Puck Wire: Top Hockey News Of The Day: April 25th

What a wild first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs that was. For the first time in NHL history, every division winner fell in the opening round, while the Tampa Bay Lightning became the first ever President’s Trophy winner to be swept in the first round. The Columbus Blue Jackets are in the second round for the first time ever, while Colorado (2008) and Carolina (2009) break decade long droughts.

There ain’t no rest for the wicked, and tonight the second round gets going immediately. It starts at TD Garden, where the Boston Bruins will play host to the Blue Jackets at 7:00 pm. Then, at 9:30 pm, the Dallas Stars are in St. Louis to take on the Blues. This should be a lot of fun.

• Speaking of fun, how about the last two nights? Three Game 7’s, two overtimes and an upset not many people expected. That upset came last night, as the Carolina Hurricanes shocked the Washington Capitals with a double overtime Game 7 victory in Washington. More on the Canes heroics from Canes Country.
• As mentioned above, we saw some history in the opening round of the playoffs. For the first time ever, every division winner in the regular season went down in the first round. NBC Sports takes a look back at this historical moment.
• The Blue Jackets will open the second round tonight dealing with some injuries on the defensive end. That just might open the door for Russian rookie D Vladislav Gavrikov to make his NHL debut.
• Prior to last night’s Game 7 between Washington and Carolina, the NHL announced the finalists for the Messier Leadership Award. Carolina’s Justin Williams, Calgary’s Mark Giordano and Nashville’s Wayne Simmonds will head to Vegas in June.
• The penalty video review debate is just heating up, and now teams have a recent case to point to. Expect the debate to really heat up following the five minute major penalty assessed to Vegas in Tuesday night’s Game 7 in San Jose.
• Where do the best GM”s in hockey come from? What’s the best method when it comes to hiring your head of hockey operations? With the Edmonton Oilers trying to make a decision on who to hire, Oilersnation takes a look at where the best in the business came from.

Photo Credit: Santeri Viinamäki [CC BY-SA 4.0], from Wikimedia Commons