ESPN NHL

Bruins 4, Maple Leafs 1 (Bruins lead series, 1-0)
* Bruins: 4-1-0 vs Maple Leafs this season (including regular season); outshot Maple Leafs 40-20
* David Krejci (Kray-chee) (BOS): Goal, 2 assists; 5th career playoff game with at least 3 points
* Bruins: 1-3 on power play; scored PP goal in 3 of last 4 playoff games
* Maple Leafs: 1st playoff appearance since 2004 postseason
* Maple Leafs: winless in last 6 games at Bruins (including regular season)
FROM ELIAS: David Krejci, who recorded only one goal and two assists over his final 13 games during the regular season, matched those totals with one goal and two assists in the Bruins’ 4–1 win in Game 1. It was the fifth career postseason game of three or more points for Krejci, who registered only one goal and two assists for Boston in its seven-game first-round series loss to the Capitals in last year’s playoffs. Krejci’s five postseason games of at least three points have all come in the last four years; no other NHL player has more than four such games over that span.

Penguins 5, Islanders 0 (Penguins lead series, 1-0)
* Marc-Andre Fleury (PIT): 6th career playoff shutout; 26 saves
* Pascal Dupuis (PIT): 2 goals; did not have a goal in final 7 games of regular season
* Jarome Iginla (PIT): 2 assists; 1st playoff point since April 22, 2009
* NYI: Most goals allowed in 19 games (since allowing 5 to Montreal on March 21st)
FROM ELIAS: Marc-Andre Fleury recorded the sixth shutout of his NHL postseason career as the Penguins opened the 2013 playoffs with a 5–0 win against the Islanders. Fleury, whose six postseason shutouts tie him with Tom Barrasso for the Penguins team record, has notched three of those shutouts in Pittsburgh’s first game of a playoff year. (He blanked Ottawa in the Penguins’ first game in the 2008 playoffs and Tampa Bay in Pittsburgh’s 2011 opener.) No other active NHL goaltender has more than one shutout in a team’s first game of a playoff year.

Sharks 3, Canucks 1 (Sharks lead series 1-0)
* Sharks: won all 4 meetings with Canucks this season including playoffs (1 win in shootout)
* 1st time home team lost in this year's Stanley Cup Playoffs
* Canucks: 3-5-1 in last 9 games dating back to regular season
* Canucks: lost despite outshooting Sharks 30-28

We're not privy to the NHL's marketing slogan for the 2013-14 season, but it might be something like "Go Big or Go Home, but Definitely Go Outdoors."

Of course, if you read much of the negative commentary surrounding the NHL's decision to multiply its successful outdoor game model like so many bunnies next season -- with six in-the-elements events on the docket -- you'd think the league was determined to bring back the glowing puck and make all its players wear uniforms with blinking lights.

The NHL announced Wednesday the first plank in its ambitious stadium series of outdoor games for the 2013-14 season, a March 1 date at Soldier Field in Chicago between the Blackhawks and the Pittsburgh Penguins, set for 8 p.m. ET.

Over the next week or so, the league will unveil its plans for two outdoor games during Super Bowl at Yankee Stadium involving all three New York-area teams; one at Dodger Stadium between the Anaheim Ducks and the Los Angeles Kings on Jan. 25; and another installment of the Heritage Classic in Vancouver between the Canucks and the Ottawa Senators to be held the same weekend as the Soldier Field event.

These games are in addition to the previously announced Winter Classic to be held Jan. 1, 2014, in Ann Arbor, Mich., between Original Six rivals, the Detroit Red Wings and the Toronto Maple Leafs.

When news first broke last month that the NHL was going to take its product outdoors for a total of six games next season, it was interesting to note the instant boo-hooing that arose, mostly from the media.

Oh, too many outdoor games.

Oh, it'll turn the Winter Classic into a cheap dime-store version of its former self.

Oh, it'll rain.

Oh, it'll be too hot.

Oh, the league just wants to make money.

Funny how it works, but the NHL has long been criticized -- and rightly so -- for being too timid, too parochial, too unwilling to seize the moment and work at becoming more than just a niche sport in the United States.

Outdoor games aren't a panacea for all that ails the NHL, but when the league does think outside the box, it is flayed in some quarters.

Yes, these outdoor games are financially successful. Is that a reason not to do more of them?

Funny how much of the criticism of the league has come from the media, and yet we haven't heard much carping from the fans themselves.

Are people in California upset with the opportunity to take in an evening of hockey at Dodger Stadium? Don't think so. And unless we are completely off base (get it, a baseball reference for this game?) the tickets to the first regular-season outdoor game on the West Coast will go in a heartbeat.

Assuming the event is well-received, it will also open the door to more outdoor opportunities in nontraditional markets.

Are the fans in the New York area -- where the NHL estimates there will be 1,000 accredited media members for the Super Bowl festivities leading up to the game in New Jersey on Feb. 2 -- barking at the fact that the New York Rangers will play the New York Islanders and New Jersey Devils in twin games at Yankee Stadium?

Uh, no.

Think fans in Chicago will turn away from a chance to see their beloved Blackhawks and the Penguins at Soldier Field because they already hosted a Winter Classic in 2009?

That game between the Blackhawks and Detroit Red Wings, the second Winter Classic ever, is considered by Chicago officials to be a seminal event in that team's renaissance after years of being the butt of jokes throughout the sporting world.

The 2013-14 season provides an interesting opportunity for the NHL to try to write itself back into the good news department after another potentially catastrophic labor stoppage scuttled almost half the 2012-13 season.

In a matter of weeks, the NHL will formalize its relationship with the Olympics and agree to take part in the Sochi Games in February.

Two of the outdoor games, including the Soldier Field game, will take place the first weekend after the end of the Olympics and should provide a terrific lead-in to the stretch run of the regular season and be a nice reminder that the NHL is back in business after being shut down for the Olympic break (something that not all owners agree is a good thing).

As for the notion that introducing other outdoor events to the NHL landscape somehow cheapens the Winter Classic, which has evolved into the NHL's most important regular-season date, the schedule of events surrounding the Winter Classic in Michigan promises to make it the most successful iteration yet.

Each year the Winter Classic has grown in scope, and the net it has cast around the hockey community has grown. The event next year involving the Red Wings, postponed this season because of the lockout, calls for multiple alumni games to be played at Comerica Park in downtown Detroit, along with games at various levels, including the major junior and college ranks.

NHL COO John Collins suggested in an interview that the Detroit Winter Classic will be the “granddaddy” of Winter Classics given the surrounding events, including those at Comerica Park, and the game itself at the Big House in Ann Arbor.

Whether it's been Boston or Philadelphia or Chicago, the Winter Classic games have captured the imagination of the local markets and become a touchstone for the casual fan, an elusive group the NHL has been courting for decades.

The fact that more fans than ever will be able to take part in these kinds of events next season can hardly diminish that dynamic.

"It's not just one lens you're looking at this through,” Collins told ESPN.com on the eve of the Soldier Field announcement. "You have to be at these events to understand how the game becomes a gathering point for a community, the way a community lights up around hockey."

"That local impact is incredibly powerful," Collins said.

