Friday night NHL/AHL/ECHL playoffs thread/poll

Here's a thread for any playoff action you're following Friday night (What? You had social plans?), as well as the final first-round playoff series poll. You can follow Bridgeport-Hershey here. In the ECHL, Utah vs. Idaho is here (but without Mikko!) at 9-ish p.m. EDT.

And of course, there are five series tonight in the NHL, including Game 1 of Blackhawks-Predators, who had the longest wait to finally get their postseason underway. I say it's Hawks in six, with an equal mix of "Niemi quells doubters" and "Hawks goalie question" stories depending on the result of each individual game.

Lodge all your picks in WebBard's FanPost. Before you vote on any series, you should check out the irreplaceable Quisp's Quisp-o-matic Prediction Generator, for all your prognosticating needs.

Open polls for the other series are here, if you haven't voted:

• New Jersey-Philadelphia poll
• Buffalo-Boston poll
• Montreal-Washington poll
• Pittsburgh-Ottawa poll
• San Jose-Colorado poll
• Phoenix-Detroit poll
• Canucks-Kings poll

Hawks-Predators Schedule

I'm tapped out; no pretend insight from me on this series. But I'll be watching free agent-to-be Dan Hamhuis of Nashville, since the Islanders could use a new defensemen or three.