Finnish star Granlund signs with Minnesota Wild (The Associated Press)
(Wed, 23 May 2012 15:14:50 PDT)
Mikael Granlund's arrival in Minnesota has been eagerly awaited by frustrated Wild fans looking for more star power and offensive skill on a team stuck in mediocrity since entering the NHL 12 years ago.

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?)

Charlie Coyle uses his puck-handling magic to help steer Sea Dogs to another Memorial Cup
(Sat, 19 May 2012 06:47:30 PDT)
Saint John's forward finds inspiration from his family as he provides Sea Dogs fans with thrills and goals – and maybe another CHL title.

Finns, Russia go through, Slovaks upset Canada
(Thu, 17 May 2012 14:23:16 PDT)
Holders Finland advanced to the semi-finals of the world ice hockey championships with a last-gasp winner against the United States on Thursday, but Olympic champions Canada were shocked by Slovakia.

Finland beats US 3-2 at hockey worlds (The Associated Press)
(Thu, 17 May 2012 11:52:28 PDT)
HELSINKI (AP) Finnish forward Jesse Joensuu's winning goal with nine seconds left lifted Finland past the United States 3-2 Thursday for a place in the semifinals of the hockey world championships in Helsinki.

How the Last 13 Stanley Cup Champions Didn't Repeat, Part 3: Fan's Take (Yahoo! Contributor Network)
(Wed, 16 May 2012 13:07:00 PDT)
In the past 13 years, all 13 Stanley Cup champions fell short of raising the Cup another consecutive time. The first part of this series looked at how the champions from 1999, 2000 and 2001 failed to repeat. Last week, part two studied how the 2002, 2003 and 2004 champions missed the chance to win again. This week, part three explains how the 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 champions were undone the next year.

Marek Vs. Wyshynski Radio: Kevin Weekes, Michael Russo and the Coyotes get dirty (Puck Daddy)
(Wed, 16 May 2012 10:25:12 PDT)
It's a Wednesday edition of Marek vs. Wyshynski beginning at 2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT , and we're talking about the following and more: Special Guest Stars: Michael Russo of the Star-Tribune talks Minnesota Wild hockey, Todd Richards and the Blue Jackets as well as the Western Conference; Kevin Weekes joins us to talk NHL goaltending; Wyshynski's head cold also makes an appearance. • In which Marek and Wysh discuss the Coyotes getting all sorts of nasty against the Kings. • The Marty Brodeur non-controversy over shotblocking. • Can anyone stop the Kings? • Puck Headlines and Talking Points Question of the Day: "You're Brendan Shanahan: What do you give Martin Hanzal, Shane Doan and Mike Smith for their transgressions?" Email your answers to puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or tweet them with the hashtag #MvsW to either @jeffmarek or @wyshynski . Click here for the Sportsnet live stream or click the play button above! Click here to download podcasts from the show each day Subscribe to the podcast via iTunes or Feedburner .

Blue Jackets name Richards as coach
(Mon, 14 May 2012 10:22:34 PDT)
Todd Richards, who took over as interim coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets midway into this past season, was named the National Hockey League team's coach on Monday by general manager Scott Howson.

Blue Jackets keep Richards with two-year contract (The SportsXchange)
(Mon, 14 May 2012 08:20:17 PDT)
The Columbus Blue Jackets are sticking with Todd Richards.

Blue Jackets name Todd Richards head coach, because what else were they going to do? (Puck Daddy)
(Mon, 14 May 2012 07:39:44 PDT)
Can a coaching move symbolize both stability and instability? The Columbus Blue Jackets removed the interim tag from coach Todd Richards on Monday, making the former Minnesota Wild bench boss the sixth head coach in franchise history. He took over from Scott Arniel on Jan. 9, and went 18-21-2 under Richards at a time when Rick Nash's future cast a foreboding shadow over nearly every game. [ Related: Dale Hunter steps down as Washington Capitals coach ] From a stability standpoint, it could be argued this was a smart decision. The Jackets showed resiliency late in the season, going 11-8 in March and April. They also showed a cohesion and competitive spirit that was missing at the start of the season, when James Wisniewski's suspension, Jeff Carter's apathy and Steve Mason resembling Sonny Corleone's car at the toll booth. So maybe that's something to build on.

