What a goalie battle between the Habs and Bruins last night! It honestly felt like no one would score. Of course, as is often the case, the deadlock was eventually ended by a pretty lucky goal – the first of Matt Fraser's career. Good timing, kid!

The Bruins probably deserved some luck having struck more iron in this series than a blacksmith. Now they head back home with a series split knowing that they owned both games they played at home even though they didn't win both.

This was a golden opportunity spoiled for Montreal. I really think that they needed to hold court at home. Of course, if Carey Price keeps playing out of his mind anything can happen but if Tuukka Rask matches him, as he did last night, then I really think this is Boston's series. And it kills me to say so because I am not looking forward to a repeat of last year's Conference Finals.

Speaking of which, I mentioned yesterday how we might be headed towards a repeat of last year's Conference Finals. Sean McIndoe has a great piece on how the Kings, Bruins, Penguins and Blackhawks have built their juggernaut rosters.

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Great game between Anaheim and LA last night.

Katie Baker had some ideas for how the Ducks could comeback in this series. So far so good as the Ducks hung on for a 3-2 victory.

Frederik Andersen drew back in for the Ducks and had played a good game before going down with an injury midway through the third. He looks like he blew out his hip or groin. To add insult to injury he didn't even get the win as Jonas Hiller allowed a late goal in relief.

The question on everyone's mind now, do we see John Gibson?

Keep an eye on Devante Smith-Pelly. I don't think he amounts to much in Anaheim but he's a load in front of the net. On the right team he'd make some kind of net-front presence. On this team, he's probably redundant with Corey Perry, among others, already present.

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Watch Drew Doughty go ass over tea kettle. 

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A couple of injury updates:

Andrew Shaw won't go for Chicago tonight.

Matt Moulson is expected to miss the game as well.

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Eric Tulsky takes a statistical look at forechecking:

Strength along the boards and ability to dig pucks free often comes up in discussion of a player’s skillset. On this data set alone, I’m not prepared to draw any strong conclusions — we’re looking at only a dozen players, after all. But evidence is increasingly mounting that puck possession is driven much more heavily by what teams do to generate effective zone entries than by what they do after entering the offensive zone.

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Adam Gretz asks why Marian Hossa is so overlooked:

Since Hossa became a full-time player during the 1998 season, only one player (Jarome Iginla) has scored more goals than Hossa’s 464, while only three players (Iginla, Joe Thornton and Jaromir Jagr) have more points. He’s averaged nearly a point per game in the lowest-scoring era in NHL history (his 0.92 average is in the top 20 among players who have appeared in at least 500 games over that stretch), and has done so while being one of the best defensive forwards in the NHL.

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So it looks like Randy Carlyle will be back behind the Leafs bench:

TOR extends Randy Carlyle’s contract by two years and dismisses assistant coaches Farrish, Gordon and Cronin.

— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) May 8, 2014

Next season is looking great in Leaf Land…

This speaks volumes to me. Your interpretations may vary, but this is Randy Carlyle’s record in one very key area. pic.twitter.com/gImouqB01M

— James Mirtle (@mirtle) May 8, 2014

To be fair, this doesn't mean that the team can't can Carlyle a week into next season if things start poorly but it's not looking good.

On the plus side, this means that Jonathan Bernier is sure to see a ton of rubber next season, which will be great for those who count saves in their league.

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In other coaching news, Ken Hitchcock will be back in St. Louis, which makes sense to me.

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Ken Campbell with a bit of satire on the state of officiating in the NHL – got a problem with a star player, just take him out.

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Some interesting tidbits in the Blue Jackets' exit interviews, including James Wisniewski discussing his circumvention of the concussion protocol:

Game 3 I had a rib cartilage tear on my right side. It kept me from fully reaching (with my right arm) and a couple of other things. My head didn't feel great in Game 6. (Wisniewski went head-first into the corner after a collision with Pittsburgh's Tanner Glass in the first period, but returned to the game in the second.) I said my back hurt so I didn't have to do the 20-minute (concussion) protocol and go through that whole concussion process. I didn't feel like going in and talking to the doctors for 20 minutes. A lot of guys were playing through things. Guys with fractured feet (rookie Ryan Murray), separated shoulders (R.J. Umberger) … (Nick) Foligno came back in 2 ½ weeks from a (knee) sprain, which is usually four to six weeks. That's playoff hockey. It's survival of the fittest.

We all know this stuff happens. Interesting to see it verbalized though.

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Fraser ties the series:

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