Tonight at 8:30 p.m. ET, the puck drops on the Stanley Cup Playoffs Round 1 series between the Chicago Blackhawks (48-28-6, 102 points) and Nashville Predators (47-25-10, 104 points) live from the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.
Chicago returns to the postseason for the seventh straight spring in search of its third Stanley Cup in six years and is coming in off of back-to-back trips to the Western Conference Final.
Nashville, meanwhile, enters the playoffs for the first time in three years in the first season under Peter Laviolette and will look for a long spring.
Both teams stumbled a bit at the end of the season as the Blackhawks dropped their final four games and the Predators fell six straight times to close the slate.
Chicago took three of four games from Nashville this season, with one game going to overtime, another to a shootout and two contests decided by a one-goal margin.
This game can be live streamed for free here.
The Blackhawks are set to get a tremendous boost as Patrick Kane (clavicle) is returning way ahead of schedule and will skate in Game 1. Kane had 27 goals and 64 points this season.
Kane returns as part of Chicago's two-headed monster, which includes Jonathan Toews. The Blackhawks captain led the team in goals (28) and points (66).
"It's always an anxious, nerve-racking time for everyone," Kane said per NHL.com. "It's playoffs, Game 1, and you hope to get started off the right way. Obviously I haven't played in a while, so you try to do every little thing possible to be as prepared as you can."
The Predators have been led by a rookie and a veteran this season as Calder Trophy candidate Filip Forsberg paced the team in goals (26) and points (63) while Mike Ribeiro had a resurgence, leading the team with 47 assists and finishing second with 62 points.
Nashville also has a Vezina Trophy candidate in between the pipes in Pekka Rinne, who finished tied for second in the NHL in wins (41), third in goals-against average (2.18) and tied for seventh in save percentage (.923).
"You have to have confidence going in," Rinne told NHL.com. "You look at the season as a whole, I think you have to be happy with our season. Just gain confidence from that and just realizing and knowing the way we can play, just bringing that game to the playoffs. I feel like we can match up against anybody."
Corey Crawford will man the crease for Chicago and he is coming off of a campaign that saw him win 32 games and finish with a 2.27 GAA while ranking sixth in the NHL with a .924 save percentage.
The lights are set to come up on the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs as the Blackhawks visit the Predators at the Bridgestone Arena for Game 1 of their best-of-seven opening-round series live from Nashville.
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