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.)

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.

NHL Roundup: Stars bring back Gainey as consultant (The SportsXchange)
(Thu, 10 May 2012 16:00:27 PDT)
Former Dallas Stars general manager Bob Gainey has rejoined the organization as a consultant, the team announced Thursday.

Wild sign defenseman Stoner to 2-year extension (The Associated Press)
(Thu, 10 May 2012 13:30:52 PDT)
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) The Minnesota Wild have signed defenseman Clayton Stoner to a two-year, $2.1 million contract extension.

Patrick Kane’s drunken weekend; Jaromir Jagr’s future with Flyers; conference final times (Puck Headlines) (Puck Daddy)
(Thu, 10 May 2012 12:53:10 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. • Deadspin has pieced together the drunken weekend of Patrick Kane in Madison, Wis., including anonymous tales of choking a girl and getting involved with the police because there was almost a fight sparked by Kane's alleged anti-Semitic comments. Meanwhile, Jonathan Toews read a book. [ Deadspin ] • Jaromir Jagr done with the Philadelphia Flyers? "Jaromir Jagr was given several chances to say he wanted to return to the Flyers. He did not bite. It appears he will test the FA market." [ Broad Street Bull ] • In hindsight, how did Paul Holmgren actually do as Philadelphia Flyers GM? [ TPSH ] • The conference final times are set for Games 1 and 2: "The Western Conference Final opens Sunday, May 13 in Glendale, Arizona, where the Phoenix Coyotes will host the Los Angeles Kings at Jobing.com Arena (8 p.m., ET, NBC Sports Network, TSN, RDS). Game 2 of the series will be played in Glendale on Tuesday, May 15, beginning at 9 p.m., ET.  Games 1 and 2 of the Eastern Conference Final will be played on Monday, May 14 and Wednesday, May 16, respectively, and pit the New Jersey Devils against the winner of the Conference Semifinal series between the New York Rangers and Washington Capitals. That series currently is deadlocked at 3-3, with Game 7 set for Saturday night in New York (7:30 p.m. ET, NBC Sports Network, CBC, RDS)." [ NHL ] • Among the owners in Tom Stillman's group for the St. Louis Blues: John Danforth, former U.S. Senators, and Thomas Schiafly, the founder of the St. Louis Brewery. [ Blues ] • John Fontana on the NHL vs. the NHLPA: "With posturing in the media by the Commissioner and a lack of tangible movement on the labor front, the noxious bane's potency becomes more lethal, and an interruption to the 2012-13 NHL season becomes more possible." [ Raw Charge ] • What's the off-the-ice impact of the Nashville Predators' playoff disappointment? [ Tennessean ] • Injured defensemen Marek Zidlicky and Anton Volchenkov are expected to be ready by Game 1 of the conference final for the Devils. [ Fire & Ice ] • Marty Brodeur on getting taunted with "Matteau! Matteau!" at MSG: "It stopped not long ago," Brodeur said Thursday. "Same guy. Same spot. He would yell it at me over and over at the Garden. Since '94 they've been living off it for a long time, some of these fans. They have a great hockey club now. I expect if we do play them it will be somewhat similar." [ NJ ]

Wild sign Stoner to two-year extension (The SportsXchange)
(Thu, 10 May 2012 11:30:16 PDT)
Defenseman Clayton Stoner signed a two-year contract extension with the Minnesota Wild, the team announced Thursday.

