FanHouse DaveBolland

Dale Tallon made a tremendous blunder this offseason when the qualifying offers for Cam Barker, Kris Versteeg and the team's other restricted free agents didn't get sent out in time. Tallon admitted it was his responsibility, admitted he screwed up, and in the end, worked out contract extensions with the key players (Barker, Versteeg), assuring that they wouldn't hit the open market as unrestricted free agents, free to sign with the highest bidder with no compensation coming back to Chicago.

In the end, it appears that blunder cost him his job, as reports out of Chicago early Tuesday morning indicated that Tallon was removed from his position, and replaced by Stan Bowman.

Winning on the road is so very important in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Chicago Blackhawks seemed to be a good candidate for road success, being that they set a franchise record for it in the regular season.

That performance has indeed carried over. Chicago improved to 3-3 in road games during this postseason, and 2-1 in this series, as they bested Vancouver 4-2 Saturday night at GM Place.

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After blowing a three-goal lead in Game 1 of their Western Conference semifinal series Thursday, Vancouver was able to stage a late rally and win the game. Trying to follow a similar formula Saturday night in Game 2, the Canucks ran into a buzzsaw. Vancouver took a 2-0 lead in the first period, had their home crowd in a frenzy, and proceeded to completely fall apart.

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When you watch the Vancouver Canucks, you have to be impressed with their ability to take over a game they're hardly dominant in. Sometimes, it just works that way for you.

If you're a Canuck fan, you ride it as long as you can. The opportunistic Canucks started right where they left off after their sweep of St. Louis, taking a big lead through two periods while being outshot. They then proceeded to blow the lead, and needed a late Sami Salo goal to beat Chicago 5-3.

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Have you ever heard an announcer make some cliche reference to the two-goal lead being the hardest to protect? Never made much sense to me, seeing as how a two-goal lead is always better than a one-goal lead.

The Penguins, however, seem determined to prove the two-goal lead is the hardest to protect, as they've developed a troubling habit of coughing them up late in games. On Saturday, Pittsburgh entered the third period of its game against Ottawa with a 3-1 lead, only to watch it slip away as the Senators stormed back for a 4-3 shootout win.

Rangers 5, Capitals 4: Thanks to his two-goal effort on Wednesday night, Mike Green has now scored in seven straight games which ties an NHL record for consecutive games with a goal by a defenseman. During the current streak Green has tallied nine goals and seven assists. He's simply on a different planet right now.

As for the game itself, despite Green's efforts, the Capitals dropped a 5-4 shootout decision to the Rangers. Ryan Callahan scored his 13th goal of the season in regulation for New York, and then added the game-winner in the fourth-round of the shootout.

In the midst of a playoff race in the Western Conference, the Edmonton Oilers have been struggling. They are just 3-5-1 in their last nine games, and they've slipped out of the top eight in the conference. Well, at least for now. The standings are changing pretty much every day.

The news they got Monday won't help them much. Defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky, a key player both in five-on-five play and on special teams, will miss the remainder of the season with a shoulder injury.

Not one of Ilya Bryzgalov's best performances for Phoenix, as the Chicago Blackhawks lit him up seven times on 28 shots, as the Coyotes lost a laugher, 7-1. Chicago received a pair of goals from Ben Eager, while also getting tallies from Dave Bolland, Jonathan Toews, Patrick Sharp, Dustin Byfuglien, and Andrew ladd in the win.

Ladd also picked up three assists in the win, earning himself No. 1 start honors with his four point effort. The four points, by the way, were a career-best for the 22-year old forward.

With the Coyotes trailing 7-0 in the second period, Envir Lisin at least got them on the board with his fifth goal of the season, which was the shot they could sneak behind Chicago goalie Cristobal Huet, who stopped 20 shots in the win.

For the first time in ten games, Petr Prucha was an active member of the New York Rangers. After being a healthy scratch in every game since early November, the Rangers decided to activate Prucha for their game against Pittsburgh, and the 26-year old forward not only skated, but scored a game-tying goal late in the third period of New York's 3-2 shootout win.

Early on, I was thinking that -- and this is all just speculation on my part, it's probably 110% opposite of the reality -- maybe the Rangers decided to dress Prucha for this game to possibly showcase him to the Penguins, who are in need of young wingers. Prucha is in desperate need of a change of scenery, and as the folks over at Penguins blog, The Confluence, pointed out this week, wingers for Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin have been a revolving door of, well -- it's been a revolving door. Let's just leave it at that. Not that Prucha, an enigma if there ever was one, would instantly solve that, but, hey, I'm just speculating here.

Anyway, Prucha jammed home a rebound off the boards behind the net with five minutes to play in the third period, while the Rangers smoked Penguins goalie Dany Sabourin on all three shootout attempts to pick up the extra point.