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.
• Tom Norris with your Ilya Bryzgalov Photoshop of the day.
• Chicago's top cop Garry McCarthy said he won't pursue criminal charges against Raffi Torres for his hit on Marian Hossa. In a related story, some dumbass in the media asked Chicago's top cop Garry McCarthy if he'd pursue criminal charges against Raffi Torres for his hit on Marian Hossa. [Sun Times]
• Will the Blackhawks make the move to Ray Emery in Game 5? Will it even matter? [ESPN Chicago]
• NHL commissioner Gary Bettman says that teams complaining about suspensions are engaging in "gamesmanship." Which is entirely and utterly accurate, but will probably still get him criticized for taking supplemental discipline gripes lightly. [AP]
• Dale Hunter explains that it was line-matching that kept Alex Ovechkin on the bench for all but 15 seconds in the last 14 minutes of Game 4 vs. Boston: "We were matching lines and they were going back with the Bergeron line," Hunter said. "So, sometimes some lines get short-changed a bit. They do whatever it takes to win the game." [Washington Times]
• JP puts over Dale Hunter Hockey: "The reality is that, four games in, with a bounce here or there, the Caps could already be in the second round... or on the golf course. One can argue the wisdom of playing these "50/50" games given the make-up of the Caps' roster. But it's increasingly difficult to argue that the team hasn't gotten good at playing 'em. And what does it mean for what has become a best-of-three series? Take a coin out of your pocket and flip it three times. How many times did heads come up?" [Japers' Rink]
• Nicklas Lidstrom takes a wait and see approach about his NHL future, as he has for the last couple of years. [Freep]
• Meanwhile, Mike Babcock jokes that the Detroit Red Wings' greatest ally in keeping Lidstrom in the NHL is … Mrs. Lidstrom. [Freep]
• Saskatoon Blades fans and Prince Albert Raiders fans get into a brawl. [Leader Post]
• Eugene Melnyk's idea for the NHL's supplemental discipline: "Players should be tiered as 'A', 'B' and 'C'. For example if 'C' player takes out an 'A' player, then the offending team should be forced to lose one of its 'A' players." [Ottawa Sun]
• Nicklas Grossman will miss Game 5 with a concussion for the Flyers. [CSN Philly]
• Hal Gill is still out for the Nashville Predators. [Predators Insider]
• Good piece on Jordin Tootoo's frustrations in the playoffs over his role. [Tennessean]
• No Daniel Alfredsson in NYC for the Ottawa Senators. [QMI]
• Ken Hitchcock on the mindset heading into Game 5: "This is new ground for us. I know one thing: we've played well at home all year. I know we're going to play well, but I know they're going to play well, too. They're not going quietly. There is very little difference between the two teams right now. The difference is we've scored on our power-play chances and they haven't on theirs and that's the No. 1 difference. But this is a new experience for us. When we get back home, we've never been in this situation before. ... Dealing with the pressure that goes with winning and closing a team out, we're going to have to work through it." [STL Today]
• Is Martin Brodeur the Mariano Rivera of hockey? [The Hockey Writers]
• Penn State breaks ground on the Pegula Ice Arena. [Tribune]
• CBC talks about the future of Hockey Night In Canada. [National Post]
• Scott Feschuk doesn't find anything funny about hockey anymore. Go watch Frisbee golf. [Sportsnet]
• David Booth is up with the Sedins in a Vancouver Canucks line shuffle. [Nucks Misconduct]
• Breaking down a key goal in the Nashville/Detroit series with snarky results. [MHH]
• Patrick Roy said he's not spoke to the Montreal Canadiens ownership about a job, but that his "cell phone is always on." [TSN]
• Finally, Down Goes Brown and Bloge Salming are back with a Brendan Shanahan spoof. Well done.