While you’re waiting for the next NHL Playoff game to kick off, you should have been watching or taping the IIHF Championships that are going on in Helsinki, Finland. The other night the U.S. team and Canada squared off in a great game which climaxed in an OT win by the U.S. in overtime. Fantastic game that was on the NHL channel and will probably be replayed so keep an eye out for that.

The games continue through the week so be sure to catch them for some great action. You can stream most of the games for free on the IIHF YouTube channel so enjoy killing some time during the work week!

Another match between France and Kazakhstan saw Brendan Shanahan’s worst nightmare. An ugly hit by France’s Sasha Treille on Roman Starchenko left the Kazakhstan player on the ice out cold! After several scary moments and the bringing out of the spine board, Roman was able to wake up and sluggishly skate off the ice under his own power.

This just in! The Vancouver Canucks are interested in trading for Boston’s Brad Marchand. The news comes after Washington Capitals fans noticed that Brad Marchand was channeling his inner-Kessler a few times and easily going down to the ice in what Caps fans look to be a move to draw a cheap penalty.

Check out the play a few days ago:

The debate on whether or not Marchand flopped or was hit legit is up for debate. But who cares because it spawned my new favorite animated GIF, via RMNB!

Hey everybody. Look! Raffi Torres just dished out a cheap shot and sent a Chicago Blackhawks player to the locker room.

Brent Seabrook of the Blackhawks knows all about Torres and now so does Chicago forward Marian Hossa, who was taken off the ice on a stretcher Tuesday night in Game 3 of the Blackhawks-Coyotes series.

Hossa was also briefly hospitalized after the hit by Phoenix’s Raffi Torres in the first period. Hossa lay on the ice for around five minutes before medical teams strapped him to a back board and took him to the hospital. Check out the hit for yourself and you’ll see Torres leave his feet to deliver the hit to Hossa.

And depending on the mood of the NHL, I’m sure Hossa will be either suspended for a few games or just fined $17.50. Hard to say. Depends on which side of the bed Brendan Shanahan gets out on.

He may dive to the ice at the slightest breeze, but Henrik Sedin deserves some props for getting jacked big time on the ice Sunday and staying in the game. The hit was so massive by the Kings Dustin Brown that Ryan Kesler, who was on the bench, flopped to the ground.

The Canucks will need all the Sedins they can get. The Kings and their awesome Twitter feed have built a surprising 3-0 lead in the series and threaten to bounce the Canucks out of the postseason tomorrow.

Daniel Sedin, Henrik’s twin, is nursing a concussion and is expected for Game 4 but it’s not 100% official yet.  The Canucks played better Sunday night but they still lack the offensive power to keep up with L.A., who has outscored them 9-4 in the three games.

Sidney Crosby didn’t mince words when it came to why he acted the way he did on Sunday afternoon in the blowout loss to the Flyers. Turns out, Sidney just hates the Flyers. He hates everyone on the team.

Why? Because they’re the Flyers, of course!

Duh!

Well, that didn’t take long. The Philadelphia Flyers came ready for their first series matchup against in-state rivals Pittsburgh. Problem is, Pittsburgh forgot to bring a gameplan or any kind of defense. The Flyers have gone up 3 games to none and look to easily sweep the series that should have gone to Game 7, in OT.

Instead we were treated to a pathetic example of a talented Pens team trying to ‘fight’ their way to a win. Yeah, you just can’t do that against Philly. You’re gonna lose no matter what season you try that in.

Pittsburgh and Philly faced off on NBC Sunday afternoon in what turned out to be a blowout 8-4 win by the Flyers. But the game was never in the hands of Pittsburgh. Except maybe the first 8 minutes before the wheels fell off. And when I say fell off, I mean it. They came flying off!

I don’t know what was more embarrassing…Marc-Andre Fleury letting in a few of the easiest shots ever or Sidney Crosby acting like a baby girl. Watch as Crosby helps kick off a 10-minute fight/melee with this little childish act

Philly built a 3-1 lead quickly and soon filled the penalty box as all the Pens including Sidney Crosby tried to square off against the Flyers. That is when they weren’t giving cheap shots. Check out Arron Asham of the Pens joining the instant suspension club by crosschecking and then punching the Flyers Breyden Schenn head into the ice…from behind.

And here’s James Neal of the Penguins with a stupid, blind-side hit on the Flyers Sean Couturier in the closing minutes of the game. Sad.

It’s sad to see this type of behavior from such a talented group of guys. And it sucks it was on primetime TV so all those people catching the game and thinking hockey was a stereotypical game of goons hitting each other got their wish. Shame on you Pittsburgh. You’re so much better than that.

Heck, even Pens head coach Dan Bylsma looks confused. What the heck is going on in Pittsburgh? Are the Hanson Brothers running the joint?

If nothing else, this years Stanley Cup Playoffs have provided their share of controversial calls and cheap hits. And I haven’t even gotten to the Philly/Pittsburgh series yet.

The Nashville – Detroit series had a few fights in Game 2 of their match but that was primarily because of bad refs in Game 1 that led to this.

