The current playoff format just isn't fair, because a legitimate Stanley Cup contender like the Boston Bruins must play a powerhouse team in Round 1 like the... Toronto Maple Leafs? Toronto played a complete game to knock down the Bruins at home in Game 1, though this series is far from over; we're still predicting a slugfest.

Meanwhile, the defending Cup champs survived a late scare in their opener, and the Calgary Flames blanked the Colorado Avalanche.

Here's a recap of last night's action -- check out replays of every playoff game on ESPN+ -- and a look at what to watch for tonight, in today's edition of ESPN Stanley Cup Playoffs Daily.

Jump ahead: Last night's games | Three Stars
Play of the night | Tonight's games | Social post of the day

About last night...

Game 1: Toronto Maple Leafs 4, Boston Bruins 1. The Maple Leafs haven't won the first game of a playoff series since 2003. "I did not know that," said John Tavares, who was 12 years old at the time, and does not remember whether he stayed up to watch. Tavares had a goal and assist, Mitch Marner scored twice (including a slick penalty shot) and Frederik Andersen looked solid as Toronto silenced the Bruins' mighty top line plus a sold-out crowd to steal home-ice advantage.

Game 1: Washington Capitals 4, Carolina Hurricanes 2. The Caps showed that 3-0 is not the worst lead in hockey (too soon, Lightning fans?) as they sealed a 4-2 victory over the Canes -- despite a late push and two third-period goals from Carolina rookie Andrei Svechnikov. Carolina was playing in its first playoff game in a decade; the last time the Hurricanes were here, the Black Eyed Peas' "Boom Boom Pow" was the No. 1 song in America. Unfortunately, the Canes didn't have an answer for Washington's power play, which went 2-for-4.

Game 1: Calgary Flames 4, Colorado Avalanche 0. On a team so stocked with firepower -- five players had 70-plus point seasons -- it was rookie Andrew Mangiapane who opened the scoring with a beauty in the second period. Welcome to the show, kid. Matthew Tkachuk scored two goals, but the real star was goaltender Mike Smith, who dazzled while pitching a shutout.

Three Stars

1. Mike Smith, G, Calgary Flames. In his first playoff game in seven years, the 37-year-old shined. Smith turned away all 26 shots -- and even notched an assist on the empty-net goal. Goaltending was a big question mark for the Flames entering the playoffs; it was unclear if Smith would even start this game, or if they'd go with David Rittich. If the Flames continue to get performances like this in net, they really are the favorites in the West.

2. Frederik Andersen, G, Toronto Maple Leafs. Yes, Marner got two goals and should be recognized. But if the Maple Leafs are going to advance, they'll need more nights like this from Andersen. He looked confident. He weathered bursts of pressure. He did it all in a hostile environment. By turning away 37 of 38 shots, Andersen was a huge boost for Toronto.

3. Nicklas Backstrom, C, Washington Capitals. The Caps didn't get a shot on goal for nearly 10 minutes in their opening game against the Canes. Then Backstrom got hot. Like, really hot. He scored twice (accounting for two of Washington's first four shots) and the rest of the team woke up, building a 3-0 lead by the end of the first period.

Play of the night

Late in the second period, with the Maple Leafs holding onto a 2-1 lead, Nazem Kadri got the puck in his own zone. He looked up to a see a streaking William Nylander by the opposite blue line. Kadri slung the puck between two Boston defenders to hit Nylander in stride.

The result? A gorgeous cross-ice connection and breakaway goal for Nylander. "When you look at it in slow-mo and in instant replay, you overanalyze it a bit," Kadri says. "But in the time, I just saw him open and gave it to him."

Sick pass by Kadri springs Nylander on the breakaway pic.twitter.com/CK1a58tvRv

- Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) April 12, 2019

Dud of the night

It wasn't the best night for Boston goalie Tuukka Rask, and he was totally fooled on Marner's penalty shot, which swung the game's momentum.

"That was a [David Pastrnak] move, he's done that in practice," Rask said, acknowledging that, yeah, it was a good move, but the veteran goaltender shouldn't have looked so stunned.

What's on the schedule tonight?

