A Case of the Mondays: Year of the Underdog?

The NHL playoffs are well under way with two first-round series already concluded and the favoured Detroit Red Wings and Washington Capitals have emerged victorious; but after the Nashville Predators disposed of the Anaheim Ducks and the Chicago Blackhawks evened up their series with the Vancouver Canucks with a 4-3 overtime win last night, two more lower-seeded teams have a chance to do just that tonight.

The Tampa Bay Lightning and the Los Angeles Kings are both coming off wins against their respective opponents, and both could force a do-or-die deciding game by besting their competition this evening. With two series already going to seven games, two more teams forcing a deciding contest would be a very exciting way to close out the first round. Seeing the Canucks complete the collapse after being up three games to none would be wonderful, but unfortunately, we all know that the game that matters most to Flames fans won’t come until early October.

Links after the jump. 

The Calgary sports media has been relatively silent since the initial post-mortems, and it's time for some questions and answers from those in charge [Dome Beers]

The effectiveness of Chicago’s Dave Bolland and the unsurprising continuation of the NHL’s inconsistent approach to discipline in the post-season, amongst other things [FlamesNation]

Reaction to last night's 'Hawks win from both sides of the series [Second City Hockey] [Nucks Misconduct]

The anatomy of a collapse in Vancouver [Houses of the Hockey] 

A Ducks eulogy from the perspective of L.A. Kings fan and blogger Rudy Kelly [Puck Daddy] 

Lastly, in honour Easter Monday, enjoy the latest video from Bloge Salming, which provides an insight into just what a family dinner with the Sutters might be like.

That's all for now, happy Monday everyone, and have a great week! 

by Hayley Mutch