There is just nothing better in professional sports, in my humble opinion, than NHL playoff hockey. And even within the general awesomeness that is NHL playoff hockey: the first round is king. 

We’ve seen proof of that already this week, and there was more of the same on Saturday. For example, I think it’s fair to say that Sunday’s nasty Blues v. Blackhawks overtime thriller in Game 2 was the second classic game of that series. The Blue Jackets, meanwhile, scored their first playoff victory in the franchise’s 14 year history; and it was a memorable one, with Matt Calvert playing the hero in overtime to level the series against the Penguins.

The Wild v. Avalanche series doesn’t interest me nearly as much in a vacuum, but what Nathan MacKinnon is doing right now is just stupendous – 7 points in his first two career playoff games? What? Also the final few minutes of Saturday night’s Game 2 between the Wild and the Avs was riotously funny, an entertaing calamity of officiating. 

Let’s get to it, shall we?

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The St. Louis Blues should consider themselves rather fortunate to be heading to Chicago with a two game lead in their series against the defending Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks. The Blues were a combined 112 seconds from losing both of their first two playoff games at home in regulation, but two late game-tying goals and two overtime winners have the Blues firmly in the drivers seat in this series.

Of course, the Blues have been in this spot before – last year they lost four straight to the Kings after taking a 2-0 series lead. Also, they’re incredibly banged up, and the infirmary list is expanding at a rapid pace.

T.J. Oshie returned to the ice on Saturday but didn’t seem to be himself, and was mostly ineffective (unless effectiveness is measured by ones ability to eat dozens of Niklas Hjalmarsson cross-checks after the whistle). Vladimir Sobotka also got banged up on a brutal knee-on-knee hit by Bryan Bickell, and the Blues may be without captain David Backes for the forseeable future as well. 

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Brent Seabrook’s hit on Backes is going to net a hefty suspension, as it should. Even if it’s the postseason, Seabrook is getting two games at minimum, and the precise length of his suspension will be determined in a telephone hearing on Sunday (so Seabrook is not out more than five).

Seabrook’s hit was like the all-dressed chip of bad hits: charging, interference, a rule 48 violation, failure to tuck the elbow, leaving the feet, picking the head. This is an open shut case – the precise type of hit the league needs to try and eliminate for the long-term health of the players, and the sport itself. 

The reaction to the hit by the players on the ice was fascinating too. Particularly Backes trying to get at Seabrook, despite having just had his lights turned out. Good on the referees, the trainers, and if you watch the clip again, apparently Jonathan Toews, for talking him out of it. 

Seabrook was appropriately assessed a match penalty, and the hit ultimately cost the Blackhawks the game (the Blues scored to tie it up on the ensuing major penalty). But while the hit cost the Blackhawks Game 2,  if Backes is as hurt as he appears to have been it may have cost the Blues the series.

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Niklas Hjalmarsson was hit by more rubber than the highway late in Saturday night’s contest. The Swedish defenseman blocked a critical Kevin Shattenkirk shot on the five-on-three to allow Toews to clear the puck (allowing countryman Johnny Oduya to push the stung Hjalmarsson to the bench for a change). Then he blocked another one just a minute later. 

With just 23 seconds remaining, during the major penalty and with Miller on the bench, Hjalmarsson blocked another Alex Steen shot that may have saved a goal. He was also a wrecking ball after the whistle.

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Not that you need any explanation of why the Blues are in so much trouble without Backes, but with Toews on the ice at even-strength the Blackhawks outshot the Blues 10-2 (and out attempted the Blues 17-3). And Toews spent 60% of his 5-on-5 ice-time vs. Backes. 

Some of that is score effects, if Backes is out the Blues are matching Toews with one of Steve Ott (if you move him to the middle), Maxim Lapierre or Derek Roy and that’s not good enough.

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The deep, physical Columbus Blue Jackets have now played the Penguins uncomfortably close in the first two games of this series; even coming away with the victory in Game 2 on Saturday. I still like the Penguins to pull it out, but if you asked me to give you a script of what a Blue Jackets upset would look like: the way this series has gone so far is pretty much it.

Jack Johnson scored the big game-tying goal for the Blue Jackets, although, the individual effort from Ryan Johansen to set Johnson up (after Boone Jenner whiffed on a nice chance at a chance in the slot) was spectacular. But I think we all kind of understand what Johansen has become (a super elite two-way center), but Johnson desrves serious kudos 

Johnson has always been a massive defensive liability throughout his NHL career, but his two-way game seems to have been somewhat better this year. On Saturday, Johnson was matched up against Sidney Crosby for 50% of his even-strength minutes, and, more importantly, for 64.4% of Crosby’s minutes.

