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.
• Via Tony Galiffo, Steve Mason's American Zombie goalie mask, on the heels of his Evil Dead mask we featured in yesterday's countdown. Mason's like "The Walking Dead" this season: Painful for most of it, surprisingly strong at the end.
• Duncan Keith on whatever Brendan Shanahan hands down on his elbow to Daniel Sedin: "I respect all the decisions they make." [Sun Times]
• Cam Charron on nationalistic rancor in hockey: "Daniel Sedin, after all, does have more Stanley Cup Finals goals than Keith's teammate, Conn Smythe Winner and unquestioned team leader Jonathan Toews. Does that matter? No, but it's something you don't often hear because it's a fact that doesn't perfectly integrate with the [BS], nativist arguments that are too often brandished when the discussion turns to European NHLers." [Canucks Army]
• Ken Campbell on the Devils/Rangers staged fight: "The way I see it, the best way to take care of this nonsense is to let the mouth-breathing dancing bears get all that aggression that was pent-up over the course of the first three seconds out of the way. That then leaves the real players free to begin playing a real hockey game." [THN]
• Whoa: Alex Steen and Matt D'Agostini coming back from injury would be pretty huge for the St. Louis Blues. [STLToday]
• Suggestions for how Washington Capitals fans can get back at the Winnipeg Jets for their fans' "Crosby's Better" chant. [RMNB]
• Andrew Ladd on tonight's make-or-break game for the Jets: "If we win we're three behind, if we lose we're seven behind. It kind of puts things in perspective with only a few games left." [QMI]
• The All-New Red Wings "Choose Your Own Adventure" Game. I read it all the way through and it made no [expletive] sense. First I walk through a door, then I'm dead, then I'm having lunch with a dragon, then … [The Triple Deke]
• Why things aren't looking good for the New York Islanders' future, and why Quebec would be their most likely suitor. [WFAN]
• Tickets to the Islanders vs. Devils game in Brooklyn would sound so much better on vinyl. [Isles]
• Bryan Reynolds on the Alex Tanguay elbow that concussed Jared Spurgeon: "You can all get offended if you would like, rant and rave about the lack of discipline, lack of consistency and what have you. Me? I'm just going to accept the fact that Brendan Shanahan is a flat out liar when he says he cares about the Minnesota Wild, and shake my head at the fact that the league has castrated the Department of Player Safety Jokes and thinks no one has noticed." [Hockey Wilderness]
• Jarome Iginla talks about Coach Brent Sutter's wacky personnel choices for the shootout. [Globe & Mail]
• Like so many others Darren Eliot regrets his preseason NHL picks. [SI]
• Here's Ian Cameron McLaren on how being a fan of a bad team compares to being an unsatisfied consumer of a crappy product. "If one is constantly settling for inferior products, investing time & money into something that quite simply has little to offer, sometimes it only makes sense to move on, or at least demand a better return. If this is true for all that we consume on a daily basis, it shouldn't be too much of a stretch to allow that principle to translate into the world of sports and the concept of being a fan." [Score Nation]
• "Julianna Margulies Teaches NHL About Fighting." Should've been you, Sherry Stringfield. [Puck Update]
• Cool piece on CHL playoff hair. [Buzzing The Net]
• Lindy Ruff on the Buffalo Sabres' playoff race: "There's teams around you. Winnipeg is right there. We're right there with Washington. Carolina has actually moved up a little bit. So we haven't achieved anything, and we know that as a team. We know that we're going to have to win some games that some people are going to expect us maybe this is going to be too tough a task." [Sabres Edge]
• After last night's loss to the Coyotes, it's do-or-die time for the Colorado Avalanche. The cruel beauty of hockey is how much blood, sweat and stitches are required to make the playoffs. Colorado is young, but the Avs are going to punch their ticket the old-fashioned way. They will have to earn it. [Denver Post]
• Here's Ellen Etchingham on hustle: "Am I really a hard worker, pumping my little legs up and down the ice from goal line to goal line? Or do I just want to be seen that way? Because so long as I am making this great performance of hustle, as long as I am trying so very very hard, who will criticize? Who will point out the many, many flaws in my game? I'm a beginner, after all, and I'm working hard. I'm doing my job, nevermind that it's a useless one. It looks so selfless when I'm out there panting and aching for the team, but ultimately it's a very self-interested performance. I'm covering my ass." [Backhand Shelf]
• On Eugene Melnyk's comments about sustainability and ownership of the Ottawa Senators. [Welcome To Your Karlsson Years]
• Lepore on making the NCAA hockey tournament more TV friendly. [Puck The Media]
• Finally, in honor of the NCAA hockey tournament, here's Marcus Gustafsson's game-winning goal in 1999 to give Maine the national championship.