Stanley Cup Playoffs Round One : St. Louis and Los Angeles

Last year they took an eighth place finish all the way to a Stanley Cup victory and for the Los Angeles Kings, the path to Stanley starts from the lower regions of the playoff starting line.

The Kings work towards a repeat will require a strong effort against a St. Louis Blues team that has been a pleasant surprise to the home fans this year, competitive for much of the season, the Blues are looking to provide the surprise of the Spring for the NHL with a run towards a Stanley Cup final berth.

Los Angeles WINS the Series 4 games to 2

Tuesday, April 30-- Los Angeles 1 at St. Louis 2 (OT) (17,612) 
Thursday, May 2-- Los Angeles 1 at St. Louis 2 (18,681)   
Saturday, May 4-- St. Louis 0 at Los Angeles 1  (18,118)
Monday, May 6-- St. Louis 3 at Los Angeles 4  (18,334)
Wednesday, May 8-- Los Angeles 3 at St. Louis 2  (OT)  (18,269)
Friday, May 10-- St. Louis 1 at Los Angeles  2 (18,346) 

All games on CBC and CNBC/NBCSN

Media sources for the series
(some may feature a pay wall)


St. Louis Post Dispatch 
Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Daily News


TSN Series Preview
HNIC Preview
ESPN Preview

And now, the real season begins

For many (your genial host included) the January to April stretch of this shortened NHL season was rather hard to get into, we would peek at the standings from time to time, pick up on a story or two as things moved along, but for the most part the distraction of the NHL"s shut down of October to mid January left us feeling a little less involved in the whole thing.

While the regular season in a normal year has always seemed far too long, this truncated effort seemed way to short, somewhere we imagine is a happy median, but that's for the NHL Board of Governors to figure out.

Today however, the real hockey season starts, the mad dash for Lord Stanley's Cup. Where each and every game is of key importance, a loss putting a team perilously close to joining the likes of Florida, Colorado, Calgary and Phoenix though without the high end draft picks.

For those teams that just sneaked into the playoffs with a seventh or eight place spot, the first round offers instant reward for their efforts, a chance to play giant slayer and extend their season.

For the front runners, the first round is always steeped in possible disaster, a couple of bad games at the wrong time and the whole season could be lost, such is the drama of the NHL playoffs.

Double headers almost nightly for the first few rounds, overtime sessions, elimination games all of it part of the drama of the second season, the real season.

Time to drop the puck for some real hockey.

Below the eight opening round match ups for this years Stanley Cup chase. Click on each series to find out more about the teams looking to advance out of round one.

Minnesota and Chicago
Chicago WINS the series 4 games to 1

Los Angeles and St. Louis
Los Angeles WINS the series 4 games to 2

Detroit and Anaheim
Detroit WINS the series 4 games to 3

New York Islanders and Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh WINS the series 4 games to 2

Ottawa and Montreal
Ottawa WINS the Series 4 games to 1

New York Rangers and Washington
New York WINS the Series 4 games to 3

Toronto and Boston
Boston WINS the Series 4 games to 3

San Jose and Vancouver
San Jose WINS the series 4 games to 0

Luongo's Limbo

The Trade Deadline came and went and when all the trade calls had been verified by the NHL's Central Command, one Roberto Luongo was not packing up and shipping out from the West Coast.

The long running soap opera of Vancouver's own making, will now take an extended run into the spring, the length of which will be dependent on how long Vancouver can make a run in the Stanley Cup playoffs, providing they make it there.

That however is a story for another day, today, it's all about Roberto Luongo, hostage to a contract that pays him quite handsomely, but one which seemingly will have him stuck in his own personal Groundhog Day.

While goaltenders went to and fro, a Mason here, a Bishop there, a Kirpusoff, oh wait, never mind...

Roberto, the star of TSN sketch comedy (a pretty good routine by the way), twitter aficionado and pretty good goaltender to boot, remains with the Blue and Green, set to split the duties through the final month of the regular season and into the playoffs (wishful Canuck fans hope) with his sidekick in improv Corey Schneider.

It's not a horrid fate, the workload will be lighter than a starter might like, yet each win he may secure will be vital and if you're going to put in some time, working towards a Stanley Cup isn't a bad way to do it. Though, the Canucks did themselves no particular favour on that pursuit today.

The testimony to the nature of Luongo though came through pretty clear in his post trade deadline press conference, a most amazing event. A range of emotions from the goaltender, a glimpse into the humour we've come to discover through his twitter feed and the focus of pride that a player needs to have to succeed in the NHL.

He touched on many themes of the day and the lead up to the trade deadline, disappointment at the status quo, the reality of the fiscal anchor that his contract perhaps provides and a suggestion that he clearly wants to play and take on a leadership role, one that once was his in Vancouver but has ebbed over the years.

In what had been for the most part a rather tedious deadline day up until the frenzy of activity in the final hour, the Luongo bookend to the deadline day made for some fine theatre...



. .

Upon its completion, the reviews were quick to the twitter world, the universal theme being that Luongo was a pretty classy guy, one who perhaps deserves a better hockey fate than what he's been dealt.

Then again, as more than one observer has noted in the last few days, pay day is clearly a pretty rewarding experience.

Still, hockey players want to play, Luongo has been successful in Vancouver in the past, clearly believes he can still be a starter and would like that chance. His team to a degree has created the mess that the Canucks find themselves in today, they'll have the summer to sort it out.

One hopes they find a path to avoiding the sense of fiasco that has been this most messed up season.

Some of the recaps of Luongo's day on the deadline watch can be found below.

Vancouver Sun-- Luongo, Canucks mired in lose-lose situation
Vancouver Sun-- 'My contract sucks', says Roberto Luongo after remaining a Canuck at the deadline
Vancouver Province-- Gillis' price too high; will the Canucks end up paying for it?
Vancouver Province-- Money can't buy Luongo's happiness
Vancouver Province-- Scrap that sucky contract? No likely for Luongo
Vancouver Province-- Roberto Luongo remains a Vancouver Canuck at trade deadline
CBC British Columbia-- Canucks' Roberto Luongo not traded, says his contract 'sucks'
CBC British Columbia-- Luongo's appeal may bounce back with no-trade news
24 Hours Vancouver-- Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo: 'My contract sucks'
National Post-- Roberto Luongo's contract hurts both him and Canucks
National Post-- Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo blames contract for slow trade talks
Globe and Mail-- Candid Luongo says he's still a Canuck because contract 'sucks'
Globe and Mail-- Luongo's reaction to staying put highlights slow deadline day
Toronto Star-- Vancouver Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo admits huge contract prevented him being traded
Toronto Star-- NHL Trade Deadline leaves Minnesota Wild stronger, Robert Luongo stranded
Toronto Sun-- Canucks  goalie Roberto Luongo deserved better than this