Blue Jackets coach Todd Richards also tasked Johnson with 13 own-zone starts, a stat that is particularly meaningful on the road. Knowing that Bylsma had last change and that Crosby was jumping over the boards on any given faceoff, Nelson threw Johnson out on the ice repeatedly and more often than any of his teammates. 

Johnson came out underwater by shot and shot attempt differential, but it wasn’t that ugly and the Penguins didn’t score a goal when he was on the ice at evens. He also scored a critical tally on the power-play – his second of the series – in the third period. Just a hell of a game for the oft-criticized blue-liner. 

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Remember how Brandon Dubinsky spent all of Thursday and Friday being praised gratuitously for hitting Sidney Crosby a bunch after the whistle while also getting consistently buried by the Penguins star territorially? Basically Dubinsky was being credited for his work in a matchup he’d lost, and lost soundly, in Game 1. 

Hockey chatterers may not have noticed that Dubinsky got flayed on Wednesday, but would you know it, the Blue Jackets’ head coach did. Columbus’ primary matchup for Crosby on Saturday was a line featuring R.J. Umberger, Blake Comeau (what an awesome bargain pickup he’s been for the Jackets), and Artem Anisimov. It was quite a departure (and upgrade) from Richards’ “double shift Dubinsky and cross my fingers” gameplan in Game 1…

Anyway Anismov, Comeau, Umberger did some solid work containing Crosby at even-strength. The Penguins star still went off for two helpers, because he’ll do that from time to time, but the Penguins only managed eight shots in Crosby’s 19+ minutes at evens on Saturday while also surrendering eight against.

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Man the NHL dodged a bullet when the Avalanche won Game 2 despite the best efforts of the on-ice officials late in the contest. As a Raptors fan I thought I’d seen some pretty bad officiating on Saturday, but then I caught the end of this one and whoa boy. I haven’t seen anything that egregious all season.

All I can say is that the league was tremendously lucky that this game took place when the East Coast was asleep, and that the result of the game wasn’t impacted.

Let me explain what went down. With 4:07 to play in the third period the Avalanche were up by 2 but the Wild were pressing. The Avalanche counter attacked and Jamie McGinn sent a pretty feed to PA Parenteau who may have had himself a scoring chance except he was high-sticked, under his visor, and began bleeding.

The referees didn’t see it, however, so there was no call on the play. The Avalanache were absurdly jobbed out of a four minute penalty that would’ve made the result a foregone conclusion…

So the Wild keep pressing, and pull their goalie, and are testing Darcy Kuemper Avalanche netminder Semyon Varlamov a bunch. Finally the Avalanche get it going the other way again, and a pass goes to Parenteau (again) at the blue-line. He skates in and tucks the puck into an empty net and the Pepsi Center crowd went nuts. 

But it wasn’t really a goal, the play had been blown offside (and Parenteau just hadn’t heard the whistle because of the fans, and maybe because his face was bleeding). It was a brutal call by the linesman, who just got this play wrong.

Anyway Ryan Suter dumbly went after Parenteau for putting the puck in an empty net, and the Wild were short-handed. But they were still only down two. Of course they drive down to the Colorado end and Mikko Koivu sets up Marco Scandella to make it a one goal game: 3-2 Wild. 

Now the good news is that the Avalanche stayed calm and took care of business. Minnesota didn’t even manage a shot attempt after making it a one score game, and Paul Statsny put his second of two attempts into the empty net (Stastny’s first shot hit the post, at which point I started laughing hysterically).

But man, what a complete and embarassing mess that was.

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The Avalanche have run roughshod over the Wild in the series so far, but I like Minnesota to take care of business at home. The Xcel Energy Center is a tough place to play, and this Minnesota side is still the better team defensively.

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Four games on deck for Sunday starting with the Rangers and the Flyers at noon (EST), Detroit and Boston at 3pm (EST), Tampa and Montreal at 7pm (EST) and Los Angeles and San Jose at 10pm (EST). So basically try and schedule your family dinner for 6 pm, and you can watch 11 hours of playoff hockey in 12 hours of work. Good luck and happy Easter!

Thomas Drance is a news editor for theScore.