FanHouse HalGill

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 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.

The Pittsburgh Penguins defense has been crushed by injuries through the first three months of the season, as they've been without their top two defenders -- and power play quarterbacks -- in Sergei Gonchar and Ryan Whitney. A couple of weeks ago, they also lost Hal Gill to a shoulder injury, meaning the Penguins have been skating the past three weeks without their top three defenders from last season's playoff run.

Factor in the month that No. 1 goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury missed with a groin injury, and the various other injuries suffered by Tyler Kennedy, Mike Zigomanis and Max Talbot throughout season, and, well, it's been crazy. Actually, it's not that different from a year ago.

Good news, however, as Whitney will be making his return to the lineup tonight when the Penguins take on Tampa Bay at Mellon Arena. Whitney's been out all season after undergoing foot surgery over the summer.

Whitney certainly has his critics among Penguins fans -- myself included, sometimes -- he's still going to be a welcome addition to the lineup with his puck-moving skills, which will hopefully help what has been a mind-numbingly inconsistent power play unit.

When the Penguins acquired Hal Gill at last season's trade deadline, I wasn't really a big fan when I heard about the deal. My initial thoughts on Gill were that he was a lumbering oaf that didn't fit into the "new NHL," and, well, because he was constantly the whipping boy for Maple Leafs fans.

As it turns out, one man's trash is another man's treasure, as Gill was fantastic for the Penguins through the playoffs, and has been a rock on the penalty kill.

He left Saturday's game against Ottawa with an injury, and sat out the Penguins' 4-3 loss to Buffalo last night. As it turns out, he's going to miss the next two to four weeks with a shoulder injury, joining the already long list of injured Penguins players.

Pittsburgh has been without its top two defenseman, Sergei Gonchar and Ryan Whitney, all season, while the Penguins also lost Phillipe Boucher shortly after acquiring him from Dallas. Starting goalie Marc-Andre Fleury has missed the past three weeks with a groin injury, while forward Tyler Kennedy is also out with a sprained knee.

Ben Lovejoy was called up from Wilkes-Barre to replace Gill in the lineup, and played 10:37, blocking one shot, in last night's loss.

Tuesday night's game against Edmonton is probably one that Columbus goalie Pascal Leclaire would like to permanently erase from his memory, seeing as how it's probably the worst game he's ever played in the NHL. Leclaire gave up seven goals on just 19 shots, as the Oilers rolled to a 7-2 victory, snapping a three-game losing streak.

Columbus finished with a commanding edge in the shots department, firing 39 shots at Dwayne Roloson -- he stopped 37 of them -- and still managed to skate away losing by five goals.

Seven different players scored for Edmonton, including Dustin Penner, who returned to the ice after being banished to the press box for the past two games for, well, not being fit enough to help the club. Penner was also a factor on Edmonton's first goal, as he parked his massive frame in front of Leclaire, providing a screen on Sheldon Souray's blast from the point. Andrew Cogliano, Tom Gilbert, Marc-Antoine Pouliot, Shawn Horcoff and Lubomir Visnovsky also scored for the Oilers.

Kristian Huselius and Rick Nash scored the only goals for the Blue Jackets.

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This is the series most likely to be referred to as "the closest series in the second round." Both the Pens and Rangers finished the regular season on fire, both of them breezed through the first round, and they've already played each other eight times this year. I think it's fair to say that neither team will find this match-up as easy as their first rounder.

And we've got subplots, too! In addition to being division rivals, we've got Jaromir Jagr playing against Pittsburgh in what might be his last season and thus, last chance to take a team of his own to a cup. The Rangers took 5 of the eight regular season games from the Pens this year, but two of their wins went to overtime. This one really breaks down to the classic offense vs. defense battle.