The last goalie to make the cover of EA Sports’ NHL series? John Vanbiesbrouck of the Florida Panthers for NHL 97, of course. Which brings us to the latest update for the NHL 14 fan vote, and the fact that two of the four players remaining in the vote are men with masks: In one half of the bracket, it’s Marty Brodeur of the New Jersey Devils against Pavel Datsyuk of the Detroit Red Wings; on the other half, it’s New York Islanders star John Tavares against Columbus Blue Jackets Vezina favorite Sergei Bobrovsky. Datsyuk barely beat Joffrey Lupul in the quarterfinals. Tavares ousted Wayne Simmonds of the Philadelphia Flyers. Brodeur beat out James van Riemsdyk, while Bobrovsky eliminated Taylor Hall. Were we to wager on the final two: Datsyuk vs. Bobrovsky. Although an all-goalie final would be aces. Fans can vote an unlimited number of times at NHL.com/CoverVote . The round closes on May 26 at 11:59pm ET. This year fans can double their voting power by using these player specific hashtags on “Twitter Vote Thursdays.” Each player specific hashtag used on Twitter on Thursdays will be counted as two official votes. Fans can join the conversation about the cover vote every day by using #NHL14CoverVote on Twitter and Instagram. Finally, here's a ramble screed about how the NHL 14 vote is fixed. Paging Mr. Mulder ... Mr. Fox Mulder.

Posted under Uncategorized

Hello, this is a feature that will run through the entire season and aims to recap the weekend’s events and boils those events down to one admittedly superficial fact or stupid opinion about each team. Feel free to complain about it. No one is ever going to be totally happy with the ways in which the NHL's referees or officials make their decisions. We can all agree on that. If there's a game in which neither team is whistled for a penalty, both will likely complain that the refs missed calls on the other. If there's a game in which both teams receive 10 power plays, both will complain that the referees were overly harsh in doling out discipline. No one is ever especially happy with calls that go in between those two extremes, either, because unless you win, you aren't happy. And sometimes, even when you do win, you aren't happy. It's tough to know what, exactly, brought all this to a head in these playoffs. Alex Ovechkin complaining about a league-wide conspiracy in Game 6 after the end of Game 7; Jonathan Toews stamping his feet when his team got clobbered on home ice by its archrival; Sidney Crosby saying the league needs to institute video review for puck-over-the-glass calls; Jonathan Quick abusing officials because the Kings gave the Sharks a two-man advantage in overtime. Doesn't it strike anyone as being a bit much? No one likes to lose in October, let alone in the second round of the playoffs, and you might even say that the refs have made a bit of a spectacle of themselves in the last few games. The best thing a ref can do, the old saying goes, is not be noticeable, and things have admittedly gotten a bit out of hand in some instances. But nonetheless, can you imagine the eye-rolling or outright mockery in Chicago if Henrik Zetterberg had said the same things Toews did after they got creamed in Game 1? Or the uproar if Ryan Callahan of the lionized New York Rangers had complained about a conspiracy to push the series longer? Or the furor if Joe Thornton had done what Quick did after the Sharks gave up a similar late-game 5-on-3 advantage that allowed the Kings to tie Game 1? What it boils down to is being a sore loser.

Posted under Uncategorized

PITTSBURGH -- On Friday in Pittsburgh, the Penguins were trying to do to the Ottawa Senators what they were not able to do to the New York Islanders in their first-round series: take a 2-0 series lead.

Posted under Uncategorized

PITTSBURGH -- On Friday in Pittsburgh, the Penguins were trying to do to the Ottawa Senators what they were not able to do to the New York Islanders in their first-round series: take a 2-0 series lead.

Posted under Uncategorized

Three finalists are vying for the Jack Adams Award, the NHL's version of the coach of the year award.

Posted under Uncategorized

UNIONDALE, N.Y. (AP) -- Forward Eric Boulton re-signed with the New York Islanders on Friday, agreeing to a one-year contract.

Posted under Uncategorized

The New York Islanders re-signed forward Eric Boulton to a one-year deal.

Posted under Uncategorized

PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Even as numbers on a roster, the Pittsburgh Penguins' power play appears intimidating.

Posted under Uncategorized

Here are your Puck Headlines: a glorious collection of news and views collected from the greatest blogosphere in sports and the few, the proud, the mainstream hockey media. • Finland's Antti Pihlstrom was unable to be removed from the glass after celebrating his overtime goal vs. Latvia. He'll miss their game against Sweden. [AP] • Jason Spezza back for Game 3 on Sunday? It's possible. Ottawa Senators head coach Paul MacLean: "If he's available to us, it's Jason Spezza, we're going to have him in the lineup." [ Ottawa Sun ] • Heading into Game 2 on Saturday, the Detroit Red Wings need to give Jimmy Howard some help. [ CSN Chicago ] • Despite the impressive Game 1 win, the Chicago Blackhawks can still get better. [ Blackhawk Up ] • How many different descriptions did NBC's Mike Emrick use during Game 1 of Blackhawks/Red Wings? 90 . Yes. 90! [ Awful Announcing ] • How did LA Kings forward Trevor Lewis react after his Game 2 winner against the San Jose Sharks? “I think that was Toff’s play there. He made a great shot off the pad there and I just kinda tapped it in and then almost passed out in the celebration." [ Mayor's Manor ] • Remember John Tortorella's high school yearbook photo ? Remember "Musky"? Toucher and Rich have gotten to the bottom of some of the unanswered questions from that photo. But now we need to find Musky. [ CBS Boston ] • The 2013 Memorial Cup kicks off tonight in Saskatoon. Here's Neate with 11 storylines to follow. [ Buzzing the Net ]

Posted under Uncategorized

THN and Yahoo! continue to roll out our joint awards by announcing Zdeno Chara, Jay McClement and Colton Orr as winners.

Posted under Uncategorized