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Host, TSN The Reporters with Dave Hodge

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Try asking an ardent hockey fan to name the most important of the first four games in a best-of-seven playoff series, and you’ll probably be told that it’s Game 3.

In fact, there are statistics to support that claim, and there’s a certain logic to it as well. If a series stands 2-0, it’s obvious that Game 3 carries huge importance, and it’s the classic pivotal game if it breaks a 1-1 tie.

But I’ve always placed great importance on the first game. By the end of the series, especially if it’s a long one, you might have forgotten how the series began. This season, I am happy to give “thumbs up” to first-round results that support my idea that Game 1 is more meaningful than it might have seemed at the time.

All eight series in the opening round were won by the teams that took 1-0 leads. The first-game victories probably meant more to the teams (NYI, NASH, SJ) that recorded them on the road, but no matter what happened in subsequent games, the other five (TB, WASH, PGH, DAL, STL) got out of the gate with one of four necessary victories, and in the end, they’re all equally important.

So it is that the Islanders, Capitals, Stars and Sharks should feel good about the leads they’ve built again. They will have to win three more times, and that’s only one less than four, but it’s probably a greater advantage than that. We’ll see if Game 1 matters as much again as it did in the opening round.

And by the way, the Game 3 winners in round one wound up 4-4 at series end.

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Anaheim Ducks’ general manager Bob Murray received “thumbs up” praise twice during the regular season, both times for not firing head coach Bruce Boudreau.

First, he showed extreme patience in the face of a horrible, low-scoring start by the Ducks and expressed faith in Boudreau. Later on, after Anaheim found its stride and was on its way to what turned into a first-place finish in the Pacific Division, Murray was recognized for sticking to a plan that clearly worked.

So what now, after yesterday’s firing of Boudreau by Murray? There’s not much to say, pro or con, except that there isn’t a general manager anywhere who can keep a coach with Boudreau’s record of playoff failure. It took one more Game 7 loss on home ice, the fourth in succession, to make Boudreau’s firing automatic. Four straight first-place finishes in the Pacific Division ceased to matter. The next coach will be allowed to finish second or third but will be expected to win a playoff series in six games or less, and if not, to win game seven.

The playoff line is a fine one for coaches. Ken Hitchcock was looking to end four straight years of post-season disappointment in St. Louis when a puck bounced behind Blues’ goalie Brian Elliott, off one goalpost and then the other before it was swept away by Alex Pietrangelo. Had a goal been scored, and had Chicago come back to beat the Blues, Hitchcock’s fate would have been the same as Boudreau’s, and for the same reason. Hitchock isn’t safe yet, but, for now, he’s still got his job in St. Louis. Boudreau doesn’t have his in Anaheim.