The lights are set to come up on the NHL playoffs on Wednesday as another exciting slate of postseason action continues.
In the Central Division bracket, the top-seeded Stars will take on the Wild Card-winning Wild, while the No. 2 Blues hold home-ice over the No. 3 Blackhawks.
View the entire schedule for Round 1 of the Stanley Cup playoffs here. See an explanation for the NHL playoff seeding format going forward here. View our slideshow by hitting start at the top right of the page.
Here are our predictions for the Central Division bracket in Round 1:
No. 1 Dallas Stars (50-23-9, 109 points) vs. W.C. No. 2 Minnesota Wild (38-33-11)
Cup Dreams: Dallas is in the playoffs for the second time in three years and will look to eventually reach the Cup Final for the first time since 2000 and to win it all for the first time since 1999. Minnesota enters the postseason for the fourth straight season and hopes to eventually advance to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time in franchise history.
Season Series: 4-1 Stars.
Special Teams: Stars: 22.1 percent power play (4th), 82.3 percent penalty kill (10th); Wild: 18.5 percent power play (15th), 77.9 percent penalty kill (27th)
Projected Goalie Matchup: Kari Lehtonen, Stars (25-10-2, 2.76 GAA, .906 save percentage); Devan Dubnyk, Wild (32-26-6, 2.33 GAA, .918 save percentage)
Series Overview: This appears on paper to be the most lopsided playoff matchup as the Stars finished with 22 more points than the Wild and Minnesota comes in cold dropping its last five games of the regular season. Nevertheless, with a clean slate anything can happen.
The Stars have an explosive team up front, paced by Jamie Benn, who finished second in the NHL with 89 points in the regular season and third with 41 goals. The dangerous Tyler Seguin (Achilles) is also eyeing a return for Game 1 on Thursday.
Jason Spezza was very good down the stretch for the Stars, while Patrick Sharp is battle tested and should provide a spark and timely goals. Defenseman John Klingberg (10-48--58) also had a tremendous season.
The Wild have key losses heading into the series, with Zach Parise and Thomas Vanek sidelined with upper-body injuries. Parise had a team-best 25 goals in the regular season.
Mikko Koivu paced Minnesota with 56 points, while Charlie Coyle (21) and Nino Niederreiter (20) each reached the 20-goal plateau. On the blue line, Ryan Suter, who averaged 28:35 time on ice -- more than anyone on any playoff team -- will be tasked with shutting down the Stars' relentless offense.
Last Word: The Stars persistent offense could be too much for the Wild to handle. Dallas led the league with 265 goals in the regular season, an average of an NHL-best 3.23 goals per game. The pressure will be on Dubnyk to make big stops and Suter and the defense to keep Benn and the big guns off the board. Dallas could face a problem with its goaltending as if Lehtonen falters, they may turn to Antti Niemi, who won a Stanley Cup in 2013, which risks the possibilities of a damning goaltending carousel that could bring the team down. Still, the Stars seem much too powerful to go home this early.
The Pick: Stars in 5.
No. 2 St. Louis Blues (49-24-9, 107 points) vs. No. 3 Chicago Blackhawks (47-26-9, 103 points)
Cup Dreams: St. Louis is looking to eventually reach the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since 1970 and to win it all for the first time in franchise history. Chicago is in search of its second straight Cup and its fourth title in seven years after reaching the Western Conference Finals in the last three playoffs.
Season Series: 3-2 Blues.
Special Teams: Blues: 21.5 percent power play (6th), 85.1 percent penalty kill (28th); Blackhawks: 22.6 percent power play (2nd), 80.3 percent penalty kill (22nd)
Projected Goalie Matchup: Brian Elliott, Blues (23-8-6, 2.07 GAA, .930 save percentage); Corey Crawford, Blackhawks (35-18-5, 2.37 GAA, .924 save percentage)
Series Overview: The Blues have struggled mightily to get out of the first round over the last two seasons, despite jumping out to hot starts. St. Louis took 2-0 leads in the past two postseasons, only to lose four straight en route to a first round exit. The Blackhawks have the experience in thriving this time of year, and they were one of the teams to comeback against St. Louis in the 2013-14 playoffs.
The Blues have a deep offense, led by Vladimir Tarasenko, who has 10 goals in his last 12 playoff games and finished the regular season fourth in the NHL with 40 tallies.
Alexander Steen (52 points), David Backes (21 goals) and Paul Stastny (49 points) are part of a deep core for St. Louis. Kevin Shattenkirk and Alex Pietrangelo help stabilize a blue line that should have the advantage over Chicago's.
The Blackhawks have been paced by Hart Trophy candidate Patrick Kane this season after he put up an NHL-best 106 points and finished second with 46 goals. Kane, who finished the regular season with a scorching seven goals in five games, and Jonathan Toews bring a championship pedigree to a Blackhawks team that looks to embark on yet another deep run this postseason. Calder Trophy candidate Artemi Panarin will get his first taste of the NHL playoffs after leading all rookies with 30 goals and 77 points. Chicago's blue line depth may be a question, especially with Duncan Keith being suspended for Game 1.
The goaltending matchup should be great as Elliott led the NHL in save percentage, while Crawford placed tied for fourth in save percentage and in sole possession of fourth in wins. Crawford is used to winning this time of year, despite his struggles in Round 2 last postseason, while Elliott will look to approve on his .857 save percentage in the playoffs, otherwise he may yield to Jake Allen.
Last Word: The Blues will have to prove they can exorcise playoff demons, and they'll have to go through the defending Stanley Cup champions to do so. Though St. Louis looks to be even better than it has in past years, Kane, Panarin and Chicago will be a tough team to get through. With the Blackhawks power play ranking second and the Blues penalty kill 28th, it'll be important for St. Louis to stay out of the box. This one can go either way, but until the Blues can prove they can get it done this time of year, it's hard not to pick the Blackhawks.
The Pick: Blackhawks in 7.
