So this year’s Stanley Cup finals will be a rematch of last year’s. The Blackhawks magical run through the post-season finally ended last night.
It’s interesting how close the Detroit-Chicago series actually was. Chicago had a decent chance to win games two and five. Another season or so of experience and the Blackhawks might have won [...]

What can you say about “Evgeni Malkin’s performance last night? There were stretches where he looked downright Ovechkin-esque, doing everything but playing goal. And shoving Sidney Crosby. He’ll get there, though.
I thought Malkin’s potential seemed to have plateaued, but after last night’s game, I’m curious just how much he’s capable of.
Over in the Western Conference, [...]

Over in Chicago, Dan McNeil is already writing the 2008-09 Blackhawks’ eulogy. I guess he doesn’t want to be seen as jumping on the bandwagon if they lose to Detroit.
Len Ziehm is a bit more optimistic, writing some ways the ‘Hawks might mount a comeback.
Also, speaking of Chicago, former Blackhawk goalie Glenn Hall isn’t a [...]

The Blackhawks are now down two games in the Western Conference finals, but they really look better each game, even though they’ve yet to notch a win.
Last night, Chicago lost on a brutal Brian Campbell turnover, but the Wings haven’t quite looked like themselves in the series. It’s never a great sign when Dan Cleary [...]

Ha! The Penguins are really selling the seven defenseman concept. Philippe Boucher, the Penguins seventh defenseman scored last night’s game-winning goal.
This is par for the course for the Hurricanes, though. They’ve lost game one of every playoff game this season.
Tonight is game two of Detroit-Chicago. The Blackhawks aren’t hitting the panic button yet, which is [...]

Greg Logan has a great post on Michael Farber taking Islanders GM Garth Snow to task for letting fans vote on who the Islanders should draft with the first overall pick.
First of all, I don’t think Snow is actually letting the fans decide. I look at it as more of a straw poll. But also, [...]

I love when people say hockey is a team sport and one person really never has the ability to dominate a game, unlike the NBA. If anyone says that, show them last night’s Caps-Pens game, where Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin each had a hat trick.
It’s funny to watch Washington play Pittsburgh so well considering [...]

How can you not be impressed by the poise and maturity of the Chicago Blackhawks?
Going into Calgary in game seven, you would think a young team like Chicago would collapse under the pressure and expectations. Instead, they went in and won the first round of the playoffs.
The Blackhawks were aided by Calgary playing without defenseman [...]

In a lot of ways, it’s kind of a relief for a coach to be down 4-1 in a game. It frees the coach up to make riskier decisions, since the game is pretty much gone anyway.
Last night, down 4-1 to the Flames, Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville rode his third and fourth line to a [...]

Everyone made a big deal about Alex Ovechkin sitting on the Caps bench to watch the Rangers practice before game three.
Maybe he caught some of a passing drill and decided he wanted to pass the puck, too.
After spending the first two games almost pathologically refusing to pass up a shot, Ovechkin spent game three distributing [...]