Game 2: Columbus Blue Jackets at Tampa Bay Lightning, 7 p.m. ET. Columbus leads the series, 1-0.

Columbus erased a three-goal deficit to defeat the (heavy Stanley Cup favorite) Lightning in Game 1. If the Blue Jackets take Game 2, they would be poised for one of the biggest NHL playoff upsets of all time. And is anyone prepared to see John Tortorella... in a good mood?

Game 2: Pittsburgh Penguins at New York Islanders, 7:30 p.m. ET. New York leads the series, 1-0.

The Nassau Coliseum was rocking on Wednesday as the Islanders look to capitalize on their first home-ice advantage in a playoff series since 1988. The typically offensively challenged Isles scored enough goals (four) to keep up with -- and defeat -- the Penguins in overtime in Game 1.

Game 2: St. Louis Blues at Winnipeg Jets, 9:30 p.m. ET. St. Louis leads the series, 1-0.

Some relief for Winnipeg? Patrik Laine netted a goal in Game 1; the Finnish sniper is a streaky goal scorer and is looking to get on track after a so-so season. But that was all the offense the Jets could muster past rookie goaltender Jordan Binnington. For the Blues, hometown boy Patrick Maroon (who set up the game-winning goal) is heating up at the right time.

Game 2: Vegas Golden Knights at San Jose Sharks, 10:30 p.m. ET. San Jose leads the series, 1-0.

The Sharks ended the season in a slump, but maybe all they needed was a little puck luck -- as in, the puck fortuitously bouncing off captain Joe Pavelski's jaw and deflecting past Marc-Andre Fleury. San Jose got plenty of opportunities in a 5-2 opening win and the Golden Knights, according to coach Gerard Gallant, were "outplayed" in every facet, not even generating a shot for the first five minutes. They'll need a better start in Game 2.

News bulletin

The Golden Knights could be getting reinforcements. Russian forward Nikita Gusev, the reigning MVP of the KHL, is reportedly working to get out of his contract with SKA St. Petersburg early to join Vegas as soon as this week. (SKA was eliminated in the conference finals of the Gagarin Cup playoffs).

The skilled and speedy Gusev, 26, is on the Golden Knights' reserve list and is eligible to play in the postseason. Gusev was also recently named the training camp roster for Team Russia for May's World Championships in Slovakia. So if he doesn't make it to Vegas for the playoffs, you can catch him in action there.

Social post of the day

I screamed at my tv pic.twitter.com/3QtJg9bqpg

- Manny (@mannyelk) April 12, 2019

The Canes might want to clean this up before Game 2. Just saying.

Quotable

"Honestly I've never heard anything like that before in my career," Mike Smith, on hearing the crowd in Calgary chant "Smitty" during his epic opening-night performance.

Chelsea hopes Christian Pulisic will help the London club expand its U.S. fan base and assist the team's campaign to combat anti-Semitism.

Chelsea bought the 20-year-old midfielder from Borussia Dortmund in January for $73 million, by far a record price for an American player, then loaned him back to the German club for the rest of the season. Pulisic can't play for Chelsea for a May 15 charity exhibition at the New England Revolution dubbed the "Final Whistle on Hate," but will play a role in Chelsea's promotional efforts after he joins in July.

"He's a personable boy. He's well-liked in this country," Chelsea chairman Bruce Buck said during an interview Thursday with The Associated Press. "So of course I would expect him when we come here and play some friendly matches, which is what our objective is in the summer of 2020. Then yes, I think he will he will be helpful."

Manchester United has the highest average U.S. viewers among Premier League clubs this season at 630,000 on NBC, NBCSN and their digital streams, topping Arsenal (573,000), Liverpool (563,000) Chelsea (534,000), Manchester City (494,000) and Tottenham (477,000). Kickoff times and appearances on the late Saturday NBC match impact audience.

BARCELONA, Spain -- Ernesto Valverde compared Lionel Messi's clash with Chris Smalling to being hit by a truck after leaving the Barcelona forward out of the squad for Saturday's game against Huesca.

Manchester United defender Smalling unintentionally caught Messi in the face, drawing blood, during Barca's 1-0 win at Old Trafford in the Champions League on Wednesday.

Messi, Barca's top scorer this season with 43 goals in all competitions, ended the game with bruising and swelling around his nose and cheek but tests ruled out any serious damage.

Valverde, though, has opted to err on the side of caution and has not included the Argentine in the 18-man squad for this weekend's match against bottom-of-the-table Huesca.

"It's possible that Messi rests," the coach said in a news conference before announcing the squad. "I spoke with him [on Thursday] and he's doing OK after the blow to the face.

"But he was knocked [by the incident]. [It was like] being hit by a truck. We will assess him in training [on Friday] but it's likely that he will rest."

Smalling told BBC Radio 5 Live's Football Daily podcast on Friday that Messi knew there was nothing intentional about the knock.

"We spoke afterwards. We had a brief chat and shook hands," Smallin said.

"He knew it was an accident."

Messi's not the only Barca player who will have the weekend off ahead of the second leg of their quarterfinal against United at Camp Nou on Tuesday.

Sergio Busquets has also been handed a breather, while Luis Suarez and Gerard Pique are both suspended. Ivan Rakitic and Sergi Roberto have both been ruled out with minor problems.

Defender Jean Clair Todibo comes into the squad for the first time since signing in January, while Barca B players Moussa Wague, Riqui Puig and Abel Ruiz have also been called up.

"Huesca is a dangerous game," warned Valverde, whose side have an 11-point lead over Atletico at the top of the table with just seven games to play.

"We have to be switched on. Not because [we are thinking of the second leg against United] but because you always have to think about the next opponent. So, the danger comes from Huesca, who have a lot to play for.

"Yes, there will be changes [to the team], but let's not forget we still need 10 points to be champions. We will make changes but with the aim of putting out a competitive team."

Perhaps it is nothing more than a coincidence that Manchester City face Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park this weekend on the same day that Liverpool host Chelsea at Anfield in what promises to be a compelling double-header in the Premier League title race. After all, every team has to play each other at some point during a league season, yet it seems as though somebody in the fixtures department is having fun at Liverpool's expense by throwing up another unwanted reminder of what happened the last time they met Chelsea with the title on the line.

Back in April 2014, Demba Ba's goal at Anfield -- following Steven Gerrard's slip and crucial loss of the ball -- proved to be the decisive moment in that season's title race with City. Liverpool lost 2-0 that day and, hours later, City won 2-0 at Palace to reclaim the initiative and ensure that their destiny was once again in their own hands. Manuel Pellegrini's team won their next three games to win the title and leave Liverpool -- and Gerrard -- haunted by that unforgettable slip against Chelsea.

"This wound has been open since my experience," Gerrard told ESPN FC last month. "I am not sure it will close because I can't change that experience."

But does what happened five years ago really matter in this year's title race? Not one player from Liverpool's starting outfielders that day remains at Anfield, while only Sergio Aguero, of the City side at Palace in 2014, is likely to be involved this weekend. These might be different times and different players, but when it comes to winning a title, the ghosts of the past and fear of what might happen always become an issue at this stage of the race.

Some managers and teams deal with it better than others. Rio Ferdinand, who won six Premier League titles with Manchester United, recalled in his book, "#2Sides," how Sir Alex Ferguson would always use deflection to protect his players from outside scrutiny if results went wrong.

"If anything did go wrong, he always took the stress off us by creating an argument in the media or picking a fight somewhere with someone," Ferdinand said. "It distracted attention from what had gone wrong on the pitch."

Ferguson used to call it "squeaky-bum time," an odd phrase to describe the tension and pressure that applies itself when the slightest mistake can have the biggest implications. Players are told to avoid reading newspapers by their managers, as it might spare them the damaging negativity that comes after points are dropped, while so-called mind games are played out in interviews before and after games.

When Newcastle threw away a 12-point lead and finished second to United in 1995-96, Ferguson's use of the post-match interview -- his version of "mind games" -- was cited as being the spark which lit the fuse when Newcastle manager Kevin Keegan exploded with his "I would love it if we beat them!" rant after a victory at Leeds. Keegan remembers it differently, of course, insisting in his autobiography that the drip-drip effect of conceding late goals was the real reason for his team's stumble.

