It's hard to believe that just a few days ago the Los Angeles Kings were trailing the San Jose Sharks 3-0 in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Now they're the hottest team in the NHL, having reeled off six straight wins.

Jonathan Quick has been a big reason why people are comparing this team to the group that won the Stanley Cup in 2012. But the addition of scorer Marian Gaborik gives the Kings a new dimension that makes them especially dangerous.

Quick has been making the stops and Gaborik has been scoring the goals.

Now that we're in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, the matchups are that much more intense. Each team will look to find the best strategy to advance to the conference final, but when you get to this point in the postseason it's generally best not to make too many changes.

Start with the Montreal Canadiens. There will be plenty of talk about how they match up against the physical Boston Bruins, but I think they just have to play their game. I spoke to one of their players and he said they can't be goaded into trying to play more physically than they naturally do. They know they're not trying to "win the physical matchup" with the Bruins. Still, they have to be smart and be willing to pay a price.

I thought Montreal did a great job of attacking from the outside and the inside against the Tampa Bay Lightning. They're going to have to do that and change it up. They can't be predictable in how they attack against Boston.

Any Stanley Cup Playoff series that goes the distance is an intense and exhausting experience for both players and fans. One Game 7 is usually enough, but we get to enjoy three of them Wednesday night, when the New York Rangers host the Philadelphia Flyers, the Minnesota Wild visit the Colorado Avalanche and the Los Angeles Kings meet the San Jose Sharks.

Let's start by giving Minnesota and Colorado their due. Each franchise has made major strides. I like the way Minnesota handled the adversity of losing Game 5 in Denver. The Wild came back with the right mindset and attitude. Not only were they playing a speed game, but they also played a very physical game. Most importantly, it was a disciplined brand of physicality they brought in Game 6.

Zach Parise had an amazing game with a four-point night. That's what makes him one of the true stars of the NHL. At the same time, the Avalanche got a nice boost from having Matt Duchene back. Now we're going to see a potentially great Game 7 at Pepsi Center. I'm looking forward to it. It's going to be fast and intense.

We're barely a week in, but multiple storylines have developed in the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

You can start with the Dallas Stars. They did a great job of defending their home ice against the Anaheim Ducks. They won those two tough games in their own building, and their stars continue to be stars for them. Jamie Benn started the comeback in Game 4. Who wins a neutral-zone faceoff to himself and scores an unassisted goal? Jamie Benn did, and it was super-impressive to me.

In the bigger context, it was all about the support in Game 4. Cody Eakin scored a huge goal for Dallas, Jordie Benn had an assist, Shawn Horcoff had an assist, and Vernon Fiddler scored a big goal. As great as Dallas' stars have been, the depth guys really stepped up in Game 4 to complement Benn and Tyler Seguin, who have been carrying the Stars all season long.

Every year without fail, the Stanley Cup Playoffs kick off and we see plenty of players and teams step up unexpectedly. It's just one of the many reasons the playoffs are so great.

One of the biggest surprises so far has been all the offense coming uncharacteristically from the middle of the ice. You don't typically see that as much in the playoffs. A prime example of that would be what happened with the Los Angeles Kings and San Jose Sharks through their first three games. The Kings won the William M. Jennings Trophy for allowing the fewest goals this season, but the Sharks are faster and deeper than they've ever been and have been scoring at will. As great as the Kings typically are defensively with Jonathan Quick, that hasn't been the case so far against the Sharks, who did a great job of exploiting the Kings in scoring 17 goals and winning all three games.

San Jose has gained so many odd-man rushes. They're exploiting a lot of missed coverage on the back door and they're making lots of passes across the width of the rink. I just think they had their way with L.A. The Kings don't look like the Kings yet.

We're only two days into the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs and there have already been plenty of memorable moments, not to mention plenty of exciting overtime action. In analyzing the first few games of the postseason, I've come away with a few observations and even more questions.

