Yes! Islanders

The last Florida Panthers playoff team featured Mark Parrish as a Panther. I'll just let you digest that.

A decade-plus and so many tales later, the final series to get underway in this season's first round is New Jersey opening at Florida -- each of whom missed last year's playoffs. Whatever you think of Dale Tallon's offseason moves in a weak division, seeing fans get playoff hockey back after so long in the desert is pretty cool.

3 - Panthers (38-26-18, 94 pts.) vs. 6 - Devils (48-28-6, 102 pts.)
Season Series: Fla, 2 Reg. W, 1 Reg. L, 1 SOL
Opposing Bars: Litter Box Cats | In Lou We Trust

Rookie Adam Larsson is scratched by the Devils tonight. Rookie NHL coach Kevin Dineen waited surprisingly long for his "gut" to make a decision on a starting goalie.

Consider this the evening playoff thread (including if you're keeping tabs on Bridgeport).

Note that this series is the redheaded stepchild, getting bumped to NHL Network in the U.S. while NBC channels carry the more glamorous ones. Anyway, vote your view on this series in the poll below.

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Going by our polls so far (links to each are below), the plurality of voters at this site have Blues over Sharks in 6, Predators over Red Wings in 6, Senators over Rangers in 7 (hope?), Hawks over Coyotes in 6, Flyers over Penguins in 7, and Canucks over Kings in 6.

We'll update results and majorities when all the polls close (before each series reaches Game 2).

Previous polls:

• Our LHH Playoff Prediction Pool (official polling is closed, but you cans till leave your picks in comments there).
• Predators vs. Red Wings poll (Note: If you've yet to vote, I'd not vote for a Wings sweep if I were you.)
• Canucks vs. Kings poll
• Penguins vs. Flyers poll
• Coyotes vs. Blackhawks poll
• Rangers vs. Senators poll
• Blues vs. Sharks poll

Pick 'em

You know how this works by now: Vote in the poll, but in comments you can leave your explanation for who you want to win and who you think will win.

Head Says: Devils in 6.

Heart Says: Panthers in 7.

Devils-Panthers TV Schedule

Panthers. Devils. Who you got, and in how many?