The first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs features 16 teams in eight best-of-7 series, which start Saturday. Today, NHL.com previews the Eastern Conference First Round between the Washington Capitals and the Montreal Canadiens.

The NHL regular season has ended and the Stanley Cup playoffs open Saturday. Here's the final playoff bracket, standings and draft lottery odds.

The Wild were 21-10-4 before his prolonged time on the shelf and 3-1-0 upon his return in April. Matt Boldy stepped up in his teammate's absence and ended up leading the team in goals (27), assists (46) and points (73), but it's a much better team with both of them rather than one.

There are currently 10 teams priced between +650 and 14/1 odds, and there hasn’t been a clear favorite all season. If the race for the Stanley Cup is wide open, that means that the Conn Smythe market will be just as crazy, which means there will be plenty of value on the betting board for punters.

Washington's Alex Ovechkin scored his 897th NHL goal, but the visiting Capitals dropped their season finale 5-2 to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday night.

Alex Ovechkin said he plans to return at least one more season after setting the all-time NHL goalscoring record during his 20th campaign with the Washington Capitals. When asked if it was important to match up with Sidney Crosby one more time during Thursday night's regular season finale against the Pittsburgh Penguins,

Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby have played nearly 100 NHL games against one another. That prompted the question for the Capitals star as to whether Thursday night was his final matchup with the Penguins captain.