ESPN

Blues 2, Kings 1 F/OT (Blues lead 1-0)
* Alexander Steen (STL): 4th player since 1990 with postseason short-handed goal in OT (Source: Elias Sports Bureau)
* Alexander Steen (STL): 2nd career OT goal (1st in postseason)
* Alexander Steen (STL): scored both goals in game (didn't have a multi-goal game this season)
* STL: snap 8-game losing streak vs LA dating back to last season (reg. season and postseason)
* Justin Williams (LA): scored game-tying goal with 32 seconds left in game
* LA: was 4-0 in OT in last year's postseason
* LA: 1st defending champ to lose 1st postseason game in OT since Red Wings on April 10, 2003
FROM ELIAS:
Shorthanded Goals In Overtime
Stanley Cup Playoffs Since 1990
Team
Tue. Alexander Steen Blues
2006 Fernando Pisani Oilers
2006 Jason Pominville Sabres
1990 Tony Granato Kings

Ducks 3, Red Wings 1 (Ducks lead series 1-0)
* Teemu Selanne (ANA): 42nd career playoff goal (7th among active players); 11th career GW playoff goal (T-6th most among active players)
* Ducks: 2-4 on power play (led Western Conference in power-play pct during regular season)
* Jonas Hiller (ANA): 21 saves on 22 shots (fewest shots faced, fewest saves in a playoff game in his career)
* Red Wings: lost playoff opener for 2nd straight year (lost in 5 games in 1st round last year)
FROM THE ELIAS SPORTS BUREAU: Teemu Selanne broke a 1-1 tie with a power play goal early in the third period and the Ducks went on to take a 3-1 victory over the Red Wings in Game One. The 42-year-old Selanne became the second-oldest player ever to score a game-winning goal in the NHL playoffs; Mark Recchi was 43 when he was credited with the game-winning goal in the Bruins’ 8-1 victory over the Canucks in the Stanley Cup Final two years ago. (Recchi scored early in the second period of that game, making the score 2-0, and was credited with the game-winning goal in a game in which Boston had a 5-0 lead at the time that Vancouver scored in the third period.)

Blackhawks 2, Wild 1 (Blackhawks lead series 1-0)
* Bryan Bickell (CHI): game-winning goal in OT (2nd career OT goal in postseason, has 0 career in regular season)
* Marian Hossa (CHI): 37th career playoff goal (tied for 100th most all-time with Wendel Clark, Simon Gagne and Larry Murphy)
* Blackhawks: 1st series lead since winning Stanley Cup in 2010
* Cal Clutterbuck (MIN): 1st career playoff goal
FROM THE ELIAS SPORTS BUREAU: The Blackhawks defeated the Wild, 2-1, in their playoff opener, when Bryan Bickell scored 16:35 into overtime. Chicago head coach Joel Quenneville was behind the bench in a Stanley Cup game for the 140th time in his career, while Minnesota’s Mike Yeo was coaching in his first NHL postseason game. The 139-game difference in playoff experience between the two head coaches is the largest in an NHL postseason series since the 2002 Stanley Cup Final, when Detroit’s Scotty Bowman (348 games of playoff experience entering the series) faced Carolina’s Paul Maurice (30 games); Bowman and the Red Wings won that series in five games.

The 2013 Stanley Cup playoffs begin Tuesday as 3 Western Conference quarterfinals series begin. The Kings, trying to become the first team to repeat as Stanley Cup champions since the Red Wings in 1998, will take on the Blues. The Blackhawks, trying to become the first team to win the Stanley Cup after having the league’s most points in the regular season since the Red Wings in 2008, take on the Wild. And the Red Wings, making their 22nd straight playoff appearance, take on the Ducks.

