Los Angeles Kings Stanley Cup Bid Backed by Honest Philadelphia Flyers Supporters: Fan's Take (Yahoo! Contributor Network)
(Wed, 23 May 2012 20:40:00 PDT)
The Los Angeles Kings beat the Phoenix Coyotes in five games to earn the right to play for the Stanley Cup. The Philadelphia Flyers were convincingly pushed out of the Stanley Cup playoffs by the New Jersey Devils.

Dubinsky returns for Game 5; No hearing for Brown; Spacek rips Habs (Puck Headlines) (Puck Daddy)
(Wed, 23 May 2012 11:29:50 PDT)
• John Tortorella, when asked how he was going to get his forwards going on Tuesday: "Pray." He then read an excerpt from his memoir on a trip he took around the world after splitting from the Tampa Bay Lightning. • By the way, in case it wasn't clear that John Tortorella's sense of humour is lacking, on Wednesday morning he made it clear that he was joking about prayer and retracted the joke. [ NHL ] • No hearing for Dustin Brown for his controversial collision with Michal Rozsival. [ LA Kings Insider ] • Brandon Dubinsky returns to the Rangers' lineup for Game 5. [ Newsday ] • Showing some much-needed attention to the Devils' relatively anonymous blueline. [ NJ ] • An argument for shaking up the New York Rangers' lines by removing Carl Hagelin from the top unit: "Hagelin is currently playing top line minutes with the Rangers two most skilled forwards, and ha exactly zero goals to show for it. That's no goals and just three assists in 18 games so far this postseason. No matter which way you look at this, it's unacceptable to have a top line player with zero goals in 18 games. At some point, changes need to be made." [ Blue Seat Blogs ] • Jaroslav Spacek claims he might have retired at the end of the year if he had finished it in Montreal, and rips the Canadiens hockey operations team, from the bizarre rules for the players to the total lack of communication. "'So much bad stuff,' Spacek said. 'In my 20-year hockey career, I'd never seen anything like it. If you don't like the way I play, kick me in the ass. But no one said anything. It was terrible.'" [ Montreal Gazette ] • Another major step towards the Phoenix Coyotes staying in Arizona was taken after the team was eliminated last night, as the Glendale City Council voted to approve a preliminary budget that includes $17 million to the prospective buyer of the team for operating costs for the city's Jobing.com Arena." [ Winnipeg Free Press ] • The Wild have signed 2010 first-round pick Mikael Grandlund to his entry-level contract. He announced the deal himself in a video on the Wild's website. [ Wild ] • Michael Arace on the American invasion in the NHL. [ Blue Jackets Xtra ] • Alex Semin cuts his forehead on his gold medal, which is a very enigmatic thing to do. [ RMNB ]

In which Dustin Penner, Jeff Carter and Mike Richards edit their NHL narratives (Puck Daddy)
(Wed, 23 May 2012 09:00:40 PDT)
Why are the Los Angeles Kings in the 2012 Stanley Cup Final? Because the two drunk, locker room cancers helped set up a lazy fat-ass for the game-winning goal. At least that's how it would have been framed about eight months ago, when the narratives about Mike Richards, Jeff Carter and Dustin Penner had defined them as players. The first two were banished from the Philadelphia Flyers, ostensibly for cap relief in the pursuit of a No. 1 goaltender (or, failing that, Ilya Bryzgalov) but mostly for a culture change in the dressing room. Penner, meanwhile, was (a) a waste of salary compared to production and (b) out of shape and (c) lazy to the point where his general manager suggested he might be better off playing for the El Cid Lounge in a men's softball league . In overtime of Game 5 in the Western Conference Final on Tuesday night, Richards won the faceoff near the defensive zone. Slava Voynov moved it up the boards, and Penner kept the puck alive in the attacking zone on the forecheck, sending a nifty backhand pass to a streaking Carter. He fired the puck off of Phoenix Coyotes goalie Mike Smith with Richards causing chaos on front of the net, helping to clear the slot for Penner to fire home the rebound over Smith's glove. With that, the Kings were headed to the Cup Final. This trio was maligned and decried for the better part of 2011-12. Yet it was this Dry Island of Misfit Toys that has the Kings four wins away from the first Stanley Cup.

