The two tough guys got tangled up near the bench early in the first period, when Peters' hand got a little too close to Ruutu's mouth, so Ruutu bit down—through the glove—drawing blood. Naturally, Peters got a game misconduct, while Ruutu got nothing except a stick to the groin from Peters' teammate Jaroslav Spacek. So that's probably a fair trade.

Ruutu's excuse? "He had his finger in my mouth, but I didn't bite him." Yeah, we've all used that line before. Have you ever put a hockey glove in your mouth, by the way? I'd rather eat stick tape. Oh, and the Senators lost.

Meanwhile, word out of Chicago is that another goon squad took a night off from the ice to work the security team at Wrigley Field. It seems that while heading off the ice after the Winter Classic on New Year's Day, Red Wing Henrik Zetterberg spotted a 14-year-old Detroit fan, winked at him (I know), then handed the boy his stick. But as the boy was leaving the stadium, a security guard confiscated the obviously dangerous weapon, telling him he could pick it up later at the customer relations office. Of course, they didn't have the stick or any idea what he was talking about when the kid arrived to pick it up.

What kind of world are we living in where grown men bite each other and steal from kids? Oh, right. This one.

Senators continue downward spiral [National Post]
Hockey stick souvenir loss merits a major misconduct [Chicago Tribune]

For a brief moment in time, 6'7" tall Leonhardt got to see his dream of being a pro athlete come true. Thanks to a combination of injury to starting goalie Jose Theodore and scheduling conflict for their AHL goalie Simeon Varlamov, the Capitals were left without a backup goalie to start Friday's game against the Senators. Fortunately they had their team website producer waiting in the wings.

"Every dream come true," Leonhardt said. "Growing up in Canada, playing since I was 4. It was just very surreal. It was a blur, went by real quick."

Although he didn't play, Leonhardt — whose nickname is, you guessed it, "Stretch" — enjoyed the thrill of his life as he dressed in jersey No. 80 and went through the usual player's pregame routine, including having his skates sharpened. Teammates greeted him warmly during pregame warmups as he fended off shots from superstar Alex Ovechkin and others while tending goal at the Verizon Center.

Varlamov showed up halfway through the first period of the Capitals' 5-1 win and Leonhardt was back in a shirt and tie. No word on whether he changed in the locker room or a phone booth.

• The Devils and Rangers duked it out in a high scoring ice battle, ending in a 8-5 New Jersey win. The Devils almost blew a four goal lead before finally pulling off the win late in the game. I'm sure the New York and New Jersey fans handled this one well.

• The Bruins took down the Thrashers 7-3 while Boston's Phil Kessel scored in his 14th straight game, giving him the league's best scoring record. Oh, thank God. Another dominating Boston sports team.

Here is palatial Scotiabank Place, home of the Ottawa Senators and, unfortunately, the scene of a rather spectacular accident on Wednesday night in the upper deck. As the Sens toiled against the Atlanta Thrashers below, a gentleman was lugging beers to his seat when he stumbled and went a-sailin' clean over the railing in the third deck. The good news is that, except for some lacerations, the guy is fine. He landed on three fat people (I'm assuming) — one of whom sustained a minor neck injury — whom all seem to be relatively OK as well.

That no one was seriously hurt is rather surprising, considering the following account:

According to witnesses, the man sailed headfirst past and over a few stunned onlookers in the rows ahead of his seat before clearing the low railing at the bottom of the third level and falling onto a row of seats in the level immediately below.

Senators president and CEO Roy Mlakar said the man was carrying two beers when he stumbled over a purse.

Scociabank Place fun facts:

• The first event hosted there, in 1996 when it was called The Palladium, was not a hockey game. It was a Bryan Adams concert.

• The arena hosted the largest crowd ever to attend a Canadian Hockey League game — 20,081 — in Dec. 2004 when the Kingston Frontenacs beat the Ottawa 67's .

• Tickets still available for Canada vs. USA in the IIHF World Junior Championships on New Year's Eve.

• It rather looks like the Palace at Auburn Hills, wouldn't you say?

