That mythical perfect March Madness bracket is virtually impossible to achieve, and yet for some reason most of us fill one out anyway. The Stanley Cup Playoffs may not have 68 teams in them with a one-and-done system, but predicting each series in the spring is still highly fickle business.

Even for a computer.

It didn't look like the folks at EA SPORTS were going to have that problem for a while, but eventually the dream had to end. Using their EA SPORTS NHL '11 simulation engine, the video game makers followed up their 8-for-8 first round by nearly tabbing another perfect set, and had Detroit pulled off the incredible Thursday night, they would have had just that. But San Jose's gutsy performance in Game 7 threw a wrench in the mix and gave EA SPORTS its first miss of the postseason.

Fortunately, however, this is no suicide pool, and Simulation Engine is getting a mulligan and a clean slate for the conference finals, particularly after EA SPORTS nearly made good on its prediction of three lower seeds advancing through the second round.

The third round doesn't provide the same kind of daring prognostication, but since EA SPORTS has gone 11-1 so far, questioning the simulation seems foolish, and if EA SPORTS has its druthers, Vancouver and Boston will be meeting to determine who will lift the Stanley Cup in 2011. The Canucks may be facing a San Jose team with an enormous emotional lift after holding off a potentially historic comeback, but according to the computers, Vancouver will overcome a home loss to the Sharks in Game 1 with two straight overtime victories and an eventual Western Conference title in six games.

According to EA SPORTS, the East will be decided in similar fashion, and be a closer series than some might expect, not because of its length but because of its scores. While the Bruins are pegged to grab the Prince of Wales Trophy in six games, two of their wins are slated to come in overtime, with Tampa Bay flashing some sudden-death heroics of its own to stay alive with an overtime win in Game 5 at TD Garden.

EA SPORTS will continue to run simulations after each round of the playoffs, but in addition fans are invited to make their own predictions in the EA SPORTS NHL 2011 Playoff Bracket Contest at www.facebook.com/EASPORTSNHL. Participating fans can accrue points for correct predictions with the ultimate prize at the end of Stanley Cup Final of two tickets to the 2012 NHL All-Star Game in Ottawa on the line.

Second Round fan voting opens today at http://www.facebook.com/EASPORTSNHL. Start dates for the Stanley Cup Final voting will be announced at the end of the Conference Finals.

Saint John Sea Dogs rookie center Ryan Tesink tries to model his game after Chicago Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews. What promising young hockey player wouldn't?

But it's one thing to emulate the style of a player and another to showcase some on-ice dramatics reminiscent of that player as well, particularly when the game is on the line. The young Tesink, who is eligible for the 2011 Entry Draft in St. Paul, Minn., on June 24-25, did just that on Wednesday when he ended the longest game in the history of the President's Cup Finals.

Tesink's goal at 19:16 of the second overtime gave the Sea Dogs a 4-3 victory over the Gatineau Olmpiques in Game 4 of their best-of-7 series in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League championship round. The Sea Dogs, which now lead the series, 3-1, have a chance to win their first-ever QMJHL championship on home ice in Game 5 on Friday in a sold-out Harbour Station.

Zack Phillips Saint John Sea Dogs QMJHL

Tesink is one of nine players from the Sea Dogs rated among the top 210 North American skaters eligible for the upcoming draft by NHL Central Scouting. Tesink was regarded as the sixth-best Saint John player, ranked 47th overall, in April. Jonathan Huberdeau, No. 3 on Central Scouting's list, along with No. 5 Nathan Beaulieu and No. 15 Zack Phillips also hit for the Sea Dogs on Wednesday.

Phillips, who has nine goals in the playoffs, did suffer an upper-body injury and didn't play in the third period and overtimes. Coach Gerard Gallant admitted after the game that his injury isn't thought to be serious.

Saint John has yet to lose three straight games all season and lost back-to-back contests only once all year. A year ago, Saint John lost the QMJHL final in six games to the Moncton Wildcats. Gatineau's last appearance in the final, and last championship, was in 2008.

Stanislav Galiev, chosen by the Washington Capitals in the third round (No. 86 overall) last year, set up all four goals, and goalie Jacob DeSerres made 35 saves for the win.

The longest President's Cup Final prior to Wednesday's game was 28:31 into overtime, when Pat LaFontaine gave Verdun a 5-4 win over Longueuil on April 22, 1983. The lone assist on that goal came from current Sea Dogs coach, Gallant.

Tesink began the game-winning sequence when he hit Gatineau's Nicolas Deslauriers, forcing a turnover, which Galiev collected as Tesink drove to the net. Tesink alertly took a whack at the puck following a pass from Galiev and the puck fluttered over goalie Maxime Clermont's left shoulder for the clincher.