"How come these last minute goals never went our way?" Keegan wrote. "Too many players were struggling with the tension and when we did play well, we were still coming away empty-handed from key fixtures. We did succumb to mental tension, but that was well before my outburst and it's a distortion of history to think the championship was settled by 'psychological warfare,' or whatever you wish to call it."

For many players, the pressure is at its height when the opposition are playing. Alan Shearer often tells the story of how, during Blackburn's tense race with Manchester United in 1994-95, he chose to paint his garden fence rather than watch United on television in an effort to escape the psychological torment. Ferguson would often head to the golf course to avoid being drawn into watching his closest rivals win again on television.

During Leicester's incredible title success in 2016, Claudio Ranieri would lighten the mood with jokes and an insistence that his team were only interested in avoiding relegation. He would also motivate his players by offering to buy each one a pizza whenever they kept a clean sheet, a ploy designed to trivialise the challenge in front of them and emphasise the fun of the game.

Jurgen Klopp has struck a similar note with Liverpool in recent weeks and months, with the German playing up the excitement of the race while, at the same time, attempting to turn the screw on City by claiming Liverpool must overcome the "best team in the world" to win the title. If you can't beat the "best team in the world" to win a title, that's no failure; at the same time, if the "best team in the world" can only finish second, what does it say about them? Klopp, all smiles, knows what he is saying and why.

Liverpool's challenge this season is different to City's, however. City are chasing their fourth title in seven years, but Liverpool are having to deal with the burden of expectancy and the sense of desperation that comes with not having won the league since 1990. When United ended their 26-year wait for the title in 1993, Ferguson applied the trusted techniques of urging his players to avoid all references to football in the media, but there was still no escaping the pressure, with midfielder Paul Ince admitting that "wherever you went, it was all anybody would talk about. You couldn't escape it."

"If you can, try to turn off being constantly on social media," Ince said. "Try to avoid a lot of the noise, get your head down and remember how you got to this stage."

Klopp's players face the same issues in 2019 as Man United did in 1993, but so far they are using the desperation as a positive and a source of motivation. Gerrard has insisted that the desire of the supporters to win the title should be embraced by the Liverpool players.

"I think it is only normal for the supporters," Gerrard said. "They want it more than anyone. They will help. When we were in that situation, I didn't feel suffocated by the fans. I actually felt they were right behind us and with us and wanted it so much.

"I saw it as a help rather than a hindrance."

There have been so many late winning goals for Liverpool this season, with the last two victories against Spurs and Southampton achieved in the closing stages, that a sense of fate comes into play. If players believe that fate is on their side, it can override the negative emotions, but Liverpool fell into that trap in 2014 and one slip, by one of their greatest-ever players, brought it all crashing down.

City have a different pressure to deal with due to the team's pursuit of a Quadruple. In the league they've looked almost serene at times, winning without having to over-exert themselves, but their fixture demands could trigger the fatigue which then becomes a psychological problem. Perhaps, then, the outcome of the title race will boil down to the simple equation of which falters first: City's legs or Liverpool's minds. The pressure of chasing a title will obviously drain both.

The sleepless nights, the endless analysis of the other team's remaining fixtures and where points will be dropped, and the unexpected twists and turns -- and slips -- on the pitch will all play their part. And the decisive moment might once again come on the day that Liverpool play Chelsea and City travel to Crystal Palace.

Minnesota United christens its brand-new stadium against NYCFC (live on Saturday at 5 p.m. ET on ESPN2), Zlatan and the Galaxy look to stay hot against the Union, and Seattle and Toronto meet in a rematch of the 2016 and 2017 MLS Cup finals. It's MLS W2W4.

House Hunters Minnesota

If you haven't watched "House Hunters," then surely someone close to you has. It can be maddening to see the show's couples bicker over something as inane as a light fixture in a guest bathroom, but at the end of the day, everyone is happy with the house that has been selected. Heck, sometimes the real estate agent even gets an invite to the "Three Months Later" cocktail party.

