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PHT Morning Skate: Four Game 1s start it up tonight

Patrick Marleau, Alec Martinez

San Jose Sharks center Patrick Marleau (12) pushes Los Angeles Kings defenseman Alec Martinez (27) during the third period of of an NHL hockey game in San Jose, Calif., Thursday, April 3, 2014. The Sharks won 2-1. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

AP

Last night saw three series get things going on the opening night of the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs, each with wild levels of action and plenty of offense to go around.

Tonight, four more playoff series get under way in New York, St. Louis, Colorado, and San Jose. If you thought last night was a fun ride, wait til you get a load of this.

Editor’s Note: Pro Hockey Talk’s partner FanDuel is hosting a $1,000 Fantasy Hockey league for Thursday’s NHL games. It’s $10 to join and first prize is $200. Starts Thursday at 7pm ET. Here’s the FanDuel link.

Game 1: New York Rangers vs. Philadelphia Flyers (7:00 p.m. ET, CNBC)

These two teams split the season series against each other with each team winning twice. The difference between them as this series kicks off is a bit stark as Philly’s Steve Mason will miss Game 1 after suffering an injury in the final game of the season.

Going up against Henrik Lundqvist makes the night a bit tougher for the Flyers and their potent offense, but if last night is an indication of how the first round of the playoffs might go, coming out firing might be in Claude Giroux’s best interest. Giroux’s MVP-like effort this season keyed the Flyers into getting into the postseason and guys like Wayne Simmonds and Jakub Voracek have followed suit.

How Rick Nash and Martin St. Louis respond will be important and with Ray Emery in goal for the Flyers to start the series off, time is ripe for the Rangers to get off to a good start.

Game 1: St. Louis Blues vs. Chicago Blackhawks (8:00 p.m. ET, NBCSN)

All season long the Blues were the runaway favorites to win the West. Then the last few weeks happened where numerous key players got hurt and Ryan Miller struggled stopping the puck. Now, everyone can’t help but pick against the Blues to lose out to their arch-rivals, the Blackhawks.

The Blues will get everyone back to start the series, but so will the ‘Hawks who made do without Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews in the final few weeks. The Blues swear up and down that things will be fine now that the playoffs have started, but it’s a lot easier to say these things when you don’t have Marian Hossa and Patrick Sharp coming at you.

It’s never easy in the playoffs, but the Blues have a handful to deal with this time.

Game 1: Colorado Avalanche vs. Minnesota Wild (9:30 p.m. ET, CNBC)

If there’s a series in the West that’s not getting a lot of notice in these playoffs, it’s this one and that’s a shame. Avs-Wild may not have the high-flying offense of the Ducks-Stars series or the rivalry qualities of either Blues-'Hawks or Sharks-Kings, but that doesn’t mean there’s no heat here.

While things have changed a lot since they last met in the postseason in 2003, the Avalanche play the high-flying kind of hockey that’s found ways to frustrate teams. Rookie Nathan MacKinnon takes injured star Matt Duchene’s spot on the top line and Colorado has some aches on the blue line to manage. That gives the Wild openings to attack them with Zach Parise and Jason Pominville leading the way.

If Ilya Bryzgalov stays hot into the postseason, he could provide a good counterpart to Semyon Varlamov in the Avs net. This could be a lot of fun.

Game 1: San Jose Sharks vs. Los Angeles Kings (10:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN)

What’s definitely going to be fun is this series. The Sharks and Kings are no strangers to each other in the playoffs by now and each of the past two times they’ve faced off it’s been outstanding hockey.

When you’ve got Logan Couture, Patrick Marleau, and Joe Thornton on one side up against Anze Kopitar, Jeff Carter, and Dustin Brown on the other you’re in for some fun. What’s worth watching is how Marian Gaborik adds to the Kings attack and what Tomas Hertl can do for the Sharks after missing a good part of the season.

One thing the Sharks are hoping they can do is rattle Jonathan Quick in goal. Quick was a big reason why the Kings knocked off the Sharks in the playoffs last season, but San Jose will need Antti Niemi to be his equal if they’re going to move on. Staying up late on the East Coast is worth it for this series.

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