"That's the most tired I've ever been and I did not want to go into a third overtime, so we said we had to finish it and we got lucky," said Tesink, who beat Clermont on the Sea Dogs' 64th shot of the game. "It's a great feeling, but it's not over yet, though. [Gatineau] doesn't quit."

Huberdeau, who has a league-leading 15 goals in the playoffs, has performed on a line with Phillips and Galiev most of the postseason.

Beaulieu squared the contest with a power-play goal off a rebound in the third period. Saint John outshot Gatineau, 13-6, in the third but couldn't find another goal as the game required extra time.

In the first overtime, Saint John was called for two early penalties, giving Gatineau a 5-on-3 advantage for 1:24. Sea Dogs coach Gerard Gallant called a timeout and sent out Huberdeau, Beaulieu and Simon Despres to start the penalty kill. With help from Kevin Gagne, Eric Gelinas, Mike Thomas, Stephen MacAulay and Danick Gauthier, the Sea Dogs escaped unscathed.

"Everybody's tired. They're a tired hockey team over there and we're tired and beat up," Gallant said. "It's going to be a battle Friday night. I don't see it being any different than tonight. It was just a battle of two good teams playing hard hockey."

Detroit coach Mike Babcock said that he would consider any lineup changes for Game 7 on the long plane ride to San Jose.

That means there might be a chance Johan Franzen plays in Game 7 after missing Game 6 because of an ankle injury. Mike Modano played for him on Tuesday in Game 6 and might also be called upon. Veteran Kris Draper was also a healthy scratch in Game 6 after playing in the middle three games of the series.

"We'll take these five-and-a-half hours on the flight to kick everything around," Babcock said. "I'm sure (Franzen) will try lobbying and we'll listen to him. We'll try to make the right decisions, but the only way you know you've made the right decisions are when you win. We'll try to make the right decision on the right players."

It's been almost 20 years since the Red Wings came back from a 3-1 deficit against the then-Minnesota North Stars to win a first-round series, but Mike Modano still remembers what it felt like to lose that series. He was asked on Wednesday morning about the mood in the Minnesota locker room as Detroit made its comeback, and might've offered an idea of what the Sharks feel after dropping three straight to erase a 3-0 lead in this series.

"Well, you're a little nervous because you know they're coming and their confidence is building," said the 40-year old Modano, a Westland, Mich., native who was just 21 at the time. We knew at 3-1 we needed to play a spectacular, perfect game from start to finish. Otherwise, we were in trouble."

They were right, as it turned out.

"Just bad break after bad break, and we're just looking for something to put a tourniquet on a hemorrhage because it was coming," Modano said. "You could just feel it. It was just like an avalanche. Once they got going and their main guys started playing, we knew we were in trouble."

Detroit power forward Todd Bertuzzi isn't usually the most quotable figure in the Red Wings' locker room, but he had a couple of zingers on Wednesday at the airport before leaving for San Jose.

In talking about playing Game 7 on Thursday and the excitement that comes along with it, Bertuzzi said: "It's the first time I've seen guys that excited to get on a plane for seven hours."

Then, when asked if he thinks the Red Wings might get injured forward Johan Franzen (sore ankle) back for Game 7, Bertuzzi quipped: "Who knows? I thought we were leaving yesterday, so it shows how much I know what's going on around here."

It's been a rough series for Red Wings forward Justin Abdelkader, who has taken a number of penalties at inopportune times.

His latest troubling infraction came late in Game 6 on Tuesday with the Red Wings clinging to a 2-1 lead and needing the win to push the series to Game 7. He was called for holding and put Detroit's penalty kill units plus goalie Jimmy Howard in a sticky situation.

Detroit killed it off, but it was a long 2:00 in the penalty box for Abdelkader.

"I'm still thinking about it," he said on Wednesday morning, before boarding the team plane. "You don't want your team shorthanded when you're up like that in the third period. You think about it and hopefully learn from it and won't do it again. It's not a fun feeling, I'll tell you that much. It's just a long two minutes."

Red Wings coach Mike Babcock said he had another chat about committing penalties at bad times – the second such conversation the two have had in this series.

"I just told him, two games in a row now, 'You've got to decide … are you going to be one of those guys that their whole career takes a bad penalty at the wrong time or are you going to look after it?'" Babcock said. "He's a great kid and a great teammate and he's going to get it looked after."

Video review determined conclusively that the puck shot by San Jose's Logan Couture at 3:54 completely crossed the goal line. Good goal. 

