CHICAGO (AP) — Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane has a habit of attracting attention.

Maybe you recall the former No. 1 overall pick hitting the Internet last season, when photos show him partying in Madison, Wis. Or the 2009 arrest in his hometown of Buffalo, N.Y., after an altercation with a cab driver.

All that seems so long ago for Kane, who on Thursday was named one of the finalists for the Lady Byng trophy given to the NHL player who exhibits the best sportsmanship and “gentlemanly conduct” along with top skills on the ice.

That shouldn’t be a surprise given Kane’s dazzling talent. He stepped right into the Blackhawks lineup and won the Calder Trophy as the league’s rookie of the year. He scored 30 goals and 88 points in the 2009-10 regular season, then added 10 goals and 18 assists in the playoffs as the Blackhawks won their first Stanley Cup championship in 49 years.

Then came this lockout-shortened season and the 24-year-old Kane has had the most effective season of his six-year career, according to coach Joel Quenneville, whose team holds a leads 1-0 in its Western Conference seminal series against Detroit. Game 2 will be played in Chicago on Saturday.

“I thought Kaner really progressed in his game this year,” Quenneville said. “Offensively he had the puck more than he ever did. I thought he had more speed, more pace to his game. He seemed to be more aware positionally and technically. He definitely improved his play in his own end. It thought his overall game was to a new level this year.

Kane led Chicago this season with 55 points, on 23 goals and 32 assists. More than his passing and playmaking — including a handful of jaw-dropping 360-degree pirouettes — have improved.

“I though each and every year Kaner has gotten better as a player in all aspect of his game,” Quenneville said. “He’s gotten stronger, he’s gotten better and he’s growing up as well.”

Kane, who has never taken a fighting major in the NHL, has been smarter, too. His penalty minute total has dropped from 52 as a rookie to just eight last season.

“I thought maybe I’d have a chance at this one (award) and I think it kind of speaks volumes for where my game has gone since my rookie season,” Kane said. “I remember I used to take a lot of penalties that were kind of unnecessary. I kind have got that out of my game a little bit. I’m definitely happy about it. It’s an honor.”

Kane has yet to score in six playoff games this season. But he has been visible on the ice, with six assists and a plus-4 rating.

“I just play my game and if the pass is there I’ll try to make the pass,” he said. “If it’s a shot, then I’ll shoot. That’s the thing with our team. If one or two guys aren’t scoring, then other guys are stepping up. That’s the way it’s been all year. Whoever it might be, that’s why we’ve been so successful.”

The Blackhawks anticipate a stiffer challenge from the Red Wings in Game 2. After Chicago defeated Detroit 4-1 on Wednesday night, coach Mike Babcock said his team was tired, coming off a seven-game upset of Anaheim in the opening round.

“I expect them to be better for sure,” Quenneville said. “Those Western trips back-and-forth add up.”

Babcock, who gave his team a day off Thursday, predicted the Red Wings will be re-energized on Saturday

“We have no reason not to be very good in the next game,” he said. “We got to get back at her and playing at a high tempo because obviously they were playing at a level (in Game 1) that we weren’t playing at.”

Detroit defenseman Niklas Kronwall added: “We know we’re better than this.”

Kane will be ready. As for the Lady Byng award, seven Blackhawks have won it but none since Stan Mikita in 1968.

“It’s an award that definitely a great honor,” he said. “I think it’s got a little different view now from players. Like it says in the (description), it’s skill and sportsmanship put together.”

(© Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

WASHINGTON — Alex Ovechkin played the last two games of the Washington Capitals’ season with what the team says is a hairline fracture in his left foot.

Capitals spokesman Sergey Kocharov writes in an email to The Associated Press on Thursday that Ovechkin’s foot was hurt during Game 6 of Washington’s first-round playoff series against the New York Rangers.

Washington lost that game 1-0 Sunday, and then lost 5-0 Monday in Game 7.

Ovechkin, who led the NHL with 32 goals during the regular season, scored only once against the Rangers, in Game 1.

He played Thursday for Russia in an 8-3 loss to the United States in the world championships in Finland.

Ovechkin’s injury was first reported by The Washington Post’s website.

Related:Jason La Canfora Says Ted Leonsis is Delusional

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(© Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Marchand scored the game-winner for Boston 15:40 into overtime on Thursday night, giving Boston a 3-2 OT win and a 1-0 series lead over the Rangers.

For Marchand, it was all about turning the page from a goal-less series and focusing on the new task at hand.

“It’s a whole new series and we’re happy to play the Rangers,” Marchand said after the game. “They’re a very good team and a very good battle. It’s nice to finally get one there and get the monkey off the back, and hopefully they keep coming.”

Hurley: B’s Capitalize On OT Power-Play, Ride Momentum To Win

The Rangers had the upper hand during regulation, but the Bruins dominated in overtime — putting 16 shots on net. The Rangers managed just five shots, but the B’s were still worried that even though they were dictating the action, one of those silly playoff goals could do them in.

“That’s usually how it goes in the playoffs. One team does very well in overtime and then the other team gets a lucky one. We hit so many posts and had so many very good opportunities. They were bound to get one,” said Marchand. “We’re happy that we’re able to capitalize in these overtime games. They’re very tough games to be in, but we’re happy with the win tonight.”

Kalman: Chara Once Again Bruins’ Blue-Line Workhorse

Hopefully this is the start of something good for the slumping Marchand, who led Boston with 18 goals in the regular season but hadn’t scored in his last 11 games. Marchand became a hero for Boston during their Stanley Cup run in 2011, scoring 11 goals to set a new Bruins record, and he received a message from his then-linemate Mark Recchi prior to Thursday night with a few words of encouragement.

“He just texted me and told me to play my game and not to worry about anything else,” said Marchand. “The goals and stuff will come. It’s nice to hear from him. He’s obviously a guy that I went through a lot when I played with him, and it was good to hear from him again.”

Maybe Recchi should shoot Marchand a text before every game. And on that note, maybe Marchand should get morning skates off as well.

There was a scare early Thursday when Marchand appeared to leave the ice in pain during the Bruins’ morning skate. But head coach Claude Julien quickly dismissed it as anything serious, and now he’s wondering if he should let Marchand leave practice early from now on.

“I think that’s what he needed to do, get off the ice early so he could score that winning goal. Whatever works is good for us,” Julien joked after the win. “I thought Brad, personally, I thought that was one of his better games so far in the playoffs. He skated well, made some great plays, he took pucks to the net and that’s the Brad Marchand that we know. It was nice to see him really bring his A-game to the table.”

“Claude knows I hate morning skates,” said Marchand. “He used to yell at me when we won the Cup there because I wouldn’t even take a stride. I just wanted to get off early.”

Marchand wasn’t the only player on the Bruins second line to struggle during the series against the Leafs, which prompted Julien to swap out Tyler Seguin with Jaromir Jagr. No one was sure how the Marchand-Jagr-Patrice Bergeron line would pan out, but the Bruins head coach said over the last two games, the line has shown a lot of promise.

“We put them together; we weren’t quite sure how it would turn out, but the first game, which was Game Seven, as the game went on, they got a little bit better, but I thought tonight, again, they took another step in the right direction,” said Julien. “They did a great job of cycling the puck down low in the offensive zone, and hanging on to it. That was a good line for us, and we’re going to need that because we don’t want to just rely on the [David] Krejci line to produce, but we want a little bit more out of our other lines.”

After barely making a whisper last series, the Bruins’ second line is starting to make some noise. And it should come as no surprise that Marchand is the one to get that noise started.

Tune in to every Bruins playoff game on 98.5 The Sports Hub — the flagship station of the Boston Bruins. Pregame coverage begins 30 minutes before every game!

With three minutes left, the San Jose Sharks appeared to be cruising toward a well-deserved win over Los Angeles. After two penalties and two dynamic power-play goals, the Kings were halfway to the Western Conference finals.

And even the Kings weren’t quite sure how they got there.

Brown tied it with 1:43 left and Trevor Lewis scored the tiebreaking power-play goal 22 seconds later, propelling the defending Stanley Cup champions to a 4-3 victory Thursday night and a 2-0 series lead.

“It’s huge, I guess,” Brown said. “Two minutes left, down one, it’s about capitalizing. The power play is about scoring big goals, and we found a way to do that. We’re happy with the result, but we have to play better. We can’t let it get to that situation every night.”

Brown scored during a 5-on-3 advantage and Lewis provided the winner on a loose puck with 1:21 left, sending Staples Center into shocked celebration. The Kings won their 12th straight home game since March and their sixth straight postseason game, but only after getting outplayed for long stretches and needing late-game magic to thrive.

“It’s a roller coaster, but when you go through the experience of everything we did last year, you keep your emotions in check,” Brown said. “Even when that happens, you know there’s a lot of work still to do.”

Game 3 is Saturday night at the Shark Tank.

Jeff Carter scored on the Kings’ first shot and added an assist on Brown’s goal. Drew Doughty scored an early power-play goal for Los Angeles, which didn’t really get rolling until the third period — and with two late goals, the Kings landed one of the most amazing victories in their relatively thin playoff history.

“We found a way,” Los Angeles coach Darryl Sutter said. “You know what? The power play was on. We’ve been talking about it. We’ve been getting good looks and good opportunities and not finishing, and we got it from different guys.”

Jonathan Quick made 28 saves for the Kings, tying Kelly Hrudey’s franchise record with his 26th career playoff victory. Antti Niemi stopped 27 shots for the Sharks, but was powerless to stop the Kings’ power play.

Marc-Edouard Vlasic scored his first career playoff goal with 11:04 to play for the Sharks, who were doomed by their late penalties after rallying from an early two-goal deficit. Coach Todd McLellan left his team alone in the dressing room afterward.

“I liked our game,” McLellan said. “We’ll meet (Friday) at the rink, and I’ll tell our team that. The thing I like about our team, maybe in the past, this would have bothered our team more, but with the group of guys we have, I think we can recover from this.”

Patrick Marleau and Brad Stuart scored second-period goals for the Sharks, who largely dominated the first two periods with another barrage of superior speed and skill. None of it mattered when the Kings charged ahead.

“We’ve got to put it behind us,” said Stuart, who had a goal and an assist. “There’s two ways for us to respond. We can either fold up and say, ‘Oh, at least we tried,’ or we can say, ‘You know what? We can win.’

“I think 5-on-5, we were the better team. We keep doing those kinds of things, we’ll get our wins. That’s what we have to do. We have to respond in that way. We’re being tested, and it’s about how we’re going to respond. The key for us is to come out and do a lot of the same things we were doing tonight.”

After Vlasic’s score on a rebound of Stuart’s shot off the end boards, the Sharks seemed to be cruising to a win — until Stuart was whistled for tripping with 2:41 to play. Just 22 seconds later, Vlasic joined him in the box when he shot the puck over the glass, although Vlasic claimed the puck had deflected off Carter.

The Kings scored 36 seconds later, with Brown pounding home his second goal of the postseason. Lewis got the winner shortly after the ensuing faceoff, finding a loose puck on the back side of a scrum in front of Niemi after a shot by rookie Tyler Toffoli.

Lewis hadn’t scored in the postseason, but the depth forward scored two goals in the Kings’ Cup-clinching win over New Jersey last June.

“Power play got it done in the end when we needed it most,” Lewis said. “We’ve got some work to do to clean things up, but it’s a big win for us.”

The Kings played without veteran center Jarret Stoll, who didn’t return to Game 1 after a hit from San Jose’s Raffi Torres late in the second period. Torres was suspended for the rest of the series Thursday by the NHL’s Department of Player Safety for his illegal check to the head after a hearing in New York.

Brad Richardson contributed a key power-play assist while filling in for Stoll.

Los Angeles has won six straight home playoff games dating to last season’s Stanley Cup clincher, but none was more surprising than this victory. The Sharks appeared to be sure Quick couldn’t steal another win after the Kings took the opener despite getting outshot 35-20.

Quick’s streak of more than 125 minutes of shutout hockey ended in the second period with two quick San Jose goals. Vlasic then gave San Jose its first lead with a rebound goal on Stuart’s shot off the end boards midway through the period, capping a lengthy scramble near Quick’s net. Vlasic didn’t score a goal in his first 73 career playoff games.

The Kings were forced to make several changes in the absence of Stoll, the third-line center and faceoff specialist who excels on special teams. Stoll was replaced by Richardson, who played 13 postseason games during the Kings’ championship run last summer.

The Sharks replaced Torres by juggling their lineup, promoting Joe Pavelski to the second line and using several new combinations. Tim Kennedy was in uniform for just his second game of the postseason for San Jose, which also played without injured forward Marty Havlat.

NOTES: Sharks F Adam Burish sat out his second straight game after playing in all four games against Vancouver. He was replaced again by Bracken Kearns. Havlat hasn’t played since the playoff opener in Vancouver while nursing a lower-body injury. … Richardson hadn’t played since the Kings’ playoff opener against St. Louis on April 30. He appeared in just 16 regular-season games. … Quick hadn’t allowed a goal since early in the second period of the Kings’ series-clinching win over St. Louis six days earlier.

The NHL announced the suspension a few hours before the Kings hosted the Sharks in Game 2. Stoll wasn’t expected to play for the defending Stanley Cup champions.

Stoll didn’t return to Game 1 after Torres hit him late in the second period of the Kings’ 2-0 victory. Torres got only a minor penalty for charging on the hit, and coach Todd McLellan and captain Joe Thornton echoed Torres’ belief that the hit was completely legal.

The NHL’s Department of Player Safety sharply disagreed while handing down a fourth suspension for Torres, considered a repeat offender in dangerous hits under the league’s collective bargaining agreement. Torres flew to New York for an in-person hearing Thursday.

While playing for Phoenix last season, Torres received a 21-game suspension — initially 25 games — for a high hit on Chicago star Marian Hossa in the first round of the playoffs. Torres was suspended for two games in January 2012 for charging Minnesota defenseman Nate Prosser, and he sat out four games in April 2011 for a hit to the head of Edmonton’s Jordan Eberle while playing for Vancouver.

Stoll was bent forward while trying to play a bouncing puck when Torres approached him from the side for a violent hit. Stoll’s head snapped back violently before he fell forward onto the ice.

