NHL anaheim Ducks

There has been a lot of talk about hits to the head in the NHL playoffs so far. Washington's Donald Brashear got a controversial six-game suspension for his shot high on Ranger Blair Betts during Game 6 of their series.

Friday night, Anaheim and Detroit met to open their Western Conference semifinal series. During the first period, the intensity got cranked up big-time on a late and high hit by Anaheim's Mike Brown on Red Wing forward Jiri Hudler in Detroit's 3-2 win.

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Two years ago, a much more heralded Anaheim Ducks team took out Detroit on their way to a Stanley Cup. This time, the Ducks enter a series against the Red Wings as perhaps the most-feared eighth seed in NHL playoff history. That said, they're still an eighth seed, and a decided underdog. Is this the end of "Cinderella"?

The Detroit Red Wings are one of the deepest offensive teams in the NHL. Unfortunately for them, they don't boast similar defensive depth. Instead, they tend to lean on their puck possession and scoring to mask some flaws along the blue line and in goal.

As a result, news that veteran puck-moving defenseman Brian Rafalski will miss Game 1 of the Wings' Western Conference semifinal series against Anaheim is not good. It's not a death blow -- as an injury to Nicklas Lidstrom would be -- but it's not a good way for Detroit to start this series.

A couple of weeks ago, on the eve of the first round of the NHL playoffs, our writers came to two unanimous selections -- the Bruins and the Sharks. Those picks, of course, wound up residing on opposite ends of the prognostication spectrum; the Bruins quickly dispatched the Canadiens while the Sharks flamed out against the Ducks.

This round? We all agree on one second-round series; hit the jump to find out which one.

Hostilities began when the puck dropped, and in a penalty-happy Game 6, the Ducks took better advantage of the man advantage and knocked the top-seeded Sharks out of the playoffs.

San Jose, which finished with a league-best 117 points, fell 4-1 at the Honda Center and became the fourth President's Trophy winning team to fall in the first round. Perennial disappointments who have yet to make it to the Stanley Cup Finals, the Sharks do not have a good relationship with sixth games in playoff series, and are now 2-13 overall and 1-7 on the road in those games.

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Few teams inspire a lack of confidence like the Sharks. The Cubs, maybe. The Red Sox before 2004.

Even head coach Todd McLellan isn't immune. Asked about his team's flirtation with elimination after Game 4, he responded that he was "disappointed but not surprised." High marks for honesty, but that's a particularly stinging indictment coming from the team's coach.

Joe Thornton, the subject of weeklong criticism, came through in Game 5's win over the Ducks, and he will have to keep up that up tonight in Anaheim for San Jose to have any hope of forcing a Game 7 back home on Wednesday.

All over North America this morning, hardcore hockey fans are saying a word or two of thanks to the Washington Capitals and the Carolina Hurricanes. Thanks to those two teams and the guts they displayed on Sunday by staving off elimination in their respective playoff series, we'll all get to enjoy the rare treat of a Tuesday night in April: not one, but two Games 7.

The Caps will host the beleaguered Rangers in Washington at 7:00 p.m., while the Devils and the Hurricanes will get things underway in Newark 30 minutes later. Needless to say, many of us will have our heads on a swivel most of the evening.

Joe Thornton and Patrick Marleau kept the Sharks alive at least one more game even after Anaheim fought back from a two-goal deficit to send the game into overtime.

Just over six minutes into overtime, Thornton whisked a pass from behind the net to Marleau in a crowd out front.

Marleau jammed the puck three times, finally pushing it past Jonas Hiller. As it trickled in, the Sharks massed on the ice in celebration -- with the 3-2 victory over the Ducks, they avoided making the fastest exit ever by a President's Cup-winning club, with the series heading to Game 6 in Anaheim on Monday.

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Can we even call this an upset at this point?

If you had been watching this series and not known which team was the Presidents' Trophy winner and which was the eighth seed, you would probably think the Ducks were the favorites in this series. They have dominated the play despite getting out shot in each game, a testament to goalie Jonas Hiller and the Ducks defense.

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The nominees for this year's NHL awards are starting to be announced, and on Wednesday we learned that Columbus' Steve Mason, Anaheim's Bobby Ryan and Chicago's Kris Versteeg were the top vote-getters for the Calder Trophy as the league's rookie of the year.

There's no surprises here, as it's been assumed for much of the season that Mason, Columbus' 20-year-old goalie, is a slam dunk winner. Despite his struggles in the playoffs (awards are voted on before the postseason begins, by the way) no goalie recorded more shutouts during the season (10) while he also finished second in the league with a 2.29 goals average and 12th with a .916 save percentage. He is, perhaps, the biggest reason Columbus made its first trip to the postseason in franchise history.