Preview: Toronto Maple Leafs at Boston Bruins, 7 p.m. ET. (Series tied 3-3) The Maple Leafs are the 48th team in NHL history to force a Game 7 after falling behind 3-1 in a playoff series. They're also 1-13 in series when they've trailed 3-1, with their last comeback coming in 1942 over the Detroit Red Wings when they were behind 3-0. But you throw out history in Game 7s. Anything can happen. Anyone can step up. So far, it's been James Reimer carrying Toronto to this point, while the Bruins are hoping to finally get contributions from the likes of Tyler Seguin and Brad Marchand to put them in the second round.

Preview: New York Rangers at Washington Capitals, 8 p.m. ET (Series tied 3-3) Another seven-game series between the Capitals and Rangers ends Monday night with the expectation that it will be another tight one. The last five games in this series have been decided by a single goal and the home team has won every game so far. New York has not won any of their five road Game 7s in franchise history, with their last coming in 2009 when Sergei Fedorov scored a late winner for the Capitals.

NOTE: We'll be live chatting during both games tonight, so please join us beginning at 7 p.m. ET. Rumor has it Mayor McBoobs will be there.

Evening Listening

• Here's today's Marek vs. Wyshynski podcast featuring Scott Morrison of Sportsnet. [MvsW]

Evening Reading

• If you missed it, Penguins/Senators and Kings/Sharks kick off Round 2 on Tuesday. Blackhawks/Red Wings begins Wednesday. [NHL]

• NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly confirmed to Fox Sports Arizona's Craig Morgan that a bid submitted by Darin Pastor to purchase the Phoenix Coyotes has been rejected. [FS Arizona]

• Following superstition, a Capitals fan plans to listen to Game 7 Monday night in his car. Parked in his driveway. [Washington Post]

• After defeating Slovenia 4-3 in overtime today, Canada has summoned P.K. Subban to join them at the World Championships. [IIHF]

• Finally, John Tortorella: press conference aficionado:

Puck Buddy Comment of the Day: "Tom Brannon" is pumped for Game 7 after the Bruins ate heartily after Game 6:

Hey, that's why they are called the BRUINS! Voracious APPETITE.

They better have an APPETITE TO WIN .. come GAME 7 @ BOSTON.

They sorely lacked that in GAME 5 & I did not see Game 6, but they lost that one of course.

Game On!

BLACK AND GOLD RISE to the OCCASION!

Make sure to clean your plate, I mean the puck, and handle the puck better without all those turnovers, oh, not the apple ones!

Tom.

Bold Prediction: Two overtimes tonight and David Krejci and Mike Green score the series winners.

After falling behind 3-1 in their series to the Boston Bruins, the Maple Leafs, specifically James Reimer, rose to the occasion and forced a Game 7 with two convincing wins. The crowds outside Maple Leaf Square have grown as the series has gone on; and with the series' final game in Boston, Monday night's will be the biggest yet.

Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli built this team to win a Stanley Cup, not struggle in the first round. But the Maple Leafs have scratched and clawed to give themselves a chance at the second round. There's no pressure on them. They're going on the road where Boston will have to figure out Reimer after scoring twice in the last two games.

From the Boston Globe:

“Everyone’s watching, the spotlight’s on,” [Joffrey] Lupul said. “Every play is obviously a high-pressure play. It’s not a time to go out there and play tight. It’s time to not be afraid of the big moment and, obviously, you want to stick to our team game, but as individuals, it’s a great time to step up.

“We’ve won two in a row. The pressure is mostly on them. I don’t think a lot of people expected this game to even be happening, especially when we were down, 3-1.”

Despite the sense of pressure on the Bruins, they're pretty used to these "do-or-die" situations. Including this year, six of their last seven playoff series have gone seven games. And if you want to go all the way back to the 2008 playoffs, it's eight of eleven.

The Maple Leafs had the benefit of flying into Boston Sunday night, while the Bruins dealt with plane issues and were stranded in Toronto overnight, flying in Monday morning.

The plane "malfunction" should have any Boston-based conspiracy theorists preparing in case of a Bruins loss, citing disruption of the player's pre-game routines. But as one team executive told the Boston Globe's Fluto Shinzawa, the altered pre-game schedule may not be such a bad thing for the Bruins.

"[Expletive] that. Routine didn't help last 2 games," they said.

Follow Sean Leahy on Twitter at @Sean_Leahy

No. 1 Star: Henrik Lundqvist, New York Rangers

The Rangers goalie made 27 saves for his seventh playoff shutout, forcing a Game 7 with the Washington Capitals in a 1-0 win. Derick Brassard had the lone goal.

No. 2 Star: James Reimer, Toronto Maple Leafs

The Leafs goalie made 29 saves, many of them spectacular, as Toronto forced a Game 7 with a 3-1 win over the Boston Bruins.

No. 3 Star: Henrik Zetterberg, Detroit Red Wings

Sure, the captain took a costly penalty in the third period that led to an Anaheim Ducks goal. But he also scored the opening goal of a Game 7 on the road, and added an assist on Valtteri Filppula’s goal as the Red Wings eliminated the Ducks, 3-2.

Honorable mention: Justin Abdelkader had a shorthanded goal for the Wings. Emerson Etem and Francois Beauchemin had the Anaheim goals. … Dion Phaneuf and Phil Kessel scored for the Leafs; Milan Lucic had the Boston goal. … Jimmy Howard made 31 saves.

Conn Smythe Watch: 1. David Krejci, Boston Bruins; 2. Joe Pavelski, San Jose Sharks; 3. Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburgh Penguins; 4. Corey Crawford, Chicago Blackhawks; 5. Logan Couture, San Jose Sharks; 6. Patrick Sharp, Chicago Blackhawks 7. Craig Anderson, Ottawa Senators; 8. James Reimer, Toronto Maple Leafs; 9. Jonathan Quick, Los Angeles Kings; 10. Henrik Zetterberg, Detroit Red Wings.

Dishonorable mention: The Rangers weren’t whistled for a penalty until a scrum at 20:00 of the third period. Which is odd for a playoff game. … Saku Koivu finished the series with Detroit with a minus-4. … Corey Perry didn't have a goal in seven games. ... Tyler Seguin doesn’t have a point in six games, and was serenaded by the Leafs faithful.

Turns out it was all a big misunderstanding! April Reimer later tweeted that the two were reacting to “the jerk beside us #rudecomment.”

Well, someone at Game 6 on Sunday night wanted to make sure everyone knew he wasn’t behind the rude comment.

The shirt reads: “It Wasn’t Me #rudecomment.”

Glad he cleared that up.

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Reimer kept the Maple Leafs' playoff hopes alive with 43 saves, including 18 in the third period as Toronto edged the Boston Bruins 2-1. Tyler Bozak (shorthanded) and Clarke MacArthur were the goal scorers for the Maple Leafs as they forced a Game 6 Sunday at Air Canada Centre.

No. 2 Star: Henrik Zetterberg, Detroit Red Wings

Needing a victory to force Game 7, Zetterberg stepped up and delivered with a 3-point night as the Red Wings beat the Anaheim Ducks 4-3 in overtime. Zetterberg scored Detroit's second goal of the night early in the third period and ended his evening with the overtime winner 1:04 into the extra frame. According to the AP, the Detroit captain has the most playoff goals (50) among all players since 2006.

No. 3 Star: Dustin Penner, Los Angeles Kings

Penner scored the go-ahead goal with 0.2 seconds left in the second period to give the Kings a 2-1 lead they would not relinquish as they eliminated the St. Louis Blues in six games. Jonathan Quick made 21 saves and finished the series with a .944 save percentage. LA has won 10 consecutive games at Staples Center.

Honorable mention: Mike Ribeiro's goal 9:24 into overtime gave the Washington Capitals a 2-1 win over the New York Rangers and a 3-2 advantage in their series. Braden Holtby made 24 saves. Joel Ward's power play goal in the second period was his first goal of the playoffs. The Caps won 42 of 72 face-offs ... The Maple Leafs were credited 27 blocked shots ... Jimmy Howard made 34 saves, including this one on Teemu Selanne:

Pavel Datsyuk also recorded a three-point night. His goal was a backhanded beauty:

Did You Know? This is the first time the Red Wings have played four overtimes in a series in franchise history. (AP)

Conn Smythe Watch: 1. David Krejci, Boston Bruins; 2. Joe Pavelski, San Jose Sharks; 3. Corey Crawford, Chicago Blackhawks; 4. Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburgh Penguins; 5. Logan Couture, San Jose Sharks; 6. Patrick Sharp, Chicago Blackhawks 7. Craig Anderson, Ottawa Senators; 7. Jonathan Quick, Los Angeles Kings 8. Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins; 9. Henrik Zetterberg, Detroit Red Wings 10. Marian Hossa, Chicago Blackhawks.

Dishonorable mention: Ryane Clowe left the game in the first period with an undisclosed injury ... The Blues have been eliminated by the Kings two straight seasons.

After a scoreless first period, the Maple Leafs grabbed the lead on a Tyler Bozak shorthanded goal, their first since the centerman scored one on Feb. 7 versus the Winnipeg Jets.

As we see many times, a big save on one end of the ice leads to a goal on the other. That's what happened two minutes before Bozak's first of the playoffs when James Reimer, who finished with 43 saves, robbed Patrice Bergeron on the doorstep to keep the game scoreless:

Clarke MacArthur's goal 1:58 into the third period would stand as the game winner after Zdeno Chara cut the Toronto lead in half midway through the final period.

Maple Leafs fans spent the rest of the third period living and dying with each and every remaining scoring chance. Boston would outshoot Toronto 19-4 in the third, but Reimer stood tall stopping 18 of them to keep their season alive for at least one more game.

The Maple Leafs have made a habit of not making things easy in the postseason. Five of their last seven playoff series dating back to 2001 have gone seven games. Will they make it six of eight?

Follow Sean Leahy on Twitter at @Sean_Leahy

That included their reaction to Reimer giving up the game-winning goal to David Krejci at 13:06 of overtime, which followed an egregious Dion Phaneuf mistake in the Leafs’ offensive zone. Oh, and would you look at that: Phaneuf’s future wife, actress Elisha Cuthbert, was sitting right behind her!

Awwwwwkward …

Phaneuf’s overly aggressive play in the attacking zone led to a turnover that the Bruins took the other way, resulting in Krejci’s third goal of the game and a 3-1 series lead for Boston.

Boy, that was sloppy by Phaneuf. Zdeno Chara had the secondary assist.

The video’s a little deceptive, as April Reimer appears to be looking at a video replay of the game-winner most of the time.

But at the end, the two lock eyes and … well, it certainly seemed like a tension convention. And by that we mean we haven’t seen Cuthbert in that uncomfortable a stare down since that cougar.

Incidentally, nothing in that interaction is as awkward as Cam Neely blowing that last high five. C'mon Seabass...

UPDATE: Because this story couldn't get more absurd, here's April Reimer's tweet after the game covering up explaining the situation:

For those who were thinkin @happyelishas and I were rolling our eyes @ eachother. Was the jerk beside us #rudecomment twitter.com/april_reimer/s…

— April Reimer (@april_reimer) May 9, 2013

So there you go.

No. 1 Star: Jonathan Quick, Los Angeles Kings

Quick wasn't bad in his first two starts, but he made a few mistakes and they cost the Kings. In Game 3, however, he was fully mistake-free, stopping all 30 shots he faced in a huge 1-0 win over the St. Louis Blues. Slava Voynov scored the lone goal.

No. 2 Star: Joffrey Lupul, Toronto Maple Leafs

After the Boston Bruins took a 1-0 lead, Lupul came to life, scoring twice in the second period to put them ahead. They would stay ahead, winning 4-2. The game-winner came courtesy Phil Kessel, who's been saving himself for 24 games so this one would be extra special:

No. 3 Star: Ryan Getzlaf, Anaheim Ducks

Two-point night for Getzlaf. After picking up an assist on Nick Bonino's powerplay goal to open the scoring versus the Detroit Red Wings, Getzlaf doubled the lead for the Ducks in painful fashion for a Red Wings fan, stealing a puck from Damien Brunner and scoring a shorthanded marker:

The Ducks would go on to win 4-0.

Honourable mention: Jonas Hiller made 23 saves for the shutout in Detroit... James Reimer made 39 saves for the Maple Leafs... Mike Green scored the overtime winner for the Washington Capitals in their 1-0 victory over the New York Rangers, turning a 37-save performance by Henrik Lundqvist into a footnote. Braden Holtby picked up the shutout for Washington...

Did You Know? This is the first time the Ducks and Kings have won playoff games on the same day, according to Ducks PR. This apparently means something.

Conn Smythe Watch: 1. Brian Elliott, St. Louis Blues; 2. Antti Niemi, San Jose Sharks; 3. Corey Crawford, Chicago Blackhawks; 4. Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburgh Penguins; 5. Jonathan Quick, Los Angeles Kings; 6. Alex Steen, St. Louis Blues; 7. Erik Karlsson, Ottawa Senators; 8. Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals; 9. Patrick Marleau, San Jose Sharks; 10. Joffrey Lupul, Toronto Maple Leafs

Dishonourable mention: What, no shutout, James Reimer? Everyone else had one... That Damien Brunner giveaway was inexcusable... Justin Abdelkader could be the next NHLer suspended after his hit on Toni Lydman... Seriously, the puck-over-the-glass delay of game penalty is so stupid.

Say, did you know the Boston Bruins once traded Phil Kessel to the Toronto Maple Leafs?

Kessel has outlasted the general manager who made the trade in Toronto, to the surprise of many. He’s one of the NHL’s best offensive players … except when he faces the Bruins, which is kind of a problem if you’re the Leafs.

Who wins this battle of division rivals?

Boston Bruins (4) vs. Toronto Maple Leafs (5)

May 1: Toronto Maple Leafs at Boston Bruins, 7 p.m. ET.
May 4: Toronto Maple Leafs at Boston Bruins, 7 p.m. ET.
May 6: Boston Bruins at Toronto Maple Leafs, 7 p.m. ET.
May 8: Boston Bruins at Toronto Maple Leafs, 7 p.m. ET
May 10: Toronto Maple Leafs at Boston Bruins* TBD
May 12: Boston Bruins at Toronto Maple Leafs * TBD
May 13: Toronto Maple Leafs at Boston Bruins* TBD
*if necessary

Forwards

Boston was 13th in the NHL in goals per game at 2.65. The Bruins didn’t have a player crack 20 goals, although Brad Marchand had 18 to go along with 18 assists. Tyler Seguin had 16 goals but was deemed disappointing by the locals, who apparently felt his offensive output in a Swiss league was easily replicated.

Patrice Bergeron is one of the best two-way forwards in the NHL. David Krejci had 33 points in 47 games. Nathan Horton had 13 goals, and is someone to watch for postseason heroics. Jaromir Jagr has 9 points in 11 games with the Bruins. Then there are the grunts like Rich Peverley, Daniel Paille, Gregory Campbell, Chris Kelly and Shawn Thornton who give this team its backbone.

Which brings us to Milan Lucic. Dormant for most of the season – with seven goals in 46 games – Lucic had three points in his final two games and played with a bit more snarl. If he’s engaged physically in this series, watch out.

Toronto was sixth in the NHL at 3.02 goals per game, thanks to Phil Kessel’s 20 goals and 32 assists – including six power-play tallies. His pivot, Tyler Bozak, is battling through an injury but was expected to start the series. He had 28 points in the regular season.

Nazem Kadri was, at one point, the best offensive player on the Leafs, but this production trailed off. James van Riemsdyk had 18 goals, and has been a postseason standout in the past. Joffrey Lupul had 18 points in 16 games during an injury-shortened season. Clarke MacArthur, Nikolai Kulemin and Mikhail Grabovski provide secondary scoring.

Jay McClement could get some Selke support for his outstanding defensive play. Colton Orr will bring the necessary truculence against the Big Bad Bruins.

ADVANTAGE: EVEN

Defense

Boston was third in the NHL with a goals-against average of 2.21. To the surprise of no one, it was Zdeno Chara leading the way with 24:56 TOI per game, including 3:12 TOI shorthanded. Dennis Seidenberg was right behind him in both categories. Kessel will be quite familiar with both.

The Bruins roll a pairing of Andrew Ference and Johnny Boychuk on their second unit, with Adam McQuaid anchoring the third pairing. For the sixth D-man, the Bruins have two distinct options: Veteran Wade Redden and rookie Dougie Hamilton. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see the vet get the nod.

Toronto was 17th in the NHL with a goals-against average of 2.67. Their top pairing saw a resurgent season from Dion Phaneuf, who had 28 points in 44 games and played solid defensively. He’s paired with Carl Gunnarsson, who skated 21:16 TOI per game.

The team’s second best option late in the season? Mark Fraser and Cody Franson, the latter tallying 29 points in 45 games. Michael Kostka, John-Michael Liles and Ryan O’Byrne will be in the mix for the final pairing. It’s a group that can move the puck but isn’t going to bully anyone outside of Phaneuf and Franson.

ADVANTAGE: Boston

Goalies

A huge number of wins, a 2.00 GAA and a .938 save percentage.

That was Tim Thomas in 2010-11, before all that White House malarkey. Tuukka Rask in 2013? A huge number of wins, a 2.00 GAA and a .929 save percentage. Which is to say that he performed as well as expected behind the Bruins’ lineup.

What the Bruins are waiting to see from Rask is that special something that Thomas gave them in the playoffs; i.e. the ability to win games on his own and be the team’s MVP.

James Reimer posted 19 wins for the Leafs with a 2.46 GAA and a .924 save percentage. He gave up one goal or less in seven of his last 12 games, and was the Leafs’ backbone down the stretch. Can he handle the playoff spotlight? And if not, can Ben Scrivens be the answer?

ADVANTAGE: Boston

Does Their Season Deserve an Asterisk?

The Bruins were going to be a playoff team in a 48, 82 or 182-game season. The Leafs, it could be argued, might have been in a spot of trouble in a full regular season, especially if a team like the Flyers or Sabres found its footing and challenged for a postseason slot. So yes, affix the asterisk to them. Because honestly: Leafs? Playoffs? Anomaly, right?

Coaches

Claude Julien has made the playoffs in every season, and yet the Boston media will place him on the hot seat if the B’s go out in the first round. His system works, for sure; but at some point will this cast tune him out?

Randy Carlyle squeezed a lot out of this lineup during the regular season, and was helped by some stellar goaltending down the stretch. The roster’s lack of playoff experience means he’ll need to manage expectations and emotions.

ADVANTAGE: Even

Special Teams

Boston’s power play is traditionally subpar, and this season is no exception: No. 26 overall in the NHL at 14.8 percent. The Leafs were better at 18.7 percent, good for No. 14 in the League.

On the kill, both teams are aces: The Leafs were second in the NHL at 87.9 percent, while the Bruins were fourth at 87.1 percent.

Still, Toronto has the better power play, so …

ADVANTAGE: Toronto

Playoff Anthems

The Leafs’ “Free To Be”, which is so very inspiring …

vs. Bruins You Be Killin’em, of course.

Prediction

Bruins in 6.

Reimer steals a game in Boston, making all of Toronto go insane with delusions of first-round upsets and parade routes. The Bruins surge back; the Leafs take another; and Boston closes it out in Toronto.

Seguin scores the game winner, assisted by Hamilton. Kessel is a minus-1.

Via our friends from Bovada, here are odds to win the 2013 Stanley Cup:

Pittsburgh Penguins 7/2
Chicago Blackhawks 15/4
Boston Bruins 17/2
Anaheim Ducks 12/1
Montreal Canadiens 12/1
Los Angeles Kings 14/1
St. Louis Blues 14/1
Vancouver Canucks 14/1
San Jose Sharks 16/1
Washington Capitals 16/1
New York Rangers 18/1
Toronto Maple Leafs 20/1
Minnesota Wild 22/1
Detroit Red Wings 28/1
Ottawa Senators 28/1
New York Islanders 40/1

If you believe in late-season surges and the potential for dark-horses to reign supreme, there's some good value in picking the Capitals at 16/1. The Kings to repeat at 14/1 ain't too bad, either.

After the jump, individual player odds for the Conn Smythe Trophy.

10/1
Sidney Crosby (PIT)

15/1
Marc-Andre Fleury (PIT)
Corey Crawford (CHI)

16/1
Patrick Kane (CHI)
Jonathan Toews (CHI)

20/1
Evgeni Malkin (PIT)
Tuukka Rask (BOS)

25/1
Carey Price (MON)

30/1
James Neal (PIT)
Jonathan Quick (LAK)
Brian Elliott (STL)
Henrik Lundqvist (NYR)

33/1
Marian Hossa (CHI)

35/1
Patrice Bergeron (BOS)
Tyler Seguin (BOS)
Ryan Getzlaf (ANA)
Cory Schneider (VAN)
Antti Niemi (SJ)
Alex Ovechkin (WAS)

40/1
Henrik Sedin (VAN)
Daniel Sedin (VAN)

45/1
Braden Holtby (WAS)
James Reimer (TOR)
Niklas Backstrom (MIN)
Craig Anderson (OTT)

50/1
Kris Letang (PIT)
Patrick Sharp (CHI)
David Krejci (BOS)
Zdeno Chara (BOS)
Corey Perry (ANA)
Viktor Fasth (ANA)
Anze Kopitar (LAK)
Joe Thornton (SJ)
Rick Nash (NYR)
Jimmy Howard (DET)

55/1
Max Pacioretty (MON)
Tomas Plekanec (MON)

60/1
Phil Kessel (TOR)
Zach Parise (MIN)

65/1
Jeff Carter (LAK)
Mike Richards (LAK)
Chris Stewart (STL)
David Backes (STL)
Patrick Marleau (SJ)
Nicklas Backstrom (WAS)
Brad Richards (NYR)
Mikko Koivu (MIN)
Pavel Datsyuk (DET)
Henrik Zetterberg (DET)
John Tavares (NYI)
Evgeni Nabokov (NYI)

75/1
Bobby Ryan (ANA)
Teemu Selanne (ANA)
P.K. Subban (MON)
Alexander Steen (STL)
David Perron (STL)
Ryan Kesler (VAN)
Logan Couture (SJ)
Joe Pavelski (SJ)
Mike Ribeiro (WAS)
Nazem Kadri (TOR)
James van Riemsdyk (TOR)
Daniel Alfredsson (OTT)

80/1
Derek Stepan (NYR)
Johan Franzen (DET)

95/1
Ryan Suter (MIN)
Kyle Turris (OTT)
Erik Karlsson (OTT)
Matt Moulson (NYI)
Brad Boyes (NYI)

Even at 10/1, chucking $10 on Crosby will still get you $100 if he wins it. There's plenty of value in this list.

If you're in the bag for a Penguins-Blackhawks Final, any of Crosby, Malkin, Kane, Toews could fetch you some decent coin with those odds. But if you feel another matchup is more probable than the chalk, there's plenty of good value throughout the rest of the Smythe odds list.

Lundqvist at 30/1? Ovechkin at 35/1? If the Rangers or Capitals get to the Final, it will surely be on their shoulders. Jeff Carter at 65/1? Hard to see his goal scoring come to a screeching halt.

So, degenerate gamblers, in the words of Pierre McGuire: "Go have fun out there!"

Follow Sean Leahy on Twitter at @Sean_Leahy

The Wild celebrate the empty-net goal that assured their trip to the playoffs.

No. 1 Star: Nail Yakupov, Edmonton Oilers

Yakupov erupted in the final frame versus the Vancouver Canucks, scoring three times as part of a six-goal outburst in third to lead the Oilers to a 7-2 win. With 6 points in his final 3 games, Yakupov came from behind to win the rookie scoring race. Justin Schultz added a four-point night and Jordan Eberle scored twice.

No. 2 Star: James Neal, Pittsburgh Penguins

Neal registered a hat trick and an assist as the Penguins beat up on the Carolina Hurricanes, winning 8-3 to close out the season.

Neal's last two goals were the beginnings of the 5-goal third period for Pittsburgh.

No. 3 Star: Mike Green, Washington Capitals

Green was in on all 3 goals in the Capitals' 3-2 come-from-behind win over the Boston Bruins. He scored two powerplay goals to tie the game in the third, then set up Eric Fehr's game-winner.

Honourable mention: Martin St. Louis had a two-point night for the Tampa Bay Lightning in their 5-3 loss to the Florida Panthers, giving him 60 points on the season and the Art Ross Trophy at 37 years old... Jimmy Howard made 17 saves for the shutout as the Detroit Red Wings clinched a playoff spot with a 3-0 win over the Dallas Stars. Meanwhile, at the other end, Richard Bachman get things respectable, stopping 34 of 37... Steve Mason made 43 saves as the Philadelphia Flyers held off the Ottawa Senators, 2-1... Radim Vrbata had a hat trick and an assist and Martin Hanzal had two assists in the Phoenix Coyotes' 5-3 win over the Anaheim Ducks. ... Jaden Schwartz scored twice as the St. Louis Blues knocked off the Chicago Blackhawks, 3-1 and earned home ice in the first round in the process... Justin Williams scored the game-winner as the Los Angeles Kings beat the San Jose Sharks 3-2 to win the fifth seed in the West... Niklas Backstrom bounced back in a big way, stopping 30 shots a night after allowing 3 goals on 5 shots to propel the Wild to a 3-1 win and a playoff berth... It turned out to not be enough, but Brandon Dubinsky gave it his all, scoring a goal and adding an assist on Jack Johnson's huge game-winner in the Columbus Blue Jackets' 3-1 victory over the Nashville Predators. It's a shame this Jack Johnson goal turned out to be for naught, because the way it made the crowd erupt was incredible:

Sergei Bobrovsky was incredible too, especially on this nutty sequence, where he stops seven shots in a matter of seconds:

... Lars Eller had a three-point night as the Montreal Canadiens topped the Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-1... Henrik Lundqvist had a 20-save shutout and Rick Nash scored twice when the New York Rangers beat the listless New Jersey Devils, 4-0.

Dishonourable mention: the Bruins blew a two-goal lead in the third period in Washington... Roberto Luongo allowed 7 goals versus Edmonton, and one wonders why he was left in to allow so many in a mean-nothing game... Henrik Sedin played all of 22 seconds in this game to maintain his iron man streak... James Reimer was pulled in his final start of the season.

The Masterton Trophy is an interesting award. With its somewhat open-ended criteria -- it's presented annually to the player "who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to ice hockey" -- there are a lot of ways to justify a nomination.

Some go with the perseverance angle, nominating a player who's been through a lot. Others take the opportunity to pay tribute to a leader in the room. Others still salute an NHL veteran on a lengthy career. Either way, the result is an interesting assortment of submissions.

This year, the front-runner has to be Josh Harding, whose perseverance after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis has been an inspiration all year long. From his bio:

Harding selflessly divulged his illness because he didn’t want a distraction to affect the team during a potential shortened season. He made clear his career wasn’t over. “It would make me happy to overcome this. Not just overcome this, but to really succeed with it,” Harding said. “I want this to be a story where when we look back, it was a happy story.”

In his first start this season, Harding made 24 saves to shut out Dallas. He did have complications with a new medication that caused him to miss two months, but Harding persevered through and after a two-game conditioning stint including a win to help Houston clinch a playoff spot, Harding was recalled to Minnesota April 22.

It's tough to beat that.

Several players this year have been nominated for their work with the NHLPA during the NHL lockout, which should garner them some consideration. And Pekka Rinne is bound to get a second look, simply because his bio includes this section:

In the summer of 2006, after Rinne’s first year in North America with the Milwaukee Admirals, he was at a bachelor party in Finland when he was a victim of an assault by a pizzeria owner. The assailant fired pepper spray into Rinne’s eyes and tackled him. Rinne had to undergo shoulder surgery, which kept him out four months.