In an explanatory video released by Brendan Shanahan, the NHL’s senior vice president of player safety, he said Stoll’s head was “the principal point of contact” in the hit, creating grounds for suspension. Although Torres initially made contact with Stoll’s right shoulder, Shanahan ruled that the shoulder hit was only a glancing blow, as evidenced by the direction both players traveled after the contact.

Torres claimed he had changed his ways during a largely incident-free season with Phoenix and San Jose, his sixth team in six seasons. He has been a dependable depth forward this season for the Sharks and Coyotes, scoring 18 points with just 17 penalty minutes in 39 games.

The Kings lose much more in the absence of Stoll, their veteran third-line center. Stoll is a faceoff specialist and a top penalty-killer with a strong two-way game.

Brad Richardson, who played 13 playoff games during the Kings’ championship run last year, is expected to take Stoll’s spot in the lineup.

Los Angeles hasn’t disclosed the nature of Stoll’s injury or a timetable for his recovery.

Torres, Thornton and McLellan all claimed the hit was completely legal, while Kings coach Darryl Sutter called it “careless.” Torres and Stoll are friends after three seasons as teammates in Edmonton from 2005-08.

“We were kind of shocked to hear he has to fly to New York for the hearing, because we didn’t see anything wrong on the play,” Thornton said Wednesday. “It’s unfortunate that Raffi has to go through this again.”

McLellan prepared for Torres’ likely absence by moving Joe Pavelski onto the Sharks’ second line on the left wing with Logan Couture and Patrick Marleau. Scott Gomez moved into Pavelski’s spot on the third line, and Tim Kennedy is likely to suit up on the fourth line.

(TM and © Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Also, Chad remembers the last time he watched wrestling when Goldberg spoke, what does TNA stand for and Alex Ovechkin thinks the Rangers are favored, all in this edition of Vlog This.

For more information on Impact Wrestling, click here.

To hear the entire press conference, click here.

» More Columns

Freewheeling? No.

Artistic? No.

High scoring? Definitely not.

Compelling and can’t miss? Without a doubt.

There’s something magical about the Boston Bruins and the New York Rangers facing off in a playoff series. A four-decade absence in playoff competition will do that.

Forget the nostalgia. These are two teams that will mirror each other in approach and intensity every night.

LISTEN: BRUINS’ CAMPBELL ON 98.5 THE SPORTS HUB

The television broadcasts will be compelling. However, the in-person thumping that will take place at the two gardens — TD and Madison Square — will be thunderous.

It seems likely that the team that survives will be huge underdogs against the Pittsburgh Penguins (assuming they dispose of the pesky Ottawa Senators) in the Eastern Conference finals. However, that survivor will be battle-tested and somewhat vicious once the current series is over.

LUNDQVIST, SHOT-BLOCKING RANGERS READY TO DROP THE PUCK IN BOSTON

The Rangers have the advantage at the start of the series. The Bruins’ defense is awfully depleted, and it’s not likely that defensemen Dennis Seidenberg, Andrew Ference and Wade Redden will play in the opener.

Zdeno Chara is usually the Boston defenseman who gets the most attention, but Seidenberg is clearly the second best of the group. He is a big thumper himself and can carry the puck out of trouble. Ference is a smart and underrated player who can step up into the attack.

Rangers fans certainly know Redden. John Tortorella banished him when he didn’t fit the coach’s eye, and he was a trade-deadline pickup for the Bruins. Redden has been well worth the sixth-round draft pick that he cost them.

HARTNETT: BLUESHIRTS IN 6

The Bruins will use youngsters Dougie Hamilton, Matt Bartkowski and Torey Krug in their place if the veteran trio can’t play. Hamilton is a future star, but he is mistake-prone at this point. So are the other two, but that didn’t stop Bartkowski from playing a strong Game 7 against Toronto.

The Rangers are going to have to attack the Bruins with their strong forechecking game. That’s the way both teams play on a regular basis, but with three young defensemen in the lineup, it will almost certainly pay huge dividends for the Rangers.

There’s bound to be some nervousness, and mistakes are likely. The Rangers must be like piranhas after the first hint of blood in the water.

Henrik Lundqvist will get tested at some point in the series, but if there’s one game in which the Rangers should leave him to his own devices and go into a full-fledged attack mode, it’s this one.

The Bruins are going to be using young defensemen who will likely make mistakes. Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask may be left hung out to dry on several occasions if the Rangers attack with ferocity.

CBS BOSTON’S BRUINS-RANGERS PREVIEW

If the Rangers give up a breakaway or two, it’s no big deal. They have Lundqvist in the net.

Do you think he’s going to give up more than one goal? Not the way he’s been playing.

The Rangers have an opportunity in Game 1 to set the tone of the series. The Bruins are still in the clouds after their seventh-game miracle comeback vs. Toronto.

They will eventually focus, but it won’t be in the first game.

It is the Rangers’ game for the taking.

His hit on Los Angeles center Jarret Stoll might have erased much of that work and put both players’ postseason futures in doubt.

Stoll is likely to miss Game 2 of the Kings’ second-round playoff series against the Sharks on Thursday night. The valuable two-way forward didn’t return to the series opener after a hard hit from Torres late in the second period of Los Angeles’ 2-0 victory.

Kings coach Darryl Sutter implied Wednesday that Stoll could be out for a significant length of time. Torres also might be sidelined for a stretch after he travels to New York for a disciplinary hearing Thursday with the NHL’s Department of Player Safety, which suspended him until the hearing is completed.

“I thought it was careless,” Sutter said of Torres’ hit, which occurred near the sideboards after the puck rolled away from Stoll.

A lengthy suspension wouldn’t make Sutter feel any better about Torres’ play, either: “Our player is quite a bit more important than theirs.”

During the defending Stanley Cup champions’ 2-0 victory over the Sharks, Stoll was bent forward when Torres approached him from the side for a shoulder-to-shoulder hit. Stoll’s head also snapped back violently before he fell forward onto the ice. Torres was called for a minor penalty for charging, and Stoll didn’t return to the game.

Most of the Kings declined to weigh in on the hit’s legality after Wednesday’s light practice, claiming they hadn’t seen replays. Stoll attended the Kings’ team meeting before practice, but wasn’t on the ice.

The Sharks had much stronger opinions about the play: Torres, captain Joe Thornton and coach Todd McLellan all said the hit was perfectly legal, and shouldn’t even have resulted in San Jose’s only penalty in Game 1.

“We questioned the call of a charging penalty,” Thornton said. “So we were kind of shocked to hear he has to fly to New York for the hearing, because we didn’t see anything wrong on the play. … It’s unfortunate that Raffi has to go through this again.”

Further complicating matters, Stoll and Torres are friends after three seasons as teammates with the Edmonton Oilers from 2005-08.

The Kings would lose plenty without Stoll, a stalwart on their championship team last summer. Stoll is their third-line center and a top penalty-killer and faceoff specialist, playing a valuable two-way game while also logging time on the power play.

Although he doesn’t score many points, getting just one assist in seven playoff games this spring, Stoll scored the series-winning goal in last season’s upset of top-seeded Vancouver in the first round on the way to the title. He also has a history of apparent concussions earlier in his career.

“He’s a big loss, one of our most valuable guys,” Kings defenseman Drew Doughty said. “Everybody else will have to step up if we want to keep going forward.”

Torres’ absence isn’t likely to affect the Sharks’ offensive efforts against goalie Jonathan Quick, who shut them out on 35 shots in the series opener. But Stoll’s absence on defense changes the mix for Los Angeles, which must entrust additional ice time to role players without one of its leaders.

Brad Richardson, who played 13 games during the Kings’ championship playoff run, is likely to replace Stoll in the lineup for Game 2. Richardson hasn’t played in this postseason since Game 1 of the Kings’ first-round series with St. Louis.

“It’s huge, because he’s one of our clutch players,” Richardson said of Stoll. “He’s the first guy on the penalty kill, and he’s a power-play guy.”

Even if it is deemed legal, the hit ignites another round of trouble for Torres, the journeyman forward whose ugly reputation has surfaced again.

While playing for Phoenix last season, Torres received a 21-game suspension — initially 25 games — for a high hit on Chicago star Marian Hossa in the first round of the playoffs. That play cemented Torres’ identity as a cheap shot artist and dangerous player in many NHL minds.

But the former No. 5 overall draft pick insists he has cleaned up his game during a season of largely trouble-free play with San Jose, his sixth team in six seasons.

“If he is going to miss some games, we’re going to miss him,” said Sharks forward Logan Couture, who thought the hit was clean from his on-ice viewpoint. “But it’s an opportunity for other guys to step up the physical play and try to take over his role. We’re going to support Raffi, and whatever happens, happens.”

Kings forward Dustin Penner thought Torres’ hit was objectionable mostly because it was unnecessary. He sees little comparison to the hit by Ottawa’s Eric Gryba on Montreal center Lars Eller in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series, resulting in a two-game suspension for a blow that left Eller with a concussion and a broken nose. Eller didn’t return to the series as the Senators advanced.

“I think that hit (in Ottawa) was fine,” Penner said. “I know some people don’t, but it’s a split-second decision. You guys can slow it down to .001 milliseconds, but he’s got to make that hit, and this one (by Torres), he probably didn’t need to make that hit. That’s where I see the difference.”

(© Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Chicago dominated the final two periods in its first game in the Western Conference semifinals since it won the Stanley Cup in 2010. Marian Hossa scored the opening goal, and Patrick Sharp had an empty-netter and two assists to give him nine points in the playoffs.

Jimmy Howard finished with 38 stops in a terrific performance, but Detroit still lost to rival Chicago for the eighth straight time dating to last season.

The series resumes on Saturday afternoon at the United Center.

The 75th all-time playoff game between the Blackhawks and Red Wings was tied at 1 after two periods, and Howard made a great stop on a breakaway by Dave Bolland 4½ minutes into the third.

Chicago kept working and went in front to stay on a heady play by Oduya. He drifted in from the point and sent Sharp’s pass past Howard on the glove side with 12 minutes left. Kruger then jumped on a loose puck and sent a backhander into the upper right corner to make it 3-1.

That was more than enough for Crawford, who caught a break when Damien Brunner’s rebound attempt went off the crossbar and straight down before it was swept away with about three minutes left.

The opener of the 16th playoff series between the Original Six teams was the first game for Chicago since it eliminated Minnesota last Thursday. Detroit closed out Anaheim with a 3-2 win in Game 7 on Sunday night, taking the final two games of the series against the second-seeded Ducks.

Despite the long break, there was no sign of rust for the Blackhawks. And the Red Wings skated right with Chicago despite all that travel in the first round and the thrilling conclusion to the series against Anaheim.

This one was fast and frenetic from the start. Two similar teams more than familiar with the other’s style, energized by their first playoff meeting since Detroit beat Chicago in five games in the 2009 Western Conference final.

The Blackhawks struck first, taking advantage of the first power-play opportunity of the game. With Gustav Nyquist in the box for hooking, Sharp forced a turnover along the boards and Jonathan Toews sent the puck to Hossa, who one-timed it past Howard at 9:03.

Detroit needed less than two minutes to respond, tying it when Brunner poked in a rebound for his third career playoff goal. The rookie center also contributed three assists in the first round against the Ducks.

The Blackhawks killed off two power plays created by penalties on Andrew Shaw. They killed off another one when Nick Leddy was sent off for delay of game in the second period, making them a perfect 20 for 20 on the penalty kill in the postseason and sinking Detroit to 1 for 18 on power plays against Chicago, including the regular season.

After Leddy’s penalty, the Blackhawks controlled most of the action for a while. They had a 17-5 advantage in shots in the period. They just couldn’t solve Howard, who made a great glove stop on a wide-open Hossa with 6:39 remaining. Detroit also killed off two Chicago power plays to keep it tied headed to the third.

NOTES: It was the 800th game between the teams. … Detroit F Justin Abdelkader was shaken up after he collided with Blackhawks D Michal Rozsival in the first period. He was helped to the bench after a few moments down on the ice, but eventually returned to the game. … Blackhawks F Viktor Stalberg was a healthy scratch. Coach Joel Quenneville said it was a “coach’s decision” and Stalberg could get back on the ice at any point. He said he talked to Stalberg about the decision to bench him for the opener. … Toews and Pavel Datsyuk of the Red Wings joined Patrice Bergeron of the Boston Bruins as finalists for the Frank J. Selke Trophy as the NHL’s best defensive forward. Datsyuk, a three-time winner, tied with Toews for the league lead in takeaways with 56. … Chicago has won eight of the previous 15 playoff series against Detroit.

___

Jay Cohen can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/jcohenap

(© Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Game 1 between the Bruins and Rangers will be tonight at the TD Garden, and the Bruins will have to put the events of Monday night behind them if they hope to avoid falling into an early hole in this series.

The Rangers come in riding some pretty good momentum themselves after staving off elimination with a 1-0 Game 6 win at home and then rolling to a 5-0 win in Game 7 in Washington.

The best goalie in the world, Henrik Lundqvist, is riding a two-game shutout streak, stopping the last 62 shots he’s seen. That includes six shots off the stick of Alex Ovechkin, who led the league with 32 goals this season, so the degree of difficulty has certainly been high.

With Lundqvist being his usual self (1.65 GAA, .932 save percentage) and Tuukka Rask playing pretty well himself (2.49 GAA, .923), it should be safe to expect close games to be the norm throughout the series.

Really, that’s nothing new for the Bruins and Rangers. This is how their last 15 meetings have gone:

2013
Jan. 19: Bruins 3, Rangers 1
Jan. 23: Rangers 4, Bruins 3 (OT)
Feb. 12: Rangers 4, Bruins 3 (SO)

2011-12
Jan. 21: Rangers 3, Bruins 2 (OT)
Feb. 14: Rangers 3, Bruins 0
March 4: Rangers 4, Bruins 3
April 1: Bruins 2, Rangers 1

2010-11
Oct. 23: Rangers 3, Bruins 2
Nov. 17, Bruins 3, Rangers 2
March 26: Rangers 1, Bruins 0
April 4: Rangers 5, Bruins 3

2009-10
Nov. 10: Rangers 1, Bruins 0
Jan. 4: Rangers 3, Bruins 2
Jan. 9: Rangers 3, Bruins 1
March 21: Bruins 2, Rangers 1

The condensed version of that:

• The Rangers are 11-4-0 in those games, while the Bruins are 4-8-3.
• The Rangers have scored 38 goals, and the Bruins have scored 29. The average margin of victory in the games is 1.33 goals.

