Jordan Nolan and Chris Stewart were all over the scoresheet in the first period of Game 4 between the St. Louis Blues and the Los Angeles Kings. Stewart took a tripping minor 2 minutes in. Nolan opened the scoring with his first career playoff goal 3 minutes later.

Then, midway through the frame, the two locked horns behind the play for one of the best tilts of the postseason.

Some serious haymakers there.

It was a tough first period for the Blues, who were outshot 10-4 and surrendered the first goal, giving the Staples Center crowd plenty to cheer about in Game 4 of a series the Kings lead 3-0.

The fight came just after Kevin Shattenkirk had evened the game at one, and no doubt Stewart was trying to further quiet the LA fans with a win over Nolan. After he got Nolan's jersey over his head and the officials broke up the fight, the Blues' winger made his intentions known on the way to the box.

"Ssshhhh," he mouthed with his finger to his lips. "[Gretzky]-ing ssshh."

Unfortunately for the Blues, Dustin Brown put the Kings back up by a goal five minutes later.

Rick Dudley, charming his way into hearts (Getty)

Dudley and Bergevin would instantly form the studliest management duo in the NHL.

When Marc Bergevin was named the General Manager of the Montreal Canadiens, rumours immediately began swirling that Rick Dudley was close to joining his front-office team. According to a report from TSN's Darren Dreger, Dudley is indeed set to become the Assistant GM in Montreal. Theres just one small hiccup.

Dudley, a premier talent evaluator, is currently a member of Brian Burke's Lincoln-esque team of rivals in Toronto and he's been hard at work preparing the Maple Leafs for the upcoming NHL entry draft on June 22-23. That's a lot of inside information to take to Montreal. From TSN:

Dudley, a member of Toronto's management team, has an "out" in his contract with the Leafs, but has done extensive work for Toronto on the upcoming NHL Draft and sources say Burke would prefer Dudley not join the Canadiens until after the Draft.

Compounding the issue is the fact Toronto and Montreal both have top five picks (Canadiens at third overall, Leafs fifth), an obvious concern for the Maple Leafs, who would rather not share Dudley's expertise with the rival Habs.

Montreal drafts just ahead of Toronto all through the weekend, and with Dudley at their table, they'll effectively have a mole in the Leafs' organization telling them exactly which players Burke and co. are praying will still be on the board.

That's a lot of leverage to hold. so you can see why Burke might prefer that Dudley's first day with the Canadiens organization is in, say, the day after St. John the Baptist Day. Will he be able to block the move until then? The two sides are in talks.

(Also, rumour has it Burke has been asking people if that systemic memory deletion firm from "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" is based on a real company.)

When the deal is finally made official, Dudley should prove to be a good front-office addition. The major concern voiced at the Canadiens' hiring of Bergevin is the new GM's inexperience, and Dudley should be able to speak to this. The 63-year-old is as veteran a hockey executive as you're going to find. Since he retired as a player in 1982, he's coached in four different leagues, and he's served as the General Manager of the Ottawa Senators, Tampa Bay Lightning, Florida Panthers, and Atlanta Thrashers.

Getty

For the second time this year, the Labatt Brewing Company, which brews Budweiser in Canada, is facing criticism for skirting the rules in their attempts to market their beer to hockey fans.

Back in February, the company was criticized for their "Flash fans" Super Bowl ad for allegedly "exploiting every day folks" by making the commercial with non-unionized labour. Now Budweiser is coming under fire for their recent "Playoff Payoff" promotion, which promises "Hockey tickets for life" to the winner.

In actuality, the winner will receive tickets for 50 years to the home games of the Canadian team of his or her choice. The problem with this: Budweiser can't promise NHL tickets, because the NHL isn't a partner on the promotion.

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Shane Doan reacts to almost being kicked in the face.

No. 1 Star: Mike Smith, Phoenix Coyotes

Smith wasn't busy, but he was perfect in a 1-0 Game 4 win, making 25 saves for his second shutout of the 2012 postseason. He was especially good in the 3rd period, when the Predators crashed the crease at every opportunity, but couldn't jam anything past the Coyotes netminder.

No. 2 Star: Shane Doan, Phoenix Coyotes

Doan scored the lone goal in the lone game on the night. At 14:25 of the first period, his backhand shot deflected off Roman Josi and past Pekka Rinne.

It's been a little while since Brendan Shanahan and the Shanavengers have had to assemble to assess a dirty hit, especially compared to the first round where they may as well have installed cots in the office. But Rotislav Klesla's hit on Nashville's Matt Halischuk will likely end their brief time off.

