Eric Mcerlain Posts

Late in Sunday night's 3-1 Detroit Red Wings victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals, Pittsburgh forward Maxime Talbot helped set off a melee that could have very well wound up costing him and his teammates dearly if NHL disciplinary czar Colin Campbell had followed the letter of the law when it comes to the infamous instigator penalty.

How did it happen? With only 19 seconds left and Pittsburgh pressing to score with an extra attacker, Evgeni Malkin let go with a slapshot from the right wing faceoff circle that was handled pretty easily by Detroit goaile Chris Osgood.

Then, after the whistle had blown, Talbot jabbed at the puck, hitting Osgood in the chest. Whether Osgood was actually hurt or not, he fell to the ice, and his teammates came to his aid. In all the confusion, a clearly agitated Malkin sought out Detroit center Henrik Zetterberg, perhaps to exact some payback for the way he has been shadowing Sidney Crosby throughout the first two games of the series. The video is after the jump.

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Wednesday afternoon, the NHL and the Washington Capitals issued statements in response to allegations made Tuesday night by a man arrested for possession of steroids that he had sold performance-enhancing drugs to members of the Capitals and Washington Nationals.

Late on Tuesday night in Florida, law enforcement authorities announced the arrest of a suburban Tampa couple on multiple counts of possession with intent to distribute illegal steroids. But the news that's going to reverberate around the country, and especially in the nation's capital, is that one of the suspects in the bust is crowing that he's supplied steroids to athletes across a number of professional sports, including to members of the NHL's Washington Capitals and MLB's Washington Nationals.

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Overnight, we got the news that Washington Capitals center Sergei Fedorov had been offered a contract with Metallurg Magnitogorsk of the KHL, and now RDS.ca and Octagon Sports agent Allan Walsh (through his Twitter feed) are reporting that Fedorov's teammate, forward Viktor Kozlov, also an impending free agent, will soon sign a contract with Salavat Ufa of the KHL. Details were not disclosed.

This is not the first report that tagged Kozlov as heading back to Russia. A little less than two weeks ago, Russian-language outlet Sports Daily (translated by Japers' Rink), reported that both Salavat and SKA St. Petersburg were interested in bringing Kozlov back to his homeland.

Kozlov, a veteran of 14 NHL seasons who joined the Capitals as a free agent before the 2007-08 campaign, has spent a good part of his stint in Washington working as a right wing on the team's top line with Alex Ovechkin. In two seasons, he had 29 goals and 66 assists and was +19.

As was relayed late last night by Sean Leahy at Puck Daddy, Russia's Sport Express is reporting that Washington Capitals free agent center Sergei Fedorov won't re-sign with the club, and will instead opt for a two-year deal with the KHL's Metallurg Magnitogorsk for $3.8 million per season.

The report, if accurate -- and that's always a question in situations like these -- would come as something of a disappointment to Washington's fan base, as Fedorov became a local favorite after being imported from Columbus at the trade deadline in 2008.

More or less rescued from obscurity with the Blue Jackets by the deal, Fedorov quickly developed solid relationships in the locker room, especially with his younger Russian teammates, wingers Alex Ovechkin and Alexander Semin. That was in obvious evidence at the 2008 IIHF World Championship when the three played together on a line that dominated the tournament offensively, while leading Russia to a gold medal.

Just a few hours after the league announced its tentative schedule for the Stanley Cup Finals on May 22, it's safe to say a number of hockey fans weren't exactly happy.

Why? Thanks to the demands of television, specifically the requirements of the NHL's broadcast television partner, NBC, the league was looking at a Finals start date of as late as June 5 unless both respective conference finals were decided by four-game sweeps. Once the Blackhawks managed to win Game 3 of the Western Conference finals, that possibility was closed, and the prospect of a lengthy layoff after a lackluster third round had become a certainty.

It must be tough to be a Carolina Hurricanes fan. Consider this for a moment: twice in the last seven years the franchise formerly known as the Hartford Whalers has fought its way to the Stanley Cup Finals -- winning it all in the first year after the lockout in 2006 -- only to miss the playoffs the following two seasons.

In any other market, such a performance would be devastating. But in a non-traditional market like Raleigh, North Carolina, it very well could have been fatal. A Stanley Cup is supposed to cement a team's place in the heart of a community that it calls home, but runs like the team had in 2002 and 2006 were supposed to be performances to build on to fill the build, not memories to fall back on with failure just around the corner.

That a team with such a recent championship on its resume finished 21st overall in attendance this season has to be considered something of an embarrassment.

But here the Hurricanes are again, like the NHL's version of Hailey's comet, just four games from a third trip the Finals in the last six NHL seasons, with only the defending Eastern Conference champions, the Pittsburgh Penguins, in the way. Granted, that's one heck of an obstacle, but it still begs the question: how the heck did it happen?

WASHINGTON -- After watching the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Washington Capitals play six of the most tightly-contested playoff games in recent memory, just about every last one of the 18,277 fans who showed up at Verizon Center on Wednesday night were probably expecting yet another nail-biter between two teams that couldn't be more evenly matched.

What they got instead was a 6-2 blowout win by Pittsburgh.

How did it happen? Simply put, the Penguins put their foot on the gas early and didn't let up.

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WASHINGTON -- Here in Washington what was a hotly anticipated Game 7 has turned into a rout, as the Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the Washington Capitals 6-2. Pittsburgh jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals by Sidney Crosby (on the power play) and Craig Adams only 18 seconds apart during a period where they outshot Washington 18-5.

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As the puck squirted past goalie Simeon Varlamov, giving the Pittsburgh Penguins a 4-3 overtime victory over the Washington Capitals in Game 5 of their second round playoff series on Saturday night, part of me expected to feel crushed. After all, this series marks the eighth time the two teams have met in the postseason, with Pittsburgh taking six of the previous seven meetings. Now, after watching the Caps take the opening two games on home ice, the Penguins have roared back and now hold a 3-2 series lead going into Game 6 tonight back in Pittsburgh.

So why am I not crushed? Simply put, I have passed this way before, and the feeling is all too familiar.