Clearly, the Rangers have gotten the better of the Bruins, but the games have not been as lopsided as the teams’ records suggest. With the Rangers outscoring the Capitals 16-12 in their seven-game series, and the Bruins outscoring the Leafs 22-18 in their seven-game series, the two teams are in for a hard-fought series.

When it comes to the scoring, the Rangers got a pretty balanced contribution in the first round. Eleven different players scored in the seven games, with no skater scoring more than two goals. Those goals have come from unlikely sources, too, with the likes of Brian Boyle and Arron Asham, both of whom finished the regular season with just two goals apiece, scoring twice in the series.

Rick Nash, who led the team with 21 goals in the regular season, didn’t find the back of the net once against Washington, while Ryan Callahan and Brad Richards only scored once each during the first-round series. It’s a testament to the Rangers’ depth that they were able to win a series without their best scorers even close to their best, and it means the Bruins are going to have their hands full trying to keep the Rangers off the board.

Of course, the Bruins showed some good depth in the first round too, with 11 players scoring in the first round as well. David Krejci led the way with five, Nathan Horton scored four, and Patrice Bergeron scored three, thanks to his game-tying and game-winning goals in Game 7. Claude Julien’s switch of Tyler Seguin (zero goals, one assist) and Jaromir Jagr (zero goals, four assists) seemed to be effective in the team’s final game against the Maple Leafs, and it provided reason to believe Bergeron and Brad Marchand (zero goals, three assists) could begin to produce a bit more reliably for Boston.

That will have to happen for the Bruins to compete in the series, because the line of Milan Lucic, Krejci and Horton accounted for 48 percent of the Bruins’ points against Toronto. That may have worked against a lesser opponent, but against the Rangers, it’s hard to believe it will lead to many wins.

We can’t ever know what will happen in the future, and the miracle that took place in the Bruins’ Game 7 victory was just the latest reminder of that. We can look at past results to try to infer what might take place, and if the past is any indication, there’s little doubt we should be in for a long, laborious series, full of heavy hits, blocked shots and bruised bodies.

Read more from Michael by clicking here, or find him on Twitter @michaelFhurley.

By Christian S. Kohl

Two of the elite talents in the American League, Miguel Cabrera and Mariano Rivera, have begun this year no differently than any other they have played. Both have dominated in a fashion that is so consistent we as fans become oddly accustomed to it. So, given that the numbers of both players are absolutely monstrous, who has been most impressive in the early going?

Miguel Cabrera created a situation for himself last year which made his 2013 performance impossible to improve upon. As both the MVP and triple crown winner, the best he could do would be an unfathomable repeat of both those accolades. His .375 average and league leading 41 runs batted in are nothing shy of astonishing, with a more than respectable eight home runs as well. In order to approach his accomplishments from last year, he’ll need to connect for more home runs as the summer approaches. Still, he sits right now on pace to drive in 175 runs, and is unquestionably the finest offensive player in the American League right now.

One has to wonder, however, if enough can be said about both the start to the season and the entire career of Mariano Rivera. The last man in baseball to wear the number 42, Rivera has amazingly returned to form a season after tearing his ACL, featuring an age higher than his jersey number. The greatest closer of all time has been perfect so far this season, converting all 16 save opportunities, 6 of which did not even allow a base runner. His ERA sits at a criminal 1.56, and he sports 13 strikeouts, proving once again to any doubters that it is in fact the movement, and not just the overpowering velocity his cutter once featured which confounds hitters and shatters bats the league over.

It is almost inconceivable to say comparing these two could be easy, especially given the tear Cabrera is on. Not to mention a direct comparison of a position player and a closer as a value proposition is ordinarily next to impossible. But Rivera has been perfect. There is no way his numbers could be any better, and at age 43 with one working knee, there is nothing to be done about Rivera except sit back and watch in amazement at one of the truly greatest players in the history of the game.

>>See More Sports Verdict Episodes Here

That doesn’t mean for one second a fan should take his eyes off Cabrera, however. He is doing amazing things a cut above even the elite offensive players in the game right now, and his contributions to his team, the season, and the game itself are right now no less special than the artistry of Mariano. The clear edge here is Rivera so far this year; still, with Cabrera at age 30 now and Rivera presumably at the tail end of his career (though once could conceive of him still splintering bats at age 50), in just a few short years their exploits will be memories, and their exploits enshrined in Cooperstown. Enjoy them both while you still can.

Christian S. Kohl is a sports contributor for CBS Local Digital Media.

By: Kevin Martin

Of the three Triple Crown races, the Preakness Stakes has been, in recent years, the most formful, meaning favorites run well and have dominated the winner’s circle. Since 2000, seven post-time favorites have won the Preakness. There is no doubt that this year’s post-time favorite will be Kentucky Derby winner Orb. He drew the number one post position at Wednesday’s Preakness draw which is not ideal but he had the same post in winning the Fountain of Youth Stakes earlier this year. In his four starts in 2013, Orb has shown that race circumstances don’t matter, he just wins.

Anything over even money on Orb, the most likely winner of the 2013 Preakness, is a good bet. Big Brown won the 2008 Preakness at 1 to 5, the shortest priced Preakness favorite this century. It’s not out of the question that Orb could sink below even money come post-time. However, the presence of Mylute, with jockey Rosie Nepravnik aboard, and Departing, the talented colt who skipped the Derby, gives some hope that Orb backers will get at least 6-5 come post-time. So I will invest $80 of my bankroll on Orb to win.

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The place where I am hoping to find some value is in the exacta. Will Take Charge ran well but had a troubled trip off nearly a two month layoff in the Kentucky Derby. While it’s doubtful that any colt was going to beat Orb on Derby day, Will Take Charge would have done better than his eighth place finish with a cleaner trip. He will be ridden by Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith who will give him a chance to run when they hit the stretch. He will likely go off at odds exceeding 10 to 1 and could be forgotten in the exoctics where Mylute and Departing are expected to get the majority of the play. I will play a straight exacta with Orb over Will Take Charge for $20.

While I won’t get a significant return on a win bet should Orb win, the $20 exacta play, should it hit, would mean at least a 3 to 1 return on my $100 investment.

The $100 Bet

$80 to win on the 1 (Orb)
$20 straight exacta 1 with 7 (Orb over Will Take Charge)

For a Preakness Stakes preview, click here. Good luck and enjoy this year’s Preakness!

Of course, its more fun to make your own picks, you can learn do that at Hello Race Fans. You can also see a rundown of all the starters with their annual Preakness Cheat Sheet.

Kevin Martin is the founder of the thoroughbred racing history site Colin’s Ghost and a contributing editor at Hello Race Fans

Evgeni Malkin extended his points streak to seven games with a goal and an assist for Pittsburgh.

Game 2 is Friday night.

Tomas Vokoun stopped 35 shots to win his third straight start and top-seeded Pittsburgh never trailed.

Colin Greening scored for the Senators. Craig Anderson made 26 saves but Ottawa had no answer for Pittsburgh’s power play.

The Penguins are 9 of 24 with the man advantage through seven playoff games, best of the eight teams remaining in the postseason.

The Senators had the NHL’s best penalty kill during the regular season and turned aside 16 of 19 penalties against Montreal in the first round.

Pittsburgh was pushed to six games by the New York Islanders during a spirited first-round series in which the youthful Islanders had the Penguins on their heels at times.

Still, Pittsburgh advanced to the conference semifinals for the first time in three years behind the power play and a gutsy move by coach Dan Bylsma to bench top goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury and replace him with Vokoun.

The 36-year-old Vokoun made his 713th NHL start on Tuesday, but his first with the stakes this big. Despite admitting to some butterflies when told he would get the starting assignment for Game 1, Vokoun overcame some shaky moments early to settle down.

Having the lead most of the night certainly helped.

Pittsburgh didn’t need to wait long to get a chance to put the power play to work. Ottawa’s Kyle Turris drew a high-sticking penalty before the game was 90 seconds old, and barely a minute later, Pittsburgh jumped in front.

Malkin worked his way into the corner then threaded a pass between two Ottawa defenders to Martin at the point. Martin’s slap shot from the point deflected off Ottawa defenseman Jared Cowen and scooted past Anderson just 2:41 into the game to give the Penguins an early lead.

The Senators didn’t take long to tie it, evening things at 1 on the kind of soft goal Vokoun had avoided during his two stellar starts against the Islanders.

Ottawa’s Erik Condra won a battle in the corner for the puck then threw it from behind the goal to the side of the net.

Vokoun, anticipating a crossing pass instead of a shot, found himself out of position. The puck squirted behind him and was inches from the goal line before Greening reached over the goaltender and poked it in.

Malkin responded with his third goal of the playoffs, though his linemates did all the hard work. James Neal poke-checked the puck away from Cowen behind the Ottawa net then fed it to Chris Kunitz.

Kunitz then zipped a pass to Malkin’s awaiting stick just outside the goal crease and all the reigning NHL MVP had to do was tap it in to put the Penguins back in front.

Ottawa, facing the Penguins for the fourth time in the postseason since 2007, had little trouble getting to Vokoun.

They even managed to get the puck by him a few times. Just not into the net. On several occasions Vokoun would find himself on the ground as the puck skittered through the crease or toward the goal. Each time it was steered out of danger.

Anderson wasn’t quite so fortunate. Pittsburgh went back to the power play late in the second period and Kunitz stuffed home a rebound off an Iginla shot to give the Penguins a 3-1 cushion.

Dupuis, whose five goals against the Islanders led the team, beat Anderson at the end of a short-handed 2-on-1 breakaway with 8:36 remaining to put it away.

NOTES: The Senators went 0 for 5 on the power play and are just 1 for 17 with the man advantage against Pittsburgh this season. … Vokoun is 13-1 in his past 14 starts. … Iginla’s seven-game point streak in the playoffs is the longest of his career. … Injured Ottawa C Jason Spezza (back) did not travel with the team for Game 1 but has not been ruled out for Game 2.

Toews, a Selke finalist for the second time, finished third in the NHL in plus-minus with a career-high plus-28 rating and placed second in the NHL in face-off winning percentage with 59.9 percent.

Bergeron, who won last year, was the NHL’s top face-off man this season at 62.1 percent. He ranked sixth overall and led the Bruins in plus-minus with a plus-24 rating and played an average of 2:12 per game with his team short-handed.

Datsyuk, a three-time winner, tied with Toews for the league lead in takeaways with 56, topped the Red Wings in plus-minus at plus-21 and won 55 percent of faceoffs.

(© Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Quick made 35 saves in his sixth career playoff shutout, and the Los Angeles Kings opened their second-round series with a 2-0 victory over the Sharks on Tuesday night.

Slava Voynov and Mike Richards each had a goal and an assist in the Stanley Cup winners’ 11th straight victory at Staples Center since March, but the Kings all thought the win rested squarely on Quick, who delivered yet another dominant playoff performance.

The Sharks’ superior speed and passing couldn’t get anything past last season’s Conn Smythe Trophy winner.

“We wanted to get off on a good foot, no matter how we had to do it,” Quick said after his 25th career playoff victory, one shy of Kelly Hrudey’s franchise record. “We got better during this game, but we’ve got some work to do.”

Game 2 is Thursday.

Los Angeles opened the NHL’s fourth all-California playoff series with its fifth straight victory after an 0-2 start to its title defense.

Opening a playoff series at home for the first time in 21 years, the Kings got just enough offense from Richards and Voynov, the Kings’ promising Siberian defenseman, who had the first multipoint playoff game of his short career.

But the Kings’ scorers directed any praise to their defense and Quick, who yielded just 10 goals in the six-game first round against St. Louis before frustrating the Sharks.

“We didn’t have our best first period, and it could have got out of reach quickly if Quickie wasn’t back there making some big saves,” said Richards, the Kings’ leading postseason scorer. “You could just tell he was seeing the puck well.”

Antti Niemi stopped 18 shots for the Sharks, who scored 15 goals while sweeping third-seeded Vancouver — but Quick has playoff poise that the Canucks’ two goalies still haven’t achieved.

With help from a few fortunate bounces, Quick stayed in control during long stretches when the Sharks largely dominated play, particularly in the frantic opening minutes and again while outshooting Los Angeles 16-4 in the third period.

“It’s about getting it done,” Sharks coach Todd McLellan said. “When the night ends, you have to have the job done. You can have as many good looks as you want. You can be in all alone. You have to find ways to finish, and we have players that are very capable of doing that. We have players that are capable of scoring greasy, dirty, playoff-style goals.”

The Sharks and Kings are meeting in the postseason for the second time in three years, accentuating their already strong in-state rivalry.

San Jose eliminated Los Angeles in 2011 on the way to the conference finals, but the Sharks’ years of steady excellence were surpassed by the up-and-down Kings when they raised California’s second Stanley Cup.

The Kings had not-so-secretly hoped for a second-round Freeway Faceoff with the Anaheim Ducks, who lost to Detroit in seven games — but after Game 1, it’s clear the Sharks have the champs’ full attention.

Los Angeles beat San Jose 3-2 in both clubs’ regular-season finale to finish in fifth place in the Western Conference, two points ahead of the Sharks.

That’s how Los Angeles got home-ice advantage in this series, starting at home in the postseason for the first time since the 1992 opening round against Edmonton.

“(Quick) made the saves he had to, (but) we have to find a way to score,” Sharks center Joe Pavelski said. “We have to produce and create more movement. We feel we can play with them. We felt we played a good game. After tonight, everyone in this room feels they are beatable. It’s not going to be easy, obviously. They are Stanley Cup champs, a team that has learned how to win.”

The Sharks began Game 1 at a furious pace, generating numerous early scoring chances and keeping the Kings on their heels.

Quick immediately had to make a handful of remarkable saves before Los Angeles matched the tempo, and Voynov put the Kings ahead with 12.9 seconds left in the first period when he ripped a slap shot through traffic on a rush.

Voynov scored two goals in the opening round against St. Louis, and both were game-winners — including the clutch overtime score in Game 5 that allowed Los Angeles to finish off the series at home two days later.

