So if there's one thing New Jersey's deconstruction of Tampa proves, it's that the Capitals are a lot worse than everyone realized.
Tampa was only able to put together 15 shots. It's a good thing they had a blue line on their side of the ice — otherwise they wouldn't have seen one all night.
Anaheim triumphed over the Stars after five overtimes. The Ducks beat the Stars 4-3.
Everyone keeps waiting for the Ducks to run out of steam, but it's just not happening. The thing about five overtimes is that the winner is basically a fluke. But Dallas still has to feel like crap about it. They played almost two games back-to-back and walk away with a loss.

So now the New York Post is reporting that Eric Lindros is on the trade block.
Oh wait. I guess I should mention that this post isn't really about the playoffs.
OK. Game on!
So apparently the Rangers want to unload Lindros. I know this rumor (or rumour) has been flying around Canadian sports talk radio, but this is the first time it's getting a lot of play down here.
Toronto might be interested, says Larry Brooks.
Pretty weird. If you can sum up all of the Rangers problems with a single concept, it's that they play like a bunch of strangers. Which they are. I mean, week-to-week, you saw more regular faces on LOVE BOAT. Plus, Lindros' contract is structured around him not getting a concussion. And that's how he played this season — like a guy trying not to get hurt. Psychologically he needs a contract that rewards performance, not an avoidance of injury.
Shockingly, the Post also reports the Rangers won't be going after Sergei Fedorov, which is weird, since the team never met an unrestricted free agent it didn't like.
And what's with Toronto? They're just loving players who are slightly past their prime, aren't they? Is Ranger GM Glen Sather secretly running two teams? A Lindros-Owen Nolan line only looks good in a time machine.

Ironically, as I was preparing to write about St. Louis' bout with sickness, I got really sick last night. I wonder if we have the same bug.
Anyway, needless to say, things didn't really work out for either of us Tuesday night. The Blues blew a 3-1 series lead and fell to the Canucks.
The Blues are a good team with a losing attitude. There's no reason in the world they should have been beaten by Vancouver. Sure you can blame goalie Chris Osgood, but his only crime was that he wasn't extraordinary. But he was competent. It shouldn't take heroic measures to move a team like the Blues out of the first round. Joe Quennville's been coaching the blues since the 18th century. It might be time for a coachectomy. If you can't get past the Canucks with Chris Pronger, Keith Tkachuk, Doug Weight and a one-armed Al MacInnis, then you have problems somewhere.
Speaking of blown 3-1 series leads, how about Colorado choking on some Wild? I was as shocked as anybody, but then I started thinking. The Avs looked pretty horrible last year. When Colorado played Detroit in the playoffs, the Avs just weren't playing in front of goalie Patrick Roy at all. He was working his ass off for all seven games. That's the thing about Roy. He's amazing. But he has his limits. He can't carry his team for game after game after game. And once he reaches that limit, he just implodes. And that's how Andrew Brunette was able to beat him with a slow-motion deke. And that's how a role player like Richard Park was able to beat him the night before.
Roy won his last Stanley Cup with legendary defenseman Ray Borque watching his back. That's no coincidence. Roy can't do it alone.

So I guess Colorado managment is regretting paying the players by the game.
Yup. Colorado is facing another game seven. They lost in overtime to the Wild.
This will be Colorado's fifth trip in a row to game seven of a playoff series. It's like they don't want to leave any game unplayed.
Minnesota Wild goalie Manny Fernandez got his second playoff nod. He didn't have a great game, giving up two goals late in the third. But he held on long enough to win.
So now it comes down to game seven for Colorado and Minnesota.
How messed up would it be if the Wild knocked out Colorado? How crazy would the West be if Colorado and Detroit could be knocked out in the first rounds?
Toronto also forced a game seven against Philly. The Leafs beat the Flyers 2-1. I don't even know what to say. Toronto is just so tough. They're like roaches — you can't get rid of them. And Philly goalie Roman Cechmanek? Sure he lost to Toronto, but the man just won't give up. Where are the breakdowns from last year? No. Seriously. Where are they? I miss them. I want to see a freakout.