Oh, and the Senators won one for Falling Beer Guy, beating the Thrashers on Wednesday 5-1.

Man Falls From Upper Deck At Sens Game [NBCSports]

Meanwhile in Stockholm, Ottawa and Pittsburgh split their two games series, a 4-3 OT win to the Penguins in game one and 3-1 to Senators in the other. Dany Heatley has three goals so far for the Sens, earning him the title of Champion of European NHL Scoring. All four of those games were sold out too, making this whole European vacation a raging success—unless these teams lose 7 of their first 10 games the way the Ducks did last season after they opened in London. In which, case screw you, Earth, and your stupid rotation. But otherwise, look for many more across the pond games in coming seasons, because ... why the heck not? Hockey pucks are certainly more welcome than Robo-Jason Taylor.

Now hockey fans (and yes, it may not seem like it right now, but we count ourselves among that group. The NHL just doesn't make it easy for us) must sit patiently and wait for the real season kick off on Friday. That's plenty of time to find a way to freeze over your backyard kiddie pool.

• Rangers Czech in with win, [NY Daily News]
• Senators: Losing their looks [Sportsnet]
• NHL Capsules [AP]
• Trips abroad can help forge team ties [Yahoo]

Here's the methodology:

He shifted his gaze to the NHL and calculated the facial ratio for the players on Canada's NHL_teams using 2007-2008 roster photos and compared the results with the average number of penalty minutes per game the player racked up for aggressive behaviour such as slashing, cross-checking, high-sticking, boarding, elbowing, checking from behind and fighting. Goalies were not analyzed.

Of the 18 Senators, Carre looked at defenceman Mike Commodore, who has since left the Senators, with a facial ratio of about 1.6 and only about a minute per game in the penalty box, was at the low end of the scale. Right-winger Chris Neil, with a facial ratio of almost 2.4 and about three minutes per game in the box, was at the opposite end.

So at least we know it's not just America that does dumb studies.

Hockey fat-heads end up in penalty box more often: study [Ottawa Leader-Post]
If your head is fat, you're a jerk [The Two-Line Pass]

No. 2 San Jose Sharks (49-23-10, 108 Points; Imploded against the Wings in the second round) vs. No. 7 Calgary Flames (42-30-10, 94 Points; Punked out against Detroit in Round One last season)

There are a few reasons to advocate for a Calgary Flames upset of the San Jose Sharks. There's the epitome of class and underrated artistry that is Jarome Iginla. The potential for a violent Phaneuf'ing of a future playoff foe — Lord knows a few of the Ducks could use one. And, if 2004 is any indication, the more Calgary wins in the postseason, the less Flames Girls seem to wear. This is a good thing. Unfortunately, the Flames are playing the Sharks; and the Sharks and going to win the Stanley Cup.

Uh-oh! What, no spoiler warning? Sorry to kill the drama, but the Sharks have been our pick since the start of the season and there's no reason to take a dusty tumble off the bandwagon now. They've only gotten better, as indicated by that streak that saw them escape a regulation loss for the entire month of March. The addition of Brian Campbell at the trade deadline solidified this team's championship credentials, giving it not only a dependable defenseman but one whose mobility has activated the Sharks' offense. Oh, and his sick NHL '94-esque spin-o-rama goals don't hurt, either. The New York Times said Campbell "has been to the Sharks what Ringo Starr was to his new bandmates, the Beatles." Whatever the fuck that quasi-Buccigrossian nonsense means...maybe they're trying to tell us Campbell's never getting into the Hall of Fame as a solo artist.

But there are reasons for concern for San Jose. Like the fact that Joe Thornton is laid-back to the point of near-catatonia and scored one goal in 11 playoff games last year, giving him just nine in 57 career postseason contests. Like the fact that the Sharks went out like a bitch last season, with Coach Ron Wilson publicly placing captain Patrick Marleau under the driver's side tire for blown defensive assignments and general ineffectiveness. And because Calgary has taken three of four games from San Jose this season.

