image: TSN

Ward is still in the hospital and didn’t fly home with the team after the 3-2 loss.  “It’s a significant injury and all I mean by that is I don’t have any timeline,” coach Paul Maurice said. “There was a fair amount of blood on the ice. All I know it was his leg; other than that I do not know any more.”

Ward had to be helped off the ice by two trainers with blood trailing him all the way to the dressing room.  He seems to be a magnate for skate blades since he got sliced up by Brad Isbister during a game in March 2007.

“It’s a scary thing to have happen,” Columbus goalie Steve Mason said. “When you see something like that happen, especially a guy like him — he’s a really nice guy off the ice — you hope everything is OK and it’s not too serious.  With the amount of blood that was coming from him, it’s a pretty scary situation.”

I seriously hope that everything goes well with Ward.  He was so important to the team’s playoff success last year and I felt that he was off to a decent start again.  Hopefully, it’s nothing too serious and he’ll be back in the lineup in no time.

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image: TSN

The break happened after he made contact with Boston Bruins defenceman, Dennis Wideman, during their terrible loss on Saturday night.

There was so much action during that game that I have to admit that I had almost forgotten about this injury and I’m disappointed that it is this serious.  Honestly, though, you can pretty much see from this video below that it’s not going to be good.  I can’t tell but a lot of fans say that Cole was trying to sidestep and that Wideman went out of his way to create the collision.

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image: TSN

The Bruins definitely came out on the ice and proved that, when they are on their game, they are virtually unstoppable.  Michael Ryder and Blake Wheeler put the puck in the back of the net just 26 seconds apart in the first period and the team scored four-power play goals to beat the Hurricanes 7-2. 7.

“We wanted to come out and put our better foot forward tonight and I think we did that,” said Marc Savard. “The biggest thing is we played simple tonight.”  Savard had a goal and two assists.

Of course, as is often the case in a blowout like this one, things got pretty heated between the teams and resulted in so many penalties that it’s pointless to list them all.

Here’s a video in case you need a better idea of what happened last night.

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Canes GM, Jim Rutherford, seems happy to have Ward back with the team: “With this trade, our defence really takes shape.  We envision him complementing Joni Pitkanen well as a defensive pairing.”  I agree that it will be good for Carolina to have Ward back in the lineup.  He still lives in Raleigh and he helped the team capture their first Stanley Cup back in 2006.

image: TSN

Of course, a lot of fans are probably going to think back to that nasty sucker punch that Scott Walker (Carolina) delivered to Ward (then with Boston) during Game 5 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.  Walker got away with it and Bruins coach, Claude Julien, was furious.

Just in case you forgot and would love to see it again, here’s a video of the punch.  Hopefully, the boys have ironed out any issues before the season begins

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Last year, he had a great year and celebrated career highs with 26 goals, 28 assists and 54 points in the regular season along with a goal and three assists in the post-season.

image: Zuma Press

His salary will be broken down as follows: $3 million this season, $4 million in 2010-11 and $4.4 million in 2011-12. That’s a considerable bump considering he only made $2.25 million last season.

Do you think he’s been offered too much?  If he keeps pulling those types of numbers (or better) then I think it was worth it but I guess we’ll have to wait and see if he earns the raise in salary.

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The Penguins enjoyed an easy 4-1 win over the Hurricanes with goals from Max Talbot (who also had two assists), Ruslan Fedotenko, Bill Guerin and Craig Adams (empty-netter).  Captain, Sidney Crosby had two assists and goalie, Marc-Andre Fleury, stopped 30 shots on net.  In the end, Pittsburgh outscored the Hurricanes 20-9 in the series.

I think that this young team has one thing on its side now – experience.  They were in this position just a year ago and, hopefully, they learned something.

I really held my breath when they brought out the Eastern Conference Championship Trophy.  I wasn’t sure if they were going to touch it since it is considered bad luck.  In the end, Crosby bravely went right up to it and skated away with it.  “We didn’t touch it last year and things did not go the way we wanted to, so we switched it up,” Crosby said. “We know what we want.”

image: Zuma Press

With this series wrapped up, I’m guessing hockey fans will be watching what happens over in the Western Conference where the defending Stanley Cup Champions, the Detroit Red Wings, are just one win away from eliminating the Chicago Blackhawks.

If the Red Wings succeed in taking the conference, it will be the first time two teams met again for a Stanley Cup rematch since the Edmonton Oilers and the New York Islanders battled in 1983 and 1984.

I lost my voice screaming and yelling during the Stanley Cup Finals last year and I’m ready to do it again.  I guess I better go stock up on ice cream and popsicles.