Will Ryan Suter stay in Nashville after all? (Puck Daddy)
(Thu, 10 May 2012 09:29:56 PDT)
The notion that Ryan Suter could become an unrestricted free agent must make anyone that handed out a 10-year contract to Christian Ehrhoff furious. Here's an all-star, minutes-hording defensive stalwart who'd be considered a franchise defenseman were it not for playing in the shadow of Shea Weber's beard. They don't come around often at 27 years old. So there's going to be heightened attention given to Suter over the next two weeks, as he allows the frustration of the Preds' loss to Phoenix subside and begins sussing out his future with David Poile. From The Tennessean: "I haven't really had time to sit back and talk with my family and figure out what we want to do. This morning I had a meeting with David (Poile) and we talked about everything and the future, and how everything will go, and I think we're going to meet again in a couple of weeks and kind of make a decision." … "Wherever I sign I want to be there for the rest of my career , and that affects my family, my wife, my kid, if we have more kids, everything plays into it." Cynically, one might read this as "I'll let Poile know where they should trade my UFA negotiating rights." It becomes even more cynical when you read this in The Province , in a wishful thinking post about Shea Weber coming to the Vancouver Canucks, on Suter: "Those around his situation claim he has a list of teams he wants to play for and Nashville isn't on it." So are we ready to write off Suter as a Predator or is there still a chance he'll finish his career in Smashville?

Sneaky Italian goalie blocks Denmark player after getting dumped on bench (VIDEO) (Puck Daddy)
(Mon, 07 May 2012 11:05:10 PDT)
Giulio Scandella was the hero for Italy as he netted the overtime winner during their 4-3 win over Denmark at the World Championships on Sunday. Before he gave Italy their first win of the tournament, Scandella, whose brother Marco is a defenseman with the Minnesota Wild, was part of a different sort of highlight earlier in the game. In the first period, Scandella dumped Danish and Dallas Stars defenseman Philip Larsen into the Italian bench with the help of backup netminder Thomas Tragust, who then proceeded to block his attempt to hop back onto the ice: "Come on, man. Move! Let me get back on the ice!" "I'm trying to watch the game!" The benches in Stockholm are a tad larger than on this side of the pond, otherwise Larsen would have had to maneuver around an entire line of Italians. Of course, the universal code in hockey when an opponent gets put into bench is to not help whatsoever. Just ask Dainius Zubrus . Follow Sean Leahy on Twitter at @Sean_Leahy

What We Learned: Do mediocre divisions produce better Stanley Cup Playoff teams? (Puck Daddy)
(Mon, 07 May 2012 07:24:34 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. Occasionally you will hear that playing top teams several times a season, like those in the Atlantic and Central Divisions did this season, is a great way to prepare yourself for the postseason. They say it makes you ready to face the tougher competition in the playoffs, and by extension, those teams playing in softer divisions must logically be ill-prepared for similar rigors once the postseason rolls around. Both of the Atlantic and Central divisions were littered with 100-point teams, boasting eight of the league's 10 to eclipse the century mark between them (the other two being Boston and Vancouver), and it therefore stood to reason that they would likely send the lion's share of competitors to the conference finals. The better teams in the regular season tend to do about as well in the postseason, because they are, after all, very good teams. That makes sense. It turns out, though, that having a bunch of teams even in the neighborhood of 100 points in your division at the end of the regular season actually may be more of a detriment to a squad's postseason success. Since the lockout, only two teams have played in a Stanley Cup Final after playing in a division with three teams that managed 100 points. However, both those teams (Anaheim in 2007 and Chicago in 2010) won the Cup. If you expand that number out to even 97 points — which typically assures you a playoff berth but not home ice — only two more teams are added to the mix, the 2008 and 2009 Penguins. Conversely, teams coming out of divisions with two or fewer 97-point teams got into the Cup Finals with far greater frequency, doing so eight times since the lockout (including both Boston and Vancouver last year). But now we've seen the Los Angeles Kings advance to the Western Conference Final for the first time since 1993, and the Phoenix Coyotes stand on the precipice of doing the same for the first time since ever. Phoenix won the Pacific Division with 97 points, and is only a home ice team by virtue of its division title. Had seeding been based on points, they'd have slotted into the sixth spot. Los Angeles, meanwhile, finished with 95. The now-eliminated Sharks were sandwiched between them with 96. Three teams from one division in the playoffs, yes, but one terribly underwhelming division from which not much was expected. (Coming Up: America is a hockey superpower, thanks to Jack Johnson; Barry Trotz is wrong; Dustin Brown is awesome; Jordan Staal of Carolina; Thomas Vanek makes bank; Luongo to the Blackhawks?; Rick Dudley to the Habs; Jonathan Quick vs. Terry Sawchuck; trading Sidney Crosby; Todd McLellan-to-Calgary rumors; and the best and worst of the Capitals.)