Would the fans in California likely have a chance to take in a Winter Classic if the league stayed within some self-imposed limit of having one or two outdoor games a season? Not likely.

Is it important to return to big markets like Chicago, where the game continues to grow in importance? Absolutely.

But next season allows the NHL to broaden its appeal while still promoting its biggest markets, and its biggest stars, on the outdoor stage.

Are there risks with taking the NHL into the elements six times next season? Of course.

The league will purchase a new portable ice-making unit that will be used for the Dodger Stadium game, then transported up the coast to Vancouver for the Heritage Classic. But even as technology has evolved and given the league more opportunity to create pristine ice surfaces outdoors in different locales, there will always be concerns about the integrity of the game when you expose it to the natural elements.

Any time the league puts on one of these events, it courts disaster as it relates to how Mother Nature will react. It rained in Pittsburgh in 2011 and the Winter Classic had to be postponed a day.

There have been issues with sun and snow, and the potential for precipitation in Vancouver or in New York next season will always be there. But the league has contingency plans, and what might happen with the weather has become part of the fabric of the events themselves.

What happens moving forward will depend largely on how next season’s outdoor experiment works out.

"I think it’s fluid but we are working on a three-year plan," Collins said.

Added deputy commissioner Bill Daly, "Next year represents opportunities that aren't going to be there every year."

There is nothing to suggest the NHL will go outside five or six times every year, but if these events unfold as planned, you can bet the number of teams clamoring to host an outdoor game will only increase.

In the end, is that such a bad thing?

Jack Johnson's calm belies the decidedly jittery situation in which the Columbus Blue Jackets find themselves.

Johnson was taking time before the Blue Jackets boarded their flight to Dallas, where they will play one of the most important games in the 13-year history of the franchise.

Did the defenseman stay up late the previous night to watch the Stars and Sharks play in San Jose?

Nope, Johnson said, explaining that because of the time change, he was in bed and waited until the morning to find out that the Stars had allowed two goals in a 30-second span in the third period en route to a 3-2 loss.

Surely the Blue Jackets were planning to gather en masse to root for the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday night when they visited the Detroit Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena?

Well, Johnson said, he supposed if the game was on in the restaurant where they went for dinner, they'd keep an eye on the score. And of course guys would be keeping up to date on the game with their smartphones.

But as for gathering in one giant circle of nail-biting hockey players sticking pins in their Red Wings voodoo dolls ... uh, no.

That game, won impressively by the Red Wings 3-1, was beyond the control of the Blue Jackets.

Thursday's game in Dallas? That's something they can control.

"We're all very aware of what needs to happen for us and what's going on," Johnson said.

But, he added, "we have to win our last two games. At the end of the day, that's all we can control."

Detroit's win moved the Red Wings ahead of Columbus into the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference with 52 points, one more than the Blue Jackets. The Minnesota Wild are still in the mix, one point ahead of Detroit, while Dallas (48 points) has the biggest challenge of those still in the hunt for a postseason berth.

All four teams have two games remaining, including Thursday's now-monster clash between Columbus and Dallas in Big D. The fact that both the Stars and Blue Jackets can still discuss the postseason at this late date is something of a minor miracle and adds an upbeat backdrop to the game.

The Stars have missed the playoffs in four straight seasons, and when general manager Joe Nieuwendyk dealt veterans Derek Roy, Jaromir Jagr and Brenden Morrow during the trade deadline period -- all of whom were set to become unrestricted free agents this summer -- it appeared the team was conceding that this would mark five in a row without a postseason game.

But role players such as Vernon Fiddler and Cody Eakin, who came to Dallas in the Mike Ribeiro trade last summer, have provided key production, while veteran Ray Whitney, back from injury, has rewarded the Stars' faith (they signed the soon-to-be 41-year-old to a two-year deal last summer) with much-needed leadership. Goalie Kari Lehtonen, also just back from an injury, has been solid as the Stars have kept a playoff drive alive far longer than expected.

Going 0-2-1 on their current road trip means the Stars' margin for error is zero, but they play at home Saturday night against the Red Wings, and if they can beat Columbus and get some help from the Nashville Predators, who play both Detroit and Columbus, perhaps it will mean something -- indeed, everything.

Columbus, on the other hand, was again trending toward a top draft pick in another desultory season that included the introduction of new team president John Davidson and the midseason firing of GM Scott Howson, who was replaced by Jarmo Kekalainen.

Suddenly the culture around the team shifted and coach Todd Richards began to receive consistent, hardworking performances from a hard-skating, forechecking team that might be short on flash but is long on grit. That, coupled with all-world goaltending from Sergei Bobrovsky, now a front-runner for the Vezina Trophy and a dark horse to win the Hart Trophy as league MVP, has seen the Blue Jackets go 17-5-4 since the beginning of March.

"We've got a lot of new faces here, and we really wanted to make sure the mindset and the goals of the team changed," said Johnson, who became a Blue Jacket at last year's trade deadline, when he was acquired from Los Angeles in a deal that saw Jeff Carter go to the Kings.

In the past, the goal seemed to be about getting into the playoffs, but that seemed shortsighted, Johnson said.

"Your goal should be to win the Stanley Cup because, truthfully, if you don't win the Cup, you haven't won anything," he said.

So the Blue Jackets, who have qualified for the playoffs just once in franchise history and were swept in that appearance, started thinking big, not letting a big deficit in the standings affect their level of play.

"I'm sure some teams didn't take us seriously that should have," Johnson said. "I wouldn't trade this group of guys in our room for anything."

After Thursday's game, the Blue Jackets close out their season Saturday at home against Nashville. If they don't beat Dallas, that game may become meaningless vis à vis the playoffs, but that's something to think about after Thursday.

For a team used to slinking out of regular seasons and trying to sell fans on the promise of something better down the road, there is a new excitement surrounding this late-season push.

"There's a buzz around the city," Johnson said. "It's been a long time since they've had these kinds of meaningful games."

There's no other way to put it: The Northeast Division is a train wreck with the playoffs just around the corner.

That may end up meaning nothing once the second season begins, but I doubt the way the Boston Bruins, Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs and Ottawa Senators have played of late comforts any of their fans as the postseason approaches.

The Bruins host the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday night having dropped five of their past six games, unwilling to cement a division title the Habs have tried to hand them on a silver platter. Bruins coach Claude Julien was incensed after the team's road loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night, saying among other things in a terse dressing down of his team: "We're running out of time to get this stuff going."

The Bruins should be able to beat a tired Tampa team Thursday night (the Lightning played at home Wednesday night) before visiting the Washington Capitals on Saturday, then closing out their season Sunday night at home against the Senators. Odds are the B's should win the beleaguered division, with the emphasis on should as a word that doesn't imply certainty.

The Canadiens? Mercy, they've fallen apart worse than any other club in the division -- and not just because, like Boston, they've lost five of their past six games. Rather, it's the manner in which they've lost: clobbered in most of those games and looking nothing like the juggernaut that surprised everyone this season. The team's defensive coverage has been porous and star netminder Carey Price has looked downright shaky.

Having said all that, I think the Canadiens finally showed some promise in the final 30 minutes against the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday, and perhaps that's what they build on heading into Thursday night's road game against the Winnipeg Jets. Maybe.