Key Match-Up for San Jose: Evgeni Nabokov vs. Miikka Kiprusoff. After coming into camp as tons-of-fun, Kipper has played well over the last two months and has a career 2.06 GAA in the postseason. Nabokov has also been good (2.17 GAA) in the playoffs; if Calgary is going to have a chance in this series, it needs a couple of clunkers from him.

Key Match-Up for Calgary: Ex-Sharks vs. Current Sharks. Owen Nolan, Wayne Primeau, center Mark Smith and especially Kiprusoff all previously played for San Jose. I believe it was Khan Noonien Singh who once said: "Ah, Kirk, my old friend, do you know the Klingon proverb that tells us revenge is a dish that is best served cold? It is very cold...in spaaaaaace." Of course, there's simply no way Khan could have learned a Klingon proverb while stranded on Ceti Alpha V. (Sorts while laughing, pushes up glasses.)

Worst Case Scenario for San Jose: The Sharks lose inspirational leader Jeremy Roenick for the rest of the playoffs after he begins speaking in a TV interview following Game 1 and then never stops.

Worst Case Scenario for Calgary: Overcome by playoff intensity, Coach Mike Keenan seeks to motivate his team by impaling Kristian Huselius with his own stick.

Well, If You're Going To Twist My Arm: Sharks in six. Could be one of those series where the Flames win Game 1, everyone gasps, and then San Jose lays the smack down the rest of the way.

Vital YouTubeage: They love them some Craig Conroy up in Calgary, to the point where they croon a sappy love song to him to the tune of "Moon River."

No. 2 Pittsburgh Penguins (47-27-8, 102 Points; Dominated by Ottawa in Round One) vs. No. 7 Ottawa Senators (43-31-8, 94 Points; Allowed a team named the Ducks to place its name on Lord Stanley's Chalice)

There's pregame motivation, and then there's just being stupid.

Herb Brooks's "Dehr time is done...dis is our time!" speech? Pregame motivation at its finest. Jacksonville Jaguars punter Chris Hanson slicing his right leg with an ax during Coach Jack Del Rio's "keep chopping wood" speech in 2003? Fucking idiotic.

The Ottawa Senators' preparations for their first-round series against Pittsburgh fall somewhere in between, but much closer to kicker self-amputation. Forget the new giant photo that hangs near the Ottawa dressing room, one that shows the two teams shaking hands after the Senators' 4-1 win last season; that Penguins team doesn't exist anymore. They're all grows up and they're all grows up and...

The real affront to common sense came when Senators coach Bryan Murray floated the idea that the Penguins intentionally lost their final game of the season to the Flyers because they wanted to play the Senators in the first round. "I knew what was going on. You guys all know — they wanted to play Ottawa," Murray said. "That's fine ... That was fairly obvious from the drop of the puck."

While it's true that Pittsburgh rested Sidney Crosby — who only missed 28 straight games and might like a breather before the playoffs — everyone else saw significant minutes, including starting goalie Marc-Andre Fleury. Can anyone really envision the Penguins preparing to play Game 1 of the Wales Conference Finals in front of a rabid crowd in Montreal, smiling wistfully that they put one over on Ottawa a month earlier?

Besides, we all know the Penguins never throw a hockey game unless it will earn them the No. 1 pick in the draft.

Key Match-Up for Pittsburgh: Time vs. the Knock-Out Punch. The Senators will begin this series missing Daniel Alfredsson, Mike Fisher and Chris Kelly. The longer it goes, the more likely it is they could return to the ice. Pittsburgh should Tyson/McNeely this thing, ASAP.

Key Match-Up for Ottawa: Crappy Goalies vs. Other Crappy Goalies. There isn't another team in the conference (outside of perhaps Philadelphia) whose situation between the pipes negates the nearly automatic disadvantage the Senators have in goal. Fleury was rather awful last season (3.77 GAA) in his first postseason action; Ty Conklin and the playoffs go together about as well as a blowtorch and a Sunoco station. Suddenly, Martin "Sieve" Gerber and that powder keg Ray Emery don't look so bad anymore.

