Historical Notes On Round One

• Michael Nylander's hat trick against the Atlanta Thrashers was the first playoff 3 goal game by a Ranger since Wayne Gretzky turned the trick against Philadelphia in 1997.
• Speaking of the Rangers, their opening game victory this year was their first playoff victory since May 18th, 1997. That's a span of 3616 days.
  
• Speaking of Atlanta, the Thrashers returned the city to the NHL playoffs for the first time since 1980. That year the Atlanta Flames, led by Guy Chouinard, lost 3 games to 1 in the opening round by the New York Rangers, led by Phil Esposito.
  
• Game 4 is arguably the most important game in a 7 game series. A team that can take a 3 games to 1 stranglehold of the series has a 90.5% chance of winning the series.
• Sidney Crosby became the fourth teenager in NHL history to score a goal in each of the first three postseason games of his career. The others were Wendel Clark (four games, 1986 Maple Leafs), Paul Coffey (three games, 1981 Oilers) and Glen Wesley (three games, 1988 Bruins).