By Stu Hackel

The NHL’s video review procedures have taken a few hits this season and the latest will sting a bit as it may have sealed the end of the Flames’ playoff hopes. They’re not happy about it in Calgary, and with postseason spots at stake and each goal meaning so much, the seemingly annual grousing about the review system has arrived.

But in this case, the system functioned exactly as it should, even if it appears to some that it failed and the league got the call wrong.
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What about Bob? As so often happens at playoff time, the Flyers have questions in net where rookie Sergei Bobrovsky (above) and journeyman Brian Boucher must prove that they are Stanley Cup-caliber. (AP Photos)

By Stu Hackel

The Stanley Cup playoffs won’t be here for another two weeks, but it’s a good time to look ahead and see which clubs have problematic goaltending heading into the postseason. Because, after all, you need great goaltending to win in the playoffs — except when you don’t.

Forever, it seems, the “great playoff goaltending” axiom gets trotted out annually. If it’s not the most overused cliché in hockey, that’s only because Conn Smythe’s immortal “If you can’t beat ‘em in the alley, you can’t beat ‘em on the ice” is more primal. But there’s some evidence that this theory needs a bit of refinement.
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The Ducks are hot and taking firm hold of a playoff spot due largely to the scoring exploits of Corey Perry, who is a bona fide Hart Trophy candidate, and the ageless Finnish Flash, Teemu Selanne. (AP Photo)

By Stu Hackel

The glut of teams that clogged the Western Conference playoff picture for most of the season seems to have shrunk to four clubs — Anaheim, Chicago, Calgary and Dallas – with two spots remaining. The Ducks, who have been up and down within that pack like the other three clubs, are hitting their stride at the right time. They’re 11-3-1 in their last 15. Five of those wins have been in overtime.

They didn’t need overtime Monday night against Colorado. All they needed was 40-year-old Teemu Selanne.
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With two of their big offensive guns out of the lineup, the Kings will have to depend more heavily on Willie Mitchell (left), Drew Doughty (right) and the rest of their solid defensive corps. (AP Photo)

By Stu Hackel

It has never happened before, but all three of the NHL’s California-based teams could reach the Stanley Cup playoffs.  The Sharks kicked their season into gear in mid-January and returned to the top of the Pacific Division. The Kings, too, shook off their earlier inconsistency and have captured 18 of 24 points so far this month, giving themselves a shot at the fourth seed in the Western Conference. And the Ducks have gone 10-3-1 in their last 14 to take the seventh spot and give themselves a good chance to make the spring party.

The Ducks and the Kings have never appeared in the playoffs together during the same season, but even if we witness a little history next week, the Kings’ playoff fortunes took a major hit on Saturday when they lost their top scorer, Anze Kopitar, who broke his ankle in L.A.’s 4-1 win over the Avalanche.
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By Stu Hackel

When the NHL resumes its deliberations on what will constitute an illegal hit to the head next season, the one above by Toronto’s 6-foot-4, 243-pound defenseman Mike Komisarek on Colorado’s 5-foot-10, 170-pound rookie Mark Olver will be among the most contentious types of blows. It left Olver trying to crawl off the ice, weakened and apparently dazed, unable to make it back to the bench. He left the game and did not return.

This was not an illegal check under the current rules. But it is a perfect example of the challenges the NHL faces as it mulls the changes it needs to reduce concussions.
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Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin is the biggest name in a long list of players whose teams are eagerly anticipating their returns to health and the ice. (Photo by Rich Kane/Icon SMI)

By Stu Hackel

The Capitals’ surprise announcement on Monday that Alex Ovechkin would be sidelined for the next week-to-10 days while he heals from an undisclosed ailment (perhaps the dreaded “upper body injury” to his lower body) was followed on Tuesday with word that the Kings have lost winger Justin Williams for 3-4 weeks with a separated shoulder. The word on Ovie came a day after the Blackhawks said that top center Patrick Sharp would be out with a knee problem.

The injury parade in the NHL, especially to so many important players, has never seemed as long. At this stage of the season, some of these absences have already had or will have an impact on the stretch drive and into the playoffs.

As with Ovechkin, some clubs seem intent on resting key players who have a few knocks and dings so that they’re in better shape for the postseason. Those teams feel they’re already safe in their playoff position and are looking ahead to the spring tournament. Other teams don’t have that luxury and may not have some key players at 100 percent when the postseason starts.

