The 90th season of the National Hockey League concludes with the 2008 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Each of the two conferences, the East and the West hold three rounds of best-of-seven series involving the top eight teams in the conference standings. The two conference champions will then play a best-of-seven series to determine the 2008 Stanley Cup champion.

The 2008 version of the NHL playoffs have seen a few mild upsets along the way. In the East, the Philadelphia Flyers defeated the favored Washington Capitals in the first round, and then knocked off the top seeded Montreal Canadiens to reach to conference finals for the first time since 2004. The Flyers finally met their match in their cross-state rivals, the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Pens breezed to their first conference championship since 1992 by sweeping Ottawa in the opening round, then blitzing the New York Rangers in five games before taking out the Flyers in five in the conference finals. The young and talented Pens are led by Sidney Crosby, and have been bolstered by the goaltending of Marc-Andre Fleury. Out West, the President's Trophy winning Detroit Red Wings have also managed to not be pushed to the limit in a series thus far. After eliminating Nashville in six games in the conference quarterfinals, they easily dispatched the rival Colorado Avalanche in four straight. Then they defeated the Dallas Stars in six games to win the conference title. Like the Flyers, the Stars were the sixth seed and pulled upset series victories over the defending champion Anaheim Ducks and then the San Jose Sharks to reach the conference finals.

On June 4, 2008, the Red Wings defeated the Penguins 3-2 in Game 6 of the finals in Pittsburgh to win the Stanley Cup. The victory marks the fourth time the team has won the Stanley Cup since 1997, and the 11th time in franchise history. Only the Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs have won more times. Henrik Zetterberg was named the winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy as Most Valuable Player of the playoffs. Nicklas Lidstrom became the first European-born team captain to guide his team to the Stanley Cup. Steve Yzerman was captain the other three times the Red Wings have won since 1997.