“He gets shots through, and they’re not going to give you much,” Los Angeles coach Darryl Sutter said of Voynov.

Quick turned aside several good Sharks chances in the second period before Los Angeles doubled its lead. Voynov ripped a long shot that redirected off Richards for his seventh point in seven games.

The goal gave the Kings their first two-goal lead of the entire postseason, and the Sharks had their first two-goal deficit of the playoffs.

Shortly after the Kings’ first power play early in the third period, the puck ended up coming to a complete stop next to Niemi in his crease without the goalie knowing where it was. Scott Hannan dived to knock the puck away with his hand.

 (© Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

The high flying sports spectacle is coming to the Orleans Arena for one night only, Saturday, June 29th and will tape two shows that will air July 4th and July 11th on Spike TV.

The show features a roster of legends and newcomers, including Hulk Hogan, Sting, Jeff Hardy and Vegas’s own Kenny King.

Tickets for the show go on sale this Friday May 17th at the Orleans Arena box office or by visiting orleansarena.com. The press conference is posted below.

Don’t forget to check out Chad’s Vlog This! featuring scenes from the press conference.

Considering Orb’s dominating performance in the Kentucky Derby two weeks ago it’s hard to surmise a scenario where we aren’t talking about yet another pending attempt to end racing’s long wait for the twelfth Triple Crown winner after this year’s Preakness. Orb is now perfect this year in four starts since he won his 3-year-old debut at Gulfstream Park in January. He has a jockey in Joel Rosario at the peak of his game; a trainer in Hall of Famer Shug McGaughey who is almost as beloved by the racing community as he is good; and owners whose family has been breeding and racing horses for over a century. The racehorse named Orb has the bloodlines, ability, and human connections that would serve as a perfect prelude to a potentially remarkable story should he win his next two career races.

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Four who Could Beat Orb

While Orb will be a well-deserved favorite at the betting windows and in the hearts of race fans, he will face a challenging group in this year’s Preakness. The majority of the starters raced in the Kentucky Derby two weeks ago and at least three starters will be “new shooters” coming out of races elsewhere. Since 2000, all but two winners of the Preakness also ran in the Kentucky Derby.

Here are the four that have the best chance to end Orb’s chances of shipping to Belmont with a Triple Crown on the line:

Will Take Charge

As the field made the final turn in the Kentucky Derby, Will Take Charge was making a bold move, step for step with the eventual winner. As they hit the top of the stretch, Will Take Charge was blocked by a tiring Verrazano and lost all chance for an in-the-money finish. Was he going to beat Orb? Maybe not, but his sustained move passing horses in the Derby, makes him an interesting starter in the Preakness. He was off for nearly two months before his eighth place finish at Churchill and could be sitting on a huge race in his second start off that layoff. Hall of Famer Mike Smith will ride Will Take Charge for the first time and should give him a better trip than he had in the Derby.

Departing

The winner of the Illinois Derby in his last start did not race in the Kentucky Derby. While those shipping from Churchill have tended to dominate the winner’s circle in the Preakness, Departing boasts a compelling resume including four wins from five career starts. His only loss came in a third place finish in the Louisiana Derby. That race produced the second, third, and fifth place finishers in the Kentucky Derby, which indicates he has the class to possibly spring the upset against Orb.

Goldencents

As the third betting choice when they opened the gates for the Kentucky Derby, he ran the worst race of his life. After breaking well, he sat too close to what turned out to be a suicidal early pace over a sloppy and tiring track. He was done by the time the field reached the mile marker. Jockey Kevin Krigger wisely eased him well before the wire and his connections shipped to Pimlico with little hesitation. With a few speed horses signed on in the Preakness, he will need to relax and not contest the pace to have a chance. A post position on the outside with the other speed horses on the rail would be a big help in carving out an ideal trip. He might be overlooked considering his dismal Derby so he could be a square price come post time.

How I’d Bet $100 On The Preakness

Mylute

The fifth place finisher in the Kentucky Derby ran a great race at Churchill Downs. In his three races this year he has never been farther than four lengths from the winner. He just missed winning the Louisiana Derby, a race stacked with strong runners, and had a wide trip during his gallant run in Kentucky. He will be ridden by Maryland-native Rosie Nepravnik, who will be racing in the Preakness for the first time. She will be a crowd favorite in Baltimore and would be a popular winner should Mylute manage to turn the tables on Orb.

If you’d like more information about the Preakness and tips on how to play the races, check out Hello Race Fans.

Kevin Martin is the founder of the thoroughbred racing history site Colin’s Ghost and a contributing editor at Hello Race Fans.

The NHL playoffs are off to a heart-pounding start with a record 17 games going to overtime in the first round.

The end-to-end, hard-hitting action with storied franchises and superstars might become intriguing enough to attract some casual fans for the conference semifinals.

Original Six teams — Chicago and Detroit, Boston and the New York Rangers — are paired up in each conference for the first time since the 1992 postseason.

And, the other two second-round matchups aren’t too shabby.

The last five champions — Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, Pittsburgh and Detroit — all have a chance to be the first to win two Stanley Cups in the salary cap era.

The Penguins were scheduled to get their series started Tuesday night at home against Ottawa, and the defending champion Los Angeles Kings were to follow by hosting the San Jose Sharks.

Chicago, the NHL’s top-seeded team, will renew a rivalry against seventh-seeded Detroit on Wednesday night in the Windy City. After getting a much-needed break following Game 7s, the fourth-seeded Bruins will host the sixth-seeded Rangers on Thursday night in their first postseason matchup since 1973.

The last time Original Six teams faced each other on both sides of the NHL postseason bracket beyond the first round was the division finals in 1992 when Montreal and Boston played in the Wales Conference while the Blackhawks and Red Wings met in the Campbell Conference, according to STATS.

Since then, the NHL has had three work stoppages, including one this season that started the season on Jan. 19 and shortened it to a 48-game sprint.

The timing off the Original Six-heavy playoffs, leading to four major markets likely spiking TV ratings, seems to be the shot the sport needs.

“I think it’s great for the league,” Red Wings forward Justin Abdelkader said. “Any time you have Original Six team matchups or Original Six teams in the playoffs, it’s great.

“We’re looking forward to playing Chicago one last time before we change conferences.”

The Red Wings will be in the Eastern Conference next season as part of the league’s realignment plan, making their 13th best-of-seven series against the Blackhawks even more interesting.

Detroit, though, will have to fare better than it did against Chicago in the regular season to make the matchup compelling after the pre-series hype fades.

The Blackhawks, the NHL’s top-seeded team, beat the Red Wings twice in shootouts, once in overtime and by a 7-1 score in another game.

“Maybe we had their number during the regular season, but this is different,” said Chicago forward Marian Hossa, who played for Detroit the last time the teams met in the playoffs four years ago when the Red Wings rolled toward the Stanley Cup finals. “When I saw how they played (against Anaheim), they’ve extremely picked up their game and played well.

“We will have to be better than we were against Minnesota if we want to win.”

Boston couldn’t have finished better in the first round, becoming the first team to win a Game 7 after trailing by three goals in the third.

The Bruins were down by two with 90 seconds left, scored twice in a 31-second span and beat Toronto — another Original Six team — in the league’s 17th OT game of the postseason. The previous record for OT games in an opening round was 16, set last year.

The Rangers had a much easier time in their decisive game against Washington, winning 5-0 with Henrik Lundqvist becoming the first NHL goaltender to have shutouts in Games 6 and 7 since Detroit’s Dominik Hasek did it in 2002.

It was such a rout that New York forward Arron Asham was peeking at the Toronto-Boston score to see who the Rangers would play next.

“I looked up a few times and saw that Toronto was up 4-1, and that’s who I thought we’d face,” Asham said. “A few minutes later, it was a different story. It’s a tough way to lose.

New York took the three-game season series against the Bruins, winning a shootout and an OT game after opening the season with a 3-1 loss to them. But Boston coach Claude Julien is counting on his team building confidence from its comeback that might help its quest for consistency.

“That’s the one thing that I’m hoping, that we can grab that momentum that we had at the end and carry it into the next series,” Julien said. “We know we have to be better, we can’t keep playing well in spurts and not so well in other spurts.”

On the other side of North America, two teams will compete to be California’s best hockey club.

The fifth-seeded Kings and sixth-seeded Sharks are playing for the second time in the playoffs — San Jose eliminated Los Angeles in the opening round three years ago — and are the first teams from the Golden State to meet after the opening round of the playoffs.

“It’s a great thing for the state,” Sharks coach Todd McLellan said.

Canada had one-fourth of the 16 teams in the playoffs when they began April 30. Now, the hockey-crazed country is left with only the seventh-seeded Senators going against one of the country’s own, Sidney Crosby, and the Penguins, the top-seeded team in the East.

Crosby has bounced back from a broken jaw well enough to have a point in each of his five games against the Islanders in the first round, scoring three goals and making six assists to quiet questions about his health.

The superstar was eliminated by Ottawa in his first postseason in 2007 and helped Pittsburgh knock the Senators out of the first round the next year and 2010.

Adding a layer of drama to the series, Senators owner Eugene Melnyk has called Penguins winger Matt Cooke “a goon” after his skate slashed the Achilles tendon of Ottawa defenseman Erik Karlsson on Feb. 13.

“I don’t think you need much motivation in the playoffs, but I think both teams should be pretty motivated,” Crosby acknowledged.

___

AP Sports Writers Jay Cohen in Chicago, Howard Fendrich in Washington, Josh Dubow in San Jose, Calif., and Will Graves in Pittsburgh contributed to this report.

___

Follow Larry Lage on Twitter at http://www.Twitter.com/larrylage

(© Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

You can try if you’d like, but you will fail.

You will fail to tell the story, to capture the moment, to even come close to describing what took place in Boston on Monday night.

The Bruins lost Game 7. Not officially, of course, but for all intents and purposes, their season was over after a blown 3-1 series lead. Nazem Kadri’s goal five and a half minutes into the third period put the Maple Leafs ahead 4-1, and it appeared at the time to be the most meaningless of meaningless goals. Because again, the Bruins had lost Game 7.

And then, Nathan Horton scored. Something to cheer about for the fans who stuck around to watch the bitter end unfold, but little else.

And then, in the game’s final minutes, Milan Lucic scored, jamming home a Zdeno Chara rebound and cutting the Toronto lead to just one goal. But still, only 1:22 remained in the game. The Bruins had just scored twice in nine minutes. They had scored just twice in the 120 minutes that preceded Game 7. It would take an optimist’s optimist to believe, even a little bit, that the Bruins could score three times in the final minutes of Game 7.

But the Bruins themselves, against all odds and despite loads of evidence to the contrary, still somehow believed. We all thought they were the better team in this series, but they had proven rather conclusively that we were all wrong. When the Maple Leafs took that 4-1 lead, that much had been determined.

Head coach Claude Julien called a timeout. Goaltender Tuukka Rask headed back to the bench, where he had watched Lucic score his goal. The Bruins gained possession in the Toronto end of the ice. Zdeno Chara and Horton battled for position in front of Toronto netminder James Reimer. Jaromir Jagr passed to Patrice Bergeron at the blue line. He passed to David Krejci, who fed the puck back to Bergeron. The Bruins’ heart and soul looked up, saw four white jerseys and two black jerseys between him and the goaltender.

He readied, aimed and fired a wrist shot toward the top left corner of the net. It went in.

The impossible had happened.

The sold-out crowd of 17,565 had lost a few members by that point of the night, with hundreds of fans making their way to the exits after the fourth Toronto goal. Based on the eruptive celebration that followed after rubber met twine, though, you’d never know anyone was missing.

With 50.2 seconds left, the hockey world readied for overtime, but the Bruins damn near won the game, as Brad Marchand’s shot from the left wing was kicked to the slot by Reimer, where Rich Peverley just couldn’t get enough on the loose puck to bury the would-be game-winner. No matter. The teams headed to their locker rooms, and the fans who didstay for the duration of the game spent the 15-minute break singing “Don’t Stop Believing” and “Livin’ On A Prayer.” The doubt, pessimism and downright disgust that had those same fans booing the home team off the ice in the second period had disappeared, replaced by a confidence rarely seen in a city as cynical as ours.

While the Bruins had not won the game at that point, it’s important to remember what they had already accomplished. They were playing without defenseman Andrew Ference, a veteran of 13 NHL seasons and 110 postseason games. He had missed two games already this series; the Bruins lost both.

Early in Game 7, the team also lost defenseman Dennis Seidenberg, another veteran with more than a decade in the league and 57 postseason games on his resume. Seidenberg entered Monday averaging more than 25 minutes per game this series. In Game 7, he played just 37 seconds, injured on his very first shift of the night.

In place of these valuable veterans were rookies Matt Bartkowski, who was playing in the minor league postseason just last week, and Dougie Hamilton, he of just 19 years on this planet. Bartkowski was called up to play in Game 5, and Julien asked him to play just 6:40. In Game 7, he had to play nearly 25 full minutes. He doesn’t even have a locker anywhere near the Bruins’ defensemen, as it is instead all the way across the dressing room, next to goalies Tuukka Rask and Anton Khudobin. Nobody knew he was even going to be playing until about seven minutes before puck drop. Less than six minutes into the game, he scored to put the Bruins ahead 1-0.

Hamilton, meanwhile, spent the last couple of weeks of the season as a healthy scratch, only playing in Game 2 because Ference had been suspended and again in Game 6 due to Ference’s injury. Hamilton’s future may be bright, but somewhere along the way this season, he lost his coach’s trust, and he played just 10:49 in the Game 6 loss. In Game 7, he was on the ice for more than 21 minutes.

The Bruins overcame those key absences and climbed out from a three-goal deficit in a span of just 10 minutes with their season on the line … and yet, the job was not finished. One miscue in overtime, and it all would have been for naught, a mere footnote in what would ultimately be remembered as another Game 7 loss, another first-round exit. Julien’s job would be in question, and irate fans would even be calling for general manager Peter Chiarelli to be fired. The comeback that had awoken an entire city would have meant next to nothing without a victory.

And the Maple Leafs began the overtime period well aware of that fact. Clarke MacArthur, who scored the game-winner in Game 5, fired a shot on net just 11 seconds into the period. With a raucous crowd on its feet, Rask remained ever calm, kicking the puck away to safety. The Leafs got the next shot on net, too, this one by Joffrey Lupul, who had three goals in the first six games of the series. Rask made another save.