Otherwise, if Montreal loses again Thursday and the Maple Leafs beat the Florida Panthers, the Habs could lose home-ice advantage in the first round if Toronto beats them in regulation in Saturday night's season finale (the Leafs own the tiebreaker on the Canadiens).

Of course, the fact that the Leafs could end up with the fourth seed (and possibly the division title) would also have to suggest they have a clue right now. They've been outshot a whopping 183-114 over their past five games. They've won two of those five, but even in those wins, they were outshot 32-13 by New Jersey and 50-22 by the Senators.

On Wednesday night, with a golden chance to cut the gap to two points on both idle Boston and Montreal, the Leafs fell 5-2 in Tampa against a Lightning team that sits 14th in the Eastern Conference.

Combined with losses to the New York Islanders and Capitals last week, Toronto is mired in a mediocre stretch that mirrors that of the Habs and Bruins.

"There's things we have to shore up for sure," Leafs blueliner Cody Franson told TSN.ca on Wednesday night after the game in Tampa. "The last thing we're going to do is just hit the panic button over it. We know the mistakes we're making, and it's just a matter of paying attention and shoring them up."

A win in South Florida on Thursday night against the last-place Panthers would make a lot of people in Leaf Nation breathe a little easier. But just a bit.

And finally, what of the Senators?

A five-game losing streak earlier this month had people thinking perhaps the injury-riddled club had finally hit a wall. But four straight wins again made believers out of Sens fans. Then came a demoralizing home loss to the hated Leafs on Saturday, followed by another home loss to a Pittsburgh Penguins team missing Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, a game Senators players said was one of their most uninspired efforts in a while.

All of which has left the Sens just one point ahead of ninth-place Winnipeg, although with Ottawa having two more games to play than the Jets -- who wrap up their regular season Thursday night -- you have to think the Sens will get in without a problem.

Perhaps the game-changer Ottawa has been waiting for will arrive in the form of Erik Karlsson. The reigning Norris Trophy winner is on the verge of returning from what was supposed to have been a season-ending Achilles injury, taking a regular shift at practice Wednesday alongside normal partner Marc Methot, which had people in Canada's capital buzzing. Word is Karlsson and the Senators will decide after the morning skate Thursday in Washington whether it's a go that night or if he'll wait for Saturday's game against the Flyers.

The Sens will take any boost they can get, that's for sure.

Frankly, so would any playoff-bound team in the Northeast. It's ugly right now in this grouping. Somebody show the way!

TORONTO -- The New York Islanders open a five-game trip here Thursday night to close out their regular season with much still at stake.

Seventh in the East to begin the day, three points ahead of the danger zone and just one point behind the Ottawa Senators in sixth, the Isles could end up anywhere from fifth to ninth in the conference depending on how they fare on this trip.

Ending the season with five away from home would be a scary task for many teams, but it just so happens that the Isles have one of the best road records in the league at 12-5-2. This is not something they're fretting about.

"It's been great for us all year," star center John Tavares said after Thursday's morning skate. "We play with a lot of calmness and confidence on the road, just composed in a lot of situations. There's a lot of swings of momentum in a game, and we seem to handle those a lot better on the road more consistently this season. We need to rely on that and keep it going."

Besides, current form should give the Isles enough confidence. They're 9-1-2 in their past 12 games, a late-season run that has buoyed their long-suffering fan base.

"It's great," Tavares said. "We're not there yet but we're getting closer to the goal that we've been trying to accomplish for a while. I think we're proving what we're capable of, but we know we still haven't accomplished anything yet."

After Toronto, the Isles jet off to Winnipeg, Carolina and Philadelphia before wrapping it up next Friday night in Buffalo.

A win in regulation Thursday would lift the Isles to two points behind the fifth-place Toronto Maple Leafs, and the players in the visitors dressing room Thursday morning were very much aware of that juicy possibility.

"We're aware of the circumstances at this time of year," Tavares said. "The teams are real tight in the standings and there's a lot of battling for positioning for the playoffs. There's a lot up for grabs for both sides tonight."

The Leafs have a shot at home ice for the first round of the playoffs, thanks to the stumbling Montreal Canadiens. Toronto -- 7-2-1 in its past 10 games -- enters Thursday four points back of the Habs.

The Leafs wrap up the regular season against their rivals at home April 27. Fourth place is very much a possibility for Toronto, and the players know it.

"Definitely," Leafs goalie James Reimer said. "Anytime you can catch the team in front of you, whether it's from eighth to seventh or from second to first, that's what you're focused on. They [the Canadiens] have had a couple of unfortunate games; that's good for us and hopefully we can catch them. If we win tonight, maybe we close the gap. We hope to keep rolling."

Thing is, the Leafs -- who can clinch a playoff spot Thursday night depending on what also happens in Winnipeg -- have to start playing better than they have over the past week. They were downright lucky to beat New Jersey on Monday, Reimer stealing them those two points after the Leafs were outshot 32-13, and they got their just rewards a night later in Washington, when the red-hot Caps drubbed Toronto 5-1.

"We need to play a better brand of hockey than we did in the last six periods," Leafs coach Randy Carlyle said. "It's as simple as that. Or we're not going anywhere. Our focus is getting our team back to where we're capable of playing, because the last six periods for us is not something we'd say we're proud of.

"We have a group of players that have performed fairly well for us [this season] in the situations they've been presented, and now the next one is the most important one: That's tonight against the Islanders."

The Leafs have been outshot in eight straight games, not a trend that would seem to indicate long-term success. Then again, they've been outshot in 32 games this season and sport a sparkling 19-8-5 record in those games.

"We chart where the shots are coming from," Carlyle said. "And that's the most important thing to us. Yeah, we would like to keep our shots [against] down below 30, as every team would. And we'd like to get over 30 [on the opponent]. There's areas where we can improve on, for sure."

Lineup notes: Islanders coach Jack Capuano said veteran blueliner Matt Carkner would be inserted into the lineup for Radek Martinek. … Casey Cizikas, who left the Islanders' last game with an upper-body injury, said he was ready to go for Thursday. Josh Bailey, who also appeared to be banged-up in the last game, also said he's good for Thursday. … Toronto forwards Matt Frattin and Clarke MacArthur will likely be back in the lineup after being healthy scratches Tuesday at Washington. … Carl Gunnarsson will miss his third straight game with a lower-body injury. Carlyle said the defenseman might return Saturday in Ottawa.

From the NHL's official release:

BOBROVSKY, KESSEL AND BACHMAN NAMED NHL ‘THREE STARS’ OF THE WEEK


NEW YORK (April 15, 2013) – Columbus Blue Jackets goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, Toronto Maple Leafs right wing Phil Kessel and Dallas Stars goaltender Richard Bachman have been named the NHL’s “Three Stars” for the week ending April 14.