Here’s a look at the teams that are still in the Eastern Conference playoff picture and how their current injury situation affects their chances. (Click here for the Western Conference contenders.)
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In a tight fight for a playoff berth, the Blackhawks could ill afford to have forward Patrick Sharp go down with an injury after he had proved to be very effective on a line with Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews. (Photo by Bill Smith/NHLI via Getty Images)

By Stu Hackel

The Capitals’ surprise announcement on Monday that Alex Ovechkin would be sidelined for the next week-to-10 days while he heals from an undisclosed ailment (perhaps the dreaded “upper body injury” to his lower body) was followed on Tuesday with word that the Kings have lost winger Justin Williams for 3-4 weeks with a separated shoulder. The word on Ovie came a day after the Blackhawks said that top center Patrick Sharp would be out with a knee problem.

The injury parade in the NHL, especially to so many important players, has never seemed as long. At this stage of the season, some of these absences either have already had, or will have, an impact on the stretch drive and into the playoffs.

As with Ovechkin, some clubs seem intent on resting key players who have some knocks and dings so that they’re in better shape for the playoffs. Those teams feel they’re already safe in their playoff positions and are looking ahead to the spring tournament. Others don’t have that luxury and may not have some key players at 100 percent when the postseason starts.

Here’s a look at the teams that are still in the Western Conference playoff picture and how their current injury situation affects their chances. (Click here for the Eastern Conference.)
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Even the Penguins wouldn’t defend Matt Cooke, a repeat offender who used a nationally televised game against the Rangers to tweak the NHL’s image at the worst time. (Joe Sargent/NHLI via Getty Images)

By Stu Hackel

Matt Cooke and his suspension were the hot topics of conversation in the dressing room of our usual Tuesday night skate (along with why the Red Wings aren’t playing well and the Rangers are, the size of NHL goalies today and how well large netminders Pekka Rinne and Carey Price have done). But unlike in NHL dressing rooms, no one was putting microphones in our faces to record our thoughts.

TSN got its mics in the faces of some Canucks and Canadiens yesterday (video) and these players were quite supportive of the NHL’s decision to suspend Cooke for the rest of the regular season and the first round of the playoffs. Their opinions were not surprising, considering the way various NHLers had reacted on Monday before the news of the suspension came down (video).

Cooke remains a big item in the hockey world as discussions swirl about his suspension for elbowing the Rangers’ Ryan McDonagh on Sunday. Cooke himself has said that he knows he has to change his game, and on Tuesday night the NHL on TSN panel of Bob McKenzie and ex-NHLers Mike Peca and Mike Johnson had a thoughtful discussion about whether he actually can change the way he plays (video).
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Like the Devils in the Eastern Conference, the slow-starting Calgary Flames have little margin for error. (Andrew D. Bernstein/NHLI via Getty Images)

By Stu Hackel

Will the Blackhawks make the playoffs and give themselves a shot at repeating as champions? Can the Flames, who overcame a brutal start and jumped into the thick of things, finish their rise from the basement? Do the up-and-down Kings have one more push left? We’ll know the answers in a couple of weeks, but the remaining regular season schedule will have much to do with the outcome of who goes to the postseason and it gives some hints of what to expect.

Although the Western Conference is not the 13-team pile-up it was at times this season, the season-long game of musical chairs will probably go down to the wire. Realistically, there are 10 teams now fighting for eight spots. The top clubs in each division may not change. The Canucks are safe at No. 1, and the Red Wings should take the Central. The Pacific’s peak is more uncertain, with the Sharks currently three points up on the Coyotes and holding an extra game. Beneath those division leaders, however, it’s wild.
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By Stu Hackel

So many people are debating how long Matt Cooke should be suspended today for his gratuitous elbow (above) to the head of Rangers defenseman Ryan McDonagh that you wonder if the NHL is passing up a great revenue opportunity. Why not license some wagering interest in Las Vegas to take over/under bets on the number of games for each supplementary discipline case that goes in front of Hockey Operations? Part of the league’s cut of the handle could go to the bottom line, part into the Players Emergency Fund along with the perpetrator’s lost salary, and that way, fans and the media can be a valuable part of the disciplinary process.

Wisecracks aside, the sad fact is that regardless of how long Cooke is banned — and it will likely be for a while — NHL players have not yet gotten the message that this sort of on-ice behavior is unacceptable. Maybe they will next season, if and when the suspensions get longer. But not today.

UPDATE: Cooke was suspended for the remainder of the regular season, 10 games, and the first round of the playoffs.

And, yet, maybe more is needed besides increased fines, suspensions and loss of pay.
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