Travis

Love him or hate him, I would be kind of scared if I saw a ton of rowdy people stepping on and burning a photo of my face.

I've never been to the Hockey Hall of Fame, but I assume that there is some sort of team representation in the likeness of a player in the hall. Jersey on a plaque or something? Baseball players don't wear jerseys when they get inducted into Cooperstown.

Awesome, I'm at work so I'm going to have to DVR the start of the game so I don't miss it. I hope it doesn't get rained out. There is little in this world cooler than mid-day baseball.

I think for all the credit their given, they should be given a fair amount of blame. I don't know that you can honestly say one 'deserves' more blame than the other, because I feel like they are looked at as different players. If that makes any sense. Ovechkin is generally regarded as the offensive powerhouse, but Crosby the better all-around player and leader - they should be blamed accordingly. Obviously, everyone knows that a hot goalie can steal a series or two for you, which Halak has. Crosby definitely let his team down, there's really no denying that. Ovechkin is wearing the 'C' now, too, though. As such, he should be a better leader and teammate - I feel. I will say that the video of a frustrated Crosby reminded me why I don't like him. You can't deny that he really is a great hockey player, he would just be so much more likable if his on-ice maturity level rose.

The game is the show - so to speak.

I've never seen this show, but I thought it would focus a lot more on the build up to the game.

Could've easily gone the other way, though. In last year's Eastern Quarterfinals Max Talbot fought Daniel Carcillo in Philly with the Pens down 3-0. Talbot lost big time, but the game swung in Pittsburgh's favor after that and they closed the series out. I had a horrible feeling that Beauchemin baiting Kopecky into that fight was going to do the same for Anaheim.

I attended the March 11th game against the Wild, which was awesome. As far as other favorites go, Game 7 was great - but I also loved the home game against Tampa Bay where Drew Miller Superman-ed and the endless Nashville shootout that Kronwall won. The wins that got them into the playoffs were so much fun to watch, especially the wins they earned with all the injuries.

I'm pulling for the 'Hawks, but regardless - I think the Sharks will have their toughest test with Chicago. They are embarassing Vancouver at this point.

Horrible officiating has really plagued these playoffs. Stuart is tough as balls, though. Already looking forward to next year! Thanks for the great one, boys.

Yeah, I can't say I'm all that surprised by these numbers. He's old balls. I feel like there is more pressure resting on him in Montreal, too.

I am all for this idea. This one is sort of poor, but it made me smile.

I really love the idea behind the 'instant history' marketing campaign, but I've gotta admit that they on-the-fly one's the NHL makes look just like all the shotty YouTube ones people put together. Still awesome, but I wish it did the quick rewind of him getting up before it switched to the goal-cam.

Top 6 broke down like this: Bertuzzi - Zetterberg - Franzen Filpulla - Datsyuk - Holmstrom If memory serves me correct.

A sub-par effort for me to commemorate an above-par performance.

My assumption last night was that, serious or not, he wouldn't be back. By the time he was likely done getting evaluated - the game was well in hand. No sense in putting him back out there and risking anything.

My understanding was that it wasn't significant enough to warrant surgery upon signing. There's no way it got better over time.

Boosh. Also, Madonna isn't from Detroit. Just Michigan. By that logic we could play lots of Bob Seger, but that would actually be rad.

Watching Power Play just now, Phil Esposito just said of Burrows constantly losing his composure and being an all around asshat, "but he does this! Burrows does this all the time, it seems to me. He loses control. He's a good hockey player, but why doesn't he just stick to playing hockey? That guy... Something wrong with him. It bothers me. I've watched him now for 2-3 years and he's a good hockey player. When things are going right he does just fine, but when they aren't going right he loses control." Calm down, man. It wasn't my intent to say that a player can't respond to the fans in any way. Much in the same way a friend would prank you and you would laugh it off and [perhaps] call him a s***head for it - I am using the term largely in jest. I don't find him to be the most savory character, I will admit that; but as I mentioned - I laughed. One thing I actually thought about while watching the game is how much s*** Byfuglien must get in this game, especially considering the fact that he is a minority and could very well be singled out for that. Another thing that came to mind is how much the Canucks fans irritate me. They seem like they might actually be the worst fans in the NHL, as far as quality of character goes. They fell apart just as much as their team did and were reduced to throwing s*** by the end of the game.

Agreed. For years it was always, 'the goalie's fault'. Now apparently, a failure will be 'the coach's fault'. We had to win those games to even get into the playoffs. I haven't even read the article, but from the replies I can deduce that the writer wasn't typing up his article while we were tearing through February and March. We've all established that not every year is a championship year. I think many of us had accepted that the likelihood of this being one was fairly slim. Sure, Howie has let in some soft goals here or there, but he needs it - to galvanize him for the future.

Watching him celebrating facing the Vancouver fans, I couldn't help but laugh and say, "what a s***head". He was effective, though. The 'Hawks really got under the Canucks' collective skin last night. Watching Sedin run Bolland into the benches and Burrows punch him in the back of the head and pull his hair just made me want to see Vancouver buried even more. Byufglien's last goal shouldn't have counted as it was obviously goaltender interference, but I thought he played a really strong game. Quinnville has obviously taken notes on Homer. He even got a Homer-like penalty when he followed the puck, got run off by a Canuck and somehow got carted off as if he'd plowed over Luongo.

He's not the only one.

The replies to this thread please me.

I do agree with the idea of splitting the pairing of Lidstrom and Rafalski on at least a trial basis. For the exact reasons you stated.