Canned Heat

The Sharks play well in their own building. Let's see how they do at the Staples Center. Seven unanswered is pretty mind-blowing, though.

Outstanding game by the Wings. Home Ice = Joe Louis!

I concur. The Pens have questionable goal tending, and will have to rely on outscoring their opponents. I'd take better goal tending over a better offense. Give me Quick over Crawford.

IMHO, an absolutely brutal call for delay of game on Vlasic. The puck was redirected over the glass after hitting Carter's shoulder. Stuart's tripping penalty was an obvious one, though. After the Sharks finally figured out Quick, I doubt they recover from this one.

Reputation call for sure. After last year's suspension, Torres cleaned up his act this year. Seventeen total penalty minutes during the regular season. Gets called for charging, which was questionable. A suspension would be a joke, but will surely be the outcome.

I think the Sharks are flying under the radar this year. They are perennial underachievers. As such, this year, nobody was/is talking about them. Count the number of LGW posters (above) who picked the Kings. Will be a tough series, but as a fan, I think the Kings would be a more difficult match-up than the Sharks (for the Wings). You'd never hear a hockey player say so, but if the Wings advance, I'd rather play the Sharks than the Kings. If Quick gets on one of his rolls, it's over . . .

See that pick by Perry!!??

Hiller looks shaky tonight.

Abby!!!

That was close!

Kronwalled!!

Wings are all over the Ducks!

Great shift!

Z!!

They will probably start the game on CNBC, then move it back to NBC Sports once the Bruins-Leafs game ends.

Daryl Reaugh makes Z look small.

Not to mention . . . the U.S. National Team come Sochi Olympics. Will have a fightiin' chance next year (again), with probably Quick in goal, and the "core" guys with a previous Olympic Games under thier belts (Kessler, Parise, Suter, Pavelski, Kane, Bobby Ryan, Backes, Kesler), but that's for another thread.

The 'Nucks can lay blame on the refs for questionable calls, especially Sutherland's, which led to the OT winner. But . . come on . . getting swept out of the first round seems to point to the fact that the better team won. Lay the blame on the players (especially on the Canucks PK). They played their best in Game 4. By then, it was too late.

I agree . . . 5 goals in 3 games won't cut it. Some of the credit goes to Niemi. He is playing like three years ago, when the Hawks won the Cup.

A bit of interesting news coming from San Jose. It turns out Ryane Clowe did suffer a separated shoulder (and not a concussion, as speculated) from that hit by Kronwall. Also surprising to hear that Kesler was talking shi* to him during the WCF. NOT! "Ryane Clowe — Shoulder separation, similar to Joe Thornton's. Going to meet with medical staff today to find out if surgery required, likely three to four months of rehab needed. Clowe said only that it occurred in the Detroit series — even when asked directly if it resulted from that major hit by Nicklas Kronwall. Players said Clowe was so badly hurt he needed "help getting his jersey on. "The toughest part was starting the game, but once the adrenaline got going, you start to think about other things," Clowe said. And he thought that the secrecy worked, because Ryan Kesler kept asking him how his concussion was doing.

Watching Kesler during the SCPs has really lowered my opinion of him. Think: DIVER! However, I'll sheepishly admit that come 2014, I'll be rooting for him at the Sochi Olympic Games. That is assuming he hasn't split a groin after diving and that he makes the U.S. Team.

The Nucks probably will win the Cup, but it's irksome that they're celebrating, confetti and all, like they've already won. I'll be rooting for whatever team comes out of the East, who will undoubtedly be the underdogs. Thornton had 35 minutes of ice time with a separated shoulder. Tougher than I thought . .

Not to beat a dead horse, but my respect for Kesler has been reduced to nothingness . When Marleau hit him against the boards, and he stayed down with his pretend boo-boo, then looked up to see if any of the refs were watching, was one thing. But baiting Clowe at game's end, and then dropping like a fly from those taps to the jaw, and staying down for minutes (TV audience), only to pop-up to congratulate Luongo, was LAME. Like some one else mentioned, it was interesting to see that only a few teammates came by to check on him. Wonder if he's not well-liked by his team. . .

Great article about the Boogey Man that provides some touching insight . . . Russo's Rants

Very sad. The Boogey Man could sure drop the gloves. Matt Carkner's right hand put him out for the season (which was surprising in it's own right), and now his life ends tragically at such a young age.