Some quick thoughts from the NHL on TSN panel on Friday:
When you look at the Nashville Predators and the Phoenix Coyotes, they are two teams predicated on solid goaltending and not giving up many chances.
Both clubs play a conservative game, if at all possible, although Nashville has started to open things up more over the last year or two.
However, in Game 1 on Friday night both goaltenders in the early going appeared to be swimming a little bit. They didn't look like they were keeping the form that we're used to seeing from them.
Later in the game, when they started to play really well, these teams were trading chances like the Philadelphia Flyers and the Pittsburgh Penguins from the first round. It looked like that series, back and forth and up and down the ice, it was all over the place.
Most of the scoring chances were coming from Nashville, with the shots on goal favouring the Predators 16-1 in the third period, but things tightened up in overtime.
I think both coaches are going to try to clamp things down for Game 2, although it might be one of those series and it might be one of those playoffs, where despite the best intentions of the coaches to try and shut things down, sometimes the game just gets away on you a little bit.
And wouldn't that be great, because Game 1 was a really entertaining hockey game.