It's hockey playoff time! And as always, this season has not disappointed. Both the L.A. Kings and the New York Rangers were upset in five games by San Jose and Pittsburgh, respectively; the New York Islanders are in the second round of the playoffs for the first time in 23 years, and Anaheim and Nashville are on their way to an exciting game seven to determine who will play the San Jose Sharks in the next round. Yet despite all of this, what excites me the most (partly because of my bias as a Dallas Stars hockey fan) is the next round featuring the boys in Victory Green (your Dallas Stars) and the St. Louis Blues.

Now, if you’ve never really followed hockey, now is a great time to start because this is shaping up to be one of the best series of the 2016 playoffs, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the winner of this series went on to lift the Stanley Cup. Both teams are coming off of hard-fought wins in the first round, the Stars battling multiple late comeback surges in game six from the Minnesota Wild, and the Blues barely hanging on to a game seven win against the Chicago Blackhawks. The Stars actually struggled against St. Louis in the regular season, losing four of the five games they played the Blues. It’s worth noting, however, that two of those losses were in overtime and another was a shootout loss.

To me, this series will come down to one thing: goal-tending. The Stars’ two goalies Kari Lehtonen and Antti Niemi are two of the finest in the NHL; that is, when they decide to be. They’ve both been inconsistent all throughout the regular season, as well as in the first round of the playoffs, and Niemi allowed 10 goals in three games against the Blues this season. Meanwhile, St. Louis has some of the best defensemen and goaltenders in the league, with Jake Allen boasting a .920 save percentage in 47 games played and Brian Elliot with a .930 in 42 games. What that means for the Stars is, on top of their netminders being on their game, they’re going to need their point leaders Jamie Benn (5 points in 5 games against STL, 2 PP goals and 3 assists), Patrick Sharp (had game winning goal in the only win against STL), Jason Spezza, and injured Tyler Seguin to play in the same fast-paced high-scoring manner they led the league with all season, as the Stars had the most goals in the league in 2016 with 265 goals (all stats from NHL.com).

This series is going to be exciting, and I can’t wait till this Friday, April 29, at 7 p.m. for it to get started. The Dallas Stars, in the second round of the playoffs for the first time in eight years, pitting their potent, high-scoring, fast-paced offense against the St. Louis Blues’ strong, grind-it-out defense and elite goaltenders will be a spectacle to watch. I’d like to predict the Stars winning the series in game six, but with inconsistent goal tending, a defense that gave up 53 turnovers in the six games against Minnesota, and Tyler Seguin being questionable to return for game one (Achilles injury), the boys in Victory Green have a steep challenge ahead of them.