Newsmakers in the NHL: During the regular season it's our daily look at the previous night's action. During the offseason, it's our link dump that looks at some of the storylines and moves taking place around the league three times per week. Have a tip or something you want linked? Send it in to nhlfanhouse@gmail.com.
On Thursday, the Anaheim Ducks added some bulk to their lineup by acquiring 6-foot-5, 254-pound winger Evgeny Artyukhin from the Tampa Bay Lightning for forward Drew Miller and a third-round pick. Artyukhin, 26, played in 73 games with Tampa Bay this past season, registering six goals to go with 10 assists and 151 penalty minutes. One of the biggest players in the NHL and capable of dropping the gloves, Artyukhin will add even more toughness to an already big, and physical, Ducks lineup.
After watching his team get thumped on its home ice, 6-1 on Sunday afternoon, Chicago Blackhawks head coach Joel Quenneville sounded off in the postgame press conference, berating the officiating crew of Marc Joannette and Kevin Pollock for issuing Matt Walker a roughing penalty at the end of the first period, leading to Detroit's third goal of the game.
Quenneville called it the worst call in the history of sports, and essentially used it as an excuse for his team not showing up in the second and third periods. As punishment for his rant, the NHL announced on Monday that Quenneville will be fined $10,000.
After some late-game fisticuffs on Tuesday, the Detroit Red Wings and Anaheim Ducks are set to take part in a one-and-done Game 7 at Joe Louis Arena, in a contest that has to be more entertaining -- from a competitive standpoint -- than what we saw on Wednesday in Washington. Depending on who you ask, the line brawl in the closing minutes of Game 6 could be a rallying cry for the Red Wings.
Anaheim vs. Detroit, 7 PM ET | series tied, 3-3 Carolina vs. Boston, 8 PM ET | Game 7 Preview | Where on TV?
WASHINGTON -- Just a couple of minutes into the second period of Wednesday night's big hockey game at the raucous arena here nicknamed The Phone Booth, let's just say the line went dead. All of a sudden, you could barely hear a thing, except for that scraping sound that metal blades make sliding across the ice.
At this particular point, they were the skates laced to the feet -- the clay feet, as it turns out -- of Simeon Varlamov, the young goalie for the hometown Capitals. He was skating to the swinging door of his team's bench, head down, and would not come back. A fourth puck had just screamed past him and into the back of the net
WASHINGTON -- After watching the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Washington Capitals play six of the most tightly-contested playoff games in recent memory, just about every last one of the 18,277 fans who showed up at Verizon Center on Wednesday night were probably expecting yet another nail-biter between two teams that couldn't be more evenly matched.
What they got instead was a 6-2 blowout win by Pittsburgh.
How did it happen? Simply put, the Penguins put their foot on the gas early and didn't let up.
For hockey fans, there is nothing more exciting than a Game 7 in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Unless, of course, you happen to have a rooting interest in one of the teams taking part, in which case, it goes from being exciting to being the most aggravating, nerve-wracking, hand-eating two-and-a-half hours in sports ... and that's if it ends in regulation. Let's not even think about the insanity that is sudden death overtime.
On Wednesday, the Penguins and Capitals will be taking part in what will surely be one of the most anticipated Game 7s in recent history, as they close out what has been a series for the ages. Somebody is moving on, and somebody is going home.
As if the second round series between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals couldn't get any more entertaining than it had been through the first five games, it did on Monday night. There were three lead changes, shots off the iron, goals off the most unlikely of sticks and, of course, overtime.
After the dust settled on a wild game that saw both teams go through the motions numerous times thanks to playing four games in six nights, it would be Washington's David Steckel who sent the Mellon Arena crowd home unhappy and this series to a seventh game on Wednesday night.
WASHINGTON -- When Capitals owner Ted Leonsis learned that Game 5 of his team's second-round Stanley Cup playoff series against Pittsburgh would have to be played 24 hours after Game 4 in Pittsburgh because of a Yanni concert scheduled at the Penguins' arena, he complained that the back-to-back games were bad for the league, bad for the teams and bad for the fans.
Personally, I was more concerned to learn that there were enough fans of the Greek crooner to fill a major sports arena. But I digress. Leonsis was right. Yanni shouldn't have been allowed to have any influence on one of our major sport's postseasons, any more than he does on music in this country.
Who could blame him? Washington, a team that got two goals from the best player in the world, Alex Ovechkin, had played its most complete game of the series, yet still couldn't find a way to win.
In the end, this game turned on two sequences on either end of the ice in the overtime period. The first came early in the period when Washington center Dave Steckel, one of his team's more consistent performers, couldn't put the puck into an open net early. The second came just a few minutes later, as an Evgeni Malkin pass intended for Sidney Crosby deflected off the stick of sprawling Capitals defenseman Tom Poti and through the legs of a stunned Simeon Varlamov.
After reports surfaced this morning that Penguins defenseman Sergei Gonchar would be a game-time decision for Saturday's game 5 in Washington, TSN's Darren Dreger is reporting that the veteran rearguard will miss several weeks, perhaps even the remainder of the season with "an apparent knee injury."
Also in the report is word that the NHL will not suspend Alex Ovechkin for dishing out the hit that resulted in Gonchar's injury. That news isn't exactly surprising, but it's still not sitting well with Gonchar's agent, JP Barry.
Newsmakers in the NHL: During the regular season it's our daily look at the previous night's action. During the offseason, it's our link dump that looks at some of the storylines and moves taking place around the league three times per week. Have a tip or something you want linked? Send it in to nhlfanhouse@gmail.com.
After watching his team get thumped on its home ice, 6-1 on Sunday afternoon, Chicago Blackhawks head coach 
WASHINGTON -- Just a couple of minutes into the second period of Wednesday night's big hockey game at the raucous arena here nicknamed The Phone Booth, let's just say the line went dead. All of a sudden, you could barely hear a thing, except for that scraping sound that metal blades make sliding across the ice.
As if the second round series between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals couldn't get any more entertaining than it had been through the first five games, it did on Monday night. There were three lead changes, shots off the iron, goals off the most unlikely of sticks and, of course, overtime. 
Just a few minutes ago as he sat at a podium following his team's 
After reports surfaced this morning that Penguins defenseman 
