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PITTSBURGH -- Tomas Vokoun of the Pittsburgh Penguins has Marc-Andre Fleury in his corner heading into a series-defining Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals on Thursday against the New York Islanders at Consol Energy Center (7 p.m. ET, NBCSN, TSN).
"I'm sure he will be great tonight," Fleury said.
Penguins coach Dan Bylsma named Vokoun the Game 5 starter Wednesday. He felt it was the necessary move after Fleury struggled in the three games following a series-opening shutout.
Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Washington Capitals' Alex Ovechkin and Martin St. Louis of the Tampa Bay Lightning were announced Thursday as the finalists for the 2013 Ted Lindsay Award.
The award is presented annually to the most outstanding player in the NHL, as voted by fellow members of the National Hockey League Players' Association.
Crosby, who previously won the award in 2007, finished tied for third in the League in scoring with 56 points, but led the League with a 1.56 points-per-game average. He was limited to 36 games due to a broken jaw, and despite not playing a regular-season game after March 30, wasn't overtaken for the League scoring lead until the final week of the season. He also had 15 goals and a career-best plus-26 rating.
NEW YORK -- After being held pointless and to just two shots in the Washington Capitals' 4-3 Game 3 loss Monday night, Alex Ovechkin was again contained by the New York Rangers, who tied their Eastern Conference Quarterfinals series at two games apiece Wednesday in another 4-3 decision.
And it didn't take long for the Capitals’ captain to see exactly how the Rangers would look to shut him down.
Just seconds into his first shift of Game 4, Ovechkin was bowled over by a hard hit from Taylor Pyatt. That big hit set the tone for Washington's top line of Ovechkin, Nicklas Backtrom and Marcus Johansson, who collected one goal and no assists in Games 3 and 4 after combining for two goals and three points in their 3-1 series-opening victory last Thursday.
"We just didn't play well tonight, bottom line. They didn't do something special," said Ovechkin, who finished the regular season by scoring 23 goals in 23 games. "Pressure is all the time there. We have to handle it and have to play simple. Sometimes we had an opportunity to make a big play, but we didn't."
TORONTO – Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Mark Fraser was hit in the face by a slap shot off the stick of Boston Bruins left wing Milan Lucic at 7:49 of the third period with the score tied 3-3 Wednesday night in Game 4 of their Eastern Conference Quarterfinal at Air Canada Centre.
Fraser, who played 10:07 in the first two periods then helped kill off a four-minute Boston power play early in the third, was immediately taken to the dressing room by the Toronto training staff.
Coach Randy Carlyle said during his postgame remarks that Fraser was taken to the hospital to have a CT scan that would check for fractures or broken bones in his face.
ANAHEIM -- Matt Beleskey could not have asked for much more of an opportunity when he broke in with the Anaheim Ducks as a rookie in the 2009-10 season.
Coach Randy Carlyle put Beleskey on a line with Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry, giving the hard-nosed forward a chance to go into the corners for the stars and convert their offensive overflow. Beleskey scored a career-high 11 goals in 60 games that season.
But Beleskey's career path dipped because of injuries, then a coaching change and a horrific start to the 2011-12 season that resulted in the team missing the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Like his teammates, Beleskey was focused on a different season for 2012-13.
"I've kind of had a setback the last couple of years, just points-wise," Beleskey said. "I've always wanted to be a goal-scorer and a guy that can contribute offensively. Maybe not a goal-scorer, but a good power forward. You set your goals high and try to reach them."
OTTAWA -- Ottawa Senators coach Paul MacLean is a calm, confident man, and his players think that attitude has made all the difference.
The Senators, who have a 3-1 lead against the Montreal Canadiens in the teams' Eastern Conference Quarterfinal, have weathered a storm of drama and distractions through four games, largely because of their coach.
"He's a leader, and everyone in this room respects him," goaltender Craig Anderson said. "He just has a calming effect when he speaks. He knows how to show video and how to talk to get guys to listen. He's great at getting guys to change their behavior."
ST. LOUIS -- T.J. Oshie didn't shy away from the attention after Game 4.
The St. Louis Blues forward was critical of himself following his team's 4-3 loss to the Los Angeles Kings in the Western Conference Quarterfinals, calling it embarrassing despite scoring the first two Stanley Cup Playoff goals of his career.
"I think we started trying to make some cute plays at the blue line," Oshie said. "I'll speak for my line when I say we were good at times and we were terrible at other times. I could have single-handedly prevented three of their goals. I'm probably to blame for those three."
For the second straight season, the Vancouver Canucks have exited the Stanley Cup Playoffs in the first round, following a five-game loss last year to the eventual champion Los Angeles Kings with a sweep at the hands of the San Jose Sharks this year.
For a team that was one win from the franchise's first Stanley Cup in 2011, it will be a hard loss to swallow, one that could lead to a shake-up of the roster, coaching staff and maybe even front office.
As Vancouver's decision-makers gather in the coming weeks to dissect what went wrong and determine how to move forward, here are the five main reasons that the Canucks are the first team out of the 2013 playoffs:
TORONTO -- While the Toronto Maple Leafs desperately search for the balanced scoring that was the team's trademark during the regular season, the Boston Bruins are quite comfortable with what they are getting from all four of their lines.
After all, there aren't many teams that have a likely Hall of Fame member like Jaromir Jagr on its third line. And when someone like Milan Lucic, who struggled through the regular season, suddenly starts contributing to the tune of six assists in three games, well, offense it not an issue for the Bruins.
Center David Krejci, who led the Bruins to a 5-2 victory in Game 2 with a goal and two assists, said depth in scoring is a key element in Stanley Cup Playoff success.
"If you want to go deep in the playoffs you need all four lines to be going," he said. "I think we have seen that from our team so far."
| Senators stay positive
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