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In the NFL, the motto is 'any given Sunday,' and it holds true. As the Miami Dolphins proved this year, you can go worst-to-first in one offseason.

In the NHL, it takes a bit longer than that to change your social standing, but how long it takes varies for every team. The Detroit Red Wings and the New York Islanders are two such instances, as they have been on opposite ends of the spectrum for the better part of two decades now. To be fair, there is some parity; the league does have 24 of its 30 teams within five points of a playoff spot at the current moment. Not to mention the free-for-all that was last season's playoff push.

Still, franchises in the NHL rise and fall over longer periods of time, while, in the NFL, fortunes seem to change from year to year.

The following video is from the always funny Onion News Network. It's a dream of mine to figure out how these guys come up with such consistently hilarious stuff. It's pretty awesome, as I'm sure you know. Now this video isn't exactly pro-hockey. It's about Alex Ovechkin getting drafted to play professional sports so it's anything but. Sometimes we have to laugh at ourselves. If we can't, then we're just uptight and annoying to be friends with. The end of the video tries to make up for all the hockey bashing as well, as the reporter and commentator show that they know nothing about hockey or even what Ovechkin looks like. It's all in jest, so don't fry me over this one folks. Deal?



h/t Covered in Oil

It's time to enter the ring, the steel cage, the fire pit of doom -- whatever you want to call it -- or maybe a simple hockey rink could work, too. No matter how you want to look at it, this is do or die weekend for the 12 teams that are still playing hockey in the conference quarterfinals. Six of them have a chance to close out their series and, as you might expect, six are fighting for their playoff lives. The Rangers and Penguins, like me and you, are watching this weekend comfortably from their couches. Those two teams are probably hoping that their future opponents, who ever they may be, are getting the tar beat out of them. Softened up, if you will. Here's a quick look around the league at what is at stake this weekend around the league.

The fate of the entire Western Conference. Right now, the playoff picture out west is very cloudy. No series has concluded yet and as of right now they all have a good shot at going all the way to a seventh game. Each series is currently led by one team by a 3-2 margin. In two of the matchups the lower seed and Game Six road team has a chance to close things out in the sixth meeting. Of course, a bad bounce either way could change things around completely and send the series to a seventh game. Now, imagine all four series end up going the distance ... How awesome would that be??

Last night, the Ottawa Senators became the first team to be eliminated from the playoffs after being dispatched 3-1 by the Pittsburgh Penguins. Tonight, there is only one team on the slate with a chance to join the Sens on the golf course, but for two others their seasons could effectively be over.

The Boston Bruins are the only team that can be officially eliminated tonight, down 3-1 in their best of seven series against the Montreal Canadiens. To further their suffering, the game is taking place in Montreal, a city that is sure hockey mad right now. The Habs have not won a playoff series since prior to the lockout and you can bet their fanbase is going to be hungry for a victory tonight. According to WhoWins.com, the team leading a quarterfinals matchup in the NHL has advanced 95.3% of the time, so things aren't looking good for the Bruins. That being said, Boston is not out of hope just yet. The team up 3-1 has won Game Five 64.1% of the time, which isn't an overwhelming statistic. Things don't look good, but the Bs (who have put up a heck of a fight) aren't cooked yet.

Two other teams are in danger tonight. They're not facing elimination like Boston, but they might as well be. Both the Washington Capitals (not the Crapitals, as Mike Milbury would say) and the Anaheim Ducks are down 2-1 heading into Game Four of their first round series. Both teams are on the road and would be put in a precarious position if they were to lose and go down 3-1, even though they would be going back home for Game Five. You might as well call this moving day for these teams, even though this isn't golf. They better get moving otherwise they'll be sitting on the sidelines with the Senators soon enough.

I'm not finding a whole lot of fight video in my late night wanderings, so I thought I'd share some footage from the past, in this case a classic brawl between the Boston Bruins and the Washington Capitals from November 21, 1998:

This game is so popular, that NESN regularly replays it as part of its "Bruins Classics" program. Because after all, reliving the past is more profitable than actually trying to win in the present. Horribly unfair, I know, but it wouldn't be the NHL Fanhouse if it wasn't!

Thanks to D.C. Sports Chick for the pointer.

Before I went to Tuesday night's Caps-Pens game, I told one of my co-workers that I was planning on talking to Caps fans on what they thought about the team's decision to junk their current uniform style for a retro red, white and blue look that will be familiar to long-time fans of the franchise.

My colleague said that he thought that was a good idea, but that I should probably think about asking them about fighting instead. Realizing he was right, I changed my plans, and once I got to the arena, I asked the Caps PR person, Nate Ewell, to get me five minutes with Donald Brashear after the game.

Needless to say, Brashear wasn't crazy about having to answer anymore questions about fighting. As my friend Rob Visconti said a few days ago, asking Donald Brashear to talk about fighting is a lot like asking the Rolling Stones to play 'Satisfaction' for the eight millionth time. And at the start of the video, it's pretty clear he's not exactly happy with me.
But to Donald's credit, once the questions started, he never hesitated to answer anything that I asked. And as you can see, he had a lot of interesting things to say about how he and other guys who play his role in the league feel that they have to suffer so the superstars can do their jobs. And no matter how you might feel about fighting, Brashear is worth listening to.