As part of their 7-3 win over the Ottawa Senators in Game 4, Neal scored twice, including a power play tally, and assisted on an another as the Penguins took a 3-1 series lead. The goal were Neal's first since Game 4 against the New York Islanders.

No. 2 Star: Jarome Iginla, Pittsburgh Penguins

Iginla netted a pair, including one of Pittsburgh's two power play goals. He's now put up points in eight of the Penguins' 10 playoff games.

No. 3 Star: Kris Letang, Pittsburgh Penguins

Letang had a couple of bad turnovers, but did finish with four assists. He now leads all defenseman in scoring with 13 points.

Honorable mention: Chris Phillips made the save of the game, robbing Sidney Crosby with his toe:

Milan Michalek's shorthanded goal that opened the scoring was a beauty:

Pascal Dupuis and Crosby both finished with a goal and an assist ... The Penguins power play scored on two of their five opportunities. They lead all teams with 12 power play goals and a 28.6 percent success rate ... Pittsburgh scored goals 40 seconds and 31 seconds apart, the latter as part of a three-goal surge over 1:45 in the third period ... Daniel Alfredsson's goal was his 100th career playoff point ... Paul MacLean gave a great press conference afterward.

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

Dishonorable mention: Craig Anderson was pulled for the second time in three games after allowing six goals on 32 shots.

It started off just 2:29 into the game when Milan Michalek's shorthanded goal had Scotiabank Place buzzing. Later, after Kyle Turris pounced on a puck during a scramble in front of Tomas Vokoun's crease to give Ottawa a 2-1 lead -- and the Senators killed both power plays they handed the Penguins -- things were looking promising after one period. Craig Anderson was playing like he did in Game 3, making 15 saves in the first period to deny a flying Pittsburgh offense.

"We had to make sure we played the right way," said Kris Letang to NBC Sports Network's Brian Engblom about the Penguins' adjustments between periods. "We were a little on our heels ... We had to regroup."

[Related: Senators' Daniel Alfredsson all but throws in the towel]

Regroup they did, and in a matter of 40 seconds the game flipped on its head.

Chris Kunitz and Jarome Iginla scored 40 seconds apart early in the second period to kill any momentum the Senators thought they had after Turris' late first period goal. But the red light behind Anderson was just getting warmed up. The Penguins would add four more in the opening 9:53 of the third period, with James Neal and Iginla each finishing with a pair of goals, en route to a 7-3 victory and a 3-1 series lead.

Three of those four goals game in a 1:45 span, with Pascal Dupuis (shorthanded) and Sidney Crosby scoring scoring just 31 seconds apart:

Entering Game 4, Ottawa had outscored its opponents in the playoffs 14-1 in the third period. That offense shriveled up in the final 20 minutes and made way for the Penguins. And after Crosby's goal, Anderson was pulled for the second time in three games.

"[We tried to] put pucks at his feet and try to get the rebound, and it actually worked," Letang said.

Facing elimination Friday night in Pittsburgh, Game 4 might have been Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson's final home game. When the final buzzer sounded, he grabbed the puck and skated off the ice for possibly the final time in front of Senators fans.

"We don't have much going for us right now," said Alfredsson. "Maybe that's the way we like it." When asked if the Senators have a shot at coming back on the Penguins, Alfredsson said (via NHL.com's Erin Nicks), "Probably not. [Pittsburgh's] depth and our play right now … it doesn't look good," before adding the team doesn't plan on quitting.

The Senators have a shot, but only if Good Craig Anderson shows up. The Craig Anderson that helped carry them through the injuries and into the playoffs. The Craig Anderson that would have been a Vezina Trophy candidate had he not been injured. The Craig Anderson who was superb in Game 3, stopping 49 shots during a double overtime win.

That Craig Anderson.

So which one will we see in Game 5?

Follow Sean Leahy on Twitter at @Sean_Leahy

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This one looked over.

The Ottawa Senators were staring a three-game deficit right in the face, down a goal with 90 seconds to go. Then, to make matters worse, Erik Karlsson took a slashing penalty, putting them down a man as well. But the Senators refused to go away, and a minute into the penalty, Daniel Alfredsson sneaked into the Pittsburgh zone, unmarked, and Milan Michalek found him in front of the net. Alfy sealed the deal, as Alfies often do, ending Tomas Vokoun's shutout bid and sending the game into overtimes.

Yes, overtimes. For the first time in the 2013 postseason, it took double OT for this game to produce a winner, and when it did, the Senators were back in the series. At 7:39 of the second overtime, Colin Greening banged home a loose puck to give the Sens a 2-1 victory:

And with that, the legend of the pesky Sens lives on. This team just won't go away. Pittsburgh will be left to wonder if it was their brutally lackadaisical approach to the powerplay late in regulation that cost them the lead, or destiny.

(Probably the former. But the latter makes for a nice narrative, no?)

Even after tying the game up in miraculous fashion, the Senators were nearly dealt the fatal blow numerous times. Pascal Dupuis hit a post in the first overtime. Evgeni Malkin had several terrifying forays into the Senators' end. They even survived another Pittsburgh powerplay in OT number two.

Alfredsson and Greening will get much of the credit for stealing Game 3 -- which is sort of what happens when you get your name on the scoresheet after the 59th minute -- but Craig Anderson was a deserving first star after keeping the game within stealing distance all night. The Senators' netminder stopped 49 of 50 shots in the win.

How close were the Senators to the end? After the game, Greening -- who took a high-stick in the second and was late to the postgame scrum because doctors had to extract the fiberglass that had been sitting in his face for two and a half periods -- looked like he'd just come from Dexter's kill table.

You can't get much closer to death than that. Not many people survive the blood slide moment.

Game 4 goes Wednesday in Ottawa.

The return home for Game 3 will give the Ottawa Senators a little bit of a boost as they attempt get back into their second-round series with the Pittsburgh Penguins, but with a 3-0 hole looming, the club would no doubt welcome a boost to their boost.

It looks like they'll get one of those too. After undergoing surgery for a herniated disc in his back and missing the last four months, Jason Spezza has been medically cleared to play.

He'll be in the Senators' lineup for Game 3. (Double boost!)

"I'm excited to have a chance to play again," Spezza said. "I feel ready to play."

Where he'll play remains to be seen, but Spezza has practiced on the Senators' first line alongside frequent running mate Milan Michalek, so our educated guess would be there.

That makes sense. Down 0-2, the Senators really aren't in a position to ease him into the lineup. Still, the question is what sort of impact he'll be able to have in his first game in 4 months. There's a good chance he'll see a lot of Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby, the latter of whom notched a hat trick in Game 2. These are matchups he needs to win, and that's a lot to ask of anyone, let alone a guy that's played just 5 games this season.

But it's not like Spezza's not capable of it. His last game with the Senators was versus these very Penguins, and while Ottawa lost the decision, 2-1, in a shootout, Spezza was a large part of the reason they came away from that one with a point, finishing well above water in his head-to-head matchups with both of the Penguins' star pivots, and assisting on Ottawa's game-tying goal.

Spezza played the majority of this game matched up with Evgeni Malkin, while Kyle Turris saw the Crosby matchup (as he has for Games 1 and 2, and I'd expect he will in Game 3, Crosby's hat trick notwithstanding).

But when Spezza didn't see Malkin, he saw Crosby, and despite playing the majority of the night versus two of the best centres in the Eastern Conference, Spezza finished the evening with an even-strength Corsi rate (plus/minus for shots attempted, basically) of plus-9. Crosby was a minus-9. Malkin was a minus-6.

Spezza, who is a much better two-way player now than he was the last time the Senators and the Penguins met in the playoffs, also won 11 of 16 faceoffs versus this duo in that game.

If the Senators can return a guy capable of winning these pivotal shifts, their chances of staging a comeback in this series increase exponentially. But after four months on the shelf, one wonders if Spezza can be the player he's capable of being right away.

Game 3 goes Sunday. It totally should have been Saturday, though, which is the 10-year anniversary of Spezza's original playoff debut. That would have been cool.

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We imagine it warms Mike Babcock’s heart to see Quenneville get a nomination, being that President’s Trophy winners don’t always get the Jack Adams love. Then again, it’s hard to ignore a coach who guides his team to 24 straight games with at least a point to start the season.

It was a bumper crop for great NHL coaching performances this season, which is bad news for Jack Capuano of the New York Islanders, Mike Yeo of the Minnesota Wild, Dan Bylsma of the Pittsburgh Penguins, Babcock and especially Michel Therrien of the Montreal Canadiens.

Who takes home the Jack?

Why Bruce Boudreau Deserves The Jack

The NHL says …

Boudreau, in his first full season behind the Anaheim bench, led the club to its finest regular season in franchise history, capturing the Pacific Division title and No. 2 seed in the Western Conference with a club-record points percentage (.688, 30-12-6). The Ducks made dramatic gains over 2011-12 in several categories, climbing from 25th to third in the overall NHL standings; from 23rd to eighth in average goals-per-game (2.45 to 2.79); from 19th to 11th in average goals-against (2.73 to 2.40); and from 21st to fourth in power-play percentage (16.6% to 21.5%). Boudreau is vying for his second career Jack Adams Award, having captured the trophy in 2007-08 with Washington in his first appearance as a finalist.

There’s no denying that Boudreau’s system and style fit this group of Ducks well, especially in activating their defense as an offensive force. (Hello, career year from Francois Beauchemin.) He used his role players as well as his stars.

Why Paul MacLean Deserves The Jack

The NHL says …

MacLean guided the Senators (25-17-6) to a berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs despite the extended absence of several key players due to injury. Defenseman Erik Karlsson, the reigning Norris Trophy winner, was limited to 17 games; defenseman Jared Cowen, the ninth overall pick in the 2009 NHL Draft, was sidelined for all but seven games; top forwards Jason Spezza and Milan Michalek played in just five and 23 contests, respectively; and starting goaltender Craig Anderson appeared in just 24 games. MacLean led a youthful Senators lineup, which included a League-high 14 rookies making at least one appearance, to the top defensive record in the Eastern Conference (2.08 goals-against per game). He earned his second consecutive berth as a Jack Adams finalist, finishing third as a rookie NHL head coach in 2012.

It’s easy to say that MacLean kept the Senators afloat thanks to stellar goaltending, but then his stellar goaltender was injured too. The job he did in moving pieces around due to injury and still maintaining enough success to make the postseason was unmatched this season. Without question, the most piece of a coaching my a Bug-Eyed Walrus the NHL has ever seen.

Why Joel Quenneville Deserves The Jack

The NHL says …

Quenneville's Blackhawks posted a record start to the season by earning a point in each of their first 24 games (21-0-3), smashing the NHL's longest previous season-opening streak of 16 games set by the Anaheim Ducks in 2006-07. The club went on to capture the Presidents' Trophy as the League's top regular-season club with a 36-7-5 record for 77 points. The Blackhawks ranked first overall in team defense (2.02 goals-against per game), second in offense (3.10 goals per game) and third in penalty killing (87.2%); posted a 26-2-1 mark when scoring first; and were 26-1-2 when leading after two periods. Quenneville captured the Jack Adams Award in 1999-2000 with St. Louis in his previous appearance as a finalist.

The streak mandated that Coach Q be given a spot in the top three, even if his is the deepest of the three teams represented in the Jack Adams final three.

Who Should Win The Jack Adams

The crime here is Michel Therrien not getting a spot in the final three. He took a team everyone had pegged for the lottery and won a tough division with it, while imprinting his personality on the players to give the team a new one.

Should he have won? No. The award should go to Quenneville, who had the Blackhawks on pace for a 131-point season.

Who Will Win The Jack Adams

MacLean, which is no snub to Quenneville. He guided a team devastated by significant injuries back to the Eastern Conference playoffs, and that’s a slam-dunk for voters. Plus he's sorta well-liked. Therrien, on the other hand ...

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Now, the No. 1 and No. 7 seeds meet in the Eastern Conference semifinals, with a little playoff history between them.

Who wins this second-round battle?

Pittsburgh Penguins (1) vs. Ottawa Senators (7)

May 14: Ottawa Senators at Pittsburgh Penguins, 7:30 p.m. ET.
May 17: Ottawa Senators at Pittsburgh Penguins, 7:30 p.m. ET.
May 19: Pittsburgh Penguins at Ottawa Senators, 7:30 p.m. ET
May 22: Pittsburgh Penguins at Ottawa Senators, 7:30 p.m. ET
May 24: Ottawa Senators at Pittsburgh Penguins* 7:30 p.m. ET
May 26: Pittsburgh Penguins at Ottawa Senators* TBD
May 28: Ottawa Senators at Pittsburgh Penguins* TBD
*if necessary

FORWARDS

Sidney Crosby (9 points), Pascal Dupuis (5 goals, 7 points total) and Chris Kunitz (5 points) make up the Penguins’ top line, with Crosby averaging 21:43 TOI in five games. Leading scorer Evgeni Malkin’s second line with Jarome Iginla (9 points) and James Neal (1 goal in 4 games) can be just as potent. Brandon Sutter struggled a bit in the Islanders series with linemates Brenden Morrow (1 assist) and Matt Cooke. Joe Vitale, Craig Adams and Tyler Kennedy make the most of their limited minutes.

The Senators averaged four goals per game against Montreal, second in the playoffs to the Penguins (4.17). Daniel Alfredsson (six points) led all Sens forwards, and plays on a line with Kyle Turris (5 points) and Cory Conacher (3 goals). The young guns of Mika Zibanejab and Jakob Silfverberg combine with Milan Michalek on the second line. Zack Smith, Chris Neil and Matt Kassian bring the thunder and are going to be a key energy line in this series. Colin Greening, Erik Condra (four points) and the unsung Jean-Gabriel Pageau (3 goals) fill out the forwards.

Advantage: Penguins

DEFENSE

The Penguins’ Kris Letang and Paul Martin lead the team with six points. Martin and Brooks Oprik are paired, with the latter having had a strong series against the Islanders. Letang, the Pens’ ice time leader (27:46), plays with Matt Niskanen. Deryk Engelland and the surprisingly offensive Douglas Murray bring size in the Pens’ other pairing.

The Senators have six points from Erik Karlsson so far, as the offensive dynamo is paired with Marc Methot (5 points). Sergei Gonchar (23:04) and Chris Phillips (20:56) make up a pairing that was a combined plus-8 in the first round. Eric Gryba, of the brutal hit on Lars Eller, sees time with Jared Cowen.

Advantage: Even

GOALIES

Tomas Vokoun starts Game 1 for the Penguins after winning consecutive games to close out the Islanders. He stopped 34 of 35 shots to win his only appearance against the Sens this season. One assumes Marc-Andre Fleury will get back into these playoffs for Pittsburgh, but he may have also played himself (.891 save percentage) out of the net.

Craig Anderson was brilliant against the Habs, sporting a 1.80 GAA and a .950 save percentage. That’s after a regular season that saw him post a 1.69 GAA and a .941 save percentage. Simply put: Had he not been injured, Anderson would have probably won the Vezina this season.

Advantage : Senators

PLAYERS THAT DESERVE AN ASTERISK

We live in a world where Pascal Dupuis has as many goals as Crosby and Malkin combined. Meanwhile, raise your hand if you knew what a “Jean-Gabriel Pageau” was before he scored three goals against the Habs?

COACHES

Dan Bylsma put his stones on the table with swapping out Fleury for Vokoun, and one imagines he’ll have another decision. He’s a steadying presence on the bench and a good tactician.

Paul MacLean, a.k.a. “bug-eyed fat walrus”, has become a cult icon in Ottawa and rightfully so: His personality is as captivating as his coaching, and MacLean is proving to be one hell of a head coach.

Advantage: Even

SPECIAL TEAMS

Pittsburgh’s power play (33.3 percent) was the best in the first round; Ottawa’s (24 percent) ranked fifth. The Penguins’ penalty kill (90 percent) ranked third, while the Senators’ (84.2 percent) was eighth. Overall, Pittsburgh has a more lethal special teams unit

Advantage: Penguins

FIGHT WE'D LIKE TO SEE

Could it be anything else? Matt Cooke vs. Chris Neil:

PREDICTIONS

Penguins in 6. Expect a hard-fought series and Anderson to steal a game (or two), but this Penguins team needed a scare and got one in the first round. Now, Sid and the boys will get down to business in Round 2.

Remember when Jason Spezza, Milan Michalek, Erik Karlsson and Craig Anderson were all injured on February 22 and we were "done"?

That was the question posed by the Ottawa Senators' official Twitter account Thursday after the club took care of business, finishing off the Montreal Canadiens with a blowout 6-1 victory in Game 5.

It was a question the Senators earned, but it was also a bit of a twisted knife. After all, the Montreal Canadiens simply weren't the same team after their injuries, with Carey Price and Brian Gionta out of the lineup. But how can you point to a banged-up group when the team that knocked you off was written off for the same reason three months ago?

In the end, it wasn't even close. The Canadiens came out like a team playing for their lives (which probably makes sense), and they nearly got an early one, but Craig Anderson robbed Rene Bourque to keep the game scoreless. A few moments later, still just two minutes into the game, Peter Budaj couldn't return the favour, and the Senators were off to the races.

[Also: Blackhawks advance, send Wild packing]

That's a rebound the Canadiens needed Budaj to not give up. But he couldn't hold onto it, and Zack Smith gave the Senators took the lead. It took the air out of the building. It never really returned.

The Senators just kept coming. The game-winning goal, scored by Cory Conacher (who added a second in the final frame), came just 10 minutes later.

Again, you could probably fault Peter Budaj for losing the puck.

Budaj is going to be the chèvre in Montreal after his brief performance in relief in Game 4 and his spotty goaltending in Game 5. But he wasn't the reason the Canadiens lost this series.

The Senators were. They outscored Montreal 20-9 in the five games. They were lethal. In the third period, they made that abundantly clear, putting the boots to the Canadiens by scoring on three straight powerplay opportunities to ice the win.

And with that, it was time for the handshake line.

The Senators now await their next opponent. One more win from the Penguins and it'll be them. While they're resting up, now might be a good time for Eugene Melnyk to finish up that forensic investigation.

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Few were expecting an all-Canadian first-round matchup, especially in the East, where the notion that any of Canadian teams were going to start the playoffs on home ice just seemed too far-fetched.

But it happened, thanks to the Montreal Canadiens, one of the 2013 season's biggest surprises. Only the homerest of homers were picking the Habs to win the Northeast division, but after a stunning and immediate resurgence under news head coach Michel Therrien and new general manager Marc Bergevin (and a little help from the Senators in the season's final game), here they are, all bannered and proud.

The Senators were a surprise this year as well, albeit for very different reasons. After misfortune ravaged the room, plucking all their most important pieces from the lineup, it would have been forgivable if they'd dropped out of contention. But instead, they battled all year long, weathered the storm, and now, as they begin to get their guys back at the most important times, they look like one a dangerous seventh seed.

Canadians (and canadiens) rejoice: there will be a team from our home and native land in the second round no matter what. But who will it be?

Montreal Canadiens (2) vs. Ottawa Senators (7)

May 2: Ottawa Senators at Montreal Canadiens, 7 p.m. ET.
May 3: Ottawa Senators at Montreal Canadiens, 7 p.m. ET.
May 5: Montreal Canadiens at Ottawa Senators, 7 p.m. ET.
May 7: Montreal Canadiens at Ottawa Senators, 7 p.m. ET
May 9: Ottawa Senators at Montreal Canadiens, * 7 p.m. ET
May 11: Montreal Canadiens at Ottawa Senators * TBD
May 12: Ottawa Senators at Montreal Canadiens, * TBD
*if necessary

Forwards

The Senators goals per game was a terrible 2.33, good for 27th in the league, ahead of only New Jersey, Nashville and Florida. Despite some gaudy possession numbers, they struggled to score goals all season, which is the sort of thing that will happen when the league's best offensive defenceman as well as your most effective duo up front are injured for most of the year. Jason Spezza played just five games this season (and isn't expected to be around for Round 1). Milan Michalek played 23, and was, understandably, a little less offensively punchy without Spezza setting him up.

Michalek will open this series on a line with Cory Conacher, another rookie standout, and Kyle Turris in the middle. The second line consists of Colin Greening, Zack Smith, and the ageless Daniel Alfredsson. More incredible rookies on line 3 as Erik Condra lines up with Mika Zibanejad and Jakob Silfverberg.

And, of course, Chris Neil is on line 4. We'll probably notice him from time to time.

The Canadiens posted a goals per game average of 3.04 in 2012, good for 4th in the entire league. They were just one of seven teams to average over three goals a game. In other words: they're good at this whole scoring thing.

The goals come from all over, too. The Canadiens had 10 players with 20 or more points, but no one with over 40. The goals are spread out as well. Rene Bourque's seven goals placed him eleventh in team scoring. It's an incredibly balanced group.

Bourque, who might have scored more had he not missed 21 games with a concussion, plays on the first line, if you can call it that, with Brian Gionta and Tomas Plekanec. The second line consists of rookie standout Brendan Gallagher, David Desharnais, and Max Pacioretty for some much-needed size.

Meanwhile, Michael Ryder, whose 16 goals this year between Dallas and Montreal made him the highest-scoring player, is on the third line with Lars Eller and another great rookie, Alex Galchenyuk.

The Canadiens come at you in unending waves. It's why they control possession better than almost any other NHL team. They'll be a handful.

ADVANTAGE: Canadiens

Defense

Montreal will miss Alexei Emelin, who was lost for the year to a torn knee ligament, but they've still got a strong top-four. The prize piece: potential Norris trophy winner P.K. Subban, one of hockey's most dynamic young blueliners. He is, in a word, excellent. He finished second in team scoring to Max Pacioretty by one point, and he played six fewer games.

Subban plays on a pairing with Josh Gorges that can shut you down and light you up.

Behind him, Raphael Diaz and Andrei Markov make up pairing number two. Markov had 10 goals this season and is a always a threat to blast one home. Diaz is coming off a concussion, and still re-finding his game. His ability to get up to game speed is crucial.

The Senators are led, as you can probably guess, by Erik Karlsson, the Norris trophy-winning defenceman who changes their attack completely when he's in the lineup. Karlsson's shots per game of 4.6 was tied with Alex Ovechkin for tops in the league, and among defencemen, it wasn't even close. Dustin Byfuglien was second in shots per game by a defenceman with 3.3, and the only other defenceman in the playoffs that averaged 3 shots per game is Montreal's P.K. Subban.

In other words, Karlsson is the key to the Senators attack. His ability to get shots through traffic and give his club rebound opportunities is where this series can be won.

Behind Karlsson is one of the NHL's largest defence corps. No one else on the backend is under six foot. Jared Cowen, Marc Methot, Chris Phillips and Eric Gryba are all 6'3" or larger, and Sergei Gonchar, Ottawa's other offensive engine, is 6'2". It's a massive, mobile group, and if they can keep up with Montreal, the size mismatch could be, well, big.

ADVANTAGE: Senators

Goalies

Craig Anderson's numbers this season were incredible: a GAA of 1.69, a SV% of .941 and 3 shutouts. It might have been a Vezina season for the Senators' backstop if he didn't miss so much of it due to injury. But he's back now, and he certainly showed signs of rounding into form in his final 3 starts, allowing just 2 goals and posting his third shutout of the season.

Carey Price is pretty decent at this whole "getting hit by pucks" thing as well, with a 2.59 save percentage and a goals against average of .905. Those numbers pale in comparison to Anderson, no doubt, but the Canadiens play a much more open style of hockey. I don't think there's any doubting what he can do. Still, Price will be in tough to stop this from being Anderson's year.

ADVANTAGE: Senators

Does Their Season Deserve an Asterisk?

Both these teams have a lot of rookies that might have faded down the stretch, if this season had a stretch. But speaking of stretches, that line of reasoning is one. Some of this year's other surprises have had the look of a paper tiger -- not the Canadiens. And as for the Senators, a longer season would have given them a chance to get healthy.

In short, the shortened season has nothing to do with either team being where they are.

Coaches

Paul Maclean and Michel Therrien are both Jack Adams contenders, in my opinion. They've done incredible work to get the most out of their teams.

If this were a moustache competition, I think we know who would get the edge. Sadly, it is not, so I'm calling it a draw.

ADVANTAGE: Even

Special Teams

Montreal's powerplay was 5th in the NHL at 20.7%. Ottawa's was 20th, at a mediocre 15.9%. Granted, it didn't have Erik Karlsson on it for much of the year, and that matters. Having him firing away changes the dynamic quite a bit. Meanwhile, Ottawa's penalty-kill had a league-best 88% kill rate, which is approaching golden gun territory, and Montreal's was a weak point at 79.8%, good for 23rd.

ADVANTAGE: Senators

Playoff Anthems

EPIC RAP BATTLE!!!!!

YO-YOSHI!!!

VERSUS...

THE JOYNT!!

Prediction

Senators in 7.

This is going to be a tight series and I've gone back and forth on this prediction, but I think it's really going to come down to the Canadiens' forwards versus the Senators' defence, and I think Karlsson will be the difference here. With him in the lineup, the Senators are a completely different team, and by "completely different", I mean "slightly better than Montreal".

Dobber checks in every Thursday to force-feed you the latest fantasy hockey trends. The founder of DobberHockey.com and a columnist for The Hockey News website, he long ago immersed himself into this roller coaster world and is unable to escape.

Well that was fast.

Just four days of regular season hockey left (three if you're not a Boston or Ottawa fan). You know what that means? Playoff pool time!

This weekend, sit back with a bunch of your buddies, draft list in one hand, a beer in the other, and pick your winning team. To help you on your way, I've assembled a little primer for you. We'll tackle the Eastern Conference today, and the West tomorrow.

To get things started, I ran a quick report on Frozen Pool listing the top PP ice time per game among defensemen over the last three weeks. Because everyone knows that playoff scoring revolves around Bryzgalov and Fleury being in the nets the power play.

Boston Bruins

The Obvious - Brad Marchand, Jaromir Jagr, Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci, Tyler Seguin, Milan Lucic, Nathan Horton and Zdeno Chara.

The Sleepers - Carl Soderberg is seeing plenty of ice time and playing with Jagr. He's been a highly-coveted prospect for close to a decade - when he was drafted in the second round, Dougie Hamilton was celebrating his 11th birthday. Soderberg has played just three games, but has two assists and could have a Ville-Leino-type (circa the Flyers, 2010) of impact.

Rookies to Watch - Soderberg is too old for rookie status, making defensemen Dougie Hamilton and Matt Bartkowski the only rookie regulars. Neither are worth drafting, unless your league is deep and you have several Bruins already - then Hamilton is worth grabbing in the final round.

Don't Overrate - Hamilton has been a healthy scratch in three of his last six games. Most rookies are hard to trust in a playoff draft, because the coach tends to keep a tight leash on them. Just nine rookies in the last two postseasons have tallied more than five points…

Also Milan Lucic. Big, bad Bruin has a reputation for playing a 'playoff' type of game. But pools don't give points for reputation, or player types. They give points for goals and assists. And Looch hasn't been getting many of them - just 15 points in his last 32 playoff contests.

Montreal Canadiens

The Obvious - Max Pacioretty, P.K. Subban, Michael Ryder, Tomas Plekanec, David Desharnais, Andrei Markov and Brian Gionta.

The Sleepers - Lars Eller has improved dramatically, in each of his three seasons in the NHL. Although his playoff experience is limited, he has plenty of experience on the world stage…

Raphael Diaz is going to slip through the draft unnoticed due to his point total, which is low because of the games missed with a concussion. If you need a defenseman in the late rounds, he's your guy.

