By Kevin Durso, Sports Talk Philly editor 
The first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs is in full swing, with each series now three games in.
For a handful of teams, they have a stranglehold on the series, poised to move on to the second round. For others, some great finishes to series are on tap.
Here's an update on each series.
Minnesota Wild vs. St. Louis Blues
The 3-0 series lead for the Blues isn't what it seems. All three games have been very close, hard-fought battles with Minnesota coming out on the wrong end of the result.
Game 1 was in St. Louis' control until the final seconds of regulation when the Wild tied the game on a goal by Zach Parise. The Blues were able to take the game in overtime on a goal by Joel Edmundson.
The Blues took Game 2 by the same result, 2-1, in regulation in Minnesota. Edmundson opened the scoring at 3:51 of the second, Parise provided the equalizer for Minnesota on the power play at 17:44 of the second and Jaden Schwartz struck for the game-winning goal with 2:27 to play in regulation.
Back on home ice, the Blues took a commanding series lead with a 3-1 win on Sunday. Schwartz again provided the game-winning with a power-play goal in the second. Colton Parayko and Alex Steen also scored for the Blues. Charlie Coyle had the lone goal of the game for Minnesota.
Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Columbus Blue Jackets
This is another series where the results don't match the intensity and level of competitiveness on the ice.
Pittsburgh outclassed Columbus in each of the first two games in Pittsburgh. The Penguins survived an early surge from Columbus in Game 1 and responded with three goals in the second period to break up the scoreless tie. Columbus got on the board late in the third, but couldn't erase the deficit.
Pittsburgh scored first in Game 2, but Columbus answered to tie the game in the second. The tie lasted all of 51 seconds as Jake Guentzel scored to give Pittsburgh the lead for good. The Penguins added two goals in the third with Evgeni Malkin scoring at 2:01 to provide insurance and Patric Hornqvist scoring into an empty net.
In one of the more entertaining games of the playoffs so far, Pittsburgh rallied from a 3-1 deficit to beat Columbus in Game 3. Columbus got two goals from Cam Atkinson, including one 11 seconds into the game, and another from Zach Werenski to take a 3-1 lead just 6:10 into the game. Bryan Rust scored to cut the lead to one and Pittsburgh tied the game with a goal by Malkin. Guentzel scored at 11:48 of the third for his second goal of the game to give Pittsburgh the lead, but Brandon Dubinsky tied the game for the Blue Jackets with 4:49 to play in regulation. That forced overtime, where Guentzel played hero and completed the hat trick with the game-winning goal at 13:10 of the first overtime.
Montreal Canadiens vs. New York Rangers
Behind a shutout from Henrik Lundqvist, the Rangers took the series opener on the road, but Montreal has since rebounded. An overtime game-winner by Alexander Radulov capped a Game 2 rallied for the Canadiens after Tomas Plekanec scored with 18 seconds left in regulation to force overtime.
Radulov got on the board again, as did Shea Weber and Artturi Lehkonen, leading Montreal to a Game 3 win on Sunday to take a 2-1 series lead.
Edmonton Oilers vs. San Jose Sharks
Edmonton came roaring out of the gate in Game 1 with two goals in the first period, only to see the defending Western Conference champions score three unanswered goals, including the game-winner in overtime by Melker Karlsson, giving Game 1 to San Jose.
But Edmonton recovered, scoring two shorthanded goals — including Connor McDavid's first career playoff goal — in a 2-0 win in Game 2. The other goal scorer in Game 2, Zack Kassian, scored the lone goal in Game 3 as Cam Talbot shut the door on the Sharks to give the Oilers a 2-1 series lead.
Ottawa Senators vs. Boston Bruins
After taking Game 1, 2-1, with two third-period goals, the Bruins ended up on the wrong end of Games 2 and 3 in overtime.
Boston took a 3-1 lead in Game 2 with 20 minutes to play. But goals by Chris Wideman and Derick Brassard tied the game and eventually forced overtime. Just 1:59 into overtime, Dion Phaneuf ended things with the game-winning goal to even the series.