Coyotes, Kings Game 5 preview; Claude Giroux has fun; PK Subban on the ladies (Puck Headlines) (Puck Daddy)
(Tue, 22 May 2012 13:06:20 PDT)
Here are your Puck Headlines: a glorious collection of news and views collected from the greatest blogosphere in sports and the few, the proud, the mainstream hockey media. • Claude Giroux's beer pong adventures are rightfully getting attention on this lovely Tuesday, but it's the double-casted topless cornholing that we're sure a segment of our readership is more interested in. Playoffs leading scorer indeed. [ Crossing Broad ] • In case you missed it, the Los Angeles Kings' snarky infographic about being confused with the Sacramento Kings was hilarious. [ Kings ] • PK and Malcolm Subban talk race and hockey with Complex. And also, the ladies. Who "pulls the most ladies" in the Subban family? PK says: "Wow, well definitely me. I'm the oldest, I have the most experience, and I'm the best looking. I've been told that on numerous occasions, numerous. Now that doesn't take anything away from my brothers, Malcolm is good looking and Jordan's a good looking guy, too. I mean they are related to me so they get a little bit of the looks. But right now I have to say I have the most experience. I'm a veteran when it comes to that, they're still learning. They have lots of potential. They're like first-round picks right now in the game, they still have to develop." [ Complex ] • Coach Bob Hartley's Zurich Lions are ready to bid him adieu as he returns to the NHL. [ Swiss Habs ] • Speaking of the Lions, that's where Ryan Shannon of the Tampa Bay Lightning will be for the next three years. [ SB Nation ] • What kind of grade would Ville Leino receive for his effort with the Buffalo Sabres? [ Die By The Blade ] • In which Shane Doan compares the Phoenix Coyotes' plight to Monty Python and the Search for the Holy Grail. [ Arizona Sports ] • This is so strange: An entire column written about embellishment in the playoffs and how it needs to stop, without a single mention of Mike Smith's flopping. Oh, Arizona Republic you say? Well then. [ AZCentral ] • Look, we don't like to judge, but embezzling $144,000 from a Youth Hockey Association is a sort of [expletived] up. [ Cap Times ]

Ratings down for conference finals; Ted Nugent backs David Booth; NHL 13 teaser (Puck Headlines) (Puck Daddy)
(Mon, 21 May 2012 13:07:28 PDT)
Here are your Puck Headlines: a glorious collection of news and views collected from the greatest blogosphere in sports and the few, the proud, the mainstream hockey media. • You're probably seen Zdeno Chara's tribute to Pavel Demitra by now, but here's Slovakia's Branko Radivojevic rocking a tribute T-shirt after their semifinal win over the Czech Republic at the Hockey World Championship in Helsinki. • NBC audiences were down over the weekend for the conference finals. Lepore: "Saturday's Rangers-Devils game drew a 1.3 overnight rating, down 13% from last year's Game 4 between Boston and Tampa Bay. It may have been hurt by the early timeslot, or the fact that there was a huge dip in ratings in the lone local market, New York. Game 3 drew a 4.2 in the Big Apple, well down from the 6.2 for Game 1 on the NBC Sports Network.  Sunday's Game 4 between the Coyotes and Kings drew a 1.1 overnight, down 15% from last year's Game 4 between the Canucks and Sharks, which was a 2-1 series, as opposed to the 3-0 lead the Kings had heading in. The game drew a series high 2.7 in Los Angeles." [ Puck The Media ] • Henrik Lundqvist on the New York Rangers fans that invade the Rock: "We always have played there in Newark. It's one of the things that makes it special to play these types of games, play New York teams.  We have a lot of support, and talked about it earlier, a couple days ago, when you see the way that the fans react to things that happen during the game or even the results, it's exciting." [ Rangers Rants ] • Looks like Stu Bickel will move up to forward to replace the suspended Brandon Prust. [ Slap Shot ] • Larry Brooks believes the hate-o-meter is slowly seeing the needled move on the Rangers and New Jersey Devils. [ NY Post ] • Sports Business Journal is reporting that the Detroit Red Wings have settled on a designer for a new 18,000-seat arena to replace the Joe. [ Detroit News ] • Jim Rutherford, President and General Manager of the National Hockey League's Carolina Hurricanes, today announced that the team has agreed to terms with defenseman Jamie McBain on a two-year contract. The deal will pay McBain $1.7 million in 2012-13, and $1.9 million in 2013-14. [ Hurricanes ] • They signed Bobby Sanguinetti and forward Nicolas Blanchard to two-way contracts, too. [ Canes Country ] • Zach Parise is a free agent … risk? "It is very likely that he will elevate whichever team signs him in the short run, but as teams weigh the idea of making him an offer, they need to keep in mind the distinct possibility that he will underperform this contract in the near future and eventually become an anchor on the team's salary cap finances." [ NHL Numbers ] • Bear killin' David Booth has a friend in Ted Nugent. [ PITB ]