"I was still young and right away you’re thinking ‘this is it,’” Rinne said in a 2011 article about the incident. “It’s a scary feeling.” Rinne battled back from the injury and the mental scarring of the incident to become an NHL regular in 2008-09.

Having never been attacked by a pizzeria owner, I can only imagine the mental scarring. You don't ever expect pizzeria owner to nearly end your hockey career. You expect him to serve you a fresh pizza pie.

Coming up, each team's nominee for the Masterton trophy.

Anaheim Ducks - Andrew Cogliano

For his Iron Man streak of 456 games, and his Lady Byng-worthy play.

Boston Bruins - Adam McQuaid

Perseverance through several injuries and issues, including Thoracic Outlet Syndrome, which was causing dangerous blood clots in his body.

Buffalo Sabres - Jochen Hecht

Hecht was advised to retire due to his concussion problems, but he returned to the Sabres' lineup this season and played every game.

Calgary Flames - Steve Begin

Begin attended Flames' training camp as a tryout and made the team, returning to the NHL at 34 despite missing all of the 2011-12 season due to hip surgery.

Carolina Hurricanes - Dan Ellis

Ellis worked his tail off to get a job this year, first rehabbing after abdominal surgery, then joining the AHL's Charlotte Checkers, and then finally earning a roster spot in Carolina when the lockout ended.

Chicago Blackhawks - Marian Hossa

For battling back from his concussion.

Colorado Avalanche - J.S. Giguere

Giguere's been nominated for his body of work -- he's the last active player to have played for the the Hartford Whalers -- as well as his work with the Jessica Redfield Foundation.

Columbus Blue Jackets - Vinny Prospal

Prospal's been nominated for his dedication and his body of work. His bio also includes this awesome sentence: "Vinny Prospal has brought an unmistakeable joie de vivre to each of the eight NHL clubs he's played for during a 16-year, 1,100-game career."

Dallas Stars - Ray Whitney

Whitney, 40, has been nominated for his body of work.

Detroit Red Wings - Patrick Eaves

Eaves worked his way back from a broken jaw and a concussion after being hit by a shot in November of 2011.

Edmonton Oilers - Ryan Smyth

Nearing 1,200 NHL games and back where his career started, Smyth has been nominated for his outstanding body of work.

Florida Panthers - Peter Mueller

Mueller missed parts of the last three seasons with concussion issues. He's managed to put that behind him this year.

Los Angeles Kings - Jonathan Bernier

He didn't ask for a trade, per se, but he would have liked one. He didn't get one. "Over the summer, Bernier told reporters he wanted to become a starter and wasn’t sure if that would be in his future in Los Angeles. He didn’t demand a trade, but merely expressed a desire to be a starter." But he kept showing up! He also missed the team's White House visit due to the death of his grandmother.

Minnesota Wild - Josh Harding

After being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, Harding has carried on.

Montreal Canadiens - Andrei Markov

Returned to make a major impact for the Canadiens after playing just 65 games in his last three seasons while his legs were being rebuilt.

Nashville Predators - Pekka Rinne

The pizzeria owner thing! But also for taking the long road to the NHL before finally cementing himself as the backbone of the Predators.

New Jersey Devils - Stephen Gionta

For finding a home in the NHL after seven seasons in the minors and finally getting out getting out from under the shadow of his older brother, Brian.

New York Islanders - Radek Martinek

For persevering to rejoin the Islanders after playing just seven games with Columbus last season.

NY Rangers - Marc Staal

For battling back from post-concussion symptoms only to be hit in the eye with a puck.

Ottawa Senators - Andre Benoit

For leaving Europe to chase his dream to play in the NHL, then working his way up to the league this season.

Pittsburgh Penguins - Sidney Crosby

He battled back from a concussion. You probably remember. Then he had his jaw broken by a puck. Crosby's head has been through a lot.

Philadelphia Flyers - Kimmo Timonen

For his lengthy career, which reached 1,000 NHL games this season, and his perseverance through injuries.

Phoenix Coyotes - Shane Doan

Doan's been through a lot this year, between deciding where to play and eventually returning to Phoenix, his daughter suffering a dog bite to the face that called for approximately 150 stitches, and the work he did with the NHLPA during the lockout.

San Jose Sharks - James Sheppard

For working his way back into the league after tearing up his knee in an ATV accident two years ago.

St. Louis Blues - Brian Elliott

For overcoming a rough year, where he battled lockout rust, Jake Allen stealing his job, and a conditioning assignment in the AHL before finally finding his game.

Tampa Bay Lightning - B.J. Crombeen

Nominated for his hard work, his willingness to stand up for his teammates, his work with the NHLPA during the lockout. Plus he has Diabetes.

Toronto Maple Leafs - James Reimer

Reimer earned the nod for helping lead the Leafs to the playoffs despite all the uncertainty surrounding his tenure in Toronto. "Since coming to the Leafs, his ability as an NHL calibre goaltender has been constantly questioned and he has lived almost a full calendar year under constant reports the Leafs are bringing in a veteran to replace him."

Vancouver Canucks - Kevin Bieksa

Bieksa was nominate both for his charitable work during the lockout, staying in Vancouver and organizing the Bieksa's Buddies event, and for his work with Mindcheck.ca.

Washington Capitals - Tom Poti

The Capitals were inspired by Poti's improbable return to the NHL after a fractured pelvis and groin problems that had George McPhee unsure he would ever play again.

Winnipeg Jets - Ron Hainsey

Hainsey is nominated for his impressive pro career, working his way back from a shoulder injury and a skate cut last year, and for his work with the NHLPA during the NHL lockout.

No. 1 Star: Ryan Callahan, New York Rangers

The Rangers captain scored the game-winning goal at 2:55 of overtime, sending his team to the playoffs with a 4-3 victory at the Carolina Hurricanes. Callahan beat goalie Dan Ellis cleanly, picking the corner for his 15th of the season. He also had an earlier assist on Derek Stepan’s first-period goal.

No. 2 Star: Tuukka Rask, Boston Bruins

Rask made 30 saves, helping the Bruins shut down Steven Stamkos and Marty St. Louis in their 2-0 whitewash of the Tampa Bay Lightning.

No. 3 Star: Cam Atkinson, Columbus Blue Jackets

The Jackets forward opened and closed the scoring with goals, as Columbus stayed alive for a playoff spot with a 3-1 win over the Dallas Stars. His second goal, a power-play tally at 18:20 of the third period, was a dagger.

Honorable mention: The Detroit Red Wings had five different goal scorers in their 5-2 win over the Nashville Predators; Pavel Datsyuk had three points. … Oliver Lauridsen’s goal was the difference and Ilya Bryzgalov made 21 saves in the Flyers’ 2-1 win over the Islanders. … The New Jersey Devils rallied with three goals, including Ilya Kovalchuk’s game winner, in their 3-2 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. … After finding out they missed the playoffs, the Winnipeg Jets allowed three third-period goals to the Montreal Canadiens in their 4-2 loss. David Desharnais had the game-winner. … Brad Staubitz’s first of the season and 28 Jonas Hiller saves propelled the Anaheim Ducks to a 3-1 win over the Vancouver Canucks. … Ryan Reaves’ two goals helped the St. Louis Blues to a 4-1 win over the Calgary Flames. … Sergei Gonchar’s power-play goal in OT clinched a playoff spot for the Ottawa Senators against Washington. Craig Anderson made 19 saves in the 2-1 win; Alex Ovechkin scored goal No. 32. … Phil Kessel scored two goals and James Reimer made 34 saves in the Toronto Maple Leafs’ 4-0 win over the Florida Panthers. … Jiri Tlusty had two goals for the Hurricanes. …

Did you know? With Jared Staal being called up to Carolina, it is the 10th time that three brothers played for the same team in the same season in North American major pro sports history and the first time since the Statsnys did it for the Quebec Nordiques in 1985, according to STATS. (AP)

Dishonorable mention: The Rangers were helped by a weak tripping call vs. Tuomo Ruutu in the third period, which led to a fluky tying goal. … Peter Mueller was a minus-3. … Tim Jackman of the Flames was given an instigator and a misconduct for this fight against Ryan Reaves:

The old man still has it. The 37-year old St. Louis recorded his seventh career hat trick and passed Sidney Crosby in the NHL's scoring race as the Lightning beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-2. Steven Stamkos scored his 29th of the season and added an assist to tie Crosby for second overall in points with 56.

No. 2 Star: Patrick Kane, Chicago Blackawks

The Blackhawks downed the Edmonton Oilers 4-1 and clinched their first Presidents' Trophy since the 1990-91 season. Kane led the way with his 22nd goal of the year and two assists. Jonathan Toews also scored his 22nd goal, while Corey Crawford stopped all 14 shots he faced in relief of Ray Emery, including this one on Jordan Eberle:

No. 3 Star: Mike Smith, Phoenix Coyotes

The San Jose Sharks missed an opportunity to go two points up on the Los Angeles Kings as they dropped a 2-1 decision to the Coyotes. Smith backstopped Phoenix to their 20th win of the season with 33 saves. First period goals by Michael Stone and Keith Yandle were the difference. Coyotes captain Shane Doan assisted on both goals.

Honorable mention: Tampa snapped their six-game losing streak ... St. Louis' hat trick was the first for the Lightning this season ... Pavel Datsyuk scored the game-tying goal midway through the second period and later setup Johan Franzen's insurance tally as the Red Wings moved into the Western Conference's No. 8 seed with a 3-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings. Jimmy Howard made 23 saves for his 19th win of the season. Henrik Zetterberg chipped in a pair of assists.

Did you know? Since the 2011-12 season, Phoenix is 46-1-1 when leading after two periods. (FS Arizona)

Dishonorable mention: James Reimer has allowed 10 goals in his last three starts ... Edmonton lost for the ninth time in 10 games ... Ray Emery left the game after 13:49 with a lower-body injury and according to head coach Joel Quenneville, he's "day-to-day."

Puck Daddy's daily Death Watch posts have become essential reading for me in a very short period of time because the races to see who can squeeze into the playoffs have been particularly fascinating this season.

Not that this is the kind of thing I think we should be saying too loudly, lest Gary Bettman and his cadre hear, but I've really come to enjoy the fact that this is a 48-game season instead of an 82-gamer. Each loss is that much more agonizing, each win that much more likely to bring a postseason berth. There's something to be said for the cold brutality of the natural selection that emerges over the course of a six-month season as opposed to one that runs three and a half, because it does a lot to ensure that the best teams possible are competing for the Stanley Cup. But seeing all these bad ones white-knuckle it has been fascinating.

The East is a conference with its playoff teams all but decided at this point, though Winnipeg has the slimmest glimmer of hope for unseating Washington atop the abysmal Southeast. Nonetheless, the fact that a team like New Jersey was hanging around at all says a lot about the type of competition they were facing.

It has given teams hope they almost certainly wouldn't have had otherwise, and allowed not-great teams like the Maple Leafs to secure a playoff spot they would almost assuredly have lost were it not for the fact that the calendar saved them from statistical correction running them down and sinking its teeth into their throat like a cheetah on the Serengeti.

The West, as you might expect given the generally higher quality of the teams involved therein, is far more interesting, insofar as the Blue Jackets, the team that spent most of the week in eighth place, has also spent pretty much that entire time with less of a chance of sneaking in than the Red Wings lurking directly behind them.

This, too, is somewhat a function of the shortened schedule: Games in hand simply mean far more than they do in an 82-game schedule, and holding on with slipping, whitening fingertips to that final playoff spot for a week has meant all the more given the number of games currently being packed into your average seven-day period this time around as opposed to the norm.

Normally, I'm all for seeing teams not good enough for a playoff appearance having their hopes scuttled on jagged rocks as soon as humanly possible, so everyone can get on with the business of watching hockey that's actually compelling in any way. But because of all these atypically tight races, even the games featuring otherwise bad teams are coming off as interesting and even lively.

Were this a season of standard length, Columbus would, at this late date, be playing out the string as the Tampas and Edmontons of the world; but no, still they hold on, fighting for lives that they otherwise wouldn't necessarily deserve. The short season has made a hero of Sergei Bobrovsky in particular, because to expect him to do this behind that Jackets defense for 60 games seems a mighty big ask.

The other genuinely great thing about this shortened season is the way in which it will create strong first-round matchups that otherwise might not happen.

The Rangers getting to take on Pittsburgh or Montreal in the first round, depending upon where they finish, is something that wouldn't happen over 82 games because even with that ugly start, they'd have had far longer to recover from it. Obviously they still wouldn't win their division, but the likelihood of their taking down fourth or fifth seems quite high if they were allowed to continue playing around the level at which they're currently humming along. Instead, we're likely to get a previously-struggling Ranger team playing a now-struggling Montreal, or an ever-dominant Pittsburgh, and the result is likely to be some high-quality hockey.

That, instead of the Pens running through an eighth-seed of traditional quality (i.e. low) is going to be far more interesting.

Obviously the problem with this 48-game season is what it took to bring about its existence, an acrimonious lockout brought on by supercilious owners and league executives who care only about bleeding fans dry, and it's not something I'd be willing to go through ever again.

But given the reality of the situation, you have to be pretty happy with how everything turned out across the league.

What We Learned

Anaheim Ducks: Here's a video of the Anaheim Ducks participating in a fashion show, but not one vowed to "wiggle it at 'em" so I guess I would recommend not watching it.

Boston Bruins: The Bruins have allowed six power play goals in the last three games before Sunday's contest with abject Florida. They'd allowed 12 in the previous 40. That's a bad slump in my opinion.

Buffalo Sabres: You can pretty much say adios to Ryan Miller in Buffalo. Asked if getting booed by fans once again prompted any Patrick Roy-in-Montreal feelings, Miller said, "It doesn't mean I want to leave, but if that's what you’re getting at, the guy won two Stanley Cups after, so hey, why not?"

Calgary Flames: The Flames re-upped Joey MacDonald to a one-year deal and if you had any lingering doubts that Miikka Kiprusoff was going to retire, this should put them to bed.

Carolina Hurricanes: If you read one "Losing the Southeast is going to suck for this already-bad team" column today, make it this one.

Chicago Blackhawks: Even losing at home in the shootout to the Coyotes isn't enough to stop the Blackhawks from feeling great about themselves. If we get a Penguins/Blackhawks Cup Final we might as well shut down hockey forever because it's gonna be tough to top that.

Colorado Avalanche: The passing on this Avs goal, the only one they scored against the Oilers on Friday, was just awesome.

Columbus Blue Jackets: Missing Artem Anisimov, Nikita Nikitin, and Matt Calvert is no way to head into your most important stretch of the season, unfortunately.

Dallas Stars: Starting to look like the Stars will have an "outdoor" game at Cowboys Stadium at some point in the near future, and by then it might not even be the first of its kind to not sell out. Good job from the NHL as always.

Detroit Red Wings presented by Amway: Mike Babcock has all kinds of praise for Danny DeKeyser's puck-moving ability. Gustav Nyquist's ability to be a top-six forward, though? Not so much.

Edmonton Oilers: Don Cherry thinks Craig MacTavish will have things turned around in Edmonton within two years, which, umm, nope.

Florida Panthers: The Panthers went up 2-0 on the Devils on Saturday afternoon. Then they lost 6-2. They finished the game with 13 shots on goal. That's somehow worse than I expect them to play at this point.

Los Angeles Kings: Dustin Penner is already starting to grow out his playoff beard. But if Jonathan Quick doesn't turn his game around in a hurry, it won't get much beyond a playoff five o'clock shadow.

Minnesota Wild: It's believed the Wild will try to re-sign Matt Cullen but don't expect them to give him anything better than the current deal he's on. It's for three years and $3.5 million per. Would you have guessed that Cullen made that much?

Montreal Canadiens: The Habs had an unscheduled morning skate on Sunday, which is what happens when you give up a fiver to Washington at home. Nothing is working any more.

Nashville Predators: The Preds' executives are perfectly content to chalk this team missing the playoffs to injuries, but that doesn't mean they're not going to be "very busy" this summer. Hey, maybe they can try to get that Suter guy back.

New Jersey Devils: Ilya Kovalchuk is back in the lineup after missing 11 games and that's probably going to prove one of those too-little-too-late developments.

New York Islanders: What do you think is happening with the Jets' transition defense on this Michael Grabner goal? Do you think everyone on the team had a brain aneurysm at the same time? Is that what you think happened? Because that's what it looked like. It looked like everyone forgot how to play hockey right on this play. And then they lost in a shootout. Not like they needed that two points or anything.

New York Rangers: Just how soon will Derek Dorsett be able to play for the Rangers after he fractured his clavicle? He's at least shooting pucks in practice, and is now in Week 7 of the original estimate of missing between six and eight. So, soon, I guess.

Ottawa Senators: So we can all just agree Erik Karlsson is like a superhuman freak, right? That's just a thing now?

Philadelphia Flyers: Who, exactly, will bear the blame for this lost season in Philly? Peter Laviolette? Paul Holmgren? Ilya Bryzgalov? Danny Briere? The smart money is on "All of the above."

Phoenix Coyotes: Today is Day No. 255 since Jude LaCava of Fox 10 in Arizona said Greg Jamison would have the deal for the Coyotes sewn up within the next five days.

Meanwhile, this happened.

Pittsburgh Penguins: Ray Shero was heated after Jack Edwards compared Matt Cooke to Sirhan Sirhan. So much so that he confronted the Bruins' broadcaster between periods.

San Jose Sharks: The Sharks better hope they get a home ice seed in the postseason, because they entered Sunday's game 16-1-5 at HP Pavilion. They're 8-12-2 on the road.

St. Louis Blues: The Blues are listed as a seriously troubling potential playoff opponent for the top-seeded Blackhawks despite the fact that Chicago went 3-0-1 against them in the regular season. Meaning that when your scariest opponent got two of a possible eight points from you, the shape you're in isn't all that bad at all.

Tampa Bay Lightning: "Lightning defense needs major upgrade." This headline came over the weekend, but also could have come at any point in the last year and a half.

Toronto Maple Leafs: The Maple Leafs are in the playoffs for the first time in forever. It's gonna be one exciting first-round bounce-out for the center of the hockey universe! Shout out to Brian Burke for putting together a playoff-caliber lineup.

Vancouver Canucks: Just how far can the Canucks go in this postseason? They can very much look like the two-time reigning Presidents Trophy winner or a team that still hasn't even clinched the Northwest title on any given night, which doesn't portend good things going forward.

Washington Capitals: Great stuff from Alex Ovechkin after he scored twice and the Caps beat Montreal: " I pretty happy I’m scoring goals. I’m pretty happy we’re winning games."

Winnipeg Jets: Taking solace in getting a point in an ugly home shootout loss is all well and good but the Jets played like garbage and are gonna get creamed by whichever top seed they draw if they make the playoffs, which they won't.

Play of the Weekend

I guess this is what the Islanders picked up Lubomir Visnovsky for.

Gold Star Award

James Reimer has been really great not only this weekend, but all season. I hate to break that to you all. He's awesome.

Minus of the Weekend

Shame on the Ducks for letting Brian McGrattan go coast to coast. In real life.

Perfect HFBoards Trade Proposal of the Week

User "Sick Rash" is doin' fine.

Rangers get:
D Dustin Byfuglien

Jets get:
D Michael Del Zotto
F J.T. Miller
C Brian Boyle

Signoff

Come on baby, why don't you come over tonight? I've got a new laser pointer.

Ryan Lambert publishes hockey awesomeness almost never over at The Two-Line Pass. Check it out, why don’t you? Or you can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter if you so desire.

No. 1 Star: James Reimer, Toronto Maple Leafs

The Leafs goalie made 49 (!) saves in their 4-1 victory at the Ottawa Senators, continuing his mastery of the Battle of Ontario rivals. That included 18 saves in a scoreless first period. Reimer’s efforts and two goals from James van Riemsdyk led Toronto to its first playoff berth since 2004.

No. 2 Star: Wayne Simmonds, Philadelphia Flyers

Simmonds tallied a hat trick and added an assist on Matt Read’s third-period insurance goal as the Flyers defeated the Carolina Hurricanes, 5-3. Both he and Read were a plus-4. Jakub Voracek scored his 20th for the Flyers.

No. 3 Star: Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals

The Montreal Canadiens were in a giving mood again, losing to the Washington Capitals by a 5-1 count. Ovechkin increased his lead for the goal scoring title with two more tallies, as well as an assist on Nicklas Backstrom’s power-play goal. He now has 30 goals in 45 games. Troy Brouwer also had two goals for the Capitals.

Honorable Mention: Tomas Vokoun made 38 saves and Jussi Jokinen had a goal and two assists in the Pittsburgh Penguins’ 3-2 win over the Boston Bruins. Jarome Iginla scored on the power play against the team that nearly traded for him. … Patrik Elias scored two goals as the Devils rallied to defeat the Florida Panthers, 6-2. Marty Brodeur only faced 13 shots. … David Schlemko scored the skills competition winner and Mike Smith made 36 saves in the game as the Phoenix Coyotes defeated the Chicago Blackhawks, 3-2. Brent Seabrook had two goals. … John Tavares had the deciding goal in the skills competition, as the New York Islanders defeated the Winnipeg Jets, 5-4. … Finally, the Vancouver Canucks defeated the Detroit Red Wings in the skills competition, 2-1, with this nasty bit of patience from Maxim Lapierre:

Did You Know? The Leafs, Kings and Canucks all clinched playoff spots.

Dishonorable Mention: Jay Harrison and Jamie McBain were both a minus-3. … Carey Price gave up five goals on 25 shots. … Tomas Kopecky, Filip Kuba and Dmitry Kulikov were all a minus-3. … Finally, Fraser McLaren fought Matt Kassian and got a little head-butty:

The Washington Capitals are 9-0-1 in their last 10 games and are the hottest team in the NHL. There isn't any mystery as to the catalyst - Alexander Ovechkin. His line, be it on the power play or at even strength, has combined for 33 points in the last two weeks. Meanwhile, the Chicago Blackhawks are 8-1-1, but they have such scoring depth that none of their lines crack the Top 20. Everybody's contributing.

Here is a snippet of the top scoring lines since the trade deadline (not including Wednesday night), courtesy of Frozen Pool.

Line combos with four players indicate a power-play unit.

Studs...

These fellas are wielding a hot stick. Take that into consideration when you go after them in trade talks...

Claude Giroux, Philadelphia Flyers (27-10-24-34, even, 10 PIM, 85 SOG) – Giroux and the Flyers took 16 games to get warmed up. Since then, the team has gone 13-11-3, which is a pace that gets them into the dance. So yeah, everything's back to normal now. Giroux's a 90-point player and the Flyers are a playoff team. Too bad it happened too late.

Bryan Little, Winnipeg Jets (4-1-6-7, plus-4, 0 PIM, 7 SOG) – This is why we love poking our eyes with a stick fantasy hockey. When a player can go six games without a point and post a minus-8…and get dropped by most owners, only to turn it around with a four-game run like this one.

Brenden Morrow, Pittsburgh Penguins (4-5-3-8, plus-6, 11 PIM, 9 SOG, 2 PPPts) – Morrow has six points with Sidney Crosby, James Neal and Evgeni Malkin out of the lineup. Without looking it up, I can safely say that those three gobbled up a combined 3000+ minutes of PP time per game. Now that time is available for players such as Morrow.

James Reimer, Toronto Maple Leafs (4-0-1, 1.38 GAA, 0.956 SV%, 1 SO) – Reimer's next game will be the 100th of his career. He is 51-29-14 between the pipes behind what has often been a weak team. Also, for the last two years I've had this song play in my head every time I hear his name:

Duds...

Somebody wake these guys up – their fantasy owners are counting on them...

Carey Price, Montreal Canadiens (0-4-0, 6.43 GAA, 0.813 SV%) – A goalie putting up four weak performances in a row in mid-April generally means that he's been itching to play golf. While he works out the kinks in his game before the postseason kicks off, keep him on the bench.

Francois Beauchemin, Anaheim Ducks (9-0-1-1, even, 4 PIM, 14 SOG) – Beauchemin was arguably one of the five best defensemen in the league this season heading into April. But now Leaf fans can rest easy - his numbers are starting to come down to earth.

Jordan Eberle, Edmonton Oilers (6-0-0-0, minus-8, 10 PIM, 14 SOG) – Six consecutive games as a "minus" player and five straight games with a minor penalty - when he only has eight minors all year. Just doing his part in helping his team get that precious first overall pick, per Steve Tambellini's instructions. (Psst - Jordan, check your voicemail)

David Perron, St. Louis Blues (16-0-4-4, even, 16 PIM, 23 SOG) – After putting up 19 points in 23 games to start the season, Perron began to notice Ken Hitchcock's icy glare every time he looked over his shoulder. He immediately fell in line and his numbers are now a better reflection of the Hitchcock system.

The Wire

Last week I had the magic touch, recommending Alex Chiasson, Vernon Fiddler, Jack Hillen, Alex Galchenyuk and Richard Bachman for your waiver scoop. All would have provided pretty big boosts over the weekend. Let's see if I can keep the ball rolling. Mostly short-term grabs here, but as always some potential steals...

Lars Eller, Montreal Canadiens (7-2-5-7, plus-2, 17 PIM, 11 SOG) – Eller's steady increase in his points-per-game average, year over year, bodes well for a breakout in 2013-14 (his fourth NHL campaign). After 0.22 points per game as a rookie, he followed it up with 0.35 and now 0.59.

Frans Nielsen, New York Islanders (8-1-6-7, plus-3, 2 PIM, 15 SOG) – You can take Nielsen's numbers to the bank. Year-over-year, he's steady as she goes:

2008-09 - 0.56 points per game

2009-10 - 0.50

2010-11 - 0.62

2011-12 - 0.57

2012-13 - 0.58

Kevin Porter, Buffalo Sabres (8-4-3-7, plus-7, 2 PIM, 14 SOG) – The 2008 Hobey Baker winner has had a difficult time finding his way at the NHL level. But he's seeing significant minutes in Buffalo's last minute charge at a playoff spot.

T.J. Brodie, Calgary Flames (4-0-3-3, plus-1, 0 PIM, 5 SOG, 2 PPPts) – This is kind of a lame one, meant for those of you with a need for a depth blueliner. Brodie's ice time is through the roof now that Jay Bouwmeester is gone, and that has occasionally translated into points.

Sven Baertschi, Calgary Flames (3-2-2-4, plus-3, 0 PIM, 5 SOG) – The Flames replaced Max Reinhart with Mikael Backlund as Baertschi's centerman and the move has been paying dividends. Backlund has four points in four games (13 shots).

Brandon Dubinsky, Columbus Blue Jackets (4-0-4-4, plus-4, 27 PIM, 7 SOG) – Judging by the penalty minutes, Dubinsky's a little cranky from the bout of the flu that he suffered through just over a week ago.

Benoit Pouliot, Tampa Bay Lightning (6-2-3-5, plus-5, 4 PIM, 12 SOG) – Between his healthy scratches and lengthy benchings, Pouliot is still managing to put up the points and plus/minus numbers. A risk, given the minimal ice time, but still worth considering.

Heating Up?

Here's where I'll fire off a few names of players who may be at the very beginning of a nice little run. Just a gut feeling, but worth looking into and/or taking a chance on:

Matt Niskanen, Pittsburgh; Brendan Smith, Detroit; Dustin Brown, Los Angeles; Charlie Coyle, Minnesota; Mats Zuccarello, N.Y. Rangers; Erik Gustafsson, Philadelphia; Martin Erat, Washington; Mikhail Grabovski, Toronto;

For more fantasy hockey tips, take a gander at DobberHockey. And while you’re at it, follow Dobber’s fantasy hockey musings on Twitter.

Unfortunately, when Ilya Kovalchuk left the lineup with an injury, he took the team’s offense with him: Since March 23, the Devils have scored two or fewer goals in eight of 10 games.

They’ve lost all 10. They are not a successful Devils team.

Hey, silver lining: It’s a great Hart Trophy argument for Kovalchuk.