Sea Bass on keeping Rask, Thomas; Jokinen surgery; Hartnell admits Devils surprise (Puck Headlines) (Puck Daddy)
(Fri, 04 May 2012 13:12:22 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. THE KINGS ARE UP 3-0 AND WON AT HOME! TAKE ME, JESUS! IT'S THE RAPTURE! [Getty] • Speaking of which, here's an LA Times piece on Los Angeles Kings fans in the team's Game 3 victory over the Blues. Jarret Stoll: "To get that standing ovation, the way they were cheering at the end, I had chills going through the pile at the end. It means a lot to us in here. We have a lot of pride and a lot of respect for our fans." [ Times ] • The St. Louis Blues' lack of depth is the reason they're down 0-3. [ Globe & Mail ] • Cam Neely doesn't see the Boston Bruins trading either Tim Thomas or Tuukka Rask this summer: "We're very happy with our goalies.  We have two strong goalies in both Tim and Tuukka. I think a lot of teams are probably envious of what we have here.  It's an area were we feel pretty comfortable." [ CSN NE ] • Bourne thinks it's stupid for Barry Trotz to sit Alex Radulov and Andrei Kostitsyn: "The Predators lost Games 1 and 2 with them in the lineup. They won Game 3 with them out of it. I get that. But three games is an incredibly small sample size. If you want to go back through the regular season schedule, I'm sure you can find games they won with them in the lineup, and games they lost with them out of it. But they kept dressing them both when they could because it gave them the best chance to win." [ Backhand Shelf ] • Will the Edmonton Oilers trade their No. 1 pick? [ THN] • Interesting bit on "money puck" from ESPN: "Spending in the NHL actually matters MORE since the Lockout: NHL fans lost an entire season due to hard-line owners seeking a tight salary cap. So it's shocking that since the empty 2004-05 season, payroll is linked even more with winning. Before the lockout, a 10% increase in spending was worth about 5.8 team points (roughly three wins) over a season. Since the lockout, that number has ballooned to 9.2 points. The Wharton researchers theorize that this counterintuitive trend is a result of the CBA's producing a tighter range of spending between teams. 'Each dollar became that much more valuable,' they concluded." [ ESPN ] • Alex Burrows may have suffered a concussion over in worlds. [ Province ] • Scott Hartnell on the New Jersey Devils, speaking volumes: "I don't think we thought we were going to win four straight, but definitely they've played a lot stronger and a lot harder than me personally would have thought they'd come with." [ Fire & Ice ] • Speaking of Hartnell, the animated gif of the week. [ Hartnell , via Félix Lévesque]

Bad luck, losses stalk Blue Jackets franchise (The Associated Press)
(Thu, 03 May 2012 19:48:01 PDT)
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) The Columbus Blue Jackets' logo is an Ohio flag wrapped around a silver star.

Flames shouldn't expect much from Roman Cervenka (The Hockey News)
(Thu, 03 May 2012 11:23:00 PDT)
The signing of the Czech forward is an attempt to gain offense, but here's why he probably won't live up to expectations.

