April 11th

THE LEIPOLD REIN BEGINS

Craig Leipold officially took over as owner of the Minnesota Wild on Thursday, completing the purchase of the team from Bob Naegele right in the middle of the first-round playoff series against Colorado.

"It's been a long process," Leipold said at a media conference. "Lots of signatures the last couple days. We were hoping to get it done last week and didn't get done. It just kept dragging out and dragging out. I'm just thrilled to death. This is a dream, to be part of a hockey program like this in a market like this. It's probably going to hit me when I'm on my way back home."

Leipold lives in Racine, Wis., and didn't do himself any favours with Minnesota sports fans when he said taking over for Naegele, who had owned the Wild since its inception, was like Aaron Rodgers taking over at quarterback for Green Bay's Brett Favre.

Naegele will stay on as a minority partner in the ownership group, Leipold said. He is also bringing in Phil Falcone, a 46-year-old native of Chisolm who played hockey at Harvard, as a general partner.

Leipold declined to discuss specifics of the deal, but did say he will own 51 per cent of the team and there is no immediate succession plan for Falcone to take over the franchise, as has been speculated.

"It's an interesting little transition that could happen some day," Leipold said. "But I'm not getting into this franchise right now with the anticipation of selling it within five or six years."

The NHL's Board of Governors unanimously approved the transaction, and Leipold said he doesn't have any immediate plans for sweeping changes.

"This organization is well-prepared and well-positioned for the future," he said. "And I really do believe in the saying, 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it.'

"This is not a broken franchise. This is a marquee franchise. What I hope to do is to continue the success this franchise has had."

Leipold said he would like to keep general manager Doug Risebrough, who has been mentioned as a possible replacement in Toronto, on board.

"Doug's a winner, and I really like Doug," Leipold said. "I've always respected Doug. So I can tell you it's a high, high, high, priority keeping him here."

A consortium of Nashville businessmen purchased the Predators for $193 million.

Reserch In Motion head Jim Balsillie of Waterloo, Ont., signed a non-binding letter of intent to buy the Predators for $220 million, but Leipold and the league balked after Balsillie explored relocating the team to Southern Ontario.



MARTIN TO STAY WITH CATS AS GM ONLY

According to the Miami Herald, Jacques Martin will not serve as the Florida Panthers coach next season.

Martin has been Florida's general manager and its coach, but the Herald reported on its website that team owner Alan Cohen told season ticket holders Thursday night that Martin's duties would be split.

"More than anything, we needed a change as coach," Cohen told the newspaper after the event. "Jacques has done a good job as GM. That's the bottom line."

Cohen brought in Martin as coach and Mike Keenan as general manager in May 2004. Martin assumed both duties when Keenan resigned after a little more than two years running the team's day-to-day operations.

"Jacques and I have talked about splitting the responsibilities and him staying on as GM," Cohen wrote in an e-mail to The Herald. "In that role, he would be responsible for selecting the new coach."

Florida went 38-35-9 to finish with 85 points this season, nine behind Southeast Division champion Washington.

The Panthers haven't won a playoff game since 1997, and haven't reached the post-season since 2000.

Today in NHL History April 11th

1936: Detroit coach Jack Adams led the Red Wings to their first Stanley Cup championship with a 3-2 win over Toronto in Game Four of their best-of-five series. The Red Wings became the last of the League's "Original Six" teams to win the Stanley Cup.

1937: NY Rangers' Dave Kerr shut out the Red Wings, 1-0 in Game Three of the Stanley Cup Finals at Detroit. Neil Colville scored the only goal in the second period. It was Kerr's 4th shutout of the 1937 playoffs and the 5th of his playoff career.

1940: Ebbie Goodfellow became the first Detroit Red Wings' player to win the Hart Trophy as the NHL's Most Valuable Player.

1950: Detroit Red Wings scored four goals in the second period to beat the visiting New York Rangers 4-1 in the first game of the 1950 Stanley Cup Finals.

1951: Sid Smith scored two goals, including the winner at 5:51 of overtime to lead the Maple Leafs to a 3-2 playoff win against the Canadiens, in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals, in Toronto.

1954: Goaltender Gerry McNeil recorded his 5th (and final) career playoff shutout, and Ken Mosdell scored the winning goal at 5:45 of overtime to lead the Canadiens to a 1-0 win at Detroit, in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals.

1956: Toronto Maple Leafs named Howie Meeker as their new coach. Meeker replaced King Clancy, who was promoted to assistant GM.

1964: Bob Pulford scored a shorthanded goal with two seconds remaining in regulation to give the Maple Leafs a 3-2 win over Detroit in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals. It was the latest game winning regulation goal in Stanley Cup Finals history.

1970: Pittsburgh Penguins became the first NHL team to win their first three games in playoff history, when they beat the Seals, 5-2 in Oakland. Ken Schinkel became the first Penguins' player to score a playoff hat trick.....Rod Gilbert scored twice within a span of 1:21 as the Rangers ended a 10 game playoff losing streak by beating Boston 4-3 in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Quarter-Finals, at Madison Square Garden. The streak dated back to the 1968 playoffs.

1971: Jim Pappin scored a hat trick, and Bobby Hull added three assists to lead the Black Hawks to a 6-2 playoff win over the Flyers in Game 4 of the Quarter-Finals, at Philadelphia. Chicago advanced to the Semi-Finals vs NYR.....Boston's Bobby Orr became the first defenseman since 1922 to score a hat trick in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, in a 5-2 Bruins win at Montreal, in Game 4 of the Quarter-Finals.

1975: NY Islanders won their first playoff series in team history, beating the Rangers 4-3, on J.P. Parise's goal at :11 seconds of overtime. It came in the final game of their best-of-three series. Parise's OT goal was the first in Isles' history.

1976: Montreal goaltender Ken Dryden recorded his 4th career playoff shutout as the Canadiens won 4-0 over the Black Hawks, at the Forum in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Quarter-Finals.

1977: Boston's Bobby Schmautz tied an NHL playoff record with three goals in the first period (and Jean Ratelle added three assists), in the Bruins' 8-3 win over the Kings in Boston Garden, in Game One of their Quarter-Final series.

1978: Mel Bridgman scored just :23 into overtime, and Doug Favell made 41 saves as the Flyers beat the Colorado Rockies 3-2 in Game 1 of their playoff Preliminary Round series, at the Spectrum in Philadelphia.....Buffalo Sabres beat the Rangers 4-1 in Game 1 of the Preliminary Round. Buffalo won the series in three games.

1980: Gordie Howe and Bobby Hull appeared in their final NHL games, when the Hartford Whalers lost to Montreal in Game 4 of their playoff series. Yvon Lambert scored at 0:29 of overtime for the 4-3 Canadiens' win.....Vancouver earned the first home playoff victory in team history, and beat Buffalo 5-4 in Game 3 of the Preliminary Round. The win came after four home playoff losses in their first ten years of existence.

1981: Goaltender Daniel Bouchard recorded the only shutout of his playoff career to lead the Quebec Nordiques to a 2-0 win over the visiting Philadelphia Flyers, in Game 3 of their Stanley Cup Preliminary Round series.....Denis Potvin picked up three assists to lead the Islanders to a 6-1 win at Toronto, in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Preliminary Round. Islanders advanced to the Quarter-Finals vs Edmonton.....Willi Plett scored twice, including the winner at 35:17 of overtime, and Reggie Lemelin made 61 saves to lead the Flames to a 5-4 win at Chicago, in Game 3 of the Preliminary Rounds. Flames advanced to the Quarter-Finals.....Edmonton's Wayne Gretzky scored the first hat trick in Oilers' playoff history, and added an assist as the Oilers won 6-2 over the visiting Montreal Canadiens, in Game 3 of the Preliminary Round.

1982: Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Islanders 5-2 in Game 4 of Stanley Cup Division Semi-Finals. Rick Kehoe scored the game winning goal for the second night in a row, and Andre St. Laurent had two goals and an assist.....Bobby Clarke scored twice and added two assists, as the Flyers lost 7-5 to the visiting New York Rangers in Game 4 of the Patrick Division Semi-Finals. NY Rangers won best-of-five series, 3-1.

1987: Quebec's Peter Stastny scored three goals as the Nordiques won 5-1 against the visiting Hartford Whalers, in Game 3 of the Adams Division Semi-Finals.....Mike McPhee scored a hat trick to lead Montreal to a 5-4 win at Boston, in Game 3 of the Adams Division Semi-Finals.....Ron Hextall recorded his first Stanley Cup playoff shutout, stopping 34 Rangers' shots as the Flyers won 3-0 in Game Three of the Patrick Division Semi-Finals, at New York.

1989: Peter Zezel had three goals and two assists in the Blues 6-1 win over the Minnesota North Stars, in Game 5 of Norris Division Semi-Finals. Zezel became the second Blues player to get a hat trick in the playoffs.....Ron Hextall became the first goalie in NHL history to score a goal in Stanley Cup competition. Hextall's shorthanded empty-net goal gave the Flyers an 8-5 win, and a 3-2 lead in the Patrick Division Semi-Finals with the Capitals.

1991: Russ Courtnall scored the winning goal at 5:56 of overtime to lead the Canadiens to a 4-3 win over Buffalo, at the Forum in Game 5 of the Adams Division Semi-Finals.

1993: Brett Hull scored his 100th point of the season for the fourth straight year, when he picked up a goal for the Blues in a 5-1 win over the Minnesota North Stars, in St. Louis. It came in Hull's 400th game with the Blues.....Chicago's Dave Christian played in his 1,000th career NHL game, a 3-3 tie against Tampa Bay, at Chicago Stadium.

1995: Bruins beat the Hartford Whalers 3-2 to extend their consecutive playoff streak to 29 years, the longest active by any pro sports team.

1996: Jaromir Jagr set an NHL record for right wings, with his 84th assist of the season, in the Penguins' 5-3 win over Ottawa. Jagr broke the record held by NY Islanders' Mike Bossy.

2001: Steve Yzerman tied Gordie Howe's Detroit team record by playing in his 154th career playoff game in the Red Wings 5-3 win against the visiting Los Angeles Kings, in Game 1 of the Western Conference Quarter-Finals.

2002: Markus Naslund scored his 7th career hat trick with three goals in the final 8 minutes of the game to give the Canucks a 5-2 win against the visiting Los Angeles Kings.

2004: Montreal's Jose Theodore became just the 3rd NHL goalie to get 2 assists in a playoff game, when he assisted on both of Alex Kovalev's goals in the 1st period in a 3-2 win over the visiting Bruins, in Game 3 of the Eastern Conf Quarter-Finals.....Despite being outshot 15-1 in the first 15 minutes of the game, Tomas Vokoun made 40 saves to help the Predators record the first playoff victory in team history, 3-1 over the visiting Red Wings, in Game 3 of the Western Conference Quarter-Finals.

Today in MLB History April 11th

1907: During the home opener at the Polo Grounds , the fans, growing tired of the Giants lackadaisical performance against the Phillies, begin throwing snowballs onto the playing field disrupting the game. After he hit by a frozen sphere Bill Klem, the home plate umpire, decides enough is enough and forfeits the game to Philadelphia.

1912: Rube Marquard of the New York Giants began a 19-game winning streak with an 18-3 victory over the Brooklyn Dodgers.

1917: Babe Ruth beats the Yankees, pitching a three-hit, 10-3 win for the Red Sox in the opener. He is on the way to a 24-13 record and a league-leading 35 complete games in his best year as a pitcher.

1954: To make room for promising rookie outfielder Wally Moon, the Cardinals trade longtime great Enos Slaughter to the Yankees. In what turns out to be a good deal for both teams, the Cardinals get center fielder Bill Virdon, pitcher Mel Wright, and outfielder Emil Tellinger in return. Virdon will become the N.L. Rookie of the Year in 1955, and Slaughter will help the Yankees win 103 games.

1959: Don Drysdale hits his second Opening Day home run to become the first pitcher with two career home runs on Opening Day. Unfortunately, his home run is the only Dodgers score as he loses to the Cubs 6-1.

1961: The Los Angeles Angels won their first major league game, 7-2 over the Orioles in Baltimore. Ted Kluszewski had two homers for the Angels.

1962: The New York Mets played their first game and lost 11-4 to the Cardinals in St. Louis.

1963: Warren Spahn's Opening Day 6-1 victory over the Mets is the 328th win of his career. He thus moves ahead of Eddie Plank as the all-time winningest left-hander. Except for Duke Snider's home run, no Mets get past second base.

1966: A crowd of 44,468, including Vice President Hubert Humphrey, attends a historic opener at Washington. Emmett Ashford becomes the major league's first black umpire in Cleveland's 5-2 win against the Senators.

1969: The Seattle Pilots played their first game, with Gary Bell shutting out the White Sox 7-0 at Sicks Stadium.

1975: In Milwaukee, 48,160 fans brave 37-degree weather to welcome home Hank Aaron. Hank drives in a run as the Brewers whip the Indians 6-2.

1981: After 15 seasons with the Dodgers, Don Sutton makes his debut with the Astros and is pounded by his former club for six runs in four innings. Los Angeles wins 7-4.

1985: Seattle's Gorman Thomas hit three homers and drove in six runs to lead the Mariners to a 14-6 victory over the Oakland A's.

1990: California's Mark Langston and Mike Witt combine to no-hit the Mariners 1-0 for the first combined no-hitter in the major leagues since 1976. It is Langston's first start for the Angels since signing as a free agent in the off-season.

1991: Junior Ortiz guns down Rickey Henderson, who is trying to break Lou Brock's all-time stolen base record. Henderson later leaves the game with a calf injury.

1996: Greg Maddox loses his first road game since June 27, 1994 in Montreal. Atlanta's 2-1 loss in San Diego ends a string that saw Maddux go 18-0 with only 17 earned runs allowed in 154.2 innings.

Today in MLB History, April 10th

1913: In their first official game as Yankees, New York loses to Walter Johnson and the Senators 2-1. After giving up an unearned run in the first, Johnson begins a string of shutout innings that will reach a record 56 before the St. Louis Browns score in the fourth on May 14.

1947: Jackie Robinson becomes the first African-American in the modern major leagues when the Dodgers purchase his contract from Montreal.

1959: Nellie Fox, who goes 5-for-7, hits a 14th-inning Opening Day an unlikely home run off Don Mossi to beat the Tigers, 9-7. The White Sox second baseman did not homer in 623 at-bats the previous season.

1961: The new Washington team loses its first regular-season game 4-3 to the White Sox.

1962: Dodger Stadium, the first major league arena privately financed since Yankee Stadium in 1922-23, opens in Chavez Ravine. With 52,564 fans on hand, the Dodgers inaugurate the $22 million facility with a 6-3 loss to the Reds.

1962: The Houston Colt .45s, in the first major league game played in Texas, beat the Chicago Cubs 11-2 before 25,000 fans. Roman Mejias led Houston's offense with two home runs.

1964: Demolition begins on the Polo Grounds to clear the way for a housing project.