The defending Eastern Conference champs were stymied by James Reimer (32 saves) and flat-out snake-bitten at other times in a 2-0 loss at the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday night. They limited the Leafs to 12 shots; all Toronto needed was a Phil Kessel power play goal for the win, because the Devils’ offense is as potent as a keg of O’Doul’s right now.

The Devils have 40 points with six games remaining. That’s six points from the New York Rangers in the No. 8 seed, who have seven games left. The teams face each other twice before the end of the season, which keeps the Devils’ hopes faintly alive.

But who are we kidding? This 10-game losing streak has all but guaranteed that, for the second time in franchise history, the Devils will go from the Stanley Cup Final to outside the playoff picture in the span of a season.

Was it the ill-timed Martin Brodeur injury earlier this season? Was it the Kovalchuk injury at the end of last month? Was it Zach Parise’s departure?

Or was is the demonic hex placed on the team when Marty Brodeur reached the Number of the Beast …

As you may know, ‘666’ is associated with the Devil, a.k.a. Lucifer, a.k.a. “the dark spirit of seething rage.”

As you may know, the Devils’ Marty Brodeur is the all-time leader in wins for a goalie in the NHL. He won his 666th game on March 23, a 2-1 win against the Florida Panthers.

Neither Brodeur nor the Devils have won since.

Making the situation just a tad more eerie: Brodeur’s brother told him that he should retire after reaching win No. 666 “because that's the number of the Devil."

Spooooookkkkyyyy…

Via Tom Gulitti of the Bergen Record, Brodeur addressed the hellish curse on the Devils after his 666th win:

Could it be the number that’s causing this incomprehensible run of losses?

“Now, it looks like that, huh?” Brodeur said tonight. “We’ve got to find something. We’ve got to break through that curse, I guess.”

Look, not to get all Hexakosioihexekontahexaphobic, but clearly the Devils’ demise can be tracked to Brodeur reaching the Mark of the Beast.

Nope, not Johan Hedberg becoming a sieve in Marty’s absence. Nor Kovalchuk’s ill-timed injury. Nor the injury to Dainius Zubrus. Nor David Clarkson’s one goal in 10 games. Nor Travis Zajac playing like a third liner despite a fat new contract. Nor captain Bryce Salvador failing to resemble the player he was last season. Nor the losses of Larry Robinson and Adam Oates from Peter DeBoer’s bench. Nor the punch-less roster that’s second to Nashville in fewest goals per game. Nor their terrible 2-7 shootout record that’s starved them of their steady diet of charity points.

No, it’s gotta be the 6-6-6.

Which means the Devils can do only one thing here: Sign Miro Satan, give him the No. 6 (featured on his shoulders and his back) and balance the equation. (You realize what Satan’s player profile number is on Yahoo!, right? Check the URL.)

No. 1 Star: James Reimer, Toronto Maple Leafs

Reimer was incredible in a 2-0 win over the New Jersey Devils, as the Leafs managed just 12 shots against Marty Brodeur. He made 32 saves. He was their best penalty killer in the Leafs thwarting four power plays. He stopped 16 shots in the third to make Phil Kessel’s goal stand up until a Jay McClement empty netter – a goal that, naturally, Reimer assisted on.

No. 2 Star: Nick Foligno, Columbus Blue Jackets

After Sergei Bobrovsky kept the game knotted with some spectacular OT saves, Foligno kept the Blue Jackets’ playoff hopes alive with a 4-3 win at the Colorado Avalanche. R.J. Umberger sent the game into OT with a goal at 18:33 of the third.

No. 3 Star: Scott Hartnell, Philadelphia Flyers

The Flyers forward notched a hat trick in their 7-3 rout of the Montreal Canadiens. Hartnell scored two power-play goals in the second period and then added another at even strength in the third.

Honorable Mention: Andrew Shaw and Jonathan Toews had a goal and an assist while Marian Hossa had three points in the Chicago Blackhawks’ 5-2 win over the Dallas Stars. Ray Emery improved to 16-1-0 on the season. Jamie Benn had both goals for Dallas. … Antti Niemi made 35 saves and Tommy Wingels had a goal and an assist in the San Jose Sharks’ 4-0 whitewash of the Phoenix Coyotes. … Linemates Ryan Kesler (2 goals) and Derek Roy (1 goal, 1 assist) helped lead the Vancouver Canucks to a 5-2 win over the Nashville Predators, eliminating them from playoff contention. Roberto Luongo made 36 saves. … Jason Pominville scored two goals and Ryan Suter had an assist and was a plus-3 in the Minnesota Wild’s 4-3 win at the Calgary Flames. Ben Hanowski scored his first NHL goal in the loss. ... Cody McLeod scored two goals for the Avs.

Did You Know? The Bruins and Senators were postponed due to the Boston Marathon bombings.

Dishonorable Mention: Trevor Daley was a minus-3. … Ryan O'Byrne had three minor penalties for the Leafs. … Martin Hanzel was 9-for-31 on faceoffs. … David Legwand and Taylor Beck were minus-3. … Shea Weber, Andrew Alberts and Zack Kassian were all given misconducts in the third period. ... Carey Price was pulled after giving up six goals on 29 shots. … Ryan White is expected to have an in-person hearing for this brutal hit on Kent Huskins.

According to the NESN broadcast, the Carolina Hurricanes' powerplay is so bad, it transcends the 30-team NHL. [Reddit]

No. 1 Star: Brenden Morrow, Pittsburgh Penguins

Morrow was in on all 3 goals in the Penguins 3-1 win over the Florida Panthers, assisting on the first, scoring the second, then icing the game with an empty-netter. Beau Bennett added two assists as well.

No. 2 Star: Henrik Lundqvist, New York Rangers

It was a goaltender's duel on Long Island, and Lundqvist came out on top, making 29 saves for the 1-0 overtime victory. Dan Girardi was the unlikely hero, converting after a slick little saucer pass from Derick Brassard:

No. 3 Star: Jhonas Enroth, Buffalo Sabres

Enroth stopped all 29 shots he faced to stake the Sabres to a 1-0 win over the Philadelphia Flyers.

Honourable mention: Richard Bachman made 31 saves and the Dallas Stars won their 5th in a row, 2-1, over the San Jose Sharks. Alex Chiasson scored again, giving him 6 goals in 6 NHL games. With the win, the Stars moved into a three-way tie for 8th place in the West... Sergei Bobrovsky made 39 saves as the Columbus Blue Jackets edged the Minnesota Wild, 3-2, in a shootout. The two points helped the BJs join the Red Wings and Wild in eighth in the West. Jason Pominville had a two-point night for Minnesota... Mike Green had the lethal tough Saturday. Not only did he destroy Nate Thompson's visor, but he crushed the overtime winner in the Washington Capitals' 6-5 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning. Alex Ovechkin added his 27th of the year:

Richard Panik had a three-point night in the loss... The Colorado Avalanche came back to beat the Vancouver Canucks for the first time in 10 games. Jan Hejda's first goal of the season made it 4-3 with 7.6 seconds remaining... Justin Peters made 28 saves (one of them of the spectacular variety) as the Carolina Hurricanes topped the Boston Bruins, 4-2... Jay McClement had a goal and an assist and James Reimer made 36 saves as the Toronto Maple Leafs routed the Montreal Canadiens, 5-1... Max Reinhart scored his first NHL goal in the Calgary Flames' 4-1 win over the Edmonton Oilers... Mike Richards' powerplay goal late in the second stood up as the game-winner in the Los Angeles Kings' 2-1 win over the Anaheim Ducks.

Did You Know? The Maple Leafs only had 5 shots on goal in the first period versus Montreal. They scored four times. The last team to have that kind of first was the Pittsburgh Penguins on Oct 25, 1990, versus the Quebec Nordiques. [Kevin Gibson]

Dishonourable mention: Steve Mason will probably have nightmares about the game-winner in the Flyers' loss to the Sabres. It comes off the boards, then banks off his skate and in:

Carey Price was pulled after allowing 3 goals on 4 shots... Charlie Coyle received a match penalty for this hit to Artem Anisimov, which sure looks shoulder on shoulder from this angle. Will the league rescind? Will they produce another, more damning angle and suspend?

Last week, Sportsnet's Nick Kypreos reported that Kiprusoff would not report to a team if he was traded and instead would retire. Then after a few days, the talk heated up again, with Kiprusoff being connected with the Toronto Maple Leafs. It appeared he was contemplating going forward with such a move, but TSN's Darren Dreger and Sportsnet's Roger Millions report that the 36-year old goaltender will remain in Calgary and retire at the end of the season.

Flames GM Jay Feaster had been in contact with Maple Leafs GM Dave Nonis and Kiprusoff's agent, Larry Kelly, but even the idea of a potential contract extension after this season wasn't enough to change his mind. So does this now put Nonis' focus on to Roberto Luongo?

James Reimer called the deadline a distraction, and with all the buzz around what the Maple Leafs may or may not do, he won't be the only one to see 3 p.m. ET come and go later today.

Follow Sean Leahy on Twitter at @Sean_Leahy

Perhaps that’s what the Toronto Maple Leafs are trying to discern in getting permission from the Flames to speak with Kiprusoff’s agent about a trade and a contract extension, under 48 hours before the NHL trade deadline.

From TSN:

Maple Leafs general manager Dave Nonis has been vocal about his interest in adding a veteran goaltender to play alongside James Reimer and Kiprusoff's name has been front and centre. According to TSN Hockey Insider Darren Dreger, the Leafs have discussed a contract extension with Kiprusoff's agent.

Kiprusoff has one year remaining past this season on a six-year deal he signed prior to the 2008-09 season worth an average annual value of $5.8333 million.

The Calgary Sun reports that the Flames have extended the invite to talk with Kiprusoff to more than one NHL team. Keep in mind he can't sign an extension until July 1 under the terms of the CBA.

Is this an upgrade over the tandem of Ben Scrivens and James Reimer?

They’ve combined for a team GAA of 2.67 while Kiprusoff has a 3.52 GAA. Granted, different teams in front of them with different circumstances. But those are the numbers.

The Leafs duo had to deal with this Kirprusoff stuff last month too. From the Toronto Sun:

“That’s the way you have to handle it,” Scrivens said, wearing an omnipresent smile on his face. “Part of playing in Toronto are dealing with the endless rumours. And that’s fine. Because, as I said during the summer, once the rumours stop, that means people have stopped caring about hockey here. And that certainly would be the worst-case scenario.

“Listen, any way they can upgrade the team, they should go for it. Any way they can improve, I agree with it.

Now, this Kiprusoff stuff broke the same day that the Vancouver Canucks went public with multi-team discussions about Roberto Luongo that have gone “beyond the 'tire kicking' stage."

He’s younger than Kiprusoff and better, but has nine years remaining on his contract.

It’s hard to imagine one public leak isn’t related to the other, or that Dave Nonis would rather deal for Kipper rather than trade for Luongo (again). But time will tell.

No. 1 Star: Taylor Hall, Edmonton Oilers

Hall set an Oilers record for the fastest hat trick to start a game at 7:53, beating the three goals in 12:38 set by Wayne Gretzky in 1986, as Edmonton defeated the Vancouver Canucks, 4-0. Devan Dubnyk made 23 stops for his second shutout of the season.

No. 2 Star: Nazem Kadri, Toronto Maple Leafs

Kadri had a natural hat trick and assisted on Joffrey Lupul’s first period goal, as the Leads shut out the Ottawa Senators, 4-0. James Reimer had the 31-save shutout. Lupul had a goal and three assists.

No. 3 Star: Semyon Varlamov, Colorado Avalanche

Varlamov stopped all 34 shots he faced, and Tyson Barrie’s goal 50 seconds into overtime gave him the 1-0 win over the Nashville Predators.

Honorable mention: Matt Cooke completed a dominating game with a third-period goal and Tomas Vokoun made 35 saves as the Pittsburgh Penguins won their 15th straight game, 2-0 over the New York Islanders. … Alex Ovechkin’s shootout goal completed a Washington Capitals’ rally for a 4-3 win over the Buffalo Sabres. Mike Green’s goal at 19:20 of the third tied the game. Ville Leino scored his first two goals of the season in the loss. … Mike Knuble and Matt Read spotted the Philadelphia Flyers a lead they wouldn’t surrender as they upset the Boston Bruins, 3-1. Ilya Bryzgalov made 33 saves. … Eric Staal’s goal 28 seconds into the third period was the dagger, as Justin Peters’ 34-save effort propelled the Carolina Hurricanes to a 3-1 win over the Winnipeg Jets, snapping their seven-game winless streak. … Logan Couture had the lone goal in the shootout, as the San Jose Sharks defeated the Phoenix Coyotes, 3-2. Marc-Edouard Vlasic had the game-tying goal in the third. … Zach Parise had a goal, and assist and a shootout goal as the Minnesota Wild defeated the Los Angeles Kings, 4-3. The Wild scored on each of their shootout attempts vs. Jonathan Quick. Jeff Carter had goal No. 19 in the loss. … Carey Price made 34 saves and P.K. Subban had three assists in the Montreal Canadiens’ dominating 3-0 win over the New York Rangers. … Dmitry Kulikov’s first of the season at 1:43 of overtime gave the Florida Panthers a 3-2 win over the New Jersey Devils. Shawn Matthias tie the game at 19:33 with the goalie pulled. …

Did you know? The Canadiens put defenseman Tomas Kaberle on waivers, perhaps to free space for a trade before Wednesday's deadline

Dishonorable mention: Chris Kunitz earned a major and a game misconduct for hitting Josh Bailey from behind on a questionable call. … Chris Phillips was a minus-3. … The Leafs and Sens had three fights in the first period. … The Canucks now have the 30th best power play in the NHL (12.8 percent). … Scottie Upshall may have touched the puck with a high stick before Matthias tied it vs. New Jersey. … Sidney Crosby was in the hospital overnight after taking a Brooks Orpik shot to the face.

That’s before Luongo seemed comfortable with the idea of playing a truncated season with the Vancouver Canucks – something he could force with his no-movement clause – and before Luongo carried that team through some stretches of the season. That’s also before the Leafs turned into a playoff team with a potential Luongo trade piece – Nazem Kadri – playing himself into untouchable status.

[Also: Jarome Iginla's trade to Penguins an improbable move in today's NHL]

But as the trade deadline approaches, Damien Cox hears that the Leafs and Canucks have “quietly” started talking Strombone again. They might prefer a deal for Miikka Kiprusoff, or stick with James Reimer and Ben Scrivens. Or …

Luongo, then, might now be the third option, but he has played well this season, has playoff experience and must still be appealing to the Leafs if the right deal is there. The MLSE board has already approved the addition of a long-term contract the size of Luongo’s, which runs until 2022 with an annual $5.33-million cap hit, as well as $40.6-million owed in actual salary.

Few teams can handle that contract, and fewer still will want Luongo this summer with the cap going down. The Leafs might still have to sacrifice Bozak, but could demand that Vancouver pay a chunk of Luongo’s contract for next year and beyond and refuse to surrender other assets.

The new CBA allows for some creative accounting like that, so money might not be the hang-up here.

The real hang-up is the marketplace.

As in the teams that need goalies, which are few, and the goalies that might become available in the next year, which are many. From Jason Botchford of The Province:

Consider the free agents could include Mike Smith, Jimmy Howard, and Niklas Backstrom.

The trade market could include Ryan Miller, Jonathan Bernier, Jaro Halak and either Ben Bishop or Craig Anderson.

The wild cards promise to be Tim Thomas and Ilya Bryzgalov, if the Flyers buy him out. That’s some list right there, and it would leave teams in need of a goalie, but it would also give those teams a lot of options.

The way things have gone for GM Mike Gillis with Luongo, and the way things are going for the goalie market, the Canucks’ return for Luongo might make the Flames’ return for Iginla look like the Lindros bounty for Quebec.

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The Boston Bruins have been going through a bit of a tough stretch lately: Losing three of their last four, blowing third-period leads in a way that few Claude Julien-coached Bruins teams have, and causing the entire city to have a crisis of confidence about whether the team is good enough to compete for a Stanley Cup.

All the nail-biting and finger-pointing in the world — and there's been a lot of both in the last week — does little to actually get to the heart of the issue: There's no really good reason why the Bruins aren't playing especially well right now, or why they can't hold a third-period lead.

Let's start with the very basic fact that none of this, no matter what the media wants to believe, has to do with how "clutch" Tuukka Rask is or isn't. Claude Julien made a comment after the loss in Winnipeg last Tuesday, in which Rask gave up goals less than a minute apart, that the team wasn't getting "timely saves." That was all anyone needed.

Anton Khudobin got a start at Ottawa after that, and the Bruins won 2-1, leading many in the local media, sage surveyors of the sport, to wonder if it was time to start splitting time between the two. This despite the fact that Rask's goals-against average is below 2, and his even strength save percentage is among the best in the League.

Now Rask knows how Roberto Luongo feels, because people are trying to squeeze him out of his job for not being "clutch" with almost 20 games to go in the regular season, despite the fact that his team scored one (1) goal to support him.

And as for Khudobin, the media's heir apparent to Rask's shortly-held throne? Got the hook after giving up three goals on 11 shots to Toronto Saturday night. So it's back to the drawing board there.

When can they call up Malcolm Subban?

That latter fact is the real reason for the Bruins struggles, and one can't imagine it lasts all that much longer. Milan Lucic doesn't have a goal in 15 games. David Krejci has two goals since the beginning of March. Nathan Horton has one. So if you're looking to lay out some blame, you might want to start with the second line, but all anyone's interested in for them is excuse-making.

The offensive problems are pervasive, though. In this run of four games, the only top-flight Bruins forwards with goals are Brad Marchand and Tyler Seguin, and they have one apiece. The Bruin with the most goals in this disappointing stretch is Dennis Seidenberg, with two, and that should tell you just about everything you need to know as to where the problems lie. Six goals in the last four games and people want to blame the goalie. Makes a lot of sense.

With this all in mind, though, Claude Julien shook up his lines ahead of tonight's return tilt with the Maple Leafs, and maybe that will get everyone going again. Or maybe it won't. But let's say the Bruins lose to the Leafs tonight. Maybe they even lose to Montreal on Wednesday. While no team wants to lose five of six at any point for any reason, it nonetheless won't matter much for Boston, who seem a lock for home ice in the playoffs and are still, despite all these mighty struggles of theirs, just two points back of Montreal with a game in hand for tops in the Northeast.

The Bruins put 122 shots on goal in the four games that have caused so much worry in the market, and scored on just six of them. Those goalies — Tomas Vokoun, Ondrej Pavelec, Robin Lehner, and James Reimer — weren't exactly the brass of the National Hockey League either. So what do you think is more likely to happen? That Rask will continue not making "timely saves" against offenses like the Jets (20th in goals for), or that the Bruins' offense will start shooting 4.9 percent through the end of the season?

It's a slump. It happens. There was a stretch when the Penguins scored only one goal in both sides of a back-to-back against the Devils. No one tried running Marc-Andre Fleury out of town. And Tuukka Rask is much, much better than Marc-Andre Fleury. Give this a week, maybe less, and everything will be back to normal.

A prediction that the Bruins would be one of the three or four best teams in hockey this season is as likely to come true now as it was on Jan. 19. They're great, and deep, at every position. It's all fine.

What We Learned

Anaheim Ducks: "The Ducks can win the Stanley Cup?" Yeah, let's pump the brakes just a little bit on that one.

Boston Bruins: Here's how you know things aren't going well for the Bruins: Nazem Kadri ran right through Nathan Horton despite giving up two inches and 30 pounds to the Bruins' wing.

Buffalo Sabres: Y'know, if the Sabres can add 20 or 30 more wins to this streak they're on right now, they might just be able to squeeze back into the playoff picture.

Calgary Flames: "Flames owners, management group must make move," to trade Iginla. This is an article published on March 23, 2013, as though it were some sort of revelatory idea. You could have written the same thing in any of the last three seasons.

Carolina Hurricanes: Can we get Mrs. Staal to call every other NHLer's mom about the visor issue? She seems pretty persuasive.

Chicago Blackhawks: Patrick Kane is up for Hart Trophy consideration this year, thanks to big-time offensive numbers, an improved game in his own zone, and a newly-discovered clause stating that anyone whose name rhymes with Kidney Bosby can't win it.

Colorado Avalanche: Sure the Avalanche are absolutely terrible this season, but PA Parenteau's signing worked out great.

Columbus Blue Jackets: Sergei Bobrovsky gave up four goals on 11 shots, got the hook, and took the loss as Nashville finally snapped Columbus' point streak. Four goals on 11 shots, you say? Now that sounds like the Sergei Bobrovsky we all know.

Dallas Stars: Eric Nystrom was credited with this goal but Jamie Benn got 'er goin' with this pretty decent setup.

Detroit Red Wings presented by Amway: Jimmy Howard is getting closer to signing a contract extension, and should be done "within the next week or two." Have to wonder if he'll try to get a stipulation that says Detroit has to actually sign NHL-caliber defensemen to play in front of him.

Edmonton Oilers: The Oilers have been playing Ryan Smyth at center of late and boy has it not gone well.

Florida Panthers: Hey Colby Robak I know you're only a rookie but I don't think you're allowed to do this in hockey.

Los Angeles Kings: Isn't it refreshing to see a coach say that when players struggle, that he's in some way at fault. Here's Darryl Sutter on the recent struggles of the line of Justin Williams, Anze Kopitar and Dustin Brown: "If you look at Kopitar's line last night, they probably played two or three minutes too much. That's not because they were doing anything great as a line. They've had a hard time lately. That's partly my fault. I played them more than I should and that trickles down to guys below 'em."

Minnesota Wild: The Wild pretty much seem unstoppable lately. Just ask Torrey Mitchell, who said, "We feel like we can beat anybody right now." See?

Montreal Canadiens: Not an easy road ahead for the Habs. Tomorrow night they play in Pittsburgh, and on Wednesday they're in Boston. They're 11-2-2 on the road this season, so that helps, but those are two fairly gigantic games.

Nashville Predators: Sometimes it's nice to remember that Shea Weber can still shoot the puck like Shea Weber.

New Jersey Devils: What are the odds Ilya Kovalchuk comes back early from this shoulder injury, plays through a ton of pain, produces at a high level, and still gets criticized for dogging it? Even? I'll guess even.

New York Islanders: Should the Islanders be selling off veterans now? Well, they have five home games left this season, and can't even win there, so yes. But you knew that already.

New York Rangers: At what point do the Rangers have to start winning every game? About two weeks ago.

Ottawa Senators: You know it's been a rough season when a guy only missing one game with an injury is considered a "lucky break." These poor Senators, and they just keep winning anyway. I don't get it at all.

Philadelphia Flyers: Danny Briere hasn't scored a goal in 13 games and doesn't even have an assist in the last seven. Plus he sat out last night's game with the Penguins due to an injury. So not a good time to be Danny Briere is I guess what I'm saying.

Phoenix Coyotes: Today is Day No. 227 since Jude LaCava of Fox 10 in Arizona said Greg Jamison would have the deal for the Coyotes sewn up within the next five days. Meanwhile, the city of Glendale really wants to flush another $100,000 down the toilet on this team that's leaving as soon as someone can actually put together the money to buy it.

Pittsburgh Penguins: Seems like waiting until Evgeni Malkin is 100 percent with his shoulder to bring him back into the fold is a pretty smart course of action for a team this far out in front of the competition in the East.

San Jose Sharks: Going into the season would you have guessed that the Sharks' undoing would be a total lack of offense? They're tied for dead last in the NHL with 71 goals for.

St. Louis Blues: TJ Oshie had a nice little return to the Blues lineup, scoring a goal and generally providing a bit of menace against an Oilers team that seemed to want no part of even being in the building.

Tampa Bay Lightning: Here's the real question about the Lightning. How does Steve Yzerman turn this around? This is a poorly-constructed team that invested way too much in a goaltender that doesn't seem to be ready for anything like starting minutes, and a litany of problems exist beyond that. He gets a lot of credit because of who he was as a player, and the decision to bring on Guy Boucher in the first place (which in turn brought the team to the Eastern Conference Finals that one time), as well as picking the 2010 Canadian Olympic roster. But guess what: Who he was as one of the best centers ever doesn't make him good at this job, nor does lucking into a nice playoff run, nor does picking a Canadian Olympic roster that wins gold because anyone with a passing knowledge of hockey could do that. Steve Yzerman is the real problem in Tampa, and hiring Lindy Ruff or whoever is putting a Band-Aid on a bullet wound.

Toronto Maple Leafs: Here it is: The nicest goal you'll ever see Fraser McLaren score in your entire life.

Vancouver Canucks: Cory Schneider played in his third straight game last night and you know what that means. It's time to trade Luongo.

Washington Capitals: When Mike Green gets back in the lineup, don't expect him to magically be the guy who used to be in the Norris conversation. What's that you say? You weren't expecting that at all? Yeah, I wasn't either.

Winnipeg Jets: Toby Enstrom returned to the Jets lineup last night after missing 19 games and was a point-a-game player before that. If he can't get them into the playoffs for sure, no one can.

Play of the Weekend

This is the best thing to happen in hockey history.

Gold Star Award

Saturday's Hockey East championship game was the best one ever. Shout out to the River Hawks. You are the best.

Minus of the Weekend

Seriously, though, was giving up four on 11 to end that streak the most predictable thing in the history of the NHL? It's gotta be top five at the very least.

Perfect HFBoards Trade Proposal of the Week
User "Lime" is probably just joking.

To Vancouver:

F Milan Lucic (4.1M in 12/13 then 6.0M thru 15/16)
D Adam McQuaid (1.6M thru 14/15)

To Boston:

F Zack Kassian (0.9M thru 13/14 then RFA)
D Kevin Bieksa (4.6M thru 15/16)

At least I hope so.

Signoff

Our old will feed on our very old. Our very old who are not eaten will wish they had been eaten.

Ryan Lambert publishes hockey awesomeness almost never over at The Two-Line Pass. Check it out, why don’t you? Or you can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter if you so desire.

Ever since the Blackhawks collapsed into a juddering mass of two losses in a row followed by as many wins, it seems all anyone can talk about with regard to the Central Division is how well the Blue Jackets are doing.

The Blue Jackets are doing very well indeed. They've gotten points in their last 10 games and climbed to 28 points in 29 games, which is nothing to sneeze at considering they started the year 5-12-2. They're now just one game below .500, and routinely making good accountings of themselves against good teams. They famously swept the Red Wings in a home and home, took three of four points from Vancouver, and lost a pair of games to Chicago though those were in overtime and a shootout.

And now everyone's dreaming big. They're just two points out of a playoff spot and are currently one of the hottest teams in the NHL, if not the hottest, depending upon whom you ask and how much you value winning in regulation. Certainly, for a team that was so phenomenally bad last year to go 10 games in a row without losing is an admirable feat.

But any people trying to sit there and tell you this is a playoff team, or even one that should be in the discussion for making it, are kidding themselves.

Everyone loves an underdog story, and this is perhaps the biggest in the NHL this season; but are we really going to believe that a team currently 11th in the West, which finished 30th last season, is going to keep up this magical run long enough to be a serious contender for anything whatsoever?

Let's start with the most obvious fact that yes this team is winning a lot of games, but barely doing it in regulation. Of those 10 games from which they've gotten points, all but one of them went to overtime, and five went to a shootout. That speaks to a team that's gotten incredibly lucky, and is playing very hard to not get results one way or another in regulation. And of those 10 games, only two have been played on the road. They also have two more in this lengthy homestand, against Nashville and Calgary, and it would be shocking for them to not get points from those as well.

Then there's the fact that Sergei Bobrovsky is playing like a Russian Patrick Roy.

