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Here are your first round matchups

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With the Detroit Red Wings beating the St. Louis Blues, we now know which teams will meet in the first round.

If you’re not familiar with the new playoff format, the second and third place teams in each division will face each other while the division winners will play against the Wild Card squads. As you might imagine, the teams with the best record in their respective Conferences are paired with the worst Wild Card teams.

We’ll have plenty of in-depth coverage of the upcoming playoff series in the days to come, but for now, here are your first round matchups:

EASTERN CONFERENCE

Boston Bruins versus Detroit Red Wings

The Detroit Red Wings have made the playoffs for the 23rd consecutive campaign. Meanwhile, the Boston Bruins have secured the Presidents’ Trophy for the second time in the franchise’s history. Two of the eight teams that have won the Presidents’ Trophy in the salary cap era have gone on to win the Stanley Cup.

Montreal Canadiens versus Tampa Bay Lightning

It remains to be seen who will have home ice advantage in this series. Montreal finished the campaign with 100 points, but Tampa Bay is at 99 going into its game against Washington this afternoon. The Canadiens control the tiebreaker, so an overtime/shootout loss wouldn’t be good enough for the Lightning.

Pittsburgh Penguins versus Columbus Blue Jackets

The Blue Jackets have made the playoffs for just the second time in the franchise’s history and they are searching for their first postseason win. In Pittsburgh, all eyes will be on goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury after his string of disappointing showings in the playoffs. The Penguins went to the Stanley Cup Final in back-to-back years in 2008 and 2009 and won it all the second time around, but they got a lot to prove going into the 2014 postseason.

New York Rangers versus Philadelphia Flyers

Goaltending could be the X-Factor in this one. The Rangers’ Henrik Lundqvist is one of the best goalies of this era while Steve Mason has only played in four postseason contests and has lost them all. Philadelphia has also lost eight straight games at Madison Square Garden, which is a trend they need to snap given that the Rangers have home ice advantage.

WESTERN CONFERENCE

Anaheim Ducks versus Dallas Stars

Anaheim won the Pacific Division for the second straight season -- although obviously the division changed this season. The Ducks lost in the first round in 2013 despite their strong regular season, so they have plenty to prove going into this series. This will also be Teemu Selanne’s last postseason run before retirement. Meanwhile, Dallas is back in the playoffs after a five-year absence.

San Jose Sharks versus Los Angeles Kings

Will this be the year that San Jose’s regular season success translates into a Stanley Cup championship? This will be San Jose’s 10th consecutive season in the playoffs, but the franchise doesn’t have anything to show for it yet. The Kings had the inferior regular season record, but they won the Cup in 2012 and advanced to the Western Conference Finals in 2013.

St. Louis Blues versus Chicago Blackhawks

Lots of star power in this one, but how much of it will be healthy? Chicago will get Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews back for Game 1, but the Blues have a lot list of injured forwards, including Patrik Berglund, Brenden Morrow, Vladimir Sobotka, T.J. Oshie, David Backes, and Vladimir Tarasenko.

Colorado Avalanche versus Minnesota Wild

The Avalanche’s turnaround under rookie coach and Hall of Famer Patrick Roy has been spectacular, but can they take that momentum into the playoffs? The Wild are going into this series as the underdogs, but expectations will still be high for them to perform in the second season of the Ryan Suter/Zach Parise era.

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