Mid-April marks every hockey fan’s favorite time of year, the start of the National Hockey League’s playoffs.

  The teams earn points throughout the entire year with two points per win, one point for going into overtime, and no points for a losing a game.

  Based on these point rankings, the top three teams are decided, and then two other teams are decided for what is called the wild card ranking.

  From there, the teams are put into brackets, and the team with the higher amount of points gets home ice advantage.

  In order to move onto the next round, teams must win a total of four games in any fashion; this can cause a round to only last a couple of days or possibly a whole week.

  These were the following match-ups for the first round of the playoffs:

• The Pittsburgh Penguins(4) vs the Columbus Blue Jackets(1)

• The Washington Capitals(4) vs the Toronto Maple Leaves(2)
• The Ottawa Senators(4) vs the Boston Bruins(2)
• The Chicago Blackhawks(0) vs the Nashville Predators(4)
• The Montreal Canadiens(2)vs the New York Rangers(4)
• The Anaheim Ducks(4) vs the Calgary Flames(0)
• The San Jose Sharks(2) vs the Edmonton Oilers(4)
• The Minnesota Wild(1) vs the St. Louis Blues(4)

  Each of these teams brought their a-game to each and every single matchup that was played.

  The first round teams had even strength throughout each match up bring the total overtimes played in just the first round to more than 17.

 Senior Hayden Folfas thinks that the Predators and Blackhawks series was a huge upset for the first round.

  “The only major upset I would say is the Blackhawks and Predators series. Seeming at one point, Nashville’s goalie Pekka Rinne had more points than the entire Blackhawks team,” said Folfas.

  Junior Jade Reall is a Montreal Canadians fan and feels disappointed that the Canadians did not move onto the next round.

  “We’re gonna come back stronger next year and are going to make it to the finals,” said Reall.

  While each battle was hard fought, only eight teams now remain for round two of the playoffs.

  The second round started on Wednesday with two games,

   Results of these games were Predators (4) vs Blues (3) and Oilers (5) vs Ducks (3).

   Thursday marks the start of two more series between the Penguins and the Capitals, and the Rangers and Senators.

   Folfas is looking forward to the Penguins and Capitals game since the two have been rivals for a long time and thinks that the Capitals are going to win.

   “The Caps are going to fair just fine, and even win I think, I believe this because the Penguins D are banged up, along with Matt Murray,so the Pens will have to keep Fleury in the net. The Caps also had an advantage with a fast paced Toronto game, which should make the Caps even faster in their series with the Pens,” said Folfas.

   The outcome of these two games were Penguins (3) vs Capitals (1) and Senators (2) vs Rangers (1).

       However, there were a few injuries to players within the first round of the playoffs.

   In round one Columbus Blue Jacket’s player Zach Werenski got a facial fracture during the series with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

  In the game on Wednesday night a Predators rookie crashed into the boards and was taken off the ice in a stretcher and to a local hospital.

  Junior Angel Gilbert thinks that while the sport seems cool it also seems dangerous.

 “I don’t know much about hockey,” said Gilbert “but it seems cool and dangerous.”

 In the end, Folfas thinks he knows what two teams will make it into the final playoff series.

“The two teams that I think will make it into the final are the Capitals and the Predators,” said Folfas.

Current Standings:

Pittsburgh Penguins and the Washington Capitals are tied 3-3 with game seven taking place on Wednesday at 7:30 P.M.

Nashville Predators beat the St. Louis Blues with a series score of 4-2

Ottawa Senators beat the New York Rangers with a series score of 4-2

The Anaheim Ducks and Edmonton Oilers are tied 3-3 with game seven taking place on Wednesday at 10:00 P.M.