= The greatest story all season has been the Florida Panthers, and while they're up 3-2 it has been just a crazy turn of events. They were a barely missed empty net goal away from being down 3-1 to Washington, but now find themselves up 3-2 after coming back from 3-0 down in Game 5. The Panthers are fast, they're skilled, they're everything any casual fan should love, but something just isn't right about a team needing some miracles to go up against the nominal 8th seed in the East
= Toronto Tampa has been everything we could have imagined, if not super close all the time before the wildly entertaining Game 5. I just hope Game 6, and a potential Game 7, resembles that and not the evenly matched blowouts that were Games 1-4. I don't remember a first round series that had more incredible competing storylines, from Toronto on the verge of true madness if they were to lose, but with enough talent to win it all, to of course the Lightning with a chance for a threepeat - something that hasn't happened since the Islanders four in a row from 1980-83. And Game 5 seemed to have all of that - from the experienced Lightning going up to the Leafs clawing back. Two more of those please.
= The best West series has clearly been Blues v Wild, which is an underrated playoff rivalry having happened 3-4 times so far. Generally the lower ranked team has won (a weird case of nearly all Central Division playoff series), but in this one they're basically so damn even. Kaprizoff is a miracle. Tarasenko surviving wanting to leave the team to just then end up scoring a hat-trick is crazy. Both teams have the ability to push the Avalanche in what should be a stellar 2nd round matchup - I just hope they don't tire each other out ahead of it even starting.
= Kings v. Oilers is a weird version of Lightning v. Leafs, in that the Oilers have so much pressure only to find themselves down 2-3 going to LA. The Kings may not be back to back champs, but they still have Kopitar and Quick, who have their two rings and have seemingly aged back to 2014 in the series. The Leafs faced their Fight or Flight moment down 0-2 early in Game 5, staring a Game 6 in Tampa in the face. This is even more dire, staring a game in LA in the face, and personally I hope they bring it back to Edmonton to what will be an entirely too nervous building (as will Toronto if that goes to seven of course)
= I truly hope Crosby is not seriously hurt, and he's back in time for Game 6 (or 7). The Penguins dominance behind Crosby having a ridiculous series, through four games was so cool to see. Maybe it was around the time that the Devils stopped making the playoffs that I started to appreciate Crosby (and Malkin to some extent) more, and seeing them both play so well this year has been fun to watch. Seeing them dominate even more in this series has been even better. I just hope it doesn't end with a tinge of sadness.
= I personally haven't seen too much of Boston v Carolina, mainly because it has gone head to head a bit too often with Toronto v Tampa, a more compelling matchup. The Bruins are a great team but have been largely undressed a better one. The Hurricanes ability to play solid defense in front of any number of replacement goaltenders is commendable - their dominance in the forecheck against one of the best top lines is even more so. The Hurricanes by all accounts should have already won this series, but I would sign up for a raucous home crowd in Raleigh. One of the few regrets from my project in Raleigh was not making it out for a game. That 2019 season through the Covid break brought us the storm surge and so much else, and they've only built further off of that.
= I really don't know what to say about Stars v. Flames other than there's a meaning behind why I'm writing about them last. Well, two meanings. First is they were the last two to play a Game 5, and second, becuase i just haven't been able to really get into this series. While the rest of them have generally kept up the high scoring from the regular season, this one has decidedly not. No surprise really since stylistically this fits what Stars vs. Flames would be, but it is still a bit sad. I love the energy in the Saddledome, the Red Mile, all of it in Calgary, but the play hasn't really warranted the lunacy that comes with that place (similar, in a sense, in Edmonton)
= On the whole, this first round has been amazing - I hope we get at least three Game-7s out of this, especially fun would be ones in Toronto (will be a really angsty building), Edmonton (ditto), Calgary (even more ditto) and New York (the only one that might have a 'nothing to lose' mindset as they would be the one Game-7 that comes after a team had a 3-1 lead). In the end the Stanley Cup Playoffs are almost always insane, but the best are years like this where it all seems possible, heading into what could be just an epic four nights of Game-6s/7s