What We Learned: Embarrassing LA sports media moments while covering Kings playoff run (Puck Daddy)
(Mon, 21 May 2012 06:58:22 PDT)
Hello, this is a feature that will run through the entire season and aims to recap the weekend's events and boils those events down to one admittedly superficial fact or stupid opinion about each team. Feel free to complain about it. It's possibly the greatest bit of investigative journalism conducted since Woodward and Bernstein brought down Richard Nixon. This exemplary, collective effort of sleuth work is currently ongoing in Los Angeles, Calif., where an entire media market has unearthed the NHL's shocking secret: The city has a professional hockey team. Over the past week or so here at Puck Daddy, we've tried to document every startling discovery made by the intrepid Los Angeles media, like how to properly pronounce Anze Kopitar's name (it's hard because he's from Bosnia or something), the real name of this Drew Doughty character ( it's actually Brad !) and that hockey is in fact not played with a ball, but rather a little piece of rubber known as a "puck." That last one makes me pretty uncomfortable because of the word it rhymes with. ("Duck" — sorry, I just don't trust 'em; they have weird beaks). Just how villainous is this team, operating as a sort of sporting sleeper cell? They got all the way to the Western Conference Finals without one local noticing. That takes real criminal talent. And not only that, but, the NHL had the diabolical idea to hide it right under the Los Angelinos' noses, by having their home games played at the Staples Center. You know, where the Lakers play. Further, they named the team the Kings to intentionally confuse even the savviest media organization into thinking they are the NBA's Sacramento Kings. Astonishingly devious stuff. More twists and turns than the Da Vinci Code, which I've read three times just to make sure I understood it all. The best bit of this journalism on this pressing issue comes, of course, from the city's paper of record, the Los Angeles Times, winner of 44 Pulitzer Prizes since 1942, including three in 2012. It was for that towering beacon of journalistic excellence that columnist Chris Erskine successfully scruted several of the team and sport's most inscrutable mysteries . For instance, that thing I said earlier about the puck (again, yuck… oh and that's another gross word it rhymes with), I learned it from Erskine. Apparently they even freeze the thing. And that's a huge point of concern, because, "The hardest shots can reach 110 mph and tear flesh, crush bone, even kill you if you're not careful." Yikes, you guys! ( Coming Up: Rick Nash to Boston?; Tororella defends Prust; Ryan Suter faces his future; Evegni Malkin is having a pretty good season; why Lundqvist is King; why the Capitals can't win with Ovechkin; the Islanders know how to party; Canucks might keep Luongo; Ryan Miller on the CBA; Flames and Oilers coaching news; and are the Kings in trouble?)

Can NY Rangers win Stanley Cup with Dan Girardi, Ryan McDonagh playing so many minutes? (Puck Daddy)
(Sun, 20 May 2012 11:20:50 PDT)
The Rangers' three-goalie system of Lundqvist, Girardi and McDonagh watches the play develop at the other end. Winning the Stanley Cup Final is as much about overcoming attrition as it is about overmatching your opponent. Often times, a team's ability to minimize fatigue and damage in Rounds 1-3 can determine the outcome of Round 4. This in mind, I worry about Dan Girardi and Ryan McDonagh. Tortortella's Fellas block a lot of shots, and Girardi and McDonagh lead the way in this regard. The duo combined to get hit by 387 pucks during the regular season -- 4.7 per game -- and they've picked up the pace since, averaging a combined 6.3 shot blocks this postseason. Girardi's blocked 54; McDonagh's blocked 53. The third-ranked postseason shot-blocker is Willie Mitchell, with 39. This is a lot to put the body through. But Girardi and McDonagh's issue goes beyond simply racking up the contusions. They also play nearly half the game. Both are up over 460 minutes already this postseason: Girardi has played 465:03; McDonagh has played 461:21, a full 30 minutes more than Marc Staal, the third-busiest postseason skater. Let's put this into further perspective.