Rookies to Watch - Alex Galchenyuk and Brendan Gallagher are key reasons why the Habs are even in this position. Adding a pair of young, energetic 50-point (pro-rated) players does wonders for a team. Galchenyuk has 10 points in his last 11 games and is the No.4 player on this team I would draft (after Pacioretty, Subban and Ryder)…

Gallagher is worth drafting, if you like the Habs to go deep, but he's certainly not a high pick. He has slowed down, with just four points in his last 11 games.

Don't Overrate - Rene Bourque has two points in his eight games since returning from a concussion…

Markov has just 18 points in 49 career playoff games. He also has just three points in his last 11 games.

New York Islanders

The Obvious - John Tavares, Matt Moulson, Brad Boyes, Frans Nielsen and Mark Streit.

The Sleepers - Josh Bailey has 14 points in his last 18 games…

And it's no coincidence that his linemate Kyle Okposo is similarly on fire. He also has 14 in 18…

Rookies to Watch - Anders Lee saw nine minutes in his first career game on April 2. Then he was scratched. Four days later, he got into his second career NHL game and played just under seven minutes, but added an assist. He's been a healthy scratch ever since. That'll teach him for being productive…

Casey Cizikas has been a real solid checking-line player. Not worth drafting, though.

Don't Overrate - Boyes has been shut out of 10 of the last 14 games, dating back to March 26. He has four playoff points in his career, in 11 games…

Michael Grabner has just eight points in his last 20 games.

New York Rangers

The Obvious - Rick Nash, Derek Stepan, Brad Richards, Derick Brassard and Ryan Callahan.

The Sleepers - Mats Zuccarello I was brought back to help the scoring and after an initial awkward moment while the team tried to get rid of Gaborik adjustment, Zuccarello has flourished. Not only does he have five points in his last five games, but he's also sparked Brad Richards…

Ryane Clowe was acquired from the Sharks and has eight points, is plus-6 with 14 PIM in 11 games. Now that's the Clowe we know and love. But casual hockey fan at the office looking at his stats sheet will see the 19 points in 39 games on the season. Of course, if everyone in your pool knows their hockey, then just ignore this little blurb.

Rookies to Watch - If you reeeeally like the Rangers to go deep, Chris Kreider is your best rookie option. He's had a tough year, not just with New York but with Connecticut as well. But he has the size, skill and tenacity to flourish in the postseason - as we saw last year with his seven points in 18 games…

The only other rookie of note is J.T. Miller, who is back with Connecticut once the Rangers added the forwards they did at the deadline.

Don't Overrate - Carl Hagelin disappeared around this time last year. This happened because Kreider joined the team. Since the trade deadline, Hagelin has four points in 11 games. It seems as though anytime the Rangers add a forward or two, Hagelin's production suffers.

Ottawa Senators

The Obvious - Cory Conacher, Kyle Turris, Sergei Gonchar, Daniel Alfredsson and Erik Karlsson

The Sleepers - Depending on your competition, Karlsson is either 'obvious' or a 'sleeper'. He is ready return tonight from the injury to his Achilles tendon, yet his 10 points on the season keeps him low on the stats sheet…

For the same reason (low regular season point total due to injury), consider Milan Michalek. Now healthy, Michalek will get you seven or eight points if the Senators play 10 or 11 playoff games.

Rookies to Watch - Cory Conacher is tied for the rookie lead in scoring with 28 points and has four points in nine games since joining the Senators. Modest numbers, both. More on him later…

Jakob Silfverberg is a bit of a 'boom or bust' pick for this year. His production has really fallen off since Michalek's return, but that could just be your run-of-the-mill cold streak. Unless Ottawa is a key team you're banking on. But besides the six points in his first 24 games and his one point in his last seven, he has 11 in 14. That's where the 'boom' in the statement 'boom or bust' comes into play…

Mika Zibanejad also has just one point in his last seven games, but with Jason Spezza missing at least the first round (likely two rounds or more), Zibanejad will be leaned on for secondary offense with little risk of taking a hit in his ice time…

Defenseman Patrick Wiercioch is another risky rookie to consider. His production took off once Karlsson was injured, and he has 15 points in his last 28 games. With Karlsson back, there is some concern over the impact on Wiercioch's numbers.

Don't Overrate - As noted, Conacher has just four points in nine games since joining the team. But what's concerning the most is the fact that he averaged about 15 of ice time per game in his first four games with the team - but then about 12 minutes per game in the last five. He often saw 17 or more with Tampa…

Old man Gonchar (and I say this ignoring the fact that I was born 11 days before him) has just three points in his last 13 games. With Karlsson back, if Paul MacLean elects to continue giving Wiercioch power play time, Gonchar's numbers will suffer…

Pittsburgh Penguins

The Obvious - Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, James Neal, Kris Letang, Jarome Iginla, (types furiously for another five minutes), that drunk guy in the seventh row who takes off his shirt and starts dancing midway through the second period, the red light operator, (more typing), the guy shouting "Programs, Here!", the person running the refreshment stand in section C, etc, etc…

The Sleepers - Come on. It's the Penguins. They'll all be picked by the time you decide which chair you'll sit on for the draft. If you really want a name - Matt Cooke has 10 points in his last 19 playoff games.

Rookies to Watch - Beau Bennett is a great prospect and on 20 other teams we'd be including him in the Calder conversation. And 10 of his 14 points have come without Crosby or Malkin on the ice with him. Take a look, courtesy of Frozen Pool:

But with everybody healthy, Bennett is destined for the press box.

Don't Overrate - Although Jussi Jokinen has eight points in eight games since joining the Penguins, he has been held scoreless in four of his last five. With the injured Penguins filing back into the lineup, I have concerns over Jokinen's role.

Toronto Maple Leafs

The Obvious - Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Adam Scott, Justin Rose, …oh wait, the Leafs aren't in a golf tournament this year. Let's go with Phil Kessel, Joffrey Lupul, Nazem Kadri, James van Riemsdyk, Cody Franson, Tyler Bozak and Dion Phaneuf.

The Sleepers - With 10 goals in 13 games for the Marlies last year in the postseason, it only serves to reinforce Matt Frattin's reputation as a gamer. He carries a risk, having been scratched from six of the last nine games - but he tends to score when it truly counts and once he starts doing that, it will be tough to keep him out of the lineup. Should only be considered for the last round, if you like the Leafs to go deep.

Rookies to Watch - The only rookie in the regular lineup is Leo Komarov. And although his style of hockey is suited for the postseason, even increased production won't justify a draft pick.

Don't Overrate - I hate putting this name here, because I'm a fan. But Kadri has just three points in his last 10 games. With the added attention he's garnered late in the season, he will struggle to put up a point-per-game in the second season.

Washington Capitals

The Obvious - Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, Mike Ribeiro, Troy Brouwer, Martin Erat, Mike Green, and John Carlson.

The Sleepers - Green is going to be underrated in your draft, in all likelihood. But with Ovechkin - the real Ovechkin - clearly back in fine form, Green's numbers have popped as well. To the tune of 14 points in his last 13 games…

Marcus Johansson has 20 points in his last 23 games and is often the third member of the Backstrom-Ovechkin line…

From the pages of 'Where the Hell Did This Guy Come From?' (a novel by John Druce) is defenseman Jack Hillen. The former Colorado College star has eight points in his last eight games and is worth a flier in the late rounds.

Rookies to Watch - Defenseman Steven Oleksy made a quick impact on the scoresheet after being called up for the first time, but as the adrenalin wore so did the offense. Any fantasy value lies only in his plus/minus, hits and penalty minutes.

Don't Overrate - Erat was often the best offensive forward in Nashville. To get that same title in Washington, about six or seven players need to collide at center ice during practice and get helped off.

Winnipeg Jets

The Obvious - Andrew Ladd, Blake Wheeler, Evander Kane, Bryan Little and Dustin Byfuglien

The Sleepers - Grant Clitsome has 14 points in his last 30 games. He started off slowly because Tobias Enstrom was in the lineup. Then when Enstrom was hurt, the Jets tried out Paul Postma and Zach Redmond, as well as Clitsome. Eventually, Clitsome worked his way ahead of the other two (thanks in part to Redmond getting hurt as well)…

Nik Antropov has 11 points in his last 16 games, but unless the competitors in your draft have already taken six other Jets, there's really no point in looking here. So yeah, this blurb is really just for poolies living in Winnipeg.

Rookies to Watch - Paul Postma has had his moments, but really this season has been about his getting used to the higher level of hockey. He'll be a healthy scratch as often as not…

Zach Redmond was humming along with four points in his first eight games before suffering a serious cut on his leg. Now ready to return, the Jets are just waiting for a chance to put him in. Too risky to draft.

Don't Overrate - Tobias Enstrom's back injury has him listed as "week to week". That's generally a bad sign…

I wish I could pull any portion of Olli Jokinen's season and point it in a positive light. But there's really nothing. He's minus-19 and his point total is abysmal. Don't be fooled by the Jokinen name that once posted 91 points.

Also, hey, I have an Interactive Playoff Draft List that I'm selling. It will make things way easier for you at the draft table.

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

Or in a sewer.

With a mutated rat that knows ninjutsu as a sensei.

Since 1984, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have symbolized those four disparate traits in comics, cartoons and movies:

Leonardo (blue mask): The measured, valiant leader of the group. Strong and fearless.

Donatello (purple mask): The scientist who prefers to use intellect rather than his bo staff to solve conflicts. A bit shy.

Michelangelo (orange mask): The pizza-gobbling free spirit of the group whose “Cowabunga” launched a million T-shirts.

Raphael (red mask): The temperamental bad boy of the group. And he speaks with a New York accent!

On a recent Marek Vs. Wyshynski podcast, there was a spontaneous discussion about the TMNT template being applied to NHL teams. For example, we all know Jonathan Toews is the Leonardo and Patrick Kane is the Michelangelo of the Chicago Blackhawks – but who is their Raphael?

We asked the Puck Daddy readership to check in with their choices for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles proxies for all 30 NHL teams. Here are the Eastern Conference choices for hockey heroes on a half shell. The West will follow on Wednesday.

We received more submissions for some teams than others, so we’ve limited the entries to two for each team. Enjoy, dudes:

Boston Bruins

Leonardo: Zdeno Chara

Donatello: Patrice Bergeron

Michelangelo: Brad Marchand - I mean, really. No other player in the NHL can even come close.

Raphael: Shawn Thornton

- Andrine Belliveau

Buffalo Sabres

Leonardo: Thomas Vanek. Wikipedia: “Leonardo is depicted as the eldest brother and the calmest of the four. Throughout the various media, he is depicted as the leader of the four turtles and the most disciplined.” Coincidentally, TV is my favorite Sabre and Leonardo was my favorite turtle.

Donatello: Ryan Miller. Wikipedia: “In all media, he is depicted as the most intelligent of the four turtles, often speaking in technobabble with a natural aptitude for science and technology.” Yup.

Michelangelo: Steve Ott. Do I even have to? Wikipedia:” In the original comic books, Michelangelo was initially depicted as fun-loving, carefree, and, while not as aggressive as Raphael, always ready to fight…most of the traits that have become synonymous with the character, such as his playfulness, empathy, and easygoing nature.

Raphael: Patrick Kaleta. Wikipedia: “He is generally the most likely to experience extremes of emotion, and is usually depicted as being aggressive, sullen, maddened, and rebellious.” That about sums it up.

Bonus Characters!

April O’Neil: Either Erica Halbrook or Noureen DeWulf

Casey Jones: John Scott – Wikipedia: “Casey wears a hockey mask and cut-off biking gloves and carries his weapons in a golf bag over his shoulder. His weapons include baseball bats, golf clubs, cricket bats, and hockey sticks. He is a master of stealth, as he has never been caught by the NYPDdespite his bizarre appearance.” Too easy.

Master Splinter: Darcy Regier. He even looks rat-like!

Enemies!

Bebop and Rocksteady: Chris Neil and Milan Lucic. Hulking, lumbering idiots - you always want the Turtles to beat them.

Baxter Stockman: Brad Marchand. He created the Mousers to kill rats, Brad Marchand looks and acts like a rat.

Shredder: Daniel Alfredsson. A compliment really, he tends to shred the Sabres D.

Krang: Gary Bettman. An evil brain that tries to take over Earth. Pretty close.

- Jim Durolek

Leonardo: Thomas Vanek. Easily the most skilled, But also the one that tends to disappear in entire episodes leaving the rest of the team to try and figure it out on their own.

Donatello: Ryan Miller. The elder Statesmen, The smart intellectual force on the team who's unafraid to say it like it is, but in ways you may not understand because you're not on his level. Also he loves the color Purple.

Michelangelo: I had a toss up between Steve Ott, for being a party dude on the ice, and Drew Stafford for being a party dude off the ice. I'm going to lean towards Steve Ott though because Michaelangelo actually helped the team where as Stafford isn't even sure he's playing hockey during a game.

Raphael: Patrick Kaleta, He gets angry, everyone blames him for everything whether it's his fault or not and he tends to run around on his own and get into trouble with the Shanabanner (Master Splinter).

- Gregory Kashmanian

Montreal Canadiens

Leonardo: Brian Gionta (Leader = Captain)

Donatello: Carey Price (Very Analytical approach to goaltending, Uses his brain power to keep calm and get the job done)

Michelangelo: P.K. Subban (Looks good in Orange and a Party Dude)

Raphael: Brandon Prust (Angry, Cool but Rude)

- Tony Healey, Jr.

Leonardo: Brian Gionta leads the pack.

Donatello: The brains of the operation is Harvard alum Donatello Louis Leblanc, missing right now in the AHL dungeon.

Michelangelo: Colby Armstrong and there is no way you can convince me otherwise.

Raphael: Of course there's PK "Raphael" Subban; the coolest one

Michael Therrien is Splinter, while the Shredder is of course Pierre Gauthier

- Ash Slaughter

Ottawa Senators

Leonardo: Daniel Alfredsson (fearless leader)

Donatello: Colin Greening (smart, Greening is a Cornell grad)

Michelangelo: Jason Spezza (carefree)

Raphael: Robin Lehner (bad boy, aggressive)

Master Splinter: Coach MacLean

Shredder: Matt Cooke (literally)

- Amy Bell

Leonardo: Milan Michalek - Something about this goal/celebration makes me think of him as Leo. Also, Milo rhymes with Leo.

Donatello: Erik Karlsson - Smartest guy on the ice. I mean, he'd have to be to invent whatever it is that lets him come back 2 months after severing his Achilles (Time machine, robotic tendon, cloning, etc).

Michelangelo: Matt Kassian - From his twitter feed, acts like a fun-loving goofball. Seems like he'd enjoy wacky pizza toppings. Pretty sure he yells Cowabunga when he drops the gloves with someone.

Raphael: Chris Neil - Kind of a jerk, but most people like him anyway (at least in Ottawa). Kind of a hot-head and goes off to do his own thing (and get into trouble) at times.

Splinter: Daniel Alfredsson - Wise old player, taught the young'uns in the ways of Hockey. When the going gets tough, they all look to him to guide them and kick ass.

- Murray Robb

Toronto Maple Leafs

Leonardo: Gonna have to go with Dion Phaneuf for Leo. He's older than many of his teammates and despite his haters, I'd say he still qualifies as a decent leader.

Donatello: I wish I could say Carlyle fits here because he 'uses his knowledge' to solve conflicts. But I'm still not sure how I feel about him. Can't say Grabo because, well, he bit someone. My final answer is Jake Gardiner because he doesn't particularly like to play physical - see 4 hits in 8 GP - which is, I imagine, partly why the "I <3 goon coach" has him in the press box.

Michelangelo: Absolutely Nazem Kadri. Obviously all he did over the summer was eat pizza and relax based on the reports from the Marlies. Oh and I think he just had his 17th birthday.

Raphael: Too easy - Joffrey Lupul He's a straight up bad-ass. Remember back in the day when he swindled all those ladies with the other Flyers party boys? He says what he wants when he wants to and is one of the most aggressive Leafs every night.

- Kristy Reinhardt

New Jersey Devils

Leonardo: Martin Brodeur for sure. Leader and oldest turtle.

Donatello: Ilya Kovalchuk (I guess). This is maybe a stretch.

Michelangelo: Patrick Elias. Joker.

Raphael: David Clarkson. Loyal and aggressive.

- Matt Law

Leonardo: Marty Brodeur - old, steady, old, lead by example type that isn't overtly outspoken. Also old. Probably at this point a little underrated for what he can do because he's been wielding that katana for so long.

Donatello: Patrik Elias - Wiley and cagey. Seems like more of a pacifist who just happens to be involved in violent activities. Better in a supporting role than wearing the 'C.' For some reason I can see him wielding a bow staff in real life for no apparent reason.

Michelangelo: Stefan Matteau - young, brash, has the tools just needs the maturity.

Raphael: David Clarkson - Fiery, some times (read: most times) to his own detriment. Frustrating when pride seems to get in his way and he doesn't see the big picture. Also, whether it's April or every post pubescent female devils fan (all 14 by my last count), seems to be one with the ladies.

And I would love to end by comparing Lou to Splinter as the wise sage whose wisdom you don't really understand until it becomes abundantly clear on its own, but who are we kidding, he's more of a Krang.

- Colin Rafter

New York Islanders

Leonardo: John Tavares

Donatello: Evgeni Nabakov

Michelangelo: Matty Moulson

Rafael: Matt Martin

- Patrick W. Lehmann

Leonardo: John Tavares

Donatello: Kyle Okposo

Michelangelo: Casey Cizikas

Raphael: Matt Martin

- Steve Zee

New York Rangers

Leonardo: Ryan Callahan, fearless leaders. seems to always wanna motivate the other guys and keep moral up. the very idea of leading by example.

Donatello: Dan Girardi…usually the quiet thinker, Girardi seems to quietly be amazing as one of the top D-men in the league. Donatello depicted as the problem solver, just watch Girardi on the PK blocking shots.

Michelangelo: Carl Hagelin or Michael Del Zotto, seemingly young and carefree. Can imagine either of them going around consistently saying "cowabunga" and eating pizza.

Raphael: Ryane Clowe or Arron Asham … trying to be the little bad-ass with an attitude, had this been last year hands down it would be Prust. I also think back to the Ninja Turtles movie from 1990 and recall Raph being in a tub, lethargic from like half the movie and that just seems to remind me of Richards this season. Also Brian Boyle wishes at this point he was the bad-ass, but the sleeping issues are the least of his issues the season.

- Leigh Cuomo

Philadelphia Flyers

Leonardo: That’s a hard one, because he’s the leader. Uh…geez...let’s
just say Claude Giroux and move on to the next question.

Donatello: Ilya Bryzgalov as is obviously, because Donatello appreciated the
huMANgusness of the universe

Michelangelo: Scott Hartnell, because it’s really easy to imagine him
saying “Cowabunga, Dude” or "bodacious."

Raphael: Zac Rinaldo is because he likes to punch things. See also: Wayne Simmonds. See also: Jay Rosehill. Really, just pick whoever isn’t so beat up that they can still skate.

Bonus players:

Kimmo Timonen as Vanilla Ice singing The Ninja Rap.
Casey Jones: Mike Richards. [insert bitter memories of better times here].
Sarah Baicker is The Flying Mutant Ninja Turtles’ version April.
O’Neil. There’s no room for discussion on this.
Splinter: Position vacant. Applicants welcome.
The Foot Clan: The Penguins. Or the Bruins. Or the Rangers. Or all of the above.
Shredder: Dan Bylsma. Or Claude Julien. Or John Tortorella. Or all of
the above.

- Alli Jessing

Pittsburgh Penguins

Leonardo: This is clearly Sidney Crosby. He's the undisputed leader of the crew and by far the most disciplined. He doesn't like taking credit as leader and he's the calmest of the four. Give Crosby a blue mask and that's pretty much him. Except, without, you know, the ooze turning him into a mutant thing.

Donatello: As the brainy one of the group, this clearly has to go to Harvard grad Craig Adams. Ever see shots of them on the plane? The rest of the guys are playing video games; Adams is reading some sort of novel about the current socio-political climate or econ.

Michelangelo: Definitely the most carefree and fun-loving turtle of the group. He's playful and easygoing and once stopped a bunch of thieves from stealing the toys of orphaned children. This has to go to Marc-Andre Fleury. Besides, how amazing would it be to hear him attempt to say "Cowabunga!" in his Franglish gibberish?

Raphael: Evgeni Malkin. Raphael is the hotter-headed younger brother of Leonardo and often depicted as moody, emotional, and by far more hot-tempered than his more even-keeled older sibling, though they are equally talented in their art. How well does this describe Malkin, who has prodigious talent but is definitely prone to letting his emotions get the better of him on the ice?

- Alisha Grauso

Leonardo: Leo is the eldest of his peers, is an incredible student and is very well-educated. Takes instruction better than any other member of the team. A leader that commands respect, but does it honorably, and never casts a bad light on the group. Lives the right way and keeps himself on the straight-and-narrow as a leader. He is: Craig Adams.

Donatello: Has vision and intelligence for the objective at hand that nobody on his team, or possibly nobody in the world possesses. He sees angles and solutions nobody else can see. He's soft-spoken, but leads by example. He can use his bow/stick unlike anyone else, inflicting damage to the opposition in any number of directions, positions, and angles. A thinking man's favorite, but gets down and dirty in the muck with the best of them. He is: Sidney Crosby

Michelangelo: Goofy, fun-loving, always with a smile, Michelangelo is among the same age as the group, but always looks and acts like a kid. Distinct, endearing accent. Never gets too low, no matter the circumstances, and boosts morale of his teammates. Let's stuff roll off his shoulders. Often carries many boxes of pizza. He is: Marc-Andre Fleury.

Raphael: Sullen and moody but an incredible warrior that will give his all and his entire body to the cause. Makes rash decisions that either end incredibly or awfully with seldom middle ground. A fiery presence that can usually be found in the middle of a scrum. Almost never cracks a smile, yet many females tend to like that about him, I've found. He is: Kris Letang.

And as a bonus, Master Splinter, is, of course, 66. And April O'Neil is Dan Potash.

- Luke Irwin

Carolina Hurricanes

Leonardo: Leonardo is a natural leader. He is brave and strategic. So, yeah…we don't have anyone to fit that role in Carolina.

Donatello: Jay Harrison is often cited for being the team genius, so he is a natural fit for Donatello.

Michelangelo: There is no one better to play Michelangelo than Canes’ own comedian, Chad LaRose. Forever young and personable.

Raphael: The brooding and surly Tim Gleason fits the fierce and sarcastic nature of Raphael.

- Kristina Kelly

Leonardo: Eric Staal - Obvious leader and emotional too (see stupid stupid end of game penalties, his freakish screams when scoring goals, etc) Imagine the moment when Leonardo talks to Splinter's flame spirit. Only E. Staal could be in that scene from the 'Canes.

Donatello: Riley Nash (Previously Brandon Sutter). With the departure of Sutter, Nash is my pick for the smartest/headiest player on the team now. He transitioned to the team very well out of Charlotte and looks to stick on the roster starting with next season. This was my hardest pick, as the 'Canes no longer have a super hockey smart player in my opinion anymore (excluding Semin).

Michelangelo: Jeff Skinner. I'd be pretty awesome to imagine Skinner as the most party-ready Turtle, especially with his epic hairstyle that he started the season with. With the teenie-bopper like following he has around here, he'd be all about the girls and pizza. (Hey! Its the Babe from the News!)

Raphael: Alex Semin. He pretty much lines up exactly with Raphael from the movie - sort of quiet and to himself yet has amazing talent and skill when he wants to apply it.

Bonus!

Splinter: Rod Brind'amor. He's the bad-ass teacher of the team now. He has some supreme skills, but now he's become older and less mobile. Even though he's Rod the Bod he needed that stick to be his cane to get around the ice at the end of this career.

Casey Jones: Tim Gleason. He just seems to fit the character to me, with the more literal physical instead of skilled playing style. More Brutal than the turtles, with more grit to his battles.

-- Matthew Kuekes

Florida Panthers

Leonardo: Tomas Kopecky

Donatello: Brian Campbell

Michelangelo: Kris Versteeg

Raphael: Erik Gudbranson

- Paige

Tampa Bay Lightning

Leonardo: Vinny Lecavalier as the leader of the bunch.

Donatello: Used his staff as a weapon much like Steven Stamkos.

Michelangelo: Was a big goofball as is Teddy Purcell. I had the opportunity to meet Teddy a few days ago and asked him to clear up the pronunciation of his name (per-suhl vs per-cell) and he replied "It's per-suhl and my mom gets really mad when people get that wrong."

Raphael: Was a sarcastic wise-guy with a bit of a mean streak in him at times. Easily fits as Bugsy Malone although Bugsy isn't as "dark".

BONUS:

Master Splinter: Sami Salo - Because they're both creepy old dudes.

April O'Neil: Eric Brewer - Mostly because "traffic cone" wasn't a TMNT character.

- Jay Marrero

Washington Capitals

Leonardo: Nicklas Backstrom

Donatello: Troy Brouwer

Michelangelo: Alex Ovechkin

Raphael: John Erskine

- Cory The Horse

Leonardo: Brooks Laich

Donatello: Nicklas Backstrom

Michelangelo: Alex Ovechkin

Raphael: John Erskine

- Tom McRann

Winnipeg Jets

Leonardo: The Jets leader, and Captain, Andrew Ladd. Oldest and wisest. Two Cups.

Donatello: Least violent, most creative, Alex Burmistrov. Kid has hands, stays out of the box. Shows up with some flash every once in a while, but spends a lot of time in the shadows of the vets

Michelangelo: Easy. Big Dustin Byfuglien. Fits the description perfectly.

Raphael: Aggressive nature? Check. Not afraid to throw the first punch? Check. Kane goes harder than any Jet, and seems to like the bad boy image. Hangs out with Mayweather and Lil Wayne ya know (I guess).

We can't forget about Master Splinter.

Claude Noel is the Jets Splinter. Noel always has a few gems full of wisdom and insight stated simply at his press conferences. Adopted father of these former Thrashers.

- Dan McArthur

Leonardo: Andrew Ladd - Look at this Tuesday's game against Tampa Bay. Look at his stats this season. Leads on the ice. Leads off the ice, in the dressing room and in the community. Loved by all of Winnipeg. Wears blue.

Donatello: Kyle Wellwood - My section had previously dubbed him "The Professor", AKA "The Dad" of the team. Seems like the most likely guy on the team to be into science and technology, and looks the part - has been seen wearing a dapper (suede?) jacket with elbow patches for one of the in-game charity video montages. Also, Donatello is described on Wikipedia as "the least violent turtle, preferring to use his knowledge to solve conflicts". The only check I've seen him throw this season was when he dodged out of the way of someone aiming for a bodycheck on him... into someone else.

Michelangelo: Dustin Byfuglien - Likes fun (See: boating). Likes pizza (See: him).

Raphael: Claude Noel - Have you seen a Noel post-game presser? Dry wit and sarcasm.

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Anderson appears to have re-found his game. The Senators netminder was fully on top of it in his club's 2-0 win over the New Jersey Devils, making 33 saves for his third shutout of the season. Here's his best save:

No. 2 Star: Alex Chiasson, Dallas Stars

The Stars won their fourth straight, 5-2 over the Nashville Predators. The rookie Chiasson led the way with a two-goal performance. He now has 5 goals in 5 NHL games, which is pretty all right. Vernon Fiddler and Ray Whitney also had two-point nights.

No. 3 Star: Cam Atkinson, Columbus Blue Jackets

The tiny forward came up big versus the St. Louis Blues, scoring the Jackets' first goal and adding an assist on their second, the eventual game-winner in a game that ended 4-1. With the win and a Red Wings loss, Columbus moved within a point of the eighth spot.