On Monday night, it was role reversal. Ottawa jumped out to a 3-0 lead with the help of two goals by Mike Hoffman. Noel Acciari, David Backes and David Pastrnak scored in the second to erase the deficit and tie the game.
The game went to overtime again. A power play gave Ottawa a chance to end it and they did with Bobby Ryan finishing off a great play with Erik Karlsson and Kyle Turris to give the Senators a 2-1 series lead.
Washington Capitals vs. Toronto Maple Leafs
This has easily been the best series of the playoffs so far. Three games, and all three have required overtime.
Give the upstart, youthful Toronto Maple Leafs a ton of credit. In Game 1, they jumped out to a 2-0 lead, but learned the hard way that experience comes into play as the game wears on. Washington got the game tied in the second, and Tom Wilson scored the game-winner at 5:15 with a sharp-angle shot that caught Frederik Andersen off guard, giving the Capitals the 1-0 series lead.
Toronto opened the scoring in Game 2, but were forced to play from behind after goals by Alex Ovechkin and John Carlson in the second. The young team responded well, with Kasperi Kapanen and Morgan Rielly scoring goals in the remainder of the period to give Toronto the lead. Nicklas Backstrom tied the game for Washington in the third and that set up a marathon. One overtime was not enough and the second overtime wore on before Kapanen scored his second of the game at 11:53 to even the series.
On Monday night in Game 3, Washington came out firing and scored on their first two shots of the game, with Backstrom and Ovechkin getting the goals. Auston Matthews scored to get Toronto on the board in the first, but Washington got the goal back with Evgeny Kuznetsov scoring to make it 3-1. Toronto rallied late in the second with goals by Nazem Kadri and William Nylander to tie the game. Forcing overtime for the third straight game, Toronto opened the overtime on the power play and made the most of it, with Kadri setting up Tyler Bozak for the tip-in goal to give Toronto a 2-1 series lead on the President's Trophy winners.
Chicago Blackhawks vs. Nashville Predators
Toronto may be the most surprising team to be leading their series in the playoffs so far, but the way the Nashville Predators took a commanding lead in their series with the Chicago Blackhawks is nothing short of a stunner as well.
Pekka Rinne was the story of the first two games, a pair of shutout wins by scores of 2-0 and 5-0.
Game 3 was a different story for Nashville, who had to play from behind for the first time in the series. Dennis Rasmussen was the first to solve Rinne early in the second period. Patrick Kane scored on the power play to make it 2-0 after two periods.
Cue the Filip Forsberg show. The Nashville forward, who scored 31 goals in the regular season, got the Predators on the board at 4:24 and scored the equalizer at 14:08 to force overtime. It took 16:44 before Nashville put the Blackhawks on the brink, as Kevin Fiala scored the game-winner to give the Predators a 3-0 series lead.
Anaheim Ducks vs. Calgary Flames
The Ducks commanded home ice in Games 1 and 2. While Calgary did get a lead in Game 1, two second-period goals, including the eventual game-winner by Jakob Silfverberg, put Anaheim in front for good. A strong defensive period and great goaltending by John Gibson sealed a series-opening win for the Ducks.
It was the same in Game 2, only this time the Ducks opened up a 2-0 lead only to see Calgary rally back to score the equalizer in the second period. The 2-2 score held up until late in the third, when Ryan Getzlaf scored on the power play with 4:46 to play. Gibson and company locked things down in the final minutes for a Game 2 win for Anaheim.
The Flames appeared to be on their way to getting back into the series in Game 3. Calgary scored the first two goals of the game and took a 2-1 lead to the first intermission. Two more goals in the second put Calgary up 4-1 before a late goal by Shea Theodore cut the lead to two just before the second intermission. Nate Thompson scored at 11:14 to cut the lead to one and then Theodore added his second with 4:21 to play to tie the game and force overtime. In the overtime, Corey Perry got the game-winner just 1:30 in, giving the Ducks a commanding 3-0 series lead.