Worst Case Scenario for Pittsburgh: Marian Hossa continues to be a postseason zilch, and Michel Therrien's inherent incompetence as a head coach is too much for the Penguins to overcome.

Worst Case Scenario for Ottawa: The rest of the team's key players get injured, and Ottawa is forced to draft Troy Mallette, Laurie Boschman and Lance Pitlick from the alumni squad to fill in the blanks.

Well, If You're Going To Twist My Arm: Penguins in five. When the Canadian media is reduced to citing the fact that Ottawa is 3-0 against teams from Pennsylvania in the postseason, it's time to back up the truck.

Vital YouTubeage: Sabres fans offer a musical valentine to Dany Heatley's speed wagon. Stay classy, Buffalo...

Senators Lose Seven In A Row, Oppose Goalie Marriage. I'm afraid it's a very special Canadian Closer™ today friends, with four back bacon-filled teams battling the evil American empire in Montreal, Toronto, Calgary and Tampa last night. (Which one of these is not like the others, which one doesn't belong...) Ottawa came back in the third period but lost 4-3 in a shootout in Tampa, continuing the team's longest losing streak since the year the Lightning crammed 28,183 hockey fans (every Canadian vacationing in Florida) into Tropicana Field (then known as the Thunderdome) for a game. Mad Max approved.

The Parade Will Begin At The Brass Rail. The Maple Leafs have had perhaps the strangest season of any pro sports club in recent history: Nude photos of rookies on shady corners of the 'net, a GM who can't fire his coach, a president saying he hired the wrong GM (but failing to fire said GM), and a fanbase that continues to fork over $400 a night to eat sushi and watch one of the worst teams in hockey. But Wade Belak did score his first goal in almost four years last night in a 3-1 win over Nashville. (Not counting a stint with something called the Coventry Blaze of the English Hockey League.) I then put a car flag on my tricked out Pacer and headed for Mirtleville.

These Wings Need A McCartney. Detroit's well on their way to establishing itself as the blandest regular-season dynasty of all time — and even their fans are no shows this season. The Red Wings downed Montreal 4-1, but it turns out Henrik Zetterberg's deft passing and a handful of Europeans with unpronounceable names can't trump "a tidal wave of foreclosures."

Hannu Loses Game He Loved. "It sucks, it really does, but it's gone now, there's nothing you can about it," Blues 'tender Hannu Toivonen said of a 3-1 loss to the Flames. "You have to learn from it and see what I can do better next time." Strangely, these were his exact words when he let the hockey monkey escape earlier in the season. (True, somewhat-related story: They taught a handful of chimps to skate for this film. Sadly, those efforts failed to win them an Oscar or a tryout with the Blues.)

Athlete of the Century Deemed Unwanted Goods. The Penguins dumped Kamloops native Mark Recchi and his $2-million contract on waivers yesterday, upsetting a hockey blogger and prompting city council to rename Mark Recchi Way to Doug Lidster Boulevard. Making matters worse, Recchi spent his own bobblehead night bobbling in the press box.

We congratulate the Anaheim Ducks on their first Stanley Cup title last night. We can't imagine the relief of Ducks fans across the nation, who were able to sleep easy last night, knowing they must no longer fear that they, like their grandfathers and other ancestors, will die without seeing their beloved, historic Ducks win that long-awaited title.

Congratulations, Ducks. The Stanley Cup is finally back where it belongs: Orange County.

Ducks Win! [The Battle Of California]

(Getty Images Photo)

Because this is probably one of the last NHL posts we'll be doing for a while — everyone seems to think this series is done tomorrow night — we thought we'd check in on what the top NHL bloggers are saying. Bear with us, non-hockey fans: It's almost over.

• James Mirtle: "As for the Senators: If you can't win at home against a team missing its top defenceman, you don't deserve to win the Stanley Cup."

• Behind The Jersey: "The thought of Chris Pronger raising the Stanley Cup over his head makes me want to throw up. What is the verb for vomit in German? I just happened to learn it this week. It's "übergeben." I knew my German class would come in handy someday."