Honourable mention: Milan Michalek scored in his first game back for the Senators... Goal of the night award goes to Marian Gaborik, who chugged into the Blues zone to tip this Mark Letestu pass out of mid-air:

... Jonathan Toews scored his 20th of the season with three minutes remaining to tie things up between the Detroit Red Wings and the Chicago Blackhawks. Brandon Saad won it for Chicago, 3-2, in a shootout... Mark Giordano scored the overtime winner as the Calgary Flames edged the Phoenix Coyotes, 3-2.

Dishonourable mention: The Devils have now lost 9 straight, and what's worse, Martin Brodeur has been stuck on a devilish 666 career wins for 9 games. Is this a curse? It certainly seems curse-esque... Rough night for Chris Mason, who showed why Pekka Rinne gets all the action in Nashville by allowing 5 goals on 18 shots in a rare start.

• Cool stuff from NHL.com, making Pavel Datsyuk’s end-to-end goal look sorta like NHL ’94. But c’mon, no star under the skates?

• Centering Milan Lucic and Nathan Horton tonight for the Boston Bruins? Ryan Spooner! [Bruins Blog]

• Braden Holtby isn’t happy with the Washington Capitals’ intensity, and hopes Brooks Laich increases it: “The main part, hopefully, it helps our intensity. We haven’t been even close to intense enough this year,” goaltender Braden Holtby said when asked about the impact of Laich’s return. “And a guy like him, he brings it every day and I hope he can be a big leader on this team because right now we need it.” [Washington Post]

• No Evgeni Malkin or Kris Letang against the Capitals tonight for the Pittsburgh Penguins. [CP]

• Rory Boylen on Corey Perry's contract and the Ducks as contenders: "But are they really a top team or are they not quite as they appear? Granted, the Ducks have a fair amount of star power, but it’s all up front with lingering concerns on defense and around consistency in the crease. While the Ducks are a playoff team and a tough squad to deal with, their .727 winning percentage when trailing after one period and .667 percentage when trailing after two screams of a second half decline. And considering they were a bottom-rung lottery team a year ago, you still have to question where they truly sit in the NHL hierarchy." [THN]

• In case you missed it, here’s how Corey Perry’s contract breaks down. [ESPN]

• What does Perry’s contract mean for Evgeni Malkin’s next deal? “At the end of the day, the choice is Malkin’s. When you have a superstar in his prime, he calls the shots on the contract. He did last time when he signed the identical second contract as Crosby did ($8.7 million for five years) and he will hold the cards this time too. Given that Malkin can’t sign the same contract that Crosby can under the new CBA, Malkin definitely deserves to have a higher cap hit, to get his fair share of the money he’s earned.” [Pensburgh]

• The Ottawa Senators will be without Milan Michalek for a while after knee surgery. [Rotowire]

• After a scary scene, Patrick Eaves is only day-to-day for the Detroit Red Wings. [Malik Report]

• Looks like Jonathan Bernier time for the Los Angeles Kings vs. the Phoenix Coyotes. [LA Kings Insider]

• Bourne breaks down a 3-on-2 in his latest Systems Analyst. [Backhand Shelf]

• Andy McDonald is back for the St. Louis Blues. [STL Today]

• Catching up with draft bust Huge Speciman: “I think me getting to Nashville, getting to Milwaukee (AHL) was a great opportunity for me. It didn’t maybe pan out in Nashville, but at the end of the road to the NHL, when I finally got there with Florida, I realized how valuable it was getting out of New York.” [NY Hockey Journal]

• The AHL handed out suspensions for that “Brawl on the Bench” between Chicago and Rockford. [Hockey Fights]

• Ryan Kennedy on the NHL’s next wave of talent. [THN]

• Finally, Ducks fans have been asking if this Joe Thornton “head shot” should get him suspended. Frankly we’re not sure it’s a head shot, but take a gander:

Look, we’re not looking to be mean to the Florida Panthers. We’re just wondering what this “Harlem Shake” would look like without the Leafs fans filling the seats.

Preview: Toronto Maple Leafs at Tampa Bay Lightning, 7:30 p.m. ET. The Leafs are on an historic pace for road success at the moment. From the Sun: “When did they most recently have eight wins in their first 10 road games? You have to go all the way back to 1934-35, when they were 8-1-1 in their initial 10 games away from Toronto.” Ben Scrivens gets the call.

Preview: Winnipeg Jets at Buffalo Sabres, 7 p.m. ET. Thus begins a critical five-game road trip for the Jets. The Sabres are struggling a bit on the power play, to the tune of “2 for 34 in nine games this month.”

Preview: New York Islanders at Ottawa Senators, 7:30 p.m. ET. No Milan Michalek again for the Sens, who is still out with a bum knee. But more importantly … WE HAVE A RICK DIPIETRO SIGHTING!

Preview: San Jose Sharks at St. Louis Blues, 8 p.m. ET. Well, the Blues should be bright eyed and bushy tailed for this game, considering they didn’t get back home from their trip to Vancouver until 6:30 a.m. this morning.

Preview: Montreal Canadiens at New York Rangers, 7 p.m. ET. Brandon Prust faces his former mates. Said Ryan Callahan: “He’s a good player with high energy who takes the body. he was great for us when he was here. He did a lot of things for us and I’ve got nothing but respect for him. It’ll be fun to play against him.”

Preview: Detroit Red Wings at Nashville Predators, 8 p.m. ET. Detroit’s first game against the Preds since Nashville eliminated them from the playoffs last postseason. Jordin Tootoo plays his first game against the Predators, and he’s ready to bring it.

Preview: Vancouver Canucks at Chicago Blackhawks, 8:30 p.m. ET. Read our preview of this one here, as the Blackhawks go for a share of the NHL record for most games without a loss to start the season and the Canucks attempt to spoil it.

Preview: Los Angeles Kings at Edmonton Oilers, 10 p.m. ET. Nikolai Khabibulin gets the start for the Oilers against a Kings team that’s 1-5-2 when scoring two or fewer goals this season.

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.

Bold Prediction: Jordin Tootoo scores the game-winner vs. Nashville.

Intense.

No. 1 Star: John Tavares, New York Islanders

Tavares was the difference in a 5-1 defeat over the New Jersey Devils. Seriously. he had 4 points, and 4 which is the difference between 5 and 1. It's basic math. Tavares took over this game in the second period, scoring 2 of his 3 goals and adding an assist on a Matt Moulson goal. Moulson also had a 4-point night, finding himself in on every Tavares scoring play, as you might expect.

No. 2 Star: Ben Scrivens, Toronto Maple Leafs

Missing Jason Spezza, Milan Michalek, and Erik Karlsson, the Ottawa Senators still put in a valiant effort versus the Leafs, firing 34 shots on Scrivens. But Scrivens wouldn't be beat. He stopped them all for the first NHL shutout of his career in a 3-0 triumph.

No. 3 Star: Steven Stamkos, Tampa Bay Lightning

Benoit Pouliot played the hero, scoring the overtime goal in a 6-5 win over the Florida Panthers, but it was Stamkos that put this game into extra time, scoring a beautiful one-timer to cut the Panthers' lead in half midway through the third, then making this gorgeous, no-look pass to Teddy Purcell for the game-tying goal with 11 seconds remaining in regulation:

Stamkos finished with 2 goals an an assist in the game. Teddy Purcell also had a 3-point night.

Honourable mention: Rookie Brendan Gallagher had a great night for the Montreal Canadiens, with a goal and an assist in a 4-1 win over the Philadelphia Flyers. Pretty move for the goal, too, as he pulls the puck back unexpectedly on Kimmo Timonen then fires it through his legs:

... Martin Hanzal gave the Phoenix Coyotes their final 2 goals in a 5-3 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets. Keith Yandle had 3 assists... Shea Weber scored his 1st of the season for the Nashville Predators in a loss 3-2 shootout loss to the Anaheim Ducks. Viktor Fasth made 32 saves to move to 8-0-0 to start his career (and 4-0 in shotoouts) and Patrick Maroon scored his first NHL goal for the Ducks in the win... In a remarkable comeback win versus the Avalanche, the Edmonton Oilers broke a franchise record for shots in a game with 56. It was set in 1986. Edmonton trailed this game 4-1 at one point. Thanks in no small way to Jordan Eberle and Taylor Hall, who each had 3-point nights, and Ales Hemsky, who scored Saturday's prettiest goal, they won 6-4. Here's Hemsky:

Did you know? Steven Stamkos has scored a goal in 7 straight games versus the Florida Panthers. The last guy to do that was Mario Lemieux.

Dishonourable mention: The Panthers lost their third straight in overtime, after giving up a late, game-tying goal for the second straight game... Colton Orr had 12:51 in Toronto, which would be insanely ridiculous if the Leafs hadn't won. But they did, so it's just regular ridiculous... P.J. Stock's collar looked silly... Andrew Cogliano had his stick snap in half on his shootout attempt in Nashville, which is pretty much the worst... Seriously, Colorado? 56 shots?

Hence, the news out of Ottawa about Jason Spezza is a huge blow to the Senators.

GM Bryan Murray revealed that Spezza’s back surgery for a herniated disc will keep him out a minimum of two months, and maybe longer.

Via TSN:

"I can't give you a time frame (on Spezza's return) simply because until the surgery and rehab starts we won't know the total extent," said Murray.

"We are hoping that he gets back at the later part of the season and if we're in the playoffs (he) will be able to participate at that time."

That’s an 84-point center last season out of the lineup for the Senators, who are averaging 3.43 goals per game. Spezza has five points in five games for a plus-3.

The Ottawa Sun looked at life without Spezza:

The Senators tried to patch the hole up front vs. the Habs by starting centre Kyle Turris with Milan Michalek and Daniel Alfredsson. The players have been in this situation before and know they have to get the job done without Spezza.

"It's a big void out there. (Spezza) plays a lot of minutes for us and he's big on the faceoffs," said Senators winger Chris Neil. "But it's another opportunity for other guys to step up. It makes us more of a four-line team. "We can roll all four lines, and we've got the confidence to put our third or fourth line out against their top two lines and get the job done. It has to be a group effort."

Obviously, it also helps that Craig Anderson has been lights-out.

Something watch: The Ottawa power play, which is seventh in the NHL at 29.2 percent. Spezza had 10 power-play goals and 24 points on the man advantage last season.

In a game against Energie Karlovy Varyon on Sunday, Michalek gave goalie Tomáš Závorka a shove in the back of the head after he covered the puck. That sparked a brief line brawl between the teams while David Zucker (no relation) attempted to avenge his netminder in a mismatched fight. Here's how that played out:

Michalek, wearing No. 69 (it's hilarious) had the size advantage (6-2 to 5-9) and nearly took Zucker's head off with a haymaker. But Zucker ended the brawl with a power slam executed with a Randy Orton-esque velocity. Michalek earned 16 minutes in penalties for the game. KVA defeated CEB, 8-0.

(UPDATE: Good catch by Trevor Mahoney, as it appears around 27 seconds in that Michalek attempts to hit Zucker with his own helmet. Which is awesome.)

Zucker was asked about the fight on the team's official website (translated):

Where you took the courage to stand up to higher Michalek?

I did not want to fight with him. I just wanted to push him away from our goalkeeper. Unnecessarily removed his mask. I tried to remove it so I can not take off the gloves. I did not get a game misconduct penalty. But he removed it and if it is higher, so I had to get under it. I did not get a shot. So I avoided him and pulled him to the ground.

Feisty one around the crease, that Michalek. Please recall his skate-kick on New York Rangers defenseman Dan Girardi during the Stanley Cup Playoffs, for which he received a stern warning from the NHL.

Joshua Cooper of the Tennessean posed a real interesting question on Twitter the other day.

"Is it just Twitter, or is there more anger all the way around this time about this lockout than last lockout?" he wondered.

[Related: Winter Classic expected to be canceled on Thursday, according to report]

That seems like it's something worth exploring. This is, after all, the second lockout in recent memory for the NHL, and the first to take place under the new internet reign of Social Media. Obviously the NFL and NBA went through their own lockouts of varying brevity last year, but the vitriol about them that swirled online was nothing compared to what's constantly being hurled at both the NHL and NHLPA.

The NFL, to its credit, was smart enough to get its issues worked out before anyone missed a single game, and the NBA put a torch to the first month or so of the season.

For comparison, people were mad last time the NHL was locked out, to be sure; but if I recall correctly, everyone was more or less just kind of depressed about it. It sucked that there was no hockey, but everyone kind of accepted that the previous CBA simply wasn't working for anyone. Losing the whole season wasn't ideal, but it was on some level inevitable.

This time, everyone more or less sees that the League and players alike are both doing well; and that, as a consequence, this is a largely avoidable and pointless ego-driven shoving match, and not a work stoppage that carries with it any necessity.

So yes, people are mad. Very mad.

But Twitter makes it seem worse than it probably is.

[Nick Cotsonika: Longtime NHL coach Paul Maurice
starts all over again as 45-year-old rookie in Russia]

(Coming Up: Dan Boyle hates the lockout; Long Island Railroad preps for Brooklyn; Jagr puts fannies in seats; Nikolai Khabibulin's loophole; Tyler Seguin coming back to Boston; Dan Ellis rules the AHL; abuse of KHL officials; Damian Brunner gets the hell beat out of him; Jack Johnson calls out owners; and a trade to get Jeff Skinner to the Leafs.)

People who complain about hockey anywhere are likely to be the absolute diehards, and when you run in those circles online, of course you're going to see more vitriol.

However, there's something else to consider. We get the players' tweets and comments fed into our stream on a pretty regular basis; all of them, especially these last few days, seemingly designed to be as inflammatory as possible. "Can you believe that Gary Bettman would do this to us?" and so forth is a pretty good — and not wholly inaccurate — way to gin up support for the players' cause and get everyone all worked up at the same time.

But there has to, at some point, be a limit to the fury. Now that players are devolving into conspiracy theories about how the owners planned this all along, writing blog posts about how it's dishonorable to carry on doing this to the players who Just Want To Play, and even actively attacking the owners who signed them, you get the feeling that it all has to reach a logical conclusion at some point in the very near future.

[Also: Ryan Suter backtracks on Wild words against his new owner in Minnesota]

Using the lockout as a tactic to get a more beneficial CBA is something I think most people believe the owners pursued, but now we're getting into conjecture that makes Joe Pesci's "turkey shoot" scene in JFK look at least semi-rational, and one wonders if the next round of intentionally inflammatory talk brings up the Umbrella Man's role in all this.

People were always going to be mad about the lockout to begin with, and the NHLPA's goal in all this is to keep that feeling of ill will bubbling right near the surface, though to what end is difficult to tell, since it's pretty obvious Bettman and the owners don't give a rat's ass about what anyone thinks.

So the answer to Cooper's original question is that it's both people are angrier, and now they have a place to vent about it.

Message boards were the way to complain about a lockout seven years ago, but unless you went to them, you didn't see the emotion. Now anyone can tweet at you to express their understandable disgust with the whole situation. The players they love and want desperately to be watching play the game right now poking them with a pointy stick every couple days just makes it worse.

What We Learned

Anaheim Ducks: Mathieu Carle got a two-game suspension from the KHL for abuse of officials. To be fair, though, I've seen the officiating in the KHL and he probably had a point.

Boston Bruins: Don't worry, ladies of Boston, Tyler Seguin is coming back to the city for a week in early November. Apparently his Swiss league team is just taking two weeks off in the middle of the season somehow.

Buffalo Sabres: The Rochester Americans are doing okay offensively. In their first eight games of the season, they've scored 39 goals. Perhaps not surprisingly, they've also taken nine of 10 points in the last five games.

Calgary Flames: Chris Butler on the lockout: "I was talking to one of my buddies the other day, just kind of joking around with him, and I said, 'I dropped out of college to chase my dream of playing in the NHL, and now I'm just a college dropout that doesn't have a job.'"

Carolina Hurricanes: Dan Ellis is killing it in Charlotte. In four games, he has a 1.07 GAA and .967 save percentage. What's Mike Smith up to?

Chicago Blackhawks: That charity game in Chicago ended 16-15 in a shootout, so of course it was Dan Carcillo who netted the winner. Because why, in a game in which Patrick Kane had four goals, wouldn't it be Dan Carcillo?

Colorado Avalanche: Skip to about 1:45 in this video to watch Lake Erie's Bryan Lerg score a really nice shootout goal. Dang.

Columbus Blue Jackets: Vinny Prospal just signed with HC Mountfield of the Czech league, on the same day as Martin Hanzal and Milan Michalek. The team already has Andrew Ference and another Jacket, Radek Martinek, on the roster. Doesn't seem fair.

Dallas Stars: Jaromir Jagr's Czech team, meanwhile, is actually doing well for once. It's had exactly zero winning non-lockout seasons since 1997, but now they're doing great thanks to a top line of Jagr, Jiri Tlusty and Tomas Plekanec. Attendance, as you might imagine, is up 127 percent.

Detroit Red Wings presented by Amway: Here's Wings prospect Damian Brunner getting the absolute hell beat out of him by 39-year-old goaltender Ronnie Rueger.

Edmonton Oilers: Reminder that Nikolai Khabibulin still technically plays for the Oilers and because he's hurt they have to pay him during the lockout. Hilarious. What an awful contract.

Florida Panthers: The Panthers threw a Halloween party for season ticket holders on Saturday, but anyone who showed up dressed as Stanley C. Panther was thrown out immediately.

Los Angeles Kings: Nice feature from the Iowa Hawkeyes about Bob Miller, who graduated from U of I in the 70s. Here's something I didn't know: Dude has a lifetime contract with the team for even after he retires. That's great. He deserves it.

Minnesota Wild: Here's Niklas Backstrom scoring on a penalty shot in that Chicago charity game for some reason:

Montreal Canadiens: Francis Bouillon, Steve Begin and Max Lapierre played ball hockey for charity over the weekend to benefit the nonprofit that gives beginner and novice hockey players cheap equipment rentals for a whole season.

Nashville Predators: Should David Poile be the guy in charge of picking Team USA for the 2014 Olympics? I'm pretty sure Barry Trotz is Canadian so who would he get to coach? This will never work.

New Jersey Devils: Yeah, the Devils won't miss Ilya Kovalchuk if he stays in Russia. "There are spoiled athletes and then there is Ilya Kovalchuk, the $100 million kid who has yet to break the 100-point scoring barrier in a single season for the New Jersey Devils." Hahaha. In the two full seasons in which Kovalchuk has been with the Devils, two players total have scored 100 points. Get a clue.

New York Islanders: The Long Island Railroad is already prepping for upwards of a few thousand extra fans coming into Brooklyn when the Islanders move there. Can't imagine adding one train to the line takes that much work.

New York Rangers: Rookie FA signing Kyle Jean is still killing it for the Connecticut Whale. Four goals and seven points in his first five pro games. Not bad.

Ottawa Senators: Alexei Kaigorodov is still alive?

Philadelphia Flyers: A Flyers prospect getting suspended 10 games for targeting the head of an opponent? I don't believe it.

Phoenix Coyotes: Today is Day No. 80 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 could lose about $2.5 million if the lockout lasts the entire season. Of course, that's way better than the tens of millions they normally lose because they continue to stupidly subsidize the team.

Pittsburgh Penguins: Marc-Andre Fleury says he's starting to think about playing in Europe, but after that playoff performance, who would want him?

San Jose Sharks: Dan Boyle is another guy who says his time in the league is probably running out, and that's why he hates the lockout more than the lost money.

St. Louis Blues: The Blues hired Sergei Zubov to be a consultant, which basically means he'll keep an eye on their European prospects. Mainly Vladimir Tarasenko, one assumes.

Tampa Bay Lightning: Tampa's power play wasn't great last season at just 15.2 percent, but the games in which they did score on the power play, they went 22-12-2. So maybe getting someone to help run it would be awesome and cool for them.

Toronto Maple Leafs: Toronto defense prospect Morgan Rielly is doing a lot to help fight cancer. His efforts have already raised $16,000, which will be donated to a Moose Jaw hospital to fund new equipment for breast cancer patients. What a kid.

Vancouver Canucks: Here's how you know the Dutch league is terrible: Dale Weise had eight points in his first two games there. Dale Weise! That's as many as he had all of last season in the NHL.

Washington Capitals: Braden Holtby was finally healthy over the weekend, for the first time since opening night. He recorded a 35-save shutout in his first game back, which is pretty good.

Winnipeg Jets: The St. John's IceCaps might have the most impressive 50-50 raffle in hockey. Last season it topped $1.3 million in contributions despite the team's rink only seating 6,287. Highest jackpot seen since the team moved there from Manitoba was $23,500.

Play of the Weekend

What disastrous defending from Davos. Jeez.

Gold Star Award

Big ups to Jack Johnson for calling out the owners on the team website. Bet that post doesn't stay up long.

Minus of the Weekend

Seriously, Dale Weise had six points in one game. How is it possible, team playing Dale Weise?

Perfect HFBoards Trade Proposal of the Week

User "Westhotsauce" wants to bring Jeff Skinner home.

To Car: Jake Gardiner + Carter Ashton + Lupul
To Tor: Jeff Skinner + 2013 2nd

Signoff

Stop fussing with my tail! Just make me a wig out of seaweed!

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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Many in the hockey world (including your friends at Puck Daddy) weren't expecting much from the 2011-12 Ottawa Senators. What was expected to be a rebuilding year with a new head coach turned into one of the NHL's best stories. Ottawa finished eighth in the Eastern Conference, tied with the Washington Capitals with 92 points, and came within a victory of eliminating the No. 1 seeded New York Rangers before falling in seven games.

The other highlight of the season was 22-year old defenseman Erik Karlsson's breakthrough season of 19 goals and 78 points, the most by a blueliner since Nicklas Lidstrom in 2005-06, which earned him the Norris Trophy. The day after he became the youngest Norris winner since Dennis Potvin in 1976, Karlsson signed a 7-year, $45.5 million deal.

Aside from Karlsson, the surprising Sens had many other things go right for them. Jason Spezza had his best season since 2007-08; Daniel Alfredsson was rejuvenated (and healthy) and potted 27 goals; Milan Michalek scored a career high 35 goals; and in his first full season in Ottawa, Craig Anderson provided solid goaltending.

So what to expect from the Senators in 2012-13? It all broke right last season on the backs of career best and comeback seasons from their top players, and there were no expectations on the team. Can Alfredsson continue playing like a 25-year old in a soon-to-be 40-year old's body? Is a now matured Spezza for real? Can Anderson and Ben Bishop provide adequate coverage in net?

If the answers to those questions in April are yes, then it'll be another extended season in Ottawa.

"We haven't lost anything. It's all in Coach MacLean's mustache."

Looking to help their defense, the Senators dealt forward Nick Foligno to the Columbus Blue Jackets for Marc Methot. Foligno will get a chance to be a top-6 guy with the Blue Jackets after becoming expendable with a number of up-and-comers fighting for jobs in the Sens' forward group.

Hoping to replace Foligno in the top-6 is Guillaume Latendresse, who after playing just 27 games over the past two seasons due to concussion issues signed a 1-year, $2 million deal. When healthy, he's capable of being a productive contributor, as shown by his scoring 25 goals in 55 games in 2009-10 after being traded to the Wild. It's a risk given his recent health, but on a 1-year deal, it's worth the gamble.

Zenon Konopka and Matt Carkner, two players who bring the grit, were not brought back and signed with Minnesota and the New York Islanders, respectively. Joining Carkner in the "not re-signed" category was Matt Gilroy (UFA) and Filip Kuba, who inked a 2-year, $8 million deal in Florida.

At forward … In 2010-11, the Senators finished 29th in the NHL with 2.32 goals per game. Their highest scorer was Spezza, who potted 21 goals, the only Senators who hit for more than 20. Last season it was a different story. Ottawa improved mightily, finishing fourth overall with 2.92 goals per game and featuring three players with more than 20 goals, including a pair, Michalek and Spezza reaching the 30-goal mark.

Captain Alfredsson decided to come back for another season, possibly his last, and has overcome back issues that negatively affected his game in the past. A rejuvenated Alfie is a good sign for Ottawa's postseason desires. Another veteran Senator, Spezza, is now 29-year old, married and a father of two. He's showing on the ice the form that made him successful early in his career.

While their Big 3 amounted for 96 goals and 203 points, Ottawa's contributions down the lineup were helpful. Disgruntled in Phoenix, Kyle Turris was acquired in December and flourished under head coach Paul MacLean. In 49 games, Turris put up 29 points and should be a key contributor in his first full season with the Senators. Colin Greening (17 goals) and Zack Smith (14 goals) also chipped in offensively.

[Nicholas J. Cotsonika: Collusion question goes to the heart of NHL lockout]

Coming up through the system and potentially able to be a factor in the lineup are 2011 No. 6 overall pick Mika Zibanejad, who after playing in Sweden last season will be in North America for 2011-12; whether it's mostly in Ottawa or Binghamton is still to be decided. Same goes for Jakob Silfverberg, the regular season and playoff MVP in Sweden's Elitserien last season, and Mark Stone, who lit up the WHL with 78 goals and 229 points the past two seasons. Each will get their opportunity to make an impact and stay with the big club.

On defense … The blueline needed to improve, which is why Methot was brought in. The 27-year old fell out of favor in Columbus and will get a fresh start with the Senators. It's unlikely Karlsson matches his 78-point season from a year ago, but another strong year offensively will be needed and expected after his new deal. Sergei Gonchar was improved from 2010-11 and along with Karlsson is the only other returning Senators defenseman who netted more than 19 points.

Overall, the defense was seventh-worst in the NHL with 2.88 goals allowed per game. Chris Phillips isn't getting any younger at 34, but with the emergence of Karlsson and a promising rookie season from Jared Cowen (17 points, 3:08 shorthanded time on-ice, 89 games played, including playoffs), there is hope that ranking will improve in 2012-13.

In goal … When Craig Anderson was given the lion's share of the load in net with Colorado in 2009-10, he regressed the following season and ended up being dealt to the Senators. Last season, Anderson started 60 games and put up strong numbers, helping Ottawa to a playoff berth, like he did for the Avalanche in 2010. Will his stats slide this season? Possibly not if Ben Bishop can live up to expectations as Anderson will be pushed by the 25-year old, who the Senators acquired from St. Louis in February.

Then there's Robin Lehner waiting in the wings. The 21-year old is 35 lbs. lighter and says he's grown up a bit. He'll get extended playing time with Binghamton during the lockout and could get a call up should Anderson or Bishop struggle.

"They said rebuild, rebuild because ya gonna come last / Teams dream they can do it this fast."

Paul MacLean studied under Mike Babcock with the Anaheim Ducks and Detroit Red Wings, earning a Stanley Cup ring in two appearances in the Final. Like Babcock has done with the Ducks and now the Red Wings, MacLean was able to get the Senators to buy into what he was selling, despite the thought around the team being in the middle of a rebuild. MacLean's success earned him a Jack Adams Award nomination in his rookie season.

After a disastrous 2010-11 campaign when the Senators finished 13th in the conference, GM Bryan Murray was on the hot seat, but owner Eugene Melnyk handed him a surprising 3-year extension. So when he was looking for a replacement for the departed Cory Clouston, he wanted a change. He wanted a communicator and that's what he found in MacLean. Murray knew exactly what he was getting when he hired MacLean thanks to a background check he did that included speaking in-depth with Babcock and so far it's paid off. With the team ahead of schedule, Murray will be hoping that last year's success wasn't a fluke and instead is the start of good things to come.

Last season brought hope that the old Jason Spezza is back. If he's healthy, he'll be productive and with a good cast around him, that spells good news.