Czechs win world ice hockey bronze
(Sun, 20 May 2012 10:00:18 PDT)
Czech Republic grabbed bronze at the world ice hockey championship on Sunday with a tight 3-2 win over the last year's champions Finland.

Oilers torched for Renney firing; Milan Hejduk back; Alex Radulov fallout (Puck Headlines) (Puck Daddy)
(Fri, 18 May 2012 13:26:44 PDT)
Here are your Puck Headlines: a glorious collection of news and views collected from the greatest blogosphere in sports and the few, the proud, the mainstream hockey media. • Look, JGL: "Inception" was the bomb. You were Han Solo in "500 Days of Summer." You probably become Batman when Bane breaks Bruce Wayne's back (/speculation). But please do not wear the Lakers gear to the Kings game. That said, feel free to wear the Kings gear to the Lakers game, if there are still going to be Lakers games this spring. • The Ryan Suter watch begins next week. Hold on to your butts. [ Malik ] • Shea Weber on Alex Radulov's quasi-suspension in Round 2 for the Nashville Predators: "You feel a little bit betrayed, but I am sure he feels bad about it now and he looks back on it and wishes it didn't happen. Those are the things you can't take back and we've got to move forward." [ Examiner ] • Pekka Rinne on Radulov and the curfew issue: "It didn't affect as much as media made it seem like. The way I see it, Radulov joining the team mid-season affected the atmosphere more than the incident that happened in the playoffs." [ On The Forecheck ] • Milan Hejduk is back with the Colorado Avalanche for one year and $2 million. Says Dater: "Yeah, I'm a little concerned about where/what Hejduk's role might be. I mean, it's a little worrisome to think he'll be relied upon perhaps as a top-six forward. And yet, would he really be effective on a third or fourth line? Those are questions Joe Sacco will have to grapple with next season." [ All Things Avs ] • Great work here by Nick Cotsonika on burgeoning New York Rangers star and rookie sensation Chris Kreider. [ Y! Sports ] • Ryan Callahan says his left hand isn't injured, despite blocking a shot with it back in the Ottawa series. [ NYDN ] • Darryl Sutter, on the growth of Los Angeles Kings forward Dwight King: "Growth?" Sutter said. "He's still 232 (pounds). After games, he's 228." [ LA Kings Insider ] • Kerry Fraser on embellishing players in the postseason: "The Conference Finals of the Stanley Cup playoffs is not the time for the referees to strap on the six guns in an effort to clean up embellishment in Dodge. The refs must however, ramp up their radar and if any doubt is created in their mind as to the legitimacy of a foul, then I would suggest they keep their arm down and play on. I also hope they will seize every opportunity to enforce obvious embellishment by calling a penalty (whether as a 'stand alone' penalty or a coincidental minor when embellishment occurs as the aftermath to a legitimate foul)." [ TSN ] • John MacKinnon torches the Edmonton Oilers for firing Tom Renney. "This move — anticipated as it was — was a long, slow slap in the face to a coach who deserved better. If you're the incoming man, it would be wise to at least ponder the fashion in which the Oilers will ultimately dump you. That might help you decide whether you want to accept the job in the first place." [ Journal ] • David Staples does much the same: "My bottom line on Renney? He  earned a new deal. He made a few big miscalculations, but much more was going right than wrong under his direction." [ Cult of Hockey ] • From Black Dog: "The Oilers are like the opposite of that and maybe this should be their master plan. Howson has already destroyed Columbus. Maybe Messier can take over the Rangers and Prendergast can move to Chicago. Let Tambo move back to Vancouver and Buchberger coach the Avs. Let them go forth and multiply and take their special brand of incompetence to the rest of the league, like the Black Plague, destroying franchises as they alight from their private jets, just as flea ridden rats destroyed cities as they swarmed ashore from ships manned by infected doomed sailors." [ BDHS ] • Ellen Etchingham on the Los Angeles Kings: "These Kings, they just look so brilliant. So clearly and completely and definitively ass-whoopingly eye-catchingly heart-liftingly brilliant. They play the way I'd always hoped a Cup-winning team would play. They play like they are actually so much better than everyone else that they ( *gasp* ) deserve to win. There's still a part of me that can't wholly believe they're for real. There's a part of me that's still tensed for the inevitable fall. But, nevertheless, I hope. I would like to see a team take the Cup this decisively, in less than twenty games. I want to see a juggernaut victory." [ Backhand Shelf ] • Alex Ovechkin was named the 11th most marketable athlete internationally in 2012. [ Alex Ovetjkin ] "A finalized lease agreement with a potential Phoenix Coyotes buyer has yet to emerge publicly but a Glendale City Council majority appears poised to approve a $17 million fee to operate the city-owned arena." [ AZ Central ] • Hopefully, when Daniel Alfredsson says he may have played his last competitive game, he means all 82 games next season for the Ottawa Senators (plus playoffs) are blowouts. [ Senators Extra ] • Finally, the New York Mets all wore hockey jerseys on their road trip to Canada. Expected to see more Islanders sweaters, given that both franchises have been living off the glory of the 1980s for decades… ( Kukla )