1971: The Phillies debut in new $49.5 million Veterans Stadium by beating Montreal 4-1. Don Money connects for the park's first home run.

1973: Kansas City opens its new park, Royals Stadium, with a 12-1 rout of the Rangers. The game is attended by 39,464 fans braving 39-degree weather.

1976: The Brewers trail 9-6 with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning at packed County Stadium. Because of crowd noise, Yankee reliever Dave Pagan does not hear the time-out called by first baseman Chris Chambliss. Pagan pitches to Don Money who hits a grand slam. Because of the time out, the home run is nullified. Money bats again, and hits a sacrifice fly. The final score is 9-7 and the Brewers protest the game.

1979: J.R. Richard sets a major-league record with six wild pitches, but he strikes out 13 Dodgers and is a 2-1 winner.

1980: In front of a crowd of 53,313, Sixto Lezcano hits a grand slam with two outs in the ninth inning to give Milwaukee a 9-5 win over Boston and Dick Drago. Lezcano also opened the 1978 season with a grand slam, the first player to do it twice on Opening Day.

1981: In his first game for Chicago, Carlton Fisk belts a three-run home run in the eighth inning to lead the White Sox to a 5-3 win over his former Red Sox teammates at Fenway Park.

1982: Under icy conditions, the Cleveland Indians opened the season at Municipal Stadium with an 8-3 loss to the Texas Rangers before 62,443 fans. Five hundred tons of snow had to be removed from the field; the game-time temperature was 38 degrees with a wind chill of 17.

1989: Ken Griffy, Jr. hits his first major league home run in Seattle's 6-5 win over the White Sox. He and his father, a reserve outfielder on the Reds, are the first father-son duo to play in the major leagues at the same time.

1989: Dave Stieb pitches a one-hitter against the Yankees, giving him three one hitters in his last four starts dating back to the previous September.

1990: Wade Boggs is intentionally walked three times tying a major league mark for nine inning game.

1997: The Cubs fall to 0-8, the worst start in the club's 122-year history, following a 1-0 loss to the Marlins at frigid Wrigley Field. Florida pitcher Alex Fernandez, making his first appearance in Chicago since he left the White Sox over the winter as a free agent, is two outs away from a no-hitter when pinch-hitter Dave Hansen legs out an infield hit off the pitcher's glove. Fernandez settles for the one-hitter.

1998: The Yankees draw the largest regular-season crowd ever at the new Yankee Stadium as 56,717 attend the home opener against the Oakland Athletics. Then the Yanks crush the club scoring mark by winning the 17-13 slugfest

Today in NHL History April 10th

1928: Montreal Maroons' goalie Clint Benedict recorded his 15th (and final) career playoff shutout, with a 2-0 win over the visiting New York Rangers, in Game 3 of their Stanley Cup Championship series.

1934: Chicago beat Detroit 1-0 in overtime of Game 4 of the Finals to win the 1934 Stanley Cup. Chuck Gardiner got the shutout & "Mush" March got the winner on a PPG at 30:05 of OT to give the Hawks their first Cup (in their eighth season in the NHL).

1949: Toronto's Turk Broda became the first goalie to record 50 career playoff victories, and Sid Smith tied a playoff record with three power play goals in a 3-1 win over Detroit in Game 2 of the Finals.

1952: Tony Leswick scored twice to lead the Red Wings to a 3-1 playoff win over the Canadiens at Montreal, in Game One of the Stanley Cup Finals.

1954: Detroit goaltender Terry Sawchuk recorded his 8th career playoff shutout as the Red Wings won 2-0 at Montreal, in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals, to give the Red Wings a 3-1 lead in the series.

1955: Gordie Howe scored the only hat trick of his playoff career to lead Red Wings to a 5-1 win over the Canadiens, in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals at Montreal. The 3 goals gave Howe 19 playoff pts, breaking the mark set in 1943-44 by Toe Blake.

1966: Roger Crozier recorded the only shutout of his playoff career, and Gordie Howe had a goal and 3 assists as Detroit had a 7-0 win at Chicago, in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Semi-Finals, in the first nationally televised hockey game in U.S. history.

1970: Former NHL defenseman Enrico Ciccone born in Montreal, Que. Ciccone played in the NHL 1991-92 through 2000-01 with the Minnesota North Stars, Washington, Tampa Bay, Chicago, Carolina, Vancouver and the Montreal Canadiens.

1971: Goaltender Ernie Wakely had 29 saves in the only shutout of his playoff career in the St. Louis Blues' 3-0 playoff win over the North Stars in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Quarter-Finals, at Minnesota.

1973: Rick MacLeish had two goals and an assist and Gary Dornhoefer scored at 8:35 of overtime to give the Flyers a 3-2 win against the Minnesota North Stars, at the Spectrum in Game 5 of their Stanley Cup playoff series.....In Buffalo's first playoff overtime game Gilbert Perrault had three assists and Rene Robert added two goals and an assist, including the game winner at 9:18 of overtime to give Sabres a 3-2 win at Montreal, in Game 5 of the Quarter-Finals.

1975: Blaine Stoughton scored the winning goal at 10:19 of overtime to lead the Maple Leafs to a 3-2 win over the Kings in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Preliminary Round, in Toronto. Leafs went on to win the series 2 games to 1.....Ivan Boldirev scored at 7:33 of overtime to give the Black Hawks a 4-3 playoff win over the Boston Bruins, in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Preliminary Round.

1979: Toronto's Walt McKechnie scored twice in the second period as the Maple Leafs won 2-1 against the Flames at Atlanta, in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Preliminary Round.

1982: Dino Ciccarelli scored a hat trick and added an assist to lead the Minnesota North Stars to a 7-1 playoff win at Chicago, in Game 3 of the Norris Division Semi-Finals.....The Los Angeles Kings scored five third-period goals and added the game-winner in overtime to defeat the Edmonton Oilers 6-5 in Game 3 of the 1982 Smythe Division Semifinal in one of the greatest comebacks in NHL playoff history, known as the 'Miracle on Manchester.' Trailing 5-0 entering the third period, Los Angeles forward Steve Bozek scored the tying goal with just five seconds remaining and Daryl Evans capped the furious Kings rally by adding the overtime winner at 2:35. Los Angeles went on to win the best-of-five series 3-2.....Rick Kehoe scored at 4:14 of overtime (after picking up an earlier assist) as the Penguins beat the Islanders, 2-1 in Game 3 of the Patrick Division Semi-Finals, in Pittsburgh.....Quebec's Dale Hunter scored both goals as the Nordiques won 2-1 over the visiting Montreal Canadiens, in Game 3 of the Adams Division Semi-Finals.

1983: Greg Meredith scored two goals, including the winner at 1:06 of overtime to lead the Flames to a 4-3 win at Vancouver, in Game 4 of the Smythe Division Semi-Finals. Calgary won the series in 4 games and advanced to the Division Finals vs Edm.

1985: Detroit Red Wings' defenseman Brad Park set an NHL record by appearing in the Stanley Cup playoffs for the 17th consecutive year.....Brian Mullen scored the winning goal at 7:56 of overtime as the Jets beat the Flames 5-4 in Game 1 of the Smythe Division Semi-Finals, in Winnipeg.

1988: Brent Sutter scored twice, including just the second shorthanded overtime goal in NHL playoff history (at 15:07 of overtime), to lead the New York Islanders to a 5-4 win at New Jersey, in Game 4 of the Patrick Division Semi-Finals.....Goaltender Glen Hanlon recorded the 4th and final shutout of his playoff career, and Gerard Gallant scored twice and added an assist as the Red Wings won 8-0 at Toronto, in Game 4 of the Norris Division Semi-Finals.....Buffalo's John Tucker became the first player in NHL history to get an OT goal and a penalty shot goal in the same playoff year, when he scored in a 6-5 OT win over Boston, one night after scoring a penalty shot goal for the Sabres.

1990: L.A. Kings set an NHL record when three players scored hat tricks in a 12-4 win over Calgary, in Game 4 of their Smythe Division Semi-Final series in L.A. Dave Taylor, Tony Granato, and Tomas Sandstrom scored 3 goals on 3 shots apiece.

1991: Wayne Gretzky scored his 93rd career playoff goal -- the most in NHL history -- to lead the Kings to a 6-1 win at Vancouver, in Game 4 of the Smythe Division Semi-Finals. Gretzky passed Jari Kurri, who had scored 92 career playoff goals.

1992: Former Penguins' coach Bob Johnson and former Flyers' General Manager Keith Allen were elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame Builders Section.

1993: Pro hockey's first female goalie Manon Rheaume played her first complete pro game, an 8-6 Atlanta Knights' loss to Cincinnati. Rheaume made 22 saves in the game.....The San Diego Gulls of the IHL became the first team in pro hockey to win 61 games in a season, with a 5-1 win over Salt Lake. The Gulls (61-11-8) broke the mark of 60 set by Montreal in 1976-77.....Ottawa Senators ended their NHL-record 38 game road losing streak with a 5-3 win over the Islanders at New York. Laurie Boschman scored his third career hat trick (including two goals in the final minute of play) for the win.

1994: Buffalo's Dominik Hasek became the first goalie in 20 years to post a goals-against average of under 2.00, after finishing the season with a 1.95 GAA after a 3-2 Sabres' loss to the NY Rangers.

1996: Dino Ciccarelli's second-period goal gave him 1,100 career points, when the Red Wings won 5-2 over the Winnipeg Jets, at the Joe Louis Arena. The win gave Detroit their 60th of the season, tying the record set by Montreal in 1976-77.

1999: Steve Sullivan scored 4 goals, including his first career hat trick and Steve Thomas picked up 5 assists in the Maple Leafs' 9-1 win against the visiting Panthers. Toronto's 44th victory tied the single-season club record set in 1992-93.

2001: Atlanta Thrashers won the NHL Entry Draft Lottery, and the right to select first overall in the upcoming 2001 NHL Draft. They used the pick two months later to pick Ilya Kovalchuk.

2002: Patrick Marleau tied a team-record with a goal in his 6th straight game, as the Sharks became only the second team in NHL history to improve their point total for six consecutive seasons, with a 5-3 win against the Blue Jackets at Columbus.

2003: Dwayne Roloson made 39 saves as the Wild scored 3 goals in 4:22 in the second period in a 4-2 win against the Avalanche at Colorado, in Game 1 of the Western Conference Quarter-Finals, in the first playoff game in Minnesota Wild history.....Jean-Sebastien Giguere set a Stanley Cup record for goaltenders with 63 saves in his first playoff game, and Paul Kariya scored at 3:18 of the 3rd overtime as the Mighty Ducks won 2-1 at Detroit, in Game 1 of the Western Conference Quarter-Finals.

2004: Toronto's Ed Belfour recorded his 12th career playoff shutout, and Gary Roberts scored twice, in a 2-0 win over the visiting Ottawa Senators, in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Quarter-Finals.....Islanders' Rick DiPietro recorded his first career playoff shutout, and Jason Blake scored his first two career playoff goals as New York won 3-0 against the Lightning at Tampa Bay, in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Quarter-Finals.....San Jose's Patrick Marleau scored his first career playoff hat trick (with a goal in each period) in a 3-1 win over the visiting St. Louis Blues, in Game 2 of the Western Conference Quarter-Finals.

Today in MLB History, April 9th

1913 - With league approval, the Dodgers play the first regular-season game at Ebbets Field a day ahead of the rest of the league. Cold weather keeps the Opening Day crowd down to about 12,000 as the Phils' Tom Seaton beats Nap Rucker 1-0.

1947: Commissioner Happy Chandler suspends manager Leo Durocher of the Brooklyn Dodgers for the entire season for consorting with gamblers.

1959: In the fifth inning against Washington, the Orioles become the first team in history to turn a triple play on Opening Day. Vice President Richard Nixon, a right-hander, substitutes for President Dwight D. Eisenhower and watches the Senators breeze to a 9-2 win.....In an effort to protect the Little League batters, pitching mounds are moved back two feet to a distance of 46 feet.

1962: President John F. Kennedy throws out the first ball to open the 1962 baseball season at new District of Columbia Stadium. Despite rain, a record Washington crowd of 42,143 shows up to see Bennie Daniels stop Detroit with a five-hit, 4-1 win.

1965: President Lyndon B. Johnson joins 47,878 fans for the opening of Harris County Domed Stadium (the Astrodome). The Astros win an exhibition with the Yankees 2-1 in 12 innings. Mickey Mantle hits the first-ever indoor home run in the new park.

1969: Billy Williams of Chicago hit four consecutive doubles to lead the Cubs to an 11-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies.

1974: New Padres owner Ray Kroc, watching his team lose 9-2 in the home opener, takes to the public address system in the eighth inning and says: Ladies and gentlemen, I suffer with you...I've never seen such stupid baseball playing in my life. While he is speaking a streaker runs across the field. San Diego scores three runs but loses to Houston 9-5. Hearing of the incident, Commissioner Bowie Kuhn will make Kroc apologize to the fans.

1978: The Brewers complete a stunning season-opening, three-game sweep of the Orioles by scores of 11-3, 16-3, and 13-5. Sixto Lezcano, Gorman Thomas, and Cecil Cooper provided the Brewers with a grand slam in each game to set a major-league mark.

1981: Pressed into service on Opening Day when scheduled starter Jerry Reuss pulls a calf muscle, Dodgers pitcher Fernando Valenzuela shuts out the Astros 2-0 on five hits in his first major league start and goes on to win eight consecutive games.

1985: Chicago's Tom Seaver made his 15th opening-day start to break Christy Mathewson's record. Seaver pitched 6 2/3 innings and was credited with the victory as the White Sox beat the Milwaukee Brewers 4-2.

1987: Phil Niekro gets a win and Steve Carlton picks up a save as the pair become the first 300-game winning pitchers to appear in the same game for the same team. The future Hall of Famers help the Indians defeat the Blue Jays at Exhibition Stadium, 14-3

1989: Rickey Henderson steals his 800th career base in a 4-3 Yankees loss to the Indians.

1990: Houston's Glenn Davis ties a major league record when he is hit by pitches three times in an 8-4, 11-inning loss to the Reds. For the Reds, it is just their third road opener since 1876.

1993: The Colorado Rockies beat the Montreal Expos 11-4 for their first win ever and set a National League record for attendance in their home debut. The crowd of 80,227 broke the record of 78,672 set on April 18, 1958, by the Los Angeles Dodgers.....Nolan Ryan becomes oldest pitcher to start and win an Opening Day game as the Rangers win their home opener against the Red Sox, 3-1. Previously, Yankee southpaw Tommy John held the distinction being 45 years old when he started and beat the Twins in the1989 opener at the Metrodome.

1994: Recently retired basketball legend Michael Jordan makes his professional debut by going hitless for Double-A Birmingham. Chattanooga is a 10-3 winner over the White Sox farm club.