The Bruins survived the initial push from Toronto, and then they took over. Tyler Seguin was reunited with linemates Bergeron and Marchand. The odd timing of the line shift wasn’t coach Julien’s decision, though. It only happened because Jagr, who had taken Seguin’s spot on the second line, had an issue with his skate blade. Intervention from the hockey gods — the same hockey gods who messed with the Bruins’ plane on Sunday night and forced them to stay in Toronto? Maybe, but the Bruins on the ice weren’t worried about that.

Marchand passed to Bergeron at the top of the right faceoff circle, and he sent a one-timer toward net. Reimer gave up a rebound. Seguin kicked the loose puck and wrestled with Jake Gardiner in front of the Toronto net. The puck slipped away, with nobody around. Except for Bergeron. Again.

No. 37 rushed to the loose puck, held his stick harder than ever and made sure he got this one on net.

He did.

It was over.

The Bruins had come all the way back. And they had won.

It was an effort that will forever live on video. It will be retold in stories, both with the written word and while shouted loudly in crowded bars. For the 17,000 or so who witnessed it in person, it will be etched in their memories until the day they die.

But unless you were part of it — whether you paid hundreds of dollars to see it live or whether your family roused you out of bed so that you could catch overtime on TV– you won’t ever fully grasp what took place on the ice in Boston. We will try to tell you, and no doubt, you will understand — mostly.

Some events are just too rare, too exceptional, too unbelievable to ever be retold.

Read more from Michael by clicking here, or find him on Twitter @michaelFhurley.

An overtime goal in Game 6 by Brooks Orpik closed out a hard-fought series against the New York Islanders.

The Penguins’ reward in the second round is playing an Ottawa Senators team they are very familiar with.

In 2007, the Senators rudely welcomed the Penguins back to playoff hockey with a five-game beat down. The Senators went on to lose to the Anaheim Ducks in the Stanley Cup Finals.

In 2008, the teams met again and the Penguins made quick work of the Senators with a four-game sweep. As we all know, the Penguins went on to lose to the Detroit Red Wings in the Stanley Cup Finals.

In 2010, the Penguins knocked off the Senators in six games thanks to an overtime goal by Pascal Dupuis. The Penguins would then fall to the eighth-seeded Montreal Canadiens in the next round.

Combine all that playoff history with a freak accident that left reigning Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson with a partially sliced Achilles and if would be no surprise if this series gets nasty very quick.

Of course, the incident I am referring to happened on Feb. 13 during a 4-2 Penguins win at CONSOL Energy Center.

We’ve all seen it. Karlsson and Matt Cooke race to a loose puck in the corner. Karlsson sees Cooke coming, initiates contact and Cooke’s left skate comes down on the back of Karlsson’s left ankle, thus causing the injury.

Everyone, and I do mean everyone, outside of Ottawa feels the play and resulting injury was a freak accident.

I understand the Senators being upset at seeing another one of their star players lost due to a freak injury. If anyone knows what they went through that night and the subsequent weeks of recovery that followed, it’s the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The man most upset by the play was and still is Senators owner Eugene Melnyk who launched an investigation into whether or not Cooke intentionally injured Karlsson.

Let’s recap a little bit.

The injury happened on Feb. 13.

Karlsson returned to the lineup on April 25 against Washington and played in three regular season games before the playoffs began.

The Senators qualified for the playoffs as the 7-seed.

The Senators easily dispatched the 2-seed Montreal Canadiens in five games in the opening round.

Karlsson had one goal and five assists in the series.

Melnyk’s investigation is still ongoing. No, seriously it is.

This storyline will undoubtedly be played up to no end. If we weren’t sick of it before, we will be when this series is over.

Senators At A Glance

Kyle Turris led the Senators with 29 points in the regular season. He also led the team with 12 goals.

Former Penguin Sergei Gonchar was a close second with 27 points this season (three goals, 24 assists) and captain Daniel Alfredsson finished with 26 points (10 goals, 16 assists).

As a team, the Senators scored 116 goals, which is the fewest of any team to qualify for the playoffs in the NHL. Conversely, they allowed only 104 goals, which was only second to the Chicago Blackhawks (102).

A large part of the Senators’ success was their stellar goaltending.

Craig Anderson only played in 24 games due to a sprained ankle, but posted a 12-9-2 record with a ridiculous 1.69 GAA and .941 save percentage. He also recorded three shutouts this season.

How They Got Here

The seventh-seeded Senators made quick work of the Montreal Canadiens in Round 1, defeating them in five games.

Alfredsson (two goals, four assists) and Karlsson (one goal, five assists) are tied for the team lead in points with six each.

Turris, Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Cory Conacher are tied for the team lead with three goals.

As he was in the regular season, Anderson (4-1, 1.80 GAA, .950 save percentage) was brilliant in the first round. He only allowed nine goals on 180 shots in the series, which is an average of 36 shots a game.

Season Series (Home Team In Bold

Jan. 27 – Penguins 2, Senators 1 (SO)

Feb. 13 – Senators 2, Penguins 4

April 22 – Penguins 3, Senators 1

The Penguins swept the three-game season series and outscored the Senators 8-4. I’m not counting the goal awarded to the Penguins for winning a shootout in that total.

Alfredsson and Gonchar both had two assists to lead the team in points against the Penguins. The Senators’ four goals in the season series were scored by four different players.

Anderson was 0-3 with a 2.60 GAA and a .909 save percentage, having allowed eight goals on 88 shots.

For Pittsburgh, James Neal led all scorers with three goals and one assist. Crosby was a close second with one goal and two assists.

In goal, Marc-Andre Fleury was 2-0 with a 1.44 GAA and a .950 save percentage, having allowed just three goals on 61 shots.

Tomas Vokoun played in the third and final meeting of the season and allowed 1 goal on 35 shots. He will also be back in the net to start Game 1 Tuesday night.

As for special teams, both teams’ penalty killers were top notch in the season series.

The Senators were just 1-for12 on the power play, while the Penguins were only 1-for-15.

Players To Watch

For the Senators, keep an eye on Conacher and Milan Michalek.

Sure, Karlsson and Alfredsson will be a major focus of the Penguins as well, but Conacher and Michalek have a tendency to fly under the radar at times.

Conacher was acquired at the trade deadline in a deal that sent goaltender Ben Bishop to Tampa Bay. He finished the regular season with 11 goals and 18 assists.

What he lacks in size at 5-feet-8-inches, he makes up for in speed and we saw what speedy forwards did to the Penguins in round one.

As for Michalek, he only played in 23 regular season games this year, but registered four goals and 10 assists. Against the Penguins Michalek has five goals and seven assists in 16 career games.

In their opening round win over the Canadiens, Michalek had one goal and one assist and was a plus-four.

For the Penguins, keep an eye on Jarome Iginla and James Neal.

During Game 5, Iginla was finally moved to the right wing alongside Sidney Crosby and Pascal Dupuis. As the game went on, the line got stronger and more dangerous. Now that they have had a couple of games to gel, this could be a lot of fun to watch against Ottawa.

As for Neal, he was very quiet against the Islanders and part of that could be from the lower-body injury he suffered in Game 1. He’s had a couple days to rest up and I expect him to come out flying in this series. We all know what kind of chemistry he has with Evgeni Malkin and if he can get going, the Penguins will be even more dangerous.

KDKA-TV Predictions
(Note: I had to condense their predictions to fit this article. If you’d like to see their full analysis & predictions, click here)

KDKA-TV Morning News Co-Anchor Rick Dayton: The key to the series will be special teams. Pittsburgh’s power play exploded in the first round and operated at a league-best 33 percent clip. Ottawa’s penalty kill held Montreal to just 10 percent (2 for 20) — and as they have said in hockey circles for decades, the best penalty killer is your goaltender — and Anderson just might be the best in the business.

The old saying in baseball is that good pitching beats good hitting. Pens fans have to hope their offense is able to solve the Senators’ defense — and they have to hope that if it is Fleury in net, he is markedly better than what he showed in Games 2-4 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals against the Islanders.

Don’t get me wrong, the Penguins can and should beat Ottawa. Pittsburgh won all three regular season games despite never scoring more than four goals against the Sens. The problem for Ottawa is that for long stretches this season they struggled to generate offense. If you expect the Penguins to score 30 goals in the series and win lopsided laughers, I think you will be disappointed. However, the Penguins will win and move into the Eastern Conference Finals.

PREDICTION: Penguins in 6

KDKA-TV Reporter Ross Guidotti: This series will test the Pens more than the first round battle with the Islanders.

The keys to this series will be to match the speed and grit the Sens will bring to the ice. They’re established with veteran players including Sergei Gonchar back on the blue line as well as a possible return of Jason Spezza. Erik Karlsson is one of the best offensive-defensemen in the league. His play against the Canadiens was good enough and will likely only improve with each shift. Also, he’s not going to admit it, but the “Matt Cooke incident” will be running in the back of his mind and will fuel his desire to win.

Also, they won’t be facing a goaltender who was a human sieve like Evgeni Nabokov. Sens goalie Craig Anderson is playing like the best goaltender in the league. Do not underestimate Ottawa. This is a solid team and will make the Pens work.

PREDICTION: Hard, hurting, bloody and hateful, but the Pens in 7.

KDKA-TV Sports Anchor Bob Pompeani: This is a different challenge compared to the New York Islanders.

Ottawa does not have four lines with the speed of New York. They won’t pose as much of a problem in the transition game as the Islanders did.

What they do well is get physical with their defensemen with all-in support of their goalie Craig Anderson, who has been one of the best in the NHL this year. The Penguins, it should be noted, have had success against Anderson, but he is far better than Evgeni Nabokov who, I thought, was terrible in the first series and the biggest reason why the Penguins advanced.

I think Brenden Morrow will be a much bigger factor in this series than last. Morrow looked slow comparatively to New York. Ottawa’s style of game plays into Morrow’s game. He’s a banger and a guy who can cause havoc in front of Anderson. I firmly believe the Penguins will have to crash the net much more in this series and get rebounds, if Anderson gives any up.

PREDICTION: The Penguins are still the better team, I believe the Penguins will win this series in 6 games and move on to the Eastern Conference Finals.

My Prediction: I think the Penguins were issued a major wakeup call in the first round. This isn’t the regular season anymore, it’s the playoffs and if you want to win, you better show up and work for it.

The Penguins hung Marc-Andre Fleury out to dry at times and the result was him sitting on the bench for the final two games of the series. Vokoun stepped in and did an admirable job to settle things down and help the Penguins lock up the series.

However, if they want to beat the Senators they need to be more responsible with the puck and help out their goaltender. The forwards need to help out the defense to execute a fluid breakout as well. Basically, they need to be the team that showed up in Games 1 and 5 against the Islanders. Do that, and the Penguins will advance to the Eastern Conference Finals.

Prediction: Penguins in 6.

Schedule

Game 1 – Senators Va. Penguins at CONSOL Energy Center – Tuesday, May 14

Game 2 – Senators Va. Penguins at CONSOL Energy Center – Friday, May 17

Game 3 – Penguins Vs. Senators at Scotia Bank Place – Sunday, May 19

Game 4 – Penguins Vs. Senators at Scotia Bank Place – Wednesday, May 22

*Game 5 – Senators Va. Penguins at CONSOL Energy Center – Friday, May 24

*Game 6 – Penguins Vs. Senators at Scotia Bank Place – Sunday, May 26

*Game 7 – Senators Va. Penguins at CONSOL Energy Center – Tuesday, May 28

(* denotes if necessary)

You can follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/sheavedice

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But his team wasn’t just embarrassed at home; they were shut out, 5-0, with their season on the line, bludgeoned to their playoff death in a game that was hauntingly reminiscent of their 2009 playoff exit by the hand of the Penguins.

After winning the first two games at home, the Caps has their fans reinvigorated, yet still reserved, and cautious of the impending doom that seems to hang over every Washington sports teams like a black cloud in postseason play.

And two games later: BOOM! Their caution was validated.

The Rangers climbed back into the series, reminding Washington there are no easy victories when facing a goaltender capable of standing on his head.

And just like that, Henrik Lundqvist got hot.

In Games Five, Six, and Seven, he stopped 95 of 97 shots on goal.

But griping from Caps players would have you believe the officiating was to blame for their sudden inability to put the puck in the net.

And Ovechkin even said as much, after the Caps implosion Monday night.

He spoke to Russian reporter Slava Malamud of Sport-Express (via Yahoo! Sports):

 “The refereeing… You understand it yourself. How can there be no penalties at all (on one team) during the playoffs?

“I am not saying there was a phone call from (the league), but someone just wanted Game 7. For the ratings. You know, the lockout, escrow, the League needs to make profit… I don’t know whether the refs were predisposed against us or the League. But to not give obvious penalties (against the Capitals), while for us any little thing was immediately penalized…”

From the time the Caps claimed the first two victories to take an early 2-0 series lead, officiating was undoubtedly slanted in New York’s favor, with the Rangers getting 21 power play opportunities to Washington’s nine.

By numbers alone, you could justify one-sided calls making a difference in two pivotal Rangers victories – Game Three and Game Four – in which New York’s two conversions on ten power play opportunities would give them the edge in each 4-3 outcome.

But with New York failing to convert on any power plays the remainder of the series, the case can be made that officiating was no longer a factor after Game Four. And yet, the Caps would still only emerge victorious in one of the final three games.

So to Ovechkin’s point, there is proof to support his conspiratorial claim that the league wanted the Caps and Rangers to go the distance, but that evidence doesn’t excuse Washington scoring just two goals in the last three games of the series. It doesn’t excuse Washington failing to convert eight of its own nine power play opportunities through the last five games.

And it certainly doesn’t excuse the Caps getting blanked 5-0 at home with their season on the line.

Nothing, except an inefficient offense excuses that type of performance.

This refusal of responsibility isn’t the type of leadership one would expect from a Captain in his team’s weakest hour. Frustration is one thing – an emotion the Rangers are experts at evoking in their opponents – but pointing the finger at “the league” to avoid looking inward is quite another, and indicative of a team that can’t overcome the opening two rounds of the playoffs.

