FanHouse Hal Gill

Remember Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final when Pittsburgh managed to skate with six men on the ice for about 20 seconds, while none of the on-ice officials noticed it? Well, we had a replay of it on Thursday night in the Montreal vs. Colorado game. Only Montreal played with seven players.

With the Canadiens trailing, 3-2, and desperately trying to tie the score in their home opener, goaltender Carey Price went to the bench in favor of the extra attacker, which coincided with defenseman Hal Gill coming out of the penalty box. Instead of going to the bench, Gill remained on the ice and joined the play. The result? A 7-on-5 power play to close out the game.

Video, of course, after the jump.

The Montreal Canadiens managed to escape Thursday's season opener in Toronto with a 4-3 overtime win -- despite being outshot by a 46-27 margin -- thanks to a game-winning tally from Josh Gorges with 10 seconds to play in the extra period.

While Montreal won the game, it proved to be a very, very costly win as two-time All-Star defenseman Andrei Markov left in the third period after awkwardly colliding with goaltender Carey Price.

Multiple Canadian media outlets, including TSN, Sportsnet and RDS, reported that Markov could miss anywhere between two-to-four months early Friday, and the Canadiens confirmed Friday afternoon that the defenseman will be on the shelf for the next four months after undergoing surgery for a lacerated tendon in his ankle.

Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Ray Shero was kind enough to spend nearly an hour on the phone with FanHouse's Adam Gretz discussing a variety of topics. This is the third of a three-part series. Wednesday's entry: Ray Shero discusses how the 2009-10 Penguins were built through free agency, trades, the draft, and what he expects from the defending Stanley Cup champions.

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The Montreal Canadiens entered the offseason with the always dangerous combination of salary cap space and open roster spots. It didn't take Bob Gainey long to start reconstructing his roster, making the head-scratching trade for Scott Gomez and his gigantic contract on Tuesday, a move that was panned by pretty much every analyst/blogger/and fan outside of New York City.

On Wednesday, when the free agent frenzy officially opened, Gainey continued his roster overhaul, and essentially cornered the market on small, undersized forwards, and reunited Gomez with one of his former teammates from his New Jersey glory days.

It's officially the offseason, meaning the time is right to look into the future. We continue our division-by-division preview of the potential wheeling and dealing with the Atlantic Division.

It will be an interesting summer for the five teams in the Atlantic. Four teams made the playoffs, including the eventual Stanley Cup champion, and the one team that didn't make it -- the New York Islanders -- holds the first pick in Friday's draft, which isn't a bad consolation prize. All around it was a pretty successful season for these five teams.

It's officially the offseason, meaning the time is right to look into the future. We'll be running our division-by-division preview of the offseason beginning later in the week, but we wanted to give the two top dogs their own space. Yesterday we took a look at the Red Wings. Today: the summer outlook for the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Thanks to Max Talbot's two-goal performance in Game 7, along with Marc-Andre Fleury's buzzer-beating save on Nicklas Lidstrom, the Pittsburgh Penguins brought home their third Stanley Cup. General manager Ray Shero now has the task of dealing with 10 unrestricted free agents and finding a way to construct a team that is capable of keeping the Cup in Pittsburgh.

It's the series everybody is talking about, as Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin prepare to hit the ice in a one-on-one, steel cage battle for NHL supremacy. Wait. What's that? There's actually other players involved in this series? We take a look at the series after the jump.

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The Penguins and Flames played a highly entertaining game on Wednesday night, filled with outstanding goaltending, brutal physicality and an unlikely goal from hulking defenseman Hal Gill. It also featured the most ridiculous one-minute stretch of a team trying to score on an empty net in NHL history.

Trailing, 2-0, the Flames pulled goaltender Miikka Kipprusoff with just over a minute to play in regulation, and the Penguins suddenly became allergic to putting shots on goal.

After days of speculation and holding their captain out of two games, the Islanders have finally parted ways with Bill Guerin, sending him to the Pittsburgh Penguins.

In return, they get a fifth round draft pick which turns into a third rounder if the Penguins win a first round playoff series. Long Island, your long nightmare is now over.

The Penguins were busy on Deadline Day last year, acquiring Marian Hossa, Hal Gill and Pascal Dupuis. Today, they've added Guerin and Andy Wozniewski in addition to their acquisition of Chris Kunitz earlier in the week. Yet again, Ray Shero is gearing up for a playoff run and isn't afraid to get some outside help.

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Columbus goalie Steve Mason was perfect for 59 minutes on Friday night in his quest for his seventh shutout of the season. It was that one minute that proved to be the difference, as Travis Zajac and John Madden scored two quick goals to help lead the Devils to a 2-1 win.

Madden's goal, which proved to be the game-winner, came with some controversy as it needed a review from the infamous war room in Toronto. Mason appeared to have the puck covered long enough for a whistle, only to have Madden continue to dig and push the puck in as the net was dislodged. The call on the ice from referee Don Koharski was that it was a goal, and officials in Toronto apparently agreed, much to the chagrin of the fans in Columbus. Naturally, both teams had their own perspective on the events.