1997: A hearty but paltry gathering of 1,677 comes out to see the Blue Jays blank the White Sox at Comiskey Park. The game was originally scheduled at night, but was moved to daylight because of extreme cold. The only thing lower than the attendance (the paid take was just 746) was the temperature, which was 34 degrees at game time. It is the smallest crowd to see the Sox in 27 years..

2000: The Twins beat the Royals, 13-7, as both teams each hit three consecutive home runs in the same game for the first time in major league history. Ron Coomer, Jacque Jones and Matt Lecroy connect consecutively in the sixth for Minnesota and Carlos Beltran, Jermaine Dye and Hector Carrasco go back-to-back-to-back for Kansas City.

2005: Juan Pierre’s consecutive innings streak comes to an end at 1700 as his name is not in the starting lineup of Florida. The Marlins’ center fielder, who consecutive game streak stays intact at 340 by entering the contest as an eighth inning defensive replacement, joins Cal Ripken (Orioles, 1983-86) and Travis Fryman (Tigers, 1995) as the only big leaguers to play every inning for his team during a season.

2006: Cory Sullivan becomes the 11th player in big league history to hit two triples in the same inning and the first since Gil Coan of the Senators accomplished the feat in 1951. The Colorado leadoff hitter's two seventh inning three-baggers contributes to the Rockies 10-4 win over Padres.

Today in NHL History, April 9th

1907: Hall of Famer Ebbie Goodfellow born in Ottawa, Ont. Goodfellow played in the NHL 1929-30 through 1942-43 with Detroit.

1931: Cy Wentworth scored at 53:50 of overtime to give the Black Hawks a 3-2 playoff win over the Canadiens, in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals, in Montreal. It was the longest overtime game in Finals' history.

1932: Toronto beat the NY Rangers 6-4 in Game 3 of the Finals, to become the 1932 Stanley Cup Champions. Frank Boucher scored a hat trick for the losing Rangers, becoming the first to score a hat trick in Rangers' playoff history.

1936: Toronto's Pep Kelly scored at 15:22 and 19:19 of the 3rd period, then Buzz Boll scored the winning goal at 0:31 of overtime as the Maple Leafs came from behind for a 4-3 win over the visiting Detroit Red Wings, in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Finals

1963: Toronto's Dick Duff set a Stanley Cup playoff record for fastest two goals from the start of a game. He scored twice in the first 1:08 of the game against Terry Sawchuk as Toronto beat Detroit 4-2 in Game One of the Finals.

1964: Former NHL right winger Rick Tocchet born in Scarborough, Ont. Tocchet played in the NHL 1984-85 through 2001-02 with the Philadelphia Flyers, the Pittsburgh Penguins, Los Angeles, Boston, Washington, Phoenix and the Philadelphia Flyers.

1972: Phil Roberto scored a goal and added an assist to lead the Blues to a 3-2 playoff win over the visiting Minnesota North Stars, in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Quarter-Finals.....Bobby Hull scored his second career playoff hat trick, and Pit Martin set a record for fastest overtime goal (:12 seconds of OT) to give the Black Hawks a 6-5 playoff win at Pittsburgh, in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Quarter-Finals.

1976: Don Luce's goal at 14:27 of overtime gave the Sabres a 2-1 win over the Blues at the Aud. It also gave the Sabres the Preliminary Round series victory two-games-to-one over St. Louis. Sabres won two overtime games in 24 hours.

1977: Toronto's Lanny McDonald scored a hat trick and added two assists, and Darryl Sittler picked up four assists as the Maple Leafs won 5-2 at Pittsburgh, in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Preliminary Round.

1978: Philadelphia Flyers honored retiring Gary Dornhoefer, in a pre-game ceremony at the Spectrum. Flyers lost 3-1 to the Minnesota North Stars.....Goaltender Jim Rutherford recorded his 12th career shutout in the Red Wings' 4-0 win over the Canadiens at the Olympia.

1980: Hartford's Gordie Howe scored his 68th (and final) career NHL playoff goal, in an 8-4 Whalers' loss at Montreal, in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Preliminary Round. It was Howe's first NHL playoff goal in 10 years.....Mike Murphy and Andre St. Laurent both scored shorthanded goals in the first period to lead the Kings to a 6-3 win over the Islanders, at New York, in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Preliminary Round.

1981: Minnesota's Tim Young scored a goal and added four assists to lead the North Stars to a 9-6 playoff win at Boston, in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Preliminary Round.....Los Angeles Kings and New York Rangers set NHL playoff records for most penalties (59) and penalty minutes (267) by two teams in one game. Kings won the game, 5-4 in Los Angeles, in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Preliminary Round.

1983: Anders Kallur picked up three assists to lead the Islanders to a 6-2 win at Washington, in Game 3 of the Patrick Division Semi-Finals.

1986: St. Louis' Cliff Ronning picked up an assist in his first NHL game as the Blues beat the North Stars 2-1 at Minnesota, in Game 1 of the Norris Division Semi-Finals.....Mark Messier picked up three assists to lead the Oilers to a 7-3 win over the visiting Vancouver Canucks, in Game 1 of the Smythe Division Semi-Finals.

1987: Edmonton set a Stanley Cup playoff record for most goals in a game, when they beat L.A. 13-3, in game two of the Smythe Division Semi-Finals. Wayne Gretzky had six assists for the Oilers, tying the NHL record for most assists in a playoff game.....Mats Naslund scored at 2:38 of overtime to lead the Canadiens to a 4-3 win over the Bruins in Game 2 of the Adams Division Semi-Finals, in Montreal.

1988: Denis Savard scored his third career playoff hat trick to set a new team record as the Blackhawks won 6-3 over the Blues, in Game 3 of the Norris Division Semi-Finals, at Chicago Stadium.....Petr Klima became the first Red Wings' player to score a penalty shot goal in the playoffs, then added a second goal and an assist as the Red Wings won 6-3 at Toronto, in Game 3 of the Norris Division Semi-Finals.....Winnipeg's Laurie Boschman scored twice and added two assists as the Jets won 6-4 against the visiting Edmonton Oilers, in Game 3 of the Smythe Division Semi-Finals.

1989: Larry Robinson set an NHL record by appearing in his 186th career playoff game, a 4-3 Montreal OT win over the Hartford Whalers in Game 4 of the Adams Division Semi-Finals. Robinson passed Denis Potvin, who had played 185 playoff games.

1990: New York Islanders won 4-3 in the second overtime over the Rangers in Game 3 of the Patrick Division Semi-Finals. It was coach Al Arbour's 114th playoff win, tying him with Scotty Bowman for 1st place on the all-time list.....New Jersey tied an NHL record (set in 1974) for fewest shots in a playoff game, with just 10, but won the game 2-1 over Washington, in Game 3 of the Patrick Division Semi-Finals. Brendan Shanahan led the scoring with a goal and an assist.

1991: Buffalo Sabres scored three goals on their first seven shots and went on to a 6-4 win over the Canadiens, at the Aud.

1994: Mighty Ducks of Anaheim set NHL records for most victories (33) and most road wins (19) by a first-year team as they won 3-1 over the Canucks, at Vancouver. Joe Sacco led the scoring with a goal and two assists.

1995: San Jose's Ulf Dahlen scored his 200th career NHL goal, in a 5-2 win at Edmonton.

1997: Teemu Selanne scored his 50th goal of the season for the second time in his career as Anaheim won 4-1 over the visiting Los Angeles Kings. The win extended the Mighty Ducks' home unbeaten streak to a team-record 14 straight games (10-0-4).....Brett Hull scored his 500th goal as a member of the Blues, and goaltender Grant Fuhr made 23 saves for his 20th career shutout in the Blues 1-0 win, at Chicago.

1999: Dallas clinched the President's Trophy for the 2nd straight year with a 3-1 win over the NY Rangers. Stars set a franchise mark with 110 points, breaking the mark of 109 set the previous season, and set a new record with their 27th home win.

2003: Alexander Mogilny scored his first career playoff hat trick as Toronto won 5-3 at Philadelphia, in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Quarter-Finals

(April 8th, Part III) East Conference Preview

MONTREAL CANADIENS (1) vs. BOSTON BRUINS (8)

SERIES STORYLINES

Eight and O: The Canadiens swept the Bruins this season, winning all eight games -- Montreal led 345 minutes and 41 seconds out of a possible 485 minutes of hockey during that span. Only one other time in Stanley Cup history has a team won as many as eight games against an opponent in a season and met that team in the playoffs. In the 1984 playoffs, the Edmonton Oilers swept the Winnipeg Jets 3-0 in the best-of-five opening round series after going 8-0 against them in the regular season.

1 vs. 8: A #8 team has beaten the #1 team seven times since 1994. The last #8 seed to defeat a #1 was in 2006 when the Edmonton Oilers defeated Detroit Red Wings 4-2. Other #8 upsets include, Montreal over Boston (2002), San Jose over St. Louis (2000), Pittsburgh over New Jersey (1999), Ottawa over New Jersey (1998), NY Rangers over Quebec (1995) and San Jose over Detroit (1994).

Got your number: The Canadiens' current win-streak against the Bruins stands at 11 games, dating back to March 20, 2007. The Bruins' 11-game losing streak is the longest in the franchise's 84-year history against the Canadiens.

MONTREAL CANADIENS

NHL Playoff Appearance: 76
Stanley Cups: 23 (Last: 1993)
Last Playoff Series Win: 2004 (Conference Quarter-Final vs. Boston)
All-Time Playoff Series Record: 86-51
All-Time Playoff Game Record: 393-266-8

KEY DATES

Oct. 26/07 -- Against the Carolina Hurricanes, the Canadiens score five power-play goals in one game, marking the first time since Feb. 15, 1975 (against Chicago) they had scored that many power-play goals in one contest.

Dec. 13/07 -- Sergei Kostitsyn and older brother Andrei become the 13th brother combination in team history to dress for a game with the Canadiens, and the first two European siblings to do so. Against Toronto two days later, the Kostitsyns became the latest brother duo to collect a point each in the same game since Patrick and Stephan Lebeau (Feb. 23, 1991 vs. Toronto).

Jan. 31/08 -- The Kostitsyns become the first pair of brothers to score a goal in the same game for Montreal since Frank and Pete Mahovlich did it: in the regular season on March 23, 1974 (vs. St. Louis) and April 14, 1974 (vs. the NY Rangers) in the playoffs.

Feb. 4/08 – The Canadiens summon G Carey Price from their Hamilton AHL team.

Feb. 26/08 – Canadiens trade G Cristobal Huet to Washington for a second-round pick in 2009.

CANADIENS STORYLINES

More rings than an Olympics: Behind the Canadiens’ bench are Guy Carbonneau, who won three Stanley Cup rings as a player (two with Montreal, one with Dallas); Doug Jarvis (four rings as a player with Montreal, one more as an assistant coach with the Dallas Stars’ 1999 champion) and Kirk Muller (one ring with the 1993 Canadiens). Upstairs, GM Bob Gainey won five rings as a player with Montreal, then managed Dallas to the 1999 title.

Oh, Captain: Today’s Canadiens are managed or coached by the men who were captains of the team from 1981-95. GM Bob Gainey was the Canadiens’ captain from 1981-89. He was replaced by a tandem of Guy Carbonneau and Chris Chelios from 1989-90, then Carbonneau went solo from 1990-94. Carbonneau was succeeded by Kirk Muller for 1994- 95.

The Last Time: Muller played on the last Canadiens team to win the Stanley Cup -- and the last Canadian team to win the Stanley Cup.

Kovalev time: Canadiens RW Alexei Kovalev led the League in power-play points with 47. He is Montreal's first 35-goal scorer since 1995-96, when Pierre Turgeon and Vincent Damphousse tied for the team lead with 38 each. Kovalev is the fourth Russian-trained player to reach the 1,000-game milestone, following Sergei Fedorov, Alexei Zhitnik and Sergei Zubov.

The Price Is Right: In 2006-07, Price led Canada to the gold medal at the 2007 World Junior Championships, at which he was named tournament MVP. He also was named the top goaltender in Canadian major junior hockey, captured the Calder Cup championship with the Canadiens’ AHL affiliate in Hamilton and was voted AHL playoff MVP. Since being summoned from Hamilton on Feb. 4, the 20-year-old has been a dominant factor in the Canadiens' charge to the Northeast Division title, becoming the first goaltender aged 20 or less to win 20 games in a season since Tom Barrasso and Parick Roy did it in 1985-86.

First Things First: The Canadiens' previous first-place finish was in 1991-92, when they led the Adams Division with 93 points . . . Montreal's goal total (262) led the NHL this season and was the team's highest since it scored 265 in 1995-96 . . . Montreal reached the 100- point plateau for the first time since its 102 points in 1992-93, registered 45-or-more victories In a season for the first time since 1992-93 (48) and compiled its best record on the road (25-12-4, 54 points) since 1978-79 (23-11-6, 52 points).

All-Powerful: Montreal led the NHL in power-play goals (90) and surrendered only three shorthanded goals -- tied with Florida for fewest.

In The Depths: Seven Canadiens players finished the regular season with 50 points-or- more, the most scoring depth since seven Canadiens surpassed the 50-point mark in 1988- 89. No other NHL team had more than six such players this season.

Coming or Going?: Though used primarily as defensemen, both Mark Streit and Mathieu Dandenault have seen action at forward this season.


BOSTON BRUINS

NHL Playoff Appearance: 63rd (1st since 2004)
Stanley Cups: 5 (1972, 1970, 1941, 1939, 1929)
Last Playoff Series Win: 1999 (Conference Quarter-Final vs. Carolina)
All-Time Playoff Series Record: 47-57
All-Time Playoff Game Record: 242-264-6

KEY DATES

June 21/07 -- Claude Julien named the 28th coach in club history.

Oct. 27/07 -- The Bruins lost forward Patrice Bergeron to injury (concussion) in a game vs. Philadelphia.

Jan. 27/08 -- The Bruins sent three players to the All-Star Game - D Zdeno Chara, C Marc Savard and G Tim Thomas.

Apr. 4/08 -- The Bruins qualified for the playoffs for the first time since 2004 with a 2-1 win in Ottawa.

BRUINS STORYLINES

Having a blast: For the second straight year, D Zdeno Chara won the hardest shot competition at All-Star Weekend. Chara shot clocked at 103.1 miles-per-hour and surpassed the 101.9 mph of runner-up Vincent Lecavalier of the Lightning.

More Chara: The Bruins' captain set new career-highs for goals (17), assists (34) and points (51) in a season in 2007-08.

Sick bay: The Bruins, with more than 360 man-games lost to injury this season, surpassed their injury total for all of last season (162 games) on Jan. 12. Chara on the Bruins resiliency: "It’s been a tough year since the beginning. We lost some key guys and just kept losing them and losing them. It’s part of hockey. We can’t really control the injuries. We’re just hoping that the guys will be coming back soon. At the same time, we had some guys who stepped up and filled their roles. We just replaced the skills with lots of hard work and desperation We just wanted to win the battles and races and play desperate - every shift, every period, every game."