2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs – Western Conference Quarterfinals
8 Wild at 1 Blackhawks – Game 1 - 8 ET
* Blackhawks: went 2-0-1 vs Wild during regular season
* Blackhawks: won Presidents’ Trophy for league’s best regular season record (77 pts); a team has not won Presidents’ Trophy and Stanley Cup in same season since 2007-08 Red Wings
* Blackhawks: led all Western Conference teams in goals during regular season (155)
* Blackhawks: led NHL in team goals-against average during regular season (1.98)
* Wild: 1st playoff appearance since 2007-08 season
* Wild: have not won a playoff series since 2003 Western Conference Semifinals vs Canucks
* 1st-ever playoff series meeting between these teams

Playoff Results For Presidents’ Trophy Winners Since 2007-08
Winner Points Playoff Result
2012-13 Blackhawks 77 ?
2011-12 Canucks 111 Lost, Conf. Qtrs.
2010-11 Canucks 117 Lost, Cup Final
2009-10 Capitals 121 Lost, Conf. Qtrs.
2008-09 Sharks 117 Lost, Conf. Qtrs.
2007-08 Red Wings 115 Won Stanley Cup

5 Kings at 4 Blues – Game 1 – 8 ET
* Kings: trying to be 1st team to repeat as Stanley Cup Champions since Red Wings in 1997 & 1998
* Kings: 4th straight playoff appearance (team’s longest streak of playoff appearances since making playoffs 7 straight years from 1986-87 through 1992-93)
* Kings: went 3-0-0 vs Blues during regular season
* Kings: swept Blues in 2012 Conference Semifinals
* Blues: only 3rd playoff appearance in last 8 seasons (2nd straight playoff appearance)
* Blues: have won 2 of previous 3 playoff meetings vs Kings all-time

7 Red Wings at 2 Ducks – Game 1 – 10:30 ET
* Red Wings: 22nd straight playoff appearance (longest active postseason streak in the 4 major pro sports)
* Red Wings: went 2-1-0 vs Ducks during regular season
* Red Wings: 7 seed in team’s lowest seed since current playoff format was adopted in 1993-94 (are a 5 seed or lower for 3rd time in last 4 seasons)
* Henrik Zetterberg (DET): 3rd among active players in playoff goals (51)
* Ducks: only 2nd playoff appearance in last 4 seasons after making playoffs in 4 straight seasons from 2005-06 through 2008-09
* Ducks: 2 seed matches highest playoff seed in franchise history (2007 – won Stanley Cup that postseason)
* Ducks: led all Western Conference teams in power play percentage at 21.5 pct (4th overall)
* Red Wings have won 3 of 5 playoff series meetings vs Ducks all-time (Red Wings won last meeting in 2009 Conference Semifinals)

Longest Active Playoff Appearances Streaks
In The Four Major Pro Sports
NHL 22 Detroit Red Wings, 1990-91 to 2012-13
NBA 16 San Antonio Spurs, 1997-98 to 2012-13
NFL 5 Baltimore Ravens, 2008 to 2012
MLB 4 New York Yankees, 2009 to 2012

CHICAGO -- The Chicago Blackhawks had valid excuses for their first three regulation losses. There wasn’t one for Monday’s.

Their first two losses came in the final games of a seven-game, 11-day span, and exhaustion was an acceptable reason for defeat. Those losses also allowed followed a 24-game points streak, so no one really cared. Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville also shrugged off last week’s 4-2 loss to the Anaheim Ducks because it was at the end of a four-game road trip.

But when the Blackhawks fell 5-4 to the Los Angeles Kings at the United Center on Monday, there wasn’t a justifiable excuse other than the Blackhawks had been outplayed on their home ice.

“We’re going into the game, and it’s a dangerous game for us,” Quenneville said. “(The Kings) getting shut out two games in a row, they’re going to be hungry, they’re going to try to get the scrappy goals they got. But we didn’t respond to the challenge that was there tonight. I was disappointed with how we played and what we gave them.”

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CHICAGO -- If it’s possible to have a perfect press box storm, this might have been it.