FIRST STAR – SERGEI BOBROVSKY, G, COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS

Bobrovsky went 3-0-0 with a 0.97 goals-against average, .971 save percentage and one shutout in three games, stopping 100 of 103 shots he faced in 185 minutes of play. He opened the week by making 30 saves in a
4-0 victory over the San Jose Sharks April 9, his fourth shutout in the last month. Bobrovsky then picked up a pair of weekend wins, denying 31 shots in a 4-1 triumph over the St. Louis Blues April 12 and 39 shots, plus another two in the shootout, in a 3-2 victory over the Minnesota Wild April 13. The 24-year-old Novokuznetsk, Russia, native has allowed two or fewer goals in 16 of his last 20 appearances, including one goal or fewer in 13 of those contests. In 32 total games this season, Bobrovsky is 16-10-6 and ranks second in the League with a .932 save percentage and sixth with a
2.01 goals-against average.

SECOND STAR – PHIL KESSEL, RW, TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS

Kessel led the NHL with five goals and tied for the League lead with seven points in three games. He scored two goals, including the game-winner, and added an assist in a 4-3 triumph over the New York Rangers April 8. Kessel then recorded both of Toronto’s goals in a 3-2 shootout loss to the Rangers April 10. He capped the week by posting his 13th multi-point game of the season (1-1—2) in a 5-1 victory over the Montreal Canadiens April 13. The 25-year-old Madison, Wis., native has played in 41 games this season and leads the Maple Leafs with 27 assists and 42 points.

THIRD STAR – RICHARD BACHMAN, G, DALLAS STARS

Bachman posted a 3-0-0 record with a 1.08 goals-against average and .963 save percentage to help the Stars continue their push for a playoff berth. He stopped all 22 shots he faced in relief of an injured Kari Lehtonen in Dallas’ 5-1 win over the Los Angeles Kings April 9.
Bachman then made back-to-back weekend starts, recording 26 saves in a 5-2 victory over the Nashville Predators April 12 and 31 saves in a 2-1 win over the San Jose Sharks April 13. The 25-year-old Salt Lake City, Utah, native has played in 11 games this season, going 6-3-0 with a 3.18 goals-against average and .884 save percentage.

Avalanche 4, Ducks 1
* Avalanche: 1st regulation road win in the last 15 road games (1-11-3 in those games)
* Gabriel Landeskog (COL): 8th goal of season (snaps 7-game pointless streak)
* Teemu Selanne (ANA): 11th goal of season (4th-most on team)

Rangers 3, Maple Leafs 2 (SO)
* Mats Zuccarello (NYR): deciding shootout goal; 6-12 in career shootout attempts
* Henrik Lundqvist (NYR): 7-2-1 in last 10 home starts
* Phil Kessel (TOR): 2 goals; 6 points in last 3 games
* Carl Hagelin & Ryan McDonagh (NYR): goal and assist each
FROM ELIAS: Phil Kessel scored both goals for the Maple Leafs in their shootout loss to the Rangers at Madison Square Garden, two days after he ended a personal nine-game goal drought by scoring twice in the Leafs’ win at Toronto in the first game of their home-and-home set against the Rangers. It’s the first time that a Toronto player has scored two or more goals in each of two consecutive team games since Kessel did so in October 2011. That’s also the only other time Kessel registered back-to-back multi-goal games in his seven-season NHL career.

Bruins 5, Devils 4
* Gregory Campbell (BOS): 2 goals; 4th-career multi-goal game
* teams combined to score 3 short-handed goals (2 by Bruins)
* Bruins: 3-0-0 vs NJ this season (won 7 straight vs NJ overall)
* Devils: 0-4-4 in past 8 games
FROM ELIAS: Bruins forwards Daniel Paille and Gregory Campbell scored shorthanded goals 3:21 apart in the first period of the Bruins’ 5–4 win over the Devils in Newark. They were the fastest two shorthanded goals by one team in an NHL game since Feb. 18, 2012, when the Penguins’ Jordan Staal and Matt Cooke scored a pair of shorthanded markers in a 1:43 span. Before Wednesday’s game, the last time the Bruins tallied multiple shorthanded goals so quickly was exactly three years earlier (April 10, 2010), when they scored three shorties in a 1:04 span against Carolina (Paille and Blake Wheeler 49 seconds apart, and then Steve Begin with a third SHG 15 seconds later).

Canucks 4, Flames 1
* Canucks: Scored last 4 goals of the game (3 in 3rd period)
* Canucks: Won 4 straight and 10 of last 12 games
* Flames: Lost 6 of last 7 games

Sorry, but it’s still taking some time to get our head around the fact the Toronto Maple Leafs aren’t just visiting from the NHL’s land of the living dead but are actually back for good.

It’s always a bit quaint when a perpetually lousy team rises up, if only for a short period of time. There’s always a spasm of praise for a team’s determination, even if the expectation is that we’ll get back to the normal order of things soon enough. We’ve seen it this season with Columbus jumping suddenly into the playoff fray in the Western Conference before sliding out of sight in recent days. Edmonton, too, generally manages to tantalize for a few days before sliding back into a comfort zone in the nether regions of the West, as has been the case in recent days.

But the time is long past for that kind of regression from the Leafs, and love them or hate them (and there is rarely a gray area in this matter, especially in Canada, where the hockey media is concentrated in Toronto and every murmur and whisper emanating from the club is big news), the Leafs have all but punched their ticket to the playoffs for the first time since 2004.

Monday night, the Leafs surged ahead of the New York Rangers 3-1 and then, when it looked as though they might crumble after the Rangers tied it on some strong work by Rick Nash -- who had two goals on the night -- they bounced back and the oft-maligned Phil Kessel scored the winner. Actually, it’s the less-maligned Kessel these days as the Leafs continue to find ways to get the job done, even if they don’t have all their top-end players putting up top-end numbers. They are fourth in the league in scoring. They have the third-ranked penalty-killing unit in the league after being bottom dwellers in that important category for years. And, more important to long-suffering Leafs fans, they are nestled in fifth place in the Eastern Conference with a four-point bulge on sliding sixth-place Ottawa.

We covered the Leafs for part of what could realistically be called their most recent "golden" age under Pat Quinn when the Leafs made the playoffs for six straight seasons from 1999 to 2004. Twice the team advanced to the Eastern Conference finals during that period. Those Leafs teams boasted bigger names -- Mats Sundin, Gary Roberts, Alexander Mogilny, Ed Belfour, Curtis Joseph et al. -- but watching the Leafs’ effort against the Rangers Monday it was hard not to see certain similarities. Both Quinn and current head coach Randy Carlyle are old-school coaches who aren’t married to the idea that every win has to be 2-1 or 3-2. This Leafs team has benefited from scoring from up and down the lineup (Kessel’s winner was only his 12th goal of the season and his two-goal effort marked his first goals in 10 games). More than that, Carlyle’s team has displayed the kind of resiliency that has long been missing in Toronto, missing indeed since Quinn was making the Leafs regular playoff participants. That resiliency was on full display Monday night. And for the first time in almost a decade, Leaf fans can count on seeing it in the postseason.

In the end, they circled back, as the whole hockey world knew they would. The standoff that began months ago came down to one last hour of dramatic back and forth.

The Vancouver Canucks lowered their demands in a Roberto Luongo deal in the final 60 minutes before Wednesday’s 3 p.m. ET trade deadline, but apparently not enough to persuade the Toronto Maple Leafs to swallow the star goalie’s massive contract.

Sources tell ESPN.com that the Canucks were willing to unload Luongo on Toronto for goalie Ben Scrivens and a pair of second-round picks in their final, final offer before the minutes ticked away.