Sick bay 2: The Bruins have lost one-third of their roster to injury for significant periods of time this season -- forwards Patrice Bergeron (72 games), Marc Savard (last six games of the season), Glen Murray (19) and Chuck Kobasew (8), defensemen Andrew Alberts (47) and Andrew Ference (22) and goaltender Manny Fernandez (72).

Defensive turnaround: The Bruins made the League's second-biggest defensive turnaround from last season. The Bruins have improved their defense from 289 goals-against in 2006- 07 to 222 in 2007-08, a drop of 67 goals. Only the Flyers (down 70 goals; 303 to 233) were better.

Thomas time: After a March 20 loss to Montreal (4-2), through the Bruins' playoff-clinching 2-1 win at Ottawa on Apr. 4, the Bruins had at least a point in each of the six games G Tim Thomas started (4-0-2 record, 1.46 GAA, .947 save percentage). Thomas went 5-2-2 in his last nine starts and was 10-5-3 in his last 17 decisions to get the Bruins in the playoffs. He allowed two-goals-or-less in 34 of his 51 complete games on the season (24-7-4 record) and has allowed just one-goal-or-less in 19 of those games (17-1-1 record). In his 11th pro season, Thomas has played playoff games as a pro in Finland, Sweden and Providence. The soon-to-be 34 year-old (April 15), will get his first taste of Stanley Cup playoff action.

Tim Thomas on playing playoff-like games for at least a month: "Every game has been so important. It’s almost like every game has been a must-win. It’s been playoff hockey for a while now. I think that will help us to hopefully be battle-tested. We’ve passed every test so far."

Finally there: C Marc Savard, who has been sidelined with a back injury since March 22, has made the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time in this, his 10th NHL season. With 659 regular-season games, Savard's wait will have been the longest in League history when he plays in his first playoff game. Dennis Maruk, 581 games (1983); Bob Stewart, 575 (1980), and Scott Walker, 574 (2004) had the longest wait prior to Savard. Savard: "I get to get rid of that tag: no playoffs. That’s pretty exciting. I’ve done well in the playoffs . . . a long time ago (in junior). So I’m as excited as anybody to get a chance. . . . This is going to be a fun time." (In 1996-97, as junior in Oshawa, Savard {130 pts in regular-season and 37 pts. in the playoffs} beat out San Jose's Joe Thornton {122 pts.} for the regular-season OHL scoring crown and Alyn McCauley {36 pts.} for the playoff crown.)

You've come a long way: 10 months (May 27) ago, Bruins rookie LW Milan Lucic was leading his Vancouver Giants to a Memorial Cup championship with an MVP performance. He received a special call of congratulations from the Bruins: "I didn't know who it was. Then he said, 'Hey, it's Cam Neely calling.' I was pretty shocked. I was in awe. It's something I'll remember for the rest of my life. He congratulated me for a job well done at the tournament and wished me luck for the future with the Boston Bruins."

Lucic vs. Price: Boston Bruins rookie Milan Lucic, while playing for the Vancouver Giants of the WHL scored his first career hat-trick in the against Montreal's rookie goaltender Carey Price, a former goaltender for the Tri-City Americans (Nov. 24, 2006).

The Seventh Player winner: Milan Lucic won the the Bruins 39th Seventh Player Award due in large part to the workmanlike effort he brought every night in his rookie NHL campaign: "They've set a certain identity of playing hard in this organization from back in the day. I can name lots of them that have played here: Cam [Neely], Ray Bourque, Terry O'Reilly. You just look up at the rafters and the numbers that are retired. All those guys played hard-nosed, in-your-face hockey. It's a successful and entertaining style."

Worth the wait: Coach Claude Julien makes his first Stanley Cup playoff appearance since his then Montreal Canadiens were swept by Tampa Bay in the 2004 Conference Semi-Final. His last playoff win came in Game #7 in Boston when the Canadiens completed a 3-1 series comeback with a 2-0 win on April 19.


PITTSBURGH PENGUINS (2) vs. OTTAWA SENATORS (7)

SERIES STORYLINES

Lucky 7's: A #7 seed knocked off a #2 seed in each Stanley Cup playoff post-season from 1997 through 2006. The streak was snapped last year when #2 Eastern seed New Jersey defeated Tampa Bay 4-2 and #2 Western seed Anaheim beat Minnesota 4-1. The Eastern Conference #7 has knocked off the #2 a total of six times in the last 10 years, while the Western Conference #7 has beaten the #2 five times in the past 10 years.

Good to see you again: Penguins' LW Gary Roberts will face the Ottawa Senators for the fifth time in his playoff career. He played a key role in three straight playoff series wins for Toronto against the Senators from 2001 through 2004. He was on the losing end last year with the Penguins in Ottawa's five-game opening round win after both teams enjoyed 105-point regular-seasons. Roberts has 12 goals and 21 points in 23 career playoff games against Ottawa.

Why score first? In their four meetings this season, the team that scored first went on to lose – Pittsburgh came back twice from two-goal deficits (2-0 and 5-3) to beat the Senators 6-5 in a shootout on Nov. 22/07, while the Senators, down 3-0, beat the Penguins 4-3 in overtime on Feb. 23/08. In the other two games, Ottawa didn't get on the score board first but won both games (4-1 on Dec. 13 and 5-4 on Mar. 1).

Good to see you again 2: Penguins' GM Ray Shero was the assistant GM of the Senators from 1993-1998 – Daniel Alfredsson (133rd overall,1994), Chris Phillips (1st overall,1996), Chris Neil (161st overall, 1998) as well as current Penguin Marian Hossa (12th overall, 1997) were all Ottawa draft selections during that time.

High octane: Last year, the Senators-Penguins match-up featured the League's second- and third-best offense. This season, the Senators ranked second in the League with 261 goals, while the Penguins ranked seventh with 247.

Staal's Springtime in Ottawa: For the third straight year, the Penguins' 19-year old sophomore C Jordan Staal will visit Ottawa for playoff action. He led his junior team, the Peterborough Petes, to a six-game series win in the OHL playoffs against the Ottawa 67's in 2006 and was with the Pens in their Conference Quarter-final loss last year.

PITTSBURGH PENGUINS

NHL Playoff Appearance: 22nd (2nd consecutive)
Stanley Cups: 2 (1991, 1992)
Last Playoff Series Win: 2001 (Conference Semi-Final vs. Buffalo)
All-Time Playoff Series Record: 20-20
All-Time Playoff Game Record: 110-103

KEY DATES

Dec. 8/07 -- The Penguins completed a three-game sweep of their 'Crosby-Mania' swing through Western Canada with a 2-1 shootout victory at Vancouver. In the most exciting stretch of the Penguins' season, the club scored four goals in the third period to defeat Edmonton 4-2 and posted consecutive shootout victories at Calgary and Vancouver.

Dec. 20/07 -- G Ty Conklin made his first career start in a Penguins uniform, stopping 37 shots and both shootout attempts in a 5-4 victory at Boston. Conklin, recalled from the AHL Dec. 6 after an injury to starter Marc-Andre Fleury, went on post victories in each of his first nine starts.

Jan. 1/08 -- The Penguins struck just 21 seconds into the game and C Sidney Crosby scored the game-winning shootout goal in a 2-1 victory over Buffalo in the AMP Energy Winter Classic in front of more than 71,000 at Buffalo's Ralph Wilson Stadium.

Feb. 10/08 -- C Evgeni Malkin tallied his fifth consecutive multiple-point game with a goal and three assists in a 4-3 victory over Philadelphia. Malkin upped his total to 21 points in 10 games without the injured Sidney Crosby in the lineup.

Feb. 26/08 -- Pittsburgh acquired RW Marian Hossa and RW Pascal Dupuis from Atlanta for RW Colby Armstrong, C Erik Christensen, C Angelo Esposito and Pittsburgh's 1st- round draft pick in 2008 at the trading deadline. The club also acquired D Hal Gill from Toronto for a 2nd-round draft pick in 2008 and 5th-round pick in 2009.

Mar. 4/08 -- C Sidney Crosby returned to the lineup in a 2-0 victory at Tampa Bay after missing 21 games with a high ankle injury suffered Jan. 18.

Mar. 25/08 -- The Penguins clinched a berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs with a 2-0 victory at New Jersey.

PENGUINS STORYLINES

Successful season: The Penguins captured their first division title since the 1997-98 season . . . they earned 100 points in consecutive seasons for the second time in franchise history, following 1992-93 and 1993-94 . . . they posted a +31 goal differential this season, second in the Eastern Conference and fourth in the NHL . . . they closed the season earning at least a point in 11 consecutive home games (9-0-2), in 16 of the final 17 home contests (13-1-3) and in 22 of the final 24 (19-2-3) . . . they sold out all 41 home games in 2007-08, drawing 700,137 fans for an average crowd of 17,076. It marks the first time the Penguins have sold out every home game in an entire season and sport a club-record 54-game sellout streak dating to 2006-07.

(Winter) classic turnaround: The Penguins entered the Jan. 1 Winter Classic at Buffalo with a 20-16-2 record and went 27-11-6 thereafter, posting the Eastern Conference's second- best points percentage after Dec. 31 (.682). Only the Eastern Conference Washington Capitals (28-12-3, .686) and the Western Conference's Anaheim Ducks (28-10-3, .720) and San Jose Sharks (27-11-5, .686) were better in 2008.

Ringing in the New Year: C Evgeni Malkin is the NHL's leading scorer since Jan. 1, tallying 65 points (32 goals, 33 assists) in 44 games. He tallied 46 points (20 goals, 26 assists) in 28 games while Sidney Crosby was out with an ankle injury.

The Crosby chronicles: C Sidney Crosby was in contention for a second consecutive Art Ross Trophy as NHL scoring leader until he was sidelined with an ankle injury Jan. 18 - he had 63 points (20-43--63) at the time of his injury, which was tied for the NHL lead. His 43 assists also ranked first in the League at that time. The injury sidelined him for 28 of 31 games from Jan. 19 to Mar. 25. Crosby still ranked second on the Penguins in scoring with 72 points (24 goals, 48 assists) in 53 games. His per-game scoring average of 1.36 was second in the League to Washington LW Alex Ovechkin (1.37).

OTTAWA SENATORS

NHL Playoff Appearance: 11th (11th consecutive)
Last Playoff Series Win: 2007 (Conference Final vs. Buffalo)
All-Time Playoff Series Record: 8-10
All-Time Playoff Game Record: 49-50

KEY DATES

Feb. 7/08 -- LW Dany Heatley had two goals, including the game-winner, and an assist in his return from a shoulder injury in a 5-4 victory over Florida. The Senators had gone 3-8-0 in the 11 games Heatley was sidelined with a separated shoulder.

Feb. 9/08 -- LW Dany Heatley, C Jason Spezza and RW Daniel Alfredsson played together for the first time in 13 games and tallied 15 points in a 6-1 win over Montreal. Spezza tallied his first career hat trick and tied a franchise record with six points.

Feb. 11/08 -- Acquired D Mike Commodore and LW Cory Stillman from Carolina for D Joe Corvo and RW Patrick Eaves.

Feb. 26/08 -- Acquired RW Martin Lapointe from Chicago at the trading deadline.

Feb. 27/08 -- GM Bryan Murray relieved head coach John Paddock of his duties and took over behind the bench.

Mar. 25/08 -- The Senators scored five goals in the final 7:40 of the third period to erase a 3-1 deficit in a 6-3 victory at Buffalo.

SENATORS STORYLINES

Playoff Streak Extended: The Senators have qualified for the playoffs for the 11th consecutive season, tied with the New Jersey Devils for second longest active streak in the League behind the Detroit Red Wings, who will be competing in their 17th consecutive postseason.

Dynamic Trio: The Senators line of LW Dany Heatley, C Jason Spezza and RW Daniel Alfredsson has been the NHL's highest-scoring line for each of the past three regular seasons and finished 1-2-3 in League scoring during the club's run to the 2007 Stanley Cup Final. Spezza's 92 points (34 goals, 58 assists) tied for 6th in the League scoring race, Alfredsson's 89 points (40 goals, 49 assists) was 9th and Heatley's 82 points (41 goals, 41 assists) was tied for 15th. Heatley also ranked third in the League in plus-minus (+33).

Get Shorty: RW Daniel Alfredsson tallied his career-high seventh shorthanded goal of the season March 1 against Pittsburgh, setting a single-season franchise record. Ottawa led the NHL in shorthanded goals for the third consecutive season with 18, one more than the Chicago Blackhawks. The Senators posted League-leading shorthanded goal totals of 25 in 2005-06 and 17 in 2006-07 (tied with Montreal) and have scored 60 shorthanded goals in the past three seasons.

Record Start: Ottawa's 5-1 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Nov. 6 at Scotiabank Place improved their record to 13-1-0, setting an NHL record for wins and points after 14 games. The previous mark for most wins and points after 14 games were held by three teams, the 1994-95 Pittsburgh Penguins, 2005-06 Detroit Red Wings and 2006-07 Buffalo Sabres - all started the season at 12-1-1.

Senior Senator: Senators coach Bryan Murray ranks second among all active NHL coaches in both victories (620) and games coached (1,239). He is fifth all-time in victories and sixth in games coached.

Potent Offense: The Senators ranked second in the NHL with 261 goals scored, one fewer than League leader Montreal.

Familiar Teammates: Although they are paired on the ice infrequently, defensemen Wade Redden and Chris Phillips know each other well. They have been teammates since 1997- 98, Phillips’ rookie year with the Senators and Redden’s sophomore campaign. Their 10 seasons as teammates is the NHL’s longest active streak among defensemen. Redden was the second overall pick in the 1995 Entry Draft, selected by the New York Islanders and later traded to Ottawa; Phillips was the first overall Entry Draft selection in 1996.

Block Party: D Anton Volchenkov ranked second among NHL players in blocked shots with 209, trailing leader D Mike Komisarek of the Montreal Canadiens (227). Volchenkov led the NHL in blocks in the 2006-07 regular season (273) and in the postseason (80). While not a prolific scorer, Volchenkov is timely – two of his three career playoff goals have been game-winners (April 17, 2007 at Pittsburgh, 2-1 win; April 16, 2003 at NY Islanders, 3-1 win).


WASHINGTON CAPITALS (3) vs. PHILADELPHIA FLYERS (6)

SERIES STORYLINES

Long time no see: The Capitals and Flyers haven't met in the Stanley Cup playoffs since 1989. That year, Washington qualified for post-season play as the top team in the Patrick Division but the Flyers, led by goaltender Ron Hextall, defeated the Capitals in six games.

Rock bottom to Penthouse: When the Capitals visited the Flyers on Nov. 23 they had the NHL's worst record (6-14-1). After their Feb. 6th 4-3 win over the Flyers, they had moved to the top of the Southeast Division. It was the first time they had held a division-lead since Mar.14/03 -- the last season the Capitals made the playoffs.

Season recap: Three of their four meetings this season were decided by one goal with the only two-goal margin of victory coming courtesy of an empty net goal (Flyers won 6-4, Jan. 13).