Not that a clash between two of the best teams in the Western Conference, both of whom have definite Stanley Cup plans, wouldn't provide enough drama on its own.

And to be sure, Monday’s seesaw contest between the Chicago Blackhawks and the defending Cup champion Los Angeles Kings didn’t fail to deliver on the drama, with the Kings tying the game 3-3 with 0.5 seconds left in the second period and then scoring the winner with 1:27 left in the game to earn a 5-4 victory.

But thanks to the NHL’s schedule makers, the game was but a backdrop to the real drama percolating high above the United Center ice.

With the Calgary Flames flying into town Monday afternoon for a Tuesday night game, the night provided an unusual confluence of hockey figures and myriad storylines as the trade deadline looms in just over a week.

Both the Kings and the Blackhawks are believed to have significant interest in Calgary captain Jarome Iginla, who has given Flames GM Jay Feaster a list of teams to which he would agree to be traded. It’s believed Chicago and Los Angeles, along with Pittsburgh and Boston, are on that list.

So, in some ways Monday’s game served as a kind of audition for Iginla for both teams, a chance to prove that they would be a good destination for the highly respected veteran winger.

Since the Blackhawks are still without injured wingers Marian Hossa and Patrick Sharp, it wasn’t hard to imagine Iginla fitting in nicely in a top-six forward role with league-leading Chicago.

Likewise, watching the Kings, who had lost two in a row and four of seven, it’s not hard to see why GM Dean Lombardi and coach Darryl Sutter -- who has a long, shared past with Iginla dating back to Sutter’s days as coach and GM in Calgary -- would covet the hard-nosed winger, even if his goal production isn’t what it once was.

Monday’s emotional affair also illustrated what is at stake in the days leading up to the April 3 trade deadline. A year ago, Los Angeles GM Dean Lombardi, who was also in attendance Monday night along with assistant GM Ron Hextall, boldly added Jeff Carter from Columbus and ended up winning a Stanley Cup (and the Kings will visit the White House on Tuesday).

Does Iginla represent that kind of missing piece for either of these teams?

Certainly, the Kings can use the offensive help, having been shut out in their two games before Monday’s win. And while the Kings’ attack is significantly improved over last season, Iginla remains a viable scoring threat even if his totals this season (9 goals, 22 assists in 30 games) are off his normal production.

Although the Kings figure to settle into the fourth, fifth or sixth spot in the Western Conference standings when the regular season concludes on April 27, it’s hard to imagine that Sutter’s squad won’t be an absolute handful when the tournament starts a few days later.

So for the Chicago Blackhawks -- who figure to start the postseason as no worse than the No. 2 seed in the conference and thus might face a second-round meeting with the Kings or a possible Western Conference final clash with the defending champs -- is it almost as important to keep Iginla out of the Kings’ clutches as it is to add him to their own roster?

And the same logic goes for the Kings, knowing that the Blackhawks, already jam-packed with talent when healthy, might add yet another brick to the pile.

The same thinking holds regarding a possible Iginla trade to an Eastern Conference team. Pittsburgh has already added Dallas captain Brenden Morrow and San Jose defenseman Douglas Murray in the past two days. Although the Bruins squeaked past Toronto in a shootout Monday night, how much pressure does GM Peter Chiarelli feel to ensure that he matches the Penguins’ moves by bringing in a player like Iginla?

As for the six degrees of separation theme that was rolling Monday night, former Atlanta Thrashers GM Don Waddell was also on hand scouting for the Penguins. Waddell has seen a lot of Iginla in recent weeks -- and by extension, that means Waddell has seen a lot of his former coach in Atlanta, Bob Hartley, who is now the coach of the Flames. Along with members of the Flames' coaching and scouting staff, Hartley was also in the press box Monday.

The only key participant in this fluid drama not in the Windy City on Monday was Feaster, who remained in Calgary, no doubt poring over rosters and depth charts as he tries to figure the best way to leverage the storm of interest that swirls around his captain.