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.
• Hockey rumors and playoff smack chat at 1 p.m. EST. with me and Spector (and maybe Dave). Drop in, say hi, complain about your team not being discussed enough.
• Craig Custance of the Sporting News reports that Pavel Datsyuk and Nicklas Lidstrom won't play tonight against the Chicago Blackhawks, according to Detroit Red Wings Coach Mike Babcock. Which would be a crippling blow where it not for the fact that the Wings kicked the ever-loving crap out of Chicago without them in Game 4. [Sporting News]
• Meanwhile ... does anyone else have a creeping feeling that the Western Conference finals aren't ending tonight? Even with Khabibulin and Havlat out again? From Adam Burish of the Hawks: "Everybody's aware they've kind of written us off. You saw the way [the Wings] skated around during the end of [Game 4], kind of laughing at us and joking around. You saw the fans leaving early. It's like, here's a chance for us to prove some people wrong and try to climb back into this." [Tribune]
• We'll have more on this later, but Here Come The Bruins has a great breakdown on whether or not Sidney Crosby's decision to Touch The Trophy last night means anything karma-wise for the Penguins. [Here Come The Bruins]
• Look, you shouldn't need us to tell you to check out The Pensblog's epic recap of the Pittsburgh Penguins' Game 4 win over the Carolina Hurricanes. But just in case, know that the golf jokes alone make it classic. [Pensblog]
• The next round in the bankruptcy mess with the Phoenix Coyotes was scheduled to begin at noon EST today in court. Kevin McGran reports on a new bidder for the team: "Tony Tavares, a former baseball executive who runs Sports Properties Acquisition Corp., signed an agreement May 4 with the city of Glendale, where the Coyotes play their home games at Jobing.com Arena." That group previously tried to purchase the Florida Panthers. [Toronto Star]
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• This video collection of autograph "seekers" vs. players like Alexander Ovechkin and Sean Avery is brilliant. [Stanley Cup of Chowder, some NSFW language]
• Tributes to the late Peter Zezel pour in from HLOG, Rich Hofmann of the Philadelphia Daily News (with a great look at Zezel's time as a Philadelphia Flyers player), former St. Louis Blues teammate Kelly Chase and the Toronto Maple Leafs blog Pension Plan Puppets, which pointed over to The James Fund, where the family has requested donations be directed in his memory.
• Playing matchmaker with the Boston Bruins and Vancouver Canucks on a Phil Kessel trade. [Heated Skates]
• Jibblescribbits brilliantly breaks down the Patrick Roy/Colorado Avalanche saga: "This whole situation has been a bad chick flick, with the Avs playing the role of the Kate Hudson/DrewBarrymore-esque plucky girl who is stuck in a reliable, yet ultimately boring, relationship. By chance one day an old flame, Matthew McConahey/Ben Afflek type, whom she only broke up with because he was too immature, shows up and she feels the rush of the feelings she that she was able to successfully bury for the last few years." [Jibblescribbits]
• Bubba from Canes Country on the sweep by the Penguins: "What can you say Caniacs? The bounces all seemed to go the other way and perhaps the Canes would have liked to get a few more calls. But it's hard to take anything away from the Penguins. They were like a runaway train that could not be stopped." [Canes Country]
• What perfect timing for a puff piece on the Staal Bros. [NPR]
• Speaking of Eric Staal, The Two-Line Pass does a little grave dancing. [TLP]
• So did Darryl Sutter make a deal with Satan (not Miro) or is it the old incriminating photos trick? Because not only is he allowed to name himself as the frontrunner for the Calgary Flames' head coaching vacancy, he apparently also has an open-ended contract with the team to be its general manager. [Calgary Herald]
• From Puck Buddy Todd R., regarding last night's Penguins' win: "I don't know if you are a nip/tuck fan, but the lady who plays Kimber, Kelly Carlson, is in Lemieux's box. You can see her in the bottom left hand corner after Billy G's goal." Sorry, but we were distracted by the sheer beauty of Tie Domi.
• A glorious moment in the history of the Toronto Maple Leafs' futility: It's Kerry Frasier Day! Down Goes Brown, Sports And the City and Bitter Leafs Fan fondly recall the high-sticking call that wasn't.
• Speaking of the Leafs, Puck Central had this image via the Hockey Fights boards. And all of our days are brightened.
• Getting much, much too upset over Steve Czaban of Fox Sports giving his take on hockey's limitations in the U.S. [Hockey Writers]
• Also from a Puck Buddy, this time Christopher B.: "A lot of stories are already floating about how the Red Wings / Penguins rematch is just like the 83-84 Oilers / Islanders rematch. Except they keep missing one essential part of the story. Imagine that the Oilers and Islanders matched up again in 1984, but the Islanders had signed Jari Kurri in the off season. That's the comparison that should be made." Great point, sir.
• Grading the season of Mike Ribeiro of the Dallas Stars. We'd give him an 'A' for needlessly flashy shootout goals, and a 'C+' for having a last name that's easily fracked up. [Defending Big D]
• Yeah, there's pretty much zero chance Mike Chen isn't getting a link for a hockey column that compares Brian Campbell to "Manos: The Hands of Fate." So many questions ... does he take care of the place while the Master is away? Does that make Burish Torgo? [Chen]
• Awesome: The Detroit Red Wings invite the Memorial Cup champion Windsor Spitfires to attend Game 5 of the conference finals. [Windsor Star]
• The New York Rangers sign first-round pick Michael Del Zotto, increase advertising budget for Little Italy. [Blueshirts Blog]
• Evidently, the Rangers and the New Jersey Devils played a game of some significance 15 years ago today. Hmmm ... sorry, can't recall it. (Thanks, therapy!) [Blueshirt Banter]
• Finally, perhaps one of the greatest random moments of our little world of puck colliding with the rest of humanity, here is Vancouver Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo (gotta be him, right?) getting interview by The Weather Channel about the lovely climate in B.C. (Big time H/T to Candida for the pointer)