Jersey Fouls: Penner Pancakes; Attack of the FrankenJerseys; Winnipeg’s beer tribute (Puck Daddy)
(Fri, 18 May 2012 10:57:56 PDT)
Jersey Fouls is our ongoing exploration of the rules and etiquette for proper hockey jersey creation and exhibition. If you spot what you think may be a foul in your arena, email a photo to us at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com for inclusion in future installment. Well, this was bound to happen. Perhaps no other athlete has been defined by a particular food item like Los Angeles Kings forward Dustin Penner has been with pancakes. At least not since David "Morning Kegger" Wells of the N.Y. Yankees. Ever since he was "injured" while eating a stack of pancakes , Penner has been associated with flapjacks and has been more than willing to embrace the meme for a good cause. John Hoven ( aka The Mayor ) passed this along before Game 3 of the Western Conference final. Foul? Well, yes, but we respect someone for using the official (or close to official) nickname of a player. But for the record: We're not sure how a couples' jersey in which the other one reads "MRS. BUTTERWORTH" would affect the acceptability of the original jersey. ( Coming Up: God-awful Devils/Rangers FrankenJersey, and another one from Dallas; the Jets celebrate return of hockey and beer; Danny Briere Fouls; and a rather offensive Flames fan.)

Unbeatable Kings fated for Stanley Cup final
(Thu, 17 May 2012 23:32:24 PDT)
Los Angeles continued its dominant roll with a Game 3 decision over Phoenix in the West final, moving within one win of a title shot and a chance at history.

Renney will not return as Oilers coach
(Thu, 17 May 2012 19:41:07 PDT)
Tom Renney's coaching contract will not be renewed by the Edmonton Oilers, the National Hockey League club announced, ending his two seasons of guiding the team.

Tom Renney out as coach of the Edmonton Oilers (The Associated Press)
(Thu, 17 May 2012 17:27:42 PDT)
EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) Tom Renney is out as coach of the Edmonton Oilers.

Oilers will not renew coach Renney's contract
(Thu, 17 May 2012 15:41:37 PDT)
(Reuters) - The struggling Edmonton Oilers will not renew head coach Tom Renney's contract after two losing seasons, the National Hockey League (NHL) team said on Thursday.

Tom Renney’s contract not renewed by Edmonton Oilers; who might replace him? (Puck Daddy)
(Thu, 17 May 2012 15:13:36 PDT)
After Canada was eliminated from the IIHF world championships, the Edmonton Oilers braintrust of Kevin Lowe and Steve Tambellini finally found some free time to announce that Oilers head coach Tom Renney's contract won't be renewed . This wasn't exactly unexpected news , as Renney went 57-85-22 in two seasons with the Oilers, presiding over a roster of extremely talented young players, well-compensated veterans and significant holes in the lineup. After the season, Tambellini said Renney was the Oilers coach "right now," which is like referring to your significant other as "my current wife and/or husband." The time had arrived to make a decision, if for no other reason than to give Renney and his staff a chance to find work and to jump into the pool with the other teams seeking coaches. So who's next in line for this gig?