Just as all great stars must learn to evolve their game, the Caps needed to evolve past their power play bread and butter to defeat Lundqvist, and they could not.

And as was the case in so many previous playoff heartbreaks for the Washington Capitals, running into a hot goaltender was their ultimate undoing, not the officiating.

Failing to recognize that is inexcusable.

The Blackhawks will take on the Red Wings in Game 1 of the Western Conference Semifinals on Wednesday night at 7 pm CT at the United Center.

Game 2 will be played Saturday at noon, also at the United Center before the series shifts to Detroit for Games 3 and 4.

Check out the full schedule below!

Game 1: vs. Red Wings, Wednesday, 7 p.m.

Game 2: vs. Red Wings, Saturday, noon.

Game 3: at Red Wings, Monday, 6:30 p.m..

Game 4: at Red Wings. May 23, 7 p.m.

Game 5-*: vs. Red Wings, May 25.

Game 6-*: at. Red Wings, May 27.

Game 7-*: vs. Red Wings, May 29.

Chants of “Hen-reeek! Hen-reeek!” poured forth from the Rangers supporters in the stands, no longer outnumbered because thousands of Capitals fans already had headed for the exits.

It’s been more than a decade since a goalie was as perfect over Games 6 and 7 of a playoff series as Lundqvist was. Yes, he certainly had help in the finale Monday night, including goals from some unlikely teammates. Still, there is one key explanation, above all others, for why the Rangers are heading to the Eastern Conference semifinals.

“Henrik Lundqvist,” Capitals forward Troy Brouwer said. “Plain and simple.”

Led by Lundqvist’s 35 saves in a second consecutive shutout, the Rangers beat the Capitals 5-0 to wrap up an otherwise tense and tight seven-game series, eliminating Alex Ovechkin and Washington for the second year in a row.

“Goaltending is the big thing,” said Arron Asham, a fourth-line winger whose goal gave him a pair for the series, twice as many as two-time NHL MVP Ovechkin. “Hank’s been our backbone all year.”

The last goalie to pull off the double shutouts in Games 6-7 was Detroit’s Dominik Hasek in 2002 against Colorado, according to STATS.

“There’s moments where you enjoy it and you think, ‘Wow, this is great.’ And you have fun. But there’s also moments where you don’t feel great. You feel the pressure and you just want to get it done, so badly,” Lundqvist said. “You try to control your emotions. That’s the key for me. I’m an emotional guy when I play. I try to just stay calm. Good or bad. I just try to stay calm and focus on my thing.”

Did that rather well on Sunday and Monday, lifting his career postseason shutout total to eight.

“He was really good, but the team was also good, too. I have to give the team some credit. They played hard in front of him,” Rangers coach John Tortorella said.

Lundqvist, Ovechkin said, did an “unbelievable job; he makes incredible saves.”

By winning a Game 7 on the road for the first time in its history, New York completed its comeback after trailing in the series 2-0 and 3-2 — the latest in Washington’s long history of playoff collapses.

Now the sixth-seeded Rangers face the No. 4 Bruins, with Game 1 on Thursday at Boston. The Original Six rivals have not met in the playoffs since 1973.

“We’ll enjoy this one tonight,” Rangers forward Rick Nash said, “and then get back to work.”

Nash was held without a goal in the first round by Washington, but New York found other scorers.

Asham put New York ahead in the first period. Taylor Pyatt and Michael Del Zotto made it 3-0 early in the second on goals 2:10 apart. Ryan Callahan added a goal 13 seconds into the third period, before Mats Zuccarello scored with about 13½ minutes remaining.

While Callahan did have 16 goals this season, the other four Rangers who put pucks past Braden Holtby on Monday combined for a total of only 14.

“That’s what we need,” Nash said. “Everyone chips in, everyone helps.”

True. But Lundqvist gives the Rangers a chance to win every game. From the moment Mike Ribeiro’s overtime goal gave Washington a Game 5 victory, Lundqvist was simply superb.

The Swede stopped all 62 shots he faced in Games 6 and 7, showing exactly why he won the Vezina Trophy as the league’s top goalie last season and is a finalist for that honor this season.

“We threw the kitchen sink at him at times and he stood there and defended,” said Washington’s Mike Green, who led NHL defensemen with 12 goals this season. “He’s a great goaltender. We knew that.”

Washington’s offense managed to score 12 goals the entire series — zero over the final six periods.

Ovechkin was held without a point in Games 3-7. He was limited to one shot Monday, when there were boos for the home team at the end of the second period.

The Russian wing led the NHL with 32 goals, but heads into the offseason after the longest playoff point drought of his career. He had a goal in Game 1, an assist in Game 2, and that was it.

“It’s very frustrating,” said Ovechkin, who’s never been past the second round of the playoffs. “That’s the whole point: You’re here to win the games and try to win the Cup.”

The Rangers-Capitals finale began only a little more than 24 hours after the shoving- and wrestling-filled end of Game 6, which New York won 1-0. That, of course, was played at Madison Square Garden, continuing the pattern of the home team winning each of the first six games of the series.

That ended emphatically Monday, in a Game 7 so similar to Washington’s 6-2 loss to Pittsburgh in 2009, even Ovechkin brought up that defeat afterward.

Another pattern done away with Monday: Games 2-6 between New York and Washington were all decided by one goal.

“Quite honestly, tough to explain,” Capitals coach Adam Oates said. “It’s funny how over the years sometimes the seventh game turns into some form of blowout.”

Since the start of the 2008 playoffs — when Washington’s core of Ovechkin, Green and Nicklas Backstrom made their postseason debuts — the Capitals have appeared in nine series, and this was the seventh to last the full seven games. They’re 2-5 in those.

Going further back, to 1985, the Capitals have lost nine series in which the club led either 2-0 or 3-1.

“Nobody is yelling at each other here. Nobody was pointing a figure that it was somebody’s fault we (lost) the game. It’s everybody’s fault,” Ovechkin said. “All the guys’ fault. My fault. (Backstrom’s). It’s everybody. It’s not about one person or two people. It’s about the team.”

Tortorella and various players for the Rangers made the same point about why they won, saying it was a team effort.

Perhaps.

But there’s also a reason the Rangers are running out of superlatives to describe Lundqvist.

“There’s nothing left to say,” Nash explained. “He’s so good. He’s world-class. And he does it for us every night.”

RANGERS-BRUINS SCHEDULE:

Game 1: Rangers at Boston: Thursday, May 16, 7:30 p.m.

Game 2: Rangers at Boston: Sunday, May 19, 3:00 p.m.

Game 3: Rangers vs. Boston: Tuesday, May 21, 7:30 p.m.

Game 4: Rangers vs. Boston: Thursday, May 23, 7 p.m.

Game 5: Rangers at Boston: Saturday, May 25, TBD*

Game 6: Rangers vs. Boston: Monday, May 27, TBD*

Game 7: Rangers at Boston: Wednesday, May 29, TBD*

* If necessary

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(TM and © Copyright 2013 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2013 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

It is the first conference honor of Swanner’s career and the third time a Rebel has earned the honor this season. For the week, Swanner scored five runs and drove in seven. Six of his seven hits were doubles.

The Rebels wrap up their regular season in Colorado Springs Thursday with a three game series against Air Force. UNLV will travel to Fresno, for the Mountain West Tournament May 22-26.

“We see the opportunity of owning the 51s as a great way to extend our commitment to the entire Las Vegas Valley,” said David R. Weinreb, Chief Executive Officer of The Howard Hughes Corporation. “We will work to ensure that the baseball experience in Las Vegas is among the best and look forward to an exciting new era for the team, their fans and followers.”

The new ownership group is looking to move the 51s from Cashman Field, to a new location in Summerlin. The proposed site is located near the 215 and Charleston next to Red Rock Casino.

“This is a big day for everyone that lives in Las Vegas who loves the 51s, baseball and sports,” said investor Steve Mack. “For the first time in 20 years, ownership is represented by owners who live here, invest in this community and believe that the 51s are an essential part of future development of the Las Vegas fabric.”

Their opponent in the next round? The Ottawa Senators and the series begins Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.

Ottawa easily dispatched the Montreal Canadiens in five games. It was a hard-fought series that got ugly at times with dangerous checks and even a line brawl in Game 3.

Approximately 2,000 tickets for Games 1 and 2 will go on sale at noon Monday. However, the schedule for the series has not yet been released.

Goaltender Craig Anderson was one of the keys to their success both in the regular season and against the Canadiens.

Anderson only played in 24 games due to a sprained ankle, but posted a 12-9-2 record with a sparkling 1.69 GAA and .941 save percentage. He also recorded three shutouts this season.

During the first round series against the Canadiens, Anderson only allowed nine goals on 180 shots.

Another storyline to the series involves reigning Norris Trophy winner Erik Karlsson.

During a game on Feb. 13, Karlsson and Matt Cooke raced to a loose puck in the corner. Karlsson saw Cooke coming, initiated contact and Cooke’s left skate came down on the back of Karlsson’s left ankle.

The Senators and their fans believe there was malicious intent on the part of Cooke. The league, as well as many experts and analysts, disagreed.

Karlsson was able to return to the lineup for the Senators’ final three regular season games. During their opening round win over Montreal, Karlsson has one goal and five assists.

This will be the fourth meeting between the two teams in the playoffs since 2007.

After losing 4-1 in 2007, the Penguins went on to win 4-0 in 2008, and 4-2 in 2010.

As for the regular season series between these two teams? The Penguins won all three.

Game 1 will be Tuesday at 7:30 p.m., but the rest of the schedule has not been released at this time.

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Derek Boogaard, who was found dead on May 13, 2011, at age 28, was posthumously diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative brain ailment that can be caused by repeated blows to the head, according to the 55-page lawsuit filed in Cook County Circuit Court late Friday.

“Prior to and during Derek Boogaard’s career, the NHL knew, or should have known, that the Enforcers/Fighters in the NHL had an increased risk of brain damage due to concussive and sub-concussive brain trauma and were particularly susceptible to addiction issues,” it says.

Boogaard scored only three goals in his six-season career in 277 regular season games but took part in at least 66 on-ice fights; in the 2008-2009 season with the Minnesota Wild, he received 1,021 prescriptions from NHL team physicians, dentists, trainers and staff, the lawsuit says.

In April, 2011, the NHL “knew, or should have known, that Derek Boogaard, a known drug addict, with probable brain damage due to concussive brain traumas sustained in NHL fights, was not complying with treatment (at a treatment center),” the suit alleges.

NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly told The Associated Press in an email Sunday night that league has not received the lawsuit and generally does not comment on pending litigation. The suit was filed in Illinois in part because the NHL has a business interest in the state through the Chicago Blackhawks and Boogaard “engaged in one-ice fights during his NHL career” in Chicago, the filing says.

“To distill this to one sentence, you take a young man, you subject him to trauma, you give him pills for that trauma, he becomes addicted to those pills, you promise to treat him for that addiction, and you fail,” William Gibbs, attorney for the Boogaards, told The New York Times.

Boogaard was under contract with the New York Rangers at the time of his death. He played his first five NHL seasons with the Minnesota Wild and one season with the Rangers after signing a four-year, $6.5 million contract with New York in July 2010.

Boogaard sustained a concussion during his last game on Dec. 9, 2010. Known as one of the league’s toughest fighters, the 6-foot-7, 255-pound Boogaard played 277 NHL games, scored three goals and racked up 589 penalty minutes.

Boogaard’s family filed a lawsuit against the NHL Players Association last September, seeking $9.8 million, but it was dismissed this spring. The family said the union, after expressing interest in helping pursue a case against the league, missed a deadline for filing a grievance. A judge ruled the family waited too long to act and dismissed the case.

The latest lawsuit details the treatment Boogaard received from team doctors of the Rangers and Minnesota Wild, and the officials from the league’s Substance Abuse and Behavioral Health Program, which oversaw Boogaard’s care after he entered rehabilitation while playing for the Wild in 2009.

Boogaard was the 202nd-overall pick of the Minnesota Wild in 2001.

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(TM and © Copyright 2013 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2013 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

The Blueshirts hope to snap the trend in a winner-take-all series finale.

Henrik Lundqvist made 27 saves Sunday and Derick Brassard provided the only offense in New York’s 1-0 victory that set up a decisive Game 7 in Washington on Monday night.

“The regular-season crap means nothing,” said Rangers coach John Tortorella. “You make your legacy as a player in these types of situations.”

The teams went the distance last year in the second round, and the Rangers advanced with a home victory. The Capitals would like to return the favor. Either way, there will be little time for preparation with the opening faceoff set for about 24 hours after the Rangers wrapped up their Game 6 victory.

“I’m not sure if it benefits anybody,” Tortorella said of the quick turnaround. “It is what it is. Both teams knew it going in. If I’m a player, I want to play right away. They don’t want to listen to coaches this time of year, they don’t want to look at video, they want to play the game and find out where they’re at.”

Where they are is tied 3-3.

The Rangers have been held to two total goals in the three losses in Washington, but they had been strong at Madison Square Garden before Sunday. New York had scored eight times in its first two games on home ice.

“We have the chance,” said Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin. “To be in front of our home fans will be good. They played well. It will be a good game.”

Two days after Lundqvist slammed his stick in disgust when an overtime loss in Washington put the Rangers on the brink of elimination, he was the difference. He celebrated with a pump of his arm and let out an emphatic yell.

“We needed it. There was desperation out there,” he said. “We showed a lot of character and worked really hard. It was that type of game where you pay the price — big saves, physical. Great win.”

Except for Washington’s 3-1 win in the series opener, the remaining five games have all been decided by one goal. The Capitals earned a 1-0 overtime victory in Game 2.

Despite having little room for error, the Rangers stayed composed and didn’t commit a penalty until a big scrum after the final buzzer.

Now the Rangers will try to carry that over to Game 7.

“They play really well at home and they’re confident,” Lundqvist said of the Capitals. “The games we’ve played in that building, special teams have played a big part. We played a really disciplined game, and that’s going to be key for us because they have a really good power play, so you have to respect that.

“Play hard, but play smart.”

The Rangers earned Game 7 wins at home in last year’s playoffs over Ottawa and Washington. If they pull out this victory, it would give them just their second series win after falling behind 0-2.