He's allowed more than two in just one of his last 11 games, coughing up five on 39 to Dallas, and despite that ugly night at the office, he has still allowed just 15 goals in those 11 appearances. It's an honestly impressive and incredible run — incredible as in, "if someone told you about it in October you wouldn't have believed them" — one in which his GAA has dropped to just 2.00, and his save percentage exploded to .932. That's thanks to a 1.34 GAA and .955 save percentage in those games, and it's just crazy.

What no one seems to remember about this is that it's Sergei Bobrovsky we're talking about. It's also the Columbus Blue Jackets we're talking about. At some point, the stifling defense they're playing of late has to go away, and it seems much more likely that Bobrovsky will start playing like the guy whose career numbers before landing in Columbus were 2.73 and .909 at some point in the very near future.

Say, when they play six road dates in seven games over the course of 13 days starting on Saturday. How long ago was it, exactly, that Steve Mason started his NHL career off looking like one of the greatest goalies in NHL history?

The Blue Jackets, are, I'll say again, the Blue Jackets.

Dead last in the league in goals scored despite playing the most games of almost everyone. Scoring 60 times in 29 games (not counting the team's four shootout winners, since they don't count) is not exactly conducive to winning hockey games, and indeed, they've netted just two goals in their last three games, none of which they lost in regulation. Think that's sustainable?

And even if they keep winning in a way that even remotely approximates this recent success, how much ground can they logically expect to make up? They started this streak in the Western Conference's basement. Now they're 11th. After 10 games of not losing, they improved four spots and are still two points out with almost everyone in front of them having games in hand. It's nearly impossible to make up that kind of ground when you're playing nothing but intra-conference games, and especially if you're giving at least a point to every opponent you come across. At 28 points with 19 games remaining, and the generally-accepted postseason cutoff point being 55 points, the Blue Jackets can only afford five more games in regulation to get there (13-5-1). That doesn't seem likely.

Yeah, the Blue Jackets being good for any length of time after all these years of futility is a nice little story. But it's going to end real soon, and all it's going to cost them is a good chance of winning a draft lottery they would probably like desperately to win.

Maybe it's time for Jarmo Kekalainen to start selling before things get any better.

What We Learned

Anaheim Ducks: Here's Bob Murray on acquiring Dave Steckel from Toronto: "Steckel is a tremendous faceoff man and penalty killer, something that will really help our club." He's 48.9 percent at the dot this season, but Toronto's PK is one of the best in the league. So win some, lose some.

Boston Bruins: The Bruins would like to bring a "complete game" every night and if all it takes is playing a team as bad as the Capitals and physically embarrassing them every night, well, I'm not sure it'll be easy.

Buffalo Sabres: Ville Leino is finally in the lineup, and was one of the best Sabres on the ice in an overtime loss to Ottawa in which they blew a two-goal lead. I'm not sure what that means though. I mean, you never want Ville Leino being one of the best players on the ice, do you?

Calgary Flames: Sucks to be Mikael Backlund. He'd just returned from a bum knee a week ago, but then went out of the Saddledome on crutches and in a walking cast on Friday after blocking a shot with his foot. He had seven points in 12 games this season after getting just 11 in an injury-riddled 41 last year.

Carolina Hurricanes: Tuomo Ruutu is steadily approaching a return from a serious hip injury suffered last spring, but now it's up to the 'Canes to figure out where they're going to squeeze him in. For now, looks like it could be the fourth line, but after that, maybe Jeff Skinner-Jordan Staal-Ruutu gets a run-out as second line. That's an okay group to come back to.

Chicago Blackhawks: Don't go around expecting the Blackhawks to make too many trades here as the deadline approaches. Mostly because almost everyone in the West is still technically in the playoff hunt (not so fast, most of the Northwest Division). Oh and also because you know, because they're amazing already.

Colorado Avalanche: Time for the Avs to blow it up! Frankly, I just like any column that says "The Avs stink," three times.

Columbus Blue Jackets: Gary Bettman on Columbus hosting an All-Star Game: "We know we owe Columbus a game, but we’re not yet in a position to say what the timeline is." So that's definitely still happening at some point.

Dallas Stars: The Stars getting a snowman hung on them and only scoring once against Chicago on Saturday was the worst loss the team has gone through since they moved to Dallas. And they did that a long time ago.

Detroit Red Wings presented by Amway: Yup, even though we all knew the Wings would be barely good enough to make the playoffs this year, it's still weird to see them be barely good enough to make the playoffs.

Edmonton Oilers: Say, this Taylor Hall kid is actually pretty good I guess.

Florida Panthers: Ed Jovanovski and George Parros both left Saturday night's game with injuries, which only adds to the team's already considerable injury woes. Why not just call up the entire AHL team and get it over with at this point?

Los Angeles Kings: Tyler Toffoli made his NHL debut after scoring 28 goals in 55 games in the AHL as a 20-year-old, and this was Darryl Sutter's advice to him: "Try not to sit on the bench." Darryl Sutter rules.

Minnesota Wild: I wanna be more than friends with this saucer pass from PM Bouchard.

Montreal Canadiens: Jarred Tinordi is one of those prospects who it seems like has been around but not in the NHL for just about forever (even though he was only drafted in 2010), but he finally made his debut last night, and picked up an assist on the game-winning goal, which is a good start.

Nashville Predators: No Colin Wilson, no Patric Hornqvist, no Paul Gaustad. Yeah, I wonder why the Predators are having even more trouble scoring goals these days.

New Jersey Devils: Anyone hoping the Devils would stop their skid any time soon got some bad news yesterday because there's still no timetable for Marty Brodeur to come back. He might start practicing with the team this week, but still. Remember when the Devils were the best team in the East for a minute? They've won four of their last 15. Yikes.

New York Islanders: The Islanders beat the Panthers 4-3 on Saturday behind a Casey Cizikas goal, and in doing so became the first Isles team to win against both Tampa and Florida in regulation in the Sunshine State since 2001-02. That seems like it would be impossible.

New York Rangers: The Rangers are 9-5-1 at MSG this year. They're 4-7-1 on the road. Three of their next four are at home. So that's good for them.

Ottawa Senators: Wow this shot from Kyle Turris. Wow.

Philadelphia Flyers: If the Flyers make the playoff this year (hahaha) they'll have to more or less replicate the run Los Angeles went on last season (hahaha) and go 12-4-3 in their last 19 games (hahaha).

Phoenix Coyotes: Today is Day No. 220 since Jude LaCava of Fox 10 in Arizona said Greg Jamison would have the deal for the Coyotes sewn up within the next five days. The Coyotes' attendance is going up. From one to two. Just kidding. It's actually from 12,188 to 12,420. Oh wait that's not much better.

Pittsburgh Penguins: Marc-Andre Fleury is now the shutouting-est goalie in Penguins history, which I almost couldn't believe at first but then I remembered who the Penguins used to have for goalies.

San Jose Sharks: Todd McLellan called Saturday's 5-2 loss to the Kings the most disappointing of the season, and that's really saying something.

St. Louis Blues: It's interesting that the Blues are finally starting to gain ground in the West as they embrace consistency (ugh) but it's funny — and shows how dumb the NHL's insistence on division winners being top-3 seeds is — that no matter how hard they try they're never going to squeeze into one of those spots because Anaheim and Chicago are running away with the league.

Tampa Bay Lightning: The Bolts need to win at least 14 of their last 20 games to make the playoffs at this point, so it's time to start selling off pieces.

Toronto Maple Leafs: Getting even one point out a game they trailed by three goals isn't bad at all for the Leafs. Now, if you want to have a discussion about how the Leafs shouldn't be trailing the Jets by three at any point, that's a legitimate point too.

Vancouver Canucks: I wonder if we'll ever see those Millionaires uniforms again. Given the way Vancouver played wearing them, probably not.

Washington Capitals: The amount of crybabyism from the Capitals after the Bruins beat them and beat them up on Saturday is honestly kind of astonishing. How do you go into Boston and not expect to get bullied when Matt Hendricks is your toughest player?

Winnipeg Jets: In furtherance of the earlier discussion about how dumb it is that division winners get a top-3 seed in the conference: This headline. They have the same number of points as the Maple Leafs. Get a grip.

Play of the Weekend

I don't know if this is more amazing for Patrick Kane to pull out this move in real life or for Brenden Dillon to let that happen to him, but either way: amazing goal.

Gold Star Award

Devin Setoguchi is very quietly having a respectable season in Minnesota, and going 2-1-3 with a plus-4 (albeit against Colorado) is pretty nice.

Minus of the Weekend

I don't know what happened to Ryan Miller here.

Perfect HFBoards Trade Proposal of the Week

User "socratic" is being anything but.

To Toronto:
Iginla
Kiprusoff

To Calgary:
James Reimer
Joel Colborne
Matt Frattin (I worry this makes it too much but I am not sure who else to put in)
2nd round pick

Signoff
Has anyone seen an old man, about yea high, possibly shouting obscenities?

Ryan Lambert publishes hockey awesomeness almost never over at The Two-Line Pass. Check it out, why don’t you? Or you can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter if you so desire.

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Trending Topics is a column that looks at the week in hockey, occasionally according to Twitter. If you're only going to comment to say how stupid Twitter is, why not just go have a good cry for the slow, sad death of your dear internet instead?

Heading into last night's game against the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Toronto Maple Leafs were firmly in a playoff spot, and just one point back of the Senators for the fifth seed in the East.

This was the case despite the fact that they'd lost their last three games, and allowed four goals or more in six of their last seven. People saw this latter trend as a sign that the Leafs had, in jumping out to an 11-8-0 start this season, gotten extremely lucky. They'd had a good start last season, too, and finished really poorly as everyone expected, so wasn't this just a function of them once again being bad and getting all their wins out of the way early?

The short answer, from what I've seen of the Maple Leafs' games this year, is no.

I picked Toronto to make the playoffs with a low seed this season, and I've seen very little from this team to dissuade me of that belief, at least when they play well. That hasn't been very often in the last week, admittedly, but when you're looking for reasons why, it sure isn't that James Reimer and Ben Scrivens are bad goalies (both entered last night with even strength save percentages above .920). Or that Phil Kessel and Nazem Kadri (both had 25 points in their first 27 games) and James van Riemsdyk (14 goals in 27) aren't effective forwards. Or even that the Leafs' defense beyond Dion Phaneuf and Carl Gunnarsson is about as deep as a kitchen sink.

It's because Randy Carlyle is managing the team like a first-time NHL13 player, and people only recently began to raise a serious stink about it.

The ways in which Carlyle has mishandled the Leafs' lines and pairings is myriad, but perhaps most famously revolves around Kadri.

Note again that Kadri is playing at nearly a point-a-game pace more than halfway through the season, and then consider that he's doing that with only about 15 minutes a night, less than seven Leafs forwards, making him, in essence, a third-line option. On the one hand, you can certainly argue that this in turn leads to the opportunity to do a better job of matching lines and giving Kadri slightly favorable zone starts (he was at 50.7 percent in the offensive zone through 26), but nonetheless he's devouring his opponents.

Never was this more clear than on Feb. 28, when Kadri had a hat trick against the Islanders despite only 15:46. Asked after the game if this justified a commensurate bump in ice time, Carlyle got snippy.

“If he plays only 15 minutes a night and scored three goals, would you keep him playing 15 minutes a night?” is an actual thing a real NHL coach said in real life.

And this lack of opportunity for Kadri comes at a time when the Leafs' situation down the middle looks more than a little dire. Kadri, at 25 points in 28 games, has 10 more than the next-closest pivot, Tyler Bozak, who is famously not good enough to be a No. 1 center and yet leads Leafs forwards in ice time anyway. Kadri, meanwhile, has 19 points at even strength, best on the Leafs and 14th in the league.

But OK, Carlyle can make the argument that this is Kadri's first full season in the league, and maybe he's not really and truly ready for it yet. But don't you at least try him in an offensive role where that inexperience may not hurt you? Say, the power play? Kadri checks in at 2:15 of power play time per game, nearly a full minute short of Bozak; despite that, he has six points on the man advantage to Bozak's five.

There are other issues with forward usage that extend well beyond not using Kadri enough (again, he's not using Kadri enough). For example, with the Leafs down two goals to Winnipeg the other night, Carlyle repeatedly sent Colton Orr and Frazer McLaren, who average less than seven minutes a night, over the boards in lieu of Mikhail Grabovski, another center.

James Mirtle notes that Grabovski played just five of the game's final 30 minutes, largely because he's not producing (6-5-11 in 27). But one supposes that most guys who scored 23 and 29 goals in the last two seasons, respectively, probably wouldn't produce well with Jay McClement and Nikolai Kulemin on their wings for 39 percent of their even strength shifts, and so it's difficult to put all that on Grabovski.

Is that lack of production the reason he's averaging 16 minutes a night over the last three games, all of which the Leafs lost?

Said Carlyle, "You make the call."

And just in case you thought maybe Carlyle just can't figure out how centers work, don't worry. He's awful with defense too.

People have been crucifying Dion Phaneuf all season, because he's a minus-8 and his Corsi numbers look particularly ugly. The reason for this is fairly straightforward though: Carlyle is burying him. Phaneuf, as the team's only ultra-reliable defenseman, is being relied upon perhaps too much, starting just 39.2 percent of his shifts through 26 games in the offensive zone. He's also playing on the left side of the ice most nights, which, if you know anything about Phaneuf, is not the side he's supposed to be on. Plus, his most regular partners are Korbinian Holzer, who's a sub-replacement defenseman, and Mike Kostka, who's not all that much better.

Again, Carlyle admittedly doesn't have too many options to help take the load off Phaneuf at the NHL level. Gunnarsson is a strong player and still somewhat underused at just 21:27, but you can't have the only two very good defensemen on your NHL team playing together when you consider how bad the other options outside Cody Franson are (and they're real bad).

So what do you do when you have two very good defensemen, one pretty good one, and three bad ones on your NHL team? You sure as hell don't call up the highly-regarded kid who's currently playing very well for the AHL team across town.

A lot was made of the Free Jake Gardiner movement earlier this week, and perhaps justifiably given how dumb it was for his agent to put that on Twitter, but the fact of the matter is that continuing to burden Phaneuf with an absolute stiff like Korbinian Holzer doesn't make a lot of sense when Gardiner is wasting away in a league that's frankly beneath him (he has 31 points in 41 games, 10th in the AHL behind a bunch of guys who have closer to 40 or more, and also Justin Schultz who hilariously still leads the league). Not that Carlyle sees it that way.

"Jake had an opportunity here. He played two games for our hockey club, and we felt he was nowhere near where he needed to be," the coach said when asked about what he thought of the Twitter kerfuffle.

Hey, two games. That's a lot of time to evaluate someone, right?

For example, Leafs fans have seen Holzer and Kotska for more than 20 games each at this point and long ago determined they're terrible. But what about an opinion on Gardiner from someone who sees him a little more often?

Well it's funny you ask, because when Dallas Eakins, who coaches Gardiner in the AHL, was recently quizzed about whether the defenseman is NHL-ready. And he said, "Absolutely." So there's that to consider as well.

It will be interesting to see what the Leafs do in the next week or two, because that in turn will dictate whether they're going to be actual buyers at the deadline for the first time in what feels like forever.

Knowing the way this team is run, if that happens, it'll give Carlyle a whole new crop of useful veterans to favor over his younger, better players, and the Leafs can safely live down to their expectations once again.

If you’ve got something for Trending Topics, holla at Lambert on Twitter or via e-mail. He’ll even credit you so you get a thousand followers in one day and you’ll become the most popular person on the Internet! You can also visit his blog if you’re so inclined.

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Preview: Ottawa Senators at Toronto Maple Leafs, 7 p.m. ET. These teams have split the Battle of Ontario thus far. Good stuff here from PPP on Randy Carlyle coaching myths. Ben Bishop gets the nod for the Sens against James Reimer.

Preview: Colorado Avalanche at Chicago Blackhawks, 8 p.m. ET. Will the first meeting between the teams this season result in the first regulation loss for the Blackhawks? Says Mile High Hockey: “The jig is up, the news is out. Let a new day come. The Hawks will feel like nothing's going right at all. The Avs aren't here to be denied.”

Preview: San Jose Sharks at Calgary Flames, 9:30 p.m. ET. Miikka Kiprusoff is back for the Flames, “feeling great.” The Sharks won the first meeting between the two teams, and is seeking a seventh victory in its last nine matchups versus Calgary.

Preview: Phoenix Coyotes at Anaheim Ducks, 10:30 p.m. ET. The Ducks are 8-1-0 at home this season, but Phoenix has defeated them twice in their three straight matchups. It’s likely Mike Smith vs. Jonas Hiller in this one.

Check out previews and updated scores for all of today's games on the Y! Sports NHL scores and scheds page. For tonight's starting goalies, check out Goalie Post.

Evening Reading

Luc Robitaille and Going Postal on today’s podcast. [Marek Vs. Wyshynski]

Not exactly encouraging news about Marty Brodeur’s back from Lou Lamoriello: “It’s a little longer than we thought, but has he had a setback? No, he has not had a setback. It just hasn’t come as quickly and we’re going to make sure it’s perfect.” [Fire and Ice]

One gets the sense the PHT boys didn’t want to engage in the Blackhawks vs. Heat streak debate. [PHT]

“New York Rangers defenseman Marc Staal is waiting for the swelling to go down in the area around his right eye before further determination can be made about the extent of his injury, according to his brother, Carolina Hurricanes center Eric Staal.” [NHL]

Jake Allen is back with the St. Louis Blues, and anyone that saw their collapse against the Kings knows why. [KSDK]

Puck Daddy Reader Comment of the Day: LBJ, on Mooney’s “penalties without hand motions” post:

"Pretty sure the signal for Too Many Men is Tortorella screaming maniacally at Carl Hagelin.”

Bold Prediction: The Ducks turn the tables, win in a shootout with Perry getting the game winner.

No. 1 Star: Jeff Carter, Los Angeles Kings

Carter’s natural hat trick powered the Kings to a 5-1 victory over the Nashville Predators, giving him 14 goals on the season. He turned the trick with two goals in 19 seconds in the third period.

No. 2 Star: Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins

Crosby set up Chris Kunitz for the game’s first goal, and then scored a key third period tally after Evgeni Malkin’s spectacular goal in Pittsburgh’s 4-3 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning.

No. 3 Star: James Reimer, Toronto Maple Leafs

Reimer gave up two goals to Marek Zidlicky but nothing else, as the Toronto Maple Leafs defeated a Brodeur-less New Jersey Devils team, 4-2. Reimer finished with 28 saves.

Honorable mention: Oliver Ekman-Larsson had two assists and the game-winner in the shootout, as the Phoenix Coyotes defeated the Anaheim Ducks, 5-4. Ryan Getzlaf had a goal and two assists in the loss, including a shorthanded goal. … Mike Richards and Dwight King had the Kings’ other goals, while Gabriel Bourque scored his sixth for the Preds. … James Neal scored his 14th into an empty net. … Steven Stamkos had two goals in the loss, giving him an NHL-best 17 on the season. ... Nazem Kadri scored goal No. 9.

Did you know? Shane Doan's 324th career goal moved him past Keith Tkachuk into second place on the franchise's career list, trailing only Dale Hawerchuk. (AP)

Dishonorable mention: Pekka Rinne was yanked after giving up five goals vs. the Kings. … Sergei Kostitsyn and Craig Smith were both a minus-2. … Mathieu Garon left the Bolts' game with an injury after giving up a goal on 13 shots.

Blasphemy, via McKenna: I was at MSG with my puck buddy, she is a NJ Devils fan. We this NY Ranger jersey with the Bon Jovi, had a good laugh.”

Preview: New Jersey Devils at Toronto Maple Leafs, 7 p.m. ET. It’s James Reimer vs. Not Marty Brodeur, which is the essential info from the Devils side. Well, that and they’re looking to avoid their first five-game losing streak in more than two years.

Preview: Tampa Bay Lightning at Pittsburgh Penguins, 7:30 p.m. ET. Evgeni Malkin makes his return for the Penguins, after his concussion on Feb. 22. The Penguins have outscored the Lightning 23-9 in their four straight wins in the series. Mathieu Garon starts against Marc-Andre Fleury.

Preview: Anaheim Ducks at Phoenix Coyotes, 9 p.m. ET. It’s like the Angels vs. the Diamondbacks! As in, it’s the second of a three-game set between the teams. (Thanks lockout schedule.) It’s looking like Jonas Hiller vs. Mike Smith.

Preview: Nashville Predators at Los Angeles Kings, 10:30 p.m. ET. The Kings are hot, winning five of six games. The Preds have lost four of five, but they’ve beaten the Kings twice this season. Darryl Sutter on the Kings’ optional skate this morning: “I think we’ll probably be in the same thing all week. Some guys want to. You can’t say ‘none’. Some guys want a handful of minutes. Some guys want to try skates, sticks, gloves, all those things. You’ve got to get them here, so it’s not so much on-ice. Even yesterday, we had some guys out there for 15 minutes, some guys out for 30.”

Check out previews and updated scores for all of today's games on the Y! Sports NHL scores and scheds page. For tonight's starting goalies, check out Goalie Post.

Evening Reading

Patrick Burke and Tracey Myers joined us on the podcast today, along with the NHL’s most dive-y teams. [Marek Vs. Wyshynski]

In which Alex Ovechkin says what he wants from linemate Mike Ribeiro, i.e. control of the puck: “Of course when I have speed that’s when I want it. I don’t want to have speed and stop on the blue line and then slowly go to offensive zone and then lost the puck and then go back,” he said. “It’s kind of position you going to be struggling all the time. If I’m going to have that kind of position, puck in neutral zone and I can make a move we’ll make puck deep and find it that way, I’m going to feel much better.” [WashTimes]

Jim Cornelison reveals the secret behind his glass-shattering performance. (Hint: Fraud!) [DNAInfo]

Puck Daddy Reader Comment of the Day: Via Playboy Perry, on Stephen A. Smith:

This is what happens when ESPN asks someone who calls himself a "basketball analyst" a question related to hockey. I'm surprised Stephen A. Smith could even form a sentence that didn't involve LeBron or Kobe.

Bold Prediction: The Preds pull the upset in LA, in a shootout.

It's 48-game season, which means, among other things, that there is less time for market corrections. I'm implying that if the Habs are tops in the Eastern Conference at the 16-game mark, chances are good that they'll do what most hockey experts said wasn't possible - make the playoffs. The Ducks and Maple Leafs are also in the mix, while teams such as the Rangers, Flyers and defending Cup champion Kings face an uphill battle to get back in.

The same goes for fantasy hockey - if you're not even in the Top 10 now, just a month into the season, then chances are you won't win. It's not November, it's February. But if you're sitting around fifth or sixth, you still have a great shot - you just have to be on top of things. Here is the Frozen Pool report for skaters the last 14 days, based on basic Yahoo! scoring categories:

Studs...

These fellas are wielding a hot stick. Take that into consideration when you go after them in trade talks...

Carey Price, Montreal Canadiens (3-0-0, 1.15 GAA, 0.947 SV%) – The league's leader in wins and he's kept his GAA below 2.00. I smell a Vezina.

Matt Duchene, Colorado Avalanche (12-6-10-16, plus-5, 6 PIM, 35 SOG) – Not only is Duchene healthy this year, but he's clicking with steady linemates. Here is the breakdown of his production:

Matt Read, Philadelphia Flyers (15-7-6-13, even, 36 SOG) – He's playing with Claude Giroux now and after the weekend's 7-0 blowout over the Islanders in which he had three points, fantasy owners have been snapping Read up quickly. His injury Wednesday (upper body) was ill-timed, but hopefully he won't be out long.

Duncan Keith, Chicago Blackhawks (7-0-7-7, plus-7, 19 PIM, 15 SOG) – Duncan Keith sucked. Then he fights. Then he's awesome again. Coincidence? I'll let you decide. But he had three points in 10 games before this fight, and seven points in six games after it and he's shooting a hell of a lot more. It seems to me that he pumped himself up:

Duds

Somebody wake these guys up – their fantasy owners are counting on them... RNH, Marleau, Elliott, Byfuglien

Brian Elliott, St. Louis Blues (0-3-1, 5.05 GAA, 0.791 SV%) – It looks like Elliott has run out of pixie dust. Thank goodness he secured $3.6 million while he was still flying around Neverland.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Edmonton Oilers (7-1-1-2, minus-3, 2 PIM, 17 SOG) – Somehow, linemate Taylor Hall has seven points in those seven games. Go figure. I took a look and verified that the Nuge was on the ice for six of those seven points, so it's hard to believe this slump will continue.

Patrick Marleau, San Jose Sharks (9-1-1-2, minus-4, 6 PIM, 23 SOG) – What? He's not going to get 70 goals after all? My hat is off to you if you suckered a fellow GM after Game 5 and made a killing moving him.

Dustin Byfuglien, Winnipeg Jets (4-0-0-0, even, 2 PIM, 6 SOG) – The lack of offense is concerning, because it hints that he struggles with Tobias Enstrom out of the lineup. And we've seen this in the past. The sudden campaign for the Lady Byng is concerning because that means he's not doing anything at all for us fantasy owners.

The Wire...

Mostly short-term grabs here, but as always some potential steals...

Ben Scrivens, Toronto Maple Leafs (2-1-0, 1.44 GAA, 0.952 SV%, 2 SO) – James Reimer is out for at least another week and with Scrivens putting up goose eggs, he makes for a safe - and obvious - play.

Ryan Garbutt, Dallas Stars (4-2-1-3, plus-4, 12 PIM, 6 SOG) – A preseason dark horse of mine to top 90 penalty minutes, his pace is falling short of that mark. But it's not too bad (62) and he's surprisingly contributing in other categories. Careful though, his ice time still hovers in that eight/nine minutes range.

David Moss, Phoenix Coyotes (4-1-2-3, plus-3, 6 PIM, 6 SOG) – This is a short-term pickup, as Moss tends to be streaky. At least…from what I remember of him way back in 2009 when he actually played a healthy season. His ice time is decent (around 16 minutes per game), but his linemates (Raffi Torres and Boyd Gordon) leave much to be desired.

Eric Fehr, Washington Capitals (4-3-3-6, plus-5, 2 PIM, 7 SOG) – Those four games are also the four games in which he's seen the most ice time this year. His hot stick has finally given coach Adam Oates a productive third line. Now if only he could get a productive first line. And second line. (with apologies to Mr. Ribeiro)

Carl Hagelin, New York Rangers (5-5-3-8, plus-4, 2 PIM, 21 SOG) – Hagelin made a big splash last year, but then Chris Kreider came along and ruined everything. With Kreider on board, Hagelin's playoff production just barely eked past Martin Biron's. But now with players such as Kreider and Rick Nash on the sidelines (not together, silly - at different times) Hagelin is flourishing in the top six.

Tyson Barrie, Colorado Avalanche (4-1-3-4, even, 2 PIM, 6 SOG) – The Erik Johnson injury has given Barrie an opportunity to get some quality ice time, and he's doing more with it than Johnson was. As long as EJ is out, Barrie should be a safe pickup.

Jakub Kindl, Detroit Red Wings (3-0-3-3, plus-3, 8 PIM, 3 SOG) – This one carries a risk because he has been a healthy scratch recently and his last game saw just over 11 minutes of ice time. But the Wings are so banged up they either have to play Kindl or resort to lifting the secret ban on signing the recently retired Chris Campoli.

Heating Up?

Here's a new section in which I fire off a few names of players who may be at the very beginning of a nice little run. Just a gut feeling, but worth looking into and/or taking a chance on:

Craig Smith, Nashville; Sergei Kostitsyn, Nashville; Antoine Vermette, Phoenix; Jakob Silfverberg, Ottawa; Darcy Kuemper, Minnesota.

For more fantasy hockey tips, take a gander at DobberHockey. And while you’re at it, follow Dobber’s fantasy hockey musings on Twitter.

