Winger Stefan Matteau’s lack of discipline is now jeopardizing his career. (Andy Marlin/NHLI via Getty Images)

By Allan Muir

Here’s the thing to keep in mind about the QMJHL’s Blainville-Boisbriand Armada and its decision to put an official end to Stefan Matteau’s tenure with the organization this morning:

A club in the middle of the playoffs doesn’t need distractions. And after Matteau walked out on his teammates following Sunday night’s game, that’s what the talented 2012 New Jersey first-rounder had become. So the Armada ensured that there was no way his future with the organization could be misconstrued. He’s done, period. Time for the guys who want to be there to move on and focus on Game 3 against Baie Comeau.

And Matteau? Well, he’s 19. Teenagers are hard-wired to make stupid decisions, and if it had been just one, or even two, maybe this situation doesn’t play out the way it did. But he has a long, checkered history and it finally caught up with him.

First, here’s what happened on Sunday night.

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The Rangers have ground to make up, but an easy schedule could send them to the playoffs. (Bill Wippert/Getty Images)

By Allan Muir

Herewith, the second of our looks at the final week of regular season action. Today, the Eastern Conference. Our Western Conference playoff breakdown is here.

In the wake of Saturday’s action, five teams have officially clinched berths in the Eastern playoffs, leaving three spots up for grabs.

The Islanders are in the catbird seat after a thrilling 5-4 shootout win in Winnipeg on Saturday. The Devils are drawing their last breath. That leaves the Sens, Rangers and Jets to battle it out for the final two spots.

Here’s a look at how each of these teams closes out the season and how their chances stack up.

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Yankee Stadium will feature a bit more ice next season when it plays host to two NHL matchups. (John Iacono/SI)

By Allan Muir

If one outdoor hockey game each year is special, the NHL is banking that six is even better.

Multiple sources are reporting that the New York Rangers will skate in a pair of outdoor games next year at at Yankee Stadium. The Blueshirts will play the New Jersey Devils on Jan. 26 and the New York Islanders on Jan. 29.

The timing might seem odd, but it plays out as a genius act of coat-tailing. With the Super Bowl slated for the following weekend, the largest media contingent of the year will be descending on New York City that week. What better way to fill their downtime–and help promote the sport–than with a pair of hockey spectacles.

The games will complement a burgeoning outdoor schedule that already features the Red Wings and Maple Leafs facing off in the Winter Classic on Jan. 1. Other matches in the works include Pittsburgh vs. Chicago on March 1 at Soldier Field, home of the Chicago Bears, along with the expected return of the Heritage Classic on March 2, when Vancouver will host Ottawa at BC Place. There also are reports that the Los Angeles Kings will to host the Anaheim Ducks at Chavez Ravine on Jan. 25.

You can expect cries of overkill from some corners, but the league is gambling that the public’s appetite for these outdoor spectacles is nowhere close to being sated. Odds are they’re right. You can bet the games will sell out and draw huge numbers on TV.

And that’s why it’s not just the paying public that’s excited by this news. These games will provide the league a chance to soothe any ill will that lingers with sponsors in the wake of the lockout. NBC Sports, the network that invested heavily in the league almost two years ago to the day, will gain five new appointment dates on its schedule. There will be five new title sponsor deals, like the one that’s worked out well for Bridgestone, and five new opportunities for the rest of the league’s affiliates to line their coffers.

We’ll have more as the story develops.

By Allan Muir

The way Brendan Shanahan saw it, Anton Volchenkov had a choice. With Brad Marchand squarely in his sights, he could have blasted the Boston winger with a legal check, or he could have done something stupid.

Volchenkov went with Plan B. And so the New Jersey defender will sit out four critical stretch games.

Shanahan’s video explanation captured what everyone who watched the play saw. This was a cheap shot that could, and should, have been avoided.

“Rather than make a full body check, Volchenkov extends his elbow, making significant contact to the side of Marchand’s head,” Shanahan said. “Although Marchand…is stopping and turning his head away from Volchenkov to avoid the full force of the impending check, that doesn’t contribute or explain the reckless elbow contact to the head on what could’ve been a legal collision. He sees Marchand clearly, and if anything, Marchand’s actions just prior to contact forced Volchenkov to extend his elbow even further.”

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By Allan Muir

Chances are that Devils defenseman Anton Volchenkov has earned a few days off at a time when his floundering team, losers of eight straight, can least afford his absence.

Anton Volchenkov earned a five-minute major and a game misconduct for delivering a vicious elbow to the head of Bruins forward midway through a 5-4 Boston win on Wednesday night.

Of course, the Bruins can’t afford to lose their leading goal scorer, either. And that should be clearly addressed by the NHL’s Department of Player Safety on Thursday.

It’s tough to imagine DOPS watching this video and not burying Volchenkov for this flagrant cheap shot. He didn’t just lead with his elbow. He had it up early. Really early. Hard to argue accidental contact here. Add in that Marchand was injured on the play and didn’t return to action, and Volchenkov looks cooked.

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By Allan Muir

The Devils knew Martin Brodeur would make an impact in his return to action Thursday night. They just didn’t realize it would be on the power play.