What We Learned: Who says Stanley Cup Playoff hockey has to be boring? (Puck Daddy)
(Mon, 30 Apr 2012 06:45:07 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. Watching Saturday's Capitals/Rangers game was an exercise in masochism. Sitting through that game was a test — not unlike that delivered unto Abraham — to see just how much you actually like watching hockey. Two teams playing hockey not so much against each other but rather at each other, or, to put it another way, in defiance of every hockey fan's patience. In that game, four goals were scored on 32 shots. That was between both teams, and not just one, in case you were wondering. Certainly, convention states that playoff hockey is more defensive by nature than the regular season. And though you'd be a fool to subscribe to the belief that defensive hockey is boring hockey, even the most stoic men would have been reduced to tears by the kind of temerity it takes to dare people to sit through 60 minutes of whatever that was on Saturday afternoon. But one team, at least, flatly refuses to play anything like boring hockey. That would be the Philadelphia Flyers, whose efforts have thrilled all viewers not openly supporting their opponents, and enlivened what is otherwise shaping up to be a rather drab final few rounds of the playoffs. ( Coming Up: Pierre McGuire as Habs GM; trading Patrick Marleau; Jagr vs. Brodeur; Matt Greene's unlikely goal; Predators' revenue troubles; Nail for Staal?; Landeskog graded; Columbus addresses its goalie needs; Alex Ovechkin controlled by Rangers; in praise of Danny Briere; the Winnipeg Jets are dogs; and the future of Tim Thomas.)

What We Learned: End of the Red Wings and Sharks as we know them? (Puck Daddy)
(Mon, 23 Apr 2012 06:53:30 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. And so it was that two long-standing Western Conference powers crashed out of the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs, bending the knee to upstart franchises in just five games each … You might not have liked the Sharks or Red Wings in their series against the Blues and Predators, but it was very difficult to see either one crashing out in five, wasn't it? Now both find themselves at a bit of a crossroads. Detroit, of course, has been hearing "they're too old to keep doing this much longer" forever. But were it not for what even the staunchest of statsphobic old-timers would call a lucky, impossible-to-replicate home winning streak, it's difficult to get excited about the team's prospects going forward. No one on the Wings broke 70 points, and that's the first time since 2003-04 that such a thing has happened. They only had 17 road wins this season, and didn't win once at Joe Louis Arena in the playoffs. Causes for concern, certainly, made no less worrisome by the prospect of Nicklas Lidstrom hanging them up. [ Related: After first-round elimination, Sharks face uncertain future ] Make no mistake, this is an old team. Second-oldest in the league behind New Jersey, in fact. The number of players in their top-10 for scoring under the age of 30 was just three, and they weren't exactly three guys you see a guy as apparently smart as Ken Holland building a team around: Valtteri Filppula and Jiri Hudler, who played most of the year with Henrik Zetterberg, and Ian White, who took the majority of his shifts with Lidstrom. That's not to say they're not good players in their own right (well, White isn't), but they are complementary players, and guys like Zetterberg would still succeed regardless of who played with them. They also have few particularly tantalizing prospects (the result of a decade or so of drafting pretty poorly) and Lidstrom, with his career very obviously on its last legs, simply cannot be the rough-and-ready warhorse at both ends of the ice he has been in the past, and the prospect of Niklas Kronwall playing any more minutes than he already does has to be concerning to anyone who watched this Nashville series. [ Related: Preds make Stanley Cup statement by eliminating Red Wings ] Now, none of this is to say that the Wings didn't carry long stretches of their playoff games, and outshoot Nashville significantly in three of the five. They did. But as the series wore on, they also often appeared baffled with how to handle the looks a line led by Martin Erat was giving them, and didn't do a very good job of silencing anyone over the course of five games. ( Coming Up : It's Claude Giroux's world, we just live in it; the end of the Pens; Marty Brodeur is old; Mike Cammalleri gets his sweater; hoping for a Nicklas Lidstrom retirement; the Islanders probably aren't Brooklyn bound; the Coyotes and Blackhawks play a lot of overtime games; Cam Ward is charitable; the Rangers can't score; Tyler Seguin is pretty good; Emerson Etem ignites; and a trade to get Roberto Luongo to Tampa Bay.)