Turris showed promise last season and played himself into a fresh 5-year, $17.5 million contract. After a lengthy holdout in Phoenix that ended with him playing six games for the Coyotes before being dealt, the focus can now be on his growth in Ottawa. Just 23-years old, there's plenty of room for improvement.

Marc Methot returns to his hometown of Ottawa and was deemed expendable after the emergence of Nikita Nikitin and the drafting of Ryan Murray. He has three more years at $3 million per season still left on his contract and not known for his offensive abilities, Methot will have to stay healthy if he's to help improve the Senators' backend.

[FEMALE NARRATOR]

Paul Maclean's moustache is a menace. It's suspicious. Look at it, so unruly, so bushy. Has he ever been seen without it? When was the last time anyone saw his upper lip?

What's under there? What's he hiding? Chemical warfare? Weapons of mass destruction?

Has Paul Maclean ever gone on record as saying there aren't weapons of mass destruction under his moustache?

Why did Paul Maclean take the job in Ottawa? To coach the Senators? Or to get close to Parliament Hill? We will not let you endanger this nation's leaders, Paul. Not on our watch.

Paid for by the Bearded Men's Lobby.

There's enough promise up and down the Ottawa lineup to believe they can make a return trip to the postseason. If the offensive leaders in Alfredsson, Michalek and Spezza don't take big steps back and the defense improves slightly, the Senators will find their way into the Eastern Conference's top-8 again. Anderson will once again need to play at a consistent level, with Bishop (or Lehner) providing reliable spot duty. If the youngsters like Zibanejad, Silfverberg and/or Stone are able to help make an impact offensively, there won't be any questions about whether or not this team will be playoff-bound.

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On Tuesday, we revealed the top forwards, defensemen and goaltenders in EA Sports' NHL 13, releasing next month. EA also announced on Tuesday during the Gamescom event that the demo will come out for XBOX 360 and PS3 users on Aug. 21 and for European PS3 gamers on Aug. 22. The demo will feature four modes:

• Play Now featuring the New Jersey Devils and Los Angeles Kings.

• NHL Moments Live where users can replay Game 5 of the Western Conference Final between the Kings and Phoenix Coyotes.

• Hockey Ultimate Team, the fantasy team maker.

• Free Skate where you'll be able to test out the new skating engine and moves.

Today, we're unveiling player and team ratings for the Eastern Conference. Western Conference teams will be revealed on Friday. All rosters reflect deals since July 1 and major transactions only. Ratings after the jump.

Here's EA's explanation for the new team overalls:

"We changed the team overalls for continuity. If you look at our 'potential' rating system and how we break down the each of the six skill ratings, it is all star based and we wanted to be consistent."

Listed below are the team names (Click the team name for player rating graphic), the rating of that team in three categories and a few of their top rated players.

Boston Bruins (Offense: 4, Defense: 4.5, Goalies: 4.5): Zdeno Chara (91), Patrice Bergeron (86), Nathan Horton/David Krejci (85)

Buffalo Sabres (Offense: 3.5, Defense: 4.5, Goalies: 4.5): Ryan Miller (92), Tyler Myers (87), Jason Pominville (85)

Carolina Hurricanes (Offense: 4, Defense: 4, Goalies: 4.5): Cam Ward (88), Eric Staal (87), Jordan Staal (85), Jeff Skinner (84)

Florida Panthers (Offense: 3.5 Defense: 3.5 Goalies: 3.5): Kris Versteeg/Tomas Fleischmann/Brian Campbell/Dmitry Kulikov/Stephen Weiss (83)

Montreal Canadiens (Offense: 4, Defense: 4.5, Goalies: 4.5): Carey Price (90), Andrei Markov/Tomas Plekanec (86), Erik Cole/P.K. Subban (85)

New Jersey Devils (Offense: 3.5, Defense: 4, Goalies: 4): Ilya Kovalchuk (90), Traviz Zajac/Adam Larsson (84), Henrik Tallinder (83), Patrik Elias/Anton Volchenkov/Martin Brodeur (82)

New York Islanders (Offense: 3.5, Defense: 3.5, Goalies: 3.5): John Tavares (85), Matt Moulson/Mark Streit/Lubomir Visnovsky (82)

New York Rangers (Offense: 4, Defense: 4.5, Goalies: 4.5): Henrik Lundqvist (91), Marian Gaborik (89), Rick Nash/Brad Richards (87)

Ottawa Senators (Offense: 4, Defense: 4, Goalies: 4): Jason Spezza (87), Erik Karlsson (86), Daniel Alfredsson/Milan Michalek/Chris Phillips (84)

Philadelphia Flyers (Offense: 4, Defense: 4.5, Goalies: 4.5): Claude Giroux (90), Ilya Bryzgalov (86), Chris Pronger/Braydon Coburn (85)

Pittsburgh Penguins (Offense: 4, Defense: 4.5, Goalies: 4.5): Sidney Crosby (95), Evgeni Malkin (91), Kris Letang (90), Marc-Andre Fleury/Tomas Vokoun (87)

Tampa Bay Lightning (Offense: 3.5, Defense: 4.5, Goalies: 3.5): Steven Stamkos (91), Martin St. Louis (87), Vincent Lecavalier/Matt Carle (86)

Toronto Maple Leafs (Offense: 4, Defense: 4.5, Goalies: 3.5): Dion Phaneuf (88), Phil Kessel (86), Joffrey Lupul (84),

Washington Capitals (Offense: 4, Defense: 4.5, Goalies: 3.5): Alex Ovechkin (93), Nicklas Backstrom/Mike Green (85)

Winnipeg Jets (Offense: 4, Defense: 4.5, Goalies: 4.5): Dustin Byfuglien (87), Zach Bogosian/Evander Kane (84)

Coming up on Friday, your player and teams ratings for the Western Conference.

Follow Sean Leahy on Twitter at @Sean_Leahy

One fan decided to advertise his displeasure with a sign for Game 7 at Madison Square Garden on Thursday night, telling Shanahan (a former Ranger) that he sucks. And look who he bumped into …

As the photograph shows, Brendan Shanahan approached the fan holding the sign from the left side while the two were near an NHL Store in Manhattan. This in violation of Fan Poster Trolling Rule 46.1 which states: "Signs that indicate public officials suck should not be displayed within a reasonable distance of said official unless behind a metal fence or on a large crowd" … the Dept. of Player safety sentences this fan to an awkward meeting and potential Internet infamy.

Seriously, though, how great is this?

s/t HF Boards, via @wKETCH22

Via the New York Daily News, here's raw footage of the kick, which wasn't covered by either NBC or CBC during the Monday night broadcast:

Pat Leonard of the Daily News notes the precedent for a skate-kick in the NHL:

The precedent set for supplemental discipline of this infraction is a two-game suspension. Last season, on April 15, 2011, former NHL disciplinary czar Colin Campbell suspended Ducks forward Bobby Ryan for two games after he stomped on the foot of Predators defenseman Jonathan Blum. Then one month ago, Campbell's replacement - senior VP of player safety Brendan Shanahan - upheld Campbell's precedent by suspending Hurricanes forward Jeff Skinner for two games for kicking Blues forward Scott Nichol on March 15.

As we noted Tuesday morning, there's a significant difference between those two acts and Michalek's: Ryan stomped on Blum on the end boards after a puck battle; Skinner mule-kicked Nichol on the boards after a hard check. Michalek, by comparison, was under the linesman, Ryan Callahan and Dan Girardi in the Rangers' crease. So the NHL gave him leeway. (Please note that Girardi was uninjured on the play.)

This decision won't sit well with Rangers fans who already feel that the supplemental discipline in this series — one game for Matt Carkner, none for Chris Neil and three for Carl Hagelin — has been unbalanced.

For Senators fans … well, be happy this happened in Game 6. Because if it didn't mean taking out a top line player for Game 7, we're betting Michalek gets the gate. (Check out John Fontana's post on Raw Charge about weighting the importance of playoff games in the discipline process.)

Check out the 13-second mark of this video. Watch Rangers defenseman Dan Girardi's lower body jolt. That's Milan Michalek of the Senators putting a skate into this thigh:

The NHL is looking at the play, but hadn't scheduled any formal hearing as of noon on Tuesday. There is better footage from an overhead camera at the arena that didn't air on CBC or NBC on Monday night; whether it's conclusive is another matter.

From Bruce Garrioch of the Sun:

Sources confirmed to the Sun Tuesday morning Shanahan has acquired the CBC footage of the play. If Girardi's claim is verified, Michalek could face a fine or suspension before Game 7 of the series on Thursday in New York.

Michalek doesn't have any past history of bad behaviour with the league, but a source said Girardi was complaining after the game his pant leg was cut because of the incident. If Shanahan considers the incident serious enough for a possible suspension, a hearing would have to be held before puck drop Thursday night at MSG.

The incident is garnering comparisons to this one from the regular season, in which Carolina Hurricanes star Jeff Skinner was suspended for two games for using his skate to push off against Scott Nichol while flat on the ice:

The one enormous difference between the two: Michalek is in the bottom of a pile, having already been face-washed by Ryan Callahan on the way down. Skinner was reacting to a hit along the boards.

As anyone that's played tackle football can attest: Your body can go into flailing survival mode when you've been sandwiched by other players. The question is whether Michalek can be taken out of a Game 7 for reacting the way he did given the circumstances.

Hagelin's back for the Rangers in Game 6, having served his three-game suspension.

And so is Alfredsson.

The Ottawa star revealed after the morning skate on Monday that he's back in the lineup for the Senators, confirming the speculation that started building when the teams arrived back in town for Game 6.

He was "hopeful" and "encouraged" after Sunday's practice; and now, he's in, likely skating with the second line while Jason Spezza and Milan Michalek roll on the first.

The Rangers are facing an uphill climb here. Craig Anderson looks like the impenetrable playoff performer he was for the Avalanche two years ago. Jason Spezza found his offense. The power play (13.6 percent) can't seem to get that key goal at a key time for Henrik Lundqvist. Brian Boyle, one of the few Rangers making an offensive impact, is likely out for Game 6.

Now, on top of it all, Alfredsson returns in front of a home crowd that chanted his name in absence during the previous games in Ottawa.

It's a storybook moment for a first-round series that starting to look like a hockey fable being penned by the pesky Senators — and their star player who still has one more chapter to write:

Weeeeeeeee!

No. 1 Star: Cory Schneider, Vancouver Canucks

While the return of Daniel Sedin sparked the Canucks' offense, it was Schneider's 43-save performance that helped Vancouver avoid elimination and defeat the Los Angeles Kings, 3-1. He made 18 saves in the second period, as the Canucks answered an Anze Kopitar goal with tallies by Alex Edler and Kevin Bieksa. This save on a Dustin Brown penalty shot was one of the game's key moments:

No. 2 Star: Kyle Turris, Ottawa Senators

The Sens rallied from a 2-0 deficit to take the New York Rangers to overtime. Just 2:42 into the extra session, Kyle Turris scored his first of the playoffs to give Ottawa a 3-2 win and a 2-2 series tie — and a nasty snipe it was against Henrik Lundqvist.

No. 3 Star: Jordan Staal, Pittsburgh Penguins

In yet another insanely unpredictable game between the Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers, Staal's hat trick helped Pittsburgh avoid elimination and win in a rout, 10-3. He broke a 3-3 tie with a goal late in the first period, 1:10 after Sidney Crosby knotted it. He completed the trick with two goals in the second.

Honorable mention: Sidney Crosby (1G, 2A), Evgeni Malkin (2G, 1A) and Steve Sullivan (1G, 2A) had three-point games. In total, 13 Penguins had points in the win. … Marc-Andre Fleury gave up three goals on 11 shots in the first, but played well the rest of the way. … Claude Giroux had a goal and an assist for the Flyers. … Anton Stralman and Ryan Callahan scored power-play goals for the Rangers. … Milan Michalek and Sergei Gonchar scored for the Senators. … Craig Anderson made 31 saves.

Conn Smythe Watch: 1. Jonathan Quick, Los Angeles Kings; 2. Claude Giroux, Philadelphia Flyers; 3. Pekka Rinne, Nashville Predators; 4. Henrik Lundqvist, New York Rangers; 5. Tim Thomas, Boston Bruins; 6. Dustin Brown, Los Angeles Kings; 7. Danny Briere, Philadelphia Flyers; 8. Mike Smith, Phoenix Coyotes; 9. Jordan Staal, Pittsburgh Penguins; 10. Andy McDonald, St. Louis Blues.

Dishonorable mention: Zac Rinaldo was given a game misconduct after cross-checking Zbynek Michalek. … Brayden Schenn and Danny Briere were minus-4. … Both Ilya Byrzgalov and Sergei Bobrovsky gave up five goals on 18 shots, but Bryz was especially bad early in the game. … Henrik Sedin elbowed Dustin Brown to the head. … Finally, Nicklas Grossman was injured in this collision with Evgeni Malkin; should it lead to any supplemental discipline?

It seemed destined that the Ottawa Senators would end up facing the Boston Bruins in the first round, but the end of the NHL's regular season can provide surprises -- such as this No. 1 vs. No. 8 series that some believe is closer than it appears.

The New York Rangers dominated the Eastern Conference  for majority of the 2011-12 season. The Pittsburgh Penguins nipped at their heels near the end, but New York has been quite comfortable atop the standings. They fell short of winning the Presidents' Trophy, but really, there's only one piece of silverware that teams at this time of year worry about.

Before the season, to even suggest that Ottawa would make playoffs would get you laughed at. Everyone, us included, didn't expect competitive hockey out of Canada's capital, but then Erik Karlsson blossomed into a Norris Trophy contender; Jason Spezza and Milan Michalek returned to old forms; and captain Daniel Alfredsson was re-born, healthy and playing at a level that has many believing the 39-year-old will delay retirement for another year.

The Senators have come this far already. Can they make a little noise in the East?

Here's the breakdown of the Rangers and Senators, complete with Zombified observations …

New York Rangers (1) vs. Ottawa Senators (8)

April 12: Ottawa at New York, 7 p.m. ET.
April 14: Ottawa at New York, 7 p.m. ET.
April 16: New York at Ottawa, 7:30 p.m. ET.
April 18: New York at Ottawa, 7:30 p.m. ET.
April 21: Ottawa at New York, 7 p.m. ET.*
April 23: New York at Ottawa TBD*
April 26: Ottawa at New York TBD*

*If necessary.

The Rangers needed scoring depth heading into this season and they added it in bringing on Brad Richards (25 goals) and Carl Hagelin (14 goals). Richards' presence helped Marian Gaborik (41 goals) find his scoring touch again.

Captain Ryan Callahan put up career numbers in goals (29) and points (54) and led all Rangers forwards in blocked shots (88) and hits (271). He's not afraid to sacrifice his body and this season managed to stay healthy doing so. Derek Stepan had a solid sophomore season after a strong rookie year. He'll be key in helping to create offense on the second line.

Brian Boyle and Brandon Dubinsky took big dips offensively, while Ruslan Fedotenko and Artem Anisimov took small steps back from a year ago. Their contributions will be focal points in helping the Rangers' secondary scoring get going.

Ottawa ended up as the NHL's fourth-ranked offense averaging 2.96 goals per game. Jason Spezza (34) and Milan Michalek (35) each hit the 30-goal mark, while six others also hit double digits. The 28-year-old Spezza has matured and found his game again, and it's one of the reasons for the Senators' success.

Alfredsson is a similar case. No longer the 40-goal, 80-point man he once was, Alfredsson refined his game, stayed healthy and was productive enough (27 goals, 59 points) to not only be the team's leader, but also a valuable contributor.

Colin Greening (17 goals) and Zack Smith (14 goals) both enjoyed breakout seasons and provided the needed secondary scoring that helped boost the Ottawa offense. Nick Foligno produced a career high 47 points, but also continued to bring grit along with Chris Neil.

When Kyle Turris was acquired from Phoenix in December, it signaled a new start for him and plenty of opportunity. He took advantage of the chance and popped in 12 goals and 29 points playing the most minutes (17:21 with Ottawa) in his young career.

ADVANTAGE: EVEN

Only two other teams (St. Louis and Los Angeles) were better defensively than the Rangers this season. Allowing 2.22 goals per game, New York was led by Dan Girardi and Ryan McDonagh who both play the tough minutes and only blue liners on the Rangers to average more than 24 minutes a game. The Rangers don't get much offense from their blue line, which was led by Michael Del Zotto's 10 goals and 41 points. He'll be their anchor on the power play after leading all NHL defensemen with 4:11 of ice per game with the man advantage.

Behind them is Marc Staal who played 46 games after returning from a concussion and can be looked at at in midseason form right now. Anton Stralman rounds out the defensemen who produced more than nine points. He'll be partnered with Staal on the second pairing.

When talking about the Senators' defense, you have to begin with Karlsson. The 21-year-old took a step back in his sophomore year, but then a major step forward this season recording 19 goals and 78 points. He'll likely end up on a lot of Norris Trophy ballots, some might even have him as the winner. He's the key cog on the power play as well.

Sergei Gonchar and Filip Kupa will be relied upon to provide most of the remaining offense from the back, unless Chris Phillips decides to go on another goal scoring spree like he did in February.

Keeping the puck of their net will be the issue for Ottawa. Their plus-9 goal differential was 14th in the NHL and while they haven't had an issue scoring from the blue line, they've had to dig pucks out of their own net far too often.

ADVANTAGE: RANGERS

When the Zombie Apocalypse happens, Artem Anisimov will be the Rangers' survivor because of his advanced skills in the art of using the hockey stick gun.

When the Zombie Apocalypse happens, every Senator will survive because they'll just hide in Paul MacLean's mustache.

Henrik Lundqvist could finally be in line for some individual hardware come June as he'll likely be up for the Vezina Trophy and potentially the Hart Trophy. After the best season of his career (39 wins, 1.97 GAA, .930 save-percentage), Lundqvist now needs his success to continue over into the playoffs.

Ottawa gives up a lot of shots, but Craig Anderson has done a good job keeping enough out of the net to help deliver the Senators success. Despite a hand injury in February, Anderson took on the bulk of work playing 63 games. He can be streak at times. Anderson won at least four games in a row five different times this season. Ottawa is hoping his next streak begins Thursday night.

ADVANTAGE: RANGERS

The Rangers are the zombies always feel really pissed off about being zombies and having to do zombie things and then they end up cursing out Larry Brooks before eating him.

The Senators are the zombie everyone assumed would be chained in the basement ... until they learned how to open doors.

John Tortorella knows what it takes to win a Stanley Cup. So does Brad Richards, who he coached in Tampa when the Lightning were champions in 2004. His brash, abrasive style hasn't worn thin on the Rangers just yet and so far he's found that fine line of tough love to help guide New York to their best season since 1994, the last time they won the Cup.

Paul MacLean comes from the coaching tree of Mike Babcock and in his first year exceeded all expectations. A likely nominee for the Jack Adams Awards, MacLean has found the right times to push his players to help get the most out of them.

ADVANTAGE: EVEN

Adding Brad Richards to the power play didn't provide the success many had hoped. New York's power play finished 23rd in the league with a 15.7 percent success rate. Callahan (13) and Gaborik (10) led the way in goals, but the unit was far too inconsistent at times for a team that sports that amount of talent.

Ottawa's power play unit found the back of the net 18.2 percent of the time, good enough for 11th in the NHL. Spezza and Michalek each scored 10 times while 12 others chipped in at least once with the extra man. The Senators were susceptible up a man allowing seven shorthanded goals.

Down a man, the Rangers were ranked fifth in the league killing 86.2 percent of power plays. Defensive stalwarts Giradi, McDonagh and Callahan helped contain opposing power play units. New York also scored eight times short-handed.

Like the Rangers, the penalty kill for Ottawa was opposite of their power play. Killing 81.6 percent of power plays, the Senators' kill was 20th overall. More bad news is that Craig Anderson power play save-percentage was .885.

ADVANTAGE: RANGERS

In order to defeat the Rangers, Ottawa must remind themselves how they took three of four games against New York and outscored them 14-8. It may be a No. 1 vs No. 8 matchup on paper, but the Senators know that the Rangers are a team they can beat.

In order to defeat the Senators, New York must take smart shots. Anderson has seen plenty of rubber (seventh most shots against), but managed to earn wins. The Rangers have the snipers to keep Anderson busy, but they also must make him work for his saves.

Rangers in 5. The Rangers' defense and Lundqvist will smother Ottawa's offense and cause them to continue turning over the puck like they did during the regular season. Given a series where games are played just about every other day, it won't take long for the Rangers to have a book on Anderson and figure out a way to beat him early and often.

Now that we know all 16 participants, here are the final odds for each team before the puck drops:

From Bovada:

Pittsburgh Penguins 4/1
New York Rangers 11/2
Vancouver Canucks 11/2
St. Louis Blues 15/2
Boston Bruins 8/1
Detroit Red Wings 12/1
Nashville Predators 14/1
Philadelphia Flyers 14/1
Chicago Blackhawks 16/1
San Jose Sharks 18/1
Los Angeles Kings 20/1
New Jersey Devils 25/1
Washington Capitals 30/1
Florida Panthers 35/1
Ottawa Senators 40/1
Phoenix Coyotes 40/1

You know, throwing $100 on the Coyotes at 40/1 and hoping Mike Smith stays hot isn't such a bad idea.

After the jump, Conn Smythe Trophy odds and those wacky prop bets.

Moving on, here are the favorite for the MVP of the playoffs:

Evgeni Malkin (PIT) 11/1
Sidney Crosby (PIT) 11/1
Daniel Sedin (VAN) 16/1
Henrik Lundqvist (NYR) 16/1
Henrik Sedin (VAN) 16/1
Roberto Luongo (VAN) 20/1
Tim Thomas (BOS) 22/1
Brian Elliott (STL) 25/1
Marian Gaborik (NYR) 25/1
Pekka Rinne (NAS) 25/1
Brad Richards (NYR) 30/1
Claude Giroux (PHI) 30/1
Jaroslav Halak (STL) 30/1
Marc-Andre Fleury (PIT) 30/1
Pavel Datsyuk (DET) 30/1
David Perron (STL) 35/1
James Neal (PIT) 35/1
Jimmy Howard (DET) 35/1
Alexander Radulov (NAS) 40/1
David Backes (STL) 40/1
Henrik Zetterberg (DET) 40/1
Ilya Bryzgalov (PHI) 40/1
Jonathan Toews (CHI) 40/1
Ryan Kesler (VAN) 40/1
Alex Ovechkin (WAS) 45/1
Anze Kopitar (LA) 45/1
David Krejci (BOS) 45/1
Ilya Kovalchuk (NJ) 45/1
Joe Thornton (SJ) 45/1
Milan Lucic (BOS) 45/1
Patrice Bergeron (BOS) 45/1
Antti Niemi (SJ) 50/1
Jonathan Quick (LA) 50/1
Kris Versteeg (FLA) 50/1
Marian Hossa (CHI) 50/1
Martin Brodeur (NJ) 50/1
Martin Erat (NAS) 50/1
Mike Smith (PHO) 50/1
Patrick Kane (CHI) 50/1
Ryan Callahan (NYR) 50/1
Jaromir Jagr (PHI) 60/1
Jason Spezza (OTT) 60/1
Nicklas Backstrom (WAS) 60/1
Ray Whitney (PHO) 60/1
Scott Hartnell (PHI) 60/1
Tyler Seguin (BOS) 60/1
Patrick Marleau (SJ) 65/1
Stephen Weiss (FLA) 65/1
Tomas Fleischmann (FLA) 65/1
Zach Parise (NJ) 65/1
Andrei Kostitsyn (NAS) 75/1
Jeff Carter (LA) 75/1
Logan Couture (SJ) 75/1
Mike Richards (LA) 75/1
Patrick Sharp (CHI) 75/1
Patrik Elias (NJ) 75/1
T.J. Oshie (STL) 75/1
Valtteri Filppula (DET) 75/1
Daniel Alfredsson (OTT) 80/1
Shane Doan (PHO) 80/1
Alexander Semin (WAS) 85/1
Braden Holtby (WAS) 100/1
Erik Karlsson (OTT) 100/1
Milan Michalek (OTT) 100/1
Radim Vrbata (PHO) 100/1

Some good value to be found there including the likes of Marc-Andre Fleury, Pekka Rinne, David Backes, and Jonathan Quick.

Now comes the fun part with the various prop bets:

How many points will be scored by the point scoring leader in the 2011 NHL Playoffs?

Over/Under: 29.5

Will Sidney Crosby miss a games in the 2012 NHL Playoffs?

YES +150, NO -200

Who will start more games in the 2012 NHL playoffs?

Roberto Luongo -800
Cory Schneider  +500

How many times will Roberto Luongo get pulled from a game during the 2012 NHL Playoffs?

Over/Under: 1

How many games will the Stanley Cup winning team play in the 2011 NHL playoffs?

Over/Under: 23.5

How many games will go to overtime in the 2011 NHL Playoffs?

Over/Under: 17.5

There were 22 games that went into overtime during the 2011 playoffs. Let's hope we hit the over on that prop.

Check out Bovada for more.

Follow Sean Leahy on Twitter at @Sean_Leahy

Now without further ado, here are my thoughts on the Eastern Conference, with a fantasy slant.

New York Rangers (1)

The obvious: Marian Gaborik, Brad Richards, Ryan Callahan, Derek Stepan and Michael Del Zotto.

Dark horses: Brandon Dubinsky had eight points in his last 11 games. He may not be a potential 65-point player, but he's certainly not the 34-point guy who showed up this season, tying the likes of Shawn Horcoff in scoring. He could very well be that player who posts 15 points in 18 playoff games. ... Brian Boyle ended the season with seven points in nine games and he boasts the big body that teams will often use in the postseason to plant in front of the net on the power play (see Byfuglien, Dustin).

Could let you down: Carl Hagelin is a speedy rookie who shows a lot of promise. He made a big splash this campaign, posting 38 points in 64 games while posting a eye-popping plus-21. But he is a rookie, and Torts loves to lean on his vets. He also has just one point in his last 10 games… Dan Girardi, the team's minute muncher, has just three points in 32 career playoff games.

Keep in mind: Del Zotto still shows his inexperience by suffering through cold spells. He finished the season pointless in his last four, and went a stretch in January pointless in eight. On the flip side, that means he got his production this year during some pretty impressive hot runs. ... Richards' reputation as a playoff warrior is well-founded. He has 57 points in his last 52 playoff games. ... Gaborik has just seven points in his last 16 playoff contests.

Boston Bruins (2)

The obvious: Tyler Seguin, Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci, Milan Lucic, Brad Marchand, Zdeno Chara.

Dark horses: Rich Peverley was better and better as the postseason wore on last year. He carried that on into this season and were it not for injuries he would have posted career highs. If you like Boston, Peverley is almost as good as the players listed above… Benoit Pouliot has shown a lot of improvement throughout the season. Granted, as the fourth overall pick in 2005 this was expected of him five years ago, but better late than never. He has 30 points in his last 58 games and shown great chemistry with Brian Rolston to give the Bruins a third scoring line down the stretch… Speaking of Rolston, he has 14 points in his last 12 games.

Could let you down: In terms of offense, the numbers weren't there for Lucic last year. He had just 12 points in 25 playoff games after posting 18 points in the prior 23. He was used in a role where offense wasn't his prime directive, and judging by the latest Stanley Cup engraving, Coach Claude Julien will probably use him in the same manner this time around, too. So while the PIM will be high, the points may be low.

Keep in mind: Nathan Horton (mild concussion) is still not skating and may not get into any playoff action at all, even if Boston goes all the way…Krejci led all players in postseason scoring last year with 23 points…In each of his last two postseasons, Chris Kelly's points-per-game average was higher than it was during the preceding regular season.