• On Frozen Blog: "Truth be told, I'm not an Alanis Morisette fan. Just not my thing, nothing personal. However, she and her 20,500 background singers taught me a lesson in how one is supposed to sing their national anthem tonight. I've never been at a sporting event (or any other event for that matter) where a crowd sang so enthusiastically and without self-consciousness the anthem of their country. Maybe I haven't been to the right games. Maybe our anthem is too tough. Maybe I've just been oblivious (which happens with an uncomfortable regularity), but it occurs to me that how it was done tonight is the way it should be done."

Oh, and Japers' Rink actually watched the game from the Canadian embassy. That's awesome.

WFLA, Channel 8 in Tampa, is opting to air the All Children's Telethon instead of Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals. I think this is something that WFLA does every year, regardless of what's schedule to air on The Peacock, so I don't know if it's something that puck fans should take personally. Still, though... it's the Finals.

I feel for hockey fans, who are continually reminded of the second-class status of their sport of choice, but on the other hand ... seeing Chris Kunitz out there mucking and grinding doesn't do much to help sick kids. Hopefully, something can be worked out to keep everyone happy.

Where's Game 3? Updated [Bolts Blog]

We know hockey gets a bad rap, around here and everywhere else, but we would really like to point that we enjoy watching hockey, particularly that of the playoff variety. But man, seriously, No one is watching these games. The rating for Game 1 was 0.72, which is "Quite Frankly" bad. Allotting for the inherent weirdness of Nielsen ratings, that translates to about 523,000 people watching Game 1 of the sport's championship. That's five Tennessee home football games.

NHL Ratings Comically Bad [Lion In Oil]
I Like The Way Snrub Thinks [Chris' Sports Blog]

As has been established repeatedly, we're idiots about hockey, so we brought in the big guns to preview this one: Eric McErlain, purveyor of all that is good and righteous at Off Wing Opinion. (He's also a columnist for NBC Sports and lead blogger for AOL Fanhouse NHL.) The guy's a legend in this sports blogging world, and nobody knows his hockey better than he does.

Sure, the finals of a major sports league are going to be on Versus, but that's no reason not to care, right? After the jump, Eric lets you know what you gotta know. And we'll see you all tomorrow.

——————-

Is there any sports league in recent memory that has gone into its championship round with more negative mojo than the NHL? Just when the righteous anger over NBC's dumping of Game Five of the Eastern Conference Finals to Versus was beginning to subside, Gary Bettman and company found another rake to step on as the closely guarded news of the sale of the Nashville Predators broke smack dab in the middle of a lengthy six day layoff before the start of the Stanley Cup Finals.

With nothing else to cover, and with the opening game of the Finals being played in Anaheim at end of a long holiday weekend in the U.S., talk inevitably turned to the disastrous tenure of NHL "Commissioner for Life" Gary Bettman and the abject failure of his strategy to create a national television footprint by expanding the league to the American Southeast and West.

What all of this rage is obscuring — and let's be honest, rage is the only emotion that any fans feel about no matter the reason or the season when the subject is Commissioner Bettman — is that we're on the cusp of what promises to be a pretty compelling matchup on the ice, ironically, one that's between two teams that were part of the post-1990 expansion era and only recently were rescued from the scrap heap.

To say that the Ottawa Senators have had an interesting history leading up to their first appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals would be an understatement. Perhaps the most frustrating season in their history had to be 2002-03, where the Senators posted 113 points in the regular season to win the President's Trophy only a few months after then-owner Rod Bryden took the team into bankruptcy. On-ice failure matched off-ice embarrassment in the Eastern Conference Finals when the Sens were dispatched by the eventual Stanley Cup Champion Devils in seven games.

But the Senators team that went into bankruptcy with Rod Bryden came out of it with pharmaceutical magnate Eugene Melnyk. The new stability in ownership mirrored the steady performance in the regular season, as the Sens remained at the top of the regular season standings even as playoff success continued to elude them.

