No. 1 Star: James Neal, Pittsburgh Penguins

It was epic Neal time in Pittsburgh as the winger scored thrice in the Penguins' 6-2 rout of the Senators, leading his club into the third round of the 2013 postseason. Enjoy this clip of all three goals, unless you're a Senators fan, in which case, maybe just skip ahead:

No. 2 Star: Kris Letang, Pittsburgh Penguins

Letang was all over the ice, setting up the Penguins' second goal from behind the net, scoring the eventual game-winner, and adding another assist on Neal's hat trick goal. With three points on the night, Letang finished the series with 10 points. He's a defenceman.

Canada, you may want to sit down.

The Pittsburgh Penguins advanced to the Eastern Conference finals Friday, eliminating the Ottawa Senators -- the last remaining Canadian team -- with a decisive 6-2 victory in Game 5.

With that, an American club will win the Stanley Cup for the 19th straight season. Now comes the annual Canadian tradition where the country shifts from counting Canadian teams in contention to Canadian players on American teams.

The Senators made a slight improvement in Game 5, holding the Penguins to fewer goals than in their previous game. Unfortunately, it was just one fewer, and that's not nearly enough when they allowed 7 the last time around.

This game was a lot like Game 4, come to think of it: All Pittsburgh, and not all that close.

The Phoenix Coyotes are used to difficult offseasons, but this one looked even trickier. On top of looking for an owner, as usual, the club ran the risk of looking for a new General Manager and head coach as well, as the contracts of both Dave Tippett and Don Maloney were set to expire on June 30.

There was some talk that neither would receive a new deal until the Coyotes had found an owner. But with the draft and free agency coming up, and Maloney being exactly the sort of guy you want to have around for that stuff, the NHL did what a good ownership group does, and took the steps to retain their guy.

On Friday, the Coyotes announced a long-term contract extension with Maloney. From their release:

"We are very pleased that Don has agreed to sign a long-term contract extension with the Coyotes," said NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly. "Since joining the team in 2007, Don has done an outstanding job managing his team and building a competitive roster that has produced on the ice, even given less than ideal circumstances off the ice. The NHL remains committed to securing the Coyotes' future in Glendale under new ownership, and we believe Don's long-term agreement evidences that he is equally committed."

[...] "I am grateful to continue working for this franchise," said Coyotes General Manager Don Maloney. "We have a strong core of talented people, both on and off the ice, who are committed to building a championship team and a first class organization. I would like to thank NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly for their tremendous support these past few years."

So weird to see Bettman and Daly in this release. This situation is ridiculous.

That part aside, it's tough to disagree with the move. As James Mirtle points out, over the last four years, the Coyotes' record of 156-96-42 makes them the eighth-best team in the NHL. That's definitely extension-worthy, especially under the circumstances.

Maloney is basically a wartime GM. He's acquitted himself nicely and done his part to keep Phoenix competitive in a dire, dire situation. And really, he was the best candidate for Phoenix anyway, since he's the only guy with four years experience GMing a team without an owner.

Here are your Puck Headlines: a glorious collection of news and views collected from the greatest blogosphere in sports and the few, the proud, the mainstream hockey media.

• Detroit Lions' defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh discovers the difference between the NHL and the NFL in his fair city., At football games, people throw flags. At hockey games, they throw cephalopods.

• Don Cherry stands up for maligned realist Daniel Alfredsson. [Ottawa Sun]

• Cam Charron on why it would be unwise to write off the Chicago Blackhawks just yet. I haven't read it or anything, but I'll just assume it says, "because they're really good and stuff." [Backhand Shelf]

• Jonathan Toews after Game 4. "Eventually, something's got to give. We're too good a team. We've got too much talent. For as hard as we're working, something's got to go our way." [MLive]

• An interactive visualization of the NHL drafts of yore. This is very, very cool stuff from Sarah Connors. [Stanley Cup of Chowder]

• The last time the Penguins had a chance to close out an opponent in a Game 5 at home, in 2011, they lost big, both in the game and, eventually, the series. What can they learn from that fiasco, besides "don't let this happen again"? [Post-Gazette]

• Logan Couture, on whether he's talked to good buddy Drew Doughty. "“No nothing, nothing. I’ve just talked to our friends. We have a group of mutual friends, about five to six guys, so I’ve texted them. But, I haven’t talked to Drew at all. It’s probably going to hold that way for another week.” [Mayor's Manor]

• The San Jose Sharks would prefer that their series with the Los Angeles Kings goes seven games. One suspects they didn't prefer that when the series began, but here we are. [Mercury News]

• So the Bruins lost one game. Big deal. Don't panic. It's not like they're going to lose the next three. When has that ever happened before? [CSNNE]

Turns out Stephane Roy knew what he was talking about after all. Two days after telling the Denver Post that his brother, Patrick Roy would be the next head coach of the Colorado Avalanche -- and then back-pedaling when someone told him brothers are supposed to give noogies and share Oreos, not break major personnel decisions -- the Avalanche have officially announced the move.

Patrick Roy is the next head coach of the Colorado Avalanche.

But that's not all! He's also been named a vice president of hockey operations, just like Joe Sakic! They'll be leading the hockey team together! (Also Greg Sherman will be there, hanging around, occasionally saying things, apparently.)