NHL 94 chair mat. I must have this. [Dave's Geeky Ideas]

Preview: Toronto Maple Leafs at Carolina Hurricanes, 7 p.m. ET

Who'd have thought, this late into the season, this would be a matchup between two of the better teams in the Eastern Conference? Not I. But the Hurricanes currently sit atop the Southeast Division, and the Leafs have been on a tear of late. They're now just two points back of Boston atop the Northeast (although Boston has two games in hand). The Leafs will have to continue their tear without Matt Frattin and James Reimer, both of whom went down with injuries over the weekend. If they can, a win tonight will give them their first five-game winning streak since 2007.

Preview: New York Islanders at New York Rangers, 7 p.m. ET

If you're a betting man, take the Rangers. It's not just that have the better record or that they're at home. They've also won 3 straight, and if that's not enough, the Islanders haven't won at MSG in 8 straight tries. Guys to keep an eye on: Matt Moulson, who's been a point per game player versus New York over the last 20 affairs, and J.T. Miller, who's still trying to prove to the Rangers that he deserves to stay with the club.

Preview: Phoenix Coyotes at Nashville Predators, 8 p.m. ET

The Predators just finished nearly three consecutive games without a goal. Now they face Mike Smith. If you hate offence, this one's the game for you. That said, considering they just ended a 176-minute goalless drought, maybe they're due for an outburst.

Check out previews and updated scores for all of today's games on the Y! Sports NHL scores and scheds page. For tonight's starting goalies, check out Goalie Post.

Evening Reading

• Johnette Howard on Rick DiPietro is excellent. When told he might be able to ward off a curse by burning his glove, DiPietro quips, ""If I could just get over this surgery addiction I have." [ESPN]

• Alex Ovechkin doesn't agree with his coach's opinion that NHLers should go to Sochi. “When I was growing up, only [care about] Olympics and World Championship. It was very important, all media all [attention is on] Olympics. I remember, I was little kid in my country home far from Moscow little kids, we watched the Olympics, summer Olympics. Everybody is involved. It’s nice, to be honest, when you can be there." [WaPo]

• Todd Bertuzzi has been hospitalized with back pain. [Freep]

• Matt Cooke may have sliced Erik Karlsson's achilles accidentally, but Mark Spector goes after him anyway. [Sportsnet]

• If you need another reminder that some hockey parents are completely insane, here's a hockey dad heckling children and cursing at other parents while holding his infant child. [Deadspin]

Puck Buddy Comment of the Day: Glenn, on the most disappointing teams so far.

Hey, at least here in Columbus, our Blue Jackets are living up to THEIR expectations.

Silver linings.

Bold prediction: Leafs win their fifth straight. 2-goal night for Phil Kessel.

When Colton Orr scores, it's not your night.

No. 1 Star: Jiri Tlusty, Carolina Hurricanes

The Hurricanes entered the third-period of their match with the New York Islanders trailing 3-2, but then Tlusty went to work, picking up 4 points in the final 20 minutes. He tied the game 30 seconds into the third, set up two more goals, then iced the 6-4 win in the dying seconds with an empty-netter. Alex Semin had 1 and 2.

No. 2 Star: Shane Doan, Phoenix Coyotes

Doan was in on all three Coyotes goals versus the Colorado Avalanche, scoring twice. He opened the scoring for Phoenix and he closed it as well, potting the 3-2 game-winner with a minute to go in overtime. It was a strange play, as the Avalanche tried to throw the puck around the boards in their zone, only to have it hit the referee and come right out in front. Doan didn't waste the freebie.

No. 3 Star: Brandon Dubinsky, Columbus Blue Jackets

Dubinsky was the key to two great starts for the Blue Jackets in their 6-2 trouncing of the San Jose Sharks. He scored his first of the year and the first of the game just 0:43 into the first. Then, he helped end any hopes the Sharks had of a third-period comeback, assisting on a Nikita Nikitin goal 0:21 into the final frame. Dubsinky's 19:12 was also tops among Columbus forwards. Cody Goloubef scored his first NHL goal in the win.

Honourable Mention: It's still too early to say who won the James van Riemsdyk/Luke Schenn trade, but this play, where van Riemsdyk skates around Schenn like the pylon he's dressed like and scores a beauty:

That was the Toronto Maple Leafs' 5th and final goal in a 5-2 rout of the Philadelphia Flyers. Mark Fraser was on the ice for all five goals. The only downside was that they lost James Reimer to a lower-body injury, but Ben Scrivens was excellent in relief, making 32 saves... Mikko Koivu and Zach Parise scored in the shootout to give the Minnesota Wild a 2-1 win over the Calgary Flames... Jeff Carter puts the Kings on the board in the first period, then extended the lead to 2 in the second. That was all the Kings would need, but the Blues are really struggling to keep the puck out of their net these days, so LA scored twice more in a 4-1 win.

Did you know? David Backes was not happy after his team's ugly loss to the Kings (which I totally predicted, y'all). Check out this quote: "We've got too many guys out there looking at the stat sheet wondering how many goals and assists, cookies they've got rather than taking a hit to make a play and getting run over so we can get a puck out so that your teammates can have a 3-on-2."

Dishonourable Mention: Ilya Bryzgalov was pulled after allowing 4 goals on 14 shots... Korbinian Holzer is probably going to get suspended... Rough play for the Islanders here, at this Alex Semin shot ramps up off a stick, hits Travis Hamonic, and bounces into the Isles' net:

"The bottom line is you create your own luck," says the colour man, immediately. Uh huh.

It was that kind of night for the Florida Panthers.

No. 1 Star: Bobby Ryan, Anaheim Ducks

In an unexpectedly high-scoring night between the Ducks and the St. Louis Blues (who might prefer to see the Brian Elliott of last season instead of the season before), Bobby Ryan led the way, scoring 2 goals and adding 2 assists in a 6-5 shootout win. I love his roof job on this goal:

Teemu Selanne also had a 4-point night with 1 and 3. He now has two 4-point nights this season. I remind you, he's 42.

No. 2 Star: Mike Smith, Phoenix Coyotes

Smith was excellent, single-handedly dragging the Coyotes to two points in San Jose. He didn't get any run support, as Antti Niemi posted a shutout at the other end, but Smith's 33-save shutout carried over into the shootout, where no Sharks scored, but Mikkel Boedker and Radim Vrbata did, for a 1-0 victory.

No. 3 Star: James Reimer, Toronto Maple Leafs

Not that the Leafs really needed it on this night, but Reimer made 37 saves for the shutout in a 6-0 thumping of the Montreal Canadiens. Leo Komarov scored his first NHL goal, Dion Phaneuf finally scored, Korbinian Holzer scored on an assist from Colton Orr for goodness's sake, and Phil Kessel scored his second in as many games, to go with 2 assists.

Honourable mention: The Ottawa Senators might have thought they were catching a break when they drew Montoya rather than Ondrej Pavelec, but they weren't, and Montoya proved it in a big way Saturday. He was unbeatable in the Jets' 1-0 win, making 33 saves for his first shutout. Alexei Ponikarovsky scored the game's lone goal. Ben Bishop made 36 saves in the Senators' loss... Pavel Datsyuk has a goal, an assist, and 13 faceoff wins in 18 tries in the Detroit Red Wings' 2-1 win over the Edmonton Oilers... Danny Briere, the clutchiest clutch that ever clutched, scored the overtime winner as the Philadelphia Flyers edged the Carolina Hurricanes, 4-3. Watch for his fake backhand pass that fools the Carolina defender as he cuts into the middle:

Brayden Schenn picked up an assist on the winner to go with the 1 and 1 he scored in regulation... Stefan Matteau scored his first NHL goal and Ilya Kovalchuk assisted on two third-period goals as the New Jersey Devils topped the Pittsburgh Penguins, 3-1... Troy Brouwer scored twice and Braden Holtby made 27 saves for the shutout in the Washingon Capitals' 5-0 rout of the Florida Panthers... Ryan Miller made 41 saves and Thomas Vanek remained amazing with a goal and an assist in a 3-2 Buffalo Sabres' win over the New York Islanders... Devin Setoguchi's first of the season was the game-winner in the Minnesota Wild's 2-1 win over the Nashville Predators... Jordan Schroeder scored his first NHL goal and then, for giggles, he scored his second as the Vancouver Canucks dealt the Calgary Flames a 5-1 loss.

Did you know? Dan Boyle is the only NHL defenceman to score a goal in the shootout this season.

Dishonourable mention: Weather, which postponed the Boston/Tampa Bay game... Rough night for the Panthers and the Canadiens... Martin Brodeur gives us our blooper of the night as he loses his stick, rushes out to pick it up, then nearly kicks the puck into his goal when the Penguins put an empty-net bid off the post.

Sweet moves, Marty.

Follow Harrison Mooney on Twitter at @HarrisonMooney

Absolutely nothing went the Montreal Canadiens' way Saturday night versus the Toronto Maple Leafs. They put 37 shots on James Reimer. None went in. They surrendered 6 goals, the first time in 12 years they've lost by such a margin to Toronto, and among those goals were tallies by the snakebitten Dion Phaneuf, the previously goalless Leo Komarov, and Korbinian Holzer, with an assist from Colton Orr.

Yes, the Leafs' fourth line got a goal. Rarely do they factor much into hockey games (despite Don Cherry's bizarre assertion that Orr and McClaren were responsible for the Leafs' turnaround of late), but they were a big part of this one, especially in the final period.

As you might imagine in an embarrassing, nationally televised rout, the Canadiens did their best to fight back, leading to a third period full of shenanigans and fisticuffs. 64 minutes in penalties were handed out. But this part of the game didn't go well for Montreal either.

The moment that most will be talking about: Max Pacioretty's assertion that Mikhail Grabovski bit him during a pileup that took place at the 11:30 mark. Did he? You decide:

And another look from the side:

If you're having trouble seeing it, look for the moment where Grabovski grabs Pacioretty's arm, closes his eyes, and appears to sink his teeth into it into the limb like an ear of corn. It's pretty tough to miss.

(UPDATE: Grabovski will have a hearing with the NHL on Sunday afternoon.)

But while I can't believe I'm saying this, it's also going to be pretty tough to discipline. The stanchion does a good job of obscuring it the latter clip, and in the former clip, the alleged bite to the inside of Pacioretty's forearm is obscured by the outside of Pacioretty's forearm.

If the Alex Burrows incident taught us anything, it's that even when teeth are visible, sometimes the league will still call it inconclusive. And nothing happened with Chris Stewart's allegation that Derek Dorsett bit him last week.

But the silliness didn't end there.

Less than five minutes later, Colton Orr found himself on the ice at the same time as Tomas Plekanec, and he took a run as the Canadiens' centre. Lucky for Plekanec, he dodged Orr's flying, open-ice hit -- that looked to be led by a dangerous knee -- at the last possible second.

Immediately, the Canadiens on the ice responded, as you would after someone takes a reckless, knee-out run at one of your best players. Unfortunately -- and I remind you that the Orr line was enjoying a late shift -- the Canadiens on the ice were Plekanec, Brian Gionta, Rene Bourque, and Josh Gorges. This probably won't surprise you since he had no qualms about going after Plekanec, but Orr and Frazer McClaren were all too happy to take advantage of the mismatch:

A quick recap of what you just saw: as Orr beats up on Brian Gionta, Rene Bourque tries to come to the rescue. Orr puts him on his backside with one punch. Here's a better look at that:

And here's a gif of it, courtesy @totruculent.

Meanwhile, Frazer Mclaren fights Josh Gorges while laughing at him. Credit to Gorges though. He managed to punch Mclaren's helmet off.

That's about all that went right for the Canadiens, who were badly beaten, beaten up, and bitten on this night.

The star winger led the Rangers to their first win of the season, scoring twice in a 2:13 span in the first period and then winning the game in overtime with this electrifying goal after a Boston Bruins turnover. Gaborik’s goal gave the Rangers a 4-3 victory; look at those hands on the finish:

No. 2 Star: Steve Sullivan, Phoenix Coyotes

Sullivan scored at even strength in the first, and then had a power-play and an even strength goal in the third for his eighth career hat trick, leading the Coyotes to a 5-1 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets. His last one? In Dec. 2009, against these very same Blue Jackets.

No. 3 Star: Zack Kassian, Vancouver Canucks

Kassian scored his second of the season to open the scoring, and then closed the scoring for the Canucks by deking Miikka Kiprusoff out of his jock in the shootout. The Canucks defeated the Calgary Flames, 3-2.

Honorable Mention: James van Riemsdyk scored his first two goals of the season and added an assist in the Toronto Maple Leafs’ 5-2 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. Nikolai Kulemin had three assists. Mikhail Grabovski and Clarke MacArthur scored their first of the season for the Leafs. … James Reimer made 28 saves in the win. … Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin scored their first for the Penguins. … Nathan Horton scored his first for the Bruins. … Patrice Bergeron was 12-for-15 on faceoffs. … Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored two goals for the Coyotes. … Jason LaBarbera relieved an injured Mike Smith and stopped 21 of 22 shots. … Alex Tanguay scored his second for the Flames.

Did You Know? Pam Anderson was at the Canucks game. Again.

Dishonorable Mention: Malkin was given a game misconduct at the end of regulation, while Crosby was given an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty with 1:51 left in the game. … The Blue Jackets allowed 42 shots on Steve Mason. … The Leafs lost Joffrey Lupul to a fractured forearm.

Look, we watch so much hockey that a puck in a cup of beer isn’t really a thing. But this is making the rounds on some non-hockey sites, so prepare to see it on your nightly sportscast under “weird and wacky”. [Mashable]

Preview: Boston Bruins at New York Rangers, 7:30 p.m. ET. The Bruins are undefeated on the season, and are hopeful they’ll have Dennis Seidenberg and brad Marchand in against the Rangers. Here are three reasons why the Rangers are struggling, two of which are “poor defense” and “not enough offense.” Well that’ll do it every time.

Preview: Toronto Maple Leafs at Pittsburgh Penguins, 7 p.m. ET. A meeting between the team Mario Lemieux owns and the one for which Wayne Gretzky isn’t the president. Hey, remember James Reimer? He’s tossed to the Penguins tonight. The Eh Game would rather see Ben Scrivens.

Preview: Calgary Flames at Vancouver Canucks, 10 p.m. ET. The Canucks go back to Cory Schneider, and the rest of the hockey world will go back to hoping he gets shellacked against Calgary just to turn the screws a little more in Vancouver. The Flames are looking for their first win under Bob Hartley. Said Mike Cammalleri: “It would have been nice for the first two to be exhibition games, for sure." Spoken like a true NHLPA negotiator.

Preview: Columbus Blue Jackets at Phoenix Coyotes, 10 p.m. ET. The Jackets come off their admirable effort against Detroit, while the Coyotes are looking for their first win. Writes Five For Howling, they need to stop killing momentum: “Just 30 seconds after Keith Yandle closed the deficit to 5-4, Mike Smith allowed a soft goal that killed Phoenix's chance for a comeback. The Coyotes also took two penalties in the final five minutes of the game, essentially preventing them from mounting any sustained forecheck. They will have to do a better job managing the game and avoid shooting themselves in the foot at the most inopportune times.” (Also, we imagine you’ve already made some guess the attendance joke in your head, so we’ll avoid them.)

Check out previews and updated scores for all of today's games on the Y! Sports NHL scores and scheds page. For tonight's starting goalies, check out Left Wing Lock.

Evening Reading

•Uh-oh: Scott Hartnell of the Philadelphia Flyers is out indefinitely after taking a puck off the skate. [CSN Philly]

Steve Downie out for the year with an ACL tear. More on that in a moment. [Avs]

• The Pension Plan Puppets folks capture the ridiculous spirit of the Wayne Gretzky to the Leafs reports. [PPP]

• Wade Redden says his contract messed with his head with the New York Rangers. [Backhand Shelf]

• The AHL All-Star Classic makes several roster changes. [Times Union]

• Patrick Roy believes Mikhail Grigorenko will remain in the NHL this season. [Sabres Observer]

Puck Daddy Reader Comment of the Day: David Lee on bobblehead dolls.

“The Hurricanes handed out a Tim Gleason bobblehead a few years ago, but it looks more like Barack Obama.”

Bold Prediction: Mike Smith shuts out the Jackets.

Well, the season is starting about four-and-a-half months later than any of us would have liked, but at least it's starting. For most hockey fans, who have come to the NHL in waves since the Rangers won the Stanley Cup way back in 1994, this will be their first (and hopefully last ever) look at what an abbreviated schedule looks like.

We're constantly being told these days that anything can happen in a 48-game season. It's such a small sample size and teams can get weirdly hot or cold irrespective of their actual quality. Detroit, for instance, would have won the Presidents' Trophy through 48 games last season, but in the end didn't even win its division. Plus, you have to consider the fact that these 48 games are being played in an absurdly compacted schedule that's sure to screw with results even more. Lots of teams will make a nasty habit of playing three games in four days throughout the year, and that opens up room for fatigue, injuries and more to skew results in the weirdest ways possible.

Chaos for the league this year. Fun, exciting, hilarious chaos.

You can still bank on a lot of things happening as they would have in an 82-game season, of course. Evgeni Malkin will still be great. The Jets will still stink. Scott Hartnell will still fall down all the time. But overall, guessing how things go this year will be a lot tougher.

[Also: Winners & losers in NBC Sports' 2013 NHL TV schedule]

So why wouldn't I want to trot out, for the fourth year in a row somehow, 20 Bold Predictions for the upcoming NHL season?

1. Caps miss the playoffs. Leafs make it. In both cases, goaltending is the reason why.

2. Erik Karlsson will take a big step back production-wise.

3. We'll find out that all the time in Switzerland did Patrick Kane a lot of good, and he has a career year.

4. With Zach Parise and Mikko Koivu on his line, Dany Heatley starts to kind of resemble the motivated, really good Dany Heatley of old. Like, if you squint a little bit.

5. Dallas' strategy of signing a bunch of old guys whose bodies can't take an 82-game season pays off because they only have to play 48. Stars in the playoffs, led by Jamie Benn and Jaromir Jagr.

6. Cam Atkinson is going to win the Calder Trophy. Sorry, Nail Yakupov.

7. Shea Weber, not Ryan Suter, will be the one who doesn't look so hot without his ol' runnin' buddy.

8. Jonathan Quick will win the Vezina he should have won last year.

[Also: Play Fantasy Hockey on Yahoo! Sports]

9. One of Anaheim's big three forwards gets shipped out. I mean, it's probably Bobby Ryan but you never know.

10. That Jordan Staal contract will start to look real bad, real fast.

11. Evander Kane puts up another great season, but no one in Winnipeg will stop vilifying him.

12. Nine guys will break the 20-goal barrier this year. Rick Nash won't be one of them.

13. No one will actually complain about hockey being played in late June.

14. The Lightning will win the wide-open Southeast. Steven Stamkos will push 40 goals.

[Also: Finally healthy, Sidney Crosby eager for NHL return]

15. Jiri Hudler and Dennis Wideman will both make a real strong case for "Dumbest Jay Feaster signing of the summer." Hudler wins by a slim margin.

16. Detroit will barely squeeze into the playoffs because their defense is terrible, and then get routed in the first round. Jimmy Howard looks decidedly human all of a sudden.

17. This will be Teemu Selanne's last season in the NHL, and he still goes a point a game.

18. The Oilers' power play will be the only good thing about the Oilers, but man, it's gonna be really, really good. Top three in the league.

19. Buffalo will prove it did indeed get tough, but having done so won't help them become a better hockey team. They miss the playoffs.

20. Cory Schneider won't be the answer in Vancouver. At least, not any more than Roberto Luongo ever was. At least he's cheaper and younger, though.

Okay, have a good season.

What We Learned

Anaheim Ducks: The Ducks signed Scott Niedermayer as an assistant coach, and now my only hope is that Anaheim makes the playoffs so we can see the guy in a nice suit with an insane hobo's beard.

Boston Bruins: Tim Thomas obviously won't play this season but wants to go give the NHL another try next year. It is my belief that 38-year-old goalies who take a whole year off from playing the game of hockey at anywhere near an elite level will be able to rebound no problem.

Buffalo Sabres: The Sabres are catching a hell of a break with this schedule. A full 10 of their final 14 games are played at home. If they don't make the playoffs this year, there's no amount of excuse-making in the world to cover for it.

[Also: NHL releases 2013 schedule: 10 can't-miss dates]

Calgary Flames: Jay Bouwmeester trade rumors are already flying around. I love hockey.

Carolina Hurricanes: The Hurricanes were the first team to get the transactions started under the new CBA yesterday. They traded Brian Boucher to the Flyers because playing for Philadelphia and being hated for doing so is his destiny. This is gonna be the answer to a trivia question someday.

Chicago Blackhawks: Like many teams, the Blackhawks called up a number of AHLers to their official camp, and you gotta figure Nick Leddy, Brandon Saad and Andrew Shaw have the inside track for spots with the big club.

Colorado Avalanche: Nice that Joe Sacco called the attempt to get ready for a 48-game condensed schedule in less than a week a "predicament." That's so apt it's crazy.

Columbus Blue Jackets: The Blue Jackets are hoping all their efforts to keep fans engaged throughout the lockout, such as through a haunted arena attraction over Halloween, will lead to more asses in the seats this season. But if anything, you gotta think their best hope is that four months without the Blue Jackets led everyone to forget how awful they're going to be.

Dallas Stars: Glen Gulutzan is probably really happy the Stars went out and signed or traded for a bunch of guys who don't know anything about his system. Really, really happy. I bet.

Detroit Red Wings presented by Amway: "Tootoo should make impact against former team." Jordin Tootoo? The hockey player? The one who gets like 12 minutes a night? Yeah, I wouldn't count on that.

Edmonton Oilers: So I guess this Nail Yakupov kid is supposed to be good or something? News to me. Russian kid you say? Interesting. I didn't notice him much in the World Juniors.

[Also: Ten interesting highlights from the NHL's new CBA]

Florida Panthers: Between Jan. 19 and 26, a period of seven days, the Panthers play five games. Oh my god someone is going to die this season I just know it.

Los Angeles Kings: The Kings somehow tricked the Carolina Hurricanes into giving them a roster player and two draft picks for Kevin Westgarth, who plays five minutes a night, has five career points, is too expensive, and sucks. As Cam Charron said on Twitter, his page on Behind the Net looks like the Dow Jones in Sept. 2008. He doesn't even fight! A one-for-one of Westgarth for Stewart would have been highway robbery for the King. I don't understand. This is an amazing trade.

Minnesota Wild: (Ed Note: The Wild checked in with a correction on Lambert's ticket pricing: There is no difference in 2011-12 and 2012-13 Wild single game ticket prices. In the 2011-12 listed price you referred to (http://wild.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=585978), facility fees were not included. Now, the $2 fee is included in the price of the ticket (http://wild.nhl.com/club/page.htm?id=51774). A $98 ticket last year cost, $100, and this year, the ticket just costs $100.)

Montreal Canadiens: Erik Cole says sky-high escrow might force him to retire after this season ends. He's due $4 million next season. Unless escrow is 100 percent, he'd be really dumb to give up that kind of money, right?

Nashville Predators: Expect Craig Smith to play a much bigger role for the Preds in his second year in the league. Apparently he left his Finnish team in October because he thought the lockout would end soon. Poor, naïve Craig Smith.

New Jersey Devils: Mathieu Darche will be in Devils camp. Wouldn't be the worst option in a limited role.

New York Islanders: If you're reading this after 10 a.m., the Islanders have already suspended AWOL defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky for not reporting to camp.

New York Rangers: Mike Del Zotto is both locked up for this season and next, and to pretty great money for the Rangers, too.

Ottawa Senators: Eugene Melnyk thinks the Senators were "much better" than the Kings last season. Well then.

Philadelphia Flyers: Not that Kurtis Foster is in any way a good NHL defenseman, but the Flyer didn't have many NHL defensemen period before they signed him.

[Also: Henrik Lundqvist rocks out to Guns N' Roses on 'Jimmy Fallon']

Phoenix Coyotes: Today is Day No. 157 since Jude LaCava of Fox 10 in Arizona said Greg Jamison would have the deal for the Coyotes sewn up within the next five days. But if you were worried Keith Yandle somehow stopped playing for the Coyotes during the lockout, he didn't. He's still on the Coyotes. So don't worry.

Pittsburgh Penguins: Here's a stat I've never seen before but kind of makes sense: A Penguin has won 14 of the last 24 scoring titles in the NHL. For the record, though, Sid Crosby doesn't think he'll put up 100 points this season.

San Jose Sharks: Todd McLellan says the Sharks' schedule is "not the disaster it could have been." That's thanks in large part to the team opening with two road games but then having a six-game homestand.

St. Louis Blues: Wow, 5,500 people showed up to watch the Blues' first official practice. That's more than the Flyers drew. Think people are excited about this team?

Tampa Bay Lightning: Still hilarious that the Lightning's starting goaltender, for whom they gave up a prospect, two second-round picks and a third, only has 38 games of NHL experience.

Toronto Maple Leafs: James Reimer gets the start on Saturday, and Dave Nonis says he and Ben Scrivens are "quality goaltenders." Your mileage will probably vary, but for what it's worth, Nonis says the Leafs "don't need to make a move" for a goalie."

Vancouver Canucks: The Canucks signed Cam Barker for some dumb reason. Oh no, why would they do that?

Washington Capitals: The Caps loaned Tom Poti to Hershey for a conditioning stint. Makes sense. He only played 21 games last season.

Winnipeg Jets: Your pre-packaged reason for the Jets missing the playoffs this year: So much travel!!!!

Play of the Weekend

Mark McMillan of the University of North Dakota, you scored a real nice goal.

Gold Star Award

As always, if you're not reading the annual Travel Miles post from On the Forecheck, you are missing out big-time. Minnesota will travel a league-high 31,345 miles this season, while New Jersey only goes 11,659. Detroit and Chicago will play 24 of their 48 games each in back-to-backs.

Minus of the Weekend
Sucks to be Scott Gomez. Or, I mean, not. If you're gonna pay me $5.5 million to sit at home, I can deal with that.

And by the way, any team that's not that close to the cap and is looking for a potentially decent second-line forward they can get for peanuts might wanna consider seeking out Gomez's services. He actually drove possession last year, and would likely do it again if used in the correct situations. Not that anyone will, but it wouldn't be the worst idea.

Perfect HFBoards Trade Proposal of the Week

User "zombie" has it figured out for his hometown team.

To Montreal: Filppula
Nyquist
Jurco
Ouellet
2nd 2013

To Detroit:
Subban

Sure thing!

Signoff
He taught me the most wonderful lesson a child can learn: Never trust nobody.

Ryan Lambert publishes hockey awesomeness almost never over at The Two-Line Pass. Check it out, why don’t you? Or you can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter if you so desire.
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The Vancouver Canucks trading their backup goaltender Roberto Luongo to the Florida Panthers never really made sense, outside of Luongo's possession of a no-movement clause and willingness to go to there.

Why would the Panthers want a goaltender when they've been grooming Jacob Markstrom for several seasons, and are fairly happy with their veteran tandem anyway? Why would they ante up anything close to what the Canucks want for Luongo, who won't simply be a salary dump? Why would the Panthers want that salary on their cap? (Oh, that's right: Because when he retires, it'll be the Canucks' salary again.)

[Nick Cotsonika: Enough with the grudges and greed, get down to business and solve the CBA]

The Toronto Maple Leafs, on the other hand, could use Roberto Luongo. (All due respect to James Reimer, a nice young goalie transformed into Hockey Jesus in some desperate Toronton media circles.)

Roberto Luongo would make them a playoff team. Yes, seriously, that's the impact: Putting him between the pipes means the Maple Leafs in the Eastern Conference top eight. At the very least, their team GAA won't be 29th overall next season.

So how do we make this happen?