It was the perfect symbolism for the coach of the Motor City's hockey team to make.

Babcock was asked after Game 5, a 4-3 win by the Red Wings, what allowed Detroit center Pavel Datsyuk able to overcome a rumored wrist injury to dish out three impressive assists at crucial moments in the game. In short, Babcock said player like Datsyuk have a "drivetrain" that other players don't always have, which allows them to turn it up a notch in the playoffs.

Babcock was asked to expand on that analogy after Tuesday's morning skate and said that "drivetrain" can be installed, so to speak, by hard work and determination.

"I think for sure it can be taught," Babcock said. "When you come to a team like the Detroit Red Wings, when you arrive, Steve Yzerman's like that or Nick Lidstrom's like that. Pavel Datsyuk is an absolute workaholic on and off the ice. It's not by accident that these guys are this good. It's because they work that hard."

Babcock then cited how hard Datsyuk works on and off the ice to keep his 32-year old body in shape and to keep honing his already jaw-dropping array of skills at both ends of the ice.

"To me, that's what separates him," Babcock said. "There's lots of nice players in the league, but they don't get to play long at the end of the year, because it's not about being a nice player. It's about winning your battle every time you're on the ice. There's no space and there's no room and the ice gets worse as the year goes on, so it's not about being pretty and it's not about open ice, or about who looks good in practice with no pressure on him. It's who can make a play in a small area and win a battle. To me, that's the game."

It's already one of the worst-kept secrets in sports and is starting to border on comical. Multiple reports say that Detroit star center Pavel Datsyuk has a hand or wrist injury that is preventing him from taking faceoffs.

Datsyuk was even termed "questionable" before Game 5 in San Jose on the Versus pre-game broadcast before recording three assists in the Red Wings' impressive come-from-behind 4-3 win to extend the series to Tuesday night's Game 6 at Joe Louis Arena.

Detroit coach Mike Babcock was asked if Datsyuk's wrist was the reason he didn't take any faceoffs in Game 5, and Babcock tried to deflect attention from it by sheepishly stating that Datsyuk wasn't very good at draws before stating the truth: "He's our best faceoff guy."

Then Datsyuk denied he was even injured at all when the Wings returned from San Jose on Monday.

"What wrist?" Datsyuk said, when asked how his wrist was holding up. "I'm ok."

Why no faceoffs in Game 5 then?

"I'm not good at faceoffs," Datsyuk deadpanned.

The subterfuge continued on Tuesday after the Red Wings' morning skate. First up was veteran forward Tomas Holmstrom, who was asked about Datsyuk's health.

"Everybody's fresh, fresh like a daisy," said Holmstrom, who scored the game-winner in game 5 by deflecting a blast by Nicklas Lidstrom. "There's no problems."

Next up was Babcock, who was again asked about Detroit's strategy to deal with Datsyuk being unable to take faceoffs because of the wrist.

"Pav's OK," Babcock said. "There's these rumors going around that he's hurt, be he looks good to me."

He looks good to Holmstrom, too.

"I've played with him a long time," Holmstrom said. "You think you've seen it all, then he takes it up another notch."

When word began to spread on Tuesday morning that Sharks forward Ryane Clowe didn't make the trip to Detroit after Game 5 in San Jose, most immediately thought it had something to do with a huge that Detroit's Niklas Kronvall put on him.

It was a clean hit, as Kronwall circled in toward Clowe near the boards and sent him to the ice while he tried to play the puck. San Jose coach Todd McLellan said Clowe stayed behind with an undisclosed upper-body injury not related to the hit, while Kronwall said he wasn't trying to knock Clowe out of action.

"Obviously, you don't want anyone to get hurt," Kronwall said on Tuesday, after Detroit's morning skate. "They said it was flu-like symptoms. I don't think it has anything to do with that hit whatsoever."

He also quickly forgot about the hit after delivering it, seeing as Detroit trailed at the time.

"I don't think anything too much after a hit," Kronwall said. "You just go out there and try to play physical."

Kronwall also laid out Dany Heatley in Game 4 with a big hit in Game 4 at Joe Louis Arena, which Clowe appeared to take issue with at the end of the game. After the final horn sounded on Detroit's 4-3 win, Clowe got into a small scuffle near the Detroit bench with Justin Abdelkader.

Asked about it afterward, Clowe said he wished it had been Kronwall he'd run into at that point. Kronwal, however, had nothing but praise for Clowe's ability -- especially after racking up 4 assists in the past two games of this series.

"He's an honest player, works hard, plays hard," Kronwall said. "He's a good player."