Midway through the first period of Game 4 between the Phoenix Coyotes and the Nashville Predators, Klesla chased Halischuk to a loose puck at the side boards. Then he shoved the Predators' winger into those boards, head first.

Halischuk would stay in the game, and Klesla would only see a two-minute minor penalty for boarding.

But will additional discipline come after the game?

(UPDATE: Klesla will have a hearing with the NHL on Sunday afternoon.)

There's definitely a precedent for it. Shanahan made his opinions on this play very clear when he suspended Chris Stewart of the St. Louis Blues 3 games for a near-identical hit on Niklas Kronwall:

Charlie Daniels, fiddlin' up a stormTrue story: the devil lost that fiddle contest because, the night before he went down to Georgia, he partied in Scottsdale until 3 a.m.

Preview: Phoenix Coyotes at Nashville Predators, 7:30 p.m. ET

Barry Trotz has made the decision to sit Alexander Radulov and Andrei Kostitsyn in favour of Matt Halischuk and Jordin Tootoo for the second straight game. Is it the right one? On the one hand, the Predators tightened up defensively and won without the two forwards in Game 3, so you know it can be done. But, on the other hand, you've made your point. It's more than likely this game is a low-scoring affair decided by one goal. If the Predators don't come out on top, Trotz is going to face a lot of criticism for burying two of his best hopes to get that goal in the press box.

Evening Reading

• Mirtle on the NHL's dwindling Russian influence. [The Globe & Mail]

• Enforcer Derek Parker makes the jump from hockey to MMA. [Winnipeg Free Press]

• Cool piece on the Hockey Night in Canada intros. [Montreal Gazette]

• Marcus Foligno is living up to the family name. [Polished Puck Press]

Puck Buddy Comment of the Day: Pittsburgh fan JS points out the hypocrisy of Philadelphians:

I see Philly has no problem using Pittsburgh-based ketchup

YOU USE OUR KETCHUP. WE WIN.

Bold prediction: A second consecutive Pekka Rinne shutout.

Hockey Hugs is a feature that celebrates the best in hugging from around the NHL, because who doesn't love a good hug now and then? Seen a particularly good hug photo lately? Send it to puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or tweet @HarrisonMooney.

Ottawa Senators hockey hug

Welcome to hockey hugs, the glue that holds us together in these trying times.

Pittsburgh Penguins hockey hug

Before we get into it, some bad news: for 22 teams, the offseason has begun, which means fewer hockey hug pics. (Granted, there may be more golf hug pics, but Getty and AP aren't dispatching cameramen to document those for us ... yet.)

So enjoy the Jason Spezza/Zenon Konopka hug above. It's the last time you'll see the Senators this year.

Spezza sort of looks like he's trying to console Konopka through a breakdown he doesn't take all that seriously. "I know, man, Andy grew up and it was time to let the toys go... but do you really have to cry about it?"

Sadly, we also say goodbye to Jordan Staal and Tyler Kennedy, who have made the cut several times this year. Someone needs to caption their final photo with that "Footprints in the Sand" poem.

The good news, however, is that there are no muted or non-reactions after playoff scoring past the first round. By this time in the season, nearly every goal turns out a fantastic hug photo, which means the eight teams remaining are churning out solid gold.

Game-winning goal screenshot

Imagine being Washington Capitals' defenseman Karl Alzner Wednesday night. Imagine, say, that you played 37:14, over 11 minutes more than your previous career-high, in a 2-1 triple-overtime loss to the New York Rangers -- that you were one of the players in a game that beat pretty much everyone to a bloody pulp and took 114:41 to decide, nearly twice as long as it was supposed to.

Worse, imagine that, just after you pressured Dan Girardi along the far boards, he swung the puck behind the goal to Brad Richards, who centered to Marian Gaborik for the game-winner at 14:41, and all you could do was slam your stick against the glass and head to the room as they celebrated.

Then imagine that, six hours after puck drop, you arrived at home, sore as all hell, thinking about all the things that could have gone your way but didn't. And then you opened your door to this nonsense:

Aw Hell no

Alzner tweeted the following photo at 1:57 a.m. EST Thursday morning, captioned with the words, "Dogs not happy about the loss either."

Seriously, if I'm Alzner and this is what's waiting for me after that brutal night, one of those dogs is getting punted through the window. Maybe the big one.

This is why I prefer cats. Sure, they aren't eagerly meeting you at the front door making you feel wanted and loved -- they could hardly care where you go or what you do as long as you clean their poop -- but they're also not wrecking up the place just because you're three hours late.

This is like one of those "I Spy" photos. A cursory examination yields bits of newspaper, bits of magazine, bits of red plastic bag, slippers, a couch cushion, and two dogs confident that they had the best damn night of their lives.