The first thing I noticed, particularly in the first three games Wednesday night, is how there were a lot of opportunities in the middle of the ice, something you don't typically see in playoff hockey. There were a lot of pinches, including a few good pinches in which the D committed to the right play under the thought their forwards would back them up and support them, which in many instances they didn't.

There were other instances where the forwards were challenging the D and making plays offensively. Look at the goals by Lars Eller and Tomas Plekanec for the Montreal Canadiens in their overtime win against the Tampa Bay Lightning. They challenged off the rush and made plays to score.

I don't think all the forwards and defensemen were in sync. Overall, that was a theme for me in all of the games Wednesday.

Some major changes took place this week out West, with the Vancouver Canucks firing general manager Mike Gillis and hiring former captain Trevor Linden as president of hockey operations. It's a big move that will go a long way toward which direction this team goes in. After being the class of the League for a few years, the Canucks do not intend on taking more steps backward after missing the Stanley Cup Playoffs this season.

With Gillis, overall I think we knew the time had come. Something was going to happen. I wasn't sure if it was going to be him and coach John Tortorella, him or Tortorella. Who knows? I will say that I think there were some trades that Mike didn't net great returns on. I would also say the development pool is not where it should be. Their best prospect was Cory Schneider, who is gone. They've also done a great job with Christopher Tanev. Other than that, they haven't had great prospects and that has hurt them.

Overall, Gillis did a lot of great things to. Under his watch, Vancouver won the Presidents' trophy in back-to-back seasons and got to Game 7 of the 2011 Stanley Cup Final. The Canucks' style of play mirrored that of the Detroit Red Wings during that time. Puck possession was encouraged, hockey IQ was rewarded. They didn't have the heavy game like the Bruins had, which led to Boston beating them in 2011. But the Stanley Cup year was one of the most dominant teams we've seen in a while.

With the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs almost upon us, we have a great Wednesday Night Rivalry with the Detroit Red Wings visiting the Pittsburgh Penguins in a potential first-round preview (8 p.m. ET, NBCSN, TSN2).

The Red Wings have made an impressive playoff run despite numerous injuries to their key players. But the Penguins have also lost a lot of man games to injuries. They've had a tough go from an injury standpoint and have received major contributions from numerous places. Sidney Crosby has had an unbelievable season and Olli Maatta has been amazing as a rookie. Marc-Andre Fleury was awesome the other night against the Colorado Avalanche in that shootout win. A guy that doesn’t get a lot of attention in Pittsburgh is Matt Niskanen. I'm not sure why. He's been one of their most consistent players on a team with a lot of excellent players. I love the season he has had. He's gone largely under the radar and has played exceptionally well.

I was talking to Tampa Bay Lightning coach Jon Cooper the other day and there was just something about the way he conducted himself. It was just him being a human being; so refreshing. There's no yelling or false bravado. It then dawned on me how the way coaches address their players has changed in the NHL.

You don't see yelling or intimidation anymore. You don't even see that from Philadelphia Flyers coach Craig Berube, and he collected more than 3,000 penalty minutes as a player. That's the irony. Look at the job he's done and how he's galvanized that group.

This is how coaches are doing their job in today's NHL. I'm going to get back to Cooper, but Todd McLellan is another guy who illustrates that. And it's working wonders for the San Jose Sharks.

San Jose looks as good as I've ever seen them, which says a lot because they've had a lot of very good teams over the years. Doug Wilson and McLellan and that staff have done a great job.

There are just a few days remaining in the 2013-14 NHL season, meaning just about every game has major postseason implications heading into the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

That's certainly the case with the Wednesday Night Rivalry game this week (8 p.m. ET, NBCSN, TSN2, RDS), which matches a Detroit Red Wings team scrambling to make the playoffs for the 23rd straight season against a Boston Bruins team looking to wrap up home ice throughout the postseason.

With Detroit, you really have to start with Gustav Nyquist and Tomas Tatar. They have been stars down the stretch for the Red Wings. The big point for me with those two is they are not replacing serviceably good players; they have stepped in and tried to fill the void left by injuries to Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk, two of the best two-way players in the world.