From Damien Cox of the Toronto Star:

Yes, the Leafs remain very much interested in securing the services of Luongo, and the talks are very much alive. It's believed Leaf GM Brian Burke and his Vancouver counterpart Mike Gillis spoke as recently as two weeks ago, at which time the Canucks demands were reduced from the bounty they requested at the draft, but not enough for the Leafs to agree to anything.

At the draft, reports indicated Vancouver asked for centre Tyler Bozak, defenceman Jake Gardiner, a first-round pick and winger Matt Frattin in exchange for the 33-year-old Luongo. The Leafs had no interest in paying that kind of price, largely because there is no significant market for the services of the veteran goaltender.

Gardiner might be a deal-killer, as close to untouchable as a player on this sickly roster can come.

Chemmy from Pension Plan Puppets offers an alternative:

Ditto to young talent. Jake Gardiner should hopefully contribute value to the Leafs for a lot longer than three or four years. Toronto doesn't have enough talent to give up young potential for a few years of an old goaltender.

My Deal: I'd offer Vancouver Tyler Bozak, Cody Franson and our 2nd round pick in 2013. There's some value there for Vancouver. It's not a king's ransom but I don't think the Leafs should be moving important pieces to bring in a 33 year old. If that's not enough I'm more than happy to not have Luongo.

Bump that up to a first-round pick, and there might be a deal here. Swap out one of the two (or both) for Joe Colborne, and there's probably a deal there.

[Trending Topics: NHL's negotiating tactics aren't helping to end the lockout]

The Luongo-to-the-Leafs talk was kicked up again by a report by John Shannon of Sportsnet that the two sides had an agreement in principle to make a deal after the lockout ends. The Canucks issued a "non-denial denial" on the trade, which is expected when GM Mike Gillis is still trying to add irons to the fire. But he doubled down by saying the Leafs rumor was "untrue" on Friday.

The Leafs have some assets the Canucks might desire, and ones with which they'd be willing to part. The Canucks need to remedy the Luongo situation in order to pass the torch to Cory Schneider.

It all comes down to Luongo's desire to play for the Leafs, which comes down to a probability for championship success (low) and his comfort in the market.

Florida would have finally been a respite from the annual piling-on that Luongo faces when he and/or the Canucks fall short of a championship. Toronto offers a different kind of pressure — that of a franchise savior — but it also offers Luongo a different set of expectations than the ones he currently faces in Vancouver.

It's one pressure cooker to another, but Luongo would undoubtedly get a smoother ride in Toronto because the bar is significantly lower: "Carry us to the Cup" vs. "Get us the Eight Seed."

Yes, indeed, despite the promise of impending labor Armageddon and a prolonged work-stoppage, your friends at Puck Daddy are previewing the 2012-13 NHL season (whenever the heck it starts). Why? Because this is the most important election in the history of all-time ever, and you need to know the candidates — like the Toronto Maple Leafs.

It was a disaster of disastrous proportions for the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2011-12.

But it didn't start out that way. With another All-Star turn from Phil Kessel and a breakout performance from Joffrey Lupul, the Leafs got off to a hot start. As late as February 22, they were still in playoff contention, sitting in a three-way tie for seventh place.

Then bad things happened.

Toronto's season actually began to unravel a week earlier on February 14, when they lost their fourth straight game for the first time all season. They would win the next night, briefly assuaging fan concern, but then everything went to crap. The Leafs proceeded to rattle off six and five-game losing streaks over the next 13 games. Ron Wilson was fired at the beginning of March. The goaltending situation became untenable. Hair stylists in Ontario declared bankruptcy en masse because nearly everyone in the Greater Toronto Area tore every last follicle from their scalp.

Like I said. A disaster of disastrous proportions.

But hey. The Leafs have a new coaching staff, they made a big offseason trade, and the universe can't kick this franchise in the Charlie Browns forever, right?

Is this the year the Leafs finally end their playoff drought?

"Ugh"

Not a whole lot has changed for the Leafs.

The biggest move Brian Burke made this offseason was sending Luke Schenn to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for forward James van Riemsdyk. I'm vague about van Riemsdyk's position because it's still up in the air. Randy Carlyle seems set to try the 23-year-old, who has played most of his NHL career at the wing, at centre. It's a risk, but a minimal one if you consider the low bar previous Toronto first line centres have set.

In comes Jay McClement, formerly of the St. Louis Blues, to give Carlyle's new defensive system a boost, and gone are much-maligned goaltender Jonas Gustavsson, oft-injured winger Colby Armstrong, Joey Crabb, and Philippe Dupuis.

At forward … The Leafs will be led once again by the very productive duo of Joffrey Lupul and Phil Kessel, and if James van Riemsdyk can nestle comfortably between them, this could be one of the league's punchiest lines. Unless Randy Caryle breaks them up for their defensive shortcomings -- a distinct possibility considering van Riemsdyk's greenness up the middle and the fact that neither Kessel or Lupul are exactly Selke candidates -- they'll score in bunches like they did last season. If the Leafs contend, this group will be the reason.

But the tenuous situation up the middle means it's nigh impossible to tell just how the line combinations will shake out at all. If van Riemsdyk can't shake it as a centre, then either he or Lupul is falling down the depth chart, where they'll compete with the likes of Nikolai Kulemin, Mikhail Grabovski, Clarke MacArthur, Tyler Bozak, and Tim Connolly for second and third line icetime.

On defense … Captain Dion Phaneuf-Cuthbert leads a corps that includes John-Michael Liles, sophomore Jake Gardiner, and Carl Gunnarsson. It's not exactly a formidable blueline, although Gardiner's potential is through the roof. He's still about an AHL-level defender, but he might be able to gloss over that with his incredible offensive talent.

In goal … Unless Brian Burke manages to pry Roberto Luongo out of Vancouver, James Reimer and Ben Scrivens will mind the pipes. It might not be a total disaster. First, Randy Carlyle's system is sure to complement them a little more than Ron Wilson's, and second, they haven't been instructed by the head coach to tune out new goaltending coach Rick St. Croix yet.

Reimer and Scrivens are passable goaltenders, but they're not the sort to drag the Leafs into the playoffs kicking and screaming.

Gotta give it up to 82-year-old Hugh Oliver's "When the Leafs Were Good", which recalls a time that only an 82-year-old can remember.

Randy Carlyle's first full season behind the bench is going to be incredibly interesting. His system is bound to be more defensive-minded than Ron Wilson's (since it's not possible to be less), but the Leafs' only real hope of making the playoffs -- apart from trapping to glory -- is if Kessel, Lupul, and whomever score the lights out. Will his system slow them down?

Brian Burke is still the General Manager. You've probably heard of him.

In this man's humble opinion, the key player here is Phaneuf. While Carlyle's system threatens the freewheeling ways of the likes of Kessel and Lupul, it bodes very well for Phaneuf, who is now playing for a coach that relies heavily on his top blueliners. It's been awhile since Phaneuf was considered an elite defenceman, but it's not a stretch to think a full year under Carlyle could help return him to prominence.

James van Riemsdyk will be given absolutely every opportunity to succeed in Toronto, both at centre and at the wing. If the Leafs can find a situation that works for him, a big year is in the offing.

Have you heard about Nazem Kadri's fitness issues? That's sort of a big deal in Toronto right now. Kadri is clearly beginning to try the patience of the team that drafted him 7th overall in 2009, and one wonders if this might be his last opportunity to win them over.

[FEMALE NARRATOR]

"ESPN says the Toronto Maple Leafs are the worst team in sports."

"But how thorough was ESPN's research, anyway? The Tulsa Jr. Oilers of the Western States Hockey League recently gave up 103 shots in one game. That sounds worse than the Leafs, don't you think?"

"And check out these kids."

"Damn, they suck. The Leafs are way better than that."

"Clearly, ESPN doesn't stand for The Highly Accurate Ranking Systems Company, which should be obvious both because their ranking system is highly inaccurate and also because the acronym doesn't fit at all."

"The Toronto Maple Leafs. Not the worst."

"Paid for by Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment."

The Leafs aren't much improved from last year. They may still make some adjustments to the roster, but as it stands, there's no reason to believe this team can do what the 2011-12 edition could not. The safe bet is another nightmarish, postseason-free year in Toronto.

That said, this team could contend. All it will take is: van Riemsdyk finding his star game and blending seamlessly with the group, Kessel and Lupul posting huge numbers again, Dion Phaneuf re-finding his elite game, Jake Gardiner learning to defend and breaking out as a breakout starter, Reimer and Scrivens stunning the pundits with steady, heady goaltending, and Randy Carlyle getting a seamless, Jack Adams-calibre buy-in from his roster.

But that's a lot to go right for a franchise that doesn't have a history of having everything fall into place. Brace yourselves, Leafs fans.

• There's a lockout a-coming. Are you prepared? Mike Brown is. He's been getting ready to look unemployed for months and I'd say he's finally there. [Instagram]

• Labor update: nothing is happening. [TSN]

• But the NHLPA was still plenty busy Wednesday dispelling myths, such as the idea that they're "stonewalling" the NHL: "The players are not 'stonewalling'. They have simply refused to accept the owners' outrageous demands. There was and is plenty of time to reach an agreement and begin the season without interruption." [NHLPA]

• They also distributed a memo Wednesday night titled "How does a lockout affect me?" It explains that injured players are still entitled to pay, recommends that players heading overseas purchase disability insurance, and may or may not feature a voucher for a free Subway sandwich. So yeah, there's probably going to be a lockout. [USA Today]

• Shea Weber's contract has been finalized, and it does not include a no-trade or no-movement clause, and thank God for that. [The Tennesseean]

• How Alex Ovechkin can make the most of the lockout: "Alexander Ovechkin should tell Dynamo, CSKA and Medvedev to kick rocks and make public overtures about his desire, should the NHL lock its players out, to play for... Lokomotiv Yaroslavl for a League-minimum salary." [Japers Rink]

• David Gunnarsson's Optimus Reim mask for James Reimer is as excellent as you'd expect it to be. [Dave Art]

• A six-month assessment by a special task force has found significant deficiencies in the structures and processes that are designed to provide oversight of the BU men's ice hockey program. For instance, "a culture of sexual entitlement." Yeah, that's never good. [BU Today] stick-tap Chuck from What's Up Ya Sieve?

• The "Sorry I was So Bad Last Season" Calgary Flames Apology Tour is coming to your town. [Flames Nation]

• How a lockout could really hurt NBC. [Montreal Gazette]

• Here's an interview with Glendale mayor Elaine Scruggs, who says she's interviewed Greg Jamison and he has his finances in order to purchase the Phoenix Coyotes, but is waiting on the city of Glendale to sign off on the deal. [KJZZ]

• With the signings of Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle, the Edmonton Oilers have blown past the very safeguards put in place to protect them. [Toronto Star]

• The Green Men have been inducted into ESPN's inaugural Hall of Fans. What's more, they were the big winners. [PITB]

• Can the Toronto Maple Leafs take advantage of a lower salary cap? Yes, in the sense that it will stop Brian Burke from doing things sooner. [The Hockey Writers]

• Cyclist Bob McEnaney is riding in the Furnace Creek 508 to raise funds for Jack Jablonski, who suffered a major spinal cord injury in a tragic hockey incident. Go donate. [Indiegogo]

• Evgeni Malkin goes full Russian, playing hockey in a cap with ear flaps and felt boots.

Sign up your Yahoo! fantasy hockey team today.

When it comes to drafting goaltenders, a tiered strategy is the way to go. It has worked for me for several years. The reason you look at them in terms of a tiered system is because you don't know when they will go in the draft. Goalies tend to go in "runs". Once a person selects one, others follow suit over the next few picks. Sometimes that's as early as the first round. Or it could be as late as the fifth round, depending on the rules of your league. All you need to do is ensure beyond a shadow of a doubt that you get a goalie from Tier 1 and a goalie from Tier 2. A second goalie in one of those tiers would be nice, but very tough to do because you are focusing on other positions. Tier 3 would be the goalies you take in the late rounds and generally include rookies, sleepers, those in 1A/1B situations and Band-Aid Boys.

Tier 1

Here are the slam dunks. These are the guys you can count on for 33 wins and they have a shot at 40. Their numbers are generally stellar and they won't let you down, barring a fluke injury (and if you get one of those, you're screwed anyway).

Henrik Lundqvist, New York Rangers

Money in the bank. I don't know what else to say about him. Six consecutive seasons of 35 or more wins. There is no safer pick.

Jonathan Quick, Los Angeles Kings

Three consecutive 35-win seasons and a dominant Conn Smythe-winning postseason. If the Kings have to showcase Jonathan Bernier, it may reduce Quick's starts mildly. But he'll still get his 35 wins easily.

Marc-Andre Fleury, Pittsburgh Penguins

Sure, he was letting in beach balls in April. And granted, a veteran backup such as Tomas Vokoun will cannibalize his starts. But he still managed 42 wins last year and has 35 or more wins in five of his last six campaigns. Even Vokoun holding Fleury to 60 starts won't be enough to push him under the 35-win mark.

Pekka Rinne, Nashville Predators

Even without Ryan Suter, the Predators play a team system. They didn't have Suter in 2006 when Vokoun managed 36 wins, so it's not the end of the world. Rinne had 42 last year, he should still get to 35 in 2012-13.

Jimmy Howard, Detroit Red Wings

Fantasy owners argue that he's an average goalie in a top system, kind of like the argument with Chris Osgood back in the day. But with 109 wins over the last three seasons, who cares? In just 57 starts he still got his 35 wins. More than enough to convince me he'll get there again.

Miikka Kiprusoff, Calgary Flames

The Flames have had some good teams over the years and some bad teams. It matters little to Kiprusoff. He'll log an obscene amount of starts regardless and get his 35 wins - just like he's done each of the last seven years.

Tier 2

This next tier is a list of goalies who should hover around 30 wins and put up decent numbers. Many of them have a shot at 35 wins. I'll split this tier into two categories. Since this tiered system is for personal preference - that is to say, use your own judgment and put goalies into whichever tier you want - I'll divide this up between goalies you would consider sliding into the first tier and goalies who probably should be entrenched in this one.

Hint: if you fail to land a goalie from Tier 1, maybe you misjudged whether or not one would get back to you…you're in tough. The best thing you can do is immediately grab your two favorite candidates from Tier 2, and later in the draft grab a third candidate from Tier 2. Often goaltender categories are 40% or 50% of your stats. That's not something to be trifled with.

First, the "Upper Tier 2":

Slide these up into the first tier as you see fit. Or not.

Ryan Miller, Buffalo Sabres

He stumbled to 31 wins after posting at least 34 in each of the prior five seasons. Miller is a great pick in that there is no real downside. Last year was as close to a downside as you'll get, and although it was painful in the first half it turned out to be okay.

Tuukka Rask, Boston Bruins

If Rask is healthy, he'll be a top five goalie. I'm concerned about his fragility, though admittedly haven't seen enough of him to say for sure. If you feel completely secure in his health then he absolutely should be in that top tier.

Mike Smith, Phoenix Coyotes

With Smith, it's the same as with Rask. He was healthy last year and you saw what happened when he plays in the Dave Tippett system. If you are confident he'll stay healthy again, include him in your first tier.

Ilya Bryzgalov, Philadelphia Flyers

Bryzgalov was car wreck last season. But say goodbye to goaltending controversy now that Sergei Bobrovsky is gone. I also liked how well he played once the Flyers added Niklas Grossmann. The Flyers are winning a lot of games this year, and Bryzgalov has no choice but to tally up the W's.

Cam Ward, Carolina Hurricanes

Ward is another safe pick with little downside. Given the improvements that the Hurricanes made in the offseason, his win totals are bound to rise. He and Bryzgalov are probably my favorite picks to go into the top tier if I had to add two.

Roberto Luongo, Vancouver Canucks

Simple - if he's traded to Florida early, then he's Tier 1. If it takes a couple of months, then he stays in Tier 2. He and Corey Schneider hurt each other's fantasy value the longer they stay teammates.

Anders Lindback, Tampa Bay Lightning

Tampa Bay is going to win a lot more games this season and Lindback will get most of those W's if he can handle the heavy workload. If you feel confident that he won't wear down at the 40-game mark and that the Lightning will be a playoff team (or close to it), bump him up to Tier 1.

Antti Niemi, San Jose Sharks

All the tiny little injuries this guy gets troubles me (even the ones he plays through), but it's probably just a silly bias. Facts are facts, and the fact is that he has 69 wins in two seasons with San Jose. But his other numbers are middling at best, so you may want to keep him as a Tier 2.

Niklas Backstrom, Minnesota Wild

After a couple of off years and the emergence of Josh Harding, it's hard to confidently put him in the upper tier of fantasy goaltenders. Then again, Backstrom has the best team in front of him in years, and Harding is a certified Band-Aid Boy.

Now the "Definitely Tier 2":

Cory Schneider, Vancouver Canucks

Schneider is "definitely Tier 1" if the Canucks move Luongo before the puck drops. Simple as that. Schneider will play with a team that will shoot past 100 points this year and have zero competition for the starting job. That spells 40 wins. But take a win away for every week during the season that Luongo remains.

Martin Brodeur, New Jersey Devils

Brodeur's 40-win days are behind him, and probably his 35-win days as well. But he showed in the playoffs that there is still gas in the tank. Enough for perhaps 32 wins and decent numbers.

Jonas Hiller, Anaheim Ducks

There is no question he'll get the starts. Hell, he got 73 of them last campaign. But can the Ducks get back to flirting with a playoff spot? Probably not, so Hiller is likely a 30-win guy at best.

Craig Anderson, Ottawa Senators

A good goaltender and an underrated goaltender. But he's had four injuries in the last three years, of both the "fluke" and "non-fluke" variety. So that probably caps the amount of games he gets into and makes 35 wins unlikely. If all the kitchen knife incidents, etc. are behind him, then he'll prove me wrong.

Kari Lehtonen, Dallas Stars

Two healthy seasons out of his last five is the main reason I'm not a fan of putting him in the Tier 1. You need to reserve that tier for the certainties not the uncertainties. But Lehtonen is a solid 30-win guy.

Semyon Varlamov, Colorado Avalanche

Varlamov is a promising goaltender with injury issues. But more importantly, he's on a team that may not win 35 games so how do you expect him to?

Carey Price, Montreal Canadiens

Like Varlamov, Price is on a team that will struggle for 35 wins (they had 31 last year). So even though he'll play 70 games or more, winning 35 will be virtually impossible.

Ondrej Pavelec, Winnipeg Jets

Coming off a career high 29 wins, but an unimpressive 0.906 save percentage, it's tough to see Pavelec joining the elite group above this year.

Corey Crawford, Chicago Blackhawks

Sophomore slump, or just coming back to reality? Either way, with Ray Emery cannibalizing starts, it's not a very secure situation.

Tier 3

Each round, take a look at the goalies who remain. If you aren't absolutely certain that a goalie in your Tier 1 grouping will make it to your next pick, then you have to take one with the current pick. Once you have a Tier 1 goalie, you employ the same strategy with Tier 2. This allows you to focus on positional players as much as possible without sacrificing goaltending. Once you have a 1-2 punch in net, you can afford to wait until the bench rounds for your third goalie. It is possible that you will be lucky enough to draft a second Tier 2 goalie for your bench. Otherwise, there's always Tier 3. These are your sleepers/dark horses. They are either splitting starts in a 1A/1B situation, or there is some other reason things are less than certain.

Jaroslav Halak & Brian Elliott, St. Louis Blues

Circle appropriate name:

(Halak/Elliott) is looking at stellar numbers across the board, but with (Brian Elliott/Jaroslav Halak) around, will he even get 50 starts? A great guy to have for the bench as your No.3, to sub in for the week

Devan Dubnyk &  Nikolai Khabibulin, Edmonton Oilers

Dubnyk was the better goalie these past two seasons, but because his contract had a much smaller number on it, Khabibulin got first dibs on the starts - especially early on. Now that their salary is comparable, Dubnyk should see 50 starts. But that's not enough to warrant second-tier status and he's also a risk because it's Khabibulin's contract year. When it comes to Khabibulin, the contract year is traditionally the year he brings out his inner Hasek.

Braden Holtby & Michal Neuvirth, Washington Capitals

Neuvirth considers Holtby his worst competition, according to an interview in which he was misquoted. Regardless, Neuvirth considers himself very much in the mix to be No.1. Let's also keep in mind that Holtby had a strong playoff, but the sample size is still very small. My money is on Holtby, but I have a feeling the starts won't become regular until three months into the season.

Evgeni Nabokov & Kevin Poulin, New York Islanders

Nabokov played 64 professional games over the last two years. The lack of action, as often happens with older goaltenders, no doubt influenced the groin injury that troubled him all of last year. He had a winning record with the Islanders last year and should improve on that this time around. But because of that nagging groin injury I think it's too risky to consider him in the second tier - but that's your call. He makes a nice dark horse, but I wouldn't hang my hat on him. Assuming that Rick DiPietro is injured by Game 10, Poulin also makes a nice dark horse - but his value won't shine through until the second half.

James Reimer & Ben Scrivens, Toronto Maple Leafs

The goaltending situation in Toronto is another risky one, because it's no secret that GM Brian Burke will pick up another netminder if any come within his price range. So it's entirely possible that both Scrivens and Reimer will be waiver fodder in most leagues by December. If they do play, either one could seize control of the top job. We really don't know who.

Jose Theodore, Florida Panthers

Theodore's career high for wins is 33, and he hasn't touched that mark in eight years. If he plays a full, healthy season and the Panthers do not acquire Luongo, then Theodore could get 30 wins. But it's awfully tough to count on that, and if you can't count on a reasonable number than you shouldn't put the goaltender into one of the top two tiers.

Sergei Bobrovsky, Columbus Blue Jackets

As a team, Columbus has 29 wins last season. And Bobrovsky will have to share some of those wins with Steve Mason (if Mason can bounce back) or Allen York (if Mason can't). I think Bobrovsky will get at least 60 starts, but if the W and SO roto categories aren't improving as a result, then what's the point? If you league ignores those two stats and focuses on saves, then sure he can go into Tier 2. Otherwise he's bench fodder.

Ray Emery, Chicago Blackhawks

Emery will become a very valuable fantasy own if and only if Cory Crawford stumbles (be it through injury or inconsistency). Since that happened at times last year, it's certainly possible this year. But under those conditions, Emery is just a dark horse and should probably be left on the wire until things start looking dicey for CC.

Completely lockout-proof, take a look my seventh annual fantasy hockey guide. Tips, projections, sleepers, advanced stats breakdowns and more - updated until the puck drops.

*Note: Rookies will have their own column later in the week.

Sign up your Yahoo! fantasy hockey team today.

Dobber is the resident fantasy hockey know-it-all for Puck Daddy, and founder of Dobber Sports - which includes DobberHockey, DobberProspects, DobberFootball and DobberBaseball. You can follow him on Twitter @DobberHockey

After Martin Brodeur finished one of the greatest postseason runs of his legendary NHL career, it was back to business. The goalie is a unrestricted free agent this summer, having made $5.2 million against the cap for the last six seasons. He turned 40 in May; this contract could be his last in the NHL.

"I've said it all along. He'll make the decision whether he wants to come back," Devils President/GM/Ruler of All He Surveys Lou Lamoriello said after the season. "Marty will be a Devil as long as he wants to be. I don't think there's ever something he and I have trouble with. I don't want to see him put on any other uniform. I don't think he wants to."

That desire may be put to the test: As first reported by Darren Dreger of TSN, Brodeur has hired Pat Brisson (who just closed Sidney Crosby's mega-contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins) having "had limited contract discussions with Devils. Could still sign before Sunday, but leaning now toward open market."

Martin Brodeur, playing in the NHL, in a uniform other than that of the New Jersey Devils. Wow.

Via Tom Gulitti of Fire and Ice on Wednesday:

Things have been quiet as far as what's going on with goaltender Martin Brodeur, but Lamoriello said earlier this week that "there's always communication" with the future Hall of Famer. Barring something unexpected, it would seem to be just a matter of time before there is something announced with Brodeur. Brodeur represents himself (with assistance from an attorney) in contract negotiations with Lamoriello, so it's unlikely there will be any news leaking out there until there is a done deal or the unexpected happens and he announces his retirement.

Obviously, the Brisson news throws this for a loop. The troubling news for Devils fans, via Gulitti: "[Brodeur] hinted that he would hire an agent if he ended up in a situation where he had to negotiate with other teams."

Were the Devils unable to match the money or term that Brodeur was seeking? Does the team's ownership and debt mess play into this?

(UPDATE: Rich Chere of the Star-Ledger tweets: "Devils' financial situation has prevented GM Lou Lamoriello from committing to re-sign Martin Brodeur so he will test market as UFA.")

Looking around the League, the possibilities for Marty Brodeur: Future Hall of Fame And Current Goaltending Band-Aid are tantalizing. Back-stopping a possible contender like the Tampa Bay Lightning, Chicago Blackhawks or San Jose Sharks? A short-termer for the Toronto Maple Leafs, helping along James Reimer?

Or is this leverage? Brisson's message to Pierre LeBrun: "He will be testing free agency if a deal is not in place by Sunday."

That sounds like an ultimatum, no?

The NHL draft was in Pittsburgh, but there's been a distinctly Philadelphian influence to the festivities. It's been all brotherly love this weekend. On Friday, we saw a partial family reunion when the Hurricanes acquired Jordan Staal from the Penguins. A day later, Philadelphia got into the spirit themselves, bringing the Schenn brothers together in a trade with Toronto.

The Flyers have acquired defenceman Luke Schenn from the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for forward James van Riemsdyk.

Again, that's Schenn for van Riemsdyk straight up. Now, both players are still young enough that it's hard to say who will be the better piece long-term, and after last season's curious offseason deals wound up sort of working for Paul Holmgren, we'll hold off on calling him a crazy person, but man, it's tough to say Leafs GM Brian Burke didn't come out on top here.

Granted, van Riemsdyk's stock dipped a bit this season. After a great 2010-11 campaign in which he put up 20 goals in the regular season and another 7 in just 11 postseason games, his follow-up in 2011-12 was riddled with injuries and inconsistency. But even with the stumble, we'd have thought the only people believing van Riemsdyk could be had for Schenn in a one-for-one were Torontonians. If we didn't see both GMs in Pittsburgh today, we'd wonder if maybe Burke had dragged Holmgren into Ontario and exposed him to the air.

The Flyers were dealing somewhat from a position of need. With Chris Pronger's return looking less and less likely, they had to have another defender. It's possible that this weakened their bargaining strength and made the swap a possibility.

It's also possible the same thing could happen to Burke now that he's further thinned an already thin back end and made it even more unlikely that a platoon of James Reimer and Ben Scrivens can cover for it. Can he make upgrades to the blueline and goaltending at a reasonable cost when they've gone from something he'd like to do to something he must do?

This deal has been rumoured for quite some time. Back In January, the Philadelphia Daily News reported that trade talks were ongoing, and Burke gave some credence to the rumours when he discussed his preference for what he called an age-group asset trade. From NHL.com:

"I do think there is room for age-group asset trades," Burke said. "If you trade a 22-year-old and get back a 22-year-old that plays a different position, that's an age-group asset trade. I'm not giving away any future; I'm making a bet on what it does for our team. That's a possibility."

At the time, both Van Riemsdyk and Schenn were 22.

But Van Riemsdyk is actually 23 now. Way to mortgage the future, Burke.

