FanHouse Tuomo Ruutu

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 Southeast Division.

The Southeast is probably going to be the most boring division in hockey this offseason. Three of the teams don't have the financial capability to make the sort of splash they need, and the other two were good enough to mostly maintain the status quo.

Still, we've got two top-5 draft picks to look forward to, as well as the ongoing sagas surrounding the stars for both Florida franchises.

After suffering a "lower body injury" in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference final, Erik Cole's status for Game 2 has been up in the air during this painfully long two-day break. Cole was injured during Monday's game when he was on the receiving end of a Matt Cooke hit that included knee-on-knee contact.

According to Adam Harris of WRAL, Cole participated in Thursday's morning skate, and it appears he will be available for the Hurricanes when they hit the ice for Game 2. The news doesn't sound quite as promising for his teammate, Tuomo Ruutu.

After asking where the bitterness was in the Penguins-Hurricanes series, it took us all of one game to potentially find some. Late in the third period of Pittsburgh's 3-2 win on Monday night, Penguins forward Matt Cooke and Hurricanes forward Erik Cole were involved in a knee-on-knee collision that resulted in Cole leaving the game and not returning. The Hurricanes, as one would expect, weren't all that happy with the play.

On Wednesday, the NHL announced there will be no punishment for Cooke in the form of a suspension, while Dave Molinari of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette reports there is no word yet on whether or not he will be issued a fine.

In a set of first round playoff series that look, at least on paper, to be more competitive than usual, the most hard-fought battle might be the one between the Devils and the Hurricanes. The teams entered the postseason at opposite ends of the spectrum -- the Devils waded through March like they were wearing cement boots, while the Hurricanes, despite losing their last two of the season, finished remarkably hot.

Tom Gulitti is the Devils beat writer for the Bergen Record and, as the voice of Fire & Ice, one of the best beat bloggers in the league. He took some time out to speak with FanHouse about the Devils and their first-round matchup.

Exactly 1,230 regular season games have been played. We're down to the best eight teams in each conference. The Stanley Cup Playoffs begin Wednesday night with four series lid-lifters.

In the Eastern Conference, the Boston Bruins rallied from a bit of a swoon around the All-Star Break to easily win the top seed. Even if you subscribe to the idea of Boston being favored because of their strong overall record, there are no sure things in these here playoffs. Who will threaten to knock the Bruins off their pedestal?

The New York Islanders, playing without Trent Hunter, Kyle Okposo, Dean McAmmond, and Andy Hilbert were simply in over their heads on Tuesday night against the runaway locomotive that is the Carolina Hurricanes, falling 9-0. Amazingly, the score isn't the most incredible series of numbers to come out of this game.

Honestly, we haven't seen a hockey game this one-sided since the Slovakia Women's National Team annihilated Bulgaria, 82-0, earlier this year. OK, maybe it wasn't quite that bad.

Blackhawks 3, Hurricanes 2: The Carolina Hurricanes had their four-game winning streak snapped thanks to a 3-2 shootout loss in Chicago, though they still managed to gain an important point thanks to Tuomo Ruutu's game-tying goal with just 27 seconds to play in regulation, sending the game to overtime.

With the Hurricanes trailing, 2-1, Chicago's Jonathan Toews was called for hooking Carolina's Chad LaRose late in the third period. Just 36 seconds later, Ruutu beat Cristobal Huet for his 21st goal of the season.

I don't know what the Thrashers give-a-crap level was at, but the Penguins certainly kicked their give-a-crap level up a few notches as they snapped a five-game losing streak with a 3-1 win over Atlanta. Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 28-of-29 shots, while Petr Sykora scored a pair of goals in the win.

Not only did Pittsburgh ends its losing streak, it also ended an 0-for-32 power play drought by going 2-for-6 with the man advantage.

It was a costly win of sorts for the Penguins, as Ruslan Fedotenko and Pascal Dupuis left the game with injuries and did not return. Both players had been playing, perhaps, their best hockey of the season in recent weeks.

Fedotenko appeared to suffer a hand injury when he punched out Colby Armstrong in the first period. It was perhaps the shortest fight of the season, as it consisted of one Fedotenko punch to the jaw, and Armstrong attempting to throw one when both players were on the ice. Fedotenko could be seen shaking his hand as he went to the penalty box, and then headed directly to the locker room and did not return.

Alex Goligoski was again a healthy scratch, as head coach Michel Therrien used the same lineup he used in New York the night before, with much better results. Evgeni Malkin recorded three assists, while Sidney Crosby scored his 16th goal of the season.

Ilya Kovalchuk scored the lone goal for Atlanta late in the third period, ending Fleury's shutout bid.

Of all the big offseason moves over the summer, Boston's signing of Blake Wheeler is looking to be like quite a steal. Wheeler, if you'll recall, was a former first-round pick of the Phoenix Coyotes (fifth overall) and, well, it didn't exactly work out as he never signed with Phoenix, instead electing to become a free agent this summer. In early July, he inked a deal with the Bruins, made the roster out of camp, and thus far has been quite a contributor to the best team in the Eastern Conference.

The 22-year old forward scored a pair of goals in Sunday's 6-3 win in St. Louis, both of which came in the games first five minutes. Through Boston's first 32 games, the rookie has 11 goals and nine assists, placing him fifth among NHL rookies in points, five behind Columbus' Derick Brassard, who, by the way, could miss the remainder of the season due to a shoulder injury.

Anyway, back to the Bruins, they've now won five in a row, and 10 of their past 11, while scoring a boatload of goals in the process. During their current five-game winning streak, for example, the Bruins have lit the lamp 29 times. Granted, those games have been against Atlanta (twice) , Toronto and St. Louis, but, hey, 29 goals in five games is still 29 goals in five games.