The answer was still no by Toronto, which thought all along that no other team in the NHL was even remotely interested in Luongo and, because of that, the Canucks essentially should be giving him away.

Not that Vancouver’s last offer wasn’t close. I suspect that if the Canucks had been willing to retain a bit of Luongo’s salary in the trade -- a new feature in this collective bargaining agreement -- the Leafs might have pulled the trigger.

So they were somewhat close to a trade, which is why the Canucks pulled Luongo off the ice in Vancouver before the end of practice just in case they got a deal done and needed the netminder to sign off on waiving his no-trade clause.

But there was no deal.

And now both franchises have a gamble in front of them:

• Toronto, because it heads into the playoffs without experience in goal.

• Vancouver, because now it must figure out what to do with Luongo in the offseason, when there will be more competition on the goalie market. Ryan Miller most likely will be on the trade block, ditto for Jonathan Bernier and perhaps Mike Smith will hit free agency.

The failure of the Canucks and the Leafs to reach a Luongo deal, however, will no doubt fuel bigger-picture conclusions and storylines from many.

Let’s face it, Leafs GM Dave Nonis and Canucks GM Mike Gillis don’t like each other, the latter replacing the former as GM in Vancouver.

Which no doubt will lead some people to wonder whether Nonis always wanted to string the Canucks along, only to leave them holding the bag on deadline day. Leafs sources vehemently denied that.

After all, it was pointed out by a Leafs source, they actually had a tentative deal in place with the Calgary Flames to get Miikka Kiprusoff, only to have the veteran netminder decide he just wasn’t up to moving to Toronto. The Leafs found out from the goalie Wednesday morning. The Leafs will tell you that they really believed "Kipper" would have been the perfect solution, a veteran who could have come in and helped bring James Reimer and Scrivens along.

Luongo just wasn’t Plan A, Toronto says.

And we got this far into this story without touching on Luongo himself. I feel for this guy. He’s a fierce competitor. The hurt in his eyes and his voice was obvious to anyone watching his news conference Wednesday. When he said he wished he could rip up his huge contract, I can tell you that he meant it.

He asked for a move last summer because he respects Cory Schneider and felt it was time for his younger teammate to take over in net for Vancouver.

Now Luongo has to hang in for the rest of the season, way longer than he probably ever anticipated his stay in Vancouver to last when he asked the Canucks to try to move him last summer. And he faces an uncertain future that no doubt worries him greatly.

So, in the end, not a whole lot of people happy in this equation on this day:

• The Leafs didn’t get a veteran goalie.

• The Canucks still have too many goalies.

• And Luongo, who has been nothing but the pro throughout all this, has to show a brave face for the rest of the season while dying inside.

Oh, and this story is far from over. See you in June.

Other nuggets from deadline day:

• Ben Bishop generated a ton of interest, with a half-dozen teams calling Ottawa on Wednesday. The final three contestants, sources say, were Edmonton, Philadelphia and Tampa Bay.

The Oilers, I’m told, offered Ryan Jones and a draft pick -- not good enough for the Senators. The Flyers? They balked when the Sens asked for young center Sean Couturier straight-up for Bishop. When Philly said no thanks (and somewhat surprisingly later dealt for Steve Mason instead), the Senators had their deal -- and a good one -- in Cory Conacher and a fourth-round pick from the Lightning. This is a win-win for both clubs. The Sens get a promising top-six rookie forward, and the Bolts add another potential No. 1 goalie to go along with Anders Lindback. Tampa doubled its chances of finding at least one No. 1 goalie between them. Brilliant move by Tampa GM Steve Yzerman.

• Raffi Torres generated sizable interest on this day. The Canucks and Montreal Canadiens were among several clubs that made offers on the gritty checking winger, both hoping to add his physical presence in their bottom-six forward group. But the Phoenix Coyotes liked San Jose’s offer best, a third-round pick that is actually Florida’s pick (sent to San Jose in the Ryane Clowe deal from the Rangers the previous day).

• People will be perplexed by the Marian Gaborik deal from a Rangers angle but I think it’s a good move. By taking Gaborik’s $7.5 million salary off the books for next season, the Rangers gained payroll flexibility to not only help re-sign some of their key restricted free agents (such as Derek Stepan, Ryan McDonagh and Carl Hagelin), but also give themselves a better shot at affording a re-signing opportunity with pending unrestricted free agent Clowe.

And, let’s face it, Gaborik might very well become a dangerous goal scorer in Columbus again, but it wasn’t going to happen under John Tortorella in New York. Those two could no longer share a bench.

Finally, as it turns out, quite a busy day in the final two hours. Whenever we think it’s going to be a quiet deadline day, NHL GMs still find a way to make it interesting.

A trade deadline day that began at a snail’s pace and finished with a great flurry of activity has, like all trade deadlines, the potential to alter the playoff grids in both conferences and perhaps even who hoists the Stanley Cup in late June. Lots of road to travel before that time and every year the best-laid trade-deadline plans often go awry. So, herein a look at the teams that, at least for a few minutes anyway, seized the moment to make themselves better and will walk away feeling that they made the most of the opportunity.

Got better

Columbus Blue Jackets
Who’da thunk it? The sad-sack Columbus Blue Jackets, perennial sellers of good players, shocking the hockey world by acquiring three-time 40-goal scorer Marian Gaborik from the New York Rangers. In giving up Derek Dorsett (currently injured), Derick Brassard and John Moore, the Blue Jackets gave up three everyday players. But for a team that has qualified for the playoffs just once (and were swept by Detroit in that lone playoff visit) but suddenly finds itself in the hunt for a surprise postseason berth, Gaborik is a definite impact player -- when he’s himself. Gaborik has suffered through a miserable season in New York with obvious friction existing between him and head coach John Tortorella. But he’ll renew acquaintances with former Ranger teammates Artem Anisimov and Brandon Dubinsky, who went to Columbus in the Rick Nash deal last summer, and he’ll get a fresh start on a team desperate for scoring help (they rank 29th in goals per game and 27th on the power play). The Blue Jackets still possess three first-round draft picks in the coming draft and they have Gaborik under contract for one more season at a $7.5 million cap hit. In order to clear room, new GM Jarmo Kekalainen also managed to unload netminder Steve Mason to Philadelphia. Mason can become an unrestricted free agent this summer. The Blue Jackets also acquired forward depth in the form of Blake Comeau, who came over from Calgary for a fifth-round pick.

New York Rangers
In the space of 24 hours, the Rangers have dramatically altered the make-up of their team. Whether it brings them closer to their identity of a year ago, when they were the top team in the Eastern Conference during the regular season and advanced to the Eastern Conference finals or not, we’ll find out. But by bringing in Ryane Clowe, Derick Brassard and John Moore, the Rangers hope they have filled in some of the spaces created when Artem Anisimov and Brandon Dubinsky were dealt to Columbus in the Rick Nash deal and Brandon Prust signed in Montreal. Derek Dorsett will also contribute when he gets back to full health. The Rangers are still the lowest-scoring team in the NHL so they need someone, whether it’s Brad Richards or Nash or any of the newcomers -- including Clowe (who has yet to score this season) -- to step up. Still, the relationship between Tortorella and Gaborik wasn’t healthy, and having new faces in the lineup might be enough to push the Rangers back into the top eight and after that, who knows? The Rangers also received a sixth-round pick in 2013 for Gaborik.

