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NHL Playoff Observations -- Friday (Thursday, too)

Just a few things that caught my eye:

  • Four shots, three goals ... and his second career hat playoff hat trick. The third goal was Sidney Crosby's 100th playoff point, a feat accomplished in merely 75 games. Plus he's the fifth fastest to hit that 100-point mark. Who was faster? Just Wayne Gretzky (46 games), Mario Lemieux (50), Jari Kurri (67) and Mike Bossy (74). Now that's elite company.
  • Where-o-where has my Brad Richards gone? Oh, where-o-where could he be? Oh right -- behind the play, struggling to catch up. Sometimes skills trickle away; sometimes they just fall off a cliff. Sad.
  • Craig Anderson was rattled -- he's going to be seeing visions of Sidney Crosby every time he tries to get some sleep. What are the odds Paul MacLean starts Robin Lehner next game? The battle of the back ups awaits.
  • The more the Kings play, the more they look unstoppable. What are the odds of a repeat? #LAKingsCrazyGood.
  • Carolina's season went from bad to ugly with Eric Staal's injury at the Worlds. An MRI will happen in the next day or so, and my money is on a complete ACL tear, partial MCL tear and maybe even dislocated patella after that deliberate attempt to injure by Alexander Edler. The patella injury would be an odd one in combination with the others, but the pain seemed off the charts. It's not often you see a guy writhing on the ice like that.
  • Don't look now, but Zdeno Chara has 10 points in eight postseason games; nine of those have come on a five-game streak.
  • Is it really a surprise that the Islanders made Raffi Torres the fifth overall pick in 2000? Then again, they took Tricky Rick DiPietro with the number one pick. They really have a way of hitting it out of the park, don't they?
  • Speaking of the 2000 NHL Entry Draft, Henrik Lundqvist was snapped up in the seventh round (205th overall). Yup. 
  • Back to Sid the Kid. His first goal come off a beautiful fake that left stud defender Erik Karlsson wondering where he dropped his jock. Sweet. Wait -- the goal, not the jock. Yikes.