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.
• It's easy to be overwhelmed by a beautiful 2-on-1 in the playoffs.
• Bruce Boudreau has asked about his Washington Capitals coaching job being on the line Wednesday night in Game 4, and he ducked it. "Before another question was asked, Boudreau muttered under his breath 'Stupid question, stupid.'" [Capitals Insider]
• Eric Duhatschek believes the Capitals should keep Bruce, even after a sweep: "So what we have is a coach who develops kids, game plans well, and has his team alive in the second round of the playoffs when 22 other clubs have already gone home." [Globe & Mail]
• Russian Machine Never Breaks on the good and the bad of Boudreau. [RMNB]
• Game 3 for the Philadelphia Flyers: Jeff Carter maybe, Chris Pronger out and Brian Boucher expected in against the Boston Bruins. [Broad Street Hockey]
• Detroit Red Wings coach Mike Babcock on his line changes and what they mean for matchups with the San Jose Sharks: "To me, it's not about the matchup at all. I liked the matchups (for us) in San Jose. I didn't think that had a bearing on the games. I thought they won more 50-50 pucks and both second periods they've been better than us." [NHL.com]
• "Winnipeg and Quebec City might be able to support an NHL team if they get a second chance but a report by The Conference Board of Canada stopped short of saying it is a sure thing." [Globe & Mail]
• From Darren Dreger: "True North has been incredibly patient, but doesn't want the waiting game they're involved in to drag on much longer. Sources say the league is well aware of Winnipeg's timing concerns, but the NHL remains committed to exhausting every conceivable option to keep the Coyotes in Glendale." [TSN]
• A sad review of the last two years of the Phoenix Coyotes saga. [Arizona Republic]
• Why Nashville Predators defenseman Ryan Suter is the most unsung playoff hero. [THN]
• Can the San Jose Sharks' playoff beards match the awesome power of Brian Wilson's? [Sharkspage]
• Rob Ramage could have a second chance at parole after serving 10 months of a four-year sentence for "impaired driving causing death in a crash that killed his friend and former NHLer Keith Magnuson." [CP]
• Dater on the playoffs redeeming the NHL's image: "Some games, indeed, have been low-scoring, but not because of the hook-hold-trap ways of the Dead Puck Era. The vast majority of the time, they have been played at breathtaking, back-and-forth speed with an abundance of good scoring chances." [SI]
• Breaking down the scoring chances in Game 3 between the Vancouver Canucks and Nashville Predators: "The Canucks may have had their best game of the series, but, holy moly, did the Sedins ever look terrible. This was their worst game of the playoffs." [Nucks Misconduct]
• The guy behind the guy for the Canucks. [Pass It To Bulis]
• "Graduating Windsor Spitfires captain Ryan Ellis has so many accolades that a new one might have to be invented." [Buzzing The Net]
• Should the Pittsburgh Penguins turn to Paul Coffey to fix their terrible power play? [Pensburgh]
• Without looking, what do you think the letter grade for Chris Drury of the New York Rangers is? [Blueshirt Banter]
• You know, you can get Cup crazy …. you just can't go robbing banks, though. Via Emily Hall comes this news bit on a man in San Jose Sharks gear who robbed a bank: "The only thing that would make this story more awesome is if the bank teller was wearing a Red Wings jersey."
• Brad Richards on NHL Live: "It's been too long since I had that chance to win the Stanley Cup. … I kind of thought we'd have a couple more cracks at it by now. That will be the main focus. If Dallas is the place where I think [they] can win then that's the place and hopefully it can work out." [Defending Big D]
• The National Hockey League Players' Association (NHLPA) will announce the three finalists for the 2010-11 Ted Lindsay Award on Thursday, May 5, 2011. The Ted Lindsay Award is presented annually to the "Most Outstanding Player" in the NHL as voted by fellow members of the NHLPA.
• James Neal vs. James van Riemsdyk — who ya got? [Dobber]
• Your busboy this evening will be Sean Avery. [Houses of the Hockey]
• Finally, via Paul Kukla, I don't want to hear anything about my having confused the Sedins passer/scorer on the Bill Simmons podcast … because at least I pronounced their names correctly, right NBC?