Minnesota Wild
The Wild continue to shoulder themselves into discussion as a Stanley Cup contender and that discussion will continue with the acquisition Wednesday of Buffalo Sabres captain Jason Pominville. The Wild had to give up highly regarded prospect Johan Larsson, the 56th pick in the 2010 draft, as well as goaltending prospect Matt Hackett, who has played a handful of NHL games, along with a first-round pick in 2013 and a second-round pick in 2014. The Wild also obtained Buffalo’s fourth-round pick in 2014. But Pominville, who has twice reached the 30-goal plateau and recorded at least 20 goals in six straight years heading into this season, will add the kind of scoring depth that all Cup-contending teams possess. Pominville is also a character guy who can play at both ends of the ice. The Wild are going toe-to-toe with the Vancouver Canucks at the top of the Northwest Division standings and this is a move that could prove to be the tipping point when it comes to gaining home-ice advantage in the first round or beyond.

Pittsburgh Penguins
Just when you assumed that Ray Shero would be sitting in his office at Consol Energy Center with his feet up drinking banana daiquiris, the Penguins GM added another piece to the arsenal, picking up forward Jussi Jokinen from Carolina. The 30-year-old will likely start at center as the Penguins were looking for someone to bridge the gap while captain Sidney Crosby recovers from a broken jaw. Beyond that, Jokinen, who had a strong playoff for Carolina in 2009 when the Canes advanced to the Eastern Conference finals, is simply another depth piece that is mindful of players such as Miroslav Satan and Petr Sykora, who were in and out of the Penguins' lineup in 2009 when they won the Stanley Cup but who periodically made key contributions. Although the actual numbers weren’t revealed, the Hurrricanes agreed to take on some of Jokinen’s salary next season when he is slated to earn $3 million. If the Pens win the Cup, they will also send a sixth-round pick to Carolina; it becomes a later pick if they fall short.

Ottawa Senators
GM Bryan Murray continues to work magic as he dealt lanky netminder Ben Bishop to Tampa for Cory Conacher, the second-leading rookie point-producer, and a fourth-round pick. The Sens, of course, have defied skeptics by staying in the thick of the playoff hunt in spite of the absence of Jason Spezza, Erik Karlsson and netminder Craig Anderson. Conacher, an undrafted collegiate player, was terrific in the AHL last season where he was the AHL MVP as Norfolk won the Calder Cup. He will fit in with a young Ottawa club that has blossomed under head coach Paul MacLean and in fact steps into a lineup as the leading scorer with 24 points.

Tampa Bay Lightning
It initially seemed as though Tampa GM Steve Yzerman had given up a lot to bring in 6-foot-7 netminder Bishop with Conacher going with a fourth-round pick. But the Lightning need to stabilize their goaltending situation (they rank 21st in goals allowed per game) and Bishop was terrific for the Senators in a limited role, going 8-5 with a .922 save percentage. The Bolts were also dealing from a position of strength, having top young collegiate players Matt Peca and big center Alex Killorn, who has impressed in recent games with the big club. Now, last summer we were saying the same thing about the Lightning as they acquired Anders Lindback from Nashville in the hopes of finding a new No. 1. Will Bishop be any better? The Lightning paid a steep price to find out. But if Yzerman is right this time, the expense will have been worth it.

Buffalo Sabres
GM Darcy Regier might not be able to ice a winning hockey team but he sure knows how to handle himself on trade deadline day. A year ago he obtained Cody Hodgson and a first-round draft pick in various deals. This year he dealt captain Pominville to Minnesota for a top forward prospect in Larsson and a promising young goaltender in Hackett and another first-round pick in this June’s draft, along with a second round pick in 2014. Earlier, he had shipped veteran defenseman Robyn Regehr to Los Angeles for a pair of second-round picks. Will Regier be around next season to see what some of these assets might become? That’s a completely different story.

Washington Capitals
You can argue the rationale of keeping Mike Ribeiro, who is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer, but given the Caps’ recent surge -- they were just two points out of the Southeast Division lead with two games in hand on Winnipeg as of Wednesday afternoon -- GM George McPhee showed his team the organization is all in for the playoffs. McPhee gave up a top prospect in Filip Forsberg, selected 11th overall in last June’s draft, for proven scorer Martin Erat of the Nashville Predators. Although Erat has just four goals this season, he will play in a much more offensive system with more skilled players and it’s easy to imagine he will play an important role, not just in getting the Caps into the playoffs for a sixth straight year but in perhaps making some noise once they get there. Beyond that, Erat has two years left on his deal at a $4.5 million cap hit (the actual dollar amount is less) and so provides some form of protection if the Caps cannot re-sign Ribeiro, who can become an unrestricted free agent this summer. Now, Ribeiro is a center and Erat is a winger but still, having talent under contract is never -- or at least not usually -- a bad thing. The Caps also acquired Michael Latta, a center playing at the AHL level.

Not everyone wanted to make a deal although any GM worth his salt was working the phones until the last minute. Here are some teams that were either unusually quiet or failed to plug in some obvious holes in their lineup.

Not so much

Winnipeg Jets
The Jets once looked like they were going to put a stranglehold on the Southeast Division lead; instead, they have unraveled and look very much like every other Atlanta Thrashers/Winnipeg Jets team in that they are not built for the postseason. And while GM Kevin Cheveldayoff has promised from the start to be conservative in how they build this team, some sort of addition aimed at arresting their current slide might have been psychologically beneficial to the prairie team. It didn’t happen, as the Jets’ only move was to pick up Mike Santorelli off waivers from the Florida Panthers.

Vancouver Canucks
Yes, the Canucks did address their need down the middle by nabbing Derek Roy from Dallas, although Roy has not had the greatest year thus far. But the fact that GM Mike Gillis could not unload netminder Roberto Luongo will continue to be a cloud over the team until he is finally traded. Luongo reacted emotionally to not being traded, telling reporters in Vancouver his contract “sucks” and that if he could, he would tear it up. Now, maybe things settle back down for the Canucks and they proceed to the playoffs as planned. But there’s no doubt Luongo is in a different frame of mind now that the deadline has passed than before, and whether that has an impact on the psyche of the team remains to be seen.

Toronto Maple Leafs
The Leafs added 6-foot-5 defenseman Ryan O’Byrne from Colorado for a fourth-round pick in 2014 but they did not add a veteran goaltender. Will it matter? We’ll find out in less than a month, assuming the Leafs don’t go completely sideways and miss the playoffs entirely. We don’t expect that to happen, but the tandem of James Reimer and Ben Scrivens is untested when it comes to playoff action, and given the mediocrity in the Eastern Conference, it’s not unreasonable to suggest the Leafs could be in a position to win at least one round. If the goaltending holds up, of course.

New York Islanders
On the verge of making the playoffs for only the second time since the last lockout, the Islanders were silent on trade deadline day. Credit GM Garth Snow for not trading Mark Streit, who can become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season, but wasn’t there something this team needed that Snow could have provided in terms of depth?

