I understood why the Stars traded away goalie Mike Smith as part of the Brad Richards deal, but I was slightly concerned that trading away a potential franchise goalie would come back to bite Dallas. Stars goalie Marty Turco had some of the makings of a big-game goalie, but he's never seemed to step-up in important games.
Turco sure stepped up last night against Anaheim. He had 27 saves, giving up the only goal with less than 10 seconds to play.
Of course, as good as Turco was, Anaheim helped out with lots of turnovers. Interestingly, two of the more defensive teams in the playoffs, New Jersey and Anaheim, have both been pretty loose in their own ends. It's too bad both teams face elimination. If they were to somehow both wind up in the finals, it would be like a 10-9 final score.
Also, Scott Moore, executive director of CBC Sports, has a blog. It's very interesting stuff. In this post, he challenges the theory that the CBC hates the Canadiens.

So Red Wing goalie Dom Hasek continues to give up back-to-back goals. In last night's loss to Nashville, the two goals were within 32 seconds of each other, which is actually better than the previous two games, where he up gave back-to-back goals in 11 seconds and nine seconds.
It's a huge thing for the Predators, who basically get two points for one goal.
Hasek was pulled for Chris Osgood, setting the stage for a good, old-fashioned goalie controversy (if a playoff penalty shot is the most exciting play in hockey, then I have to go with a goalie controversy as the second most exciting).
Chris Osgood had a great season. He's already won two Cups in Detroit. He's not the most exciting goalie in the NHL, but he's steady and consistent. At this point, I can't see a reason not to give Osgood the starts. And to be honest, given his regular season record, and given Hasek's break-dancing style, I might have started Osgood over Hasek before any of this back-to-back stuff came up.
Also, I'm guessing there will be some off-season changes in Ottawa, after getting swept out of the first round by the Penguins. The rest will definitely do the Penguins good, but I think they're going to be way overconfident for the second round. I think at least one loss would have served the young Penguins much better. Now, they're waiting for the other shoe to drop and who knows how the young team will react.
Also, just why does everyone care if Maxim Afinogenov gets traded out of Buffalo?

The book on Joe Thornton, to a certain extent, has always been that he's not a leader. That he's not a big game guy. There was never any denying his talent, but there were always rumblings about his impact in the locker room. I always thought most of these things were more a result of coming up in a dysfunctional Bruins organization than things that were true parts of Thornton's character.
He settled the debate last night, leading the Sharks to a come-from-behind victory over the Flames. This comes a game after the Sharks choked up a three-goal lead. The series is now tied at two.
One thing Sharks coach Ron Wilson seems to have learned in Washington with Jaromir Jagr is that sometimes star players do need special treatment. Sometimes they need some time to find their game and make their move. Rather than screaming at Thornton to start producing, Wilson seemed pretty hands off the first three games. And the patience paid off last night.
Over in Philadelphia, the Flyers beat the Caps 6-3, in a game that included a penalty shot. Philly leads the series two games to one. Of course, since the Flyers lost defenseman Kimmo Timonen to an upper body injury, they might have trouble shutting down Alexander Ovechkin in future games (login info.). Timonen is day-to-day.
Last night's game was the first time since the first half of the season where all of the Flyers players were clicking at the same time.
Mike Wise says the Caps need to get physical against the Flyers. But really, that's like saying Don Quixote needed to get more physical against the windmill. It's just much easier to say (or write) than to execute.
Jason La Canfora is recommending a goalie switch back to Ollie Kolzig in DC. And that's not an insane short-term solution. It just sort of ruins things for the guy who's supposed to be your new franchise goalie.
All of this advice ignores the basic fact about this series. It's all Ovechkin. His talent was so immense, he was able to carry the Caps into the post-season. A lot of people, myself included, thought he had enough talent to get Washington past Philly. But the Flyers have gotten hot, their goalie Marty Biron has been solid, and they've done a great job of neutralizing Ovechkin. Until Caps coach Bruce Boudreau figures out a way to get Ovechkin some space or a way to get more balanced scoring, Washington is going to have some problems. Defenseman Mike Green, who leads the team with three playoff goals, can't do it all himself.

I don't know who was more shocked by Nashville's comeback win over the Wings -- me or Detroit?
Nashville scored twice in nine seconds in the third to beat the Wings 5-3.
Do you want an interesting tidbit? Detroit goalie Dom Hasek has allowed two goals in less that 2 1/2 minutes three times in the last two games. It's not fair to put this all on Hasek, though. His defense could be more helpful. Like Nashville's game-winner came during a defense change. I'm not sure you should change if you have an offensive player streaking over the red line. It might be better to wait.
I like how Hasek is about one game away from turning into a scapegoat (relatively undeservedly) while Curtis Joseph, whom Hasek replaced/pushed out in Detroit is a playoff hero. And of course, we all love that Calgary coach Mike Keenan has broken the seal on playoff goalie switching. We'll probably see Joseph and Miikka Kiprusoff rotating in and out of the crease like it's an open mic night.
Speaking of shocking, how about Marian Hossa finally scoring during the playoffs? While I'm sure the good people of Ottawa were upset to see the Senators go down three games to none, at least they finally got to see Hossa score in the post-season. It's almost win-win. Almost.

Dallas has to be the big surprise of the playoffs so far. Who would have guessed they'd go up two games on the Ducks (on the road, no less)?
How is Dallas doing it? The Ducks combination of a bad penalty kill and lots of bad penalties is certainly helping (login info.).
But it's not all on Anaheim. Dallas is playing well. The Brad Richards-Loui Eriksson-Joel Lundqvist line, seemingly put together by some kind of random line generator, actually has some chemistry (login info.).
It also seems the Stars are bit looser than they've been in the past. That makes sense. Part of Dallas' post-season troubles in previous seasons has been the team getting in its own way, overthinking the team in front of them. I think the brutal end to their season (nine losses in March) took away any kind of expectation of getting past the Ducks. And of course, that's what's let them beat the Ducks.
Also, Anaheim has no forecheck. Dallas goalie Marty Turco spent most of Saturday's 5-2 win practically out at the blue line, just whacking pucks out of the zone. I'm no NHL coach, but I would think a team could take advantage of that. It's not like the Ducks don't have speed, size, and toughness.