Around the NHL: Let the second season begin

The 2014-15 NHL regular season came to a close this past weekend with Ottawa and Pittsburgh claiming the last two remaining playoff spots. Here is a look at the match ups for the first round of the 2014-15 Stanley Cup Playoffs beginning on Wednseday.

Eastern Conference

Montreal vs Ottawa

These two division rivals meet starting Wednesday night. Montreal won the Atlantic Division by going 50-22-10. Carey Price and company edged out Tampa Bay by two points for the division title.

Ottawa stormed back into the playoff race after the All Star break and earned the first the wild card spot. Rookie goaltender Andrew Hammond has played out of the world hockey since being called up. He is 20-1-2 in his 23 starts.

Ottawa has won each of the last three regular season meetings with the Canadiens. This series should be a good one. Game one is Wednesday night.

Tampa Bay vs Detroit

The Tampa Bay Lightning finished second in the Atlantic Division eight points ahead of Detroit and will have home ice advantage in this first round series.

Steven Stamkos continues to score goals. The Lightning captain finished second in the league this season with 43. Tampa also saw a breakout performance from Tyler Johnson. Johnson finished tied for first on the team with 72 points.

Detroit will make the playoffs for the 24th consecutive season. It is the longest active streak in the league. Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk and company will have their hands full keeping Stamkos and Johnson in check. 

This series gets underway Thursday.

New York Rangers vs Pittsburgh

It seemed not to long ago the Rangers were in third place in the Metropolitan Division behind both the Islanders and Penguins. Then, all world goalie Henrik Lundqvist went down to injury. What happened next was truly incredible. 

Cam Talbot stepped in for Lundqvist and all he did was help New York not only win a division title but a President's Trophy as well. New York was almost unbeatable post All Star break. Rick Nash lead the team in goals (42) and points (69). 

Pittsburgh limped into the playoffs after contending for the title for most of the season. The Penguins won just three of the last ten games on their schedule going 3-5-2. It took a last day win over the Buffalo Sabres to get them in.

This is a rematch of last year's conference semifinal  series which New York won in seven games after trailing three games to one. This series starts on Thursday

Washington vs New York Islanders

For the first time in two decades these two teams will meet in the NHL postseason. The teams finished tied for second with 101 points each but the Capitals held the tie breaker for home ice.

Alexander Ovechkin won yet another Rocket Richard Trophy as the leading goal scorer. His 53 goals were ten more than second place Stamkos. He was also in the running for the Art Ross trophy until the final days of the season. Braden Holtby tied a franchise record with 41 wins in goal and was outstanding all season long.

The unquestioned leader of the Islanders is their captain John Tavares. Tavares finished in second place, one point behind Jamie Benn, for the Art Ross Trophy. The Islanders hit a wall just after the All Star break but seemed to have righted the ship and will be a dangerous opponent for anyone.

Both of these teams can and do score, a lot. The series begins Wednesday. This should be a fun one.

Western Conference

St. Louis vs Minnesota 

The Central Division boasts five of eight playoff teams from the west. Four of them will play each other beginning with the Blues and the Wild

St. Louis finished strong to catch and pass both Chicago and Nashville and take the division crown by five points. The Blues featured a balanced attack with four players at 20 or more goals. Vladimir Tarasenko led the way with 37. Brian Elliott has also been solid between the pipes all year but has not fared well against the Wild.

There is not one team in the league that has earned more points since mid January than Minnesota. Since acquiring goalie Devan Dubnyk, Minnesota has claimed 59 points in the standings and went from eight points out to the first wild card position. This marks the third straight playoff appearance for the Wild.

They will begin play Thursday night in St. Louis. Do not let the season points totals and standings fool you. This series may go the distance. 

Nashville vs Chicago

This may be the best first round matchup of the entire playoff. Nashville led the division and the NHL for parts of the season. They cooled off down the stretch and were caught by the Blues.

The Predators are still a dangerous team. Rookie forward Filip Forsberg will be a Calder Trophy finalist and led the team in scoring with 63 points. Mike Ribeiro was second one point behind. 

Pekka Rinne was off to a Vezina caliber start through the first four and a half months of the season but an injury slowed him down. He is still a legitimate number one net minder and will be tough to beat.

Chicago will once again be a dangerous team. It seems each year there are two Western Conference teams everyone else hopes they don't have to play, Los Angeles and the Blackhawks. Luckily for the west, they will only have Chicago to deal with.

The Blackhawks have won or been the Western Conference finals in each of the past three seasons and four of the last five. They have managed to stay afloat since losing Patrick Kane to a broken clavicle. 

This series begins Wednesday and most certainly be must watch.

Anaheim vs Winnipeg

The Anaheim Ducks were also a team that was at or near the top of both their division and the league for most of the year. The Ducks were able to close out their third straight Pacific Division title and secure the number one seed in the west.

Home ice has not been friendly for the Ducks recently as they have dropped two straight game sevens at the Honda Center. If the Ducks are going to win with Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry, the time is now. 

Winnipeg has been a pleasant surprise this year. The Jets have been scrappy and never quit. They will be a tough out for anyone so Anaheim will need to play their best. They will begin play on Thursday.

Vancouver vs Calgary

This series features two teams that were not playoff participants a year ago. Vancouver missed last year after a very successful run of playoff appearances. Calgary is returning for the first time since 2008-09.

The teams split the season series and even went as far to split their home ice games with each team going 2-2-0 and 1-1-0 at home. It should be a very entertaining series as both teams are scrappy and fight for every inch of space. They are both teams that have been on life support at times this season and found ways to win.

This series kicks off Wednesday night in Vancouver.