Stanley Cup rookies: 24 players will be making their Stanley Cup playoff debut – 15 players for Washington (C Nicklas Backstrom, D Steve Eminger, D John Erskine, RW Eric Fehr, LW Tomas Fleischmann, C Boyd Gordon, D Mike Green, D Milan Jurcina, C Brooks Laich, LW Quintin Laing, D Shaone Morrisonn, LW Alexander Ovechkin, D Jeff Schultz, LW Alexander Semin and C David Steckel) and nine players for Philadelphia (G Martin Biron, D Braydon Coburn, LW Riley Cote, RW Steve Downie, D Randy Jones, D Lasse Kukkonen, D Ryan Parent, LW Patrick Thoresen and RW Denis Tolpeko).

Former Flyer: Washington's Donald Brashear played for the Flyers from 2001 to 2006, appearing in 37 playoff games and helping them reach the Eastern Conference Finals in 2004.

Special Teams: Philadelphia is the number one penalized team in the Eastern conference averaging 17.9 penalty minutes-per-game while Washington sits as the second least penalized team in the East averaging 11.9 penalty minutes per game -- Washington's Ovechkin led the League with 22 power-play goals, while Philadelphia finished second in the League with a 21.8 powerplay percentage.

WASHINGTON CAPITALS

NHL Playoff Appearance: 19th (1st since 2003)
Last Playoff Series Win: 1998 (Conference Final vs. Buffalo)
All-Time Playoff Series Record: 10-18
All-Time Playoff Game Record: 69-85

KEY DATES

Nov. 22/07 -- Bruce Boudreau is named interim coach after the team gets off to a League- worst 6-14-1 record, including losses in nine of 10 games. The Capitals are 14 points behind the division-leading Carolina Hurricanes. Washington's offense is ranked 28th in the League and Alex Ovechkin has 14 goals.

Dec. 26/07 -- The 'interim' tag is removed from Boudreau's title. He goes on to compile a 37- 17-7 record and help the Capitals become the first team in NHL history to make the playoffs after standing 14th or 15th in the conference at midseason. They were 15th and last as late as Dec. 30.

Jan. 10/08 -- Capitals sign Alex Ovechkin to 13-year, $124-million contract.

Feb. 28/08 -- Capitals GM George McPhee obtains G Cristobal Huet from Montreal for a second-round pick in 2009, F Sergei Fedorov from Columbus for Ted Ruth and W Matt Cooke from Vancouver for F Matt Pettinger. The Capitals go 14-4 following the deals.

April 5/08 -- Huet wins his ninth straight start after Fedorov blasts a shot past Florida's Craig Anderson at 15:03 of the second period to snap the final tie of the regular season and send the Capitals on to the Southeast Division title.

CAPITALS STORYLINES

Ten Minutes' Notice: Boudreau, whose 17-season hockey career included 141 NHL games, was coaching the Capitals' AHL team in Hershey when Bears president-GM Doug Yingst called him at 6:50 a.m. on Nov. 22 and told him Caps GM George McPhee would be in touch shortly. McPhee phoned about 10 minutes later. "He said, 'You're coming up here,'" recalled Boudreau, who in his debut season with Hershey (2005-06) had steered the Bears to the Calder Cup. "Then your heart drops and you go, 'Oh, wow, it's happening.' The next thing I know, I'm lost in downtown Washington."

What A Finish!: The Capitals finished their season by winning their final seven games (all in the Division), 11 of the concluding 12 and 14 of the final 18.

What A Finish, Part II: The Capitals conclude the regular season with the top goal scorer in the League (Alex Ovechkin, 65), the top overall scorer in the League (Ovechkin, 112 points), the NHL shot leader (Ovechkin took 446, second-most in history to the 550 by Boston's Phil Esposito in 1970-71), top goal scorer among defensemen (Mike Green, 18) and the second-leading scorer among rookies (C Nicklas Backstrom, whose 14-55--69 was only surpassed by Chicago's Patrick Kane --21-51--72) and the rookie leader in face-off victories (David Steckel, 507).

Oh! Vechkin: Ovechkin scored 51 of his goals in the 61 games after Boudreau took over and set the single-season NHL record for goals by a left wing, surpassing the 63 Luc Robitaille ran up with the Los Angeles Kings in 1992-93 . . . His 65 goals for the season are the most an NHL player has scored since Mario Lemieux in 1995-96. Only 10 players in hockey history have ever scored more . . . Ovechkin becomes only the sixth player in the past 37 years (and the first Russian-born player ever) to lead the League in goals and points in the same season, joining a group that includes Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Phil
Esposito, Jarome Iginla and Guy Lafleur . . . He also leads the NHL in power-play goals (22) and game-winning goals (11).

What a difference a year makes: 22-year old defenseman Mike Green registered the biggest point increase among all NHL players from 2006-07 to 2007-08 (among players who played in at least 60 games). Green's 44-point increase came after totaling 56 points (18-38-56) this season as compared to 12 points (2-10-12) in 2006-07. His 44-point increase was
seven points better than Montreal Alex Kovalev's 37-point increase. Green's 18 goals are four more than he has ever scored in a single season at the junior or pro level (14 with the junior Saskatoon Blades in both 2003-04 and 2004-05).

That's A Plus: Ovechkin also went from minus-19 in 2006-07 to plus-28 in 2007-08.

Look Who's Here: The Capitals drew crowds of 17,000 or more to their final 14 home games, sold out the final four and six of the concluding 10. The Capitals averaged 13,643 in their first 20 home games and over 17,000 in the remaining home games after Ovechkin signed his new contract.

PHILADELPHIA FLYERS

NHL Playoff Appearance: 32nd (first since 2005-06)
Stanley Cups: 2 (1974, 1975)
Last Playoff Series Win: 2004 (Conference Semi-Final vs. Toronto)
All-Time Playoff Series Record: 36-29
All-Time Playoff Game Record: 180-166

KEY DATES

Oct. 4/07 -- Prized free agent acquisition C Daniel Briere scored two goals, including the breakaway winner late in third period, as the Flyers opened the season with a 3-2 victory at Calgary.

Dec. 11/07 -- RW Joffrey Lupul and C R.J. Umberger each recorded hat tricks, with Lupul adding three assists for a career-high six points, in an 8-2 victory over Pittsburgh. It marked the first time since Mar. 7, 1985 that two Flyers recorded hat tricks in the same game (Tim Kerr and Dave Poulin).

Feb. 19/08 -- The Flyers obtained D Jaroslav Modry from Los Angeles for a 3rd-round pick in the 2008 Entry Draft.

Feb. 25/08 -- The Flyers snapped a 10-game winless slide with a 4-3 comeback victory at Buffalo. The Flyers overcame a 3-0 deficit for the win, capped by former Sabre Daniel Briere scoring the decisive goal in the shootout.

Feb. 25/08 -- The Flyers acquired LW Vaclav Prospal from Tampa Bay for D Alexandre Picard and either a second or third-round draft pick in 2009.

Mar. 15/08 -- C Mike Richards scored in his return from a hamstring injury that sidelined him for nine games in a 3-2 overtime loss at Boston. The Flyers went 5-2-2 without their leading scorer.

FLYERS STORYLINES

Most improved: The Flyers finished the 2007-08 regular season with 95 points (42-29-11), a 39-point improvement over 2006-07 (22-48-12, 56 points). They were the NHL's most improved club, ahead of Washington (+24), Boston (+18), Chicago (+17), Edmonton (+17) and Phoenix (+16).

Most improved 2 - defensive turnaround: The Flyers made the League's biggest defensive turnaround from last season. The team reduced their goals-against by 70 from 303 in 2006-07 to 233 in 2007-08.

Roller coaster ride: The Flyers posted a 6-1-0 record to start the season, went 7-0-1 from Jan. 5-20, lost seven consecutive games in regulation Feb. 6-17 and rebounded with a 6-1-1 mark from Mar. 18-Apr. 4 that clinched a playoff berth.

Carrying the load down the stretch: G Martin Biron appeared in 18 of Philadelphia's final 20 games of the season, posting a 10-4-4 record. Biron, 30, will be making his Stanley Cup playoff debut. A first-round draft pick of the Buffalo Sabres in 1995, he ranks second on that franchise’s all-time goaltending list in shutouts (18), third in games (300) and third in victories (134). He enters the postseason with a career regular-season mark of 170-143-40 with a 2.57 goals-against average and 23 shutouts in 378 games.

Veteran Leadership: The Flyers will benefit from the playoff experience of their 2007-08 veteran acquisitions. C Daniel Briere was co-captain of the Sabres club that went to the Eastern Conference Final in 2006 and 2007; LW Scott Hartnell and D Kimmo Timonen made three consecutive playoff appearances with the Nashville Predators from 2004 through 2007, with Timonen serving as captain last season; D Jason Smith's five-season tenure as Edmonton Oilers captain included that club's run to the Stanley Cup Final in 2006; C Jim Dowd appeared in 82 postseason games and won a Stanley Cup ring with the New Jersey
Devils in 1995; and LW Vaclav Prospal will be skating in his eighth Stanley Cup playoffs.


NEW JERSEY DEVILS (4) vs. NEW YORK RANGERS (5)

SERIES STORYLINES

Devils vs. Rangers: Since the New York Rangers defeated the Devils en route to winning the 1994 Stanley Cup, the teams have faced each other only twice – the Rangers prevailed in five games in the 1997 Conference Semi-finals and the Devils swept the Rangers in the Conference Quarter-finals in 2006.

Quite a change: They met just two years ago -- New Jersey swept the Rangers in the Conference Quarter-final, but both the Devils and Rangers rosters have had about a 50% makeover since that meeting. Devils: F Zach Parise, Patrik Elias, Brian Gionta, John Madden, Jamie Langenbrunner, Jay Pandolfo and Sergei Brylin along with D Paul Martin, Colin White and G Martin Brodeur remain. Rangers: F Jaromir Jagr, Martin Straka, Petr Prucha, Blair Betts, Ryan Hollweg and Colton Orr along with D Michal Rozsival, Fedor Tyutin, Marek Malik, Jason Strudwick and G Henrik Lundqvist remain. Rangers F Scott Gomez played for the Devils in that series, while Devils' goaltender Kevin Weekes was a member of the Rangers.

Ranger domination: The Rangers got 15 of a possible 16 points against New Jersey in 2007-08, but missed securing home-ice advantage for the playoffs by just two points to New Jersey.

Devil of a start: Rangers' C Scott Gomez (27th overall in 1998) and LW Brendan Shanahan (2nd overall in 1987) were both New Jersey first round selections. Gomez, signed by the Rangers as a free agent on July 1, 2007, had seven points (1-6--7) in eight games against his former team in 2007-08.

Tale of two goaltenders: New Jersey G Martin Brodeur and New York Rangers G Henrik Lundqvist sit atop the EasternConference among goaltenders in both goals against average and games played. Brodeur finished the season with a 2.17 goals-against average in 77 games played while Lundqvist finished second with a 2.23 goals-against average in 72 games played -- Lundqvist led the League in shutouts with 10 while Brodeur recorded his 96th career shutout surpassing 1920s-30s star George Hainsworth (94) for second place on the all-time list.

NEW JERSEY DEVILS

NHL Playoff Appearance: 19th
Stanley Cups: 3 (2003, 2000, 1995)
Last Playoff Series Win: 2007 (Conference Quarter-Final vs. Tampa Bay)
All-Time Playoff Series Record: 22-15
All-Time Playoff Game Record: 117-96

KEY DATES

July 13/07 -- Named Brent Sutter head coach.

Oct. 27/07 -- Devils played their first game at their new home arena, Prudential Center in Newark.

Nov. 17/07 -- At Philadelphia, G Martin Brodeur became just the second goaltender in NHL history to reach the 500-victory mark, joining Patrick Roy (551). At 35 years, six months, and 12 days old, he was the youngest to accomplish the feat, and in fewer games (908) than Roy, who reached 500 victories in his 933rd game at 36 years, two months, 22 days.

Dec. 5/07 -- Devils RW Jamie Langenbrunner was named the eighth captain in team history.

DEVILS STORYLINES

Rock On: This is the Devils' 19th playoff appearance and 11th straight, but their first at Prudential Center.

In The Family: Brent Sutter becomes the third member of the family to coach in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Brian Sutter compiled a record of 28-40 in playoffs with St. Louis, Boston and Chicago, while Darryl Sutter went 47-54 in 101 games with Chicago, San Jose and Calgary.

That's Final: Devils G Martin Brodeur has appeared in four Stanley Cup Final series, winning three. The only goaltender in this season's playoff field to approach that number is Detroit's Dominik Hasek, who has played in three.

Game on: In 2007-08, his 14th NHL season, Brodeur marked a 10th consecutive campaign in which he played 70 or more games, extending his NHL record. The Devils' defensive unit has been in the Top 10 in the League every full season of Brodeur's career; Brodeur's first campaign of at least 40 appearances was 1993-94.

A Winner: With 44 wins, this was Brodeur's third consecutive season of 40-or-more victories (only Jacques Plante and Terry Sawchuk have as many as three) and the seventh of his career.

Fathers and Sons: LW Zach Parise, 23, led the Devils in goals with 31 last season and surpassed that figure in 2007-08 (32). Zach’s father, J.P. Parise, played 13 seasons in the NHL with Boston, Toronto, Minnesota, the NY Islanders and Cleveland.

Record Player: LW Patrik Elias holds the franchise records for playoff goals (35), assists (69) and points (104).

A Rare Breed: In his 13th season, all with the Devils, F Sergei Brylin owns the second- longest tenure on the current Devils roster, trailing only Martin Brodeur. With Brodeur, he is the only current Devil to have been a member of each of the club's Stanley Cup winners (1995, 2000 and 2003).

That's A Stretch: The Devils ran off a season-high nine-game winning streak from November 17-December 7. That stretch surpassed the team's longest in all of 2006-07 (5-0- 0, Dec. 1-9), and was its longest since an NHL-record 11-game stretch closed out 2005-06.

NEW YORK RANGERS

NHL Playoff Appearance: 51st (3rd consecutive)
Stanley Cups: 4 (1928, 1933, 1940, 1994)
Last Playoff Series Win: 2007 (Conference Quarter-Final vs. Atlanta)
All-Time Playoff Series Record: 43-46
All-Time Playoff Game Record: 189-203-8

KEY DATES

Mar.6/08 -- G Henrik Lundqvist defeats the Islanders and becomes only the second goalie in NHL history to begin his career with three consecutive 30-win seasons (Ron Hextall was the other, 1986-87 to 1988-89).

Mar.18/08 -- Against the Penguins, Lundqvist records his 100th career victory in his 187th career appearance, breaking the team record Mike Richter had set in his 198th game.

Apr. 3/08 -- Lundqvist sets a franchise record by appearing in his 71st game of the season. He finished with 72.

