Round 1 Roundup: Opening Day Series bite-size previews OPEN THREAD

Pittsburgh vs. Philadelphia – The Battle of Pennsylvania

Do you really need a primer on this? It’s Flyers-Penguins. Go watch what kind of violent carnival spectacle that turns into. Turn off whichever game you’re watching and go watch this instead. On paper the Penguins should probably come out on top as they are just head and shoulders better on paper than the Flyers at almost every position…with the notable exception of one: goaltending. Stuart Skinner has a long way to go before he can prove to an audience that he isn’t the guy we all saw in Edmonton, and even if Dan Vladar still hasn’t fixed any of the issues he had in Boston (puck tracking’s still very much a problem for him), he’s playing some of the best hockey in his life. Whole series have been decided by goalies getting hot at the right time, and while everything suggests that this will end in a Pens victory…with this series, I don’t think you can ever truly know; Only Habs-Bruins finds consistent ways to drag two teams down to each other’s level.

Minnesota vs. Dallas – Green with Hatred

If you’ve ever wondered “man, who’d ever be rivals with the Dallas Stars of all teams?”, then you’re about to get a crash course. These two fanbases abhor each other. Part of it is history. Norm Green had to sell the Stars because he was too f!#king stupid to make money on hockey in Minnesota, and the other is Dallas fans desperately trying to ask the Minnesotans to get over that and being responded to with a hearty “NO”. Repeat until one team wins cup. The Wild and Stars are a phenomenal matchup for fans of watching how the game has sped up over the past few years. Both sides are chock full of excellent skaters and emphasize that game over all else. As for entertainment value? Well, one of the big things that should be watched out for is how Dallas handles not getting the power play opportunities that they would otherwise get in the regular season. Dallas as a 5v5 team is kinda meh, but on the man-advantage are absolutely world-ending monsters. Meanwhile Minny is just kind of good all around, if not for their center depth being kind of mediocre.