Florida Panthers (3)

The obvious: Tomas Fleischmann, Stephen Weiss, Kris Versteeg, Brian Campbell

Dark horses: Mikael Samuelsson has a fantastic history in the postseason, last year aside. He had 49 points in 75 games from 2007 to 2010. He finished this campaign with 10 points in his last 13 games…Marcel Goc had 25 points in the last 40 games. He's actually outscored Versteeg in that span — Versteeg had 21 points. … Don't forget that Sean Bergenheim scored nine times for Tampa last year in 16 playoff games.

Could let you down: Tomas Kopecky has just seven points in 30 career postseason games…With one point in his last 11 games, Wojtek Wolski has disappeared. Then again, he was removed from the big line once Versteeg returned, and sticking him on a checking line is like putting Jay Rosehill on the power play. But it is what it is…

Keep in mind: In the last seven seasons, Jason Garrison has participated in exactly seven playoff games. That's all levels going back to junior. … Shawn Matthias was a healthy scratch twice down the stretch. He was pointless in his last 15.

Pittsburgh Penguins (4)

The obvious: Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, James Neal, Kris Letang, Pascal Dupuis, Jordan Staal, Steve Sullivan and Chris Kunitz.

Dark horses: As the NHL's leading team in terms of offense despite Crosby missing three-quarters of the season, Pittsburgh has no shortage of options here. By the time your third round is complete, the bones of this roster will be picked clean. You'll be looking at the bottom of the stats sheet and wondering if Ben Lovejoy can reach back to his glory days as a seven-year-old in minor midget. … Actually, if you want a dark horse, look at Paul Martin. As long as Kris Letang is healthy, Martin isn't going to do much. So what you'll be doing is hedging on Letang's health. If Letang gets hurt, Martin is your man. Martin had 11 points in 20 games without Letang around, but just 16 in 53 with him. …Tyler Kennedy has 11 points in his last 14 games and is seeing a lot of time with Crosby.

Could let you down: Sullivan has been decent for the Penguins in the role that he's been given. And historically, his regular season numbers have been tremendous. But the playoffs? Not so much. Just 17 points in 44 career playoff games. … Staal gets pushed even further into a defensive role come playoff time, which makes sense considering he is their best option for that. But the result has been just 27 points in 67 career playoff games…

Keep in mind: Dupuis is riding a 17-game points streak. Yes, I said "Dupuis". … After beginning the campaign with just 30 penalty minutes in 73 games, Matt Cooke picked up 14 in his last nine. He was also pointless in his last five games, so perhaps he's re-turning over that leaf. … Neal missed the last two games with a lower body injury, but is apparently ready to go…

Philadelphia Flyers (5)

The obvious: Claude Giroux, Scott Hartnell, Jaromir Jagr, Wayne Simmonds, Jakub Voracek, Daniel Briere, Matt Read, Kimmo Timonen.

Dark horses: James van Riemsdyk is out with a foot injury, but could be back by Game 5 or so. He had seven points in 11 postseason games last year so if you like the Flyers to go deep he's a solid scoop in a late round. … Matt Read's six game winners and two shorthanded markers each tie him for the team lead. He's used in all situations, which is often "gold" when it comes to playoff performance.

Could let you down: This is the one team where I looked through the playoff history of every player and could find zero dirt. I feel like TMZ after checking out Wayne Gretzky. Squeaky clean. There will be one or two players on this roster who will let you down, especially if they're put out first round. But I'll be damned if I can give you a name.

Keep in mind: Briere missed the last three games with a back contusion, but was back in practice Monday. Still questionable for Game 1. But he's been a stud in the playoffs for Philly…Speaking of playoff studs — Claude Giroux has either led this team in playoff scoring, or has been Top 2, since joining the league. And that includes years in which he was a third-line rookie or sophomore. … The last time we saw Jagr in an NHL postseason, he tallied 15 points in 10 games for the Rangers. … Chris Pronger is out for the year (or longer) with a serious concussion, in the off chance that you're really behind on your hockey. Hey — how many times have you lost a playoff pool to that bubbly admin assistant who picked players based on names she knew? Well, that tidbit was for her.

New Jersey Devils (6)

The obvious: Ilya Kovalchuk, Patrik Elias, Zach Parise, Adam Henrique and David Clarkson.

Dark horses: By no stretch of the imagination do I consider Travis Zajac a sure thing. Since returning for the second time from his injured Achilles, he has three points in seven games. That being said, he is playing with Kovalchuk and Parise. … Marek Zidlicky is often logging over 25 minutes per game. Although he has just eight points in 22 games with the Devils, these minute-munching power-play quarterbacks are often the players who really surge production-wise.

Could let you down: Henrique has just 10 points in his last 23 games. He's been playing with Steve Bernier and Alexei Ponikarovsky. With all due respect to Ponikarovsky's success in New Jersey, this is a mighty big downgrade from Kovalchuk and Parise. … Speaking of Poni, although he has performed well with this team, his playoff track record is spotty at best. Dismal showings with Toronto, Pittsburgh and Los Angeles — why should New Jersey be different? … Petr Sykora has 10 points in his last 31 playoff games — including a sweet gig on Sidney Crosby's line — after starting his NHL career with 59 in 84…

Keep in mind: Since the lockout, Elias has 39 points in 36 playoff contests. … In three postseason appearances with the Devils, Dainius Zubrus managed just one point in each of them. … Adam Larsson was a healthy scratch in five of the last six games and is probably not going to be in the playoff mix.

Washington Capitals (7)

The obvious: Alex Ovechkin, Alexander Semin, Marcus Johansson, Dennis Wideman, Nicklas Backstrom and Brooks Laich.

Dark horses: In the 38 games that he has played since he was last made a healthy scratch, Mathieu Perreault tallied 23 points. He's a boom or bust pick. ... Joel Ward was outstanding for the Predators last season, posting 13 points in 12 games. That display is what earned him this contract with Washington in the first place. This is his "go" time. … Keith Aucoin dressed for the last 17 games and tallied nine points in them. He has 82 points in 83 career AHL playoff games.

Could let you down: Backstrom had a slow start, understandably so, upon returning from a concussion. He posted just two points in four games. And last year he managed just two assists in nine playoff games. … Wideman had just eight points in his last 28 games.

Keep in mind: Take away the one horrible playoff that Semin had (when he was Jaroslav Halak'ed), and he has actually been a pretty good postseason producer, notching 28 points in 30 games. ... Troy Brouwer's point totals have declined in each of his last three seasons (40, 36, 33) even though his games played have increased (78, 79, 82). He also has just 10 points in 43 career playoff games. In other words, take him in the first round.

Ottawa Senators (8)

The obvious: Jason Spezza, Erik Karlsson, Daniel Alfredsson, Milan Michalek, Nick Foligno

Dark horses: Kyle Turris may only have 29 points on the season, but he got those points in 49 games with Ottawa. He also tallied nine points in his last seven games and often plays with Daniel Alfredsson. … Foligno doesn't have an impressive playoff resume yet (two points in 10 games), but he plays playoff-style hockey and will finally get into the postseason as a key part of the team, rather than in a depth role.

Could let you down: Colin Greening's 37 points put him sixth on the team in scoring. But last year, in the AHL, he managed just five points in 23 games for Binghamton.

Keep in mind: I doubt that Bobby Butler gets into the lineup, but a couple of injuries and you just never know. He did have one four game stretch in February where he really clicked with Spezza, picking up six points. … Sergei Gonchar has 40 points in his last 55 playoff games. That's almost enough to make you forget that he only got five points in his last 19 contests.

No. 1 Star: Kyle Turris, Ottawa Senators

Turris had his best game as a member of the Senators Sunday, registering 4 points in a 5-1 win over the half-hearted New York Islanders. With the victory, the Senators officially punched their ticket to the playoffs. Turris scored twice and assisted on two others, including this Sergei Gonchar goal off a sweet feed from Milan Michalek:

Gonchar and Michalek had multi-point nights as well. Gonchar registered 1 goal and 1 assist, and Michalek chipped in a goal (his 35th) and 2 assists.

No. 2 Star: Devin Setoguchi, Minnesota Wild

Setoguchi had a big game for the Wild in their 5-4 shootout win over the Chicago Blackhawks. He scored a goal and assisted on two more -- Dany Heatley's 22nd of the season and Clayton Stoner's 1st of the campaign -- before scoring the shootout winner as well.

No. 3 Star: Jakub Voracek, Philadelphia Flyers

Voracek's first 3-point night as a member of the Flyers came in a 9-2 rout of the Columbus Blue Jackets on November 5. The competition was a little stiffer in his second. Voracek contributed 2 goals and an assist in a 6-4 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins, first scoring to cue the comeback after the Flyers had fallen down 2-0, then again to ice the game with an empty-netter. Claude Giroux pitched in a goal and 2 assists.

Honourable mention: Steve Sullivan scored twice in the Penguins loss, and Pascal Dupuis extended his point streak to 14 games, the longest active streak in the NHL ... Jiri Hudler scored the Detroit Red Wings' lone goal in regulation, then one of two they scored in the shootout to beat the Florida Panthers 2-1. The other was scored by Pavel Datsyuk, who almost managed to bank a puck off the back of Scott Clemmensen's head from behind the goal in this game:

... Patrice Bergeron was fantastic in the Boston Bruins' 2-1 win over the New York Rangers, scoring the game-winner and winning an absurd 17 of 19 faceoffs. With the win, the Bruins clinched the Northeast Division. Marion Gaborik scored his 40th goal of the season in the loss ... Teemu Hartikainen scored both Edmonton Oilers' goals in a 2-1 win over the Anaheim Ducks. Teemu Selanne scored the lone Ducks' goal in the loss. Was it his last goal in the Honda Centre?

Did you know? The Penguins have surrendered 29 goals in their last 6 games.

Dishonourable mention: The Islanders played like a team that didn't want to be there. Granted, considering where they play, that's not surprising, but still ... Kyle Quincey may be staring down the barrel of a Shanaban ... Wild right wing Nick Johnson was a minus-3 in only 10 minutes of icetime.

Follow Harrison Mooney on Twitter at @HarrisonMooney

Tim Wallace doesn't score often. But when he does, it looks like this.

No. 1 Star: Chris Higgins, Vancouver Canucks

The Canucks winger completed a 2-goal rally with a game-tying goal in the second period, and then scored the game-winning OT goal to give Vancouver a 3-2 win over the Colorado Avalanche. The Canucks clinched their fourth consecutive Northwest Division title.

No. 2 Star: Daniel Alfredsson, Ottawa Senators

Ottawa's captain scored 2 goals and 2 assists in the Senators' 8-4 victory against the red-hot Pittsburgh Penguins. With his team clinging to a 4-3 lead, Alfredsson scored a shorthanded goal late in the second period. Nick Foligno and Milan Michalek had 3-point nights. Matt Cooke had two goals and Sidney Crosby had a goal and an assist in the loss, the Penguins' first regulation defeat in 15 games.

No. 3 Star: Tim Thomas, Boston Bruins

Thomas was the difference in the third period, stopping 17 of 18 shots and 40 for the game as the Bruins topped the Los Angeles Kings, 4-2. Milan Lucic and Chris Kelly had third-period goals.

Honorable mention: Kari Lehtonen made 35 saves and Jamie Benn scored two goals as the Dallas Stars damaged the Calgary Flames' playoff hopes with a 4-1 win. … Valtteri Filppula (3 assists) and Juri Hudler (1 goal, 2 assists) had three-point games while Henrik Zetterberg had two goals in the Detroit Red Wings' 5-4 win over the Carolina Hurricanes. … Ryan Miller made 24 saves while Thomas Vanek and Cody Hodgson had a goal and an assist in the Buffalo Sabres' 3-1 win over the Minnesota Wild. … Pekka Rinne made 24 saves, getting goals from Matt Halischuk, Gabriel Bourque and Shea Weber in the Nashville Predators' 3-1 win over the Winnipeg Jets. … Ryan Callahan had the game-deciding shootout goal in the New York Rangers' 4-3 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs. Marian Gaborik scored two goals in regulation. Tim Connolly scored the game-tying goal 18 seconds after Gaborik's third-period goal. … Ryane Clowe had the game-deciding goal in the shootout after earlier taking a Brent Burns shot off of the face, as the San Jose Sharks picked up a huge two points with a 4-3 win over the Phoenix Coyotes. Joe Thornton had two assists. Daymond Langkow had a goal and an assist; Mike Smith was solid with 29 saves. … Danny Briere scored two power-play goals in the second period, as the Philadelphia Flyers defeated the Montreal Canadiens, 4-1. Matt Read had a goal and an assist, while Ilya Bryzgalov made 23 saves, had an assist and a tripping minor. … Steven Stamkos scored goals No. 51 and 52, and assisted on Tim Wallace's third-period goal, as the Tampa Bay Lightning topped the New York Islanders, 4-3. Stamkos set the franchise single-season record for goals. … Zdeno Chara played game No. 1,000.

Playoff Race: The Sabres moved into the No. 8 seed, up two points on the Capitals. San Jose is tied in points with Colorado and Los Angeles, but the Kings hold the No. 8 seed with more wins than the Sharks and fewer games played than the Avs.

Fight of the Night: Chris Kelly had a good fight and Trevor Lewis had one good punch:

Did you know? The Stars paid tribute to former D Karlis Skrastins prior to the game. Skrastins was a member of the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl team when the Latvian native died in a plane crash in Russia last September en route to a Kontinental League game in Minsk. His widow, Zane, and three daughters participated in the ceremony. (AP)

Dishonorable mention: Justin Faulk was a minus-4 for Carolina. … Evgeni Malkin, Zbynek Michalek and Brooks Orpik were a minus-4. …Brad Thiessen gave up all eight goals for Pittsburgh. … Toronto has lost nine straight at home (0-7-2) … Wayne Simmonds had 14 PIMs for the Flyers: hooking and slashing minors and a 10-minute misconduct in the same sequence. … Jeff Carter and Mike Richards were minus-3 for the Kings. … Finally, if you've not heard this anthem, please take an hour and listen.

David Moss and Chris Campoli do the chicken dance.

No. 1 Star: Mike Ribeiro, Dallas Stars

Ribeiro scored on both shots he took and picked up an assist as the Stars stuck it to the Vancouver Canucks, 5-2, pushing Dallas's record in their last 8 games to 7-0-1. Ribeiro's shot on this 2-on-1 is just ridiculous. Look where he puts it:

No. 2 Star: Jordan Caron, Boston Bruins

Tyler Seguin scored twice, but he may have been overshadowed by another sophomore  in Caron, who had 2 goals and an assist in the Bruins' 5-4 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs. It was a wide-open game, proof that Randy Carlyle still has some work to do getting this team to do the tighten up.

No. 3 Star: Milan Michalek, Ottawa Senators

Michalek is here for his four-point night, not for how he got those four points. The Senators' winger had a hat trick and an assist in a 7-3 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning, which sounds impressive, but his exclusion from the game's three stars makes a little more sense once you realize all three came in the final 10 minutes and the second and third goals came with nobody tending the Lightning goal.

Honorable mention: Justin Faulk scored the overtime winner as the Carolina Hurricanes knocked off the Washington Capitals, 4-3 ... Jack Johnson had a goal and an assist in Columbus Blue Jackets' 3-2 win over the Phoenix Coyotes. His goal, which put the Jackets up 2-0 less than five minutes in, chased Mike Smith ... Ilya Kovalchuk had a goal and an assist as the New Jersey Devils topped the New York Rangers, 4-1. The Devils' fans get an honourable mention as well for their boisterous chants of "Marty's better," and Petr Sykora gets mention because he played in his 1000th NHL game ... Ilya Bryzgalov surrendered a goal on his first but then he settled in, stopping 37 of the next 38 to help the Philadelphia Flyers to a 3-2 win over the Detroit Red Wings. Claude Giroux had a goal and an assist ... Max Pacioretty scored twice in the Canadiens loss, and Lars Eller scored from his knees:

... Gabriel Landeskog had two assists, Steve Downie had 2 assists, and 7 different members of the Colorado Avalanche scored goals in a 7-1 shellacking over the hapless Minnesota Wild. The Wild has now surrendered 18 goals in 5 games since trading Nick Schultz and Greg Zanon away at the deadline... Speaking of shellackings, the St. Louis Blues handed it to the Chicago Blackhawks in a 5-1 win. Andy McDonald scored twice and Jaroslav Halak won his 6th straight start, tying a career-best. Speaking of bests, this was his best save:

... Trevor Lewis scored the game-winner as the Los Angeles Kings held off the Nashville Predators, 5-4. Justin Williams and Patrick Hornqvist scored two goals apiece ... Glencross picked up assists on goals by Mark Giordano and David Moss before scoring one of his own early in the third period. That goal stood up as the game-winner as the Flames knocked off the Montreal Canadiens 5-4. Jarome Iginla scored twice in the win... Sam Gagner scored the shootout winner in the Edmonton Oilers' 3-2 victory over the San Jose Sharks.

Fight of the Night: Jay Rosehill vs. Shawn Thornton

Rosehill opens up Thornton with a massive right at 0:23, so I'll give him the decision, but this is a nice, long, fairly even heavyweight scrap.

Did you know? The Leafs may have lost Joffrey Lupul to an injury after he was ridden into the boards by David Krejci. He left the game favouring his right arm or hand. Having to play without Lupul would put a major damper on their playoff hopes.

Dishonorable mention: Via Russian Machine Never Breaks, Dmitry Orlov picked up his first 12 penalty minutes of the season after taking exception to a Jeff Skinner slewfoot. He was tagged with 2 minutes for roughing in the aftermath, but he also earned a 10-minute misconduct for abusing the officials after pushing linesman Jean Morin.

There was much joy in Anaheim on Friday night. Much, much joy.

No. 1 Star: Zach Parise, New Jersey Devils

Parise's hat trick led the Devils to a 5-0 rout of the Washington Capitals, giving him 27 goals on the season. Parise scored on the power play and even strength in the first, and then again on a 2-on-1 with Adam Henrique in the second. Parise also had a tense moment, leaving the ice and getting checked for a concussion after getting crunched by two Capitals. Parise returned for the third period. Patrik Elias and Dainius Zubrus had the other goals, while Johan Hedberg had the 23-save shutout.

No. 2 Star: Ryan Getzlaf, Anaheim Ducks

Heck of a time to break a goal drought: Getzlaf scored his first goal in 17 games at 19:14 of the third period, cranking a shot past Leland Irving to break a tie and give the Ducks a 3-2 victory over the Calgary Flames. Getzlaf also connected with Corey Perry on the Ducks' second goal.

No. 3 Star: Ryan Malone, Tampa Bay Lightning

Malone beat Henrik Lundqvist (27 saves) at 1:58 of overtime to give the Lightning a 4-3 win against the visiting New York Rangers, keeping their playoff hopes alive and snapping a 10-game goal drought for the Bolts' winger. Teddy Purcell had a goal and two assists, while Steven Stamkos had a goal and an assist.

Honorable mention: Bryan Bickell and Marian Hossa scored second-period goals, while Ray Emery made 25 saves in his return to Ottawa, as the Chicago Blackhawks defeated the Senators, 2-1. Milan Michalek scored his 29th for Ottawa, while Robin Lehner made 37 saves. …  The Detroit Red Wings peppered the Minnesota Wild with 35 shots, routing them, 6-0. Valtteri Filppula had two goals and an assist, Henrik Zetterberg had a goal and two assists, while Brendan Smith scored his first NHL goal. Jimmy Howard had the 19-save shutout. … Kari Lehtonen made 19 saves as the Dallas Stars defeated the Edmonton Oilers, 3-1. Radek Dvorak, Tomas Vincour and Michael Ryder had the goals. … Ian White was a plus-4 for the Red Wings. … Zubrus had the celebration of the night for the Devils:

Fight of the Night: Francois Beauchemin and Jarome Iginla threw down big time, with plenty of punches landed:

Did you know? All four games between the Rangers and Lightning were won by the team trailing entering the third. (AP)

Dishonorable mention: Edmonton fans booed Sheldon Souray in his return with the Stars, instead of booing their GM. … Brian Boyle, Ruslan Fedotenko and Brandon Prust were minus-3 for the Rangers. … Justin Falk and Kurtis Foster were minus-3 for the Wild; Dany Heatley was a minus-4. … Josh Harding was pulled after 45:30 and giving up six goals.

No. 1 Star: Henrik Lundqvist, New York Rangers

Before their game with the Vancouver Canucks, Rangers coach John Tortorella said he wasn't expecting to win the game 1-0. His reverse jinx succeeded as New York snapped Vancouver's 17-game regulation unbeaten streak with a 1-0 win behind 31 saves from Lundqvist. Wojtek Wolski scored his first goal as a Ranger in the second period as Lundqvist recorded his sixth shutout of the season.

No. 2 Star: Taylor Hall, Edmonton Oilers

The Oilers rookie tallied a pair and assisted on Dustin Penner's 13th as the Oilers sent San Jose to their sixth straight loss with a 5-2 win. Alex Hemsky assisted on each other Hall's two goals, as well as two others and Devan Dubnyk made 41 saves for his second win in a row. Hall's three-point night puts him two points behind Logan Couture for second place among rookie scorers.

No. 3 Star: Keith Yandle, Phoenix Coyotes

Yandle added the empty-netter the helped sink the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 5-1 loss, but the Coyotes blueliner also helped setup Phoenix's two goals to open the third period and give them a 3-0 lead. Lauri Korpikoski added two points and Ilya Bryzgalov made 28 saves to improve to 4-0 lifetime against Toronto.

Honorable mention: Five different Bruins recorded two points as Boston rallied from three deficits to beat Philadelphia 7-5. Steve Kampfer scored the go-ahead goal for Boston with 1:14 remaining as part of a five-goal third period for the Bruins. Danny Briere recorded two points, giving him six since being left off the All-Star Game player pool. Scott Hartnell opened the scoring with this nifty tough-angle goal:

David Booth's goal with 4:12 to go in the third was one of two Florida goals in a 2:14 span as the Panthers edged Nashville 3-2 ... Drew Stafford's goal early in the third period gave Buffalo a lead they wouldn't surrender as they got past Carolina 3-2 to improve to 5-1-1 in their past seven games. Cody McCormick was an assist away from a Gordie Howe Hat Trick, but along with his goal and fight, he drew the penalty that led to Stafford's goal ... Robin Lehner earned his first NHL win in his first start by making 20 saves in a 6-4 Ottawa win over the New York Islanders to snap a six-game losing streak. Jesse Winchester and Milan Michalek each had a goal and an assist, while Sergei Gonchar finished a plus-4. Trevor Gillies scored his first NHL goal in the loss for New York ... Ryan Reaves scored his second NHL goal and Jaroslav Halak made 24 saves as St. Louis ended a five-game skid with a 3-1 win over Los Angeles.

Did you know? "The Senators are the only team in the NHL that hasn’t won a single game that has gone past regulation." (AP)

Dishonorable mention: Alex Burrows' stick found Marc Staal's nether regions for an uncomfortable moment for the All Star defenseman ... Mike Brown will likely hearing from Colin Campbell after his blindside hit on Ed Jovanovski ... San Jose has lost six straight, their longest streak in 15 years ... The Kings are 1-6-0 in their eight game homestand.

No. 1 Star: Loui Eriksson, Dallas Stars

Chris Osgood has Eriksson to blame for helping to prevent the Detroit Red Wings goalie's 400th NHL victory on Sunday night. Eriksson assisted on goals by Brad Richards and Brendan Morrow and then scored the game-winner on a 3-on-1 break to give Dallas a 4-3 win at the Joe. Morrow's goal at 16:46 of the third period sent the game to OT, where Loui won it like this:

No. 2 Star: Mathieu Perreault, Washington Capitals

Down 2-0 after the first period, the Capitals needed a hero to avoid their ninth straight loss. Perreault responded by scoring 34 seconds into the second and then converted on the power play just over six minutes later to break a 2-2 tie and help lead Washington to a 3-2 victory at the Ottawa Senators. Eric Fehr had the other goal. Said Perreault after the game: "We felt like we won a championship."

No. 3 Star: Craig Anderson, Colorado Avalanche

This could have easily been Corey Crawford of the Chicago Blackhawks, who stopped 26 shots and was solid in the third during their win over the Los Angeles Kings. But Anderson was a perfect 14-for-14 in the third for the Avs, stopping 27 shots overall in their 3-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens. It was the sixth straight win for Anderson and for the Avalanche. T.J. Galiardi had the game-winning goal in the second period.

Honorable mention: Jonathan Toews had a goal and an assist in the Blackhawks' 3-2 thriller against the Los Angeles Kings. Fernando Pisani had the eventual game winner in the second period. Wayne Simmonds had a goal and an assist for LA. ... Pavel Datsyuk (12) and Johan Franzen (14) had goals for Detroit. ... Ryan Shannon and Chris Kelly had the Senators' goals. ... Michael Cammalleri scored his 12th for Montreal. ... Kyle Clifford of the Kings had one hell of a move on Crawford for his second of the season:

Did you know? Colorado Avalanche defenseman Kyle Quincey will have season-ending shoulder surgery after getting injured against the Capitals on Dec. 11.

Dishonorable mention: Ottawa was 0-for-5 on the power play. ... Milan Michalek had six penalty minutes for the Sens. ... The Capitals roared back to win, but the 2-0 deficit after the first was inexcusable given their losing streak. ... Finally, Steve Ott takes a loss at the hands of ... Justin Abdelkader?!

CBC's Hockey Night in Canada, brought to you by Yahoo! Sports Canada, will stream four interesting games tonight: The Florida Panthers at the Montreal Canadiens (7 p.m. ET); the New York Rangers at the Toronto Maple Leafs (7 p.m. ET); the Boston Bruins at the Ottawa Senators (7 p.m. ET); and the Washington Capitals at the Calgary Flames (10 p.m. ET).

(Ed. Note: HNIC streams available to Canadian readers only; but everyone can check out Hockey Night on Y! Sports for the Nashville Predators at the Detroit Red Wings at 7 p.m. ET and the Columbus Blue Jackets at the Colorado Avalanche at 9 p.m. ET.)

Here are eight questions we have entering the HNIC games tonight:

1. Is revenge on the menu for the Panthers?

Please recall the preseason, when the Panthers' No. 3 overall pick Erik Gudbranson was punched in the face by Montreal's Travis Moen while being restrained:

Panthers enforcer Darcy Hordichuk will be in the lineup against Montreal, telling the Sun Sentinel:

"I'm sure that will change tomorrow. We'll see how he likes it when somebody gets in his face. There wasn't any need for that. That's why I'm here to make sure stuff like that doesn't happen.''

Well that should be interesting.

2. How does life change with Andrei Markov back for Montreal?

Montreal defenseman Andrei Markov went under the knife for torn knee ligaments during the summer, and is primed to play his first game of the season tonight.

The immediate benefit will be on the power play. The Canadiens scored one on the man advantage last night, but have scored only 3 in 34 chances. Markov's an elite point man on the power play, with 16 points in 45 games last season and 39 in 78 games in 2008-09.

Markov played with Ryan O'Byrne and Marc-Andre Bergeron during the Habs' playoff run last season. O'Byrne's been a healthy scratch for the last seven games; Bergeron is waiting by the phone.

Speculation is that Markov will be paired with rookie P.K. Subban, while Roman Hamrlik and Jaroslav Spacek will be a pairing and Josh Gorges will be paired with Hal Gill. With Markov back on the blue line, Spacek told Daily Hab-it: "It's a little push on the whole defence to play their A-game every night. ... Maybe some people aren't that comfortable with that, but it is what it is."

