It took two game sevens, a dominant sweep, and tons of fantastic hockey to complete Round 1 of the NHL playoffs. The Stanley Cup is the coveted trophy all 30 NHL teams play for each year. Sixteen teams make it into the playoffs and battle in best of seven series over four rounds. The first round was highlighted by the Red Wings clinching a playoff spot for the 24th consecutive year, the Ottawa Senators overcoming a 14 point deficit in their push to clinch a playoff spot and the Winnipeg Jets clinching a spot for the first time since their relocation in 2011 from Atlanta. Surprisingly, the familiar faces of the Los Angeles Kings, Boston Bruins and San Jose Sharks did not make the playoffs.

The action started with the puck drop between the Montreal Canadiens and Ottawa Senators. The Senators were riding the hot goaltender named “The Hamburglar” into the series. The strong but young core of the Senators quickly dropped the first three games of the series. After strong goaltending by the backup goalie Craig Anderson, the Senators battled back to win the next two but ultimately lost the series in six games.

The matchup between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Detroit Red Wings was a battle through all seven games. Shift to shift, neither side was willing to give an inch. The back and forth series was an entertaining one to watch, from the Lightning eventually breaking out with their power play late in the series and young Petr Mrazek of the Wings being a solid force in net. Defenseman Niklas Kronwall was suspended for Game 7 after a hit up high on Lightning’s Nikita Kucherov. Nonetheless, Tampa went on to shutout the Wings 2-0 in Game 7 and move on to the next round.

The Presidents Trophy (team with the best record) winning New York Rangers faced their familiar rivals, the Pittsburgh Penguins. The speed of the Rangers was too much to handle for the physical and injured Penguins. The Penguins were able to grab one game but folded in five games. Every game was a one goal game; the Rangers may have won the series but it was a close battle every night. The Rangers finished off the series by winning the last two games in stunning fashion, overtime. Overtime hockey is one of the great facets in playoffs. Sudden death and 20 minute period after period, how much better does it get than that? Both overtime winners came from rookie Kevin Hayes and the speedy Carl Hagelin.

To cap off the Eastern Conference match-ups, the always dangerous Washington Capitals played the streaking New York Islanders. The Nassau Coliseum, home to the Islanders for 43 years will be closing at the end of the season for the Islanders. The clash between the Isles Captain John Tavares and the Caps Alexander Ovechkin was an entertaining one to watch. Each team won a game in overtime but the Caps proved the better team in the end and the Nassau Coliseum will be closing earlier than the Islanders wanted.

The Western Conference proved just as exciting with a strong series between the St. Louis Blues and the Minnesota Wild. Blues have a strong team every year that has the potential to make it to the finals but once again, they crumbled in Round 1. Minnesota rode the outstanding goalie Devan Dubynk for the second half of the season, to the playoffs and through the first round. The Blues young star, Vladimir Tarasenko was phenomenal during the regular season and during the playoffs but he couldn’t win it himself and the Wild won in six.

The Chicago Blackhawks played a strong series against the Nashville Predators. The Hawks are the predicted favorites to win the West but first they have to face the dominant goaltender in Pekka Rinne. The possible Rookie of the Year, Filip Forsberg of the Preds didn’t make it easy on the Hawks goaltenders. The Hawks had to switch between starter Corey Crawford and backup Scott Darling throughout the series but the Hawks proved victorious in six.

The popular and streaking Winnipeg Jets played the Anaheim Ducks only to be trounced in four games. The Jets were solid but just couldn’t figure out the Ducks and made costly mistakes. The Ducks offense wasn’t lacking and goaltender Frederik Anderson was stellar. Of course if total domination isn’t your favorite to watch in the playoffs, you have your gritty battle in the series between the Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks. Both teams played a very strong and close series but the action began towards the end of Game 2. A fight broke out and a few minutes later, after multiple players fighting, 132 penalty minutes were given out and Flames coach Bob Hartley was fined $50,000 for his responsibility in the incident. The Flames went on to win the series 4-2 behind impressive performances from Jiri Hudler and rookie Johnny Gaudreau.

After an exciting Round 1, the match-ups have been set for Round 2 (which are already underway). The Stanley Cup playoffs normally last about 2 months so it is truly a game of endurance and attrition by every player and team. The sport of hockey is unlike any other; the brotherhood and battle every night through the regular season and postseason between each team is all worth it to raise the Stanley Cup at the end of the season.