Ironically, one of Bryden's last decisions as owner the season when he had the team declare bankruptcy was to bring old NHL hand John Muckler in to run the club as General Manager. After the lockout, Muckler rolled the dice and sent the popular Marian Hossa to Atlanta along with Greg DeVries for a man looking for another chance in another city: Winger Dany Heatley. Safe to say, it's not a deal most general managers would have made, but Heatley has made the most of his second chance in the NHL, far from the scene of a car accident he was responsible for in Atlanta that killed teammate Dan Snyder.

Heatley has posted back-to-back 50 goal seasons in Ottawa, as part of what's become one of the best lines in all of hockey along with Daniel Alfredsson and Jason Spezza.

But perhaps the best decisions Muckler ever made involved the players that he let get away. First, it was less than a year ago that Zdeno Chara, who Ottawa had acquired from the New York Islanders in what is now widely seen as a highway robbery deal, played out his contract with the Senators to test the free agent market. Figuring that retaining Chara would mean breaking up the rest of his team, Muckler let him walk and sign a five-year $37.5 million deal with Boston.

Rather than try to replace Chara outright, Muckler did a pair of deals that more than compensated for the 6'9" Chara's absence, signing free agent Joe Corvo from the LA Kings and acquiring Tom Preissing in a three-way deal with the Sharks and the Blackhawks. The result: Ottawa hardly missed the Slovak giant, as Ottawa continued to boast the deepest, and best balanced defensive corps in the NHL.

Next, Muckler said goodbye to the oft-injured Dominik Hasek, opting instead to sign Martin Gerber from the Carolina Hurricanes. Though Gerber would eventually make his mark in Ottawa holding down a spot on the end of the bench for the emerging Ray Emery, it seems as if the Swiss goalie has a magic all his own.

But before this season's version of the Senators gelled into an unstoppable postseason force, they and head coach Bryan Murray — best known for underachieving everywhere else he's been behind the bench — struggled through the first half of the season, barely making it to .500 by January 1. But after that, there was no team in hockey that could touch them, as they posted a 27-7-8 record the rest of the way. Perhaps the most memorable of those games came on February 22 and 24, when the Sens traded 6-5 decisions with the Buffalo Sabres amidst a blizzard of fisticuffs triggered in the first game when Chris Neil took out Buffalo co-captain Chris Drury with a vicious, but legal hit.

Click here for the February 24 followup bout. After those two games, it should have been clear to everyone that these weren't your Daigle/Yashin version of the Senators, something that Pittsburgh, New Jersey and Buffalo discovered to their chagrin in the playoffs.

As for the Anaheim Ducks, the original Mickey Mouse franchise, this marks their second trip to the Finals overall and second in the last four seasons. With a Disney pedigree, most hardcore NHL fans hated the Ducks through most of their early history. After all, what self-respecting hockey fan would catch themselves pulling for a team named after a series of hockey flicks aimed at the under 12 set? The ire only increased when, in an early demonstration of corporate synergy, the Ducks seemed to become the official home team of ESPN 2. Later demonstrations of this strategy manifested themselves in five-minute SportsCenter features on Mark Schlereth's career as a soap opera actor as well as "ESPN Hollywood." Don't say you weren't warned.

But even Disney's deep pockets had their limits, as the company dumped the Ducks just one season after their first trip to the Finals when they sold the team to local Anaheim businessman Henry Samueli for just $50 million, a $25 million loss from the expansion fee that Disney paid when they were granted the franchise in 1993.

Though the Ducks, like so many other recent failed Stanley Cup Finalists, failed to even make the playoffs the following season, Samueli quickly got to work putting the franchise on sounder footing. Only three days after his purchase of the team was approved by the league's Board of Governors, Samueil hired ex-Vancouver Canucks GM Brian Burke as the Ducks GM.

Since taking over, it's clear that Burke has put his stamp on this Ducks team, one that played tougher than any other in the NHL, leading the league in fighting majors in both the regular season and the playoffs. Even better, with most of the hockey press calling for a crackdown on fighting, Burke was the one General Manager to propose modifying the instigator rule.

Burke, more so than any player on the Ducks, is this team's outsized personality. A master at playing the media, Burke's masterpiece might have been his trade deadline blog over at USA Today that managed to tick off just about anybody who was mentioned in it, while Burke stood pat at the deadline refusing to part with any prospects for any of the playoff rentals flooding the market.