3. Can Jason Spezza spark the Senators?

That the Ottawa Senators are 3-2 without Spezza in the lineup and 1-3-1 with him is simply an indication that Spezza's missed a good portion of the season with a groin injury. The fact is that he was a point-per-game player when healthy, and the Senators welcome him back tonight against the Bruins. The Ottawa Citizen reports he'll line up with the revitalized Alex Kovalev and Peter Regin. Milan Michalek is expected to miss a week with tendonitis.

4. Will Colton Orr still be Colton Orr with pink skates?

The pugilistic and pugnacious Toronto Maple Leafs forward will be wearing skates tricked out in neon pink for their game against the New York Rangers, which is 'Camp Trillium Awareness Night' at Air Canada Centre, in which the Leafs "are supporting Camp Trillium in their awareness efforts and to help contribute to providing recreational experiences for families battling childhood cancer."

Here's Orr with the new gear:

Said Orr:

"Any way I can support awareness for any kind of cancer, I'm willing to do that," Orr said. "I thought I would try this out. You've seen several athletes do it, such as (Islanders') Rick DiPietro with his pads. So many people have been affected by this and a lot of people in the NHL and the players are involved."

Worthy cause, admirable statement ... but can a player with 807 career penalty minutes still be a guy with 807 career penalty minutes while wearing pink skates?

5. Did Bruce Boudreau make the right motivational decision?

The Washington Capitals enter their game against the Calgary Flames after an ugly loss at the Minnesota Wild.

What did Bruce Boudreau learn after the loss? From Capitals Insider:

"It's a tough call. I mean I'm thinking, okay, should we go out there and give them a no-pucks shellacking? Would that be better than [focusing on Saturday's game]? Or if you do that, and some guys have got injuries and they're not allowed to participate; is it worse because then you've got three fourths of the team out there?...Or do you just watch video and make some threats? We chose to at least watch some video and go over last night's game, and hopefully they get the idea of what I'm talking about."

Do the Caps' top players need more than a video session to find their groove?

6. Is there harmony between players and coach for the Calgary Flames?

The Calgary Herald details the latest round of speculation that the Flames aren't exactly down with coach Brent Sutter and his system, a theory that earned this response from Jarome Iginla:

Frankly, he's tired of hearing rampant speculation that suggests he's not on board with the game plan.

"We believe in the coach's message," Iginla said. "There's no one saying, `Oh man, he has no idea what he's talking about.'

"We're not saying that. We're positive."

Sutter ripped some (unnamed) players after Thursday night's loss to the Colorado Avalanche and then put the team through a vigorous practice on Friday.

7. Will footie lead Florida to fulfillment?

Other coaches have put their teams through the wringer with torturous "bag skates" after lackluster performances. Panther Coach Peter DeBoer? He allowed the team to have an unofficial "Field Day" of games on the Canadiens' turf soccer practice fields. All that was missing was a sack race. From On Frozen Pond:

"A coach, on a day like this, would like to go out and fix everything that went wrong by battling them, have them bash heads,'' DeBoer said afterward.

"But, sometimes you have to look at the big picture and what's going to make us the best team against Montreal. We just felt we'd do some video, purge last night and have some fun.''

Will fun lead to a faster start for the Panthers in Montreal?

8. Finally, is figure skating the key to NHL success?

HNIC's Inside Hockey will detail the work power skating coach Barbara Underhill is doing with players, including Brian Boyle of the New York Rangers. The future of NHL training or the greatest subliminal marketing for "Battle of the Blades" ever?

No. 1 Star: Tim Thomas, Boston Bruins

Continuing his hot start, Thomas blanked the Toronto Maple Leafs 2-0 to improve his record to 5-0-0 on the season with a ridiculous 0.60 goals-against average and even more ridiculous .981 save-percentage. Thomas made 20 saves as the Maple Leafs did not manage more than eight shots in any period. Patrice Bergeron scored his 100th career NHL goal, while Tyler Seguin scored his first one in North America. After the game, the Bruins announced that Seguin will be staying with the team this season and not sent back to juniors.

No. 2 Star: Jaroslav Halak, St. Louis Blues

Halak kept up his strong start making 24 saves and stretching his shutout streak to 151:15 with a 3-0 win over the Nashville Predators. Patrik Berglund and Matt D'Agostini each scored their fourth of the season in the third period to wrap things up. The shutout was Halak's second straight and 11th of his career. The loss was Nashville's first in regulation this season.

No. 3 Star: Chris Stewart, Colorado Avalanche

In the wild game of the night, Colorado rallied back from a 3-1 deficit and ended up squeaking by the Calgary Flames 6-5 thanks to a Daniel Winnik goal with 2:20 remaining in the third period. Stewart notched his second career hat trick and moved into a tie for second place in goals scored with eight. He's also now second in the league in points on the season with 14. Ryan O'Reilly added three assists, while Paul Stastny and Kyle Cumisky each had two.

Honorable mention: Craig Conroy played in his 1000th NHL game ... Daniel Alfredsson, Milan Michalek and Mike Fisher each scored a goal and added an assist in a 5-3 Ottawa win over Florida. The Senators now have consecutive victories for the first time this season ... Kyle Wilson scored his second goal of the year and Nikita Filatov won it in the shootout as Columbus edged Edmonton 3-2. Steve Mason made 25 saves and the Blue Jackets dominated in the facoff dot winning 40 of 68 draws. Taylor Hall scored his first career goal in the loss for Edmonton ... Niklas Backstrom made 21 saves as Minnesota held off Washington 2-1 ... Wayne Simmonds and Alexei Ponikarovsky scored nine seconds apart and Jack Johnson added three helpers as Los Angeles upended Dallas 5-2. Jonathan Quick made 30 saves for his sixth win ... Lauri Korpikoski scored shorthanded and later an empty netter during a 4-2 Phoenix win over the Detroit Red Wings. Ilya Bryzgalov made 45 saves, including 17 in both the second and third periods. Pavel Datsyuk recorded his 600th career point on Tomas Holmstrom's goal ... Nice job by Brad Richards who manage to shoot a puck through a plane of glass at American Airlines Center:

Did you know? Washington dropped to 0-5-1 all-time at Xcel Energy Center.

Dishonorable mention: Stephen Weiss and David Booth both finished minus-four for the Panthers ... Henrik Karlsson suffered his first NHL loss allowing six goals on 30 shots against the Avalanche. Despite the win, Peter Budaj hasn't been sharp for Colorado allowing 13 goals in his last three appearances ... Jordin Tootoo's hit on Carlo Colaiacovo, which earned the Predators forward five minutes for charging and a game misconduct, will be a talking point on Friday:

CBC's Hockey Night in Canada, brought to you by Yahoo! Sports Canada, will stream three interesting games for your Saturday night hockey pleasure: The Toronto Maple Leafs at the Philadelphia Flyers (7 p.m. ET); the Montreal Canadiens at the Ottawa Senators (7 p.m. ET); and the San Jose Sharks at the Edmonton Oilers (10 p.m. ET).

(Ed. Note: HNIC streams available to Canadian readers only; but everyone can check out Hockey Night on Y! Sports for the New York Rangers at the Boston Bruins at 7 p.m. and the Los Angeles Kings at the Colorado Avalanche at 9 p.m.)

Here are eight questions we have entering the HNIC games tonight:

1. Can the Leafs' top line play uglier?

Coach Ron Wilson is playing early psychological games with his top line, having benched both Phil Kessel and Tyler Bozak in recent games for motivation. Those two, and Kris Versteeg, need to take the "dirtier route" according to Wilson, via James Mirtle:

"We need that line to compete a little bit harder on nights when it's going to be difficult," Wilson said. "Because they are going to be closely monitored by the other team.

"Get to the front of the net, get your nose dirty, score an ugly goal. We have to figure out how to do that."

The offense carried the Leafs to an undefeated start, averaging four goals per game; they've score one in each of their last two, both losses.

The well-coiffed former NHL referee is promoting a book and will be on HNIC after an Elliotte Friedman report on concussions. Fraser has been critical of the League lately for its policies on hits to the head; how pointed will his comments be on HNIC?

3. Will Mike Richards begin showing up for the Flyers?

Chuck Gormley of the Courier-Post writes that the Flyers are off to a rough start (2-3-1), and that Richards' lack of production is one factor: "The Flyers are still looking for captain Mike Richards to score his first goal of the season. Richards had six goals through six games last season en route to a career-high of 31 but has none on 15 shots this season and is a minus-3."

4. Are the San Jose Sharks reuniting their mega-line?

David Pollack of Working The Corners reports that Todd McLellan has reunited Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau and Dany Heatley on one line after having them split up to start the season. McLellan said it's how they "potentially" could look against the Oilers. The trio is a combined minus-13, but have 5 goals.

5. Can Shawn Horcoff continue the stats smackdown?

Yes, Edmonton is such a hockey town that their players get name-checked at WWE events. As for Horcoff, the Oilers forward has three goals and an assist so far this season, but David Staples said his production goes beyond that:

So far, even though Horcoff plays a far more difficult defensive position than anyone on the ice save for the regular defencemen, his scoring chances true plus/minus is tied with Ales Hemsky at a team-best plus-16.

Horcoff has helped to create 19 scoring chances at even-strength and has been a culprit on just three against, the same numbers as Hemsky, but Hemsky plays a less difficult defensive position, making it less likely he will pick up minus marks.

In both cases: Happy and healthy starts for two key Oilers.

6. Can Lars Eller get rolling for the Habs as a center?

Interesting lineup move for Jacques Martin for the Canadiens: Shifting struggling rookie Lars Eller to center on a fourth line with Travis Moen and Mathieu Darche. From Pat Hickey of Habs Inside/Out:

Eller said yesterday that he feels more involved when he's at centre and Martin is hoping the move will produce some offence. Eller, who was acquired from St. Louis in the trade which sent Jaroslav Halak to St. Louis, is still looking for his first point as a Canadien.

Like we said ... interesting. In the sense that Martin moved Eller to center on a line that wouldn't appear to kick-start anyone's offense. Why not put him at the pivot with a couple of offensive aces and see what comes of it?

7. Will Mike Fisher step up in Spezza's absence?

Jason Spezza is expected to be out tonight with groin issues, and Mike Fisher will skate in between Daniel Alfredsson and Milan Michalek. Mr. Underwood picked up a helper on Alfredsson's empty-netter last night; can he make the most of this chance?

8. Finally, where will the Rick Rypien conversation lead?

Ron MacLean writes that the Hot Stove discussion on Rick Rypien's 6-game suspension for contact with a fan could include "on-ice behaviour, class inequality, natural impulse, historical change, psychological need, even the media." Sounds ... involved.

(Ed Note: Canadian readers can watch these games live via Hockey Night in Canada Presented by Y! Sports Canada tonight)

Hello, this is a feature that will run through the entire season and aims to recap the weekend's events and boils those events down to one admittedly superficial fact or stupid opinion about each team. Feel free to complain about it.

Earlier this weekend we saw Joe Thornton sign a three-year extension that will pay him an average of $7 million a season and comes with a no-movement clause.

Thornton's commitment to winning, his teammates, the organization and the several other things to which he was made out to be eternally devoted by Sharks management is exhibited by taking a slight pay cut to "help the team win."

Well, it's something like that.

Now granted, Thornton probably could have gotten some bonehead GM to shell out more than the $21 million over three years he accepted to stay in San Jose. But we wouldn't really know for sure, because he has never been an unrestricted free agent for any length of time. He sure wouldn't have let that happen now. He's very comfortable where he is.

Consider the amount of pressure Thornton faces in San Jose, even as the newly-minted captain. Yes, people care about the team more than they do in, say, Phoenix or Miami, but Northern California isn't exactly a pressure cooker where wins are demanded by media and public alike.

There is little doubt that Thornton, along with Marleau and Heatley and Boyle and every other player on the Sharks, would love to win a Stanley Cup, but no one outside the organization is leaning on him to perform. He'll keep earning praise for his stellar regular seasons - 20 goals and at least 70 points like clockwork - and he's now free to keep flaming out in the playoffs like the rest of the team.

(Coming Up: When former Blackhawks beat a former Blackhawk; Kris Letang's hit on Blake Comeau; Niklas Backstrom whines while Nicklas Backstrom escapes suspension; Taylor Hall struggling; the resurrection of Michael Ryder; Iggy breaks the streak; yes, we know Jeff Skinner was a figure skater; the 5-second fight; Habs fans need a new scapegoat; Lecavalier hurt; Dan Ellis problems; and Sean Avery slashes and sings TV theme songs.)

Starting next year the Sharks will have $50-something million tied up in 14 players. And while top-heavy rosters certainly work (see the two most recent Cup winners), and Thornton will still be cashing game checks larger than everyone but Dany Heatley's, pay cut or no.

Thornton presents an interesting situation, as there are very few players to whom we can compare him. Alex Ovechkin is perhaps the closest, since he too is highly paid and famous for having his team implode come the postseason, but he's also considerably younger and has appreciably more raw and fearsome talent than does Thornton. And no one would ever question Ovechkin's will to compete the way they have Jumbo Joe's.

And sure, it's nice from the Sharks' point of view that Thornton took less money than he currently makes; they can put that extra $200,000 toward... well, something, certainly. But this was a deal Joe asked for specifically. Doug Wilson got a call out of the blue from Thornton's brother/agent spelling out the details that were eventually agreed to. The motivation to stay in San Jose must have been rather strong. And that's great for both sides.

Thornton, with a new baby girl, gets security and stability for his family and still pulls in a boatload of money. The Sharks get an elite power forward and a bit of breathing room against the cap.

One could reasonably argue that what Thornton did was admirable. In two years, when Sid Crosby's contract runs out, it would be sincerely shocking to see him volunteer to take less money. While there's no doubt he'll be a Penguin pretty much for life, he'll always demand, and get, top value.

But that's because Pittsburgh -- not just the team, but the whole city -- needs Sidney Crosby. And Silicon Valley doesn't need Joe Thornton, which makes his job much easier than Sid's. This transaction happened because it's more convenient for everyone that it did.

Thornton's taking less money wasn't necessary, but his staying in San Jose was.

What We Learned

Anaheim Ducks: Luca Sbisa was sent down to the AHL to make room for Andreas Lilja, and even he knew he deserved it.

Atlanta Thrashers: The Thrashers have to be happy with the last 40 minutes of their game against San Jose -- they scored four unanswered after going down 2-0 in the first. Andrew Ladd and Dustin Byfuglien, both castoff Blackhawks, put a puck past Antti Niemi and were pretty chuffed about it.

Boston Bruins: Remember how much Mike Ryder sucks? Not any more he doesn't, buddy. He's really improved his legwork this season and it's paying dividends to the tune of three points in as many games. (Playing with Tyler Seguin doesn't hurt, of course.)

Buffalo Sabres: It must suck to be on the Sabres right now. In his last two games, Ryan Miller allowed three goals on 63 shots and didn't win either of them. The on Saturday they outshoot Chicago 41-21 and still lose 4-3 with Patrick Lalime getting lit up.

Calgary Flames: It only took him 227:49, but Jarome Iginla finally picked up his first goal of the year and in doing so helped a lot of Calgarians breathe a little easier. Just don't tell them it was only against the Oilers.

Carolina Hurricanes: Someone should really keep track of the number of stories about Jeff Skinner that bring up his past as a figure skater. There have to be a whole hell of a lot of them.

Chicago Blackhawks: Chicago recalled Jassen Cullimore in favor of Nick Leddy, who was sent to the AHL as Niklas Hjalmarsson came off his suspension. No one is quite sure why this happened.

Colorado Avalanche: Joe Sacco is not happy with his team's special teams play.

And with only two power play goals for, and three shorties against in five games, I don't think you can blame him.

Columbus Blue Jackets: RJ Umberger had a shorthanded game-winning goal upheld by review, but that didn't stop Niklas Backstrom from bitching about it. "I don't think it was in. I think it was under my stomach the whole time. When I got up, it was under my pad. It doesn't cross the line. I don't know what happened. The ref behind the goal said it wasn't in. You look and watch the replay and it wasn't in. They're trying to make the goalies work harder. Maybe this is how it goes." Suck it up, big guy. The Jackets need this.

Dallas Stars: Given all the talk about how great Toronto's been through four games this year, you'd think the Stars would be getting similar treatment considering their record is exactly the same.

Detroit Red Wings: Mike Ilitch is committed to building a new stadium in downtown Detroit. Problem is that if the Red Wings return from a long road trip, they're likely to find it up on cinder blocks. (Easy jokes.) One aide said it was "a bit antiquated," but may have just been talking about the Wings' roster. (Easier jokes.)

Edmonton Oilers: Taylor Hall is still in search of his first NHL goal and didn't have a great night against Calgary, with both he and Jordan Eberle finishing a minus-3.

Florida Panthers: More boohooism from hockey fans -- Litter Box Cats decries the NHL's Three Stars for Saturday night because Rusty Olesz and David Booth, who both went 1-2-3, failed to make the cut over Patrick Sharp (two goals, 13(!) shots) and Sid Crosby (2-1-3). Get over it, it's really not something worth worrying about.

Los Angeles Kings: After he called him out following the previous game, Terry Murray was much happier with Wayne Simmonds' effort on Friday. Gotta figure he's one of the guys the Kings need to step up if they want to accomplish anything this season.

Minnesota Wild: Michael Russo called Sunday morning's bag skate, mandated by Todd Richards, the most brutal he'd ever seen in 16 years covering the NHL. And he covered a team Mike Keenan coach. Even John Madden implied he hadn't ever been through anything like that. That's nuts.

Montreal Canadiens: Sorry Montreal fans, but Carey Price doesn't blow anymore. Now you will have to needlessly vilify someone else.

Nashville Predators: This is the only video I can find of Nick Backstrom boarding the hell out of Marcel Goc, and he only got a minor out of it.

That shoulda gotten him the gate for sure.

New Jersey Devils: The Devils aren't happy with their 1-4-1 start, for obvious reasons. And by that I mean that they've dressed fewer players than they're allowed to for pretty much all of them.

New York Islanders: Zenon Konopka dropped the gloves with Chris Stewart five seconds into the game. Five seconds. Because they were chitchatting during warm-ups.

I'm all for fighting but there's no reason for this to happen at all. That's just stupid.

New York Rangers: Watch now as Sean Avery proves he knows more about hacking the hell out of Mike Komisarek's ankle than remembering the words to the "Fresh Prince of Bel Air's" theme song.

And despite what Patrick Roy's kid would have us believe, hockey players and hip hop just don't mix.

Ottawa Senators: Ottawa coach Cory Clouston on his team going up 3-1 on Montreal midway through the second, then losing 4-3: "We got up 3-1 and then completely changed our game, for whatever reason ... I don't know." That is not a good thing for a coach to say.

Philadelphia Flyers: Usually the sore-losing and finger-pointing is a task most often left to fans of teams, and not their captains, but Mike Richards really got out the Kleenexes for that postgame interview over the weekend. Peter Laviolette, on the other hand, was a bit more sanguine about the whole situation. "If you go back and look at them, they are avoidable," he said. "The penalties are avoidable. It taxes the penalty killers, it taxes the defensemen who have to kill the penalties, it takes the roll out of the bench."

Phoenix Coyotes: The Coyotes lost their home opener against Detroit on one of two overtime power plays because, shock of shocks, Tomas Holmstrom took a bit of a dive in front of the net against Adrian Aucoin. I will get Ripley's on the phone posthaste because this is a truly surprising circumstance to have arisen.

Pittsburgh Penguins: Thankfully, the NHL has rescinded the penalty for Kris Letang's hit on Blake Comeau on Friday, which was perfectly legal but led him to get ejected anyway. This is the only outcome that should have come from the incident, which was, frankly, embarrassing for the officials involved.

San Jose Sharks: Okay sure, Danny Boyle's eating a lot of minutes - 27:32 through the first three games of the season - but that doesn't mean his TOI is responsible for his poor play against Atlanta. He "just didn't feel comfortable overall." So stop worrying that they're giving over 27 minutes a night to a 34-year-old.

St. Louis Blues: The Blues outshot Dallas 43-25 and lost 3-2 in a shootout. One gets the feeling that this may happen to St. Louis a lot this year, no?

Tampa Bay Lightning: Losing to the suddenly unstoppable Panthers 6-0 is bad enough, but losing Vinny Lecavalier to a hand injury for any amount of time? That'd be way, way worse.

Toronto Maple Leafs: Great take by Steve Burtch as he calls for sanity and sensibility from Leafs fans despite their hot start. Something most people probably hadn't considered: the teams they've beaten featured some really weak lineups thanks to injuries and suspensions.

Vancouver Canucks: When Mikael Samuelsson scored in practice, one media wag sarcastically applauded, and Alain Vigneault was actually surprised by the reaction. "I started to laugh. I said: 'Is it that bad?'" Good stuff there.

Washington Capitals: Congrats to Brian Fahey who, at the age of 29, finally got into his first NHL game ever on Saturday. On the other hand, he was a minus-2 in just 9:50 of ice time. So that's not the best debut ever.

Gold Star Award

Anthony Stewart picked up his first NHL hattie on Friday night and followed that up with another goal on Saturday. All in just over 28 minutes of ice time. That's pretty good production, eh?

Minus of the Weekend

Dan Ellis got the start against Florida and gave up three goals on 15 shots in just 15:13 of work before getting the hook. That's a problem.

Play of the Weekend

Sweet goal by Milan Michalek here against the Habs.

Perfect HFBoards trade proposal of the week

User FF de Mars wants to shuffle Jarome Iginla to the East and knows just how to do it.

Iginla

for

Hamrlik, Spacek, 2011 Habs 1st, 2012 Habs 1st, Pouliot, Maxwell and Pacioretty

This is a slam dunk.

Signoff

You ever sat down and read this thing? Technically we're not supposed to go to the bathroom.

Ryan Lambert publishes hockey awesomeness rather infrequently 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: Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins

In 17 regular-season games in Philadelphia, Crosby has scored 13 goals and 15 assists. In the Penguins' 5-1 win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday night, Crosby assisted on Chris Kunitz's tying goal in the first period and then scored two power-play goals in the third. He had eight shots and led all forwards with 21:45 in ice time.

No. 2 Star: Alex Tanguay, Calgary Flames

The wait is over for the Flames' top line to break out. Tanguay opened the scoring and ended the scoring with his first two goals of the season, and assisted on Jarome Iginla's power-play game-winner in the third period to give Calgary a 5-3 victory over the Edmonton Oilers.

No. 3 Star: Milan Jurcina, New York Islanders

Milan Jurcina had scored five goals in the last three seasons entering the Islanders' home game against the Colorado Avalanche. In the first period, he scored on a laser shot from the blue line the beat Craig Anderson for a shorthanded goal; just under five minutes later, he scored an unassisted goal from the corner to give the Islanders a lead they'd never relinquish. Jurcina added an assist on John Tavares's empty netter in the 5-2 win.

Honorable mention: Tomas Vokoun of the Florida Panthers was given plenty of offensive support in the Panthers' home opener, and posted his second straight shutout with a 29-save performance in a 6-0 rout over the Tampa Bay Lightning. David Booth had a pair of goal and an assist in the win. Bryan McCabe had a four-assist night. ... Tomas Plekanec scored on a rebound with 3:59 left in the third period to give the Montreal Canadiens a 4-3 win over the Ottawa Senators. Jeff Halpern and Andrei Kostitsyn scored second-period goals to rally the Habs from a 3-1 deficit. Milan Michalek had two goals in the loss. ... The Boston Bruins took advantage of defensive breakdowns by the New Jersey Devils, some subpar goaltending by Martin Brodeur and 31 saves from Tim Thomas to win in Newark, 5-1. Jordan Caron scored his first NHL goal in the victory, and 11 different Bruins had points. ... Mike Ribeiro, Loui Eriksson and Brad Richards scored in the shootout to keep the Dallas Stars undefeated with a 3-2 victory over the St. Louis Blues. Kari Lehtonen made 41 saves, but Ty Conklin made the save of the season so far for the Blues:

Brooks Laich deflected an Alex Ovechkin shot at 1:44 of overtime for a power-play goal, giving the Washington Capitals a 3-2 win at the Nashville Predators. Laich also assisted on the game-tying goal by Tomas Fleischmann in the third period. Michel Neuvirth had 37 saves. ... Niklas Hjalmarsson's return to the Chicago Blackhawks' lineup against the Buffalo Sabres didn't produce any moments of violent vengeance, and Patrick Sharp's two goals opened and closed the scoring in Chicago's 4-3 victory. Marian Hossa scored his fifth; Marty Turco made 38 saves. ... The Detroit Red Wings cashed in on the their second power play of the overtime, as Niklas Kronwall scored to give the Detroit Red Wings a 2-1 victory at the Phoenix Coyotes. ... Anthony Stewart scored his fourth of the season while Dustin Byfuglien and Andrew Ladd scored against their old Chicago teammate Antti Niemi (24 saves), as the Atlanta Thrashers stunned the San Jose Sharks at the Shark Tank, 4-2. ... Magnus Paajarvi scored his first NHL goal for the Oilers. ... Finally, R.J. Umberger scored a shorthanded goal that was upheld by the War Room's video review, giving the Columbus Blue Jackets a 3-2 victory over the Minnesota Wild. But the best goal of the game was from Brent Burns, who unleashed this spin-o-rama from an impossible angle that some are calling a Goal of the Year candidate:

Did you know? Carey Price got his first win on home ice since Feb. 10 for Montreal.

Dishonorable mention: Phoenix's Scottie Upshall torched his arena ice crew on Twitter after the game, writing "I couldve made better ice for us to skate on tonight out of a 7/11 slurpee machine. Common ice crew, figure it out!" ... The Coyotes gave the Red Wings eight power plays on the night. ... The Devils are now a terrible 0-3-1 at home. ... The Capitals' Nicklas Backstrom got a minor for this boarding of Marcel Goc; should it have been more? ... Among the minus-3 players on Saturday: Jason Arnott of the Devils; Milan Hejduk of the Avalanche; Randy Jones, Mike Lundin, Ryan Malone, Dominic Moore and Mattias Ritola of Tampa Bay; Matt Carkner of Ottawa; and Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle of the Oilers. ... Calgary bested the Oilers in the faceoff dot 45-18.

Last week, we published the official sports book odds on the 2010-11 NHL season courtesy of Bodog, from the conference champions to the postseason award winners. Now it's time to break things down on an individual basis, featuring the top players from each team and their over/under for point production.

There are some eye-openers in these predictions/prognostications/wagering milestones. Like Zach Parise of the New Jersey Devils seeing his stats decline with Ilya Kovalchuk on the team. Like Pavel Datsyuk rebounding from his slump last season with the Detroit Red Wings. Like Anze Kopitar potentially taking a dip with the Los Angeles Kings.

Check out last season's scoring leaders in the NHL; and now, check out where Bodog set their point totals for the coming season. Who is too high? Who is too low?

Travis Zajac: 62.5

Patrik Elias: 57.5

New York Islanders Over/Under Player Points

John Tavares: 63.5

Josh Bailey: 41.5

Matt Moulson: 41.5

New York Rangers Over/Under Player Points

Marian Gaborik: 85.5

Alexander Frolov: 59.5

Vaclav Prospal: 52.5

Brandon Dubinsky: 46.5

Philadelphia Flyers Over/Under Player Points

Jeff Carter: 71.5

Mike Richards: 67.5

Nikolai Zherdev: 57.5

Chris Pronger: 50.5

Pittsburgh Penguins Over/Under Player Points

Sidney Crosby: 109.5

Evgeni Malkin: 99.5

Jordan Staal: 51.5

Chris Kunitz: 41.5

OUR TAKE: The offensive numbers for the Devils seem a little low with what Kovalchuk could bring to the top line and to special teams. But maybe that's exactly what they want us to think. We'd take the under on Crosby and the over on Richards. We'll assume that the odds might be off for Propsal at some point.

