Montreal rookie Michael Bournival, he of 65 career NHL games, was on the ice in the final 30 seconds of a playoff game in which his team held a one-goal lead. Extraordinary confidence for a player who was a healthy scratch on May 1 and played around nine minutes in every playoff game but one. He has the upside of a scoring-line player, but put your money on the checking line – and that’s just another indication. Great stuff on Bournival here.

PK Subban stepping out of the box, taking the pass, and scoring a beauty:

Subban has 11 points in the playoffs. That’s tied for second behind Kopitar (unless Parise gets on the board in the third period as I write this). Interesting that Brent Seabrook has nine points in five games and is second among defenseman behind PK.

Lars Eller has eight points in seven playoff games. He started the season with eight points in eight games – and then tailed off with 18 in 69. The guy just seems to get a shot of adrenalin, but when the excitement wears off (of a new season, or of playoff hockey), he comes back to earth.

Remember when Habs fans were angry that Montreal kept Carey Price over Jaroslav Halak? Sometimes, despite the immediate optics of the situation, management actually knows what they’re doing.

*

Corey Crawford only faced 16 shots. Guaranteed win, right? Not so.

A game involving Minnesota means a lot shot total. The two teams combined for 37 shots. This is why, if the Wild could ever settle down with one goalie who remains mostly healthy – that goalie would be gold. If they re-sign Bryzgalov, he’ll be gold.

Ryan Suter left the game with a leg injury. But in typical Suter fashion, returned minutes later. It looked serious enough that I thought he was done for the game for sure.

Look at this Granlund beauty:

*

Great write up from Amato yesterday on the Laviolette signing. I didn’t know that Laviolette had such a strong history with high-scoring teams. Bodes well for fantasy owners of Preds players.

*

The farm teams of the Leafs (Toronto), the Blues (Chicago), the Red Wings (Grand Rapids), the Stars (Texas), the Jets (Ice Caps), the Ducks (Norfolk), the Penguins (Wilkes-Barre) and the Bruins (Providence) make up the Final 8 in the AHL.

That Nic Kerdiles leads the Admirals in playoff scoring (three goals, four points in five games) is fairly impressive, considering he just joined the team a month ago. Granted, the big club has Emerson Etem and Rickard Rakell up, but this is a great time for Kerdiles to show his wares. He has pretty good upside (38 points in 28 games last season for Wisconsin) and as a left winger, you never know – the Ducks are still trying to find a steady LW on their big line. Read what DobberProspects Anaheim Ducks writer Kevin Won has to say about Kerdiles here.

St. Louis prospect Dmitrij Jaskin leads all AHL scorers with seven points in five games. Jaskin has a great opportunity to make the club in the fall. Unlike Ty Rattie, he can hold his own on a checking line which is where he’ll probably get his start. More on Jaskin here.

John Gibson has been absolutely on fire in the Calder Cup playoffs (for Norfolk). After five games his save percentage is 0.955. The Anaheim goalie situation for next year can go so many ways – and Gibson isn’t making the decision any easier. The Ducks could get away with a Frederik Andersen/John Gibson tandem for sure.

*

Tampa Bay prospect Andrei Vasilevskii – widely regarded as the best goaltending prospect in the world other than the aforementioned Gibson, signed a three-year ELC yesterday. He’s still a teenager, so I can see him spending at least two season in the AHL. I can also the Lightning looking into Kristers Gudlevskis as their backup for next season. That would give Vasilevskii plenty of AHL starts. A must-own in keeper leagues. Read more on Vasilevskii here. And while we’re at it – here is Gudlevskis. My man Randy Buschmann covers the TB Lightning for DobberProspects.

*

It was a pre-WHC tournament game, but Johnny “Hockey” Gaudreau scored the game winner for Team USA yesterday. He’ll get looks on the Flames next year and has a real shot at making the team. I’d like to see how he plays against men in this tournament. We have lots of great things to say about Johnny Hockey in my Fantasy Prospects Report.

*

Well, Crosby got the monkey off his back Monday, now it’s time for Rick Nash. Here’s Sid’s first goal of the playoffs again, though I’m sure you saw it:

*

We’ll finish with a beauty pass by Fontaine – to Haula (there’s that name again):