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Stanley Cup Final: All Knotted Up

Just a few things that caught my eye:

  • Jonathan Toews scored his first career goal in a Stanley Cup Final. Yes -- you read that right. Pretty remarkable, eh?!
  • NBC sports boss Mark Lazarus has become the butt of the Twitter-verse and sports radio over the last 24 hours because of "Beardgate." Is it because he's worried that the lumber-sexual trend is truly over? Or is it simply because he can't even outgrow Sidney Crosby's feeble fuzz?

  • Johnny Oduya played 25:45 -- with one arm! I'll bet Don Cherry thinks the Swede is a "good Canadian boy..."
  • I was so happy to see Andrej Vasilevskiy lead the Bolts onto the ice tonight. Not because I wanted the Hawks to win, per se (although I do in my heart). But because it meant that I wouldn't have to watch another 60-plus minutes of whiny-arse limping and whimpering from Big Ben Bishop (soccer anyone?). Goalie acts sure are hard to swallow, real or fabricated.
  • Note to the world -- Vasilevskiy did NOT lose the game for the Bolts. Corey Crawford won it for the Hawks. Plain and simple. He was on his game in a huge way.
  • Every goal Brandon Saad scores this series adds a Brinks truck of coin to his next contract. The Hawks might have re-signed him for $4.5-4.75 mil about three weeks ago. Now, I'd guess it's $5.25-5.75 per. #Clutchscorer
  • Steven Stamkos and Patrick Kane both remain oh-fer this series. But both look like they're finally finding their legs (and hands). It's now a matter of when, not if, the floodgates open and the goals start pouring in.
  • Tyler Johnson -- not only is he not taking faceoffs, but he's also not shooting the puck. He did fire one shot Wednesday, but he had no choice -- he was in the slot and the puck ended up on his stick. What else could he do?
  • Kimmo Timonen rang the crossbar. It almost made his 5:46 worth it.
  • First, it was Charles Barkley. Then it was Vince Vaughn. Who'll pick up the tab for Bolts' coach Jon Cooper and 19 of his friends when they return to Chicago for Game 6? Isn't Obama a Chicago boy? Or maybe Oprah?
  • Come Tuesday or Thursday, will the Bolts be thinking this was the game that got away?
  • Who will the Wild jettison to re-sign Devan Dubnyk? They're made for each other, but Niklas Backstrom's long-term injury makes him ineligible for a buyout. Dubnyk knows Minny is the right place for him to be and will surely give them a discount. But not a multi-million dollar discount.
  • The Coyotes just had the lease on their arena cancelled. What exactly do you call a homeless hockey team? The Quebec Nordiques? Or the Las Vegas Thunder?