RANGERS STORYLINES

Drury's A Winner: It should come as little surprise that Rangers C Chris Drury led the team in game-winning goals this season with seven. He had nine with Buffalo last season before adding three in the playoffs . . . Drury also has four career playoff overtime winners, tying him with teammate Jaromir Jagr, the Devils' Jamie Langenbrunner and the Sharks' Jeremy Roenick for second in the 2008 playoff field behind the seven overtime winners scored by Colorado's Joe Sakic . . . In addition to a 2001 Stanley Cup ring with Colorado, Drury helped pitch the Trumbull (Connecticut) team to the Little League World Series title in 1989, helped Boston University win the NCAA championship in 1996 and won the Calder Trophy in 1999.

Top Tandem: LW Brendan Shanahan (650 goals) and RW Jaromir Jagr (646) rank first and second, respectively, among active NHL players in all-time goals scored.

A Ring To It: Each of the Rangers' top four scorers -- Scott Gomez, Jaromir Jagr, Chris Drury and Brendan Shanahan -- has won at least one Stanley Cup. They have eight Cups between them (Drury 1, Gomez and Jagr 2 apiece, and Shanahan 3).

Defense by Committee: The top foursome of Michal Rozsival, plus youngsters Dan Girardi, Marc Staal and Fedor Tyutin, have helped the Rangers cut their goals-against from last season's 216 to this season's 199. The Rangers have not allowed fewer than 200 goals in a full season since the 1971-72 season (192 goals-against in 78 games).

No Offense: The Rangers shut out the opposition 12 times this season, one short of the club record set by the 1928-29 Rangers across a 44-game schedule.

Strong Finishers: Over the concluding 30 games of the regular season, the Rangers went 18-5-7. Last season, the Rangers went 17-6-5 over their final 28 regular-season contests.

(April 8th, Part II) West Conference Preview

MINNESOTA WILD (3) vs. COLORADO AVALANCHE (6)

SERIES STORYLINES

History: The Avalanche and Wild have met only once in the Stanley Cup playoffs. The Wild, making their first NHL playoff appearance in 2003, rallied from a 3-1series deficit to defeat the Avalanche in the seventh game of the Conference Quarter-final -- Colorado's Andrew Brunette, then with Minnesota, scored at 3:25 of overtime of Game 7 to give Minnesota the victory on April 22, 2003.

Golden Gopher returns: Colorado D Jordan Leopold, a Golden Valley, capped his four year career with the University of Minnesota with a 4-3 victory over the Maine Black Bears at the Xcel Energy Center for the 2002 NCAA title -- Leopold, the 2002 Hobey Baker Memorial Award winner, helped set up the winning goal in overtime giving Minnesota its first NCAA win
since 1979.

Familiar foes: Minnesota's Brian Rolston (1999-2000), Chris Simon (1995-96) and Martin Skoula (1999-2002) all played for the Colorado Avalanche and Mark Parrish (79th overall in 1996), and Branko Radivojevic (93rd overall in 1999) were Avalanche draft choices. Martin Skoula, also a Colorado draft pick (17th overall in 1998) and Chris Simon helped lead the Avalanche to Stanley Cup victories -- Simon won with Colorado in 1996 and Skoula in 2001.

Balanced scoring: Both teams had nine players score at least 10 goals in 2007-08, with Colorado posting 224 goals and Minnesota 220 goals. Their defenses are also equally balanced, with Minnesota giving up only 218 goals against and Colorado 219.

Road woes: The Avalanche went 3-4-1 against the Wild this season, but finished 0-3-1 in Minnesota -- both teams have struggled on the road with only 43 of Minnesota's 98 points and 39 of Colorado's 95 points coming on the road in 2007-08.

MINNESOTA WILD

NHL Playoff Appearance: 3rd (2nd consecutive)
Stanley Cups: 0
Last Playoff Series Win: 2003 (Conference Semi-final vs. Vancouver)
All-Time Playoff Series Record: 2-2
All-Time Playoff Game Record: 9-14

KEY DATES

Dec. 17/07 -- Jacques Lemaire coaches his 1,000th career NHL regular-season game.

Dec. 20/07 -- RW Marian Gaborik scores five goals and adds an assist in victory over the Rangers.

March 1/08 -- Gaborik is named captain.

April 3/08 -- The Wild defeats Calgary to win the Northwest Division title, the first in team history, and gives Jacques Lemaire his 500th career regular-season victory as an NHL head coach.

WILD STORY LINES

'Monnesota' Wild?: GM Doug Risebrough played on four Cup-winners with Montreal, Coach Jacques Lemaire played on eight Cup-winners with Montreal and Assistant Coach Mario Tremblay played on five with Montreal -- four of them as a teammate of Lemaire and Risebrough. . . Of the 1,090 players who have skated for Stanley Cup champion teams since 1893, only four players (all of whom played for the Canadiens) have played on more champs than Lemaire: Claude Provost (9), Jean Beliveau and Yvan Cournoyer (10) and Henri Richard(11) . . . Lemaire scored the Stanley Cup-winning goals in 1977 (against Boston) and 1979 (against the Rangers). The Cup-winning goal scorer in the 1978 Final against the Bruins? Tremblay . . . Lemaire also is the only person to play in 800 NHL games and coach in 1,000.

Not To Be Overlooked: Minnesota's other assistant coach, Mike Ramsey, played on the USA team that shocked the hockey world by winning the gold medal at the 1980 Olympics after playing for the 1979 NCAA champion University of Minnesota.

Don't Scratch My Backstrom: Wild G Niklas Backstrom won a franchise-record 33 games this season, going 7-0-4 in his last 11 decisions with a 1.61 goals-against average and a .944 save percentage . . . Over the past two seasons, Backstrom has lost only twice in regulation in the months of March and April. He is a combined 18-2-6 with a 1.60 GAA and a .970 save percentage from March 1 forward.

Marian Gaborik finished with 42 goals, a team record, plus 83 points (another team record) and tied his own team record with eight game-winners. Brian Rolston also had 8.

Best of 15?: Brian Rolston, prior to the regular-season finale, said "I think we’ve completely been in playoff mode these last eight or nine games." Rolston has scored 30-or-more goals in each of the past three seasons.

Best of 29?: G Niklas Backstrom said, "It’s been like playoffs for a month or two."

Center of Attraction: Minnesota went 25-11-5 at Xcel Energy Center in 2007-08 after going 29-7-5 in the previous season. The Wild's all-time home record is 149-88-49.

Looks Familiar: Avalanche defensemen Jordan Leopold (Golden Valley) and Kurt Sauer (St. Cloud) are Minnesota natives . . . Colorado LW Andrew Brunette spent three seasons with the Wild (2001-04).

Tough Tickets: In its seventh NHL season, the Wild has sold out all 318 home games played in club history, including 287 regular season games, 21 preseason contests and 10 playoff games.

Burning Up: D Brent Burns (all 6-5, 219 of him) established franchise records for goals and points by a defenseman with 15 and 43, respectively . . . Burns' mother, Gaby, went into labor with him while she was at a rink watching her husband, Rob, play in a recreational league game in March 1985 . . . According to Larry Wigge of NHL.com, Burns loves to read, has five tattoos, three guitars, two racing bikes, two huskies, two cats, two talking birds and a large sampling of fish -- including a shark.

Lemaire Fiddles, Burns Roams: The Wild drafted Burns expecting he would play forward. Burns had played defense, then right wing, in junior. Wild coach Jacques Lemaire experimented with Burns up front in 2005-06.

COLORADO AVALANCHE

NHL Playoff Appearance: 20th (1st since 2006)
Stanley Cups: 2 (2001, 1996)
Last Playoff Series Win: 2006 (Conference Quarterfinal vs. Dallas)
All-Time Playoff Series Record: 24-17
All-Time Playoff Game Record: 126-107

KEY DATES

What a week -- The seven-day period from February 24 through March 1 was a defining one for the Avalanche this season. After a 3-2 loss to the Oilers on Feb. 24, they sat in10th place In the West – in the midst of a streak that had seen them win just one of seven games - and were four points behind 8th place Nashville.

Feb. 24/08 -- C Joe Sakic returned to the lineup after missing 38 games due to hernia surgery (Dec. 28). It was the most games he has missed in his career in a single season.

Feb. 25/08 -- C Peter Forsberg was signed for the remainder of the 2007-08 season and would make his debut on March 4 vs. Vancouver.

Feb. 26/08 -- D Adam Foote was acquired from Columbus on trade deadline (for a conditional first-round draft choice in 2008 or 2009 and a conditional fourth-round choice in 2009). After hopping a ride with a police officer from the airport to the Pengrowth Saddledome, he made his way on to the bench with 6:26 left in the first period and went on to play 29 shifts (18:30 of ice time) in the Avs 3-2 win.

Feb. 26/08 – Another trade deadline deal saw D Ruslan Salei acquired from Florida (for Karlis Skrastins and a third-round draft choice in the 2008 Entry Draft).

Feb. 27/08 – D Brett Clark underwent season-ending shoulder surgery.

Mar. 1/08 – RW Marek Svatos suffered a torn ACL vs. Los Angeles and is out for the remainder of the season. He was leading the team with 26 goals at the time of his injury.

AVALANCHE STORYLINES

Sakic & Forsberg among playoff leaders: Sakic and Forsberg both rank in the top-10 in playoff career points-per-game average (among players with 100 points). Wayne Gretzky leads at 1.84, followed by Mario Lemieux (1.61), Mark Messier (1.25), Mike Bossy (1.24), Jari Kurri (1.16), Forsberg (1.15), Gilbert Perreault (1.14), Peter Stastny (1.13), Bernie Federko (1.11) and Sakic (1.09).

Sakic also on goal list: Sakic also sits 10th in average goals-per-game in the playoffs. Mario Lemieux ranks first (.710), followed by Mike Bossy (.659), Maurice Richard (.617), Cam Neely (.613), Wayne Gretzky (.587), Jari Kurri (.530), Bobby Hull (.521), Dino Ciccarelli (.518), Brett Hull (.516) and Sakic (.506).

Mr. Playoffs: Joe Sakic enters the 2008 playoffs in 11th place all-time in points with 178 (82-96-178) – two behind Raymond Bourque (180) and six behind Bryan Trottier (184). He is tied for 7th all-time in playoff goals with Maurice Richard (82) and is within three of catching 6th place Mike Bossy (85). He is also tied with Maurice Richard for 4th all-time in game- winning goals in the playoffs (18) and is one shy of 3rd place Claude Lemieux (19). Finally, Sakic looks to extend his career playoff overtime goals record (7).

Playoff time for Stastny again in Denver: As Paul Stastny prepares for his first Stanley Cup playoff game, exactly three years ago (April 9, 2005) he notched a pair of goals for the University of Denver to lead them to their second consecutive NCAA with a 4-1 victory over North Dakota. Stastny is the first Avalanche player to score 20 goals in each of his first two NHL seasons since Chris Drury in 1998-99 and 1999-2000, despite missing 15 games after having his appendix removed on Jan. 17.

Theodore’s bounce back season: After a 13-15-1 record in 2006-07, including only three starts in the final six weeks of the season, G Jose Theodore rebounded to post a 28-21-3 record in 2007-08. He has allowed two goals or less in 22 of his last 36 appearances, including one goal or less on 11 occasions and three shutouts; his 2.23 average since Jan. 1st is tied for third among NHL goaltenders. Arthroscopic knee surgery on Aug. 29, followed a brief stint in the minors made Theodore eager to regain his Vezina and Hart Trophy form of 2001-02: "If I play the best I can and I'm happy with the way I'm playing, then everything will fall into place," he said early this season. "I think every year you approach it the same way, but obviously when it's the last year of the contract, I think as a player everybody puts that extra pressure on yourself, which is a fun and good pressure."

The three amigos: Foote, Forsberg and Sakic remain from the Avalanche teams that won Stanley Cups in both 1996 and 2001 (Milan Hejduk and Scott Parker remain from 2001- winning team). Their reunion on Mar. 4 vs. Vancouver marked the first time they had played together since a playoff game vs. San Jose on May 4/04 and the threesome combined to log more than 63 minutes of ice time. Sakic on the reunion: "It's just great to have Adam back. You start almost the same time in your career, you're together so long. He left and he came back, and now it's like you have your buddy back from when you started, and it's almost like you're going back to the start with him. Same with Peter. It's one of those things that on the ice, off the ice, everything's kind of back where it should be." Forsberg on his return to Colorado: "It feels like it was yesterday when I left here. Just being back here ... and these guys are still flying around, and they're a couple of years older than I am, but they look great out there. It seems like they haven't missed a beat. It's great to be back with these guys. We had such a good long run."

Avs consistency: The Avalanche have reached 40 wins for the ninth consecutive season and 11th time in 12 seasons since moving to Denver (only failed to reach the 40-win mark in 1997-98, when they won the Pacific Division title with 39 wins). They are one of only three teams to produce 11 different 40-win campaigns since 1995-96 (Detroit and New Jersey).

The Comeback kids: The Avalanche rallied to win seven games this season when trailing after two periods. Only the New Jersey Devils (8) had more comeback wins when trailing after two periods this season.

The ironman: LW Andrew Brunette has played in 452 consecutive games, the longest active streak in the league. He is one of only two Avalanche players to skate in all 82 games this season (Scott Hannan).



DETROIT RED WINGS (1) vs. NASHVILLE PREDATORS (8)

SERIES STORYLINES

Oh Eight: #8 team has beaten the #1 team seven times since 1994. The last #8 seed to defeat a #1 was in 2006 when the Edmonton Oilers defeated Detroit Red Wings 4-2. Other #8 upsets include, Montreal over Boston (2002), San Jose over St. Louis (2000), Pittsburgh over New Jersey (1999), Ottawa over New Jersey (1998), NY Rangers over Quebec (1995) and San Jose over Detroit (1994).

Who's left from '04?: Only seven players remain from the Predators' team that was defeated by the Red Wings in six games in their inaugural playoff appearance in 2004 -- G Chris Mason, D Marek Zidlicky and Dan Hamhuis and F Martin Erat, David Legwand, Vernon Fiddler and Jordin Tootoo. Hamhuis, Fiddler and Tootoo were rookies on that team. (Steve Sullivan also played on the '94 team but has missed all of 2007-08 with injury.) 10 Red Wings remain from that 2004 team that played Nashville -- G Dominik Hasek, D Nicklas Lidstrom, Niklas Kronvall, Chris Chelios and F Pavel Datysuk, Henrik Zetterberg, Tomas Holmstrom, Kris Draper, Kirk Maltby and Darren McCarty.

