Just a few things that caught my eye:
- I love the Winnipeg white out. It could be the one of the last ones we see in the desert particularly after the first 2:41. Ouch.
- He shoots! He scores (finally). That was Nathan Horton's first playoff goal since 2003. With the Oshawa Generals.
- Where have you been all my life? Marc-Andre Gragnani leads the Sabres in postseason scoring with four points in three games. I had no idea he was the top-scoring defender in the AHL this season...
- Thinking about the Winnipeg white out -- every attendee received a free t-shirt on their seat. And even if they got those shirts for $5 each, that's almost $100,000 in swag and for a crowd that was about 1/3 Detroit fans. Nice parting gift from the other NHL owners. After all, they're picking up the tab for the league to run that squad...
- When will the head shots stop? Chris Kunitz's elbow to the back of the head of Simon Gagne is as "blind side" as they come.
- Joining Alex Kovalev on the "great when I decide to be" list are Andrei Kostitsyn and Nikolai Zherdev. For now.
- And I had actually believed the rhetoric that Steve Downie had grown up. Then he leaves his feet behind the net in an attempted decapitation. I don't care that you've had a hard life. Get some therapy. Control your anger. Manage your impulses. Now.
- Darren Helm is a one-man wrecking machine. I used to think he'd some day be as good as Kris Draper; he's already way better and he's just 24.
- Shane Doan (and his brother Brook) eluded the Mantracker's Terry Grant on Sunday's season six debut of the OLN series Sunday. He'll have time for even more interesting off-season pursuits very, very soon.
- Where are you Sergei Bobrovsky? Brian Boucher is now the starter in Philly with -- you guessed it -- Michael Leighton as the back-up. The Philly goalie carousel continues. At least the Flyers had the coconuts to make the move. Are you listening, Phoenix??? Ilya Bryzgalov has no compete. None.
- The Claude Julien freak-out behind the bench was a little more subdued Monday night. He needs to seriously get himself under control back there or the Bruins have no hope. Chaos there is only amplified on the ice.
- So who ultimately gets the girl -- the hard-working, never-stay-can't, blue-collar plugger or the sexy, uber-talented and rich stud? Looks like the former has the advantage in the Pens-Bolts series. Arron Asham already has two goals this postseason while Steven Stamkos has none. Plumbers are hot, I guess.
- Best line of the night? Mike Milbury waved a white Kleenex between after the first period of the late game in tribute to Don Cherry, who had taken a jab at the former during the early game for wearing surgical gloves when he did a story on the famous Detroit octopii. Cherry had done a similar story but had picked up the octopus bare-handed and made certain the audience knew the difference was because Milbury was American and Cherry was Canadian. Milbury wins, though -- his retort was classic.. Cherry obviously knows his way around a bare hand on a tentacle. He's probably been doing since he was a teenager... I thought Glen Healy was going to fall off his stool.