Just for fun, check out this preview of Islanders-Lightning:

Tampa's current goaltending situation has its roots in last year's playoff loss to the Devils. As Tampa went down to New Jersey three games to one, Lightning coach John Tortorella decided not to use his top goalie Nikolai Khabibulin. Instead he played backup John Grahame, partially hoping to get a rise out of Khabibulin and partially just to mix things up. Grahame was amazing in his postseason debut, holding New Jersey to one goal for three overtimes before finally surrendering the game-winner at the 111th minute.
Tortorella almost got the win, but definitely got a pissed starting goalie. Grahame continued to push Khabibulin for the top spot during this season and while it seems Khabibulin will get the start against the Isles, you have to wonder if he's gun-shy about the playoffs or about Tortorella.

I guess I shouldn't have worried about Khabibulin. He was flawless, shutting out the Isles 3-0. But the series isn't over yet. There's still plenty of time for Khabibulin to implode. But I wouldn't count on it.

Oh man. The Leafs didn't take Ottawa seriously enough.
Senator goalie Patrick Lalime was ripe to be picked off. He's coming off a pretty bad season. If Toronto could have gotten any kind of forecheck going, they could have probably taken Lalime out of the series.
Instead they let Ottawa pepper them with 30 shots.
Ottawa beat the Leafs 4-2.
I wonder if Toronto thinks they're so good, they don't need to play mean or tough anymore. And I wonder if they're going to get ugly for game two Saturday.

We're going to jump the gun and give this postseason's JUMPING THE GUN award to ESPN's Bill Clement and Gary Thorn.
Nashville was up 1-0 on Detroit in the second when the two, discussing Predator goalie Tomas Vokoun, both started breaking out the G word. You know Giguere. As in Jean-Sebastien Giguere, the Anaheim goalie who was a brick wall during last year's playoffs. But Giguere was hot as anything going into the playoffs, while Vokoun's last shut-out was Feb. 26.
The amazing thing about Giguere wasn't that he played one or two solid periods. The amazing thing was that he did it for over two months. It's just absurd to draw the comparison after two periods. And even more absurd to do it after Vokoun gave up three goals in the third. And yet AP and the Detroit Free Press both compared the two goalies.
So as you may have figured out, the Wings beat Nashville 3-1 in game one.
Nashville was fast and furious, but people always forget Detroit's balance and depth. They don't get tired. They roll four lines, with just about every forward getting in the 15 minute range of ice time (except for Steve Thomas for some reason), and just wait for the other team to get tired. It's easy to shut down one or two lines, but Nashville is going to have to shut down all four lines if they want to spill the Red Wings' apple cart.
And here's some food for thought. Robert Lang had a goal for the Wings. Sergei Gonchar and Michael Nylander both had goals in Boston's 3-0 game one win over Montreal. All three are former Washington Capitals. So how were the Caps such a bad team? Was there too much talent?

You know, I'm not naive to the realities of sports. I realize it's a business and that when all is said and done, at the end of the day, there's a bottom line that needs to be met. And I realize that if the bottom line isn't met, lots of people, people who don't necessarily even play hockey, can have their livelihood compromised.
So with that in mind, it's simply horrible and unconscioncable that Cal Nichols, governor of the Edmonton Oilers, is talking about how the Oilers might not be able to exist unless changes are made to the Collective Bargaining Agreement.
Why would Nichols even bring this up on the first night of the playoffs? Is he trying to drive away fans? Does he think it benefits the game to remind people that hockey might not be here next season?
I'm sure I'm not the only one wondering if Nichols would be talking about "competitive balance" in the league if Edmonton had made it into the playoffs.
You know. Like the similarly small payrolled Calgary Flames and Nashville Predators.
You also have to wonder how committed Nichols is to the idea of financial parity, too. Some may recall the Oilers got Petr Nedved from the Rangers at the trade deadline. The Rangers picked up all of Nedved's remaining salary, though. The Rangers can do that because of their huge payroll and huge revenues. Nichols didn't insist on paying Nedved's salary because he doesn't want the Oilers to perpetuate the big-money problem. So Nichols obviously doesn't mind "competitive imbalance" when it benefits his team. It's only when the Oilers aren't doing well that Nichols has a problem with it.

I don't know if this HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA spoof is actually funny since my home connection is so slow, but in case it is, and I don't have any reason to believe it isn't, check this out.
The few seconds I saw had really nice production values.

Tonight was the first night of Passover so I'm linking to a Passover entry from last year about Islander legend Bob Nystrom.
You can see it here.
Hockey and Judaism just don't meet often enough for my money.

Woody Paige, a genuinely interesting columnist who's done an amazing job marginalizing himself via ESPN's awful screamfest AROUND THE HORN, writes about how the Avs struggled toward the end of the regular season.
Paige highlights two big Avalanche problems: a weak powerplay and constantly changing lines. Paige blames coach Tony Granato for both problems but you've got to give GM Pierre Lacroix some of the blame. He brought in a ton of new blood this season. None of the moves were bad, but the combination of so many new players has made it hard for Granato to figure out what to do with everyone.
The Avs will have one less new face to deal with for a little bit, though. Paul Kariya was injured in the last game of the season.
Can anyone remember when Kariya was healthy this season?

This is old but interesting.
Bernie Miklasz talks about new St. Louis Blues coach Mike Kitchen and how he basically kept everything the same as previous coach Joel Quenneville. The only difference is intensity. He's playing the same system but insisting on more commitment and physical play. It's really something. It's almost like Quenneville didn't have to be fired. Maybe they could have just split the coaching duties differently. Maybe Quenneville could have stuck around as a strategist and Kitchen could have implemented the system.
Oh well. The Blues are in the playoffs. It doesn't matter now.
Let's see if they get out of the first round this season.