Shea Webber and Todd Bertuzzi fought it out in Game 2 so all is clear. Time to move on. But that didn’t stop the Red Wings Johan Franzen from delivering this cheap spear to the gut of the Preds David Legwand….while Legwand was on the bench during the Red Wings loss 3-2.

At this point it’s hard to tell what the NHL and rule enforcer Brendan Shanahan will enforce and suspend players for since they have been wildly inconsistent this playoff series. Franzen should get a bit of a slap here since I’m sure once the Preds get a hold of the tape they will kindly FedEx it to the NHL head office.

Franzen gets checked into the bench where Legwand takes a quick grab of Franzen’s jersey to hold him back. Franzen, unhappy that his attire is being touched, turns around and drives his stick right into the chest of Legwand. Thankfully not enough to injure but if you’re gonna call Mike Smith flopping like a soccer player, I think this should get a second look.

This is pure goonery so I would expect a fine or something but then again I thought Shea should’ve been slapped a one gamer so who the Hell knows now. As far as I could tell, Franzen did not get a penalty for this move and I also remember in the U.S. broadcast, which I watched, they didn’t show this much or comment on it.

Man, I wish I could watch the CBC feeds for all the games.

The Bruins Dennis Seidenberg thinks he’s got Alex Ovechkin of the Capitals all lined up for a monster hit. But Dennis is about to learn it’s not that easy to take down the Big Red Machine.

Even though Seidenberg is the one initiating the hit, I’m pretty sure he got the worst of it as Ovechkin gets a heads up on the play. Then, Boom!

The Caps lost to the Bruins 1-0 in OT as Tim Thomas of the Bruins blanked Ovi and friends for a Game 1 victory. Watch the replay of the hit below and you’ll see Ovi pop back up and continue on the play. He may have a few cobwebs loose, but he does get back up.

Alex Ovechkin is in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Capitals star hasn’t necessarily been super all year, but when he gets going in the postseason, he’s a ridiculously entertaining specimen.

Don’t tell that to Dennis Seidenberg, though. The Boston Bruins defenseman tried to line up Ovechkin in the second period of Game 1 between the B’s and Washington Capitals Thursday night, but Ovi looked up at the last second and turned the tables on him. Oh, did he turn the tables on him. [via SB Nation]

Dennis Seidenberg hits Alexander Ovechkin and both players fall down.

First off, props to the 700 Level for the killer Mad Men inspired graphic of the Pens and Flyers coaches dueling with their words in their season series game.

The Keystone State War has begun and the first victory goes to Philly as the Flyers flew into Pittsburgh and found a way to steal yet another win on the Penguins home ice with a 4-3 OT win in Game One of the NHL Playoffs.

In our predictions for the Eastern Conference Playoffs, I noted that just toss out what you know on this series.  It’ll be simply ‘Last Man Standing‘, as in I imagine the brutal and physical match up will take its toll and the game will come down to the last seconds of Game 7.  More luck than anything. Or at least, who has the best physical trainers to rehab the players in between rounds.

The Flyers were owned by the Pens for the first period as Pittsburgh went up early and blown calls by the refs, a theme for the night, helped put a few goals on the board.  First, the missed offsides by Daniel Briere that led to a goal in the second period.  Pretty easy call if you ask me.

But the Pens scored their third goal on what looks like a blown offsides call so there you go. Either way it led to OT where this stunner happened. Jakub Voracek scored 2:23 into overtime after the Flyers rallied to score 4 straight goals to win the game. Some kudos to Philly head coach Peter Laviolette who didn’t hit the panic button and pull goalie Ilya Bryzgalov after 3 goals were let in rather early. Bryz held up and kept his team in the game, stopping 15 more stops.

And look who will get the first suspension of the NHL Playoffs…

Shea Weber of the Nashville Predators just won himself a second game vacation I’m willing to guess. That’s because NHL rule enforcer Brendan Shanahan will be giving a look at this video of the Predators defenseman Shea Weber slamming Detroit’s Henrik Zetterberg face first into the boards at the end of Game 1 of the two teams first round playoff match. Twice.

It’s sad, too, because Shea is such a talented player and now the ‘goon’ tag is already being tossed around for this silly play.

The suspension is coming, we can all see that coming, as the act was blatant and violent. Shea gets in two solid strikes on the boards/glass with Zetterberg’s head after Zetterberg hits Shea from behind. Weber obviously losses his head and gets pissed at the hit. Still not excuse for a bad play but Shea retaliates against Henrik due in large part to the horrible officiating of the game.

Red Wings head coach stated “The referees are trying to get to Stanley Cup Final like the rest of us. What do you say?”

The refs called a ton of penalties Wednesday night in Nashville but did nothing to stop the chopping and grinding in front of the goals that elevated the blood pressure of both teams.

That helped create this scenario and the effects were bound to happen. It’s unfortunate as it hurts both teams. Zetterberg gets injured and the Preds captain will get bounced for a game or two just when his team needs him the most. Dumb play by Shea in the final seconds of a won game. Technically, Shea was awarded a 2-minute boarding penalty with no time left but consider his time in the sin bin just beginning.

The good news is Nashville loves wrestling and now Shea could send in this tape for his WWE Wrestlemania audition.