Drew Doughty

The first round of the 2013 NHL playoffs are in the books, eight teams have been sent packing to hit the links while eight teams remain to square off in the conference semi-finals. (Photo Credit: Torch Creative)

The first round did not disappoint hockey fans who have come to expect physical, fast, dramatic hockey in the playoffs and year after year they are not disappointed.

One year after the Los Angeles Kings became the first eight seed ever to win the Stanley Cup both seven seeds and both six have managed to advance to the semi-finals. The Eastern Conference Semi-final match-ups pit the Pittsburgh Penguins (1) against the Ottawa Senators (7) and the Boston Bruins (4) face off with the New York Rangers (6), while the Western Conference will feature the Chicago Blackhawks (1) who will try to hold off the Detroit Redwings (7) and the defending champion Los Angeles Kings (5) will face their fellow Californians, the San Jose Sharks (6).

Two series start today:

It's hard to win when you allow four goals in the final period. The Kings gave up four consecutive goals in the final twenty minutes resulting in a 5-1 loss to the Stars in Dallas. On the bright side the Columbus Blue Jackets blanked the fifth place San Jose Sharks, 4-0 tonight.

The Kings finish the night in fourth place in the Western Conference as the shortened season races toward its finish line. 

Drew Doughty's power play goal 1:13 into the game seems like an eternity ago. After Doughty's tally the Kings fell victim to a Stars' strategy that stifled the Kings. Anze Kopitar fed Doughty who banged in his fourth goal of the season past Kari Lehtone...

Photo courtesy of sportsnet.ca

It would have been foolish to assume that the Kings wouldn’t hit a speed bump or two over the course of their road-trip. The second game of their trip, following a relatively easy win against lowly Columbus on Tuesday night, saw the defending champs stroll into Nashville looking for another victory to add to their win total. They didn’t get it.

Despite outshooting the opposition by more than sixteen, the Kings’ offense struggled mightily to register a single goal before bowing out with a final score of 0-3. Predators’ goaltender Pekka Rinne recorded his first s...

Hey, it's a series! And hits like this will continue. (Photo courtesy of Christian Peterson/Getty Images)

Despite the sheer dominance the Los Angeles Kings have shown over the previous three contests, one sort of expecting these road-weary Devils to show some fight at some point. Tonight they did. The teams combined for four goals, all of which were scored in the third period. The final tally was recorded by rookie Adam Henrique, who only has two series-clinching goals on his short resume prior to tonight’s game. His short-side snipe with less than five minutes to go sealed the victory and saved his team from a...