Enough of the talk.

There's been nothing but talk, speculation and rampant guessing the past few days. From everyone who knows Vancouver or St. Louis to the pundits who can name, maybe, five players on each team. No more. Thank God.

It's time for the second season. All you need to do is sit back, crank the volume, crack a few (dozen) cold ones, bitch about the Versus coverage (if you're one of the unfortunate ones like me) and enjoy the best this sport has to offer.

The climb to Lord Stanley begins shortly. Nothing will be won or lost tonight, but here's hoping for the first Vancouver win of a necessary 16.

It pleases me greatly to write: here is your game thread for the first game of the first round of the 2009 NHL playoffs.

Let's do this.