Let me just start off by saying playoff hockey is freaking awesome. This season's playoffs hit the ground running with five of the eight first round matchups going the distance to seven games. While we still have two series to be decided today before moving onto the next round, I figured I could go over the series that have wrapped up so far. My first impression though which can be applicable to most series, is that things are tight in the postseason. I figured we would see a few five-game series and some six-game series, with maybe a couple series that would go the distance. It's great to see so many matchups going down to the wire!

Colorado vs Nashville

Of all the series in the opening round, this was the one outlier. The top-seeded Avalanche looked strong from start to finish in this series. They managed to crack out the brooms and sweep away a Nashville Predator team that had a hell of a season all things considered. To me, Nashville was one of the great stories of the regular season. A lot of veterans on that team had great bounce-back seasons, and some of their young guys showed a ton of promise as well. 

It was cool to see Matt Duchene match up against his old club again. It would have been a huge storyline if he could knock off his old club, but the Avs look poised to go on a deep run this year. Gabriel Landeskog is back from a long injury stint and is looking great. The Colorado defensive corps continues to provide a ton of supplemental offense. The Avs took care of business and as a result have earned a ton of bonus rest days while they wait for the next round to start. Hopefully for their sake the extra rest doesn't kill their thunderous momentum they had built up to this point.

Minnesota vs St. Louis

This was one of the matchups I was most anxious to watch. I remember a couple weekends before the end of the regular season, I was watching a Wild/Blues game because it had some major fantasy implications for me. It was an intense back-and-forth game and it got really chippy towards the end too. When the season ended and I saw that these two would face off, I was very excited.

In our DobberHockey Expert Prediction Panel, I made a very bold prediction and picked the Minnesota WIld as a dark horse to win the Cup. Part of this is just because I hate going with the easy, consensus picks. But admittedly, I was also very high on the Wild and the regular season they just had. Kirill Kaprizov has bloomed into a megastar this season. Other secondary scorers have emerged to finally give the Wild some real firepower offensively. I figured this would be one of the series that would go the distance, and for a while during this series, it looked like it would go that way.

However, the veteran savvy of the Blues proved to be too much the Wild to handle this time around. The series was entertaining and both sides had some highs and lows, but the Blue came out ahead in six games. The Blues have really become a battle-tested bunch after going on their Cup run a couple years back. David Perron really stepped up in this series, posting nine points, including a hat trick in game one of the series. It should be interesting to see if the Blues can use their past success going forward. They have a matchup with the Avs in round two. Colorado will be heavy favorites in this series, but don't count St. Louis out completely!

Edmonton vs Los Angeles

This is a series that ended up being much closer than I thought it would be. I had underrated the Los Angeles Kings pretty much all season and even in this opening round, I didn't think they would challenge the Oilers much. But here we are on Sunday and the Oilers escaped the first round by the skin of their teeth. The Oilers were definitely on the hot seat, much like another Canadian team I will get to shortly. But a win is a win, and the Oilers live to see another day.

Connor McDavid continues to be a stud, no surprise there. But the real X factor for the Oilers to this point has to be Evander Kane. He has really come into his own in Edmonton since joining the club part way through the season earlier in the year. Aside from banging and grinding and being a general pain in the neck to his opposition, Kane also chipped in seven goals and two assists in round one. It also seems apparent Leon Draisaitl is playing through an injury right now, and the Oilers will need him if they want to keep their Cup hopes alive. The Oilers will now wait to see who wins Game 7 tonight between Calgary and Dallas. I'm sure I'm not alone when I say I'm yearning to see a Battle of Alberta matchup in round two! 

Florida vs Washington

The Florida Panthers were the top seed in the East this season and after making some major acquisitions at the trade deadline, they seemed like a lock to make a deep playoff run this postseason. They drew the Washington Capitals in round one, and while the Caps have a solid squad brimming full of veterans with playoff experience, many assumed they wouldn't pose much of a threat to the Panthers.

While Florida did emerge from the series after six games, they weren't totally convincing and at times were very underwhelming.  Washington jumped out to a 2-1 series lead early on, including a 6-1 blowout in Game 3. However, the Panthers did manage to find their footing in the series eventually, and took the last three games to clinch a berth into round two. Two of those last three games would need overtime, so the Caps did end up to be a handful despite going down in six. Carter Verhaeghe really stepped up in this series, leading all Panthers skaters in scoring with six goals and six assists for 12 points total.

Toronto vs Tampa Bay

For full disclosure, I am a diehard Leafs fan, and this is a tough one for me to speak on. The series was an all-out war, especially Games 6 and 7. There were some blowouts exchanged earlier in the series, but all things equal, it was a very back-and-forth series that went the distance. After the dust had settled Saturday night, it was the defending two-time Stanley Cup champs emerging and moving on.

For Toronto, it's another season of heartbreak and disappointment. Honestly, I don't even know where you go from here when it comes to their future. Andrei Vasilevskiy looked pretty normal for most of the series, but definitely came up big in Game 7. For the Bolts, it's an all-Florida matchup in round two as they will take on the Panthers. It's also worth noting that Brayden Point left Game 7 with a leg injury, so that could be a huge loss for Tampa going forward. I'll be interested to see what Tampa has left in the tank after going the distance with Toronto.  Could a three-peat be in the cards?

Carolina vs Boston

Well, it wasn't easy, but they survived the first round by eking out a game seven victory Saturday afternoon. After jumping out to a 2-0 series lead in the early going, Carolina let Boston back into the series by dropping the next two games.  Home ice was defended in every game in this series, and unfortunately for Boston, they did not earn home-ice advantage. 

Carolina had to fight through a bit of adversity too as their third-string goalie Pyotr Kochetkov was forced to make a couple of appearances during this series. For the most part though, Antti Raanta manned the crease and played admirably, posting a .927 save percentage and a modest 2.37 goals against average. The Canes took a gamble on signing Tony DeAngelo this past offseason, but he has paid off big time for Carolina, especially during this first round. 

DeAngelo chipped in a goal and seven assists to help with Carolina's balanced offensive attack. They will await the results of tonight's game seven tilt between the Rangers and Penguins. For the Bruins, you have to wonder how many more prime seasons they have left with their current core. Meanwhile, the Hurricanes are hoping to make it back to their first Stanley Cup final since 2006 when they won their first and only Cup. 

Well, we have two more Game 7s on tap for tonight! The hockey has been great so far in these playoffs. I will be back in a couple of weeks to recap the second round. Until then, enjoy the show everyone!