Minnesota United have had no such qualms with their new home, the glittering Allianz Field, which will open on Saturday afternoon (live at 5 p.m. ET on ESPN2). With stadiums going up left and right in MLS, Minnesota United's new stomping ground looks pretty sleek and, more importantly, it should provide a home-field advantage for the local team.

Unlike the defensively challenged Minnesota United teams of the past two years, this is a side that has clamped down in the back, allowing just eight goals. Winning three of five road games to open the season is no small feat, and that has been helped in part by Darwin Quintero, arguably the league's most underrated star and scorer of three goals.

The Colombian excels in anonymity, but Saturday will provide him a national platform to show the rest of the country that Minnesota could have something special brewing in 2019.

The Zlatan you love to hate

The mind-numbing statistics for Zlatan Ibrahimovic continue to pile up. After last week's one-goal, one-assist performance in Vancouver, the former Manchester United man now has four goals in just three games this season. That makes 26 goals and 11 assists in 30 games since his arrival to MLS a little more than a year ago. Simply incredible.

But don't expect Vancouver's Felipe Martins to be lining up to congratulate Ibrahimovic. The Whitecaps midfielder was none too pleased that his counterpart was getting cheered in Vancouver's BC Place. But the reality is that wherever Ibrahimovic goes in this league, he will have his fans. And judging by some of the sparse crowds thus far in 2019, it certainly wouldn't hurt to liven up some of these stadiums.

Next up for everyone's favorite Swedish striker is a home date with the Philadelphia Union on Saturday night (10:30 p.m. ET, ESPN+). Unlike Whitecaps defender Doneil Henry, who dared state that Vancouver could keep Ibrahimovic under wraps, which it didn't, Union boss Jim Curtin has smartly decided to err on the side of caution and plans to keep his mouth shut in order to not anger Ibrahimovic. That's sound practice, but it's no guarantee to keep him from scoring.

Just like old times in Seattle

It will feel like the days of yore when the Seattle Sounders take on Toronto FC on Saturday (4:00 p.m. ET, ESPN+), as the teams that met in MLS Cup in 2016 and 2017 will tangle on the Sounders' home turf.

Carlos Vela and Los Angeles FC might be getting the headlines, but Seattle has been equally good this season, with Nicolas Lodeiro playing the midfield maestro role to a tee and Jordan Morris and Raul Ruidiaz teaming up to score three goals each. In the back the Sounders are just as good with only three goals conceded, tops among teams in the Western Conference.

Toronto FC's arrival to the Emerald City is timely, as the Canadian outfit has found its stride with the signing of Spanish attacker Alejandro Pozuelo. The team that capitulated in CONCACAF Champions League play in Panama back in February is a distant memory, and it would be hard to name a more dangerous team in the Eastern Conference than the Reds.

There is also nothing more fun than rumors of a big-name European player possibly coming to MLS during the summer, and TFC has given us just that in the form of a possible Arjen Robben arrival. Right now only "exploratory talks" have materialized between the two parties, which means we all get to ask and wonder about it for the next several weeks until the discussions are officially dead.

In the meantime, it should be plenty fun to watch TFC try to do its stuff against its old final foe.

On Saturday, Minnesota United will open its brand-new home at Allianz Field in Saint Paul. If the 19,400 in attendance are lucky, they will celebrate a victory vs. New York City FC (watch LIVE on ESPN2, 5 p.m. ET) by belting out Oasis' 1995 hit "Wonderwall," with help from the club's players. How far the club has come...

At the turn of the decade, nobody in the Twin Cities was serenading this club with Britpop anthems. Indeed, not many were singing about the club in any genre. In those days, it was more common to wonder if there would continue to be a club at all.

The preeminent soccer team in Minnesota since the early 1990s underwent four rebrands between 2008 and 2012. Its name changed three times. There were four different ownership groups. There was a bankruptcy filing.

Amid that chaos -- with the team then known as the Minnesota Stars, owned by the NASL and looking for a new investor to take over -- the threadbare front office began filming its players everywhere (in the dressing room, in training, on the bench) in hopes of injecting the organization with character and in turn attracting a benefactor.