“We are just going to have the same mentality we had coming into this game,” Brassard said. “We just played our game, had fun. The guys were relaxed, and that’s what we need to do (Monday).”

Special teams were a factor Sunday, but only in keeping the Capitals in the game. The Rangers’ ineffective power play went 0-for-5 and is 2-for-26 in the series. New York had a failed 5-on-3 advantage that lasted 44 seconds in the first period.

“Some were deserved. Some weren’t deserved,” Capitals forward Troy Brouwer said of his team’s penalties. “We killed our momentum.”

Washington didn’t get a chance to improve on its 3-for-14 output in the first five games. Two Rangers power plays in the third cut out precious time the Capitals could have had to net the tying goal.

“We battled the whole way,” Capitals goalie Braden Holtby said. “Disappointing, but we move along. Our (penalty-killing) is doing great, holding us in the series. Our guys kept their composure. We knew this could go seven (games).”

Brassard handed Lundqvist the lead at 9:39 of the second period with a goal that was originally credited to struggling forward Rick Nash.

Defenseman Mike Green left Washington short-handed when he took a retaliation cross-checking penalty on Derek Dorsett with 6:14 remaining.

“There are a lot of emotions. You can expect scrums and things like that,” Dorsett said. “You’ve got to play your game. You can’t just go out and think you’re going to scrum it up and win the game.”

Just after Green’s penalty expired, Lundqvist denied Eric Fehr’s drive with a snaring glove save. He then covered the puck in front with 48.4 seconds left, keeping Marcus Johansson at bay after the Capitals pulled Holtby for an extra attacker.

Lundqvist was at his best earlier in the third when the Capitals came at him in waves. He turned aside Mike Ribeiro, who scored in overtime to win Game 5, with just over 11 minutes remaining, and stopped Fehr three minutes later on a rush up the middle.

“Especially late in the game, he made some great saves,” Tortorella said. “Now he has another Game 7. I think that builds. The ultimate goal for Hank, in his mind, is to win the Stanley Cup, but you need to go through these types of situations to get there.”

Holtby was sharp, as well, with 28 saves.

Brassard, who has had a breakout series, scored his second goal of the playoffs when he faked a shot and then ripped a drive from the Stanley Cup logo just inside the blue line. The puck clipped the glove of Capitals defenseman Steve Oleksy and sailed through a screen set by Nash in front.

Brassard, a pickup from Columbus in the deal that sent Marian Gaborik to the Blue Jackets at the trade deadline, also had five assists in the first five games of the series.

Nash, still looking for his first goal of the series, was more of a presence in front. He made more drives to the net in an effort to create more traffic in front of Holtby.

Lundqvist faced only 15 shots through two periods, but needed to be sharp to keep the Capitals off the board. He made a big pad save with under 5 minutes left in the second to keep the Rangers ahead.

Despite having just a one-goal edge heading into the third, the Rangers carried the confidence that they could protect it. New York went 16-0 during the regular season when leading after two periods and has earned at least one point in those situations since Feb. 4, 2010.

NOTES: Rangers LW Chris Kreider, who hadn’t played since the opening game of the series, replaced injured LW Ryane Clowe. … Holtby has allowed just 11 goals in the series.

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(TM and © Copyright 2013 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2013 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

And then there are the Caps, who put themselves in the predicament of having to win Game 7 Monday at Verizon Center by losing Game 6 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals 1-0 to the Rangers Sunday in New York.

Incredible as it may seem, Washington is 2-6 in seventh games on home ice (compared to 1-2 on the road). And don’t think that embarrassing record is some leftover from the bygone days in the dark and long-destroyed Capital Centre.

While the Caps fell in seventh games in Landover under the coaching Murray brothers to the New York Islanders (in quadruple overtime in 1987), New Jersey (by a goal 1988) and Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh (by two in 1992), they also upended Philadelphia on Dale Hunter’s unforgettable series-winning goal in 1988.

Today’s Alex Ovechkin-Nicklas Backstrom-Mike Green Caps have posted a similarly disappointing mark in seventh games at Verizon Center. Washington lost to the Flyers on Joffrey Lupul’s overtime score in 2008, were crushed 6-2 by the Penguins in 2009, and completed a choke against Montreal with a 2-1 loss to the eighth-seeded Canadiens and Jaroslav Halak in 2010.

That’s an ignominious season-ending defeat on home ice three years running. Yes, those were the run-and-gun Caps of coach Bruce Boudreau, and yes, Washington did finish off a superb comeback against New York by beating the visiting Rangers 2-1 in Game 7 in 2009 on a goal by Hall of Famer Sergei Fedorov. But losing a Game 7 at home three straight years? Who does that?

Dig a little deeper and history says that after Sunday’s defeat, Ovi and the boys have had 10 chances to clinch a series during the last six springs and have come through just three times. That’s hardly the stuff of champions as the Caps prepare for their latest Game 7.

Of course, what really has to concern rookie coach Adam Oates isn’t history, but what has happened to his team since it led the series 2-0.

Start with the Rangers’ ability to eliminate NHL goal-scoring leader Ovechkin from the scoresheet. Ovechkin hasn’t scored a point in four consecutive games, equaling his total during Washington’s final 23 regular season contests. The two-time Hart Trophy (MVP) winner hadn’t experienced such an extended drought since Nov. 12-19, 2011, the start of the final fortnight of the Boudreau era. So for all his dislike for Hunter and his appreciation of Oates, the Russian superstar never put up four straight zeroes under the defensive-minded coach.

And for those wondering if the old ‘as Ovi goes, so go the Caps’ theory still applies, check out these numbers: Washington is 20-5 when Ovechkin puts a puck in the net, 10-19 when he doesn’t; 25-9 when he scores a point, 5-15 when he doesn’t.

Then there’s the whopping imbalance in power plays. Sure, some of the calls and non-calls have been questionable, but the fact remains that New York has had nearly twice as many chances with the extra skater, 26-14. After being awarded all five opportunities Sunday, the Rangers had 19 power plays to just seven for the Caps in the past four games. Incredibly, Washington still has a 3-2 edge in power-play goals thanks to superb penalty killing, but Oates’ team can’t risk taking so much ice time away from Ovechkin and its other top scoring threats in Game 7.

The bottom line is that the Rangers are going to arrive on F Street brimming with confidence from having won three of the last four games behind standout goalie Henrik Lundqvist while shutting down Ovechkin.

And given that 12 of the previous 13 playoff games between these teams the past two years have been decided by a goal, another nail-biter figures to be in store Monday.

Washington’s forwards have to be smarter and more aggressive in Game 7, relying on the defensemen and goalie Braden Holtby to control the Rangers’ offense while taking every opportunity to throw pucks at Lundqvist.

If Oveckin’s bottled up, his linemates, Backstrom and Marcus Johansson, have to take more shots, make Lundqvist work a lot harder than he did in Game 6. That’s also true of second-liners Troy Brouwer and Mike Ribeiro, the overtime hero of Game 5 just three nights ago at Verizon Center.

The Caps might still lose that way, but at least they’ll go down swinging which is what this post-Hunter season was all about until they managed just two goals during the past two games.

One final note: Washington is 3-0 on home ice in this series. It has never won all four home games in a playoff matchup. Do the Caps make history tonight or repeat it?

David Elfin began writing about sports when he was a junior at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School. He is Washington’s representative on the Pro Football Hall of Fame selection committee and the author of seven books, most recently, “Washington Redskins: The Complete Illustrated History.” A pre-game regular on 106.7-The Fan the last three Redskins seasons, he has been its columnist since March 2011. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidElfin.

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Henrik Zetterberg and Valtteri Filppula each had a goal and an assist, and the Detroit Red Wings finished off the Anaheim Ducks with a 3-2 victory in Game 7 on Sunday night.

Justin Abdelkader scored a short-handed goal and Jimmy Howard made 31 saves as the seventh-seeded Red Wings won three of the first-round series’ final four games to oust the Ducks, who had the NHL’s third-best record in the regular season.

Detroit faces top-seeded Chicago in the second round.

Emerson Etem and Francois Beauchemin scored and Jonas Hiller stopped 29 shots for the Ducks, who failed to win their first playoff series since 2009 despite home-ice advantage in Game 7.

After the clubs played four overtimes in the series’ first six games, the Red Wings largely dominated the anti-climactic clincher — and for the first time in the series, the Wings didn’t even need overtime to win.

Beauchemin got credit for a power-play goal with 3:17 to play when the puck banked off Jonathan Ericsson’s skate in front of Howard, but Anaheim never really got close to a tying goal late.

Detroit got a big finish from Zetterberg, their Stanley Cup-winning captain, who scored just 1:49 into Game 7 on a rebound in the slot — although he also took the penalty that led to Beauchemin’s goal.

Zetterberg scored three goals in Detroit’s past two victories after getting blanked in the first five, and he finished with seven points in the final three games after just one assist in the first four.

After winning a Game 7 on the road for just the third time in their franchise’s lengthy history, the Red Wings are in the second round for the sixth time in seven seasons. Detroit also beat Anaheim in a seven-game series in 2009.

The Motor City’s team even prevented the first Freeway Faceoff in NHL playoff history. Anaheim would have faced Los Angeles in the second round, the first postseason matchup for Southern California’s two teams.

The loss completed an ugly flop for Anaheim, which had the best winning percentage in franchise history while winning just its second Pacific Division title during the lockout-shortened season.

The Ducks’ defeat also is a sadly familiar playoff disappointment for coach Bruce Boudreau, who never got the Washington Capitals past the second round after four standout regular seasons with his previous club.

The loss also could be the final NHL game for Teemu Selanne, the 42-year-old franchise scoring leader who flirts with retirement every summer. Selanne didn’t score a goal in the series’ final six games — but Corey Perry, the Ducks’ former 50-goal scorer and NHL MVP, didn’t score a goal in the entire series despite 24 shots.

The clubs alternated victories until the final two games of the series, with the Ducks taking three straight one-game leads before Detroit caught them.

The Wings earned a third trip to California with an overtime win in Game 6 on Friday night — and they made it count with the Wings’ fourth win in six appearances at Honda Center this season.

Anaheim had another packed house on hand for just the second Game 7 in Honda Center’s history, but the Red Wings dominated from the start.

Detroit created choking traffic in front of Hiller immediately, and a rebound of Filppula’s long shot went straight into the slot for Zetterberg.

The Ducks appeared overmatched early, but Etem — the 20-year-old Long Beach native — had all the poise his teammates lacked. Etem attempted to dump the puck into the Detroit zone, but instead collected a deflection and skated in on net, firing a shot over a prone defenseman and past Howard for the third goal of his first NHL playoff series.

Detroit went right back ahead when Abdelkader stole Beauchemin’s pass near the blue line during the power play. Abdelkader easily skated away from Sheldon Souray and beat Hiller on a breakaway for his first goal since returning from a two-game suspension.

The Red Wings again took control in the second period, and Filppula put them up 3-1 when he jumped on a loose puck and fired a backhand through Beauchemin’s legs for his first goal of the postseason.

Zetterberg accidentally shot the puck over the glass for a delay-of-game penalty with 3:46 to play, and Beauchemin got a fortunate bounce off Ericsson’s skate.

(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

“Late during tonight’s game we were made aware that there was a malfunction with our airplane,” Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli said in a statement. “As a result we are staying in Toronto on Sunday night and the team will travel to Boston on Monday morning.”

The Bruins left Toronto early Monday morning, and arrived in Boston around 10:30 a.m..

The Bruins host the Maple Leafs in a win-or-go-home Game 7 on Monday night at the TD Garden at 7 p.m. The travel back in the morning of a game is highly unusual, but given the airplane malfunction, the Bruins were left with no other choice.

The Bruins lost 2-1 on Sunday night. They led the series 3-1 heading into the weekend but lost that game 2-1 as well.

So perhaps Jason Chimera, a native of Edmonton who has been with the Capitals only since 2009, could be forgiven for his response when asked Thursday about the collective public angst over the team’s latest blown lead in the playoffs.

“I don’t know why people keep bringing up pasts, or people keep bringing up stuff that happened,” Chimera said. “It’s different teams every year. It’s not like it’s the same individuals every year.”

If Chimera were a live-long Capitals fan, he would feel differently.

He would bear the scars from rooting for a franchise that has lost eight — yes, eight — playoff series when holding a two-game lead. Nobody collapses in the postseason quite like the Capitals. 1985. 1987. 1992. 1995. 1996. 2003. 2009. 2010. All series that Washington led either 2-0 or 3-1 — and went on to lose. All were seven-game series, except for a five-gamer in ’85.

HARTNETT: RANGERS’ WINNING RE-TORT

Even more startling, the Capitals historically are more likely to lose than win a series after taking a 2-0 lead. They’ve won four, lost five.

They are trending that way again. They were up 2-0 on the New York Rangers. Now it’s 2-2 headed into Friday’s Game 5 in Washington.

While there’s room for plenty of discussion for the technical and strategic reasons for the two losses in New York, one fact remains indisputable: The doubts are inevitably growing among the paying customers, and the players have to make sure those doubts don’t seep into the locker room.

“We need to get some momentum back,” forward Troy Brouwer said. “They’ve got a lot of it with their two wins in their building. We’ve been able to get wins at home, and we’re relying on that and have confidence in that going into Game 5.”

Take away the weight of the Capitals’ history, and the team’s plight doesn’t look so dire. If they keep holding serve at home, they’ll win the series. If they can take fewer penalties and be less sloppy, and if Alex Ovechkin can find more space to make an impact after getting shut out in Games 3 and 4, they should be in good shape to turn the tide.

But then there’s this: The Capitals are have a 10-20 all-time record in Game 5s. That’s a massive skeleton to have in the closest, but it’s a closet the players are trying to keep shut.

“Everyone likes to make things bigger than it actually is,” defenseman Karl Alzner said. “The fans like to panic a little bit sometimes, but we’re not panicking, and everyone will see that tomorrow.”

That’s not to say that emotion won’t play a part from here on out. Setting aside the history, both teams say that confidence and momentum could be as important as line changes and power plays in the next few days.

“Our resiliency has really shown in these past two games, and we are going to need that when we go to Washington,” New York coach John Tortorella said. “They are going to surge there, and we just need to find a way to keep our heads above water and find a way to win a game.”

