The quest for the Stanley Cup marches on as the first round wrapped up on Wednesday. There were upsets, one seeds dominating, and shocking twists and turns.

            The main upset was in the west conference, as the Anaheim Ducks beat the one seeded San Jose Sharks in only six games. The Ducks surprisingly, jumped out to a 2 games to none lead with two victories at San Jose. The Sharks tried making a comeback as they won game 3 at Anaheim, 4-3. But, Anaheim took a dominating 3 games to 1 lead with a big 4-0 victory at home. San Jose would go on to win game 5, but Anaheim completed the series, with a 4-1 victory in game six.

            Probably the two most exciting series were the Washington Capitals versus the New York rangers and the New Jersey Devils versus the Carolina Hurricanes. The story of the Washington Capitals is a comeback story as they were down 3 games to 1, but came back to win three straight games and take the series in game seven. The Carolina Hurricanes pulled off the only other upset in the playoffs as they defeated the 3 seeded New Jersey Devils in game seven by a score of 4-3.

            Although each first round series had their fair share of excitement, there were some series that were sweeps. There were three to be exact, as the one seeded Boston Bruins swept the Montreal Canadians, the two seeded Detroit red Wings swept the Columbus Blue Jackets, and the three seeded Vancouver Canucks swept the St. Louis Blues.

            The four and five seeded match-ups in both conferences were exciting, as both of the four seeds moved on. Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Philadelphia Flyers in six games to take the series. The Chicago Blackhawks also beat the Calgary Flames in six games to move on.            

            The second round match-ups should be more entertaining than the first. I think that the most interesting math-up in the second is going to be the two seeded Washington Capitals squaring off against the four seeded Pittsburgh Penguins. Why you ask? Well, because this series is going to feature two of the sport’s most promising athletes with Sidney Crosby for Pittsburgh and Alexander Ovechkin for Washington.