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Pens captain, Sidney Crosby, and Evgeni Malkin were again HUGE for their team.  Thinking back to last year, I believe that a major factor in their loss was the fact that Malkin just didn’t seem able to deliver.  This is, of course, a new season and it’s amazing to see what a difference a year can make.  “Sid and Geno, they bring their level and they make everybody better,” right-winger Bill Guerin said. “Everyone’s talent level goes up. That’s what they do for us.”  I would be inclined to agree considering how well this series has gone for the Penguins.

Carolina goaltender, Cam Ward, had another rough night since Pittsburgh outshot his team 40-34.  He was able to turn away 34 shots but it just wasn’t enough.  His counterpart, Marc-Andre Fleury, made 32 saves.

If they can complete the sweep on Tuesday night, the Pittsburgh Penguins will become the Eastern Conference champions for the second year in a row (they lost to the Detroit Red Wings in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final).

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Throughout the second and third periods, 16 penalties were called including a 10 minute match penalty for Carolina’s Ryan Bayda, and a matching 10 minute game misconduct for Pittsburgh’s Kris Letang.  As the minutes went by and the goals kept coming, both teams just seemed to reach their boiling point.  Players looked frustrated and angry but one person on the ice was celebrating.

image: Zuma Press

Evgeni Malkin had an incredible night.  He got a hat trick and his parents were screaming and cheering so much in the stands that I’m sure it made it that much better.  Carolina was definitely trying to get physical with him and, instead of falling apart, he channelled his energy and became unstoppable.  He completed his first career playoff hat trick with a suitably amazing goal – a backhander right into the net.  Incredible.  Watch his three goals.

After their 7-4 victory last night, the Penguins lead the series 2-0 as they get ready to head to Carolina for games 3 (Saturday, May 23) and 4 (Tuesday, May 26).   Since Carolina has been full of surprises throughout the playoffs, I’m very interested to see what they do when they’ve got home-ice advantage.

images: Zuma Press

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During the first period, Carolina outshot Pittsburgh 12-9 but it felt more like the Pens were dominating.  With goals from Miroslav Satan (fresh out of the penalty box) and Evgeni Malkin, those first twenty minutes really seemed to be in Pittsburgh’s favor.

In the second period, the Hurricanes were outshot 6-12 but they seemed to be more in control.  They were putting a lot of pressure on goalie, Marc-Andre Fleury, who had to come up with some amazing saves but, finally, let a shot by Chad Larose slip behind him.

In the third, both teams put in a huge effort but the goal by Philippe Boucher (Pittsburgh) remained the game-winner, although Joe Corvo scored on a power play for Carolina with just more than a minute and half left in the game.

The Hurricanes seemed to be in an absolute frenzy in the final moments and, despite a very close call, they just couldn’t tie up the game.  As has been the case throughout the postseason, Carolina continues to surprise and put forth an effort that is reminiscent of that in 2006 when they took home Lord Stanley.  I would love for the Penguins to move on to the next round but I wouldn’t be shocked at all if they didn’t make it.

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For the first time in the postseason last night, Jonas Hiller showed how human he really is.  He got knocked in the net and, as if that wasn’t bad enough, his helmet fell off and when he went to stand up, he hit his head on the crossbar.  He ended up getting pulled (he still made 36 saves) and was replaced by Jean-Sebastien Giguere who, correct me if I’m wrong, hadn’t made an appearance in the playoffs until that moment.

I was starting to think that this game was going to go to overtime but with just three minutes left in the game, Dan Cleary won for the Red Wings, sending the defending Stanley Cup champions to the Western Conference finals for the third straight year.

On the east coast, the Carolina Hurricanes upset the #1 Eastern Conference seed, the Boston Bruins, by eliminating them in overtime of Game 7.  It doesn’t get much closer than that.

I really was a little shocked and disappointed by this turn of events.  Truly, as naive as it might sound, I thought that the Bruins and the San Jose Sharks might be the last two teams standing after the amazing seasons they had but they were eliminated by teams that I really had dismissed (Carolina and Anaheim, respectively).  Sometimes I like being wrong but this isn’t one of those times. 

The Bruins’ amazing season came to an end last night at 18:46 into overtime when Scott Walker used his hands to put the puck behind Bruins netminder, Tim Thomas, instead of using them to punch Aaron Ward in the face. 

The Hurricanes will go on to face the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Eastern Conference finals which means that Eric Staal and Jordan Staal will be competing against each other.  They will be just the fourth set of brothers to do that.  Who are their parents going to cheer for?

images: Zuma Photos

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