The Daily: Penguins Changes, Habs Win for Coach, Sharks Trade Talk

The Montreal Canadiens bounced the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Qualifying Round series with superior goaltending, but more importantly superior play. The Penguins fired 96 shots toward Carey Price in Game 1 (41 on goal), but Montreal owned the important areas of the rink and Montreal showed a need to win when it mattered. Those same Montreal Canadiens are now giving the Philadelphia Flyers all they can handle in the NHL playoffs, Round One. Try not to smile too broadly.

Also in the daily blog, more on the NHL playoffs. Calgary found a starting goalie, Bo Horvat scored a ridiculous goal against St. Louis, and the New York Islanders are taking care of the Washington Capitals. Again, try not to smile too broadly.

We’ll start with our Pittsburgh Penguins inside scoop. A source dropped us a line on Friday afternoon to tell the story. Coaching changes were expected after the Penguins’ loss. No one really expected a clean sweep, until a phone call set things in motion. This is exclusively for our subscribers (PHN+)

It’s just $2.99 to join up, or you can hop on for the year, too. We’ve got more coming.

I’ve received a ton of questions about the Penguins prospects. With a little (or a lot) of help from folks inside the game and a lot of PHN scouting work, we give the REAL assessment of which Penguins prospects will be in the lineup and the complications of getting them there (Pittsburgh Hockey Now)

The above is a piece of which I’m incredibly proud. It shows the hard work, dedication, knowledge of PHN, while also giving a lot of inside info.

NHL Playoffs and National Hockey Now

The St. Louis Blues are in trouble. Vancouver Canucks forward Bo Horvat deked and dangled his way through St. Louis. Oh what a pretty goal (Video: Sportsnet)

The New York Islanders lead the Washington Capitals 2-0. Those pesky, pesky Islanders (NYI Hockey Now)

The Montreal Canadiens routed Philadelphia 5-0. The Series is tied 1-1. It was an emotional win because Montreal head coach Claude Julien was sent home after he needed stents in his heart after chest pains on Thursday. (New York Times)

Montreal is now in Kirk Muller’s hands, which seems to be a good place to be (Hockey News)

Cam Talbot stole Game 3 for Calgary (Sportsnet)

So far, Colorado is doing well, they lead Arizona 2-0. Patience and maturity will define Colorado (Colorado Hockey Now)

Boston goalie Tuukka Rask made waves by calling the bubble games dull and by saying they don’t “feel like playoff hockey.” His head coach and his captain had a response (Boston Hockey Now)

TRADE TALK! Who is more tradeable, Brent Burns, Erik Karlsson, or “Pickles”? I know you love this stuff and our boy Sheng Peng is on fire in San Jose (San Jose Hockey Now)

We also made the San Jose story available on PHN+.

What an amazing crew to have under one umbrella.