Short-season travel bigger issue in West than East

PHILADELPHIA (AP) - Eastern Conference teams will come out the big winner in the quest for rest this season.

The top seven traveling teams in this lockout-shortened season are all from the Western Conference: Minnesota, Dallas, Vancouver, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Calgary and Detroit will each travel more than 27,000 miles.

No surprise, the teams that hop the train or bus for quick road trips - namely those in the Atlantic Division - have a nice road ahead of them. Ranked from the bottom up, the Devils, Rangers, Islanders and Flyers will each travel less than 15,000 miles.

Those teams might truly benefit from the shortened season in the postseason. But their fans might be the biggest winners of them all. They will get to see more regional rivalries played out instead of seeing anonymous teams from the other conference.