Nevertheless, if the Rangers do win Game 5, the Capitals will have to work a bit harder to keep the angst of history at bay.

“There’s always momentum swings,” Washington goaltender Braden Holtby said. “It’s just whoever can keep the levelest head, and keep thinking about the long-term in the series, and not worry about those momentum swings, is usually the team that’s going to win.”

For New York, it all starts with containing Ovechkin.

“We’re playing defense the way we always play defense,” said Tortorella. “Any top line, that’s any team’s strategy, to try to keep them in their own end zone. No one’s reinventing the wheel here in this series.”

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(TM and © Copyright 2013 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2013 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

Tavares earned high consideration after leading the Islanders to their first playoff berth since 2006-07.

The Hart Trophy is voted on at the end of the regular season by the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association.

Tavares’ 28 goals were third-most in the NHL, and the 22-year-old scored 47 points in 48 games. He is a first-time finalist and going up against some stiff competition.

Considered by many the overwhelming favorite is Washington’s Alex Ovechkin, whose tremendous play down the stretch earned the Capitals a third-overall seed in the Eastern Conference. Ovechkin scored 23 goals in the final 23 games of the regular season. His 32 goals led all NHL skaters and won his third career “Rocket” Richard Trophy. Ovechkin is a two-time winner of the Hart Trophy.

Sidney Crosby isn’t just battling Tavares in a heated first-round series — he’s also in the race to win the Hart Trophy. Crosby enjoyed a huge season and helped the Penguins to the first overall seed in the Eastern Conference despite missing the final 12 games of the regular season. Crosby still finished with 56 points in 36 games.

The 2012-13 winner will be announced during the Stanley Cup Final.

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Broken jaw or no broken jaw, the Pittsburgh Penguins’ captain had only one destination in mind. It hardly mattered three Islanders — defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky and Thomas Hickey and goaltender Evgeni Nabokov — were in the way.

A handful of powerful strides, a little tap to keep the puck out of danger and one wicked wrist shot later, Crosby was in the corner celebrating and the Islanders were reeling.

Crosby’s eye-popping goal provided the exclamation point in a 4-0 win in Game 5 on Thursday night as the Penguins took a 3-2 series lead.

“For us it’s two Game 7s right now starting on Saturday,” Islanders defenseman Mark Streit said. “We’ve just got to concentrate on our game, what brought us in this situation and what makes us successful. We know we have it in the room. We’re a confident group.”

In typical Crosby fashion, he downplayed the brilliance of his third goal of the playoffs. When someone pointed out it was reminiscent of a similar play by Hall of Famer and Penguins co-owner Mario Lemieux against the Islanders 25 years ago — a moment frozen in time with a statue outside the Consol Energy Center — Crosby just laughed.

“His was much nicer than mine,” Crosby said. “He went through guys and stickhandled through them and stickhandled around the goalie, too. I had a few less moves and a pretty basic shot, but I’ll take the goal anytime it goes in.”

So will the Penguins, who restored order to the series behind Crosby, backup goaltender Tomas Vokoun and seldom-used forward Tyler Kennedy.

“Our backs have been against the wall before,” said Islanders coach Jack Capuano. “We’ve been a resilient team and we’ll come out and play hard in Game 6.”

Vokoun stopped 31 shots in his first playoff start in six years while Kennedy broke a scoreless tie with a breakaway goal 7:25 into the second period, validating coach Dan Bylsma’s decision to insert him into the lineup for the first time in the postseason.

“Whenever you score a goal it helps your confidence; but I’m just focused on helping the team,” Kennedy said. “If it’s scoring a goal that’s fine. If it’s making a hit or whatever or keeping it simple, I’m just trying to help the team win right now.”

Doug Murray and Kris Letang also scored for Pittsburgh, who chased New York goaltender Evgeni Nabokov after Letang’s goal made it 4-0 early in the third period. Nabokov spent the final 14-plus minutes on the bench wondering what awaits back on Long Island.

So will the rest of the Islanders, who saw their momentum come to a screeching halt.

“We’ve got to make it tough on them,” New York forward John Tavares said. “We didn’t do that enough tonight.”

Certainly not against Vokoun, thrust into the lineup after Bylsma benched Marc-Andre Fleury, who had started 79 straight postseason games but struggled in a 6-4 loss in Game 4. The 36-year-old Vokoun didn’t look intimidated by the stage as the Penguins restored a little order to a wide-open series.

The eighth-seeded Islanders looked like the better team through much of the first four games, using their speed to keep the talented but somewhat plodding top-seeded Penguins on their heels.

Bylsma’s biggest change was inserting Vokoun in place of Fleury, but he also scratched defenseman Mark Eaton and forwards Jussi Jokinen and Tanner Glass in favor of younger, quicker skaters Simon Despres, Joe Vitale and Kennedy.

The moves paid off handsomely.

New York controlled play for most of a scoreless first period before Kennedy — squeezed out of the rotation by the influx of veterans brought in at the trade deadline — broke through in the second period.

The play began innocently enough in Pittsburgh’s end before Letang hit Kennedy with a sizzling 80-foot stretch pass right up the middle of the ice. Kennedy greedily accepted the puck at New York’s blue line, then flipped a wrist shot over Nabokov’s glove to give the Penguins the lead.

The score seemed to rattle Nabokov. Murray loped in a lazy wrist shot from the point that Nabokov tried to glove only to have the puck slip out of his left hand, over his back and into the net. Crosby followed with his dance through the New York zone and the game was effectively over.

The Islanders, trying to make it out of the first round for the first time in 20 years, find themselves trailing once again. They’ve answered each time they’ve fallen behind in this series. Despite getting outplayed on Thursday, they know things will start 0-0 on Saturday.

“Our lives are on the line now so we have no excuses,” said Tavares. “There’s not much breathing room. We have to focus on one game and get better.”

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(TM and © Copyright 2013 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2013 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

#1 Chicago vs # 7 Detroit

Game 1– Wed, May 15, Detroit at Chicago 8 PM ET

Game 2– Sat, May 18, Detroit at Chicago 1 PM ET

Game 3– Mon, May 20, Chicago at Detroit 7:30 PM ET

Game 4– Thu, May 23, Chicago at Detroit 8 PM ET

Game 5– Sat , May 25, Detroit at Chicago-Time TBD

Game 6– Mon, May 27, Chicago at Detroit-Time TBD

Game 7– Wed, May 29, Detroit at Chicago -Time TBD

#5 Los Angeles vs #6 San Jose

Game 1– Tue, May 14, San Jose 0, Los Angeles 2

Game 2– Thu, May 16, San Jose at Los Angeles 10 PM ET

Game 3– Sat, May 18, Los Angeles at San Jose 9 PM ET

Game 4– Tue, May 21, Los Angeles at San Jose 10 PM ET

Game 5– Thu, May 23, San Jose at Los Angeles 10:30 PM ET

Game 6– Sun, May 26, Los Angeles at San Jose- Time TBD

Game 7– Tue, May 28, San Jose at Los angeles- Time TBD

Eastern Conference

#1 Pittsburgh vs # 7 Ottawa

Game 1– Tue, May 14, Ottawa 1, Pittsburgh 4

Game 2– Fri, May 17, Ottawa at Pittsburgh 7:30 PM ET

Game 3– Sun, May 19, Pittsburgh at Ottawa 7:30 PM ET

Game 4– Wed, May 22, Pittsburgh at Ottawa 7:30 PM ET

Game 5– Fri, May 24, Ottawa at Pittsburgh 7:30 PM ET

Game 6– Sun, May 26, Pittsburgh at Ottawa- Time TBD

Game 7– Tue, May 28, Ottawa at Pittsburgh- Time TBD

#4 Boston vs # 6 NY Rangers

Game 1– Thu, May 16, NY Rangers at Boston 7:30 PM ET

Game 2– Sun, May 19, NY Rangers at Boston 3 PM ET

Game 3– Tue, May 21, Boston at NY Rangers 7:30 PM ET

Game 4– Thu, May 23, Boston at NY Rangers 7 PM ET

Game 5– Sat, May 25, NY Rangers at Boston- Time TBD

Game 6– Mon, May 27, Boston at NY Rangers- Time TBD

Game 7– Wed, May 29, NY Rangers at Boston- Time TBD

But don’t count them out yet, according to players and coach Mike Babcock, who took time at the airport to tell reporters they’re ready to win game six Friday night.

“We’ve been through this before and, you know, it’s first of four, it’s not first of three, and we’ll take care of business,” Henrik Zetterberg said.

Zetterberg has struggled this series, going scoreless throughout, but coach Mike Babcock said it doesn’t who fires up tonight — as long as someone scores.

“I don’t think we care if it’s ‘Z’ or if it’s Bob or Miller (who scores), it doesn’t make any difference what guy whose name it is, we just have to have one more than them at the end of the night,” the coach said.

He added: “You’re either out or you keep on going, here’s one of those moments for us — Let’s dig in.”

Jimmy Howard said no one on the team is panicking about potential elimination.

“There should be no panic whatsoever in our room, we just have to keep that level of intensity up against them because you know they’re going to want to come out and end it,” Howard said.

Now, they’re eyeing another championship. And they just took an important step toward it.

Hossa scored twice to back a strong effort by goalie Corey Crawford, and Chicago beat the Minnesota Wild 5-1 Thursday night to win the first-round playoff series 4-1.

The Blackhawks will face either San Jose or Detroit, if the Red Wings get past Anaheim, in the next round.

“We knew we hadn’t done it in two years,” Hossa said. “Minnesota, they still have a great team and are missing some players. We found a way. Now we get ready for the next round.”

The way the Blackhawks have dominated, anything less than a trip to the Stanley Cup finals would be a disappointment for them.

They got off to a record start and captured the Presidents’ Trophy for finishing with more points than any other team. Now, they’re eyeing the biggest prize of all. And after bowing out in the first round the past two years, they sure are looking good.

Even so, coach Joel Quenneville insisted they need to step it up a notch.

“It’s not the regular season,” he said. “There’s another appetite that we’ve got to get as well. I don’t think we should be happy where we’re at with our play. Let’s get angry as we go along here.”

Hossa scored off a feed from Jonathan Toews late in the first period. Marcus Kruger made it 2-0 with a wraparound early in the second, and Hossa chased the Wild’s Josh Harding when he knocked in a rebound minutes later.

Then, after Torrey Mitchell scored for Minnesota, Chicago’s Andrew Shaw scored against Darcy Kuemper. Patrick Sharp added his fifth goal of the series early in the third period, and that was more than enough for Crawford.

Coming off his second career playoff shutout, he saved 21 shots, and his performance in this series went a long way toward winning over a fan base wondering if he had the makeup to succeed in the postseason. After all, he let in some bad goals against Phoenix a year ago.

“I’m not the only guy in the league that’s given up soft goals in the playoffs,” Crawford said. “You guys like to keep telling me about it, but it’s something you’re trying to learn from and trying to make yourself better from it.”

The Blackhawks became the third team to advance in this postseason, along with San Jose and Ottawa. They also bucked a recent trend of early exits for Presidents’ Trophy winners.

The team with the most regular-season points had been eliminated in the first round in three of the previous four years. The Wild were hoping to replicate what the Los Angeles Kings did last year and win the Stanley Cup as the eighth seed, but the Blackhawks simply had too much skill, speed and depth.

The Wild were also short-handed after losing one of their top scorers in Dany Heatley to season-ending left shoulder surgery late in the season. They also had to get by without goalie Niklas Backstrom after he suffered a leg injury in warm-ups before Game 1.

That forced the Wild to go with Harding, who played in just five games during the regular season after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis last summer.

“It was a kind of a curveball there, but I thought Josh played very well. I was very happy for him and way that he handled everything,” the Wild’s Matt Cullen said.

Harding also got banged up in this series. He left Game 4 after a collision with Toews in which his legs got straddled around the left goal post, and he wasn’t sharp in this one, allowing three goals on 18 shots even though he was deemed well enough to start.

Coach Mike Yeo turned to Kuemper after Hossa’s second goal. He also insisted the injury in Game 4 wasn’t a factor in Harding’s performance in this one.

“It wasn’t,” Yeo said. “I don’t want to pin this loss on Josh, either. Credit them and their team.”

There was also a question about Yeo’s job security after this loss. The Wild were widely considered Stanley Cup contenders after they gave free agents Zach Parise and Ryan Suter identical 13-year, $98 million contracts last summer. But they never quite lived up to expectations.

“I can’t answer that,” Yeo said. “All I can say is if you want to look at it objectively, statistically, if you really want to look at it properly, then there’ve been a lot of improvements in our organization and our team. I feel that we’re going in the right direction.”

For a moment, the Wild looked like they might get back into this one.

Moments after Minnesota’s Jared Spurgeon hit the right post, Mitchell ripped a one-timer past Crawford midway through the second period. But Shaw answered 35 seconds later with his first career playoff goal when he swept the puck in from a bad angle just to the right of the net, making it 4-1.

As for Crawford, there was some debate in Chicago over whether he or Ray Emery should be the No. 1 goalie in the playoffs. Both were terrific during the regular season. Emery’s lower body injury ended the discussion, and Crawford was nothing but solid in this series.

“He’s making saves that he needs to make and he’s making saves that he shouldn’t be making,” Sharp said. “When he does that, it breeds confidence throughout the lineup and it filters through everybody.”

He even had the fans chanting his name at several points. For example, when Crawford stopped a routine shot by Jason Pominville from the wing and scrambled back toward the middle of the net for a neat pad save against Mikko Koivu on the rebound. That foiled another power play by the Wild after they went 0 for 15 in the first four games.

“I definitely heard (the chants),” Crawford said. “It’s nice. It was a good feeling. They’ve been hard on me at times this year, obviously, but that’s a part of it. They want the best. They expect us to be at our best. It’s only fair.”

Notes: Blackhawks C Dave Bolland and Emery remain sidelined by lower body injuries, although Quenneville said they’re “real close.” Bolland said it’s 50-50 he would have been able to play if “it was do or die” for the Blackhawks, but he expects to be ready in the next round. … Quenneville moved ahead of Mike Keenan and took sole possession of second place on the Blackhawks’ playoff wins list with 34. Billy Reay is the club record-holder with 57 from 1963-77.

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