Boston Bruins
A little unfair to put the Bruins in this list perhaps, but after obtaining Jaromir Jagr on Tuesday, GM Peter Chiarelli did not add the grit and sand many expected he would bring in to his forward corps. And while he did add Wade Redden, reuniting Redden with former Ottawa teammate and B's captain Zdeno Chara, Redden is mindful of Tomas Kaberle, whom the Bruins added in 2011. The Bruins, of course, won the Cup. But Kaberle became less and less a factor as time went on during those playoffs. Redden, buried in the depth chart in St. Louis, especially after the acquisition Tuesday of Jay Bouwmeester, will be well down the Bruins’ depth chart, especially when there had been earlier talk the Bruins were looking to add Ryan Whitney. The lack of a gritty forward was exacerbated with the news Wednesday that Patrice Bergeron has a concussion.

Nashville Predators
A year ago, the Predators were among the busiest teams at the trade deadline, adding Paul Gaustad, Hal Gill and Andrei Kostitsyn along with repatriating Alexander Radulov. This season, they traded one of their top offensive players in Martin Erat to Washington and defenseman Scott Hannan to San Jose. Now, GM David Poile did get one of the Caps’ top prospects back, Filip Forsberg, who was selected 11th overall in 2012, but the Preds’ strategy illustrates just how quickly things can turn in the NHL, just how quickly one can go from buyer with Stanley Cup dreams to seller with different visions, at least in the short-term.

Philadelphia Flyers
This has been the season from hell for the Flyers vis-a-vis injuries, and so the expectations for GM Paul Holmgren at the deadline were modest. Still, the deal that saw the Flyers acquire former rookie of the year Steve Mason from Columbus for Michael Leighton and a third-round draft pick suggests more goaltending mayhem is ahead in Philly. Mason had been eclipsed by Sergei Bobrovsky, ironically a former Flyer netminder sent to Columbus last offseason, and can become a restricted free agent this summer. Perhaps this is a chance for the Flyers to see if Mason can regain his form and then try to sign him this summer while buying out Ilya Bryzgalov. Either way, it is a move that reflects continued uncertainty at the game’s most important position in one of the league’s most established markets.

Interesting news Monday evening with a source confirming to ESPN.com that the Calgary Flames have given permission to the Toronto Maple Leafs to speak to Miikka Kiprusoff's camp about a contract extension.

My TSN colleague Aaron Ward was first to report the news.

Kiprusoff has one more year on his deal next season, which pays only $1.5 million (although it counts $5.8 million against the salary cap), and the suspicion here is that the 36-year-old netminder would sign off on a trade to Toronto only if he can get another year out of it financially.

The Leafs and Flames had yet another trade conversation about Kiprusoff on Monday, a source told ESPN.com.

Still, no deal is imminent at this point. There are still some moving parts to all this and there’s no guarantee Kiprusoff goes anywhere. But what is known as of Monday evening is that Calgary and Toronto continue to talk about him.

Any extension signed by Kiprusoff -- if he agrees to one -- could not be officially signed until July because he has one more year left on his deal.

Earlier in the day, Leafs GM Dave Nonis told Toronto reporters that, if the deal is right, he would like to add a veteran goalie before Wednesday’s deadline.

Of course, the other name connected to Toronto is Roberto Luongo. But as of Monday evening, the Canucks' and Maple Leafs' front offices had not talked since last week on Luongo.

Meanwhile:

• Buffalo Sabres defenseman Robyn Regehr was asked to drop his full no-movement clause to go to the Kings and intends to do so, according to my TSN colleague Darren Dreger. The deal is not completely done yet.
• The 2013 fourth-round pick the Sharks got in return from Chicago for Michal Handzus on Monday was originally San Jose’s to begin with. The Sharks dealt the pick to Chicago in June 2012 in a previous deal, so now they get the pick back. And I tell you what, given how sparingly the 36-year-old Handzus has played of late, pretty good value the Sharks got in return, especially when you consider that because Handzus had a no-trade clause, it’s not as if the Sharks could shop him to every team in the league.

From the official NHL release:

LUPUL, NIEMI AND HALL NAMED NHL ‘THREE STARS’ OF THE WEEK


NEW YORK (April 1, 2013) – Toronto Maple Leafs left wing Joffrey Lupul, San Jose Sharks goaltender Antti Niemi and Edmonton Oilers left wing Taylor Hall have been named the NHL’s “Three Stars” for the week ending March 31.

FIRST STAR – JOFFREY LUPUL, LW, TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS

Lupul led the League with nine points in four games and also tied for first with five goals, including three game-winners and three power-play tallies. He opened the week with one goal in a 3-2 shootout loss to the Boston Bruins March 25. Lupul then scored the game-winner in each of Toronto’s next three games – he recorded two goals in a 3-2 victory over the Florida Panthers March 26, collected one goal and one assist in a 6-3 triumph over the Carolina Hurricanes March 28 and posted three assists plus his 20th career game-winner in a 4-0 win at the Ottawa Senators March 30.
The 29-year-old Fort Saskatchewan, Alta., native has 8-5—13 in nine games this season, all of which have come in his last six outings.

SECOND STAR – ANTTI NIEMI, G, SAN JOSE SHARKS

Niemi had an NHL-best four wins and two shutouts to go along with a
1.22 goals-against average and .952 save percentage in four appearances. He made 24 saves in a 5-3 win over the Anaheim Ducks March 25. Niemi then posted back-to-back shutouts, recording 22 stops in a 4-0 victory over the Anaheim Ducks March 27 and 27 saves in a 2-0 triumph over the Detroit Red Wings March 28. He closed the week by making 27 stops, plus another two in the shootout, in a 3-2 win over the Phoenix Coyotes March 30. The 29-year-old Vantaa, Finland, native has appeared in 30 games this season and ranks in the top 10 in the League in wins (16), goals-against average (2.13), save percentage (.925) and shutouts (three).

THIRD STAR – TAYLOR HALL, LW, EDMONTON OILERS

Hall tied for first in the NHL with five goals and ranked second with eight points in four games. He scored one goal in a 3-2 loss at the Nashville Predators March 25, collected 1-2—3 in a 3-0 victory over the St.
Louis Blues March 26 and recorded one assist in a 6-4 triumph over Columbus Blue Jackets March 28. Hall then broke Wayne Gretzky’s franchise record for the fastest hat trick to start a game when he scored three times in the first 7:53 of a 4-0 win over the Vancouver Canucks March 30. The 21-year-old Calgary, Alta., native and former No. 1 overall pick leads the Oilers with 23 assists and 34 points in 31 games this season.

Well you knew this story would get revisited before Wednesday’s trade deadline.

The Toronto Maple Leafs and Vancouver Canucks have renewed trade talks on Roberto Luongo.

My TSN colleague Darren Dreger reported as much Friday; Damien Cox of the Toronto Star also had a story about it in Friday’s edition.

I gathered some of my own intel on Friday and here’s what I came up with:

Last week in Phoenix when the Canucks were in town there, Vancouver assistant GM Laurence Gilman met with his old pal and mentor Cliff Fletcher, senior adviser with the Leafs. Those two guys talk all the time but, on this occasion, Fletcher revisited the Luongo dialogue with Gilman.

