Detroit Red Wings defenseman Niklas Lidstrom became the first European defenseman and eighth overall to reach 1,000 points, assisting on two goals in his teams 5-2 victory over the Los Angeles Kings.  Lidstrom is a six-time Norris Trophy winner as the NHL’s best defenseman.  Last nights game also showed that forward Pavel Datsyuk is beginning the year the same way he closed out last season, on the injury list.  He is showing that even though he is considered one of the best two way players in the league, you have to be healthy to be effective.  Detroit desperately needs Datsyuk to get on track to make their offense as potent as it can be.  With the tough competition in the western conference this year the aging Wings will need all the help they can get.

Well it seems like the possibility of the NHL playing again in Quebec City is not that far off.  They have announced their  intention to build a new arena in the hopes of bringing back an NHL team and one day hosting the Winter Olympics.  The City’s mayor has hired an engineering firm SNC Lavalin to conduct a feasibility study.  He hopes to see the arena built from 2010 to 2012.  The Mayor expects the arena to cost $400 million, with the city contributing $50 million to the project. He wants the federal and provincial governments to each pony up $175 million under infrastructure programs.  Quebec lost the Nordiques in 1995, when they left to become the Colorado Avalanche who went on to win the Stanley cup in 1996.  The aging Colisee arena has been cited as the main reason for the city’s inability to attract another NHL team.  I hope that the city can get this deal done because it would be awesome for hockey and its fans to have another Canadian team in the league, not to mention the rivalries that would be rekindled.

The St.Louis Blues’ Alex Pietrangelo and Darryl Sydor appeared to be competing against each other for a spot on the team, both of them appear to be locks to make the squad — at least for the early part of the season.  Sydor is a much-needed veteran on the blue line, with Eric Brewer unavailable and Jay McKee gone.   Pietrangelo, the Blues’ top prospect, will at least get a nine-game tryout early on in the season because that will still allow him to be returned to his junior team without starting his NHL clock.

Washington Capitals’ stars Alex Ovechkin, Alexander Semin and Mike Green all got their first action of the season yesterday, and they all looked rusty.  Their timing was off and they all looked sluggish, I guess that’s why you have preseason games.  The Caps are hoping this year to overcome the hump that has been preventing them from getting to the Stanley Cup Finals.  Last year they blew a chance to advance in the playoffs when they lost to the eventual Stanley Cup winner, the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Marian Gaborik made his debut for the New York Rangers against the Detroit Red Wings yesterday, and coach John Tortorella finally got to insert his new winger into the lineup.  Gaborik, who sat out the first four preseason games with a sore groin, played alongside newly acquired Vaclav Prospal and Christopher Higgins.  But Higgins played well with Chris Drury and Ales Kotalik in previous games, so it could be a sign that Tortorella is still experimenting with different combinations.

In the western conferences only other game the Chicago Black Hawks clinched their series 4 games to 2 with a 4-1 victory over the Calgary Flames in at the Pengrowth Saddledome in downtown Calgary.  Chicago was quicker out of its zone, faster on the forecheck and unafraid to engage Calgary physically.  Nikolai Khabibulin was solid in net once again, stopping 43 of the 44 shots he faced.  The Blackhawks had 10 players with a combined 309 playoff games compared to Calgary’s 19 players with 764 postseason games. With 14 players under the age of 25, the Blackhawks are the youngest team in the NHL.This is a Blackhawks team that won a playoff series for the first time in 13 years.  The Blackhawks’ previous playoff series win was a four-game sweep of Calgary back in 1996.

Tonight’s games will see the eastern conference wrap up their first round matchups.  The New Jersey Devils will host the Carolina Hurricanes while the New York Rangers travel to Washington D.C. one last time to face the Capitals.  New York better be ready because it seems like Alex Ovechkin and the Capitals are hitting their groove.  Washington is looking like they did in the regular season, a season where they finished second in the conference.  New Jersey will do what they have always done, ride Martin Brodeur as far as he takes you.  Brodeur had an up and down year but I feel like he’s not ready to end his season yet.  That’s usually bad news for his competitors.

