FanHouse Alex Kovalev

Exactly 1,230 regular season games have been played. We're down to the best eight teams in each conference. The Stanley Cup Playoffs begin Wednesday night with four series lid-lifters.

In the Eastern Conference, the Boston Bruins rallied from a bit of a swoon around the All-Star Break to easily win the top seed. Even if you subscribe to the idea of Boston being favored because of their strong overall record, there are no sure things in these here playoffs. Who will threaten to knock the Bruins off their pedestal?

As we've noted before, what Russian hockey players say to the Russian press oftentimes is far more revealing than the story told by their North American counterparts. Once again, we're privy to an English translation of an interview between Alex Ovechkin and Pavel Lysenkov of Sovetsky Sport. The topic: last night's incredible goal that everyone in the NHL can't stop talking about.

Thanks once again to Sovetsky's Washington correspondent, Dmitry Chesnokov, for sharing his translation. The full Q&A comes after the jump.

Every Monday morning The Ice Sheet will take a close look at everything that's happened in the NHL since Friday night at 5:00 PM -- or if need be, anything else the author wants to bleat about. To read them all, click here.

When all was said and done following the Eastern Conference's 12-11 overtime victory in the 47th NHL All-Star Game, it was Montreal's Alex Kovalev -- a player who probably didn't deserve to be on the ice given his play this season -- who walked away with a brand new Honda and the game's award for the Most Valuable Player. But in the aftermath of the weekend's festivities, there was little doubt that Washington Capitals winger Alex Ovechkin was the biggest winner.

Earlier on Friday, we brought you the absurd report that Gary Bettman, in his own ridiculous way, was attempting to save the NHL All-Star game by threatening to suspend players for declining to take part in the festivities. Apparently, Bettman means business as the league has decided to suspend Detroit's Pavel Datsyuk and Nicklas Lidstrom for the Red Wings game against Columbus on January 27.

Ridiculous. Almost as ridiculous as Bud Selig's decision to use the Major League Baseball All-Star game to decide home field advantage in the World Series. It's an exhibition game, people.

The NHL All-Star game just became a little more unwatchable, as Penguins superstar Sidney Crosby has withdrawn himself from the weekend's festivities. He will be replaced by Tampa Bay Lightning forward Martin St. Louis.

Crosby, currently second in the league in scoring, has been bothered by a knee injury -- and he took a shot off his hand against Carolina on Tuesday night, just for good measure -- the past couple of weeks, and as recently as Wedneday was going to try and tough it out for the NHL's premier exhibition game. Sanity, it would seem, has prevailed, as Crosby will take full advantage of an extended break to rest his injuries. This should please the Penguins, even if it makes Gary Bettman gently sob into his pillow.

Here's a French-language clip from RDS circa 2005 or so where they take a peek inside a 1970s-themed Halloween party attended by several members of the Montreal Canadiens. Just be prepared for Saku Koivu in drag, ok? And because the lighting is so poor, I can't make out exactly what was going on with Sheldon Souray, but part of me doesn't want to know.