Hockey

After being outscored 15-5 in the third period of their first eight playoff games, the Red Wings scored the only two goals of the final 20 minutes in recording their first victory of the season over the regular-season champion Blackhawks.

For months now, it's seemed as though Seth Jones's status as the top prospect in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft was on solid footing, and with the Colorado Avalanche holding the pick, it's almost become a formality... but Halifax's Nathan MacKinnon is doing his best to remind everyone just how highly touted he is. His hat trick in Saturday's game over Jones's Portland Winterhawks set the tone for a 7-4 drubbing that turned heads all over North America. It was enough to make Adrian Dater of the Denver Post wonder which blue chipper would be the better pick for his Colorado Avalanche. MacKinnon is keeping his feet on the ground, however, and realizing that one solid outing on the biggest stage in junior hockey isn't going to supersede years of scouting and scrutiny. "The (NHL) teams here that are watching us have watched all of us play many times this year. I don't know how much this game is going to change anything," he said after the game. "Obviously it's nice to get a few (goals) but I just wanted to win and I'm glad we did." The Mooseheads are favorites in this tournament, largely because of Nathan MacKinnon and fellow top-prospect Jonathan Drouin. You can read a full recap of yesterday's Memorial Cup action right here. [Yahoo! Canada] Further from home, but closer to our hearts, Loui Eriksson's contributions have pushed Sweden into the gold medal game of the World Hockey Championships. He scored two goals in their 3-0 victory over Finland, and will play against Switzerland in the gold medal game later today. [DallasStars.com] In NHL action, the San Jose Sharks showed some signs of life, against the defending champs. Their overtime victory over the Los Angeles Kings turned what could have been a 0-3 hole into a 1-2 series. [NHL.com] While the Sharks were in the process of beating the Kings, Jonathan Quick may have been beating an official. TSN is reporting that his game misconduct penalty at the end of the game was for abuse of official. No word yet on what further action could be taken. [TSN.ca] In other action, the Detroit Red Wings evened the series against the Chicago Blackhawks. The Chicago Tribune credits the victory to beating Chicago at it's own game. [Chicago Tribune] For those of us that can never get enough Jaromir Jagr, here's another article about how Jags is keeping things going well into his 40's. [Boston Globe] Finally, today's video goes back to the Winterhawks/Mooseheads matchup in Saskatoon. Arguably the worst rendition of the Star Spangled Banner you'll ever hear. Thankfully, the crowd of Saskachewanians knew the words well enough to help her finish before puck drop. Got to love how stoic the players on the ice remain. The same can not be said for those on the bench. 2013 Memorial Cup American National Anthem Screw Up - Halifax vs Portland - HD (via HockeySportsCast)

You’re partying, opening up the cottage, slacking off, laying on the couch, picking your toenails, practicing yoga, drinking beer, while I’m giving my usual 140% at work, making sure travelers get on the ferry boat in fine fashion. Naturally I’m exhausted, and because of this, I’ll just take some pictures of my 1961-62 hockey coins which I had collected when I was a kid and am lucky enough to still have now. I don’t have the energy for anything else. 140% is a lot. It took a lot of Shirriff potato chips and Salada jello and pudding, but I managed to get the entire set, then the shields to complete it. You relax and enjoy the holiday weekend. I’ll just go to work.