• Nail Yakupov not only wears the greatest polo shirt in the history of NHL Draftees, but pops his collar. [Penguins]

• Josh Yohe of the Tribune-Review with a big scoop: Paul Martin of the Pittsburgh Penguins "told me that he played the first three games against the Flyers with concussion-like symptoms," and that "Martin said nothing to trainers until after Game 3. At that point, he was shut down for the rest of the series." Of all the teams to do that with a concussion … [@JoshYohe_Trib]

• Brilliant: Washington Capitals choose-your-own-adventure. [Japers' Rink]

• Bruce Boudreau is still a Capitals fan. [Capitals Insider]

• Renaud Lavoie of RDS reports that PA Parenteau of the New York Islanders will test the market on July 1. [RenLavoieRDS]

• HUZZAH! "The Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League is abolishing the shootout in favour of an additional 3-on-3 overtime period." [North Bay Nugget]

• Why the Winnipeg Jets should give Ondrej Pavelec a huge raise. Man, Allan Walsh isn't having to lift a finger on getting this guy paid thanks to the media. [Winnipeg Sun]

• Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke is either posturing or delusional: "If we can upgrade at the goaltending position, and at a reasonable price, we'll do it. But we are prepared [to go with Reimer-Scrivens]. I believe in James Reimer. He's young, he's athletic, I believe in this kid. If we have to start like that, we will." [ESPN]

• The Best and Worst of Brian Burke continues on Pension Plan. [PPP]

• This story about hockey players snarking about LeBron James's leg cramps in Game 4 is pretty much the funniest thing you'll read today. Scott Valentine of the Milwaukee Admirals: "If Lebron somehow manages to pull off winning a ring after fighting through a thigh cramp, it will be a story I tell my children's children." [CBS Boston]

• The Florida Panthers make their pitch to Jason Garrison, who could make a rather large sum of money on July 1. [On Frozen Pond]

• RIP, Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees. [Litter Box Cats]

• George Parros would like to return to the Anaheim Ducks, but he's also looking for the right city, money and role for his future. [Ducks Blog]

• Keith Acton and Craig Hartsburg were added to the Columbus Blue Jackets coaching staff, which is pretty impressive. [Blue Jackets]

• The Montreal Canadiens add Donald Dufresne as assistant coach and Vincent Riendeau as goaltending consultant with the Hamilton Bulldogs, while hiring Ethan Moreau as a Western Conference scout. [Gazette]

• Is Vancouver Canucks' 2011 29th overall pick Nicklas Jensen leaving junior to play professionally in Sweden? [The Province]

• Steve Rosenbloom goes rip city on the Chicago Blackhawks for downplaying the changes the team needs. [Chicago Tribune]

• Interesting stuff here about the NHL helping out CBC in its attempt to retain the Hockey Night in Canada rights: By not allowing Rogers and Bell to bid together for them. [Malik]

• Looking at the Buffalo Sabres' chances at landing Bobby Ryan of the Anaheim Ducks. [Die By The Blade]

• Why it would be a "travesty" if Erik Karlsson didn't win the Norris. [Senshot]

• NHL executive vp content Charles Coplin told The Hollywood Reporter: "Because the Kings were such a great part of the story, organically the team is going to be a big part of what we're doing [with the broadcast]. There are so many connections among celebrities and the Kings that I think this year it's kind of unique. Those worlds really come together in a nice way." [THR]

• Finally, a cool Daniel Alfredsson video from The Score with a Batman hook.

VID

Throughout these Stanley Cup Playoffs, we've been given daily updates on the way the NHL's games have performed in the television ratings, and it's all been a bit predictable.

Not unlike the investment bank commercial that has seemingly run on an endless loop during hockey broadcasts, the results have been easy enough to anticipate. "Let me guess: First they went up, then down, then up, then down again."

I saw what most non-hockey fans must have considered a very funny thing last week. It was a list of 66 television programs, on both broadcast and cable networks, that outdrew a Stanley Cup Final game between two teams that, ostensibly, play in major television markets (let's call Newark part of the New York market for arguments' sake). Oh the laughs available from noting that something like a "Big Bang Theory" re-run drew more viewers. What hilarity.

It's difficult to imagine why the hockey world is repeatedly chagrined when ratings come in lower than whatever comparison they care to draw, be it the previous year or the previous series. It's no revelation that this is, at its core, a niche sport cared about primarily in the upper Midwest and Northeastern U.S., as well as Canada, which of course doesn't count in the ratings.

Anecdotally, it seems the teams that do well in the ratings aren't the teams in major media markets or the most recognizable stars, but rather those with sizable fanbases (Detroit, for instance, isn't a top-10 population center but people watch Wings games because people like the Wings). Would you ever categorize the Devils or Kings as being in the small group of U.S.-based franchises that do well regardless of how good the team is? Of course not.

The other thing to keep in mind is that hockey is a sport that only hockey fans care about, and more to the point, most "hockey" fans are largely just fans of their own team.

I would never expect a Stars fan, just as a for-instance, to care about what the Devils and Kings are getting up to in this Cup Final, especially as everyone in the media, who they might be following on Twitter, has complained (unduly) about how it's flat-out bad hockey. Only the real die-hards watch every game regardless of who's playing.

The issue with endlessly discussing ratings is that really, it doesn't matter at all how many people watch.

(Coming Up: Marty Brodeur leads historic rally; Alex Radulov update; Blues and Jordan Staal?; Brad Stuart traded; Ondrej Pavelec, KHL target; Matt Duchene's going to get paid; Coyotes arena deal; Jason Blake nor Niklas Hagman done with Ducks; Blackhawks learn from Carter/Richards; Chris Kelly's silly contract; the Oilers' No. 1 pick; and getting Rick Nash to the Leafs for Phil Kessel.)

The NHL isn't a beloved but unwatched show like "Community", which survives from one season to the next on its artistic merits and the network's largesse (and in NBC's case, the resulting cost of developing more shows to take its place that are likely to be just as unsuccessful). It's not as though because ratings are down, the League's national games might get booted from the network and we'll all be stuck watching them on Telemundo next season, if at all.

The TV coverage is going to be in the exact same place next season regardless of how many people watch.

The League signed a 10-year deal with NBC last year, meaning that after this year, we're looking at nine more seasons regardless of the swings the ratings take going forward, and the network has made a substantial commitment to hockey both from the NHL and NCAA. The six-seasons-and-a-movie crowd doesn't have to put any nuts in the mail and go to Subway on the night of NBC Sports' latest Penguins/Rangers game. Hockey is going to be right where it is from now until the end of the 2020-21 season.

More to the point, it isn't a situation where good ratings are necessarily a boon to the League. This is always going to be a gate-driven sport, or at least will be for the next decade. The TV deal can't get better because a bunch of people in Des Moines or wherever would rather watch something else. The ratings are in no way relevant to anyone's life but those at the TV networks and league offices. Personally, I've never understood why there has been this obsession with television ratings, why you want other people to like the things you like.

If 2.98 million people want to watch a syndicated episode of Family Guy instead of the Stanley Cup Final, that's because 2.98 million people are stupid. None of it has anything to do with hockey.

What We Learned

Anaheim Ducks: Neither Jason Blake nor Niklas Hagman will be back with the Ducks next season, and would you believe those two were gobbling up $7 million in cap space between them?

Boston Bruins: Speaking of silly contracts, are the Bruins really going to give $3 million a season on a multi-year deal to Chris Kelly? He's 31, just scored 20 goals for the first time in his career, and had the highest PDO among Bruins regulars this season. That contract is going to look bad in a hurry, just like Rich Peverley's, who's two years younger but will probably be a contract comparable.

Buffalo Sabres: Terry Pegula made a conscious effort to be less conspicuous last season because he didn't want to put too much pressure on his players. But after promising multiple Stanley Cups in his first day on the job, one suspects that this is a case of someone trying furiously to sweep spilled milk back into the bottle.

Calgary Flames: Prospect Laurent Brossoit is now attending Hockey Canada goaltending camps with an eye toward being between the pipes for next year's World Junior Championships. It's rare you see someone so eager to get humiliated by the Americans.

Carolina Hurricanes: The Hurricanes signed ECHL championship-winning goaltender John Muse to a one-year, two-way deal. You'll remember Muse as a guy who won two national titles at Boston College, so you'd be right in saying that he tends to win behind some good teams.

Chicago Blackhawks: The example set by Mike Richards and Jeff Carter — that being "don't trade outstanding players even if they're not necessarily well-behaved off the ice" — is something the Blackhawks have taken to heart. But only to an extent, apparently. So I guess the only thing to do is hope Kane keeps havin' a good ol' time and gets traded to your favorite team for dirt cheap.

Colorado Avalanche: Adrian Dater projects that Matt Duchene could get $5 million against the cap in his next deal, and both Ryan O'Reilly and Erik Johnson might pull $4 million each. Just wanna note real quick that if David Jones just pulled $4 million per from the team for the season he just had, Duchene et al will be seeking Publishers' Clearing House-sized checks.

Columbus Blue Jackets: "Jackets' biggest need is to improve in goal." The devil you say.

Dallas Stars: The Stars are currently considering whether they should move associate coach Willie Desjardins to the AHL to be the head coach there. Apparently, it could be Joe Nieuwendyk's top priority right now.

Detroit Red Wings presented by Amway: Darren Helm was wearing a cast on his wrist for the last seven weeks as a result of Alex Radulov's skate blade cutting him in early April. Now, it's off, and he has a lightning bolt-shaped scar courtesy of He Who Shall Not Be Signed.

Edmonton Oilers: The Oilers kicked the tires on Ryan Murray over the weekend after doing the same with Mikhail Grigorenko and Nail Yakupov. Oh hell, will you just trade down already please? We all know you want to.

Florida Panthers: Might the Panthers be disliked by the other teams in the Miami? Personally, I just can't see Michael Yormark being in any way combative with anyone.

Los Angeles Kings: Hey, umm, are you guys, like, planning on winning this thing or what? I mean, I picked Kings in six so whatever, but c'mon now.

Minnesota Wild: Guillaume Latendresse says he's free of concussion symptoms and wants to be back with the Wild, for which he once scored 25-12-37 in 55 games after being traded there. Of course, he's only played 27 games across two seasons, scoring 8-7-15, for that team since then, but you know.

Montreal Canadiens: The Habs players say they're looking forward to playing under Michel Therrien but I can't imagine why.

Nashville Predators: So Alex Radulov is gone in Nashville and David Poile has a bit of egg on his face over it. But didn't they learn anything from that Richards-and-Carter thing like Chicago did?!

New Jersey Devils: Stop reminding the Devils about 1942, please and thanks.

New York Islanders: The Islanders seem very likely to promote AHL head coach Brent Thompson to an NHL assistant. This just a season after he won a title in the ECHL. Going places.

New York Rangers: Here's another team that seemed interested in Alex Radulov but now seems to be less so. Gotta think there won't be much competition in the league to sign him at this point.

Ottawa Senators: Former Senators owner Rob Bryden says that Ottawa fans demand a winner, despite all evidence pointing directly and unequivocally to the contrary.

Philadelphia Flyers: Ian Laperriere will retire this summer to the surprise of no one. He hasn't played since 2009-10. Taking a puck in the face will do that.

Phoenix Coyotes: The Glendale City Council approved the Coyotes' latest deal, designed to keep the team in town for the next 20 years, on Friday. That's $325 million over 20 years to the next owner just for buying the team. Sweet gig.

Pittsburgh Penguins: Dan Bylsma finds it "excruciating" to watch the Stanley Cup Final, adding his voice to those in the media, though probably for different reasons.

San Jose Sharks: San Jose traded unrestricted free agent Andrew Murray and a conditional seventh-round pick in 2014 to Detroit for the rights to Brad Stuart. The condition is on him signing, which he will, because of course he will. Who saw this coming? *everyone in known universe raises hand simultaneously*

St. Louis Blues: The Blues might be among the lineup of suitors for the services of Jordan Staal but it still seems unlikely that he'd be traded.

Tampa Bay Lightning: The Norfolk Admirals were the Bolts' AHL affiliate this season, and won 43 of their final 46 games en route to a Calder Cup title. They were led by Tampa draft pick Dustin Tokarski in net, whose 1.46/.944 stat line this season indicates Steve Yzerman might wanna back off that goalie search.

Toronto Maple Leafs: Leafs and Wings fans looking to go to the Winter Classic might want to get their wallets out. Cheapest ticket is $89, most expensive is $279. That doesn't include fees. Oh wait never mind, they might not even make them available to the general public, even though there are 100,000 of them.

Vancouver Canucks: Team owner Francesco Aquilini is going through a divorce and would like it if the team's finances weren't exposed during hearings. The real question is who gets custody of Roberto Luongo?

Washington Capitals: Jeff Halpern won't be back with the Caps next season, which isn't a surprise given that he was a healthy scratch far more often than not down the stretch.

Winnipeg Jets: Ondrej Pavelec could be targeted by a KHL team, as he's a restricted free agent. "Pavelec was arguably the Jets' MVP in 2011-12, posting a 29-28-9 record with a 2.91 goals against average and .906 save percentage." Think the team can interest a KHL organization to take anyone else in that case?

Gold Star Award

For the Kings' sake, someone might want to tell Marty Brodeur that he's 40.

Minus of the Weekend

Canadian junior hockey associations being jerks to a coach who puts his players before hockey? I don't believe it!

Play of the Weekend

Not that it ended up mattering, but this screen by Dustin Brown is the best play he's made in the last few games by far.

Perfect HFBoards Trade Proposal of the Week

User SSoH is going to get people out of their chairs with this one.

To Columbus:

- Phil Kessel ( To replace Nash as the franchise player )
- 5th Overall
- James Reimer or 35th Overall ( To challenge Mason, unless CLB wants a veteran)
- Jesse Blacker ( Good PMD prospect )

To Toronto:
- Nash
- 2nd Overall

Signoff

You boys are a regular family business.

Ryan Lambert publishes hockey awesomeness almost never over at The Two-Line Pass. Check it out, why don't you? Or you can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter if you so desire.

Alas, it appears the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs will be the last time the netminder wears the whale (barring expansion to Hartford).

Nick Kypreos of Sportsnet reported Thursday morning that Luongo asked the Canucks for a trade in his exit meeting, without the team even asking him to waive his no-trade clause. This comes after Luongo told the media, after Vancouver's 5-game defeat to the Los Angeles Kings, that he wouldn't stand in the way of a deal should the Canucks decide to move forward with Cory Schneider as their goalie.

Luongo holds the cards here, and can veto a trade to Edmonton control where he's traded.

According to reports, the Toronto Maple Leafs are one of the destinations he'd approve.

Luongo, 33, has 10 more years at $5.33 million annually against the cap left on his contract. (Please note, however, that the last three years of that deal total $3.618 million in salary, which is a polite way of saying Luongo will retire in 2019 if not sooner.)

James Duthie of TSN reported that Luongo will provide a list of teams to GM Mike Gillis next week, and Dan Murphy of Sportsnet confirmed that both the Leafs and the Tampa Bay Lightning will be on the list

The Lightning immediately make the most sense, since their goaltending situation is pretty much barren.

Luongo's wife calls Florida home, and he obviously spent a good amount of time in the Sunshine State during his career. The Bolts have $16.5 million under the cap for next season, with Steven Stamkos (2016), Marty St. Louis (2015) and Victor Hedman (2017) locked up for the next few years. They would probably flip Vinny Lecavalier for Luongo in a heartbeat, but he has a no-trade clause and has flexed it in the past; an amnesty buyout under the new CBA wouldn't be out of the question, one imagines, for a $7.7 million cap hit through 2020.

PHT listed 10 reasons why the Lightning could end up with Lou, including the idea that Ryan Malone moves his $4.5 million cap hit through 2015 — and power forward game — over to Vancouver in a deal.

Image via Nucks Misconduct.

The Leafs are … wishful thinking? A possibility? Bound to overpay?

Writes Jason Botchford of The Province:

Toronto has several things going for it. There's Dave Nonis, who traded for Luongo as the general manager of the Canucks. The Maple Leafs have a significant need for a No. 1 goalie, which is required. They can handle the cash it's going to cost, the bulk of which is $40.3 million during the next six years.

But most importantly, they have Francois Allaire, Luongo's longtime goalie guru who works with him during the offseasons. Allaire is the Maple Leafs' goalie coach.

This should not be underplayed. The goalie coach is one of the critical factors for Luongo. When he was with Florida, in his final negotiation, one of Luongo's demands was that they hire Allaire.

Assuming he's still the GM, it's hard to imagine Mike Gillis shipping Luongo to the two general managers that preceded him in Vancouver — Brian Burke and Dave Nonis — and to a franchise whose resurrection with Luongo in net, combined with any sort of decline from the Canucks, would require Gillis to build a shelter on Whistler to avoid the Canadian media catcalls.

Steve Buffery of QMI treats the Lou-to-Leafs talk thusly:

The Leafs aren't going to make a run at the Stanley Cup anytime soon. So why not stick with the youngsters and see if James Reimer or any of the Marlies' goaltenders — Ben Scrivens, Mark Owuya and Jussi Rynnas — are the real deal? All three Marlies goalies played well this season. Scrivens was lights out.

You sign Luongo, you don't give any of the young goalies in your system a real chance to prove themselves over the long run — unless you use Luongo as an expensive backup, which would be a complete waste of time and money. It says here that Leafs GM Brian Burke would be correct not to give up any assets for Luongo.

Frankly, we find the logic that trading for Luongo is bad because it'll hamper the development of Ben Scrivens infallible …

JP Nikota of Leafs Nation had a solid look at the age concerns about both Roberto Luongo and Tim Thomas, who may also be available from the Bruins. There are also cap concerns, as Burke has constructed a roster with just over $7 million in cap space remaining; can the Leafs interest you in a slightly used Mike Komisarek, Mr. Gillis?

So at what cost would Luongo be available? James Mirtle scanned the horizon and thinks we won't see a blockbuster:

Montreal moved Jaroslav Halak without getting a great deal in return and the likes of Mike Smith and Brian Elliott, two of the better goalies this season, signed on cheap free agent deals last summer. There is also the possibility Thomas, Miikka Kiprusoff and others are also available, which crowds the market.

Luongo is movable, but expectations have to be kept realistic. If Vancouver can land a late first round pick or a middling prospect, that's a fair deal given the term left on his contract and the low number of suitors. They may even have to take some salary back in the trade.

So the Leafs, in theory, wouldn't have to ship Jake Gardiner or the No. 5 overall pick for Luongo. The Lightning's conversations don't include Hedman, nor would the Devils' conversations include Adam Larsson.

It's among hockey's great ironies that Luongo was given that elephantine contract for being one of the NHL's most elite goaltenders, and it's that contract that will prevent the Canucks from receiving a return that's equivalent to his status.

Look, there's only one Luongo trade we want to see, as was discussed on Marek Vs. Wyshynski yesterday:

• Roberto Luongo to the Chicago Blackhawks.

• Duncan Keith to the Vancouver Canucks.

• The Canucks have an elite backliner that can log mondo minutes. The Blackhawks have their franchise goalie for the next few seasons, and immediately change their goal song to "Song 2" by Blur or "Dominick the Italian Christmas Donkey" (you know, for Luongo).

• HBO cancels "24/7" in favor of a documentary that focuses on the first time both players enter their new respective locker rooms …

But seriously: Where does Luongo end up; and if your team needs a goalie, what would you offer for him? What gets it done?

Brian Burke snapped that question back to the media during a postseason press conference on Tuesday, examining the carcass of the 2011-12 Toronto Maple Leafs' season.

The initial question had been about preaching patience to the fan base and a form of long-term rebuilding that's been foreign to the Leafs: Collecting high draft choices through years of unsuccessful hockey, only to have a franchise resurrected as a Stanley Cup contender.

"They got a lottery. They won a god damn lottery and they got the best player in the game. Is that available to me? Should we do that? Should we ask the League to have a lottery this year, and maybe we pick first?" he said.

"The Pittsburgh model? My ass."

Burke continued: "They got the best player in the game in a lottery. Ray Shero's done a good job. He's an excellent GM and he's a friend of mine. But I love when people talk about the Pittsburgh model. The simple fact is that they got the best player … we came in second that year in Anaheim. We got Bobby Ryan. Impact player, good player. They got Sidney Crosby in the lottery."

(Anyone want to wager what percentage of Burke's ire here is based on the premise that he'd still be living in California if the Ducks had landed Sidney Crosby?)

"I'm not a patient person. I was born impatient, I'm going to die impatient," he said. "I don't like what's happened here. I don't like our lack of progress. I thought we'd be farther ahead than we are right now."

The combination of Burke's lack of patience and a city that, frankly, hasn't shown an appetite for a total rebuild have left the Leafs in limbo. They stink, but they're not putrid. They're in the lottery, but they don't have the balls.

They're a team that's just good enough to contend, not bad enough to rebuild. And all Brian Burke can do is hope the foundation he's laid since taking the gig is strong enough to support the necessary additions to Randy Carlyle's team next season.

That's the Burke model: a collection of young players, big players and a refusal to traffic in cap-circumventing contracts or restricted free agent quick fixes that could help this team.

To wit: The goaltending was a problem this season. But it wasn't James Reimer's problem, according to Burke, because the young netminder that showed promise in 2011 was "blindsided by Brian Gionta," injured his neck and wasn't the same. (Fourteen goals in six games for Reimer, by the way.)

Yet he's still the "real deal," and Burke all but said he'll be the starter next season with a new goalie supporting him.

Dion Phaneuf has been singled out as a problem. Not so, said Burke, who said the Leafs "need to support Dion, not in anyway replace him. We've got the captain we were hoping to get."

The most frustrating thing to come out of the presser on Tuesday: The team's needs. Still a goaltender, still a top-line center, same it at it ever was. Still more size, still more truculence, same as it ever was.

The one revelation: That Burke and Wilson had deep disagreements on style of play, and that affected the roster.

"I'd say the one place where Ron Wilson and I weren't on the same page is how we play the game. What type of player … I like to dictate how we play the game, and I don't like it dictated to me," said Burke.

So out go the Ron Wilson players, and in come the Randy Carlyle players: Bigger! More hostile! Able to dictate play rather than being told how to play by opponents!

Where will these players arrive from? Through trades. Through the assets Burke refused to move at the trade deadline, because stockpiling draft picks would be a step back for the franchise.

It's not seen as a step back for the Tampa Bay Lightning, of course, who have a war chest of draft picks with an eye toward improving their roster this summer for a return to the playoffs. (And getting the goaltender they need, perhaps winning an arms race over the Leafs in the process.)

They have these picks along with Steve Stamkos (first overall) and Victor Hedman (second overall) to build around.

The Lightning model … my ass …

Hours after news came out that the team may shut down goaltender James Reimer down for the rest of the season as he deals with concussion-like symptoms, Jonas Gustavsson, who was all set to start their game tonight against Philadelphia, was unprepared for a Clarke MacArthur shot and took one off the knee during warmups:

Gustavsson started the game in the trainer's room, but was back on the Leafs' bench at the start of the second period.

Emergency recall Jussi Rynnas was summoned for duty, making his NHL debut, and allowed was in net for all seven Philadelphia goals during a 7-1 loss.

Chris Johnston of the Canadiens Press reported that the Leafs signed an employee of Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment to a one-day contract in the event Rynnas got hurt and Gustavsson was unable to come in.

Follow Sean Leahy on Twitter at @Sean_Leahy

No. 1 Star: Josh Harding, Minnesota Wild

Harding hadn't won a game since Jan. 21, but the Wild netminder posted a 33-save shutout against the Vancouver Canucks, 2-0. He was great early in the game, allowing Erik Christensen's power-play goal to stand until Kyle Brodziak ended it with a long empty-netter. It was Harding's first shutout since Oct. 29, 2011.

No. 2 Star: Bobby Ryan, Anaheim Ducks

Ryan was a force the San Jose Sharks couldn't reckon with in the Ducks' 5-3 victory on the road. He scored in the first period to tie the game 1-1; in the third, Ryan assisted on goals by Nate Guenin and Kyle Palmieri to lead Anaheim to a victory over their division rivals. Ryan was a plus-3 and led the Ducks with six shots.

No. 3 Star: Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals

Well, hey now, look who decided to start playing like an MVP again. Ovechkin scored two goals to set the tone as the Capitals defeated the Detroit Red Wings, 5-3. In the first, he drew a high-sticking call and scored on the subsequent power play; after Mike Knuble made it 2-0, Ovechkin scored another power-play goal to give the Caps a 3-0 first-period lead. Keith Aucoin had a key second-period goal, while Jason Chimera iced it with an empty netter to give Braden Holtby (30 saves) the win.

Honorable mention: The Boston Bruins steamrolled the Toronto Maple Leafs, 8-0, scoring four first-period goals. Brian Rolston had a goal and three assists. Benoit Pouliot had two goals and an assist. Tim Thomas made just 13 saves for the shutout. The Bruins swept the season series from the Leafs. … The Buffalo Sabres kept pace with the Caps for the No. 8 seed, rolling the Tampa Bay Lightning, 7-3. Marcus Foligno and Jason Pominville had two goals apiece. Drew Stafford had a goal and two assists. … Gloriously brutal game between the New Jersey Devils and the New York Rangers, which started with three fights and ended with the Rangers hanging on for a 4-2 victory. Brandon Dubinsky and Derek Stepan had a goal and an assist. Henrik Lundqvist made 20 saves, as the Rangers clinched a playoff spot. Petr Sykora and Patrik Elias had the goals for the Devils. … Ryane Clowe had a goal and two assists for the Sharks, while Martin Havlat had a goal and a helper. … Jeff Deslauriers (27 saves) was great late for the Ducks. ... This Palmieri yo-yo goal was something:

Did you know? Claude Julien coached his 400th game for the Bruins, tying Don Cherry for third most in club history. (AP)

Dishonorable mention: Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau and Logan Couture were all scoreless against the Ducks. … Antti Niemi gave up four goals on 26 shots in 30:23, yielding to Thomas Greiss (1 goal, 14 shots). … Carl Gunnarsson, Clarke MacArthur and Luke Schenn were all minus-3. … James Reimer lasted 12:42 before getting yanked, giving up four goals on nine shots. … Dustin Tokarski was pulled after giving up four goals on 15 shots in 28:16. … Steven Stamkos and Marty St. Louis were held without a point. … Mike Komisarek's unfortunate fight with Milan Lucic was unfortunate.

Marco Sturm's commitment to this hook is downright admirable.

No. 1 Star: Cam Ward, Carolina Hurricanes

It was a goaltenders' duel in Carolina, as Ward and St Louis Blues' netminder Brian Elliott held this game scoreless for over 50 minutes before Chad LaRose opened the scoring. It would be all the Hurricanes needed, as Ward make 40 saves for the shutout in the 2-0 win, the 200th victory of his career. Jeff Skinner's insurance goal was the goal of the night, a slick bit of footwork after getting his stick lifted on a 2-on-1:

No. 2 Star: Brian Campbell, Florida Panthers

The Panthers moved to within 4 points of the Boston Bruins for 2nd in the Eastern Conference with a convincing, 6-2 shellacking. Campbell assisted on three of the goals, and even delivered the biggest hit of the night, an open-ice hipcheck on Brad Marchand:

No. 3 Star: Kris Letang, Pittsburgh Penguins

Sidney Crosby has a successful, low-key return in the Penguins' 5-2 drubbing of the New York Rangers. The Pens scored a goal on his first shift and he picked up an assist on Chris Kunitz's third period tally. But he was overshadowed by Letang's return to the Pittsburgh lineup after missing the last 5 with a concussion. Letang was on the ice for every Pittsburgh goal, finishing a career-high plus-5. Matt Cooke had a great game as well, scoring twice. Yes, he was on Crosby's wing.

Honourable mention: Mikael Samuelsson and Stephen Weiss had a goal and an assist each for the Panthers... Jarome Iginla scored the game-winner in the Calgary Flames' 4-1 win over the Phoenix Coyotes, extending his point streak to 8 games. He's got 14 points in March... Claude Giroux and Scott Hartnell picked up a goal and an assist, and Ilya Bryzgalov set a franchise record with a shutout streak of 249:43 before surrendering two in a 3-2 win over the New York Islanders... Ilya Kovalchuk and Zach Parise scored in the shootout, the only times the puck crossed the goal line in the New Jersey Devils 1-0 win over the Colorado Avalanche. Martin Brodeur made 28 saves in the win and Jean-Sebastien Giguere made 33 in the loss... James Reimer ended a personal five-game losing streak, making 34 saves, and Joey Crabb scored the game-winner in the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning... The San Jose Sharks ended their 3-game home losing streak with a 2-1 shootout win over the Nashville Predators. Ryane Clowe scored the only goal of the shootout. Pekka Rinne and Antti Niemi were fantastic, making 34 and 32 saves, respectively.