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Since Washington made a goalie change after game one they seem like a different team, they have stifled New offense.  Until yesterdays game the Ranger offense had only produced three goals in four games.  That will just not get the job done.  The Caps are starting to exert their will and tomorrow night should be the end of the road for the Rangers.  For the second straight year, Washington has forced a Game 7 in the first round after trailing 3-1.  The Capitals fell short at home against Philadelphia last year, but the Southeast Division champions are riding a wave that could make them the 21st team in 230 chances to come all the way back.  The Capitals are 1-4 all-time in Game 7 while the Rangers are 3-4.

The Pittsburgh Penguins came from three goals down to score 5 straight times to defeat the Philadelphia Flyers.  With the win the Penguins advance to the eastern conference semi-finals.  Pittsburgh clearly is a more dominant and complete team than Philly.  While playing in front of a sold out Wachovia Center the Penguins never wavered.  After going down by three Pittsburgh’s young stars Evegni Malkin and Sidney Crosby led their squad back with Crosby scoring twice and Malkin assisting on two others.  Pittsburgh now awaits their next opponent.

Playing in front of a sold out United Center with over 22,000 screaming rabid fans was exactly what the young Black Hawks needed.  Chicago took the ice and then took it to the Calgary Flames winning 5-1, they set the tone early scoring three times in a two minute span halfway through the first period and never looked back.  Five different players scored for Chicago and goalie Nikolai Khabibulin was solid in net turning aside 19 of the 20 shots he faced.  The Black Hawks took a 3-2 lead in the series and will look to close out the series on Monday night at the Saddledome in Calgary.  If these young whippersnappers want to advance they will have to find a way to defeat the Flames in hostile territory.  We’ll see if they’re up to the challenge.

Speaking of the Ducks, yesterday they beat the San Jose Sharks again.  Bobby Ryan scored twice in the second period and Anaheim tacked on two late goals to take a commanding 3-1 lead over the Presidents’ Trophy winners in the series.  Anaheim goalie Jonas Hiller shut out the Sharks for the second time in the series continuing his dominant play.  The series now shifts back to San Jose where Anaheim won its two first games.  The Sharks need to wake up or they can get ready for a nice summer break, there is nice weather there in the summer you know.

The Broad Street Bullies beat back the Pittsburgh Penguins to stave off elimination making the series a little tighter at 3-2.  Philadelphia was led by Martin Biron’s 28 saves as he shut out the Penguins.  The offense was sparked by Matt Carle’s two assists.  Sidney Crosby and Evegni Malikin were both held scoreless, this is a feat that rarely happens.  Philly is fighting for their playoff lives, they’ll come out all fired up on Saturday.  Question is will Pittsburgh be ready.

This series hasn’t gotten much attention but I can assure you some great hockey is being played.  We’ve said before that New jersey will only go as far as their goaltender Martin Brodeur take them.  Well last night the Devils veteran goalie shut out the Carolina Hurricanes 1-0 to take a 3-2 lead in their eastern conference quarterfinal matchup.  Martin Brodeur overcame a first-period skate cut and tied Patrick Roy for the most playoff shutouts in NHL history (23) with 44 saves in a critical Game 5 win.  Brodeur was fortunate to escape a much more serious injury after colliding with Chad LaRose about 20 feet in front of the net going for a loose puck. LaRose’s skate blade hit the back of Brodeur’s ankle and caused a 4-inch cut.  Brodeur stayed in the game despite the pain and the blood.  New Jesey can finish off the series and advance to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs with a win on Saturday night.

The New Jersey Devils beat the Carolina Hurricanes 3-2 in overtime to take a 2-1 lead in their series.  Carolina was hoping that being on their home ice would provide a spark for them but an overtime loss was not what they had in mind.  The Hurricanes will regroup and try to take game 4, if they don’t it could be lights out for them and their chances for continuing their quest to win the Stanley Cup Trophy.