But Burke's personality shouldn't obscure his hockey smarts, and in particular three deals that put the Ducks in the position they're in today. First, he re-imported one-time Duck Teemu Selanne back into the fold, with the Finn responding in much the same manner as Heatley in Ottawa, scoring 98 goals in the last two seasons after he looked finished following a stint in Colorado before the lockout.

Burke did one better when he shipped sure-fire Hall of Famer Sergei Federov to Columbus in exchange for Tyler Wright (who?) and Francois Beauchemin. In doing so, not only did Burke get the aging Federov's contract off the books in Anaheim, he also acquired Beauchemin, who has turned into a rock on defense and is regularly clocking better than 30 minutes of ice time per night in the playoffs. Even better, losing Federov meant that Colgate's Andy McDonald finally got the ice time he needed to mature into a front-line center, a chance he's made the most of, along with Anaheim forwards Corey Perry, Ryan Getzlaf and reclamation project Chris Kunitz (out for remainder of the playoffs).

But the deal that will go down in hockey history that put Anaheim back in the Finals wasn't triggered by Burke at all, but rather by unspecified personal family reasons cited by Chris Pronger, as he pushed the Oilers to move him just hours after the Oilers lost Game Seven of the 2006 Finals to Carolina. In the end it was Burke who won the auction, sending Joffrey Lupul, Ladislav Smid, a first rounder in 2007, a second round pick in 2008 and a conditional first rounder in 2008 for the former league MVP and Norris Trophy winner — a deal that they'll be hating in Edmonton for a long time coming.

The results were pretty easy to see, with the Ducks starting hot, playing through a lengthy injury to Pronger and finishing things out well enough to secure the second seed in the playoffs, where they finished off three of the best goalies in the league in Niklas Backstrom, Roberto Luongo and Hasek.

So what to expect next? For those looking for a rundown on Ottawa, click here; for the download on the Ducks, click here.

While the Senators have held a physical edge in every series thus far in the playoffs, they're going to meet their match in an Anaheim team that's gotten used to running their opponents off the ice. In that light, I can't help but to expect this series to become a game of attrition, with Ottawa's depth both up front and on the blue line to exact a toll on a Ducks team that may rely too much on Pronger, Scott Niedermayer and Beauchemin — a trio that regularly puts in 30 plus minutes a night during the playoffs.

The next critical matchup has to be Ottawa's top line of Heatley, Alfredsson and Spezza against Anaheim's checking line of Travis Moen, Rob Niedermayer (too many Niedermayers!) and Sami Pahlsson. Simply put, we're looking at the best scoring line in the league against the best checking line in the league. Given that Ottawa's trio have been just about the surest bet in the postseason, my best guess is that things aren't going to change now. But if they fail, I'm not sold on the ability of Ottawa's other three lines to pick up the slack.

Weighing most heavily on my mind when it comes to the Ducks were the significant periods during the Western Conference Finals when they were simply outplayed by the Detroit Red Wings, most recently in Game Six where the Red Wings very nearly made up a three goal deficit in the third period. The difference in those moments was always J.S. Giguere, who we can count on to steal at least one game in the Finals. Unfortunately for Ottawa, I'm not sure the same sort of performance is in the cards for Ray Emery, a goalie who has simply done everything Ottawa has asked of him up to this point. However, as my NHL Fanhouse colleague Tom Luongo has pointed out, that's mainly due to the fact that Ottawa has kept the game simple for Emery, and not allowing their opponents to take advantage of Emery's greatest weakness, his lateral movement.

So while I've already gone on the record at Off Wing picking Anaheim to win it all, all the indicators, save one, are pointing in Ottawa's favor. Then again, some believe that the Ducks are the first real test that the Senators have faced in this playoff, and I'm inclined to agree given the massive gap between the conferences that was revealed during the regular season.

My best instincts tell me Ducks in seven, but only because Giguere steps up and saves Anaheim's bacon.