Northeast Division

Boston Bruins Over/Under Player Points

Marc Savard: 70.5

Nathan Horton: 67.5

Patrice Bergeron: 52.5

Zdeno Chara: 44.5

Tyler Seguin: 41.5

Buffalo Sabres Over/Under Player Points

Derek Roy: 70.5

Tim Connolly: 60.5

Thomas Vanek: 56.5

Tyler Myers: 51.5

Montreal Canadiens Over/Under Player Points

Mike Cammalleri: 64.5

Tomas Plekanec: 61.5

Scott Gomez: 60.5

Brian Gionta: 52.5

Andrei Markov: 42.5

Andrei Kostitsyn: 40.5

P.K. Subban: 40.5

Lars Eller: 38.5

Ottawa Senators Over/Under Player Points

Jason Spezza: 77.5

Daniel Alfredsson: 67.5

Sergei Gonchar: 56.5

Alex Kovalev: 56.5

Mike Fisher: 47.5

Milan Michalek: 41.5

Erik Karlsson: 39.5

Toronto Maple Leafs Over/Under Player Points

Phil Kessel: 63.5

Tyler Bozak: 49.5

Mikhail Grabovski: 45.5

Kris Versteeg: 45.5

Tomas Kaberle: 44.5

Dion Phaneuf: 43.5

Nazem Kadri: 39.5

OUR TAKE: The Canadiens numbers might all be worth a look as "overs" if they can stay healthy this season. We'd also take an over on Gonchar with the Senators and Vanek with the Sabres. Interesting one with Nathan Horton of the Bruins, as the prediction is a new career best in points with his new team.

Southeast Division

Atlanta Thrashers Over/Under Player Points

Nikolai Antropov: 62.5

Rich Peverley: 45.5

Evander Kane: 42.5

Dustin Byfuglien: 31.5

Carolina Hurricanes Over/Under Player Points

Eric Staal: 77.5

Jussi Jokinen: 53.5

Brandon Sutter: 44.5

Tuomo Ruutu: 44.5

Florida Panthers Over/Under Player Points

Stephen Weiss: 60.5

Michael Frolik: 51.5

David Booth: 44.5

Bryan McCabe: 41.5

Tampa Bay Lightning Over/Under Player Points

Steven Stamkos: 92.5

Martin St. Louis: 85.5

Vincent Lecavalier: 71.5

Simon Gagne: 56.5

Washington Capitals Over/Under Player Points

Alexander Ovechkin: 110.5

Nicklas Backstrom: 97.5

Alexander Semin: 75.5

Mike Green: 75.5

OUR TAKE: The Eric Staal prediction seemed a shade low until you realize he's been under 80 points in three of the last four seasons. The Stamkos prediction might point to a dip in his totals. Might love Evandar Kane and the over here; Gagne at just 56.6 is strange, in that lineup.

Central Division

Chicago Blackhawks Over/Under Player Points

Patrick Kane: 90.5

Jonathan Toews: 74.5

Marian Hossa: 70.5

Duncan Keith: 58.5

Columbus Blue Jackets Over/Under Player Points

Rick Nash 78.5

Antoine Vermette 60.5

Kristian Huselius 59.5

R.J. Umberger 51.5

Detroit Red Wings Over/Under Player Points

Pavel Datsyuk 83.5

Henrik Zetterberg 74.5

Johan Franzen 52.5

Nicklas Lidstrom 44.5

Mike Modano 42.5

Nashville Predators Over/Under Player Points

Patric Hornqvist: 53.5

Steve Sullivan: 47.5

Matthew Lombardi: 46.5

Shea Weber: 43.5

St. Louis Blues Over/Under Player Points

T.J. Oshie: 56.5

Brad Boyes: 54.5

Andy McDonald: 52.5

David Perron: 51.5

OUR TAKE: If you own a dog and a house, we'd gladly wager both on Toews and the over. Some real wild cards here: TJ Oshie leading the Blues in points? Matthew Lombardi posting less than 50 points in the pivot for the Predators? Mike Modano cracking 40 with the Red Wings?

Northwest Division

Calgary Flames Over/Under Player Points

Jarome Iginla: 82.5

Olli Jokinen: 52.5

Rene Bourque: 48.5

Alex Tanguay: 48.5

Matt Stajan: 46.5

Mikael Backlund: 37.5

Ian White: 28.5

Colorado Avalanche Over/Under Player Points

Paul Stastny 77.5

Matt Duchene 61.5

Peter Mueller 46.5

Milan Hejduk 45.5

Edmonton Oilers Over/Under Player Points

Ales Hemsky 64.5

Dustin Penner 57.5

Sam Gagner 52.5

Jordan Eberle 51.5

Taylor Hall 47.5

Ryan Whitney 39.5

Andrew Cogliano 36.5

Minnesota Wild Over/Under Player Points

Mikko Koivu: 71.5

Martin Havlat: 62.5

Andrew Brunette: 54.5

Guillaume Latendresse: 45.5

Vancouver Canucks Over/Under Player Points

Henrik Sedin: 99.5

Daniel Sedin: 95.5

Ryan Kesler: 71.5

Mason Raymond: 55.5

Alexandre Burrows: 49.5

Mikael Samuelsson: 48.5

Alexander Edler: 44.5

OUR TAKE: Lots of interesting numbers, especially in Edmonton where Eberle is seen as a higher point producer than Hall at the moment. But honestly, the most confounding wager has to be Olli Jokinen and 52.6 points, right?

Pacific Division

Anaheim Ducks Over/Under Player Points

Ryan Getzlaf: 85.5

Corey Perry: 79.5

Bobby Ryan: 64.5

Saku Koivu: 43.5

Dallas Stars Over/Under Player Points

Brad Richards 77.5

Loui Eriksson 66.5

Mike Ribeiro 60.5

Brenden Morrow 46.5

Los Angeles Kings Over/Under Player Points

Anze Kopitar: 76.5

Drew Doughty: 60.5

Dustin Brown: 58.5

Ryan Smyth: 51.5

Phoenix Coyotes Over/Under Player Points

Wojtek Wolski: 63.5

Shane Doan: 58.5

Ray Whitney: 56.5

Keith Yandle: 38.5

San Jose Sharks Over/Under Player Points

Joe Thornton: 91.5

Dany Heatley: 89.5

Patrick Marleau: 71.5

Joe Pavelski: 61.5

OUR TAKE: We'd pretty much take the under on the entire Coyotes collection, the over on Kopitar and the over on Joe Thornton.

Colorful characters, revered championships, staged fights ... the rink shares plenty with the squared circle. So here at Puck Daddy, we've decided to preview the 2010-11 NHL season with the help of old-school wrestling icons, images and lingo. It's a slobber-knocker, Mean Gene...

Last Season (44-32-6, 94 points; 2nd in Northeast, 5th in the Conference)

Surprising many, the Ottawa Senators shook off the Dany Heatley situation that took over their summer, moved forward without him and into fifth place in the Eastern Conference. Atop the Northeast Division at the Olympic break, the Senators stumbled when play resumed, losing eight of their next nine games before a 7-2-1 stretch to end the season paired them with the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The Sens took Pittsburgh to six games in the conference quarterfinals, where their season was ended on a Pascal Dupuis goal in overtime.

Helped by the play of goaltender Brian Elliott (with some help from Pascal Leclaire in the postseason) and a career season by Mike Fisher, the Senators quickly forgot about Heatley and young talents like Peter Regin and Erik Karlsson began to develop.

Can last season be built on and repeated?

The biggest lost the Sens had was defensive defenseman Anton Volchenkov. Not having his shutdown, shot blocking presence back there will not help Brian Elliott one bit. Ottawa was fourth best in the NHL with 28.5 shots allowed per game with 172 potential shots getting blocked by Volchenkov.

After questioning the elbow height expertise of reporters, Andy "The Expert" Sutton headed west towards Anaheim.

Secondary scoring forward Matt Cullen took his 48 points to the Minnesota Wild, which will allow for the likes of Regin and Nick Foligno to see more ice time.

Gritty forward Shean Donovan was not re-signed after spending the last three seasons in Ottawa. Donovan remains unsigned as he looks to catch on with another or ply his trade in Europe.

New Additions

Tight against the salary cap, GM Bryan Murray could only afford one big-ticket item in the summer: Defenseman Sergei Gonchar, who had spent the previous five seasons in Pittsburgh. The offensive blueliner should give the Ottawa's power-play a boost and help bring along Karlsson; and while he may not be the shutdown specialist that Volchenkov is, Gonchar has improved his defensive game to the point where he won't be a liability in his own end.

Forwards

Ottawa was ranked 15th in the league last in goals scored (220) and that was with off seasons from Alexei Kovalev (18 goals, 49 points) and Jason Spezza (23 goals, 57 points) and another year of declining points from captain Daniel Alfredsson (20 goals, 71 points).

The potential for firepower is there within the Senators' lineup. Along with Mike Fisher (25 goals), Milan Michalek (22 goals) and burgeoning star Peter Regin (13 goals), if Spezza and Kovalev can re-discover their form, Ottawa can find itself challenging the Boston Bruins for tops in the Northeast Division.

Filling out the forward depth is everyone's favorite pain in the [Gretzky] Jarkko Ruutu, his ta- team brother-in-annoyance, Chris Neil and Nick Foligno, who was on pace for a career high in points, but two separate injuries forced him to miss 21 games. Chris Kelly is looking for his sixths traight season of double-digit goals as he handles center duties.

Wrestler(s) That Best Symbolize the Team

Iron Mike Sharpe, like the Senators, has a proud Canadian history in his sport. A middle card guy who put over a number of wrestlers who went on to bigger and better things, Sharpe always seemed to have a tough time winning on Maple Leaf Wrestling. Wrestling reflecting the NHL?

Defense

Even with Volchenkov as one of the league's best shutdown defensemen, the Senators allowed 2.84 goals a game, good for 18th in the NHL.

Bryan Murray's goal for this season with his defense is to let the other team block shots, as he told reporters after Volchenkov moved on.

Gonchar's addition will help the power play and the offense coming from the back. Another year of experience from Erik Karlsson, along with Gonchar as a mentor, should further develop the 20-year Swede's game.

Filip Kuba will miss the start of the season after breaking his leg over the weekend, but he and veteran stalwart Chris Phillips should continue to be leaders on the Ottawa blueline.

Rounding our the defense corps are Chris Campoli, who brushed off an early season injury and played well post-Olympics; Matt Carkner, who should be eager to see Colton Orr again this season; and youngsters Brian Lee and Jared Cowan who will get a chance to prove they deserve to stay with the big club with Kuba out injured.

Goaltending

When given the opportunity, Brian Elliott has always answered the hot tag. Given 31 games in 2008-09, he won 16. Given 55 last season, Elliott won 29 of them.

Pascal Leclaire will push Elliott not only for the starting job, but the oft-injured goaltender is also playing for a contract. An unrestricted free agent at season's end (Elliott will be an RFA), the 27-year old Leclaire needs to prove himself a viable No. 1 or his seven figure salary will lose a digit come next summer.

Match We'd Pay To Watch

Carrie Underwood and Mike Fisher against former Ottawa teammate Mike Comrie and Hilary Duff in a mixed tag match to determine the better couple nickname: "Duffrie" or "Fisherwood." Losing female gets Sean Avery.

Breakout Player

Peter Regin haunted the Penguins in the first round last season and with an expected increase in TOI (12:53) from a year ago, there's no question he should surpass his 13-goal total.

Potential Flop

Turning 38 years old in December, Daniel Alfredsson is staring retirement in the face. Even though he's lead the Senators in scoring the past two season, Alfie's have dwindled each year since his 103-point effort in 2005-06. Missing 12 games last season, the Senators' captain scored just 20 times, his lowest amount since the 1998-99 season when he potted 11.

Finishing Move

Alex Kovalev's shootout moves are so slick you'll feel like you were just in the crossface chicken wing (patented by Bob Backlund) when he's done with you.

Special Teams

The lack of power-play production from the likes of Alex Kovalev and Alfredsson helped sink the Sens to 20th in the NHL (16.9 percent). Sergei Gonchar's one-timer and presence on the point as power play quarterback should help improve that.

Having Anton Volchenkov kill penalties helped Ottawa finish seventh on the kill (16.9 percent). With him gone, Cory Clouston will have to find another partner on the main shorthanded pairing with Chris Phillips.

Coach/GM

Ottawa owner Eugene Melnyk isn't shy about spending money to put the best possible team on the ice. GM Bryan Murray is the man who writes the checks to fill out the lineup and with his contract up after this season, results are a must if he's to keep his job.

After Dany Heatley bristled at his approach, head coach Cory Clouston has won over the locker room and the Senators bought what he was selling. With an offensive approach, Clouston will miss Volchenkov's presence on the Senators blueline if Elliott or Leclaire falter.

2010-11 Preseason Report Card:

Forwards: B+
Defense: B
Goaltending: B- (Leclaire's ability as a backup looms large here)
Special Teams: C
Coaching: B
Management: B

Main Event or Dark Match? (Prediction)

The Senators have what it takes to get back to the playoffs in the Eastern Conference. The question will be on the goaltending tandem of Brian Elliott and Pascal Leclaire. If healthy, Ottawa can challenge Boston for tops in the Northeast and one of the top three spots in the East. If bad luck runs amok, the firepower may be good up front, but not enough to make the Senators a darkhorse threat come playoff time.

Ottawa Senators' Entrance Music to the 2010-11 Season

Vampiro was a mysterious guy that left a lot of questions about himself. That's the Ottawa Senators. How will Spezza respond? Which Kovalev will we see? Team Elliott or Team Leclaire?

Anton Volchenkov of the Ottawa Senators is a defenseman, and the Norris Trophy is the award given to the best player at his position. If Volchenkov had to chose the winner among 2010 finalists Drew Doughty of the Los Angeles Kings, Mike Green of the Washington Capitals and Duncan Keith of the Chicago Blackhawks, who gets his vote?

"Doughty is a really good player. I think this year he played really well. He's a young guy, but he is such a talented defenseman. He's had a great year," Volchenkov told Puck Daddy in an exclusive interview this week.

"Green? He's like a fourth forward when he's out there for Washington. I don't see him playing that seriously defensively, but offensively he is of a lot of benefit."

That's expected from Volchenkov, whose reputation is that of a "defensive" defenseman. He averaged 2.69 blocked shots per game this season, finishing in the NHL's top 10 in that category once again, while scoring only 14 points in 64 games this season. But his defensive abilities have made him one of the most interesting names on the unrestricted free agent market, after having just a $2.5 million cap hit for the Senators last season.

We spoke with Volchenkov about his impending free agency, the chances he'll return to Ottawa, why the Senators lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round, the Dany Heatley trade to the San Jose Sharks in hindsight, his offensive game and his Stanley Cup pick ... along with what he's driving and listening to these days.

Q. Now that the season is over for the Ottawa Senators, what is your assessment of it?

VOLCHENKOV: Of course we didn't do well in the playoffs. That's the main point. But at the same time we did make the playoffs to begin with, which means it was an OK season. This season was really tough because of the Olympics. It was especially hard because of the game against Canada. [Russia] really did not play well in that game. We simply burned out. But otherwise it was a good season.

The season for the Senators started with the news of Dany Heatley demanding a trade. How did it affect the team and the mood in the locker room ahead of the season?

Once again, wanting out of Ottawa was his opinion. Life doesn't stop when these things happen. We just had to carry on getting ready for the season ahead. At the same time the whole thing was blown out of proportion by the media. But we all have our own take on that situation. Some people like to leave with a scandal. That's the way it happened with Dany.

I personally don't have anything against Dany. It was bad that we lost a good scoring forward. But it was his decision to make. As for the team and how it affected the team, maybe someone had a bad feeling left somewhere deep inside. But we did get two forwards instead of one. Milan Michalek is a good player who can score. And Jonathan Cheechoo too, although he may not have had a good season comparing to what he used to do before. We, as a team, did well this season. And as for Dany, these types of situations happen.

You didn't have a bad season yourself. Some say that you're a rubber magnet and pucks just find you. Is there a spot on your body that is not sore?

Hockey is such a game that requires a defenseman to help out a goaltender. Maybe I do try to block shots too much, but this is my style of play. This is the way I like to play.

You blocked a lot of shots in your series against the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Senators took the Penguins to 6 games. What wasn't enough to overcome Pittsburgh?

We didn't prepare.

Not that we didn't prepare well, all the guys were motivated, but we were completely crashed in the first two home games, we lost pretty badly. At the same time, we went to Pittsburgh for Game 5, and we snatched a win there.

Maybe we relaxed a little bit; maybe we lacked chemistry a little bit, thus the result. We have played each other three years in a row. We did win the first time we met, but couldn't beat them since. That's the way it is.

It sounds a little strange when you say that you may not have prepared well, relaxed. You were playing the defending Stanley Cup champions.

No, no. Not that we weren't prepared. I just think we didn't approach the games with the right set of mind, especially the home games. As I mentioned, we lost both of our first home games. And also sometimes the luck was on their side. But there's no point throwing punches after the fight. We have to talk about the future. The season is over. We have to look ahead and get ready for the new season. We have to understand why we lost and draw the right conclusions.

Were you surprised that there were a lot of Penguins' fans at Ottawa's home games?

I think there are a lot of cities where fans of other teams live, those who love other teams. There are a lot of people who move to other cities but keep supporting their home team. And Canada, especially, is a hockey country. I think there are a lot of people in Canada who support other non-Canadian teams. And that's OK.

You said that the time is now to draw the right conclusions and get ready for the new season. Do you know where you will prepare for the new season? You are a free agent on July 1.

I said I was going to get ready for the new season, but I didn't say where.

Right now I need for my old injuries, knocks and bruises to heal, and then I will start getting ready for the new season. Only then we will see where and how.

What's it like psychologically for you to realize that you're a free agent? You're 28, and right now you're in your prime, which means that maybe this is the last opportunity to get that big long term contract to provide for yourself and your family.

The nervousness is always there. Whichever way you want to put it, but I have spent 7 years in Ottawa. Of course it would be sad to move to another city. I am trying to look ahead at this point because life doesn't stop. But you're right, this is going to be one of the most important contracts of my hockey career. That's why we will have to see and decide what it's going to be.

You spent seven years in Ottawa. You can say that the Senators nurtured you as a player. How will you feel if you have to leave Ottawa?

I think I was nurtured as a player in Russia. And here I was given a chance to play. Of course I have to admit that it is going to be sad if I have to leave Ottawa. But this is hockey. It doesn't always happen the way you want it. I am not a fan of changing teams, but... But if I am in such situation, we will have to decide. But it will all have to happen later.

Have you had discussions with the Senators about a new contract yet? They do have a right to negotiate with you before July 1.

Well, they did make an offer. But we were still playing. Right now we're waiting for some meetings. But I don't know what and when something is going to happen. Right now there are still playoff games to be played by other teams. We'll see.

You scored four goals this season. Some may say that this is just too few for a top defenseman. What can you say about your offensive abilities?

All the top defensemen have a different responsibility, if I can put it this way. The main responsibility is to defend and protect your zone, and not to score. And if you look at me, I am not a player who usually plays on power plays, and that's where the points are usually collected. I usually kill a lot of penalties. I also usually play against the main forwards of opposing teams. That's why I have a different responsibility.

My job is to stop the most dangerous guys.

All Russian players, including defensemen, have a thing for playing offense, to go forward, to score. Do you have any of that?

Of course I do want to do all those things. But when you're playing against the likes of Ovechkin or Kovalchuk or Crosby that's not exactly what you think about. Scoring is not something you think about. The main thing is that they don't score against you. That's the situation when I am on the ice.

Of course I'd like to score and play on power play. But my duty is to play against the most dangerous guys. And you have to keep an eye on them at all times. Those guys have so much skill, that it's not always you get a chance to go forward against those guys.

As a defenseman in the Eastern Conference, is it tougher to play against the Western Conference opponents?

Hockey is a lot more physical in the Western Conference. And in the East it's a lot about skill and puck movement.

I am not saying that players from the East are a lot more skilled than guys from the West, but the main difference, in my opinion, is that hockey is a lot more physical in the West.

And if you were to leave Ottawa, would you prefer to stay in the East, or move to the West?

I would, to be honest, prefer to stay in the East. I wouldn't want to move too far. Once again, I don't know right now. We will have to assess the situation when it arises.

What is your prediction for the playoffs this year?

It's so difficult to pick any team. I think Washington's chances are good. I think Vancouver looked really strong the last couple of games with some of their guys started playing really well. I think every team has a good chance. I just can't say that one team is that much weaker than the other. All teams are of the same level and it depends on the way each team approaches any given game.

A few of the regular Puck Daddy questions before you go. What are you driving these days and what is your dream car?

I am driving an Audi. And the dream? I don't even know. I would love to take a ride in a Bugatti, get some wind. I just don't think this dream is possible. Maybe in another life.

What's playing in your iPod?

Everything! You can find anything but country music there.

And when you're not driving an Audi, dreaming of a Bugatti, how do you spend your free time?

Any chance of some free time I get, I just relax, spend time with my family, my son. There is just not that much time during the season. So, whenever I have a chance, I try to spend time with my family.

Is your son going to be a hockey player?

I don't know. He will be whoever he wants to be. It depends on him. I am not putting any pressure on him. It's his pick.

By Pension Plan Puppets

Dearly beloved hockey fans (just kidding, we dislike most of you), we are not here to discuss whether Puck Daddy is having a slow news day (they are) or if he's in the tank for the Caps or Penguins (because he's a Devils homer).

We are here to remember the good times provided by the Ottawa Senators.

Every year the Senators bow out of the playoffs, our minds wander back to a beautiful day in 2004 when their Captain and part-time Krusty the Clown stunt double Daniel Alfredsson said the following:

"Go ahead and write it, I guarantee we'll win the Cup."

The Leafs may not have won the Cup in my lifetime, but I can take solace in the fact that Ottawa's young core is finally dying and Daniel Alfredsson's open-ended guarantee goes on unfulfilled. The trio of Dany Heatley, Alfredsson and Jason Spezza that terrorized the Northeast for so long has turned into Alfie's last days, Spezza's creepy giggle, Jonathan Cheechoo and Milan Michalek, who's having surgery on his knee again and may never play.

It's amazing how little $14M and 180 goals in four seasons doesn't quite buy you what it used to anymore.

At the very least, Senators fans can take solace in the fact that Cory Clouston, finishing his first full season as Ottawa's coach, believes that he's "seen a lot of improvements in his game from Day 1. It's a process with him. He's moving in the right direction." You might remember similar quotations from such periods in Senators' history as "Jacques Martin Frowns as Leafs Eliminate Senators Parts 1 - 4" or "John Paddock's Grumpy Months" or "Craig Hartsburg Is In Over His Head".

Going deeper into the Heatley trade, it's odd that he'd want out of Ottawa and even odder than Ottawa would let him go. Though you have to love a player like Heatley, who demands a trade out of town and then uses his no-trade clause to avoid ending up in Edmonton. The fact is Ottawa got nothing at all in the deal for Heatley besides salary they need to pay. As Canada's brokest team, I can't imagine noted purse string opener Eugene Melnyk, upon learning of having to pay Cheechoo while on his private yacht in international waters avoiding another securities commission investigation, is thrilled to have not saved any money trading a goal scorer for two ex-goal scorers.

The good news for Senators fans is that Eugene will have a lot of time to focus on the team and that'll allow him to share his own views on team building with successful GM Bryan Murray.

The Philadelphia Flyers catch a lot of flak for their decades-long disaster in net, but the Senators are giving them a run for their money. Former goalie of the future Jeff Glass is now Wendy's Assistant Night Manager of the future; Brian Elliott rode an 11 game unsustainable hot streak to a deceptive save percentage but he was well and truly exposed by the Penguins; and Pascal LeClaire will make contortionists out of Senators fans as they try to argue that three games of .920 save percentages is more indicative of true talent than a career of .903 save percentages goaltending.

I guess there's always Robin Lehner coming down the pipe. I look forward to Alfie guaranteeing his countryman's future success.

"Go ahead and write it, I guarantee my legs look great in this tutu"

Brian Elliott being anointed goaltender of the future based on a bizarre hot streak wasn't the weirdest thing that happened to Ottawa this year. That dubious honor would have to go to the absolutely laughable notion that Mike Fisher should have been named to team Canada at the Olympics.

About 896 escaped mental patients lent their voice to the campaign. The groundswell of support was exaggerated in much the same way as another reality-averse group of fans or the demand for playoff tickets. To be clear, Canada's four centers were: Sidney Crosby, Jonathon Toews, Ryan Getzlaf and Patrice Bergeron.

Fact: Mike Fisher finished behind Matt Stajan in the scoring race the past two years.

Another Fact: Matt Stajan is terrible.

A Final Fact: Matt Stajan will still make a lot less money than Mike Fisher.

With Ottawa, though, there's so much more to hate than the team that plays 30 minutes down the highway from a minor city. The National Capital Commission is working on re-branding the area's image. No, they won't be going with "Home of The Dynasty That Never Was" and they won't be going with "'fun', 'dynamic', "modern', 'cosmopolitan', or 'innovative.' in the slogan either. Despite eliminating the kinds of words that might make someone interested in visiting the area, the NCC isn't quite going with truth in advertising either.

They are expected to position the city as 'interesting' and 'beautiful,' despite the fact that the city of Ottawa itself is a complete pit.

During the 2009 World Junior Championships, one couldn't walk around the "downtown core" (a McDonald's, Don Cherry's bar and four hundred unisex hair salons) without being bombarded by homeless people asking for money.

At least in Toronto we have the good taste to round up ne'erdowells and use a bulldozer to push them in to Lake Ontario; aka. "The Giuliani".

Just this morning, Chris Phillips announced that he won't accept a Team Canada invite for the World Championships, despite not yet being invited. If Team Canada needs someone to score into their own net, they'll wait for Dan Boyle to inevitably end up with some free time in a week and a half. Other players declining invites before being asked include Toronto's Garnet Exelby, who doesn't want to block Chris Campoli's only shot at greatness.

Before reminding us in the comments that we're just bitter because we're Leafs fans, we'll admit that you're right. As fans of a team that hasn't played in the postseason recently and may never do so again, we'd like to welcome the Ottawa Senators to the offseason and remind you all that every Sens fan over the age of 25 used to cheer for Montreal or Toronto.

Whenever the Dynasty that Never Was decides to face the facts and rebuild, Ottawa can look forward to being the 2008-2009 Maple Leafs. Enjoy.

