PLAYOFF BEARD DAY 4

by Neate Sager, Out Of Left Field

First things first: Who was the future brain surgeon who scheduled the Boston Bruins for a Sunday evening home game at the same time as a Yankees-Red Sox broadcast on ESPN?

Brilliant, NHL. That's like scheduling Friday Night Lights up against American Idol.

Stars 5 Ducks 2 (Dallas leads 2-0): Like it's not tough enough being Bobby Ryan and knowing the first line of your obituary is already written -- you were the No. 2 overall draft choice in 2005 after someone named Sidney Crosby. The obit in the 2007-08 Ducks is half-written after Ryan took a third-period penalty that squashed Anaheim's momentum and put Dallas on the power play, where it scored the winning goal.

This Game 2 came way too easily for the Stars, who are home for the next two.

Canadiens 3 Bruins 2, overtime (Montreal leads 2-0): Far be it to suggest that Montreal is getting all the breaks. Boston made a nice comeback and then had to kill three straight penalties in the final minutes of regulation and overtime. That's a tall order for anyone, and Alexei Kovalev ended it. The Bruins might be able to take advantage of the quick turnaround and grind out an ugly win in Game 3 tonight.

Red Wings 4 Predators 2 (Detroit leads 2-0): This was somewhat exciting as Red Wings game go, which meant a nap was calling once they got up by two goals. The Predators aren't getting any breaks; it'd be surprising if this goes past Game 5.

One brilliant innovation by NBC is the mike they have at ice level. It picked up the Nashville players chirping, "Five-hole! Five-hole" at Dominik Hasek after Jordin Tootoo put a shot between the goalie's legs for the second Predators goal. Whether or not that was a good idea is debatable, since Hasek didn't let in another goal the rest of the day.

Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca.