Bearded Ice – April 18

Rough night for Red Wings fans…

Quick hits

The Red Wings are now on the brink of elimination. After dominating the first two periods of play, they ended up falling 3-1 to the Predators Tuesday night at Joe Louis Arena. Here’s our recap of the game, in case you’ve been living under a rock or something.

In related news, David Legwand is our Michi-gamer of the night, after scoring twice last night (one counted, one didn’t).

The Whalers had just as rough of a night, falling to the Kitchener Rangers at home in a winner-take-all Game 7. Plymouth’s season concludes earlier than most were hoping for, but they still had a strong season, and are sure to be in the mix for an OHL championship again next season.

Highlight reel

Red Wings vs. Predators, Game 4 highlights. Click at your own risk.

Outside the Mitten

Former Red Wing Marian Hossa was the victim of the latest Raffi Torres ‘incident’. Luckily, Hossa is out of the hospital, and the Blackhawks expect a full recovery for their star forward. Here’s to hoping he heals up quick; while fans in these parts might not like him too much anymore, Hossa is a great guy.

Here’s the hit, you decide what the punishment should be. Considering this isn’t the first time Torres has been sent to the principal’s office, I say we tell him to find a new school. The players need to start respecting one another again. This hit was unncessary during the play, purely done to ‘blow somebody up in the neutral zone’ and leave your mark on the contest. At some point, checking needs to go back to what it used to be…a means of separating a player from the puck. If the puck’s not even around, don’t try to kill the guy.

Penguins forward Aaron Asham got four games from the NHL police dept., while James Neal got one. They will both be out of the line-up in a game where Pittsburgh tries to avoid being swept by their bitter rivals in Philadelphia.

The Panthers rallied from three goals down to beat Martin Brodeur and the Devils last night. Shocking to see one of the best goaltenders of all-time give up that big of a lead, but not surprising for this postseason.

Check it out

Here’s Hockey Night in Canada’s Elliotte Friedman on the escalating violence in the NHL playoffs.

Next up

More hockey talk tomorrow. More suspension talk, too? We’ll see.