Canadiens-Rangers, Blue Jackets-Penguins set for 1st round

Carey Price versus Henrik Lundqvist. Sidney Crosby against Brandon Dubinsky.

The first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs in the Eastern Conference is taking shape, with two matchups confirmed after the Washington Capitals won their second straight Presidents' Trophy on Wednesday.

The Montreal Canadiens - your Atlantic Division champions - will face the New York Rangers when the postseason begins, with the Blueshirts locked in as the East's first wild card. Game 1 will be in Montreal.

Montreal won the season series 3-0.

The beastly Metropolitan Division's No. 2 and No. 3 seeds are the Pittsburgh Penguins and Columbus Blue Jackets, and they'll meet in the opening round for the second time in four years.

Pittsburgh won in six games in 2014.

Home ice between Pittsburgh and Columbus has yet to be determined. The Penguins have 109 points to the Blue Jackets' 106, and both teams have three games to play.

Pittsburgh will close out its season on the road in New Jersey, Toronto, and Manhattan. Columbus is home to Winnipeg, in Philadelphia, and in Toronto on Sunday.

The clubs split the season series.

Date Result
Dec. 22 PIT 1 - CBJ 7
Feb. 3 CBJ 3 - PIT 4 (OT)
Feb. 17 PIT 1 - CBJ 2 (OT)
April 4 CBJ 1 - PIT 4

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Fehr: Players won’t forget NHL’s Olympics decision

Donald Fehr, executive director of the NHL Players' Association (NHLPA), was a guest on Sportsnet's "The Jeff Blair Show" on Wednesday morning and talked about the league's decision to sit out the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

The main takeaway: the players will not forget the NHL's decision, one they vehemently disagree with. They want to be there.

Fehr said Olympic participation wasn't part of previous collective bargaining talks because no one saw this decision coming, not after NHLers have become such an integral part of the winter games.

"No one envisioned that the owners would take this kind of view. It's basically just shortsighted, and clearly, as we see it, contrary to the best interests of the game and the growth of the game," Fehr said.

Fehr added that while last summer's World Cup was a success, it's nowhere near the level of popularity that ice hockey at the Olympics has enjoyed, and it's going to take time for the World Cup to get there - if it ever does. The PA believes the 2018 Games offers an inroad into Asia, where the league wants to make its mark, making this decision all the more unwise.

"The real question is, why do you simply walk away from incredible numbers of hours of programming that are going to reach all kinds of people that would not otherwise see NHL players," he said.

"All I can say is this," Fehr added. "If the notion is that players will just say 'Oh well, it's too bad, the CBA didn't provide for it or we wish it were different' ... and we can just go on with life as usual, or as if this hadn't happened, I think that's a very, very, very unlikely possibility."

Fehr went on about what the Olympics mean to players, what it means to represent their countries, and how the opportunity only comes along on rare occasions for a select few, who take much pride in it.

"In the statement we issued, I said that a decent respect for the opinions of the players matters, or ought to matter, and it's clear here that it did not and that's too bad. And we also think it's a very foolish and shortsighted marketing and promotional decision.

"If the notion is that everybody will just forget about this, I suspect that's not going to be the case."

The current CBA between the PA and the NHL was ratified in January 2013 and is in effect until Sept. 15, 2022, according to the PA's website. Both parties have the right to terminate the deal after eight years.

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Capitals clinch Presidents’ Trophy for 2nd straight season

The Presidents' Trophy is staying in Washington.

Alex Ovechkin and the Capitals will have the NHL's best regular-season record and home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs for the second consecutive campaign thanks to a 2-0 victory over the New York Rangers on Wednesday night.

The Capitals won the Presidents' Trophy last season with a 56-18-8 record before being eliminated by the Pittsburgh Penguins in six games in the Eastern Conference semifinal.

Washington sits atop the conference and the Metropolitan Division at 54-18-8 with two games remaining in its regular-season schedule.

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Watch: Capitals’ Williams thumps Rangers’ Clendening with butt check

Justin Williams has a knack for scoring clutch goals, but he also doesn't see anything wrong with a little bump and grind.

The Washington Capitals forward took Adam Clendening down with his posterior Wednesday night, crunching the New York Rangers defenseman with a big-time butt check.

