FanHouse JohanHedberg

Thanks to the events of Tuesday night, as the Capitals and Hurricanes advanced in their game 7 victories, the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals will be taking part in a playoff series that could very well consume us all. We've seen playoff series' get hyped before, but nothing will come close to the tidal wave of Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin coverage that is about take the NHL by storm. Consider yourselves warned.

Before we look ahead to the madness, let's take a few minutes and remember the glory days of one of the best playoff rivalries the 1990's ever produced.

Evgeni Malkin was listed as questionable for Tuesday's game with Atlanta because he had been a little under the weather the past couple of days. You would have never known it watching him skate in Pittsburgh's 6-2 win, while Thrashers goalie Johan Hedberg was the only one looking like he was about to hurl into his goalie mark by the end of the night.

Thanks to his five-point performance on Tuesday, Malkin became the first player in the NHL to hit the 100-point plateau this year, reaching the century mark for the second consecutive season.

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 Boston Bruins won their ninth straight game on Tuesday night, picking up a 5-2 victory in Pittsburgh. Aside from winning nine in a row, the Bruins finish the month of December with a 12-1 record, while extending their lead in the Eastern Conference to nine points over the No. 2 team, the New York Rangers Washington Capitals.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the ice, the month of December can't end soon enough for the Penguins, as they went 5-9 for the month, including four consecutive losses on home ice. Even worse, Pittsburgh has posted a 2-7 record in its past nine games at Mellon Arena. That's not good. Look, I realize the Penguins have been slow starters the past two seasons before kicking it in gear in February and March, but can you keep relying on that? Might make it a little easier on yourself to actually win some games in October, November and December because, you know, those games count too.

As for this game, Boston received a stellar effort in net from Tim Thomas as he turned aside 32-of-34 shots, while Phil Kessel, Dennis Wideman, Marc Savard, Zdeno Chara and Martin St. Pierre provided the offense. The Bruins went 2-for-8 on the power play, and scored a shorthanded goal on a 3-on-1 break in the third period, pretty much taking Pittsburgh out of the game. I think that speaks volumes about the Penguins power play when they allowed a 3-on-1 rush with the man advantage.

Highlight of the night for Pittsburgh was Tim Wallace, a recent callup from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, who squared off against Milan Lucic and actually held his own for a while, before getting dropped by Lucic. The two teams meet again on Thursday, in Boston.

With the Hurricanes trailing 4-3 late in the game on Friday night, Carolina's Eric Staal walked out from the corner and ripped a shot behind Atlanta's Johan Hedberg, tying the game. It's an impressive shot from a nearly impossible angle, sure, but what in the world was Hedberg doing allowing that to beat him over his shoulder on the short side like that?

Awesome goal, or awful goaltending?

It was Staal's second goal of the period, and just over a minute later he would add his third, giving the Hurricanes a 5-4 win in Atlanta.

Playing in his first game against his former team, St. Louis goalie Chris Mason was absolutely sensational on Tuesday, stopping 47 shots in regulation and overtime, not to mention two additional shots in a shootout, as a depleted Blues team walked out of Nashville with a 1-0 shootout win.

David Perron and Brad Boyes scored for St. Louis in the shootout, while Rich Peverley and Ville Koistinen came up short for the Predators.

The story of the night was Mason, who was traded by Nashville on June 20, in exchange for a fourth-round pick. The 32-year old goalie was a brick wall in net, as Nashville held a commanding 47-17 edge in the shots department. His best performance of the evening had to be the overtime period, as he turned aside nine shots as Nashville peppered him with shots on a 4-on-3 man advantage, following a questionable penalty call on Blues defenseman Barret Jackman.

The Blues have now picked up points in four consecutive games, after losing eight of their previous nine.

Every week there are minor moves and stories around the National Hockey League that tend to fall through the cracks. Consider this our weekly roundup of those stories from the previous week, all wrapped up in one neat little package.

A little over a week ago the NHL released its All-Star ballots for this year's exhibition, which takes place in Montreal on January 25. After a quick look at the names on this year's ticket, fans were, predictably, a little cheesed with some of the omissions from the list. And for good reason.

Take for example Boston Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas, who actually played in the All-Star game a year ago. Currently, he's pacing all NHL Goalies with a .944 save percentage, and, naturally, he's not on the ballot. Yet, Penguins defenseman Sergei Gonchar, who hasn't played a game all season, and likely won't play one until March, is on the ballot. That probably makes up for him not being on the ballot a year ago, when, you know, he was playing.

Having said that, the folks over at Battle of California have taken it upon themselves to start their own campaign for San Jose winger Devin Setoguchi. The 21-year old forward currently has nine goals and 17 points for the Sharks (second on the team) who are off to a dominating 13-3-1 start.

Did you have an Obama 08 or McCain Country First sticker on your car? It's time to throw those out because here's the official start of Vote Setoguchi 09. It's going to have to be a write-in vote, but thanks to the magic of the inter-tubes and text messaging, we can manipulate, erm, boost the results to give us all the Chomp We Need.

So, get out there and vote ... or something.

The debate is growing over an incident that happened on Tuesday night in a shootout between Atlanta and Toronto. Mats Sundin was livid after the Thrashers' win, claiming that Atlanta goalie Johan Hedberg slid out and tripped him. Check out the 15-second mark of the video below for the play in question:



If the referee determined that Hedberg tripped Sundin, what would the penalty have been? I imagine the rules for the shootout are the same as they are for a legitimately earned penalty shot. The NHL Rule Book states that on any foul committed by a goalie in the penalty shot, "the Referee shall allow the shot to be taken and if the shot fails, he shall permit the penalty shot to be taken over again." So, in theory, Sundin gets a do-over here.

But the referee didn't see a trip and didn't call a penalty, and you know what? I agree with him, even if he ignored a blatant foul. Goalies have been treated like garbage by this goal-happy league under its post-lockout rules changes, from that stupid trapezoid to having the winner of a game be determined with a glorified skills competition. So I say give the goalie some leeway and let him play under Thunderdome rules in the shootout -- tripping, mugging, maiming, all of it. It'll make for some great SportsCenter highlights, which is why we have a shootout in the first place, isn't it? Or maybe we just give him back his defenseman and end the game with two teams, you know, playing hockey. Novel concept, I know...