EA Sports' NHL 13 cover vote has now completed two rounds and the final eight players have been revealed as we make our way towards the announcement of the winner during the NHL Awards show in Las Vegas on June 20. Over the next week and a half there will be two voting periods involving two separate matchups. After over 16 millions votes, here are your final eight: In Bracket A will be Claude Giroux of the Philadelphia Flyers vs. Anze Kopitar of the Los Angeles Kings, along with Evgeni Malkin of the Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Scott Hartnell of the Philadelphia Flyers. Voting for this bracket begins today and will run through May 17th. Bracket B will feature John Tavares of the New York Islanders against Pavel Datsyuk of the Detroit Red Wings and Henrik Lundqvist of the New York Rangers vs. Pekka Rinne of the Nashville Predators. Voting for Bracket B starts on May 18th and will end on May 23th. The final four players will be announced on May 24th. Some teams with players in the running have created their own campaigns to garner votes from fans. The Kings and Kopitar released a video last month, while the Islanders have pumped up Tavares' campaign by going old school with some promotional materials,  referencing the great NBA Jam . Boom Shaka Laka! Voting will take place at  NHL.com/CoverVote and fans can do so an unlimited number of times. A Twitter hashtag,  #NHL13Cover , will also track the cover athlete tournament discussion. Updates and other content will also show up on the  EA SPORTS NHL Facebook page . Follow Sean Leahy on Twitter at @Sean_Leahy

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Defenseman Brian Campbell of the Florida Panthers, right wing Jordan Eberle of the Edmonton Oilers and left wing Matt Moulson of the New York Islanders are the three finalists for the 2011-12 Lady Byng Memorial Trophy. Which means Loui Eriksson isn't one. The Professional Hockey Writers Association votes on this Trophy, which is awarded "to the player adjudged to have exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability." Now, for a while we were thinking that the biggest controversy for this ridiculous award — it's the hockey equivalent of the "School Spirit" award in a high-school yearbook … or maybe "Shiest," which always went to that girl who played the violin — would be the exclusion of Matt Cooke of the Pittsburgh Penguins, but that was before his PIMs climbed late in the season. Instead, we're faced with the exclusion of 2011 Byng finalist Loui Eriksson because (a) all the voters do is count up the penalty minutes for leading scorers and (b) Eriksson had 12(!) of them, which apparently makes him John Wayne Gacy on ice. Now that Loui was robbed , who wins the 2011-12 Lady Byng?

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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. • We don't wanna say the Florida Panthers are straight up trollin' the New Jersey Devils, but here's an ad for their viewing party in which Stephen Weiss  … well, yeah. • Marian Hossa gives the Nathan Horton Inspirational Visit After a Concussion to the Chicago Blackhawks. [ ESPN Chicago ] • Congratulations to the people of Vancouver for not burning down their city after losing on home ice. [ AP] • Mirtle on the Pittsburgh Penguins' future, and specifically on Sidney Crosby: "The Pens had to adjust to life with Crosby again, and there were signs of problems in those ugly late season losses to the Senators and Islanders where they allowed 18 goals in the three games that they weren't quite ready for a team as good as Philadelphia." [ Globe & Mail ] • Mr. Plank looks at the construction of the San Jose Sharks, and how it led to their first-round ouster. [ Fear The Fin ] • Helene St. James wonders if it's time for the Detroit Red Wings to trade Johan Franzen: "Johan Franzen did not have a good series, scoring one goal in five games despite playing next to Pavel Datsyuk. Franzen has eight years remaining on his contract, but his salary cap hit is a reasonable $3.9 million and his actual salary over the last three years is a combined $4 million, which would be attractive to teams worried about reaching the NHL's minimum salary cap space requirement. But the Wings aren't necessarily going to look to trade him, because which Franzen would they be trading?" [ Freep ] • Great bit from the Canadian Press on the originals of a numerically-specific Ottawa Senators fan chat that honors Daniel Alfredsson. [ THN ] • No Jaroslav Halak in the first two games of the second round for the St. Louis Blues. [ BND ] • Why the second round of the playoffs in the Western Conference won't be a ratings disaster. [ Puck The Media ] • How big are the Stanley Cup Playoffs? According to SportsCenter, slightly bigger than offseason football! (Although now that the Saints were eavesdropping on opponents …) [ Deadspin ] • Spector on Roberto Luongo's future: Could the Lightning afford him, and could Brian Burke bury the hatchet to get him? [ THN ]

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The Philadelphia Flyers entered their Eastern Conference Quarter-Finals playoff series against the Pittsburgh Penguins expecting a bloody battle. They certainly got that, while also partaking in one of the more wild postseason offensive contests in National Hockey League history.

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The Philadelphia Flyers 3-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Playoff Quarter-Finals wasn't a positive outcome, but at least it was a normal game.

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Back by popular demand, here are your Puck Previews: Spotlighting the key games in NHL action, news and views as well as general frivolity. Make sure to stop back here for the nightly Three Stars when the games are finished. Game 5 Preview (Flyers lead 3-1): Philadelphia Flyers at Pittsburgh Penguins, 7:30 p.m. The most unpredictable series in the postseason heads back to Pittsburgh for Game 5, as Marc-Andre Fleury and Ilya Bryzgalov battle in another round of "who sucks less?" One of the keys for the Penguins in extending the series? Winning the even strength battle. Erik Gustafsson is in for the concussed Nicklas Grossmann. Game 5 Preview (Predators lead 3-1): Detroit Red Wings at Nashville Predators, 8 p.m. The Red Wings are facing their earliest elimination since 2006. No Hal Gill for the Predators, but the Honey Badger has been released . Is this Nicklas Lidstrom's final game for the Red Wings? There are $10 playoff tickets in Nashville, which is awesome. Check out previews and updated scores for all of today's games on the Y! Sports NHL scores and scheds page . For tonight's starting goalies, check out Left Wing Lock. Evening Reading • Listen to today's Marek Vs. Wyshynski for Hologram Bill Masterton.

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The Penguins finally finished off a game in impressive fashion, but it's just a blip if they don't complete the improbable comeback.

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We covered almost all of these incidents in our post on the Philadelphia Flyers' Game 3 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins, but this compendium of hits, fights and cheap shots from alander94 on YouTube really does bring home how [expletive] insane the nastiness was in this game: Sidney Crosby: For the last time, not a goody two-shoes. As was previously reported Monday, the NHL will have Arron Asham and James Neal answer for their actions in Monday hearings — Neal, in fact, will have two of them. Asham has been offered an in-person hearing Tuesday morning for his match penalty for cross-checking Brayden Schenn at 14:15 of the first period. Asham received a match penalty on the hit. Neal's hearings focus on the hit against Sean Couturier in the third period, as well as the charging penalty he received for a hit on Claude Giroux later in the period. Neal was not penalized on the Couturier hit. There are three themes coming out of this mess for the Penguins, heading into Game 4.

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The Pittsburgh Penguins came under fire in the weeks leading up to the playoffs. First, there was the Peter Laviolette incident, where the Flyers bench boss accused Penguins coach Dan Bylsma of putting out his checking line to injure his players, nearly jumping the glass to scream at him. Then, there was the John Torterella incident, where the Rangers head coach blasted the Penguins organization as being one of the "most arrogant organizations in the league."

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The Philadelphia Flyers expected this first round playoff series against the Pittsburgh Penguins to be physically tough and it has been. Generally a contest of that type would be closely played and result in a 2-1 series lead favoring one team. Not so in this case.

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