It succeeded: Dr. Bill McGuire bought the club in 2012 and began the process of creating the Minnesota United outfit that is in its third Major League Soccer season. But the front office also captured a moment that would become one of the league's most famous fan traditions: the singing of "Wonderwall."

Cue Wonderwall pic.twitter.com/oPLtI8yOA0

— Minnesota United FC (@MNUFC) July 19, 2018

"I suppose in the lyrics: winding roads, shining lights and all that kind of stuff -- basically the struggle," former manager Carl Craig told ESPN FC about the significance of the single that made Oasis famous around the world.

"The club back then, compared to where it is now, we were really struggling. Most of us were broke, financially. The club was run on a shoestring budget. We were making next to nothing; most of us were coaching youth football someplace or another to try to make ends meet. But the spirit was tremendous."

Craig is the man who started it all. He spent seven years with the club, six of them as an assistant and three of those in precarious financial circumstances prior to McGuire's ownership. He was known as a motivator, the coaching staff's emotional conduit to the players.

"He loved to sing," said center-back Brent Kallman, who played under Craig for four seasons before moving up with the club to MLS. "And not just after the wins, either. Sometimes he would come into the [dressing] room singing all kinds of stuff."

Sometimes Craig could be heard humming or singing for no reason but other times, the former punk rocker from Newcastle, England, did so as positive reinforcement, reminding players of how sweet victory tasted. It was his way of instilling a winning mentality, and "Wonderwall" became his song of choice.

"The message I wanted to convey to the players and to the fans is, 'You mean something to me,'" Craig said. "And I guess it's sort of a masculine way -- for want of a better term -- when you have a group of men and women who you really appreciate what they do and they mean a lot, maybe in that context not feeling comfortable saying that, so you utilize someone else's words in the song to convey that message."

The players bought in. The videographers, tasked with showcasing the club for potential new owners, witnessed the players singing "Wonderwall" with every ounce of passion they had following a win in the club's NASL title-winning season of 2011 and the fans took notice.

"The next game was a home win, and some of the fans in the stands just jumped on it," said Bruce McGuire (no relation to the team's owner), a founding member of The Dark Clouds, the largest independent soccer supporters group in Minnesota.

"You could see the players turn their heads, and they raced over toward the supporters. Pretty soon, everyone was signing it together. And from that point on, it just built and built and built, week after week."

That was more than seven years ago. It started with a handful of Dark Clouds and, by the end of the Loons' days in the NASL, 9,000 people were driving the half-hour north of Minneapolis to the National Sports Center in Blaine, in hopes of doing their best Liam Gallagher impression. Some 25,000 regularly sung the song at the club's temporary home, Minneapolis' TCF Bank Stadium, over the past two seasons too.

"It's a really good reminder that there were people who came before, who kind of carried the torch before this club became an MLS club," Kallman said. "For some people who are newer to the club, it might not be as important, and that's OK. But for the people who have been around and have seen [the club] grow to what it is, I think it's a really nice reminder of where we've been and where we're going."

It's a sentiment shared by Craig and Bruce McGuire. That growth has ensured the club's financial stability, but it has come at the expense of the close-knit community that saw those fans and players both embrace a tradition together nearly a decade ago.

"With people grasping onto a tradition like singing 'Wonderwall' -- and maybe I should say, I really don't like that song, I never have ... I can't stand Oasis -- it's incredible," said Bruce McGuire. "So, to have [those traditions] come along, when you change the name, when you change the whole organization, when you change leagues, when you move to a new stadium, to have those things come along with you, is what makes it feel incredible. It's what makes you know it's real."

Craig was dismissed as Loons manager ahead of their inaugural season in MLS, making way for Adrian Heath, but has stuck around the Twin Cities as high-performance director for Salvo SC, a youth-development organization based in suburban Eagan. And while he laments his split from the club, he takes pride in having helped create the prevailing tradition in the sport's community.

"It doesn't matter where I am or who's with me, [when 'Wonderwall' comes on] I get a little nudge and they'll say, 'There's your song!'" Craig said. "It's pretty special; it really is, actually."