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WASHINGTON, DC - OCTOBER 03: A detailed view of the Stanley Cup at Capital One Arena on October 3, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

Stanley Cup Playoffs Begin Tonight at 7

Author csherman

The Stanley Cup Playoffs begin tonight in Tampa, FL.
Happy playoffs!

With the Playoffs starting its course tonight, 16 teams will fight for the right to hoist the Stanley Cup.

The first puck is set to drop tonight at 7:05 when the Columbus Blue Jackets try to take game one against the President trophy winning Tampa Bay Lightning.

All the games are set to be televised so there should be no worries about missing any games in the postseason.

Tonight

Tonight there are five series that are going to get their start.

Starting at 7 tonight, I would expect to see the Lightning take game one from the Blue Jackets. Although Columbus is going to be powered by Russian stars Artemi Panarin and Sergei Bobrovsky; the Lightning are dangerous all over the ice, especially on the power play.

On Long Island, the Penguins will visit the Islanders and look to kick off their best of seven series. Although the Islanders took the second spot in the Metro, they only placed a couple of points ahead of their opponents. The Islanders are going to have to rely heavily upon the scoring ability of Center Mat Barzal, Barzal lead the Islanders in scoring this year and if they want to make it out of the first round for the second time in over twenty years, he is going to need to lead this team in scoring again. The Islanders may have placed higher in the standings, but the Crosby led Penguins should be able to leave the Coliseum victorious tonight.

The one game being played in Canada tonight will be hosted by the Winnipeg Jets tonight and will be against the St. Louis Blues. Both the Jets and the Blues tied in the Central at 99 points, but Winnipeg had three more wins in regulation. The whiteout is going to begin in the Bell MTS Place. Last year, Winnipeg was not a city you wanted to play in if you were not part of the Jets. The Blues are going to look to keep their momentum going with rookie netminder and savior of this team, Jordan Binnington. Since the surging of the goalie in January, the Blues have managed from residing the bottom spot in the league to the third spot in the Central division.

The Dallas Stars will visit the Nashville Predators tonight in Tennesee. The Predators are looking to finally capture the Cup that they have been so close to for the last couple of years. The Predators made the Cup Finals in 2017 but were unable to beat the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Dallas Stars made a couple of solid acquisitions towards the deadlines this year including Mats Zuccarello. Zuccarello is no stranger to the postseason and is going to be important to the Stars in this series.

The last game of the night will start at 10:30 p.m. The seven-game set will be a rematch from last year when the Vegas Golden Knights matched up against the San Jose Sharks. This is a series that the Knights won less than 365 days ago. Vegas is going to need Marc-Andre Fleury to stay healthy and atop of his game. The offseason addition of Erik Karlsson gives the Sharks a better back end then they had a year ago and more offensive skill at the blue line. Game one is at the Shark tank so let’s see if the Knights can make it out alive.

Written by: Conor D Sherman

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