Day 1 is done, a look ahead to Day 2.

The Stanley Cup Playoffs are officially underway with four games taking place last night. I would like to say I was able to watch all of them but with my work schedule starting at 5 AM I have to be able to pick & choose what I want to see. With the Red Wings game starting at 9 PM there was no way I could stay up to watch the game and then go to bed to be ready for work the next day so I decided to DVR the game and get to bed at 7 PM to get some sleep before waking up at 2 AM to watch the game. I was able to catch bits & pieces of the rest of the games last night so in today's blog I'll share my thoughts on last night's action, share a hockey article I read online, give my thoughts on it & give my thoughts on tonight's playoff action.

Let's start with the early games.

Ottawa vs Pittsburgh:

It didn't take long for Pittsburgh to get on top with Evgeni Malkin scoring a Power Play goal three minutes into the game. After that Ottawa went on to score three unanswered goals to take a 3-1 lead. The rest of the game saw Pittsburgh & Ottawa trading goals back & forth eventually leading to a 5-4 win for the Senators. Ottawa did a great job containing Sidney Crosby holding him to only two shots on goal. The one comment I found interesting in Pittsburgh's coach Dan Bylsma's press conference was what he had to say about the play of Marc-Andre Fleury in goal last night. "I think there's a couple (of goals) he's going to be thinking about, is going to want back. He knows he has to be a lot better to give us a chance,'' Now I don't think Fleury is going to be benched in favor of backup goalie Brent Johnson but he has not looked as sharp this season as he has the previous two seasons. Whether it is because the Penguins have played a lot of hockey in the last two seasons I don't know but if Fleury plays like he did last night Ottawa may win this series going away. The Senators were streaky this season but are a lot better than people give them credit for. I'm interested to see if Fleury plays better. He'll have to be if Pittsburgh wants to win this series.

Philadelphia vs. New Jersey:

This game wasn't on TV last night so I did not see any of it. I do know that New Jersey's only goal came late in the 3rd period scored by Travis Zajac. Now it's still early but for the Devils to win this series Ilya Kovalchuk has to find the back of the net. Jersey acquired him to give their offense the firepower to keep up with Pittsburgh & Washington. None of this will matter if they can't find a way to beat goalie Brian Boucher. Philly now moves to 6-1 on the season against the Devils.

Detroit vs. Phoenix:

It was clear by watching the 1st Period that the Coyotes can't skate with the Red Wings. Detroit skated circles around them out shooting the Coyotes 20-7 in the 1st period. Phoenix was able to slow the game down in the 2nd period and was able to keep puck possession by mucking & grinding with the Wings instead of trying to out skate them. What hurt Detroit last night was giving up three Power Play goals to Phoenix which was all the Coyotes needed to take Game 1 with a 3-2 victory. Other than their penalty kill I thought the Wings played a good game. I still like Detroit to win in 6 games. When you start a series on the road you always want to get at least a split. That is still possible. I expect Detroit to come out with the same intensity and play better in Game 2.

Colorado vs. San Jose

When you have been one of the best teams in the NHL the last few years with little playoff success to show for it, it is important to get off to a good start in the post-season if for no other reason to calm a fragile psyche. San Jose apparently likes to make things stressful for their fan base. Colorado's Chris Stewart scored the game winning goal with 50 seconds to play in the 3rd period when his shot went in off the skate of Sharks defenseman Rob Blake to give the Avs a 2-1 win over the Sharks. Now San Jose is a more talented team and good teams should be able to bounce back from a defeat like this in Game 1 but anyone who follows hockey are aware of the Sharks issues in the post-season. Are they thinking here we go again or are they thinking this was a fluke win? I think Game 2 will tell us what kind of Sharks team we have this post-season.

Moving on to other NHL related things, Michael Farber is the senior hockey writer for cnnsi.com and is one of the better hockey columnists out there. Earlier this week he wrote an article about how the shootout belongs in the post season (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/michael_farber/04/12/rangers.ousted/index.html)

Now I like Michael Farber and I enjoy his articles but I could not disagree with him more on this. I am not a fan of the shootout mainly because of how the NHL does it in the regular season going with three shooters a piece at the minimum. by the time you can get excited for the shootout it is usually over. I would rather see them bring back the tie than keep the shootout but the fans seem to like it so I don't think it will be leaving the regular season any time soon. There is no way it should ever be used in the post-season. One of the things that make the Stanley Cup Playoffs exciting is Sudden Death Overtime where the last shot wins the game. And sometimes the last shot may not come until the 2nd, 3rd, or even the 4th overtime. Bringing in a shootout kills the drama and any chance of that happening. I don't know any true hockey fan that would feel good about their team winning a Stanley Cup because of a shootout. I hope to hell this never happens.

On to tonight's games:

Montreal vs. Washington:

The Capitals were the best team in the regular season. Starting tonight that means nothing, they will be judged on the next four games going forward. Jose Theodore will get the start in net after leaving practice early yesterday with a stinger. He is fine and so should be the Capitals tonight. I'm predicting a 4-1 win for Washington.

Boston vs. Buffalo:

Neither team can score, both teams kill penalties well & both teams don't give up a lot of goals. I'll say 2-1 Sabres win tonight.

Los Angeles vs. Vancouver:

Can Roberto Luongo carry over his Olympic success to the post-season? Can anyone other than the Sedin twins score for Vancouver? Can Jonathan Quick overcome a late season slump and play well in net for the Kings like he did earlier this season?
I'll go with a 4-2 win for the Canucks.