That conversation between Gilman and Fletcher sparked Vancouver GM Mike Gillis to follow up and phone Toronto GM Dave Nonis this past week to further explore those talks.

This in itself is a story because Gillis and Nonis, I don’t believe, have ever spoken to each other regarding any trade, as some ill will existed after the former replaced the latter as GM in Vancouver. Usually it’s been other members of each front office communicating on Luongo, not Gillis and Nonis straight on. So that’s perhaps an important shift in this story.

Gillis and Nonis spoke this week and, while there’s no deal that’s imminent and there may never be a deal, it certainly appears there’s groundwork built here for the two teams to keep tabs on this until Wednesday.

Nonis has always kept interest in Luongo, whom he traded for in Vancouver when he was GM, but talks went silent between both clubs for quite a while until last week.

It was predictable both clubs would eventually circle back to each other, the Leafs always being the most obvious fit for Luongo.

One source told ESPN.com Friday that two other NHL teams have also called on Luongo over the past week. Though how serious that interest is remains difficult to ascertain.

As we touched on earlier this week, Calgary’s Miikka Kiprusoff is also of interest to the Leafs. What’s unclear is whether the Flames netminder would want a trade or not. The Flames need to figure that out with him before Wednesday. If "Kipper" is up for it, I think the Leafs would explore that. He’s got only one year left on his deal compared to Luongo’s monster contract which runs through 2021-22.

Still, if the Canucks are willing to lower the price tag somewhat on Luongo, it could make for an interesting decision for the Leafs.

Luongo, 33, remains a topflight netminder and should be for another four or five years.

The Canucks, of course, continue the search for a No. 3 center. Whether they can find that from the Leafs or use whatever they get from Toronto in a possible Luongo deal to get that No. 3 center, remains to be seen.

Wild 7, Stars 4
* Wild: Snap 16-game road losing streak vs Stars
* Wild: won 6 straight
* Mikko Koivu (MIN): Goal (8), assist; 4-game point streak
* Jaromir Jagr (DAL): 4th straight game with goal
FROM ELIAS: The Wild set a franchise record when eight different players recorded two or more points in Minnesota's 7-4 win at Dallas. The previous Wild high for multi-point men in one game was seven, set in an 8-2 victory at Chicago exactly nine years earlier (March 25, 2004). The victim and venue were the same in the only other instance of an NHL team with eight players scoring two or more points in a game this season. That was by the Blackhawks in their 8-1 rout of the Stars in Dallas on March 16.

Bruins 3, Maple Leafs 2 (SO)
* Bruins: won 5 straight and 7 of last 8 at home
* Milan Lucic (BOS): 1st goal since Feb. 24; ends 15-game drought
* Maple Leafs: 0-4 this season in shootouts (NHL-worst W-L in such games)
* Joffrey Lupul (TOR): PP goal (4); 4 goals, assist in last 3 games
FROM ELIAS: Milan Lucic ended his 15-game goalless streak when he scored in the second period of the Bruins' 3-2 shootout win over the Maple Leafs. Lucic scored more goals than any other Boston player over the past two seasons (56) but he's found the net only five times in 30 games this year. Lucic's 15-game goal drought was his longest single-season goalless streak since he had one of an identical length in February/March 2009.

Red Wings 3, Coyotes 2
* Red Wings: won 3 straight and 5 straight on road
* Pavel Datsyuk (DET): Goal, Assist; 3rd multi-point game in last 5 games
* Coyotes: 0-5-1 in past 6 games

Sharks 5, Ducks 3
* Sharks: 2nd regulation win in last 11 games vs Ducks
* Joe Pavelski (SJ): Goal (8), assist; had 1 point in previous 10 games
* Ducks: season high 3-game losing streak
* Corey Perry (ANA): Goal (10), assist; 7th multi-point game this season

Kings 5, Blackhawks 4
* Blackhawks: lost last 2 home games (11-0-1 in first 12 home games this season)
* Dustin Brown (LAK): GW goal with 1:27 remaining in 3rd period
* Jonathan Toews (CHI): goal, assist; 5 goals in last 4 games while scoring in each game
* Game was tied 1-1, 2-2, 3-3 & 4-4

Predators 3, Oilers 2
* Predators: won 3 straight and 5 of last 6 at home
* Mike Fischer (NSH): 5 goals, 3 assists during 7-game point streak
* Oilers: lost 6 of last 7

Senators 3, Devils 2 (SO)
* Senators: 8-1-1 in last 10 home games; allowed 16 goals in those games
* Senators: 2-0-0 vs Devils this season (both in SO)
* Sergei Gonchar (OTT): snapped 10-game point streak

From the official NHL release:

OVECHKIN, BACKSTROM AND KADRI NAMED NHL ‘THREE STARS’ OF THE WEEK

NEW YORK (March 25, 2013) – Washington Capitals left wing Alex Ovechkin, Minnesota Wild goaltender Niklas Backstrom and Toronto Maple Leafs center Nazem Kadri have been named the NHL’s “Three Stars” for the week ending March 24.

FIRST STAR – ALEX OVECHKIN, LW, WASHINGTON CAPITALS

Ovechkin led the NHL with five goals and eight points in four games, stretching his season-long scoring streak to five games (6-3—9). He scored in a 2-1 loss to the Penguins March 19, Ovechkin’s 14th goal in his last 12 regular-season visits to Pittsburgh. He then totaled five points in back-to-back games at Winnipeg, posting 1-2—3 in a 4-0 victory March 21 and two goals in a 6-1 win March 22. Ovechkin capped the week with one goal and one assist, plus the opening goal in the shootout, in a 3-2 victory over the New York Rangers March 24. The 27-year-old Moscow native leads the Capitals with 16 goals in 32 games this season and ranks second on the club with 31 points.

SECOND STAR – NIKLAS BACKSTROM, G, MINNESOTA WILD

Backstrom posted a 3-0-0 record, 1.00 goals-against average, .972 save percentage and one shutout in three starts to help the Wild extend its winning streak to a season-high five games. He made 35 saves in a 3-1 triumph at Vancouver March 18 to lead Minnesota to its first victory at Rogers Arena since Jan. 31, 2009 (0-9-2). Backstrom then recorded a season-high 36 stops in a 4-2 victory at Detroit March 20. He closed the week with 33 saves in a 2-0 win over San Jose March 23 to pick up the 27th shutout of his NHL career and his first since Feb. 19, 2012. The 35-year-old Helsinki native ranks second in the League with 16 wins this season and has a 2.23 goals-against average and .921 save percentage in 25 appearances.

THIRD STAR – NAZEM KADRI, C, TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS

Kadri ranked second in the NHL with seven points in the three games, also tying for second in both goals (three) and assists (four). He collected a career-high three assists and posted a +3 rating in a 4-2 victory over Tampa Bay March 20. Kadri recorded his third three-point performance of the season the following evening, totaling 2-1—3 in a 5-4 shootout loss at Buffalo March 21. He then scored his 14th goal of the season in a 3-2 win over Boston March 23. The 22-year-old London, Ont., native leads the Maple Leafs with 34 points in 32 games this season and is tied for first on the team in goals (14) and assists (20).