San Jose's Teemu Selanne made what I consider to be a big deal about staying with the Sharks right at the trade deadline. He wouldn't waive his no-trade clause, presumably because he liked playing with the Sharks.
Cue the JAWS music...
Selanne decided not to exercise the player option on his contract.
Slowly but surely all players of any sort of note are leaving San Jose. Vincent Damphousse has until June 30 to let the Sharks know if he's picking up his player's option.
San Jose, man. They started the season with everyone saying they were going all the way to the Cup. Now, as the season ends, they're looking like the West Coast branch of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Saturday's Flyers win over Toronto was a great game. Lots of checking, fighting, and pushing followed by tremendous odd-man rushes. It was breath-taking. And if Toronto's Alexander Mogilny and Mats Sundin had aimed a little differently a couple of times (or if hitting the post counted as a goal), the Leafs would have won. The weird thing is, what makes this series so much fun to watch is the fact that neither team is playing that well. Both teams are missing chances left and right. Both teams are having defensive break downs. And that's what makes a game exciting. Philadelphia will probably beat Toronto — even without defenseman Eric Desjardins, who fractured his foot while playing goal for a sprawled Roman Cechmanek. But I can't see the Flyers lasting much past that. What are they going to do? Ride Sami Kapanen to the finals? None of their stars has warmed up. Tony Amonte isn't feeling any net love. Simon Gagne is still a question mark after his injury-plagued season. It's pretty obvious Philadelphia is running out of gas. But apparently hockey is better to watch when the needle is on E.

Wow. Tampa Bay clinched. Washington just isn't very good at the playoffs, are they? This series was the fourth time they've blown a two-game lead since 1992.
It couldn't help that the Caps were using Jaromir Jagr's line to shut-down Tampa's Vincent Lecavalier-Martin St. Louis- Vaclav Prospal line (otherwise known as Tampa's only line). That's not really what they're paying Jagr the big bucks for. No wonder he never really got hot during the series.
The Caps aren't a bad team. They need someone who can play with Jagr, though. He's just not as effective as he could be. Failing that, maybe they should look into a time machine or some sort of cloning machine. Then they can steal some hair from Mario Lemieux and clone him.

I'm not a big fan of Wild coach Jacques Lemaire. In fact, I think his coaching style will be the death of hockey. But he's not as dull as I thought. With the Wild about to be eliminated, Lemaire did what has apparently become the unthinkable and changed his goalie mid-series. And it worked. Manny Fernandez came up huge against Colorado, allowing the Wild to force a game six.
The decision to switch goalies when you're down three games to one seems like a no-brainer to me. You have nothing to lose. But this year, no coaches have really been that into it. The Isles stuck with Garth Snow even though their so-called goalie of the future Rick DiPietro had to be chomping at the bit to see some playoff action. Snow only won a game for the Isles. Detroit got swept with Curtis Joseph in goal for all four games. Would it have killed Detroit coach Dave Lewis to put backup Manny Legace in goal for a game? Legace was hot as hell all year. He could have bought Detroit at least a game.
So cheers to Lemaire for remembering that last year, Carolina got past New Jersey by switching goalies. You play goalies. You don't marry them. Don't feel bad about using more than one.
Thank you.

The Devils are as sharp as any team in the East. Maybe a little sharper since they're the only team that's been playing consistently. Behind the scenes, though? Maybe not so consistent. Larry Brooks is reporting that Devils GM Lou Lamoriello might be getting ready to take over the Bruins. It looks like he'd take over as president, with current Bruin prez Harry Sinden stepping down.
Of course, Sinden isn't the best power-sharer in the world. He's been undermining Bruin GMs and coaches for like 20 years. But even with all that, could the Bruins get much worse?