Goaltending Depth: Predators' coach Barry Trotz and Red Wings' coach Mike Babcock will have the rare benefit of depth in goal in their opening round matchup. Of the 271 playoff series over the past 20 years, only five have featured matchups in which each team had two goaltenders who played in at least 45% of the team's regular-season games. This will be the
sixth, as Trotz can use Chris Mason or Dan Ellis and Babcock can go with his Jennings trophy winning duo of Chris Osgood or Dominik Hasek. The only other such series: in 2006-07, the Predators (Tomas Vokoun/Chris Mason) played the San Jose Sharks (Evgeni Nabokov/Vesa Toskala); in 1995-96, the Pittsburgh Penguins (Tom Barrasso/Ken Wregget) played the New York Rangers (Glenn Healy/Mike Richter); in 1995-96 the Colorado Avalanche (Stephane Fiset/Patrick Roy) played the Vancouver Canucks (Corey Hirsch/Kirk McLean); in 1988-89 the Boston Bruins (Reggie Lemelin/Andy Moog) faced the Buffalo
Sabres (Jacques Cloutier/Daren Puppa) and, also in 1988-89, Boston (Lemelin/Moog) faced the Montreal Canadiens (Brian Hayward/Patrick Roy).

Quite a debut: The Predators franchise playoff debut came against Detroit in 2004. In Game 1 (Apr. 7), the Predators' Adam Hall scored 16 seconds into the game -- the goal was the quickest ever surrendered by the Red Wings in their distinguished playoff history.

Familiar foe: Nashville D Greg de Vries will face Detroit in the playoffs for the fourth time in his career. While with Colorado (1998-2003), de Vries beat Detroit twice in the Conference Semi-finals (1999, 2000) and lost once in the Conference Final (2002).

Familiar foe 2: The Predators and Red Wings played each other four times in 22 days in the month of March. While the Red Wings won three of four, three of the games were decided by one goal. Detroit F Henrik Zetterberg after their last meeting of the season, a 1-0 overtime victory on March 30: "If it ends up being them in the first round, it's going to be like (today). It's going to be close games, and a lot of games are going to go to overtime because it's that close between the two teams."

Detroit - Nashville connection: Predators' C David Legwand, a Detroit native, played his minor hockey for Detroit Compuware before playing for the Plymouth Whalers in the OHL.

Veteran vs. Youth: The average age of the Red Wings' defense is 31.6, compared to the Predators' defense average age of 26. 4.

DETROIT RED WINGS

NHL Playoff Appearance: 56th (17th consecutive)
Stanley Cups: 10 (last SC: 2002)
Last Playoff Series Win: 2007 (Conference Semifinal vs. San Jose)
All-Time Playoff Series Record: 58-45
All-Time Playoff Game Record: 269-248-1

KEY DATES

Nov. 27/07 -- Nicklas Lidstrom becomes the 72nd player in NHL history to appear in his 1,200th NHL game.

Jan. 8/08 -- Against Colorado, D Chris Chelios becomes the second-oldest player in NHL
history, second only to Gordie Howe.

RED WINGS STORYLINES

Young At Heart I: With his next playoff game appearance, D Chris Chelios will match the record for most Stanley Cup Playoff games, 247, set by G Patrick Roy. Chelios also will extend his own Stanley Cup record by appearing in his 23rd career playoff season.

Young At Heart II: Chelios, who turned 46 on Jan. 25, passed the late Moe Roberts (45
years, 347 days) to become the oldest U.S.-born player in NHL history and the second-oldest NHL player ever, surpassed only by Gordie Howe (52 years, 6 days). Roberts, a goaltender, made last NHL appearance was for Chicago -- against the Red Wings -- Nov. 25, 1951; by then he was assistant trainer for the Blackhawks but was pressed back into service (17 seasons after his previous NHL appearance) when Chicago's starting goaltender, Harry Lumley, was injured.

Young At Heart III: Chris Chelios is older than seven current coaches, including Mike Babcock. He also predates Nashville's Barry Trotz, New Jersey's Brent Sutter, Pittsburgh's Michel Therrien, Carolina's Peter Laviolette, Philadelphia's John Stevens and Toronto's Paul Maurice . . . Chelios also played his first game March 8, 1984, or 12 days before teammate Valtteri Filppula was born.

Truly Presidential: Including this season, the Red Wings have won the Presidents’ Trophy six times since it was presented by the Board of Governors to the National Hockey League in 1985-86 to honor the team that finished the regular season with the League’s best record. No other team has won it more than twice.

In The Long Run: This is Detroit's 17th consecutive season in the playoffs – the longest such streak in pro sports. The New York Yankees are second with 13 in a row. This also is the Red Wings' eighth consecutive season of 100 points-or-more, matching the record the Montreal Canadiens set from 1974-75 to 1981-82.

Offensive Defense: Detroit is the only team in the NHL with three defenseman scoring 30- or-more points -- Nicklas Lidstrom (10-60--70), Brian Rafalski (13-42--55) and Niklas Kronwall (7-28--35). Lidstrom and Rafalski are the top-scoring defense pair in the NHL.

Near-Perfect 10: Over the past 10 seasons, the Red Wings have won a combined 556 regular-season (493) and playoff (63) games, the top combined total in the NHL.

No Repeat After Me: The Red Wings were the last team to repeat as Stanley Cup champions, 1997-98.

Last Team To Win The Presidents’ Trophy And The Stanley Cup In The Same Year: The Red Wings, in 2002.

Who? Not Howe?: Johan Franzen scored 14 goals in March -- six of them game winners, surpassing the record Gordie Howe had shared with Henrik Zetterberg.

Motor (City) Coach: Mike Babcock this season became the first coach in League history to win 50-or-more games in his first three seasons with an NHL team. He also garnered the Presidents' Trophy in his first season in Hockeytown, 2005-06.

Flipping Over Lidstrom: Nicklas Lidstrom has won the Norris Trophy five times in the past six seasons. Only Bobby Orr (8) and Doug Harvey (7) have won the Norris more times.

Patience, patience: Three of the most important Red Wings were extremely late draft picks - - LW Tomas Holmstrom was #257 in 1994, C Pavel Datsyuk was #171 in 1998 and LW Henrik Zetterberg was #210 in 1999.

NASHVILLE PREDATORS

NHL Playoff Appearance: 4th (4th consecutive)
All-Time Playoff Series Record: 0-3
All-Time Playoff Game Record: 4-12

KEY DATES

Oct. 25/07 -- The Predators snapped an early-season six-game losing streak with a 3-0 win against Atlanta. Off-season free agent signing G Dan Ellis posted a 20-save shutout in his first start as a Predator and just his second NHL start.

Dec. 1/07 -- The Predators staged a three-goal, third-period comeback and defeated the Montreal Canadiens 5-4 at Bell Centre. C Radek Bonk, who spent the past two seasons with Montreal, scored the game-tying goal with 46.8 seconds remaining in regulation and was successful on his shootout attempt.

Feb. 26/08 -- Nashville acquired LW Jan Hlavac from Tampa Bay for a 7th-round draft pick in 2008 at the trade deadline.

Apr. 1/08 -- Trailing eighth-place Vancouver by one point in the Western Conference playoff race with just three games remaining, the Predators rallied from a 3-0 first-period deficit to defeat the St. Louis Blues 4-3 in overtime. Nashville tallied a pair of third-period goals to tie the score and C Rich Peverley notched the game-winner in overtime.

PREDATORS STORYLINES

Finishing kick: The Predators went 5-0-1 in the six-game stretch from Mar. 22 to Apr. 3, culminating in a 3-2 victory over St. Louis that clinched a playoff spot.

Franchise record shutout streak: G Dan Ellis set a franchise-record shutout streak by not allowing a goal in 233:38 -- from the first period vs. Chicago on March 22 to 3:21 of overtime on March 30 at Detroit. It marked the fifth-longest shutout streak in the NHL since 1944-45. Ellis turned aside 147 consecutive shots during the streak, and his pair of shutouts gave him six this season, setting a franchise record.

Here's to Trotz: Predators head coach Barry Trotz completed his ninth season behind the Nashville bench, the longest tenure by the original coach of an expansion team. Trotz passed Terry Crisp (391 games with Tampa Bay from October, 1992 to October, 1997) in the 2002-03 season. Trotz owns the second-longest current NHL coaching tenure (738 games), trailing Buffalo’s Lindy Ruff (820). He has worked alongside Predators GM David Poile, previously with the Washington Capitals organization, since 1987-88 (20 seasons).

Making Winning A Habit: The Predators have recorded 90 points-or-more in four consecutive seasons and are particularly tough at home, posting an 83-30-10 record at Sommet Center over the past three seasons.

Captain Arnott leads the way: Captain Jason Arnott ranked second on the club in goal- scoring with 28, reaching the 20-goal plateau for the ninth consecutive season and the 11th time in his 14-year NHL career. Arnott has appeared in 96 Stanley Cup playoff games and has been to the Stanley Cup Final twice, capturing the Cup with New Jersey in 2000. During the 2000 playoffs, he tied for third in the NHL in points (8-12--20) and led the Devils with seven points (4-3--7) vs. Dallas in the Stanley Cup Final. He tallied the Stanley Cup-winning goal in double overtime of Game 6 at Dallas.

Looking back at the 2007 playoffs: RW Alexander Radulov scored twice in Game 1 of the Western Conference Quarterfinal series against San Jose, becoming the first NHL player to score two goals in his first playoff game since Anaheim's Paul Kariyadid it on April 16, 1997 against Phoenix. He also was the first rookie to accomplish the feat since Washington D Sergei Gonchar against Pittsburgh on May 6, 1995 ... RW J.P. Dumont scored two goals in both Games 1 and 2 against San Jose, becoming the first player since Pittsburgh C Petr Nedved in 1996 to score four-or-more goals in his first two games with a new team.



SAN JOSE SHARKS (2) vs. CALGARY FLAMES (7)

SERIES STORYLINES

Lucky 7's: A #7 seed knocked off a #2 seed in each Stanley Cup playoff post-season from 1997 through 2006. The streak was snapped last year when #2 Eastern seed New Jersey defeated Tampa Bay 4-2 and #2 Western seed Anaheim beat Minnesota 4-1. The Eastern Conference #7 has knocked off the #2 a total of six times in the last 10 years, while the Western Conference #7 has beaten the #2 five times in the past 10 years.

Leading by example: Former Art Ross trophy winners Jarome Iginla (2002) and Joe Thornton (2006) sit third and fifth in the League with 98 and 96 points, respectively -- Iginla finished third in 2007-08 with 50 goals while Thornton led the League with 67 assists.

Familiar Foe: Calgary and San Jose faced each other in the 2004 Western Conference Finals with Calgary, the number six seed, upsetting the second-ranked Sharks 4-2 en route to their first Stanley Cup Final appearance since winning the Cup in 1989.

The lower seed prevails: In just their second year of post-season play, the San Jose Sharks, a number seven seed, defeated the Calgary Flames in game seven of the 1995 Conference Quarter-finals -- the Sharks were defeated 9-2 in Game 3 and blanked 5-0 in Game 5, but went on to eliminate the Flames in double overtime 5-4.

Staying even: San Jose G Evgeni Nabokov ranks first in the Western Conference with 46 wins in 77 games followed closely by Calgary's Miikka Kiprusoff with 39 wins in 76 games played. Both netminders sport a 1.07 goals for and against ratio when their teams are five- on-five.

SAN JOSE SHARKS

NHL Playoff Appearance: 11th (fourth consecutive)
Last Playoff Series Win: 2007 (Conference Quarter-Final vs. Nashville)
All-Time Playoff Series Record: 8-10
All-Time Playoff Game Record: 51-55

KEY DATES

Oct. 5/07 -- In his second game with the club, C Jeremy Roenick scored a pair of goals, including the game-winner, in a 3-1 victory at Vancouver. Roenick went on to lead the Sharks with 10 game-winning tallies, his most in a single season since 1999-2000 with Phoenix (12).

Nov. 12/07 -- G Evgeni Nabokov made his 25th consecutive start, setting a franchise record. He went on to make 43 consecutive starts to start the season, the second-longest streak in the League since 1989-90. New Jersey's Martin Brodeur made 44 starts from Jan. 3, 1996 to Apr. 13, 1996. Nabokov posted a 25-12-6 record with a 1.99 goals against average, .918 save percentage and five shutouts in that span.

Feb. 26/08 -- The Sharks acquired D Brian Campbell and a 7th-round pick in 2008 from Buffalo for RW Steve Bernier and a 1st-round draft pick in 2008.

Mar. 3/08 -- Less than one week after joining the Sharks at the trade deadline and making his home debut in a San Jose uniform, D Brian Campbell's spectacular spin-o-rama goal against Montreal in a 6-4 victory electrified the sold-out Shark Tank crowd. The goal was one of the most-watched goals by online viewers this season.

Mar. 14/08 -- The Sharks set a franchise record by extending their winning streak to 11 games with a 4-1 victory over St. Louis. It also marked the longest single-season streak in the NHL since New Jersey won 11 consecutive games from March 28-April 18, 2006. The Sharks' streak ended the following game, a 2-1 shootout loss to the Edmonton Oilers Mar.
16.

18-0-2: The Sharks posted a franchise record by recording at least one point in 20 consecutive games (18-0-2) from Feb. 21 at Philadelphia through Apr. 1 against Los Angeles. Among the highlights was a franchise-record 11-game win streak (Feb. 21 - Mar. 14), the longest by an NHL club this season. The Sharks made up an 11-point deficit to the Dallas Stars in the Pacific Division from Feb. 29 until taking first place on Mar. 11. The Sharks went on to clinch the division with their win at Anaheim on Mar. 28.

SHARKS STORYLINES

Record March: The Sharks recorded the best points percentage by an NHL club during the month of March in NHL history. San Jose went 13-0-2, earning 28 of a possible 30 points (.933) to top the 1950-51 Detroit Red Wings (10-1-0, .909) and 1926-27 Montreal Canadiens (9-1-0, .900).

Road Warriors: The Sharks became the first club in NHL history to record multiple road winning streaks of nine games or longer in a single season. They won 10 consecutive road contests from Nov. 14 at Dallas through Dec. 31 at Minnesota, followed by their nine-game streak from Feb. 21 at Philadelphia through Mar. 18 at Los Angeles. The Sharks finished the season with a League-best 27-10-4 road mark.

Big Joe enjoys another big season: C Joe Thornton led the Sharks in scoring with 96 points (29 goals, 67 assists) in 82 games. He finished fifth in the race for the Art Ross Trophy as League scoring leader and led the NHL in assists for the third consecutive season. He earned points on 44.4% of his team's goals (96 of 216), tops in the Western Conference and
second in the NHL to Washington's Alex Ovechkin (47.1%, 112 of 238). The Sharks have posted a 136-64-22 regular-season mark since acquiring Thornton from Boston in a Nov. 30, 2005 trade. Thornton has 302 points (71 goals, 231 assists) in those 222 games.

Making strides with Campbell: The Sharks went 16-2-2 in their final 20 games of the season after the club acquired D Brian Campbell from Buffalo at the trade deadline. Campbell posted 19 points (three goals, 16 assists) and a +9 rating in those games.

