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  • Dominik Hasek wants NHL return; Tortorella on Game 6; Nash to Boston? (Puck Headlines)

    Here are your Puck Headlines: a glorious collection of news and views collected from the greatest blogosphere in sports and the few, the proud, the mainstream hockey media.

    • We love this photo from Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals. We also can't imagine how many people mistook Chad Smith of the Chili Peppers for Will Ferrell.

    • Dominik Hasek, 47, would like to play in the NHL again. As a backup? As a training camp invitee? Doesn't say. But we'd love to see it happen. Preferably in Tampa Bay in a tandem with Dwayne Roloson, so he can have someone to reminisce with about the discovery of fire. [Malik]

    • Steve Yzerman doesn't rule out trading for a goalie for the Tampa Bay Lightning: "My preference," Yzerman said Thursday night, "is to go with a little bit younger guy that maybe has a little less experience that can step up and play well for us now." [TB Times]

    • Coveted NCAA prospect Justin Schultz is reportedly leaving Wisconsin, giving the Anaheim Ducks a 30-day window in which to negotiate exclusively with him before he joins the Leafs, errrr, becomes a free agent. [Ducks Blog]

    • Rick Dudley has left the Toronto Maple Leafs for the Montreal Canadiens as an assistant GM. Tim Wharnsby of CBC on Dudley's mixed results. [CBC Sports]

    • Joe Haggerty breaks down a Rick Nash the Boston Bruins scenario: "Fact: The Blue Jackets are asking for too much for Nash at this point. This hockey writer can only see the superstar winger coming to Boston if Columbus is willing to take on Krejci or Tim Thomas in exchange for their franchise cornerstone. That may or may not happen." [CSNNE]

    • Glendale councilwoman calls Canadians interested in the Phoenix Coyotes' relocation "poachers." Mark Spector pounces. [Sportsnet]

    • John Tortorella on Game 6: "I thought we were on our heels, and you have to give credit to Jersey, too, a little bit, for putting us on our heels. But I think as we've been going here, I think entering tonight's game we're in the right mindset and that's going to be very important for an important game." [NYDN]

    • World Juniors made $22 million in Alberta. For a tournament that Canada lost. Crazy dough. [TSN]

    • How about Ralph Krueger as the new coach head of the Edmonton Oilers? Is that something you might be interested in? [Oilers Nation]

    • Puck Daddy favorite Heidi Androl will be covering the Los Angeles Kings for NHL Network during the Final. Huzzah! [NHL.com]

    • Those high school kids who made racial tweets about Joel Ward after his Game 7 goal vs. Boston sure did learn a lesson. Nearly three weeks without school activities! Man, that's like being thrown in a gulag! [Gloucester Times]

    • Moral of the story? Don't bitch about embellishing if you're embellishing. [s/t Nicholas Ramirez]

    • Dustin Penner on the adulation being given to the Los Angeles Kings: "I think I set a personal best for most messages received, even when comparing it to Anaheim in '07. And that was another new experience, seeing that many people waiting at the airport for you. It was around 4,000 people, and seeing that is something you wish you could relive at a moment's notice, because you probably won't get that visual again until you win it all, if we do." [LA Kings Insider]

    • John Davidson on his future with the St. Louis Blues: "As of right now, Tom, who I have a lot of respect for, is deciding in his own mind how he wants to have the organization set up," Davidson said. "He bought a hockey club and he runs the business. We don't know what he's going to do. He might keep everything exactly the same. He might not keep everything exactly the same. I have no idea what he's trying to do." [FS Midwest]

    • Matt Hendricks and Mike Knuble of the Washington Capitals join the "You Can Play" movement. Said Hendricks: "For me, those areas are black and white: What's right, and what's wrong. If I have the opportunity to help in any way — to clear up those areas and make them more black and white — I'll take that opportunity. Hockey is a great game and anybody should be able to play it. And it doesn't matter if you're gay or straight in my opinion. It comes right to the slogan: if you can play, you can play. And as we move forward as a society, people are more open and they're willing to share a lot more freely. But it's not where it should be. It should be a lot easier than it is right now." [Dump 'n Chase]

    • Puck Stops Here says Jonathan Quick for Conn Smythe, takes a shot at Abel To Yzerman. [TPSH]

    • Debating shot blocking in the NHL. Says Ken Campbell: "Did you ever pause to think that blocked shots are down because teams are less inclined to shoot because they realize the chances of it reaching the net are about as good as Snookie joining a nunnery? No wonder blocked shots are down. It's pretty difficult to block a shot when all your opponent is doing is passing the puck around the perimeter. Now instead of launching bombs from the point, they're working it in deep and hoping to get the puck up and over the mass of humanity in front of the net. Oh, the excitement!" [THN]

    • Finally, the black and white footage on this clip at the start and finish is pretty awesome. It's like the "Wizard of Oz," only instead of brilliant colors in the middle it's drab hockey scenes.

  • Stanley Cup Playoff overtimes: Historically, when are goals most likely to be scored?

    The Los Angeles Kings did some unpredictable things, statistically speaking, en route to making the Stanley Cup Final: Like going 8-0 on the road, nearly having as many shorthanded goals (5) as power-play goals (6) and beating the top three seeds in the conference.

    Dustin Penner's Western Conference Final-winning goal was no exception. Pancakes scored at 17:42 of the first and only overtime, and according to the history of Stanley Cup Playoff overtime, that's an exception to the expected.

    Chris Winchester, a Detroit Red Wings for 35 years and a PD reader, put together a spreadsheet that looked at when goals were scored in playoff overtimes going back to expansion in 1968. From Winchester:

    I always had the feeling that most overtimes ended in the first 5 minutes or so of overtime.  After compiling the data for every playoff overtime game it turns out that over 40 percent of overtime games ended in the first five minutes of the extra period. I did not calculate the fact that the game may have ended in the 2nd or 3rd overtime, just the time the goal was scored during the extra period.

    In other words, the following chart doesn't account for in which overtime the goal was scored, but rather when in that overtime it was scored.

    Via Winchester, the numbers; click here for the much larger, clearer image.

    Again, take a gander at the full chart here. A few thoughts on this chart …

    • This was the first overtime game of the conference final round, and the first overtime game of the 2012 playoffs since the Washington Capitals and New York Rangers went long on May 7.

    • The Penner goal was only the second of the postseason to occur in the final five minutes of an overtime period; the other was Alexei Ponikarovsky's goal at 17:21 of the first OT in the New Jersey Devils' Game 3 win over the Philadelphia Flyers.

    • As you can see, Winchester has determined that the NHL has a new benchmark for games ending in the first five minutes of an overtime period with 14.

    • There have only been three seasons since 1968 in which more overtime games ended in the second 10 minutes of an extra session than in the first 10.

    • Finally, while the number of overtime games has been high for the last two postseasons, they're not necessarily a product of the "charity point/shootout" regular season OT model adopted after the lockout. Rather, they're symptomatic of the NHL's turn toward defensive systems — from 1995 to 2012, the playoffs have averaged 18.29 overtime games per postseason. Wonder if the turn from divisional play to a conference seeding format played into it as well.

    (Ed. Note: Thanks to Brad Forster for this reminder: The division semifinals was a best-of-five affair until the 1986—87 season, when it became a best-of-seven series.)

    Thanks to Chris for the research. We now feel a little more comfortable getting up and grabbing a beer in the last five minutes of an oh crap Penner just scored …

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