• The finalists for the Mark Messier Leadership Award: Nicklas Lidstrom, Ryan Miller, Jamie Langenbrunner, Alex Ovechkin and Mike Richards. Huh, they must have completely spelled Sidney Crosby's name wrong, to the point where it looks like "Mike Richards." Vote now! (But know this: Fans voted for these finalists, and will vote for a "winner," but it's Messier's call in end.) [NHL]

• With a blog post titled "Blah - Blah - Blah Redux," Ted Leonsis offered his expected response to comments made by Columbus Blue Jackets forward R.J. Umberger, which is to politely ask him to worry about his own team's many, many problems. He also mentions the Blue Jackets have only qualified for the playoffs once, which naturally makes one wonder how many banners the Washington Capitals would own playing in the Central Division and the Western Conference for the last decade. [Ted's Take]

• The Capitals players also reacted to Umberger this morning, including defenseman Mike Green: "We play an aggressive game, but that's why we're so successful during the season. It's obviously a different style, but now having played two, three years in the playoffs, we really understand what it takes [to win in the postseason]." [Capitals Insider]

• Meanwhile, Dan Steinberg reveals that even without the Southeast Division crutch, the Capitals would still be on top of the NHL standings. (This is also perhaps the first time a Puck Daddy commenter has inspired the work of a mainstream journalist; there's hope for you yet, Bubba Banjo!). [DC Sports Bog]

• Making the case for Henrik Sedin of the Vancouver Canucks to win the Hart ... and then realizing it's pointless thanks to East Coast Bias. [Cycle Like The Sedins]

• Headline of the day: "Overweight O'Brien apologizes as he returns from one-week exile. [CP]

• Peter Mueller of the Colorado Avalanche is out with a concussion after a nasty but completely legal hit from Rob Blake on Sunday night. Just a reminder that hockey is a violent sport; and short of playing the entire game in an inflatable sumo wrestling outfit, concussions are not going to be legislated out of it. [Kukla, who has video]

• Over 50 former Pittsburgh Penguins will return to Mellon Arena for the regular-season farewell this week. Sorry, Kris Beech, it appears your invitation was lost in the mail ... [Penguins]

• Daniel Alfredsson of the Ottawa Senators: Hall of Famer or not? [Ottawa Citizen]

• With salary cap and prospect analysis, George Richards makes the case that Tomas Vokoun should be done with the Florida Panthers. Say, the Panthers can take on salary ... the Flyers have a lot of salary ... hmmmm. [On Frozen Pond]

• Looking back at the defining transactions for previous Dallas Stars GMs as Joe Nieuwendyk ends his first year at the helm. Sergei Zubov for Kevin Hatcher back in 1996. Yowch. [Razor With An Edge]

• Should the St. Louis Blues hang on to Paul Kariya? [Frozen Notes]

• Who is the NHL's most underrated player? [Blueshirt Banter]

• Adam Proteau's dissection of the Tampa Bay Lightning's mismanagement is all well and good, but a bone to pick, sir: If you think the Philadelphia Flyers would be better off with that eternal [expletive] tease Antero Niittymaki between the pipes, then you don't understand the depth of the Flyers' goaltending follies. [THN]

• One day, Michael Russo and Ron McLean will meet for an icy beverage and have a laugh over how many times Alex Burrows has taken a dive in his career. [Star Tribune]

• Your Three Stars for the last week: Jaroslav Halak, Saku Koivu and Tuukka Rask. Needs more vowels. [NHL]

• "Colin Murphy (2nd L) of Augbsurg battles for the puck with Jeff Friesen (R) of Berlin during the fourth DEL quarter final play-off game between Augsburger Panther and Eisbaeren Berlin at Curt-Frenzel-Stadion on April 5, 2010 in Augsburg, Germany." In other news, WE WANT TO LIVE IN THAT HOUSE ACROSS THE STREET. Hockey from your bedroom. Awesome. [Getty]

• Dennis Seidenberg, who's been pretty damn good for the Boston Bruins, is a game-time decision Monday evening against the Caps. [Bruins Blog]

• Milan Michalek is finally nearing a return for the Ottawa Senators. [Slam Sports]

• Ray Ferraro breaks down the flaws for each of the conference contenders, before settling on a Capitals/Blackhawks final like the rest of the free world will in next week's predictions. [TSN]

• Damien Cox wonders if Alex Ovechkin's cold streak is due to a lack of motivation for the President's Trophy winners. [Toronto Star]

• Nice feature from Canes Country, taking reader questions and pestering Jamie McBain with them. Why No. 28? It was given to him by the team. Huh. [Canes Country]

• The Edmonton Oilers sign YouTube sensation Linus Omark to a 2-year deal. [TSN]

• Who would the Detroit Red Wings want to play most in the first round? A vote for the Vancouver Canucks. [Winging It]

• Mike Heika tries to track down more information on that strange Modano/Hull/Gretzky ownership story from Monday morning. [Dallas Stars Blog]

• Finally, watch the new Bloge Salming video with Don Cherry. Watch it now. (Check out these headlines for context.) [BS]

("Sleepers, Keepers , Bench'em or Drop'em" is a weekly fantasy hockey column written by Darryl "Dobber" Dobbs, an honest-to-goodness expert on such matters and founder of DobberHockey.com. His column will run on Puck Daddy every Thursday.)

As the playoffs approach, office staff members across North America are starting to get the itch. As long as they didn't enlist the services of an escort, we can assume that the itch is for organizing the draft for the annual playoff pool. While most people fight for the same players on the same five teams and wind up with two from each of the favorites, you can laugh as they resort to Mark Eaton or Patrick Eaves in the latter rounds. Because you have a plan. And I'm going to give it to you.

"The Plan" I

Everyone knows that to succeed in a playoff pool, you have to load up on players playing for the Cup favorites as much as possible. And when you draft your team, try and keep the team distribution that is represented on your roster as short a list as possible. The problem is — everyone knows this. But most of them make a big mistake. See to it that you don't, with this simple strategy.

The Jesse James strategy — loyalty is silly

If you like the Caps and manage to secure say, Alex Semin in the first round, Brooks Laich in the third round, and by the fifth round you are thinking that Matt Bradley, the only available Washington player with more than 20 points, looks pretty appealing — get a hold of yourself. It's time to let go. If Washington plays 20 games, a player like Bradley is as likely to get you five points as Gary Bettman is to give you some bad news about the NHL. It just won't happen.

Brayden Coburn, Philadelphia Flyers — It was a very disappointing season for Coburn, thanks in part to the logjam of offensive defensemen in Philly. But he tallied nine points in 20 playoff games over the last two years, which is an increase over his points-per-game average of the regular seasons that led up to them.

Ruslan Fedotenko, Pittsburgh Penguins — Fedotenko's career best points-per-game average is 0.6, yet the last two times that his team went on an extended run he posted a 0.58 (with Pittsburgh last year) and 0.64 (with Tampa in 2004). This regular season flop will be one of the last Penguins that everyone will be scrambling to nab, whereas he'll probably be fifth or sixth in team scoring if they go far.

Scott Gomez, Montreal Canadiens — Montreal is another decent suggestion as a "fifth team." You could grab two of their top players in the final two rounds after the Pittsburgh, Washington, New Jersey, San Jose, Chicago and Detroit bones have been picked clean. Just make sure that Gomez is one of those two. If the Habs can play 12 games in these playoffs — and with Jaroslav Halak in net who is to say they can't — then Gomez could get 12 points. That's excellent return for the latter two rounds. He has 45 points in his last 42 postseason contests, with many of those points coming during his sucky (aka Rangers) years.

Milan Lucic, Boston Bruins — Like many Bruins this year, Lucic has been horrible offensively. Even so, last year his points-per-game went from 0.58 in the regular season to 0.9 in the postseason. He was also a plus-12 with 43 PIM. A future playoff stud if there ever was one.

Paul Martin, New Jersey Devils — Martin will probably finish shy of 10 points on the season, which will make him so unnoticeable at the draft you'd think he was an NBC sitcom. But he's still getting his legs back and should be hitting his stride by mid-April. Though he has played in only 12 postseason contests over the last two years, he has seven points.

Raffi Torres, Buffalo Sabres — In each of his two postseason appearances, Torres posted a point every two games. Buffalo going two rounds should put him at around six points. Depending on how deep your pool is, that could work for you.

Eastern Conference Playoff Clowns

Some of them may have a reputation as "warriors," but the numbers haven't shown it lately. Picking these guys early is about as smart an idea as the "Marriage Ref."

Zdeno Chara, Boston Bruins — The big galoot has just 10 points in his last 28 postseason games. Throw in the fact that Chara is on pace to finish with his lowest regular season point total since 2004 and what you have is a prime candidate to disappoint. He's a well-known name who will provide all the intangibles for the B's, but on the scoreboard is where it counts in playoff pools.

Tomas Fleischmann, Washington Capitals — The Flash may have set career highs this campaign, but he has just eight points in his last 18 games. In the last two postseasons, his points-per-game took a dip vs. his regular season. Factor in the depth that the Caps added at the deadline and the ice time that is now spread a little thin and Fleischmann will be picked far too early — by someone else.

Scott Hartnell, Philadelphia Flyers - Hartnell plays like a warrior, but he has yet to make a real impact in the postseason. His best performance was seven points in 17 games two years ago. He hasn't exactly built on the breakthrough 2008-09 that he had. Don't expect that to start now.

Milan Michalek, Ottawa Senators — The goals are there but the points are Michalek's worst since he was a rookie, so poolies won't exactly be lining up for him to begin with. But his playoff numbers are atrocious. He's a talented player who should be scoring 30 goals and 70 points, but has perhaps emulated his game from that of Jonathan Cheechoo. Regardless of the reason, even when he was setting career highs he hit a wall come April.

Next week — the Western Conference

Darryl Dobbs is the founder of dobberhockey.com, a fantasy hockey community with over a dozen columnists, a daily blog and in-depth fantasy player rankings. His always accurate opinions can also be found over at The Hockey News in their fantasy section

• Chicago Blackhawks owner Rocky Wirtz believes Alex Ovechkin intentionally hurt defenseman Brian Campbell and that players should be suspended as long as the players they injure are out: "If any one of our great players put Ovechkin out for the season, he should be out for the season, too." Which is usually what management says before one of his guys makes an asinine decision, puts an opponent out for a year and then has to backtrack by saying his guy "isn't that kind of player." [ESPN Chicago, via Kukla]

• The best protection for the Blackhawks isn't the second coming of Bob Probert, but a killer good power play. [Rosenblog]

• Heartwarming story from Atlanta: Boston Bruins center Patrice Bergeron visited injured Matt Brown in the hospital, a 15-year-old high-school player who suffered a broken neck during a game this season. He gave him a signed Bruins jersey, let him see his Olympic gold and gave him encouragement about rehabbing from the injury. Great stuff. [Fox Boston and WEEI]

• The Nashville Predators will surpass 14,000 fans per game on average, satisfying one of their requirements for full revenue sharing and team officials are optimistic they'll hit the other requirements. This franchise, and this fan base, is well overdue for a playoff run; is this is the year? [Tennessean]

• What's wrong with the San Jose Sharks? Coach Todd McLellan tells Pierre LeBrun: "We're chasing the game, I think is the best way of putting it. ... We're not sure if we need to play well defensively or if we need to open up offensively, and as a result, we're doing neither. So I think we've got to go back to the basics and take care of our end." Again, silver lining: They're doing this before the playoffs for a change. [ESPN]

• From Mark Purdy: "If the Sharks' master plan is to make sure that absolutely no one picks them to win the Stanley Cup this spring ... well, excellent job, men. [Mercury News]

• If you narc on some dad playing street hockey with a 7-year-old, causing him to get a $75 fine, you deserve a gentle Pronger'ing. [CBC Sports]

• Detroit Red Wings goalie Jimmy Howard on Sid's post-whistle stick-work and roughing in Monday night's game: "He does that stuff all the time. Somehow he gets away with it." [MLive]

• Is Sidney Crosby the most hated athlete in Detroit? [Detroit Sports Blog]

• Washington Capitals forward Brooks Laich suffered a facial laceration after a shot by rookie defenseman John Carlson hit the crossbar and rebounded near his eye. John Carlson, still bringing tears to the eyes of Canadians ... [Capitals Insider]

• The Chicago Blackhawks can clinch a playoff spot with a win over the Phoenix Coyotes and a Calgary Flames loss to the Anaheim Ducks. If it happens, Coach Joel Quenneville said that defenseman Brent Seabrook will be in the lineup Tuesday to enjoy it. [Between The Circles]

• The Ottawa Senators are hoping co-leading scorer Milan Michalek can return from injury in time for the playoffs. [Ottawa Citizen]

• A group of Spirit Lake Sioux tribal members is fighting to preserve the University of North Dakota's Fighting Sioux nickname. [Crookston Times]

• Following up this morning's goalie fight story, Steve Summerhays was suspended by the USHL three games for a fight Sunday with Chicago's Nick Pisellini, who was given a five-game suspension. Boo! [Fox 11]

• Interesting find by Jonathan Willis, who blogs about top draft prospect Kirill Kabanov returning to Russia despite his junior team being in a playoff race. [Hockey or Die]

• "That Alabama-Hunstville got into the tournament while keep two CCHA teams out should bring a smile to the face of Charger fans and hockey fans in general." [From The Rink]

• A Valentine to Pascal Dupuis of the Pittsburgh Penguins. [Pensburgh]

• A somewhat more muted Valentine to Bryan McCabe of the Florida Panthers. [Litter Box Cats]

• Rock The Red takes a look at the Hershey Bear's latest outlandish fashion choice: The St. Patrick's Day sweater. Needs more beer stains. [Rock The Red]

• Casting a vote for Dave Tippett of the Phoenix Coyotes as coach of the year. Since it should be unanimous, the first of many. [The Puck Stops Here]

• Interesting look from Michael Russo at how Minnesota Wild GM Chuck Fletcher is going after scores of collegiate free agents bringing along prospects. (Ed. Note: This link was pimped earlier, and misread the pitch. Apologies.) [Star Tribune]

• Remember that steroids story that tangentially involved the Washington Capitals, the one that came and went last year? It's back, with a chiropractor with "ties" to the Caps and Nationals getting arrested for distributing 'roids. [The Ledger, via Japers' Rink]

• Are Rick Tocchet and Brian Lawton at a "dead end" for the Tampa Bay Lightning? [Tampa Tribune]

• Evgeny Vorsin was voted the new president of the Belarusian Ice Hockey Association. Do not touch those gorgeous Christmas tree jerseys, sir. [Universal Sports]

• Any analysis of the Buffalo Sabres that includes the subhead "Who still stinks like Bob Corkum's underwear?" deserves your time. [WNY]

• "Canadians now spend more time basking in the glow of their computer screens than curled up in front of the television." Gosh, you don't think free porn might have something to do with it, do you? [Montreal Gazette]

• The Toronto Maple Leafs unofficial battle cry for the last weeks of the season: Make Burkie Look Good and Screw Boston. Rookie forward Viktor Stalberg: "We don't want to give too high a draft pick to Boston. And it would be good for [Phil Kessel] if we can take some of that [talk] away." [Slam Sports]

• There's every indications that Dion Phaneuf will be the next captain of the Toronto Maple Leafs, a.k.a. getting Mats Sundin's sloppy sec ... forget it. [National Post]

• Finally, if you have 32 minutes, here's a chat between Bryan Trottier and Barry Melrose. And if it's 32 minutes, that means about two questions were probably asked and answered.

No. 1 Star: Evgeni Nabokov, San Jose Sharks

Nabokov made a career-high 50 saves and two more in the shootout to lead the Sharks over the Detroit Red Wings, 3-2. He made 18 in the first period and 16 in the third period. San Jose received goals from Dwight Helminen and Joe Thornton in regulation, while Patrick Marleau had the lone goal in the shootout. Detroit remains in the No. 10 seed in the West, while the Sharks extended their lead in the conference ... which means there's obviously a chance the two could meet in a 1-vs.-8 playoff series.

No. 2 Star: Brandon Sutter, Carolina Hurricanes

Sutter already had a power-play goal and a helper on Stephane Yelle's second-period goal when he made a key play to set up Sergei Samsonov's OT game-winner. After Steve Montador slipped, fell and lost the puck near the Buffalo net (video), Sutter made a backhand pass to the slot that Samsonov buried for the 4-3 victory over the Sabres. Manny Legace made 21 saves. Ray Whitney scored his 17th, which Derek Roy scored two goals in the loss.

No. 3 Star: Alexander Semin, Washington Capitals

Two of the hottest teams in 2010 put on a show Thursday night, with the Ottawa Senators skating away with a 6-5 win over the Capitals to move into first place in the Northeast Division. Jason Spezza, Milan Michalek, Daniel Alfredsson, Chris Neil, Chris Phillips and Alex Kovalev had the Ottawa goals. But it was Semin who stole the show, tallying a hat trick with some brilliant offensive moves -- including this incredible sequence in the Senators' zone for goal No. 2.

Honorable mention: Roberto Luongo made 31 saves, and his posts made a few more, as the Vancouver Canucks shut out the Florida Panthers, 3-0. Alex Burrows scored his 26th goal in the win. ... Mike Ribeiro scored two goals and Marty Turco made 33 saves as the Dallas Stars picked up a big win at the Calgary Flames, 3-1. Jarome Iginla scored the lone goal for Calgary. Video replay took away a second Iggy goal, as the War Room prevented an embarrassment for the officials. ... It took a 10-round shootout, but Lubomir Visnovsky's skills competition goal snapped an 11-game road losing streak for the Edmonton Oilers with a 3-2 win at the Los Angeles Kings. Jonathan Quick missed the game with the flu for the Kings, as Erik Ersberg had the pleasure of competing in that marathon OT. ... Finally, the Boston Bruins and Tampa Bay Lightning played a bizarrely memorable game. The Bruins scored four first-period goals and added a fifth in the second, as Michael Ryder and Milan Lucic both tallied twice. Then Marty St. Louis scored twice, followed by another two goals by Steve Downie, to rally the Bolts. But Tuukka Rask (31 saves) and the Bruins survived for a 5-4 road victory. Downie also attempted to fight Miro Satan before getting roughed up by Zdeno Chara. ... Brendan Morrison was a plus-4 for Washington.

Did you know? Bruins RW Mark Recchi played in his 1,549th NHL game, tying him for ninth place on the career list with Alex Delvecchio. (AP)

Dishonorable mention: Antero Niittymaki was pulled after the first period, although Vinny Lecavalier said the problem was the support in front of him. ... The Bruins came away with two points, but also suffered the indignity of surrendering four goals of their five-goal lead. ... The Flames (2) and the Stars (1) combined for three too many men on the ice penalties in their game.

Burrows crashed the Columbus net all night and his linemates set him up for his second career hat trick in a 7-3 laugher over the Blue Jackets. All three of Burrows' goals were scored from in close. He tallied twice from point blank off feeds from Daniel Sedin in the first period – one was admittedly a failed wraparound attempt – and capped the scoring by tipping home a pass from Ryan Kesler on a shorthanded rush. The supposedly defensive-minded Canucks are making a name for themselves as offensive juggernauts, while the Jackets' loss likely turned up the heat for embattled coach Ken Hitchcock.

No. 2 star: Tomas Fleischmann, Washington Capitals

Alex Ovechkin wasn't the only one adjusting to a new role for the Caps on Tuesday. Kudos to coach Bruce Boudreau, who had a hunch that Tomas Fleischmann might make a good center. Playing the position for the first time since his junior days, Fleischmann had a goal and two assists as the Caps pulled out a 4-2 victory over the Montreal Canadiens to snap a three-game losing streak. Centering Alexander Semin (two goals, eight shots) and Brooks Laich (assist), Fleischmann recorded his first three-point game since March of 2007. As for Ovechkin (no points, three shots) – clearly he can't multitask.

No. 3 star: Shane Doan, Phoenix Coyotes

In Tuesday's wildest affair that didn't involve a post-game medal ceremony, Doan teed one up from the "ladies tees" (his words) to score on an overtime power play to give the Coyotes a 5-4 victory over the Edmonton Oilers. Doan had earlier backhanded one into a yawning net to give Phoenix a 2-0 lead. But in what certainly didn't follow the blueprint for a road win, the 'Yotes blew leads of 2-0 and 4-2 before earning the extra point on Doan's OT blast.

Honorable Mention: Martin Brodeur (28 saves) picked up his third shutout in seven games (106th career) in a 4-0 victory over the visiting Stars. Patrik Elias decked Steve Ott with a cross-check to the head, then scored coming out of the penalty box for one of his two goals in the win. … Jordan Staal had a goal and two assists and helped put the clamps on Ilya Kovalchuk (no points, minus-3) in a 5-2 triumph over Atlanta. … The Bruins reacted favorably to an old-fashioned tongue lashing, scoring four times in the first period against Ottawa. Blake Wheeler had two goals and an assist and Tim Thomas won his 11th straight over the Senators in the 4-1 victory. … Marian Hossa had two goals and Patrick Kane extended his point streak to nine games as the Blackhawks tamed the Wild 4-1. … Matt Beleskey scored his first NHL goal and Saku Koivu potted career goal No. 200 as the Ducks defeated the Red Wings 4-1. … With three assists Henrik Sedin tied Joe Thornton for the NHL's scoring lead with 58 points. … Bryan McCabe had two goals for Florida against his former team in a losing effort in Toronto.

Did You Know?: Brodeur now has more shutouts against Dallas (four) than any other Western Conference team. He's blanked Colorado three times.

Dishonorable Mention: The Leafs have trailed 2-0 in 21 of their 43 games. Phil Kessel has just one point in nine games and is a minus-8 in that span. … Atlanta's nine-game losing streak is its longest since 2002. For the second straight year, the Thrashers helped Pittsburgh snap a five-game losing streak. … Jonathan Cheechoo hasn't scored a goal in 17 games and Milan Michalek has just two points (one goal) in his last 18 for the Senators.

OK, so they're not Canada or Russia. But you know what? Finland won silver the last time we had these here Winter Olympics, and their goaltending could be a difference-maker in the 2010 Vancouver Games; and the Czechs boast a roster of international superstars, one shutdown goalie and slightly more defenseman than the Lightning have cycled through in the last two years.

Here are the rosters for Teams Finland and Czech Republic, featuring a few rather noteworthy snubs.

The Finnish roster, via CTV's Olympic site:

Goaltender:

Miikka Kiprusoff (Calgary Flames, NHL), Niklas Bäckström (Minnesota Wild, NHL), Antero Niittymäki (Tampa Bay Lightning, NHL)

Defense:

Kimmo Timonen (Philadelphia Flyers, NHL), Sami Salo (Vancouver Canucks, NHL), Joni Pitkänen (Carolina Hurricanes, NHL), Lasse Kukkonen (Avangard Omsk, RUS), Toni Lydman (Buffalo Sabres, NHL), Sami Lepistö (Phoenix Coyotes, NHL), Janne Niskala (Frölunda, SWE)

Forwards:

Mikko Koivu (Minnesota Wild, NHL), Tuomo Ruutu (Carolina Hurricanes, NHL), Valtteri Filppula (Detroit Red Wings, NHL), Teemu Selänne (Anaheim Ducks, NHL), Saku Koivu (Anaheim Ducks, NHL), Jere Lehtinen (Dallas Stars, NHL), Niklas Hagman (Toronto Maple Leafs, NHL), Olli Jokinen (Calgary Flames, NHL), Antti Miettinen (Minnesota Wild, NHL), Jarkko Ruutu (Ottawa Senators, NHL), Niko Kapanen (Ak Bars Kazan, RUS), Ville Peltonen (Dynamo Minsk, BLR), Jarkko Immonen (Ak Bars Kazan, RUS)

There are a few surprises here: Niitymaki over Pekka Rinne of the Nashville Predators, for starters. But Preds blog On The Forecheck makes that case that Rinne's average 2009-10 season likely gave the edge to the Tampa Bay netminder.

But the real stunner is Jussi Jokinen of the Carolina Hurricanes being left off the roster as two of his teammates made the cut. Paul Branecky of the Hurricanes Web site has a detailed defense of the winger's credentials, including this salient point:

Each and every game in the Olympic competition is subject to a shootout, following an overtime period of five, 10 or 20 minutes, depending on the stage of the tournament (somewhat complicated tournament rules can be found here). Whether it's picking up points in the preliminary round or facing elimination in the playoffs, can Finland really afford to leave arguably the best shootout man in the world at home? The team's organizers will certainly hope it doesn't come to that.

Jeepers, when's the last time someone got this worked up over Jussi Jokinen? Oh, right: that time ...

Other than those two, no seismic shocks. But if you needed further validation that Ville Leino's massively underwhelming season for the Detroit Red Wings has affected his stick, look no further than this roster.

Meanwhile, this is how the Czechs roll, via CTV:

Goaltender:

Tomas Vokoun (Florida Panthers/NHL), Ondrej Pavelec (Atlanta Thrashers/NHL), Jakub Stepanek (Vitkovice/CZE).

Defense:

Miroslav Blatak (Salavat Yulaev Ufa/RUS), Jan Hejda (Columbus Blue Jackets/NHL), Tomas Kaberle (Toronto Maple Leafs/NHL), Filip Kuba (Ottawa Senators/NHL), Pavel Kubina (Atlanta Thrashers/NHL), Zbynek Michalek (Phoenix Coyotes/NHL), Roman Polak (St Louis Blues/NHL), Marek Zidlicky (Minnesota Wild/NHL).

Forward:

Petr Cajanek (Saint-Pétersbourg/RUS), Roman Cervenka (Slavia Prague/CZE), Patrik Elias (New Jersey Devils/NHL), Martin Erat (Nashville Predators/NHL), Tomas Fleischmann (Washington Capitals/NHL), Martin Havlat (Minnesota Wild/NHL), Jaromir Jagr (Avangard Omsk/NHL), David Krejci (Boston Bruins/NHL), Milan Michalek (Ottawa Senators/NHL), Tomas Plekanec (Canadiens de Montréal/NHL), Tomas Rolinek (Magnitogorsk/RUS), Josef Vasicek (Yaroslavl/RUS).

Eight defensemen and no Marek Malik!? But what about the 15-round shootouts?

Jagr, like Peter Forsberg with Sweden adds a jolt of blissful nostalgia to the tournament having won gold at the 1998 Nagano Olympics. He's actually having an average year in the KHL with Omsk: 27 points in 33 games after scoring 53 in 55 games in his first season with the Russian League. But in this tournament, and on an NHL ice surface with that talent around him, it's going to be fun to watch. We respectfully ask for the reestablishment of the Jagr Playoff Squirrel's Tail.

Surprises on the roster, besides the previously leaked news that Hasek missed the cut? Milan Hejduk isn't really Milan Hejduk anymore, but he's a three-time Olympian for this nation and has 25 points in 33 games this season. Yet Coach Vlad Ruzicka said "Hejduk's got a knee problem" and left him off.

Vinny Prospal of the New York Rangers was also injured recently, and doesn't appear here. Neither does Michael Frolik of the Florida Panthers, but at 21 years old he's got some time left for the Olympics. Until Gary puts the hammer down on NHL participation, that is.

Finally, congratulations to Jiri Hudler of the KHL, whose journey to hockey obscurity has been validated by his absence from this roster. Well, at least he can afford Olympic tickets should he choose to scalp them.

No. 1 star: Patrick Marleau, San Jose Sharks

All eyes were on Dany Heatley (2 assists, 8 shots) against the Ottawa Senators, and the return of Milan Michalek (2 goals) and Jonathan Cheechoo (minus-1, zero points) to San Jose as Senators. But it was Marleau's show again, opening the scoring in the first and then netting what would be the game-winning goal in the second period to give him 19 on the season. San Jose won, 5-2, over the Sens. Assists on both goals went to Heatley and Joe Thornton, who moved back into the NHL points lead with 39.

No. 2 Star: Joey MacDonald, Toronto Maple Leafs

Jonas Gustavsson played a great first period for the Leafs at the Montreal Canadiens, but was off to the hospital after telling coaches that he had an elevated heart rate. MacDonald said he didn't see The Monster in the locker room between periods, and started stretching. The Toronto backup stopped 18 shots in the final two periods to complete the shutout, 3-0 over the Habs.

No. 3 Star: Brent Seabrook, Chicago Blackhawks

Seabrook's deke move beat Steve Mason in the 11th round of the shootout, giving the Blackhawks a 4-3 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets and Coach Joel Quenneville his 500th career win. For the masochists in the readership, here's the entire shootout between the 'Hawks and Jackets.