Waking up after another ridiculous impact game from Jaroslav Halak as the Canadiens evened up their series with the Penguins last night at two games apiece, I quickly realized that I had no idea that the other series in the Eastern Conference, Philadelphia against Boston, is even going on. After taking a quick look, I found that Boston holds a 3-0 stranglehold on the Flyers with a chance to clinch tonight. I also found that I’m not alone in my ignorance over this series.

Thousands of people outside of the cities of Philadelphia and Boston themselves care about this epic six-versus-seven series. Just the fact that six is playing seven is a miraculous bore. It took Philadelphia all 82 games to punch their ticket to the postseason, then somehow rode that wave through the Devils in the first round, but have evidently ran out of steam against the anything-but-juggernaut Bruins, and the fans like myself just aren’t interested in watching.

Tuukka Rask has emerged as a star goalie this year, replacing the Vezina Trophy-winning Tim Thomas in Boston, and he and Miroslav Satan are making short work of the Flyers. Philly hopes that Simon Gagne will be able to play in Game 4 and make an impact that can save their series and season, although with only two teams in NHL history having ever come back from a 3-0 deficit, the odds are definitely stacked against the Flyers.

Once this series is complete, the NHL can breathe a sigh of relief and move on. Whichever of the Canadiens or Penguins that advances to the Eastern Conference Final should have little trouble advancing through to the Stanley Cup series, although I’m sure we’ve all said “should” and been surprised more times than we’re comfortable with already in this postseason. Either way, as exciting as the playoffs have been, there’s definitely one series that nobody will be talking about come June.