Happy Monday y'all!

We are down to three series! The Colorado Avalanche are the first team from the Western Conference to move on as they have swept the Los Angeles Kings. In the other three remaining matchups, the Utah Mammoth hold a two games to one lead on the Vegas Golden Knights, while the Minnesota Wild and Dallas Stars are all nodded up at two, and the Anaheim Ducks are up three games to one against the Edmonton Oilers. None of that really means anything until one organization wins that fourth game, so let's take a closer look at each series.

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The Avs took care of business yesterday as they swept the Kings in four games, winning 5-1. The first three games of this series were competitive and goaltender Anton Forsberg kept the Kings alive in those contests, much like he carried them in the final stretch of the regular season to clinch that final wildcard spot. However, the final dance looked like the Kings had already been rejected by the girl of their dreams as the Avs had complete control of the game and did not take their foot off the gas. Even though most of the series was tight, in the end the injuries to Kevin Fiala and Andrei Kuzmenko caught up to them as the offense completely dried up and only seven skaters registered a point in their entire four games.

With Anze Kopitar officially retired, there is a big hole in the lineup to fill and a lot of questions. Do they keep DJ Smith as Head Coach? What happens with Drew Doughty? They acquired Artemi Panarin and gave him an extension already so it's tough to go into rebuild mode, but it's pretty evident that this core needs some sort of shakeup. Can Quinton Byfield finally take that next step or is his ceiling a 2C?

At the end of the day, I think everyone knew how this series was going to end up though. We can always rely on some wise words from former Kings coach Darryl Sutter as he once said, playing the Avs in the first round would "be a waste of eight days" and we are a week later and the series is already over.

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After a rough Game 1 for Utah, they now hold the series advantage 2-1. Vegas physically beat the Mammoth in that first game, with Vegas' Nic Dowd having some choice words for Utah's Logan Cooley after Game 1. However, the less experienced Mammoth squad was like a puppy and they kept playing their game to come out with a win in Game 2 and a dominant performance in Game 3.

It must have been all the Golden Knight fans who swapped their jerseys for a new Mammoth sweater before Game 3 that propelled them to their victory.

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The Wild had a huge comeback win in Game 4 to even the series at two games apiece over the weekend. Now down to a best of three series, the teams will travel back to Dallas. A lot of the talk for this matchup has been about Quinn Hughes and how he is the best defenseman in the league, but on the other side, Miro Heiskanen would like to interject.

The Finnish defender is averaging almost 32(!) minutes a game and has four powerplay points through the first four contests. After missing the final three games of the regular season, he came back healthy and ready to prove that he should be mentioned in the best defenseman conversations. Another Finn, Roope Hintz, has started to skate, but is highly unlikely to play in Game 5. If things continue to trend in the right direction, a return for Game 7 (if necessary) is in the cards.

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The Ducks won a thrilling Game 4 in overtime last night to take a 3-1 series lead back to Edmonton. Just like the name of this column, it was a wild game that ended in video review. Ryan Poehling threw a puck on net that squirted through Tristan Jarry to seal the victory. Jarry's skate was perfectly on the line so there was no way to see if there was white between the goal line and the puck, but any hockey fan knows the size of the puck and can tell it was fully across the line. It sounds like the situation room took the same approach because they determined the puck completely crossed the line, so no matter what the call in the building was, it would have been a good goal. 

Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl do not look 100% so whenever their season's end, it will be interesting to hear what they have been playing through. Same old story thus far in the series; the defense and goaltending has not been good enough and the Oilers have had to rely on their big two too much. With McDavid's extension kicking in this summer, he took a major discount so management could bring in pieces to help out. It should be a summer of moves if Edmonton is eliminated this early or we could see 97 in a new sweater in the near future.

Enjoy the rest of Round 1 and have a great week!