Making his first start since Feb. 21, the 40-year-old sniper opened the scoring in New Jersey’s 4-1 win over the Hurricanes. He picked up a loose puck behind his net, dashed into the neutral zone, pirouetted through a phalanx of defenders and then went roof daddy on the ghost of Jacques Plante.

Alright, that might be the story he tells the grand kids, but the reality wasn’t quite that spectacular. Brodeur was credited with the tally as the last Devil to touch the puck before Jordan Staal’s hard pass to the point caromed off the boards and down the ice into the cage that had been vacated by Dan Ellis moments earlier because of a delayed penalty call on New Jersey.

It was the third goal Brodeur has earned over his career, but the first ever on the power play. In fact, he’s just the second goalie to score on the PP–Evgeni Nabokov was the first back in 2002.

And how’s this for the ice-leveling powers of the hockey gods: the last goalie to light the lamp? Carolina’s Cam Ward, who was credited with a goal last season when New Jersey’s Ilya Kovalchuk sent the puck the length of the ice into his own net.

Although to hear Ward tell it…

Winger Ben Johnson was drafted in the third round, 90th overall by the Devils in 2012. (Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

By Allan Muir

UPDATE: Johnson faces charges revolving around two separate incidents. The second involves a 20-year-old woman who came forward as the investigation into the case of the 16-year-old victim was underway.

The Windsor Star is reporting that bail has been posted and Johnson will be released from jail shortly.

Just days after a pair of American high school football players were convicted of rape, Ben Johnson, a 2012 draft pick of the New Jersey Devils, faces charges of sexual assault in the wake of a St. Patrick’s Day incident with a 16-year-old girl.

Johnson appeared in provincial court in Windsor, Ontario today via video and was arraigned.

The 18-year-old Michigan native finished his second season with the Ontario Hockey League’s Windsor Spitfires on Sunday afternoon, then attended an end-of-season gathering with other Spits at the Mynt night club where the assault is alleged to have taken place. Police were called to a local hospital around 2:00 a.m. this morning and they arrested Johnson shortly thereafter.

The Spitfires issued a statement late this afternoon. “Earlier today our organization was made aware of accusations involving a player on our hockey team. Our organization will allow the legal process to run its due course at this time. The team will have no further comment.”

More to come.

By Allan Muir

Philly agitator Zac Rinaldo might be the only guy held in lower regard around New Jersey than those Southern congressmen who voted against funding Hurricane Sandy relief, so I’m guessing no one in the Prudential Center was too sorry to see him get blown up by Ryan Carter tonight.

Shoot, there was probably a hat being passed around the arena to raise funds for a statue in honor of the heroic Devil.

The league’s Department of Player Safety will probably take a dimmer view of the incident in which Carter appeared to intentionally instigate knee-on-knee contact with Rinaldo midway through the first period of New Jersey’s 5-2 win over the Flyers.

Sometimes these collisions are purely accidental, the result of two players oblivious to one another who end up occupying the same ice at the same time.

This one…not so much. Looking at this replay, it’s going to be tough for Carter to convince anyone there was no ill intent on this play.

Look for him to get a meeting with DPS tomorrow, with a suspension of at least a couple games for his effort.

But hey, at least he’ll have the statue, right?

By Allan Muir

Is there a Russian version of EGOT we don’t know about? Because it looks like Evgeni Malkin and Ilya Kovalchuk are going for it.

Already superstars on the ice, the Slavic Getzlaf and Ryan are putting their acting chops on display in a new Russian children’s movie, 12 Months.

I’m not sure if the hockey gods have this kind of pull, but this sets up the greatest episode of Inside The Actor’s Studio ever.

From what I can decipher (hey, it’s been 30 years since I studied Russian at U-Dub), a girl somehow intercepts 12 wishes that were intended for a younger boy to use over the course of a year. Instead of returning them to the rightful owner, she sets out to make his wishes come true so she can keep the magical wishes for herself.

Much zaniness ensues.

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Even under the complicated new formula, want to bet the first pick goes to Edmonton again? (Jeanine Leech/Icon SMI)

By Allan Muir

The good news for this year’s wait’ll-next-year teams? More of them than ever can harbor the illusion of a shot at the first overall pick in the 2013 NHL Draft…and they won’t have to wait long to learn if they’ve actually won something for a change.

The 2013 NHL Draft Lottery, slated for Apr. 29, will be the first in which all 14 clubs that do not qualify for the playoffs (or a team that’s acquired their pick) will have a chance at winning the right to make the first overall choice.

Previously, a team could move up no more than four spots, so only the five teams with the fewest point totals could claim the first selection.

The lottery itself will work the same as always, meaning the Oilers will defy the odds and win the first pick. (I kid, I kid!) Fourteen balls will be placed in a lottery machine. Four are expelled, forming a four-digit number that will be matched against a probability chart that divides the possible combinations among the 14 participating clubs. Seriously. They can’t just chunk in a certain number of balls with each team’s logo and have the machine spit one out because, well, maybe they’d have to lay off the league’s crack staff of mathematicians or something.

Here is the likelihood of each team gaining the right to the first pick. Team 1 is Columbus (come on, we’ve all seen this movie before) with the other teams in reverse order of finish:

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