Oilers coach Renney won't return (The SportsXchange)
(Thu, 17 May 2012 15:10:09 PDT)
Tom Renney will not return as the Edmonton Oilers head coach next season, the team announced Thursday.

Oilers coach Tom Renney will not return to team (The Associated Press)
(Thu, 17 May 2012 14:53:15 PDT)
EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) The Edmonton Oilers are searching for a new coach after deciding to let Tom Renney go following two losing seasons.

Ryan Getzlaf’s controversial kneeing major leads to Slovakia’s elimination of Canada at Worlds (VIDEO) (Puck Daddy)
(Thu, 17 May 2012 09:14:08 PDT)
Team Canada made history at the IIHF World Championships on Thursday. Really, really lousy history: For the first time, the Canadians have been eliminated in the tournament quarterfinals in three consecutive years. In the previous two years, the culprit was Russia. In 2012, it was Slovakia pulling the first-round upset with a 4-3 victory, on Michal Handzus's goal with 2:32 left in regulation. It was a power-play goal, scored five seconds into Ryan Getzlaf's 5-minute major for kneeing Slovak forward Juraj Mikus. Which, by the looks of it, probably shouldn't have been a major: Said Getzlaf, via the IIHF and Andre Podnieks: "He jumped inside on me," Getzlaf explained. "He's a smaller guy. All I tried to do was get a piece of him with my shoulder, which I did. It's a sick way to lose; it's a tough pill to swallow. It hurts. It hurts like hell right now. To lose in that fashion is not easy to swallow. The guys worked way too hard to be delivered something like that." Now comes the suddenly annual debate about why the Canadians didn't advance past the first round.

NHL arena news: Seattle moving forward; gaze upon beauty of Oilers’ proposed barn (Puck Daddy)
(Wed, 16 May 2012 13:47:28 PDT)
Seattle is a market that seems primed for the NHL's potential arrival there , as it's both a geographic and demographic match for future expansion or relocation. What it's needed: a new arena to house an NHL team, being that Key Arena stinks for hockey. On Wednesday, Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn, King County Executive Dow Constantine and hedge-fund manager Chris Hansen announced plans for a $490 million facility. While the NHL is still in the plans for Hansen and the city, its construction depends only on Hansen's acquisition of an NBA team with a 30-year non-relocation agreement. There was some interesting financial news in the Memorandum of Understanding that'll be sent to the city and county councils as well. From King 5: The agreement adds a new wrinkle to an original proposal in that an NHL team is no longer needed to start construction. Only an NBA team, with a non-relocation agreement signed, is needed to begin construction on the proposed 18,500-seat facility. The city/county investment in the project would be capped at $200 million if both an NBA and NHL team are acquired. The city would cover $120 million and the county would pay $80 million. If it's only an NBA team, the city still covers $120 million, but the county would pay just $5 million. That said, Hansen still plans on going after an NHL team for the building. From the Seattle PI: Under the current plan, a Sodo arena would cost $490 million to build, paid for by the $200 million in public funds and $290 million more from Hansen and his investment group. When finished, it would seat about 17,500 people for NHL games, 18,500 people for NBA games and 19,000 for concerts and other events. Hansen has already purchased land south of Safeco Field, in an area already zone for stadiums. His group is funding, at its own risk, pre-development costs such as transportation and environmental studies. He also plans to acquire an NBA team and find a partner to acquire an NHL team, and relocate them to Seattle, to the tune $500 million. Again, our only requests: Name the team the Sasquatch; and make the jerseys an awesome shade of green. Meanwhile, in Edmonton, their proposed new arena is [expletive] awesome.

Kings making history on remarkable playoff run that seems destined for Stanley Cup final
(Tue, 15 May 2012 23:51:25 PDT)
Los Angeles just keeps getting better and better under coach Darryl Sutter, and the streaking Kings have entered record-setting territory.