Did you know? Thursday's loss to the Penguins was the first time this season the Rangers had surrendered 5 goals.

Dishonourable mention: Despite scoring a goal, Joe Corvo had an especially rough night for Boston... Tim Brent celebrated pretty hard here, considering he didn't score:

Thank goodness referees don't hold grudges, thought Andrew MacDonald after high-sticking Stephane Auger in the face:

• James Reimer's new mask takes advantage of that awesome Optimus Reim nickname he's got going for him. [InGoal]

• Bobby Ryan talks about his future in Anaheim: "My next step ultimately would be to break away from Getz and Pears. I think we've had chemistry. But at some point,  you're going to have to prepare for life after Teemu [Selanne]. I'd like to fill into that role and have that second line be built. I think I can step into Teemu's role. I think I can put up 35 to 40 goals year in and year out." [OC Register]

• Anaheim Calling finds Ryan's comments disturbing. [Anaheim Calling]

• Joffrey Lupul will miss 3 to 4 weeks with a shoulder injury. On the bright side, he should be ready for the playoffs the Leafs now likely won't make.  [The Globe & Mail]

• Also on the bright side, the Maple Leafs get rookie goalie Brad Thiessen in their visit to Pittsburgh. He'll make his second NHL start for the Penguins Wednesday night. [Post-Gazette]

• Speaking of desperate goaltending situations, Marty Turco has cleared waivers. "It felt good and more than anything it was good to be back on the ice under the bright lights and with NHL players, never mind the Boston Bruins," said Turco. [Boston Herald]

• One more thing the Minnesota Wild do not need: "Cal Clutterbuck" and "concussion symptoms" in the same sentence. [Star-Tribune]

• Meanwhile, Brandon Dubinsky suffered an injury in a fight with Ryan Carter, but it's not a concussion. It's a sinus issue. [NY Daily News]

• Michael Farber on Erik Karlsson. [SI]

• Laser-pointer Dad, whose name is Joseph Cordes, is facing criminal charges for "disturbing the peace." [ESPN]

• No discipline for Niklas Kronwall's hit on Jakub Voracek. Here's a step-by-step analysis of the check, featuring strong opinions: "It would be a travesty to the game if this was suspendable." [Nightmare on Helm Street]

• Blackhawks fans are beginning to question whether Joel Quenneville knows how to watch a hockey game. [Second City Hockey]

• "Grabovski is the Chocolate Lab of hockey players. He's impossible not to like." [Sportsnet]

• Josh Bailey appears to be working out for the New York Islanders on the wing. [Newsday]

• The Penticton Vees of the BCHL broke a national junior hockey record with their 41st consecutive win. [CBC]

• This just made me laugh. The city city council in Cranbrook, British Columbia is facing complaints that its ice rink is too cold. Seriously. [The Townsman]

• The Canucks are playing their worst hockey since November. Is it a lack of motivation? [Canucks Army]

• The Pittsburgh Penguins unveiled "Le Magnifique", a statue honouring Mario Lemieux Wednesday.

About sixteen months before they were calling for Coach Ron Wilson's head, Toronto Maple Leafs fans filled the Air Canada Centre with boos directed at captain Dion Phaneuf for his underwhelming play. Leafs GM Brian Burke defended the paying customers' entitlement to voice opinions during the game, but called the criticism of Phaneuf "disgraceful" back in 2010.

On Tuesday night, Leafs fans chanted "FIRE WILSON!" during Toronto's 5-3 loss to the Florida Panthers. Again, Burke said they were entitled to protest; but rather than finding their behavior disgraceful, he indicated the fans' acerbic chants were a significant factor in firing Wilson after three-plus seasons and hiring Randy Carlyle on Friday.

"After the last home game, it was clear to me that it would be cruel and unusual punishment to let Ron coach another game in the Air Canada Centre. I wasn't gonna put him through that," said Burke at Carlyle's introductory press conference on Saturday morning in Montreal.

"And I don't fault the fans. If you buy a ticket and you want to boo, you can boo. Fans show their emotions in many ways. But the deadliest thing is when a fan votes [with] their feet and they don't come."

Burke and Wilson have known each other since 1973, when they were college teammates. The GM said the last week has been "brutal," as the team set the wheels in motion to replace Wilson on Wednesday. Media criticism and fan frustration had reached their apex; Burke said neither was the essential reason Wilson was fired, but that both expedited the process.

"I wasn't going to [allow Wilson to] be put through that again," Burke said the ACC crowd's anti-Wilson chants. "It was hard to listen to. Hard to watch. But it was clear at that point that the team wasn't listening, watching the bench. They weren't paying attention. They weren't buying it. It was time."

Among the highlights from Carlyle's introduction as Maple Leafs head coach:

• Carlyle was informed by Ducks GM Bob Murray on Wednesday that the Maple Leafs had been granted permission to speak with him about their coaching job. Sportsnet reported that Leafs assistant GM Dave Nonis hammered out the contract with him on Thursday and that Wilson was informed by Burke on Friday evening that he'd been fired.

According to Pierre LeBrun, Carlyle's deal was for the rest of this season and three additional years. Wilson had one year remaining on this contract at $1.4 million.

Among the other candidates for the job, according to Burke: Dallas Eakins, the Marlies coach whose passing over for this gig sparked some controversy; assistants Scott Gordon, Greg Cronin and Rob Zettler; and Marc Crawford, who coached for Burke in Vancouver and is currently a TSN analyst.

TSN, by the way, broke the Wilson firing.

• Carlyle was hired now for two reasons, Burke said. He'll get a month and a half with this roster, teaching systems and evaluating talent. "This saves us a month in the fall. If we're gonna miss, we're gonna miss with the coach that gives us the best chance to win next fall," said Burke.

But with the Leafs five points out of a playoff spot through 64 games, Burke also believes that the postseason isn't out of reach. He said it was "a playoff caliber team" two weeks ago, when the Leafs occupied the No. 8 seed before a 1-9-1 death spiral.

"I've never had a team fall off the cliff like this before," he said. "This is akin to an 18-wheeler going right off a cliff."

Carlyle agreed: "It's not that they've lost their skills. It's that they have to rekindle their spirits."

• Carlyle buried the hatchet with winger Joffrey Lupul, who claimed the coach misused him and didn't respect his skill level when the two were with the Anaheim Ducks. "It's a mistake that I made and I take full responsibility for that," said Carlyle.

• Dave Farrish, who like Carlyle is a former Leafs player, will join the staff as an assistant coach. He was in charge of the defense under Carlyle in Anaheim, winning the Stanley Cup with him in 2007. Assistant coach Rob Zettler has been reassigned.

• Goaltending consultant Francois Allaire, criticized for the poor play of James Reimer and Jonas Gustavsson this season, is "not going anywhere" according to Burke. "I think we have the best goalie coach on the planet. I'm not going to change the coach because we have two young goalies battling [it] right now."

• As far as changes to this roster, Burke said that it's a team building to win now. He said that the Leafs were offered "four first-round picks for players on the team" and trade offers for 12 players at the deadline. "You get a first-round pick for a guy, that's three years we wait," said Burke, who clearly doesn't have three years at the current success rate. (In fact, rumblings were that this call to fire Wilson wasn't necessarily Burke's.)

One immediate critique of the Carlyle hiring: That the defense-first, rough-and-tumble style he prefers doesn't fit the current roster. Burke agreed, and said more Carlyle-esque players will be on the way.

"At some point, but not now. That's something for the summer," said Burke.

It's going to be an interesting summer.

On Friday night, Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke fired a former Anaheim coach with whom he had a long-standing personal relationship and hired … well, a former Anaheim coach with whom he had a long-standing personal relationship.

Thus, the Ron Wilson Era ended and the Randy Carlyle Era began. From the Leafs:

Carlyle, 55, spent seven seasons as the Anaheim Ducks' head coach. He was named the seventh head coach in team history on Aug. 1, 2005, and led the Ducks to their first Stanley Cup championship (2007), Pacific Division championship (2007) and five playoff appearances (2005-09, 2011). Only one NHL coach has won more postseason games than Carlyle's 36 since 2005-06 (Mike Babcock).

Carlyle had the most wins and highest winning percentage in Ducks' history, compiling a 273-182-61 record in 516 regular season contests (.588 winning percentage). Carlyle's teams earned at least 98 points in four of his six Anaheim head coaching seasons prior to 2011-12.

Those are the vitals on the new Leafs coach; here are five things to expect from Randy Carlyle in Toronto …

He's Going To Get Defensive

No, not just with the media. Like, on the ice, too.

Eric Duhatschek called Carlyle "an adept defensive coach and the 1981 Norris Trophy winner as a player" in his short profile of the new Leafs coach. After last postseason, when the Ducks lost to the Predators, Carlyle lamented that Anaheim had enough offense to win the series but "we did not defend well enough."

He demands strong defensive zone coverage, but loves a cranked up forecheck that keeps the puck out of his defensive end. Of course, he also likes having a goaltender — be it Giguere or Hiller in Anaheim — that can bail him out. The Leafs afford him no such luxury at the moment. Which brings us to …

The Return of Francois Allaire?

The Leafs goaltending guru had been taking as much heat as Wilson did recently for the underperformance of James Reimer and Jonas Gustavsson. Allaire was the goaltending consultant in Anaheim — deftly developing J.S. Giguere, Ilya Bryzgalov and Jonas Hiller — before leaving to join Burke in Toronto in June 2009.

One assumes that Carlyle's hiring indicates Allaire's status is secure, despite the mounting criticism.

Managing Young Players

One of the knocks on Carlyle is that he's not adept at developing young players. (Yes, even though The Kid Line of Dustin Penner, Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry won him a Cup ring.) The Leafs are going to have a great number of them moving up the ranks as the team reloads. Carlyle, meanwhile, is the kind of coach that likes to keep his bench short and his veterans on the ice.

This might have been one of the more compelling arguments for Marlies Coach Dallas Eakins to take over, giving that young core someone to grow with rather than finding a disconnect with Carlyle. But let's see how that reputation plays out in Toronto before judging the new guy's work with the youngin's.

Poor, Poor Joffrey Lupul

How fortunate that Lupul was in Montreal when this news broke, seeing as how it's a city of sublime diversions. Because this is one relationship that needs a-mendin'.

In his second season as a Leaf, Lupul is having a career year with 66 points. Part of the reason, he said, was that Ron Wilson believed in him as a left winger where Carlyle did not. From Ducks Blog last year:

"In my conversation with Randy, he said he didn't think I had the skill to play left in wing in this league being on my off side," Lupul said. "So he wasn't going to give me that opportunity here. And I'm not going to knock Corey Perry or Teemu Selanne off their right wing spot.

"So pretty much after that conversation, I realized that I probably wasn't in their plans here."

So does Carlyle still believe that or has Lupul proven his point?

That'll no doubt be one of the questions asked at the introductory press conference on Saturday. When the media meets Carlyle for the first time. Which should be interesting.

The Media

Carlyle's gruff demeaner with the media was well-established in Anaheim, although beat writer Eric Stephens says the coach got better over time. From Steve Simmons of QMI:

There will be no smiling in class anymore. No talking. No passing of notes. This is a new sherriff, totally unlike the old sherriff: Ron Wilson battled with the media and occasionally with his players. Carlyle won't have time for such nonsense. He is bottom line, bottom line.

You play his way or you don't play. You do what he says or you get buried on the bench. He gives you one of those stares and you want to go home. Maybe not since Punch Imlach have the Leafs had a coach that would push this hard — and then push just a little bit harder.

And it's already starting, as Carlyle arrived in Montreal to be met by the Toronto media:

Final, sarcastic words heard in the clip from the dejected scribes: "Good start ..."

There shall be no honeymoon period for Carlyle in Toronto.

Trending Topics is a column that looks at the week in hockey, occasionally according to Twitter. If you're only going to comment to say how stupid Twitter is, why not just go have a good cry for the slow, sad death of your dear internet instead?

Remember over the summer when the Toronto Maple Leafs made a couple of decent signings and everyone was like, "Oh, hey, I bet they end up being a borderline playoff team," and that all seemed reasonable?

Then they started out pretty hot, with Phil Kessel scoring 1,000 goals in two games and the Leafs streaking to a 10-5-1 record on Nov. 10. A full 21 points from the first 16 games? Why, that was a pace for 108 points. Maybe everyone on the entire planet was wrong about Toronto!

History tells us, obviously, that no one was wrong about Toronto. Since that 10th win, the Leafs have gone just 19-23-6 (a roughly 75-point pace). Things have only gotten worse in the past two weeks, as the team slipped from sixth to 10th in the East and have won just one of their last 11 games, and still allowed Edmonton an OT point in that one.

There have been a lot of theories as to why the Leafs are on this losing skid advanced by people of all stripes.

The most popular seems to be that Brian Burke's inability to wrangle 1970 Bobby Orr and 1992 Mario Lemieux for a pair of late-round picks has left the Leafs bereft of all hope of making the playoffs despite the fact that they're just five points out of the playoffs, with mighty Washington and Winnipeg standing between them and the postseason.

A lot of that is his own fault, of course. He makes a lot of edicts that tie his own hands for no readily apparent reason. If he's now going to outlaw making personnel moves within 10 days of the deadline, and the week around Christmas, how far can we be from similar declarations for American Thanksgiving, Arbor Day, Canadian Thanksgiving and Take Your Daughter to Work Day? Wouldn't want to put too much pressure on those adorable little girls.

The second-most popular theory is that Ron Wilson is a moron who isn't good at coaching in the NHL.

"Goldurn you Ron Wilson! You are a loser!" comes the cry from every Leafs fan who seems to have forgotten that the Leafs forward depth is in a state where Tyler Bozak is the most common accompaniment for Phil Kessel and Joffrey Lupul this season, followed by Tim Connolly, who has 28 points this year.

And let's not dare impugn Kessel, who had a good February after a completely awful January, and only has 11 goals in his last 26 games after scoring 21 in his previous 38. The former is a 35-goal pace. The latter, a 45-goal clip. Let's not act like that has nothing to do with it, though it's tough to go placing too much blame on one of only two reasons the Leafs were ever considered good this season (the other, obviously, being Joffrey Lupul).

The team, very legitimately, has about four top-six forwards in its top six, and that's if you want to be pretty nice to Bozak.

It's defense is also, umm, quite bad.

The goaltending, well, is the goaltending.

Wilson is decidedly not Punch Imlach or Toe Blake, but he's also not the answerless buffoon the crowd gleefully chanting "Fire Wilson" makes him out to be. Case in point that firing the coach isn't always the answer: Washington. Bruce Boudreau didn't go from genius to moron to fired back to genius again, and there's not exactly a guarantee that you'll get anything more than a dead cat bounce when you bring in someone new. The Capitals, of course, didn't even get that much.

But the cutest theory of all was one that gained popularity earlier this week. It's wholly reasonable to say that the Leafs' struggles probably start and end in net, and are as much the result of a crisis of confidence on the part of the defense as they are James Reimer and Jonas Gustavsson being not-great. And that's why people started blaming the team's goalie coach, Francois Allaire. "He has them trying to block shots instead of save them," analysts agreed, and noted repeatedly how good Reimer was before he was being forced at gunpoint to try to have everything hit him in the chest.

I'm sorry, was Allaire unreachable on a tropical island vacation during the first half of the season, when Reimer put up a .912 save percentage prior to getting concussed by Brian Gionta? Or do you think maybe this could be a combination of the injury affecting his game and him regressing after 40-something games in the NHL? No goaltender is going to look especially good behind a PK as bad as Toronto's but Reimer isn't helping his own cause either.

And it was really adorable when Brian Burke made that stern "The only reason we're not 0-61 or whatever is Jonas Gustavsson" speech immediately following the deadline. Oh you mean the Jonas Gustavsson who's had one good stretch of hockey this season, from Jan. 1-17 when he had a 2.01 GAA and .931 save percentage? Yeah, that was an unbelievable two weeks (a month and a half ago), alright. But we're still talking about the Jonas Gustavsson who has an .899 save percentage between Jan. 18 and right this very second, yes?

The point, I guess, is that it's really tough to see where this mystery comes from. The Leafs were an okay team before the season began, then they got hot right out of the gate and suddenly they became a legitimate playoff team and everyone forgot how they weren't all that good to begin with.

So yes, 1-9-1 in the last 11 is bad. No doubt about it. It's got to be frustrating as hell. But let's keep things in perspective here: The Leafs were always going to finish somewhere between seventh and 10th. That hasn't changed, and people need to be realistic about expectations then as opposed to now.

But if you're looking to lay blame at someone's feet, there's enough for everyone here. No one change puts Toronto in the playoffs.

A word on fighting in junior hockey

It came out earlier this week that both Hockey Canada and USA Hockey are working toward banning fighting of all kinds in junior hockey.

Awesome.

But that, of course, brought the on-rushing hordes of fighting defenders who see a 19-year-old wailing on a 17-year-old's head as An Integral Part of the Sport. The argument from Vancouver Giants coach Don Hay, who helped raise Milan Lucic into the terrifying monster he is today, was that if you're not fighting in junior, you're not adequately prepared for it in the NHL.

The difference is that guys who fight in the NHL are paid hundreds of thousands of dollars every year to do it, and junior players are put on a bus for 16 hours after they fight. As true patriot Chris Peters points out, there have been almost 1,700 fights in major junior this season alone, and another 617 in American junior-A leagues. That's a lot of teenage brains getting rattled around for no good reason.

Maybe that's true. As Peters points out, look at all the junior hockey a tough customer like George Parros played. What's that? He played in the NCAA, where a fight is answered with a one-game ban? So where oh where did he learn to become one of the game's premier puglists? Maybe they taught him how to pummel guys like Mike Rupp and Eric Boulton on the reg in one of his Princeton econ classes.

The guy's been in 138 regular-season fights in the NHL since the lockout, and he sure as hell didn't need to be taught how to do it at the age of 17.

Lucic's insistence is that without fights, games get dangerous because kids take runs at each other. Again, the NCAA doesn't have fighting and yet I've seen dozens of college hockey games this year and seen maybe two or three appalling plays, all of which were summarily handled by their leagues. So that doesn't hold much water either.

People want fighting in junior leagues because fighting has always been in junior leagues. You used to be able to smoke in hospitals too.

The solution is simple: If your league isn't paying its players (right, CHL teams?!?), you shouldn't allow fighting.

Pearls of Biz-dom

We all know that there isn't a better Twitter account out there than that of Paul Bissonnette. So why not find his best bit of advice on love, life and lappers from the last week?

BizNasty on annoying ads: "I've had it up to here with the 5 dollar foot long commercials from Subway."

If you've got something for Trending Topics, holla at Lambert on Twitter or via e-mail. He'll even credit you so you get a thousand followers in one day and you'll become the most popular person on the Internet! You can also visit his blog if you're so inclined.

No. 1 Star: Erik Condra, Ottawa Senators

There were two men standing in the way of the New Jersey Devils' juggernaut on Tuesday night. The first was goalie Craig Anderson, who stopped 31 shots. The second was Condra, the 24-year-old rookie right winger who beat Marty Brodeur in the second period and then with 2:13 left in regulation to give Ottawa a 2-1 victory.

No. 2 Star: Dan Hamhuis, Vancouver Canucks

The defenseman scored twice, including the game-winner in OT, as Vancouver defeated the Phoenix Coyotes, 4-3. After Alex Burrows missed on a penalty shot in the extra session, the Sedins cycled in the Phoenix zone, allowing Hamhuis to find room and fire a shot that beat Ilya Bryzgalov through the five-hole. Henrik Sedin had a goal and two assists while Daniel had three helpers.

No. 3 Star: Tomas Vokoun, Florida Panthers

The Panthers keeper watched his team get outshot 14-3 in the third period and stopped them all, leading Florida to a 3-2 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks. David Booth, Clay Wilson and Marty Reasoner scored in the first period; Chicago rallied with goals by Patrick Kane and Marian Hossa in the second. Vokoun, who had 37 saves, snapped the Blackhawks' winning streak at eight.

Honorable mention: Patrick Marleau's end-to-end rush and glove-side shot, with Ryan Suter stick-checking him, beat Pekka Rinne and gave the San Jose Sharks a 3-2 victory in overtime. Ryane Clowe had a goal and an assist; Shea Weber and Joel Ward had power-play goals for the Nashville Predators. ... Lars Eller scored two first-period goals and Carey Price made 30 saves, as the Montreal Canadiens won their grudge rematch with the Boston Bruins, 4-1. ... Jeff Carter had two goals, giving him 30 on the season, as the Philadelphia Flyers snapped a 4-game losing skid with a 4-1 win against the Edmonton Oilers. It wasn't pretty, as they went from outshooting Edmonton 17-1 in the first period to only outshooting the Oilers 26-25 for the game. ... James Neal and Zbynek Michalek had a goal and an assist, their first goals as Penguins, as Pittsburgh topped the Buffalo Sabres, 3-1, to sweep their season series. Marc-Andre Fleury had 29 saves. ... The Minnesota Wild continued their playoff push with a 5-2 victory over the Colorado Avalanche. Andrew Brunette, John Madden, Jared Spurgeon and Kyle Brodziak scored after the Avs took a 2-1 lead in the second. Guillaume Latendresse was a plus-1 in his first game back since Oct. 25. ... The New York Islanders and Toronto Maple Leafs traded goals for three periods until Blake Comeau won it in overtime for the Isles, 4-3. James Reimer had 36 saves for the Leafs while Al Montoya had 24 for the Islanders. Here's Comeau's game winner:

Did you know? Matt Martin was credited with 14 hits for the Islanders. Why yes, the game was on Long Island, why do you ask?

Dishonorable mention: The Avalanche are 2-16-2 since Jan. 18. ... Tuukka Rask was shaky in yielding four goals to the Habs. ... Corey Crawford was pulled after giving up three goals on eight shots. ... Jordan Eberle, Shawn Horcoff and James Vandermeer were a minus-3 for the Oilers. ... Matt Duchene, Milan Hejduk, Matt Hunwick and Brandon Yip were all a minus-3 for the Avs. ... The Devils blew two 5-on-3 power plays against Ottawa. ... Finally, if you haven't seen it, the incredibly scary scene in which Zedno Chara hit Max Pacioretty into the stanchion between the benches, sending the Habs forward to the hospital. The debate over the hit is raging.

• Members of the MLS Los Angeles Galaxy drop the ceremonial first puck to Dustin Brown of the Los Angeles Kings and Brenden Morrow of the Dallas Stars at Staples Center on Monday night. Right before both NHL players snorted and said in unison, "Nice ratings ..."

• Brendan Morrison suffered an injury against the Chicago Blackhawks that might keep the Calgary Flames center out for the rest of the season. And he wasn't happy to hear what the Blackhawks' bench had to say as he left the ice: "What was a little disappointing was coming off and guys from the Chicago bench being a little disrespectful. That was uncalled for. But you do what you do and try and get off the ice. I don't know if they understoood what was going on but some young guys on their team were standing up and yelling. I don't think it's very professional. But they'll learn." [Calgary Herald]

• The Anaheim Ducks have signed defenseman Luca Sbisa to a four-year contract extension worth $8.7 million. Nice work locking up a 21-year-old D-man, but $2 million plus per season for a player years from being unrestricted? Wow. [Ducks Blog]

• BREAKING: Is this the last chance to save the Coyotes? [Biz Journal]

• Paul Bissonette's comments on the Phoenix Coyotes relocating to Canada were either priceless or completely insensitive to local fans (we vote the former): "It would be exciting to be the team that went back to Canada. C'mon, we'd be treated like gods. I mean, the big difference is the weather. The weather is awful, but you know that, and it's like everything would be opposite in Canada. The fans would be the opposite. The media would be different. There's no pressure from the media here, and it only comes from inside the room." [AZ Central]

• Celebrating International Women's Day through hockey. [Thrasher Backer]

• Steve Moore's lawyer on the seven years between his client's brain injury at the hands of Todd Bertuzzi and a trial date: "While the delay has been very frustrating, it has also been helpful in this sense: you need the passage of time to fully understand the complete implications of the brain injury." [Globe & Mail]

• It's nice and all that these lawyers all get together, play hockey and raise $30,000 for the Ice Hockey in Harlem. Our question is whether there's any hitting in the game; and, if so, how many postgame claims of whiplash? [Wall Street Journal]

• Bruins Hockey Now creates your Boston Bruins vs. Montreal Canadiens Bingo game for Tuesday night's grudge match. "Crowd Roars When Habs Make Two Passes" is a little bit genius. [Bruins Hockey Now]

• Are the Celtics or the Bruins more likely to win a championship this season? The correct answer is: The Yankees.[Bruins Blog]

• Satire: "Members of the Toronto Maple Leafs are growing concerned after star rookie goaltender James Reimer was seen hanging out with great-for-a-season goaltenders Blaine Lacher, Jim Carrey and Byron Dafoe." [Intent To Blow]

• More satire: "New NHL Marketing Campaign Consists Entirely of Gary Bettman Entering Atlanta Area Malls and Talking Really Loudly about the Thrashers." [Satirical Justice]

• Nice breakdown of the Buffalo Sabres' big road win at the Minnesota Wild over the weekend. [Die By The Blade]

• Analyzing the Terry Pegula effect for the Sabres. [NHL]

• Rick Rypien is skating again with the Manitoba Moose after take a leave of absence from the Vancouver Canucks. Technically, it's a conditioning stint. In any case, please alert the fans around the AHL that sit near the player entrance ... [Province]

• No Mason Raymond for the Vancouver Canucks this Tuesday evening. [Sun]

• Canucks Nation continues to reject the idea they're Canucks Nation. [KB]

• Or Philily for short. Oh, Comcast. [via Jon Jordan]

• Craig Anderson's new goalie mask is freaky ... but is it freaky enough to derail the NJuggernaut?! [Sun]

• Ten players who could accomplish what Jarome Iginla has accomplished by scoring 30 goals in 10 or more seasons. Ryan Strome? Getting a little ahead of ourselves. [The Hockey Writers]

• Good piece by Ian Walker on the evolution of the power forward, with great stuff from Cam Neely and Milan Lucic. [Vancouver Sun]

• Bruce Boudreau deemphasizes first place, which is probably wise for a team that hasn't exactly delivered as a top seed. [Capitals Insider]

• Kent Wilson on goaltending contract and "probability neglect" in the NHL: "The penchant for paying a lot for a puck stopper has fallen in the post-lock-out NHL with the saturation of cheap, capable goalies in the market, but it certainly hasn't been eliminated." [Hockey or Die]

• Gotta feel for Tie Domi, who has refused to participate in any medical studies on his post-NHL health despite seeing his late friend Bob Probert donate his brain to the study of concussions. "I can't be thinking about this. I don't want anybody worrying for me. This (story) has made people worry about me. I don't like that. I'm getting all kinds of calls, all kinds of reaction. I don't want any negative thoughts around me. I'm one of those guys who doesn't like to look in the past. I haven't read one article about what happened (to Probert) and I don't plan on reading one. People keep sending them to, pointing me to them, but I'm not looking at them, I'm not looking in the past. I'm looking ahead. It's how I have to be." [Toronto Sun]

• The Owen Nolan Bobblehead is here for the San Jose Sharks. Why not just hire the guy to walk up to every fan and nod? Dude could use a gig. [Sharks]

• There was $20,000 raised for the construction of Pat Burns Arena. Awesome. [THN]

• Finally, there's no other way to say it so we'll just say it: Quidditch match between USC's official Quidditch team and NHL mascots.