As you might expect, hockey fans are aghast — an excellent roundup of outrage can be found here — though those in Buffalo weren't switched, allowing their long-suffering fans to witness the end of their season. It was such an odd decision — previewing a horse race? — that some smell legitimate malfeasance. Regardless ... if you needed any more proof why we don't feel so horrible about not covering the NHL as fiercely as we cover other sports ... this is probably it.

NBC Dumps Out Of Hockey For The Preakness [Off Wing Opinion]
Bettman's Latest Debacle By Design [Out Of Left Field]
NBC Gives Sens' Win The Shaft [James Mirtle]

Well, at this point, it's clear they're not even going to make it to that point, losing 1-0 to Ottawa last night to fall behind 3-0. It's not a happy time in Buffalo.

I'm sure we'll all be able to talk about what appeared to be a flat Buffalo Sabres team that took the ice tonight. The effort certainly seemed to be sporadic, and the power play continued to be awful. When you watch hockey on a regular basis, you come to realize that all those bounces that go to the winning team may seem lucky, but it's usually the result of out-working the opponent. Ottawa ended up with most of the loose pucks on their sticks tonight. Enough said.

Well, actually, some aren't even handling it that well.

And, at this point, if you haven't shown up for the first 3 games guys, don't show up for the 4th. Save everyone a little time and money and let us get back to our lives. I think I'll be madder at them if they actually win game 4 at this point than if they lose it.

Sorry, Sabres fans. At least you still get to live in Buffalo.

Beyond Horrible [Sabres Report]
Senators 1, Sabres 0 [Bfloblog]

And here, you thought we were completely ignoring the NHL playoffs. To remind you: Canuck please!

The Eastern Conference Finals kick off tonight, with the Ottawa Senators facing the long-suffering but oh-so-close Buffalo Sabres. The gang at BfloBlog are awfully excited: "The anticipation for the game tonight probably could not be any greater. As I was sifting through the season history between these two teams, a very scary thought (for Ottawa) occurred to me: Ottawa has yet to play the Sabres team they will be facing tonight."

We will not pretend to have even close to the amount of expertise required to make a prediction on this series, but among the ESPN folks, the verdict is split. If you need to rev yourself up, we recommend the 10 reasons the NHL playoffs are better than the NBA playoffs. (Via Off Wing Opinion.) We don't necessarily agree, but it's a compelling case.

(Associated Press photo.)

For those who like their NHL violence varied and wanton, we present Thursday's Ottawa at Buffalo matchup, which makes the Spanish Inquisition look like a tickle fight. The Sabres' 6-5 OT win featured 100 total penalty minutes, with eight penalties for fighting, four for hooking, two for instigating and one for goalie leaving the crease (our favorite). There was also this glorious excerpt from the penalty summary:

05:13 Phillips: Game Misconduct - 10 min.
05:13 Kaleta: Game Misconduct - 10 min.
05:13 Volchenkov: Fighting - 5 min.
05:13 Biron: Game Misconduct - 10 min.
05:13 Biron: Fighting - 5 min.
05:13 Biron: Goalie leaving crease. - 2 min.
05:13 Mair: Game Misconduct - 10 min.
05:13 Mair: Fighting - 5 min.
05:13 Mair: Instigator - 2 min.
05:13 Peters: Game Misconduct - 10 min.
05:13 Peters: Fighting - 5 min.
05:13 Peters: Instigator - 2 min.
05:13 Peters: Roughing - 2 min.
05:13 Emery: Game Misconduct - 10 min.
05:13 Emery: Goalie leaving crease. - 2 min.
05:13 Emery: Fighting - 5 min.
05:13 Emery: Fighting - 5 min.

Damn it, we went to the snack bar at 5:11! (The Sabres' Andrew Peters will serve his penalty time in mountainous regions of Alaska wrangling Kodiak bears).

And we'll say it again: If this had happened in the NBA, the league would be disbanded.

(Here's a blow-by-blow from BfloBlog)

Sabres Edge Senators In Fight-Filled Contest [MSNBC]
Senators-Sabres Brawl [YouTube]