FanHouse JustinPogge

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

Brian Burke begins his rebuild of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Dany Heatley wants out of Ottawa and just what is Boston going to do with Phil Kessel and a limited amount of salary cap space?

One of the most embarrassing things any hockey player can do is whiff on a shootout attempt. One of the cleverest things one can do is what Columbus' Jason Williams did against the Maple Leafs last night. Williams acted as if he had whiffed on a shootout attempt against netminder Justin Pogge. As you can see in the video, Pogge followed Williams' stick unaware of what was going on and the puck slipped through his legs for a goal. It seemed like some slight of hand you might expect from a magician, not a hockey player.

Three of the teams fighting for the final playoff spots in the Eastern Conference were in action on Tuesday night, and thanks to wins by Buffalo and Florida, and Carolina's loss to Boston, there is a major pileup at the bottom of the playoff picture.

Buffalo burned rookie netminder Justin Pogge for three goals on nine shots in the first period, while the Sabres pulled out a 4-1 win in Toronto. Meanwhile, in Miami, the Panthers cooled off New Jersey with a 4-0 win thanks to Tomas Vokoun's 36-save shutout.

Penguins 4, Lightning 3: I feel as if I've said this before, but this could be the game that turns the Penguins season around. It has to be. If it doesn't spark something with this group, nothing will.

Trailing 3-0 in the third period, Evgeni Malkin transformed himself into a one-man wrecking crew as he scored a pair of goals -- including the game-winner in overtime -- and assisted on another in Pittsburgh's 4-3 overtime win against Tampa Bay. After Malkin scored the Penguins first goal of the night, Mark Eaton and Petr Sykora scored a pair of goals in the final six minutes of regulation to send the game to overtime.

Sykora's goal came on the power play after Gary Roberts -- who became a cult hero of sorts during his year-and-a-half stay in the 'Burgh -- was suckered into a foolish penalty by Matt Cooke.

The Bruins and Capitals helped kick off the second half of the NHL season on Tuesday, and the top two teams in the Eastern Conference did not disappoint in Boston's 3-2 overtime win.

While it was an exciting game for much of the night, the best action came in the overtime period as goaltenders Tim Thomas and Jose Theodore exchanged incredible saves at each end of the ice. Following a Niklas Backstrom hooking penalty, David Krejci sent a pass through the slot only to have it bounce off Shaone Morrison's skate and find the back of the net behind Theodore for the game-winner.

Tonight in Minnesota, Toronto Maple Leafs rookie goalie Justin Pogge got his second start in the NHL, and it was certainly a night to forget for the 22-year old as he yielded all six goals in a 6-1 defeat at the hands of the Minnesota Wild. After the game, Toronto head coach Ron Wilson, who upset some locals at the beginning of the season when he said publicly that this Leafs team wouldn't win the Stanley Cup, playfully poked the press gaggle in Toronto again with his postgame comments about how Pogge would handle tonight's loss. Enjoy.