Here are your Evening Puck Headlines and Previews: A glorious collection of news and views collected from the greatest blogosphere in sports and the few, the proud, the mainstream hockey media.
Just a reminder that the Gloating Bruins Fan gallery is up on Flickr, if you haven't seen it yet. Our Stanley Cup finals contest should be up next week. Jersey Fouls on Friday!
Preview: Carolina Hurricanes at Pittsburgh Penguins (7:30 p.m. EST; TV: VS., TSN). Penguins lead series, 1-0.
Keys for the Hurricanes: Erik Cole(notes) is expected to be in the lineup tonight for the Canes, making a miraculous </snark> recovery from that crippling knee-on-knee hit by Matt Cooke(notes). And according to the stat sheet, Tuomo Ruutu's(notes) in as well. (UPDATE: The Canes tell me that "Cole probable, Ruutu out." The roster report hadn't been updated and finalized for Game 2 as of 7 p.m. Apologies.) As we said early, Carolina is a different team in a Game 2 for various reasons, chief among them Cam Ward(notes). This is where the rally begins, if it is to being. And yet Coach Paul Maurice doesn't feel that it's a must-win.
Keys for the Penguins: Pittsburgh needs to play a more complete game in front of Marc-Andre Fleury(notes), who did some heavy lifting in Game 1. There's been too much chatter about the officiating in the last few days, and the Penguins need to be wary of its effect on the game. Again: Game 1 was a wash for the Canes, and they know it. If the Penguins are able to get this thing back to Carolina 2-0, it could be a short series. And they need to play with that sense of blood in the water.
Meanwhile, in the rest of creation ...
Sports
Get today's sports news out of Los Angeles. Here's the latest on the Dodgers, Lakers, Angels, Kings, Galaxy, LAFC, USC, UCLA and more LA teams.
• Scratch my back with a hacksaw! It's a Mike Lange interview! [Pens Universe]
• Since the South Carolina Stingrays and Alaska Aces are set to meet for the 2009 ECHL Kelly Cup, South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin have made the expected gubernatorial wager: Shrimp and Grits and She-Crab Soup from Tristan Restaurant vs. Alaskan King Salmon. Also, Palin will shoot Sanford from a low-flying plane if the Aces win. If the Aces lose, Palin will shoot Sanford from a low-flying helicopter. [ECHL]
• Hey now! A business story about how the NHL is kicking tail and taking names? From Marshall Glickman, a former NBA exec and CEO of G2 Strategic: "There is more buzz around hockey than there has been." Take that, poker! [Fox Business]
• U.S. Sens. Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York are opposed to the Phoenix Coyotes relocating to southern Ontario, claiming the move would have a crippling effect on the Buffalo Sabres. Schumer declined specifics, because there were no television cameras around at the time. [AP]
• Interesting comments from Gary Bettman on his radio show today regarding Phoenix: "When you have fans invest in a franchise emotionally and financially, you just don't give up on them when times get tough ... If the standard was, 'When times get tough' we would have been out of Chicago for Pete's sakes. We would have been out of Ottawa, Buffalo and Pittsburgh, and they were all situations that were fixable." [NHL]
• Mike Chen presents "Phoenix Coyotes: The Movie." We demand Stanley Tucci as Jim Balsillie. [Chen]
• Buccigross is doing a promotion with the Los Angeles Kings, and has a Q&A on their site. [Kings]
• Jacques Lemaire is still interested in becoming a senior consultant with the Tampa Bay Lightning. This report claims that Rick Tocchet wants to play an up-tempo style next season. So what exactly will Lemaire be consulting about again? Proper tanning? [Lightning Strikes]
• More suspicion that Pavel Datsyuk(notes) of the Detroit Red Wings is suffering through more than a bum foot. [Winging It]
• Alexander Ovechkin(notes) of the Washington Capitals becomes the first back-to-back winner of the player-voted Sporting News Player of the Year since Jagr. [SN, via Japers]
• Is it time for the Dallas Stars to move along Marty Turco(notes)? [The Hockey Writers]
• Al Strachan on officiating: "At least this year, there haven't been any calls that obviously cost a team a goal." Someone get this guy a copy of The Best of Brad Watson. [Fox Sports]
• Finally, Chicago's Sarah Spain goes undercover as a Detroit Red Wings fan. Not the best audio. As if it matters.
