh seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs after finishing the regular season with 88 points, and winning the tiebreaker over the Montreal Canadiens, having more wins (41 to 39). The Flyers were the last team to qualify for the 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs. Their Cinderella march to the Final began on the final day of the regular season when they met the New York Rangers in a winner-take-all match-up for the final playoff spot. Philadelphia defeated their Atlantic Division rivals 2–1 in a historic shootout, the first do or die shootout for a playoff spot in NHL history. In the first round of the playoffs, the Flyers upset the second seed New Jersey Devils, another of their division rivals, in five games. In the second round, against the sixth-seeded Boston Bruins, Philadelphia became the third NHL team to win a seven-game series after being down three games to none (the others being the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs and the 1975 New York Islanders). In addition, in game seven of that series, the Flyers overcame a three goals to none deficit to win the game and series, 4–3. In the Eastern Conference Final, the Flyers eliminated the Canadiens in five games to advance to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since . They were also the first