Kings outmatch Coyotes, poised for Stanley Cup final (The Hockey News)
(Tue, 15 May 2012 21:33:00 PDT)
After another dominating win, it's clear the Los Angeles Kings are destined for the final and look unbeatable.

What We Learned: What to make of this Washington Capitals season? (Puck Daddy)
(Mon, 14 May 2012 05:28:10 PDT)
Hello, this is a feature that will run through the entire season and aims to recap the weekend's events and boils those events down to one admittedly superficial fact or stupid opinion about each team. Feel free to complain about it. There's been a lot of talk about what this season has meant for the Washington Capitals in the hours leading up to, and then immediately following, their final game of the remarkably eventful 2011-12 season. Wysh had a pretty good recap of the reasons the Capitals felt this little run to a pair of one-goal Game 7s against the Nos. 1 and 2 seeds in the Eastern Conference — both having been heavy favorites — vindicated the Dale Hunter system of everyone playing defense and collapsing to within three inches of the crease, and it's perfectly reasonable for people to feel that way. Certainly, no one expected these Capitals to do much damage in the postseason given that they frittered away a division they were picked to dominate. But the thing that everyone seems to forget is that, again, they were picked to dominate the Southeast, be a superpower in the East and the League at large. If the team tuned out Bruce Boudreau, and it appears they did, then wasn't his replacement, whoever it happened to be, more or less expected to get this far? Therefore, it becomes a question about what changed, and really, what didn't. Let's not forget, Boudreau came in originally and let guys like Alex Semin, Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom and Mike Green have their run of the rink. Two-minute shifts? Sure! Goals aplenty? You bet. But in the end, what did it get them? Bounce-outs, and if you believe the talk, disappointing ones at that. So Boudreau changed the style, focusing more on defense, tethering Ovechkin and Co. to an extent, and … getting the same amount of success. Under each of the two clearly definable Boudreau regimes, the team lost in the conference quarter- and semi-finals. Which is of course notable because the latter is exactly how far Hunter got in his first chance at the tiller, despite doing everything in his power not to: like limiting Ovechkin to fewer than 20 minutes a night in every game in this series save for Saturday's Game 7 and the three-overtime Game 3, in which he played 35:14 — or, if you prefer 17:37 per three periods of play. This therefore vindicates Hunter only as far as it vindicated Boudreau; which, with a roster like this, and given the "choker" label being hung liberally on the former Caps coach this time last year. The philosophy changed radically under Hunter, and worked only as far as it did for Boudreau. Why? ( Coming Up: Team USA, international ass-kickers; getting stupid about Patrick Kane's drinking; Parise's future; Could Brad Stuart return to the Sharks?; Kevin Lowe says Ryan Murray is the top player in this year's draft class; Suter/Weber questions; Pancakes Penner's revenge; Bruins pumped for Dougie Hamilton; Alfredsson retirement watch; Leafs/Penguins trade?; Lundqvist is King; Alex Burrows runs and hugs a goalie; and Winnipeg Jets fans are burning Coyotes jerseys.)

Canada rout Kazakhstan to confirm group lead
(Sat, 12 May 2012 13:41:50 PDT)
Vacouver Olympic champions Canada maintained their world ice hockey championship preliminary group lead with an 8-0 thrashing of former Soviet republic Kazakhstan here on Saturday.

Canada come back to upset hockey hosts Finland
(Fri, 11 May 2012 14:36:48 PDT)
Olympic champions Canada battled back from two goals down to clinch their group lead with a 5-3 win over reigning champions, and co-hosts of the world ice hockey championship, Finland here Friday.

US beats Kazakhstan 3-2 at hockey worlds (The Associated Press)
(Fri, 11 May 2012 13:25:18 PDT)
HELSINKI (AP) Justin Faulk of the Carolina Hurricanes scored four minutes into overtime for his second goal of the game Friday, sending the United States to a 3-2 victory over Kazakhstan at hockey's world championships.

Canada edge Swiss to regain top spot
(Wed, 09 May 2012 13:54:49 PDT)
Olympic champions Canada regained top spot in the Helsinki group of the world ice hockey championship here on Wednesday following a tight 3-2 win over Switzrland.