Courtesy of the Rangers: NEW YORK RANGERS at BOSTON BRUINS 2013 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Eastern Conference Semifinals – Game 2 Sunday, May 19 (3:00 p.m.) – TD Garden BOS leads 1-0 TODAY’S GAME: The Rangers will face-off against the Boston Bruins at TD Garden (3:00 p.m. — TV: NBC; Radio: ESPN 98.7), in Game 2 of their Eastern Conference Semifinal series. The Blueshirts trail in the series, 1-0, following a 3-2 overtime loss in Game 1 on Thursday at TD Garden. The Rangers enter the contest with a 212-230-8 record all-time in 450 playoff contests (119-88-2 at home; 93-142-6 on the road). New York has posted a 45-50-2 record all-time in Game 2s. ALL-TIME RANGERS PLAYOFF RECORDS: Overall — 212-230-8 Home — 119-88-2 Away — 93-142-6 Goals for — 1,236 Goals against — 1,227 ALL-TIME PLAYOFF RECORDS —RANGERS vs. BRUINS The Rangers and Bruins are meeting in the playoffs for the 10th time overall, and the first time in 40 years. Their last postseason encounter was in the 1973 Quarterfinals, a series won by New York 4-1. Overall, the Blueshirts have a 3-6 playoff series record vs. the Bruins, posting an 18-23-2 mark in 43 postseason contests. RANGERS vs. BRUINS: All-Time (Regular Season): 249-283-97-2 overall (143-119-55-0 at home; 106-164-42-2 on the road) 2012-13: New York was 2-1-0 overall (1-0-0 at home; 1-1-0 on the road). Two of the three contests were decided by one goal, including one game that required overtime and another decided in the shootout. The Blueshirts’ penalty kill was 15-16 (93.8%). Rick Nash led all skaters with three assists, while Henrik Lundqvist was 2-1-0 with a 2.93 GAA and .913 Sv%. The Rangers have won 11 of their last 15 regular season games against the Bruins, including seven of their last nine meetings, and are 22-7-2 against Boston since 2005-06 The Rangers are 12-3-0 in their last 15 regular season games against the Bruins at MSG, dating back to a 3-2 win on Nov. 20, 2005 The Blueshirts are 5-1-0 in their last six regular season games at TD Garden, having out-scored the Bruins, 15-10, over the span Henrik Lundqvist has started in 27 consecutive regular season games against Boston, dating back to Jan. 13, 2007 The Blueshirts have three players with previous playoff experience against the Bruins – Arron Asham (9 GP, 1-2-3), Roman Hamrlik (25 GP, 1-8-9), and Darroll Powe (11 GP, 0-1-1) New York lists no former Bruins on their roster Boston lists three former Rangers on their roster: Jaromir Jagr (2003-04 – 2007-08); Wade Redden (2008-09 – 2009-10); Marc Savard (1997-98 – 1998-99) INDIVIDUAL CAREER LEADERS vs. BRUINS (Regular Season): Henrik Lundqvist — 30 GP, 21-7-2, 1.67 GAA, 6 SO Martin Biron — 31 GP, 12-12-2-1, 2.66 GAA, 1 SO Brad Richards — 37 GP, 8-23-31 Ryan Callahan — 22 GP, 5-6-11 Michael Del Zotto — 13 GP, 2-5-7 SPECIAL TEAMS: The Blueshirts are 2-0 in games when tallying a power play goal during the playoffs, and are 4-0 when not allowing a power play goal against Power Play: The Rangers did not tally a goal in three power play opportunities (5:35) in Game 1, and are now 2-31 (6.4%) in the playoffs. New York is 0-2 in five-on-three situations (3:17; last – 5/12 vs. WSH), and 0-2 while skating four-on-three (0:23; last – 5/8 vs. WSH). Shorthanded goals allowed (0). Penalty Killing: The Blueshirts surrendered one goal to the Bruins in four shorthanded situations (7:21) in Game 1, and are now 16-20 (80.0%) in the playoffs. Shorthanded goals for (0). Four-on-Four: The Blueshirts did not tally/yield a goal in one four-on-four situation (0:25) in Game 1, and are now even in three four-on-four situations (4:25) in the playoffs. Four-on-four goals for (0). Four-on-four goals allowed (0). QUICK HITS: Prior to Game 1, the last time the Rangers and Bruins played an overtime game in the playoffs was Mar. 27, 1958 (L, 3-4) Four of the remaining eight teams in the playoffs are Orig

If the plot lines of the Sharks playoff series with the Los Angeles Kings weren't already intriguing enough, Game 3 threw in a few more twists and turns to spice things up. Fresh off the travesty that was the officiating blunder in Los Angeles on Thursday night, the officiating played a major role in the outcome of Saturday night's contest, which marked the first game at HP Pavilion in the series. This time it was the Sharks who had the luxury of a two-man advantage to end the game.

Ryan Leong filling in for Cam Gore who is on assignment. Cam will be back for Game 4. Logan Couture is coming of age. Couture has been mentioned numerous times on this blog how important he is to this team and this game only punctuates how he is the unquestioned 'leader' now. Sure the Sharks still have Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau but even the fans are aware how important number 39 is to...

Jonathan Quick is typically a laid back dude. But after seeing the referees give the Los Angeles Kings two minor penalties in the final minute of regulation – leading to Logan Couture’s game-winning OT goal and a 2-1 San Jose Sharks’ win – Quick sought out the officials at the end of the game and was anything but laid back. Watch Quick go zebra hunting (with an odd soccer highlight set to “C.O.P.S.” music after the clip): The Sharks had a 5-on-3 power play to start overtime after Robyn Regehr went off for hooking Tommy Wingels at 19:18 of the third and Trevor Lewis went off for goalie interference for running into Antti Niemi with five seconds left. That candor earned Quick a game misconduct. As per NHL Rule 23.2, that means Quick is hit with an automatic $200 fine, and could be subject to supplemental discipline although that’s not gonna happen. Any guesses what he said?

Check out the highlights. The Sedins, Loui Eriksson and Jhonas Enroth put on a show to advance to the gold medal game vs Switzerland on Sunday.

At the start of overtime, there was a feeling that the whole playoff series might hinge on what would happen in the next few minutes. The HP Pavilion crowd felt it. So did some of the Sharks, at least the ones willing to admit it.

SAN JOSE, Calif.-The San Jose Sharks might have been missing their biggest agitator Saturday, but that didn't stop them from playing what might have been their most physical game of this year's postseason.