From the Avalanche press release, which is 625 words long, and none of those words are "Greg" or "Sherman", which seems unusual:

“This is a very exciting day for our fans and a significant moment in our organization’s history,” said Avalanche President Josh Kroenke. “Patrick’s passion for the game of hockey both as a player and as a coach defines who he is as a person. He is a winner and is coming back to Denver where he created numerous special moments on and off the ice while helping lead us to two Stanley Cup championships.”

“All along Patrick was our top candidate and we are thrilled that he has decided to accept this offer,” said Sakic. “Patrick has a great hockey mind, is a tremendous coach and there is no one more passionate about this game. He will bring that winning attitude to our dressing room to help this young team grow.”

“This is an unbelievable day for me,” said Roy. “It’s a new and exciting challenge that I am really looking forward to. I would like to thank Stan and Josh Kroenke for this opportunity as well as Joe Sakic for the trust they are putting in me. Almost 10 years to the day that I announced my retirement as a player I am back in Denver and hope the fans are as excited as I am.”

The jury's still out on whether Sakic and Roy can do what they did for the Avalanche a decade ago from the front office. There's a nostalgia element that's very cool, but may not necessarily turn the franchise around. That said, it would be tough for the Avalanche to take a step backwards, and Roy's junior resume speaks for itself. This isn't a hire based on what he did during his days as a player. It's based on what he's done since.

Plus, if it's a personality transplant the Avalanche needed, and they did, boy oh boy, did they just get one.

Back in Round 1, Kevin Bieksa of the Vancouver Canucks took a moment to suggest that the San Jose Sharks occasionally dabbled in embellishment. It was a fairly transparent bit of gamesmanship, and even moreso after he gave a second performance of the monologue, this time with props.

It didn't work, either. Thereafter, the Canucks won zero games.

But that didn't discourage San Jose Sharks' winger T.J. Galiardi from trying out the tactic himself. On Thursday, Galiardi had a few words to say about LA Kings' goaltender Jonathan Quick.

He's Quick on the ice and quick to the ice, if you catch my meaning. From the Mercury News:

Galiardi is speaking, as you'd expect, from experience. He was sent to the box for goaltender interference in the second period of Game 4, and he was almost sent again for the same infraction before he could even get back to the bench. After the Sharks killed off his penalty, he chased Slava Voynov into the LA end on the San Jose's final zone clear, and as he skated by the goal, he clipped Quick's skate.

The goaltender dropped.

But, just like on the ice, the Kings stand up for their goaltender. It was Drew Doughty who rushed to Quick's defense this time around, and he took about the same approach to dismissing Galiardi's observations that the Sharks took in dismissing Kevin Bieksa's: no, you are.

Hockey Hugs is a feature that celebrates the best in hugging from around the sport of hockey, because who doesn't love a good hug now and then? Have you seen a particularly good hug photo lately? Send it to puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or Tweet it to @HarrisonMooney.

Welcome once again to hockey hugs, the Puck Daddy feature that's all about the love.

We're into the second round of the playoffs, and it's a double-edged sword. On the one hand, the hugs just keep getting more and more meaningful the further into the postseason you go. On the other hand, the variety is beginning to dwindle.

Fortunately, many of the teams remaining have characters you can't help but chuckle at. The San Jose Sharks, for instance, have the Wookiee Brent Burns. What's he howling? Why, he's swearing a life-debt to Marc-Edouard Vlasic, just like Chewbacca!

Meanwhile, the Boston Bruins are led by, basically, the Iron Giant in a spoked B, so they're going to produce a lot of great big-guy-little-guy shots. Case in point, this photo, where Brad Marchand looks less like a teammate and more like a troll that rides around on his back.

Coming up: more hugs, unsurprisingly. We've been doing this awhile now. You know how it works.

Here are your Puck Headlines: a glorious collection of news and views collected from the greatest blogosphere in sports and the few, the proud, the mainstream hockey media.

• Alex Ovechkin got his KHL medal for Dynamo Moscow's Gagarin Cup win. And you said he never wins anything. Wait, what's that? He left the team before they won? Well. Still. [Dmitry Chesnokov]

• The NHL's most stylish men. Yes, Henrik Lundqvist is on the list. [Sharp]

• Sidney Crosby was nearly killed by a mozza stick. [Sportsnet]

• Nick Cotsonika on Paul MacLean's "fun" approach to coaching. [Yahoo!]

• Meet Tim Thompson, the guy who makes CBC's awesome playoff hockey montages. [National Post]

• Stephen Walkom, Game 3's referee, coached Mario Lemieux's daughter. Is this a conflict of interest? I highly doubt it. Have you ever coached a bunch of kids? By the end, you hate them all and you hate their parents for making them. Or maybe that was just my experience. [Senshot]

• Speaking of officiating conspiracies, the New York Rangers' last penalty call at home came in Game 4 versus the Washington Capitals. [CSNNE]

• Elliotte Friedman's 30 thoughts, which includes this wild notion: "Conspiracy Theory: Sharks GM Doug Wilson wasn't going to trade Dan Boyle at the April 3 deadline, but he wanted Boyle -- and his other veterans -- to think he might. There's been a lot written and said about Extreme Makeover: San Jose edition, but the more I look back at it, it's not just about increasing Logan Couture and Joe Pavelski's roles. He wanted Boyle and Joe Thornton, among others, to believe, 'If this doesn't work, I'm next.'" [CBC]

• Cory Conacher comes out for the Senators in Game 4, and Mark Stone draws in. [Senators Extra]