Montreal grabbed a 2-0 series lead with a 4-1 victory over Tampa. I think the Lightning really needed to steal that opening game when Carey Price wasn't quite up to par. He was much better on Friday and down 2-0 heading back to Montreal is probably going to be too much to overcome for Tampa.

Rene Bourque had a pair of goals for the Canadiens. If he starts chipping on offense it's going to be a long series for Tampa. He scored just nine times in 63 games this season.  

David Desharnais scored a goal on a perfect deflection. Credit him for bouncing back after that dreadful first two months of the season, as he was on just one assist until late November. The fact that Desharnais finished with 52 points is nothing short of remarkable.

Daniel Briere's ice-time barely broke 11 minutes after he played nearly 19 in Game 1. Still, his playoff experience on the fourth line is a nice luxury to have for Montreal.

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Ondrej Palat was a scratch in this one after suffering an injury on Wednesday. Without him and Ben Bishop it's an uphill battle for the Lightning.

Speaking of Bishop, if he can't go in Game 3, I wonder if it would make sense to give Kristers Gudlevskis a start. It's not that Anders Lindback has been poor, but Gudlevskis caught fire for Latvia at the Olympics and there have been plenty of stories of young goalies coming out of nowhere to steal a series in the playoffs. What do they have to lose at this point?

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Detroit stole home ice advantage away from Boston with a 1-0 victory in Game 1. I've said it before but this is not a good matchup for the Bruins and they would have been much better off playing Columbus. Detroit plays at a similar pace and Mike Babcock is getting a lot of some young and inexperienced players right now.

Pavel Datsyuk's winning goal late in the third was very Datsyuk-esque.

I thought Jimmy Howard had a strong game, at least from the stand point that he was battling hard for every save. Howard's had a rough year but if he continues to turn in results like that, all will be forgiven.

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I wonder how much the Bruins are going to miss guys like Daniel Paille and Chris Kelly. They've played key roles in Bruins playoff runs in years past and having to use someone like Justin Florek to fill in could end up being costly.

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The Ducks took a 2-0 series lead over the Stars with a 3-2 win. Ryan Getzlaf’s face seemed to be fine as he tallied a goal and an assist. Corey Perry also scored and if the Stars can’t slow those two down then just forget it. Sidney Crosby will probably win the Hart, but Getzlaf certainly deserves to be in the conversation after his season. 

Frederik Andersen with another good performance stopping 34-of-36 shots. The fact that he’s starting now says a lot about Jonas Hiller. I don’t expect him to be back next year and the Ducks will likely role with Andersen and John Gibson in 2014-15.

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If the Stars have any ideas about coming back in the series, then Kari Lehtonen is going to have to up his game. He can’t be faulted per say, but when you’re an underdog like Dallas is you need your goalie to steal a game or two in the series.

Ray Whitney is pointless in the first two games and didn’t even hit 13 minutes on Friday. Mind you, he played more than six minutes on the power play. The Stars were surely hoping Whitney’s playoff background would be an asset at this time of the year, but so far that hasn’t been the case. 

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T.J. Oshie and Patrik Berglund are nearing a return. Although it looks like Oshie may be more likely to play on Saturday.

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The Colorado Avalanche defeated the Minnesota Wild in crazy fashion on Thursday night with a late comeback, and Patrick Roy deserves much of the credit. He pulled the goalie with three minutes left and is quickly getting a reputation for pulling his netminder earlier than the norm. It's paid off many times this season with a late Colorado tying goal and I wonder if more teams will start to employ a similar strategy and start a trend.

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Tomas Hertl could be a difference maker this time around for the Sharks. He notched two points and five shots against the Kings on Thursday and might be the youth the Sharks need to get them over the top in the playoffs. Hertl missed nearly the entire second half of the season with an injury and that is often forgotten around trade deadline day. Gaining a player with Hertl's talents back in time for the playoffs is just like adding a key component at the deadline. The Sharks were no doubt banking on him to jump right back into the lineup and play an important role. So far he has done just that.

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It looks like Alexander Ovechkin will be playing for Russia at the World Hockey Championships. That's one of the things I respect about Ovechkin. Despite some disappointing exits in the playoffs or ends to the season, he's a consistent participant for his country. Not everybody does that for the World Championships. Evgeny Kuznetsov will reportedly be joining him as well.

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The Islanders are in a very difficult predicament right now with their first-round pick. They have to give Buffalo either this year's or 2015's as part of the Thomas Vanek deal. The Isles won the fifth-overall selection in Tuesday's draft lottery and reportedly plan to keep it, meaning they will give the Sabres their 2015 selection. I'm not sure this makes sense when you consider the magnitude of the 2015 draft in regards to Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel. There's no guarantee New York won't be worse next year and if they have even the slightest chance to win the lottery, you want the pick. Granted, this year's pick is top five, but this class is significantly weaker than next years. 

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If Detroit can get through the Boston Bruins, they will get a huge boost in Round 2. Henrik Zetterberg is targeting that as a return date.

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Travis Morin of the Texas Stars won the AHL MVP after posting 87 points this season. Scanning the AHL for top performers at this time of the year can sometimes be a good indication of players that could be sleepers for an NHL pool next year, although I'm not sure it's the case with Morin. He's already 30 and played in just seven NHL games. With the Stars going with a younger group, he may be destined to stick with Texas next season.

Michael Amato is an Associate Editor for DobberHockey and a News Editor for theScore. You can follow him on Twitter at @amato_mike