Nabokov a fixture in goal: In his first season as the club's consensus number one goaltender following the off-season departure of Vesa Toskala to Toronto, G Evgeni Nabokov responded with his finest NHL campaign in 2007-08. Nabokov posted a 43-game consecutive-start streak to begin the 2007-08 season, one short of the longest such streak since 1989-90 (Martin Brodeur, 44). He led the NHL in victories (46), just two shy of Brodeur's NHL-record 48 set last season, and posted a League-high 25 one-goal victories. He ranked second among NHL goaltenders in minutes played (4,561), third in goals-against average (2.14) and tied for third in shutouts (six).

Wilson is playoff-tested: The Sharks' Ron Wilson ranks fourth among 2008 Stanley Cup Playoff head coaches in postseason games behind the bench with 82 (41-41). The only 2008 playoff coaches with more are Calgary's Mike Keenan (160, 91-69), Ottawa's Bryan Murray (108, 52-56) and Minnesota's Jacques Lemaire(106, 58-48).

CALGARY FLAMES

NHL Playoff Appearance: 25th (4th consecutive)
Stanley Cups: 1 (1989)
Last Playoff Series Win: 2004 (Conference Final vs. San Jose)
All-Time Playoff Series Record: 15-23
All-Time Playoff Game Record: 89-106

KEY DATES

Oct. 29/07 -- G Miikka Kiprusoff signed to a six-year contract.

Dec. 9-18/07 -- The Flames embarked on a six-game road trip tied for 12th in the Western Conference standings. After becoming just the third team in League history to go 6-0 on a road trip (1971-72 Boston Bruins, 1982-83 Philadelphia Flyers), the Flames found themselves tied for 6th in the West by Dec. 19.

Feb. 6/08 -- D Dion Phaneuf signed to a six-year contract. Coach Keenan on the signing: "He's got the leadership skills and he's got the passion for improvement. He wants to take charge. He wants to be the best. He has the confidence and the ability to improve his game dramatically and he'll put the time and effort in to try and accomplish that goal."

Feb. 8/08 -- With the Flames on a bit of a low coming out of the All-Star break (2-3-0), GM Darryl Sutter addressed the team at practice. D Anders Eriksson on the meeting: "I think it shows the GM really cares. He obviously wants to win as much as we do. We've got Stanley Cup on our mind. The way we've been playing lately, we're slipping away from the way we can. Sometimes, you need a little kick in the butt. Wake up. We want to win and we've got to get back on the right track. You know that he cares, but it really proves a point when he comes down."

FLAMES STORYLINES

Milestone year for Iginla: RW Jarome Iginla, with his 50th goal of the season in the Flames' final regular-season game (vs. Vancouver), has scored 50-or-more goals for the second time in his career (52 in 2001-02). He enjoyed the best first half of the season of his career this season with 29 goals in his first 41 games and became the Flames all-time goal- scoring leader with his 365th on Mar. 10 vs. St. Louis and the club's all-time leader in games played when he appeared in his 804th career game on Nov. 29/07 vs. Anaheim.

More Iginla: Iginla on the Flames' battle to qualify for the playoffs before their final game vs. Vancouver: "We were fully prepared to play a Game 7 here for everything. We don’t have to now. But the last 10 games have all felt like Game 7s. The tension. The nervousness. The excitement. Honestly, it really feels like we’ve already been through a playoff series."

Keenan's playoff experience: Flames' coach Mike Keenan enters the 2008 Stanley Cup playoffs with a career record of 91-69 (.569). His 91 playoff victories position him 5th on the all-time list, behind Scotty Bowman (223), Al Arbour (123), Dick Irvin (100) and Pat Quinn (94). Among the coaches participating in the 2008 playoffs, only Keenan ('94 NY Rangers),
Anaheim's Randy Carlyle (2007) and Minnesota's Jacques Lemaire ('95 New Jersey Devils) have guided teams to Stanley Cup titles.

It's been a while: It will be 4,346 days between stepping behind the bench for a Stanley Cup playoff game for Flames' coach Mike Keenan. Keenan's last coaching appearance was on May 16, 1996 when his St. Louis Blues lost 1-0 in double overtime to the Red Wings in Game #7 of their Western Conference semi-final series. Detroit's Steve Yzerman scored on a 60-foot slap shot against Jon Casey to eliminate the Blues. Current head coaches Wayne Gretzky of Phoenix and Craig MacTavish of Edmonton along with Dallas co-GM Brett Hull and Ducks' defenseman Chris Pronger all played for Keenan on that team.

Sutter-Keenan playoff reunion: Flames' GM Darryl Sutter was associate coach to Keenan in 1990-91 and 1991-92 with Chicago and they went to the Stanley Cup Final in their second season together. Keenan, after being hired by the Flames, on what it takes to win a Stanley Cup: "To win a Stanley Cup is not an easy task. It's a very difficult task that demands abnormal behaviour in terms of excellence. Your dedication and sacrifices are going to have to be more than normal which isn't easy for people to grasp."

Nolan hits milestone: Flames Masterton trophy nominee RW Owen Nolan appeared in his 1000th regular-season NHL game against the San Jose Sharks on Oct. 22/07 vs. San Jose: "I'm still trying to win that Cup," he told Calgary reporters at the time. "I know I don't have many years left and coming to Calgary, I felt they had a great opportunity. And to get to 1,000 games . . . it would be special to get both in the same year. It's taken a long time to get here -- many injuries and many surgeries later, but I'm excited about it."

Phaneuf loves the work & goals: Since playing 31 minutes and 20 seconds in the season opener against the Flyers, D Dion Phaneuf has been among the League leaders in average minutes played per-game. He finished the season with the fifth-highest average (26:25 per- game) in the League (Florida's Jay Bouwmeester led at 27:28 per-game). Only Bouwmeester
(2,252 minutes, 28 seconds) played more minutes this season than Phaneuf (2,166:35). As well, he has scored 54 goals (17 this season) in his three seasons in the NHL, the most over the last three seasons by any defenseman.



ANAHEIM DUCKS (4) vs. DALLAS STARS (5)

SERIES STORYLINES

Who's left?: The Ducks and Stars last met in the Stanley Cup playoffs in the 2003 Conference Semifinal (won by Anaheim 4-2). Only F Rob Niedermayer and Samuel Pahlsson as well as G J.F. Giguere remain from that team. Nine current Dallas players
competed in that series -- F Brenden Morrow, Mike Modano, Jere Lehtinen, Stu Barnes and Steve Ott, D Sergei Zubov, Stephane Robidas and Philippe Boucher and G Marty Turco.

Playing from behind: The Ducks-Stars matchup features the two teams that registered the most number of wins this season after giving up the first goal of the game. Anaheim had 21 such wins (21-23-5), while the Stars had 20 come-from-behind wins (20-20-2).

Home ice advantage: Anaheim boasts the second most home-ice points (60) in the Western Conference, holding visiting teams to a League low 88 goals, while the Dallas Stars finished third in the Western Conference with 49 road points and scored the Western Conference's second highest road goal total (118).

Goaltender battle: During the 2007 playoffs, Dallas G Marty Turco posted a 1.30 goals- against average and a .952 save percentage before being eliminated in game seven of the Western Conference Quarter-finals. Anaheim G J.S. Giguere led his team to the Stanley Cup with a 1.97 goals-against average and a .922 save percentage.


ANAHEIM DUCKS

NHL Playoff Appearance: 6th (3rd consecutive)
Stanley Cups: 1 (2007)
Last Playoff Series Win: 2007 (Stanley Cup Final vs. Ottawa)
All-Time Playoff Series Record: 10-4
All-Time Playoff Game Record: 44-29

KEY DATES

Nov. 1/07 -- D Mathieu Schneider made his debut with the Ducks after missing the first 13 games with a fractured ankle.

Nov. 20/07 -- Signed C Ryan Getzlaf to a five-year contract extension.

Dec. 14/07 -- C Doug Weight (and LW Michal Birner and a seventh round pick in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft) acquired from St. Louis for Andy McDonald.

Dec. 16/07 -- D Scott Niedermayer returned to the Ducks lineup (vs. San Jose).

Feb. 5/08 -- RW Teemu Selanne appeared in the lineup for the first time (vs. NY Islanders).

DUCKS STORYLINES

Ducks Travels: The Ducks traveled approximately 11,700 miles to play their first five regular-season games (Anaheim to London, England, to Detroit to Columbus to Pittsburgh) before returning home. Their only travel for their final five regular-season games involved the approximate 60-mile return trip to Staples Center to play the Kings.

Hot down the stretch: The Ducks won 28 of their last 41 games (28-10-3) and earned points in 31 of those 41 (59 points) ... since the return of D Scott Niedermayer and arrival of C Doug Weight on Dec. 16, the Ducks have gone 32-12-4 (68 points)... the club is also 19- 4-1 in the last 24 games at home ... the Ducks have gone 20-5-1 since the return of RW Teemu Selanne on Feb. 5 against the New York Islanders at Nassau Coliseum. The club at in 11th place in the West with 43 points after 41 games.

Ducks turnaround: On Feb. 2, in the midst of an eight-game, 15-day road trip, the Ducks were shutout by the Philadelphia Flyers 3-0 -- their sixth loss in a row and the second straight shutout loss (St. Louis, 1-0). At practice in Philadelphia on Feb. 3, coach Randy Carlyle organized a game of pick-up hockey with D Francois Beauchemin and assistant coach Newell Brown playing goal and G J.S. Giguere playing forward. On Feb. 5, with RW Teemu Selanne in the lineup for the first time, the club responded with a 3-0 win against the NY Islanders. A day later, the club was hosted at the White House by President George Bush.

On the shelf: RW Corey Perry suffered a lacerated right quad tendon on Mar. 6 at Colorado and will continue to be sidelined as the playoffs begin.

Ironmen: D Francois Beauchemin and Sean O'Donnell along with LW Chris Kunitz are the only members of the Ducks who have appeared in every game since the regular season opener on September 29 in London.

Giguere loves working overtime: G J.S. Giguere has the best all-time playoff overtime winning percentage among goaltenders with 10-or-more OT appearances (.923 -- former Islanders' great Billy Smith ranks second at .762) ... his 12-1 career OT record includes the NHL's all-time longest overtime shutout sequence -- 197:52 (streak began on Apr. 10/03 vs. Detroit and was snapped on Apr. 27/07 in Game #2 of the Western Conference Semifinal series vs. Vancouver) ... He went 4-1 in OT in the 2007 playoffs ... in 250:47 career post- season OT minutes, Giguere has a 0.24 GAA and a .990 save percentage.

Shutting the door: Giguere has allowed two-or-fewer goals in 30 of his 45 career playoff appearances, including 13 of 18 games in the 2007 playoffs.

In defense of experience: The Ducks defense, led by Scott Niedermayer (183), Chris Pronger (128), Mathieu Schneider (103) and Sean O'Donnell (81), have combined for 608 games of Stanley Cup playoff experience -- to rank second to the Red Wings (646) among the 2008 Stanley Cup playoff teams.

Elite company: Randy Carlyle has 25 playoff wins in his first two years as an NHL head coach, tying him with former Montreal Canadiens' coach Jean Perron for the most in League history. Buffalo's Lindy Ruff ranks third (24), followed by former Bruins' coach Mike Milbury (23) and former Avalanche coach Bob Hartley (22).

Stanley Cup repeat: The Ducks will attempt to become the first team to win back-to-back Stanley Cup championships since the Detroit Red Wings won in 1996-97 and 1997-98.

DALLAS STARS

NHL Playoff Appearance: 29th (5th consecutive)
Stanley Cups: 1 (1999)
Last Playoff Series Win: 2003 (Conference Quarterfinal vs. Edmonton)
All-Time Playoff Series Record: 26-27
All-Time Playoff Game Record: 144-145

KEY DATES

Nov. 7/07 -- C Mike Modano scored a goal vs. San Jose, to become the all-time top U.S.- born scorer (1,233 points)

Nov. 13/07 -- After a 7-7-2 start to the regular-season, the Stars replaced GM Doug Armstrong with co-GM's Brett Hull and Les Jackson

Jan. 7/08 -- C Mike Ribeiro signed a five-year contract extension. Co-GM Brett Hull on Ribeiro: "He reminds me of myself when I first got to St. Louis. I scored 42 goals, and [coach] Brian Sutter grabbed me for individual meetings, and I was expecting a pat on the back. And instead it was, 'That was nothing, you have so much more to give'. That's the way we're going to treat [Ribeiro]. I really believe the strides he's made from last year to now - it's just scratching the surface of what he can be."

Feb. 28/08 -- C Brad Richards (acquired with Johan Holmqvist from Tampa Bay in exchange for Jeff Halpern, Jussi Jokinen, Mike Smith and a fourth round pick in 2009 on Feb. 26) registered five assists in his debut with the Stars (7-4 win Feb. 28 vs. Chicago) to become the first player in NHL history to record five assists in his first game with a team. The win ran their streak at the time to 13 wins in 15 games as they finished the month of February with a franchise-record 12 wins.

STARS STORYLINES

40+ wins, again: The Stars have now registered 40-or-more wins in the regular-season for the 10th time in the last 11 seasons. Only New Jersey (11) has more 40-or-more win seasons since 1996-97.

Morrow's career year: LW Brenden Morrow set career highs in 32 goals and points (74) and equalled his career-best with 42 assists. Morrow on the increased offensive production: "I enjoy doing a lot of other things a lot better than I enjoy sitting in the box nowadays. I have tried to control those things more. You don't want to lose your edge, but at the same time, you can be smart about those things and help your team more."

Improved offense: The Stars have three players who scored 25 goals this season
(Brenden Morrow - 32, Mike Ribeiro - 27, Niklas Hagman - 27). Last season, the Stars top goal-scorer was Jere Lehtinen (26). The Stars enter the 2008 playoffs with the Western Conference's second-best offense (242 goals) after ranking seventh of the eight Western teams in the 2007 playoffs.

Injuries a big factor in '07-'08: The Stars played about half of the regular-season with three key players out of the lineup due to injury -- defensemen Philippe Boucher (missed 44 games) and Sergei Zubov (36 games) along with RW Jere Lehtinen (33 games). Boucher played only nine games since Dec. 5 after suffering a separated shoulder, while Zubov has been sidelined since Jan. 19 due to injury (surgery was Feb. 24). Lehtinen missed 33 games (Nov. 23 - Jan. 29) with an abdominal injury.

A tale of two seasons in second half: The Stars lost just two of 14 games in February and won only four of their final 14 games since March 1.

Coach Tippett: Stars' coach Dave Tippett, who received a one-year contract extension through 2008-09 on Dec. 28, has the best regular-season record among active NHL coaches. (235-127-48). Tippett will look to improve on an 11-18 Stanley Cup playoff record and three consecutive first-round series losses. Co-GM Les Jackson on the last three years: "If you look at them separately, there have been different reasons each season. Those teams each had very different lineups and very different leaders. This year, we're different again. We have different challenges, and I believe we are working toward meeting those challenges."

2007 playoff review: Despite shutouts by Marty Turco in Game #2, #5 and #6 in their opening series against Vancouver, the Stars managed only 12 goals in their seven-game loss to the Canucks last year.