The Anaheim Ducks are showing the San Jose Sharks just how tough a duck can be.  The Ducks dropped San Jose for the second straight time on their oppositions home ice.  Going back to the Honda center with a 2-0 series lead one would assume that Anaheim has things wrapped up, not true, at any given moment the sharks could and probably will break free and make things interesting.  But right now the number 8 seed is taking it to the NHL’s top team.  This is one of the elements of this game that makes playoff hockey so exciting, it’s that it’s so unpredictable.

In Sunday’s other game the Philadelphia Flyers finally broke through and beat the Pittsburgh Penguins by a score of 6-3.  The Flyers offense finally showed what it was capable of.  Philly really needed this game to stay in the series to avoid going down by three.  They next play on Tuesday and I’m sure the Flyers will come out all fired up looking to tie things up in the series.

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The Bruins beat Montreal 5-1 showing that they are not going to be pushed around by the Canadiens.  Constantly throughout the game Boston out hustled and out muscled Montreal at every opportunity.  Carey Price made some great saves to keep Montreal close early on but stupid penalties did the Habs in once again as the Bruins scored three power-play goals.  Bostons offense was led by Marc Savards 4 point night, he had 2 goals and added 2 assists.  The series now moves to the Bell Center in Montreal where 21,000 plus rabid fans await game 3.  The Canadiens will have to defend their home ice to have a chance at coming back and even winning the series.  There is a lot of bad blood between these two teams and I expect game 3 to be an all out battle to the end.  Also expect to see a lot of aggressive play from Montreal sprinkling in a few fights on the way.

The New York Rangers won a grind it out type of game beating the Washington Capitals 1-0.  New York got a strong performance by goalie Henrik Lundqvist who recorded his third career playoff shutout turning away all 35 shots he faced.  The Capitals have now lost six of their last eight playoff games and have dug themselves a big hole against the seventh-seeded Rangers.  Alex Ovechkin the NHL’s regular season goal scoring leader has been held scoreless so far in the playoffs.

The Detroit Red Wings continue to roll as they disposed of the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-0.  Chris Osgood collected his 14 career shutout.  Osgood is playing at a very high level right now.  The Blue Jackets have managed just one goal on 46 shots in the first two games of the series.  If Detroit keeps up this type of play they’ll be hoisting up the Stanley Cup Trophy above their heads once again come the beginning of June.  Four different Red Wings scored a goal as seven different Red Wings have now scored a goal in the series.  Only Jiri Hudler has two goals.  So now the series shifts to Columbus, you better believe the Blue Jackets will be ready to host their first ever playoff game.  Expect Columbus to put up a fight but ultimately the Red Wings should prevail.

The Flames continued their slumping ways last night.  Calgary rushed out to a 2-0 lead early in the 1st period but then the Black Hawks scored 3 unanswered 2nd period goals to win by a score of 3-2.  Chicago is getting awesome goaltending from netminder Nikolai Khabibulin.  With the win the Hawks took a 2-0 lead in the series.  Chicago fans are definitely feeling playoff fever grip the city.  What a great season this extremely young team has had so far and they’re showing that they still have some unfinished business to achieve their goal of winning it all.

Pittsburgh took a 2-0 series lead over the Philadelphia Flyers after the Penguins won game two in overtime 3-2.  Bill Guerin scored twice and Evegni Malkin added his second goal to go along with 2 assists to power the Penguins offense.  Malkin has 5 points in the series to lead all playoff scorers.

The Carolina Hurricanes needed overtime but they came away with a 2-1 victory over the New Jersey Devils to even up the series at one game apiece.  Carolina got goals from Eric Staal and Tim Gleason to seal the win.  Martin Brodeur played well for the Devils but came up just short.  The series now  moves to New Jersey were the Devils are very difficult to beat.  Carolina definitely has their work cut out for them.