To his credit, Clendening turned the other cheek and was apparently no worse for wear.

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Red Wings sign 1st-rounder Cholowski to entry-level deal

It's a new era for the lottery-bound Detroit Red Wings, but at least they have the future.

Dennis Cholowski signed a three-year, entry-level contract with the club, the Red Wings announced Wednesday.

The 19-year-old defenseman collected 12 points over 36 games in his freshman season with St. Cloud State.

He was selected 20th overall by Detroit in 2016.

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Report: Kyle Okposo in intensive care, undergoing tests

Concerning news out of Buffalo on Wednesday night.

Sabres forward Kyle Okposo has been hospitalized in intensive care and is undergoing tests due to an undetermined illness, according to the Associated Press.

Earlier in the day, head coach Dan Bylsma said he was "very concerned" about his player's health, announcing that Okposo wouldn't play against Montreal and was unlikely to play again this season.

The Buffalo News added that Okposo is in the Neuro Surgical ICU at Buffalo General Hospital.

Okposo missed most of March due to rib injury, returning to the lineup on March 25 before being sidelined again due to illness.

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Carlyle: It’s a ‘travesty’ Giordano wasn’t penalized for Fowler hit

Randy Carlyle doesn't often call out NHL officiating, but he couldn't hold back Wednesday.

The Anaheim Ducks head coach called it a "travesty" that no penalty was called on Calgary Flames defenseman Mark Giordano for his knee-on-knee hit on Ducks blue-liner Cam Fowler, according to the Los Angeles Times' Curtis Zupke.

The Flames captain caught Fowler's knee after the Ducks rearguard took a shot on goal late in Tuesday night's 3-1 victory by Anaheim.

Related: Fowler leaves in distress after Giordano hits him knee on knee

No disciplinary hearing is scheduled between Giordano and the league for the incident, an NHL spokesman confirmed to Pro Hockey Talk's Mike Halford.

Fowler will have an MRI to determine the severity of the injury, according to the Orange County Register's Eric Stephens. The Ducks would only officially classify Fowler as day to day with a "lower-body" ailment.

He appeared to be in severe pain following the hit Tuesday night, and needed help getting off the ice.

Fowler leads the Ducks in ice time by an average of more than two-and-a-half minutes at 24:50, and tops all Anaheim defensemen with 39 points.

Plenty could certainly change between now and the start of the playoffs, but if the standings remain as they are, the Ducks and Flames would face each other in the first round.

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Joe Thornton: ‘No doubt’ I’ll play in Sharks’ playoff opener

The San Jose Sharks' elder statesman appears to have avoided a major injury scare.

Joe Thornton declared himself good to go for the postseason, three days after suffering with what appeared to be a serious leg issue.

"Maybe I'll play (Thursday), maybe Saturday," Thornton told reporters Wednesday. "No doubt about Game 1 of the playoffs."

The 37-year-old forward left Sunday's game after going down awkwardly following a collision with Vancouver Canucks forward Michael Chaput near the boards in the offensive zone.

Thornton appeared to have trouble putting weight on his left leg as he left the ice.

The veteran missed his first game of the season Tuesday in a rematch between the two clubs, which finished with the same result as Sunday's contest, a 3-1 victory for San Jose.

The Sharks host the Edmonton Oilers in a game with massive playoff implications Thursday night, then wrap up their regular-season schedule with a home date against the Calgary Flames on Saturday.

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O’Reilly calls Sabres’ season ‘pathetic’

With three straight losses, the Buffalo Sabres are now tied for the second-worst record in the Eastern Conference.

It's not a position Ryan O'Reilly had envisioned for his club entering this season.

After consecutive down seasons where it looked as though the team was rebuilding, the Sabres have stumbled this year. Buffalo will now get set to conclude the regular season - without any playoff aspirations for the sixth straight year - and that has O'Reilly venting his frustrations.

"It's so disappointing, it's so frustrating coming to the rink right now," O'Reilly said, according to NHL.com's Joe Yerdon. "Practicing, there's no purpose right now. You're seeing other teams gearing up for playoffs and seeing teams, like a Toronto, who's young too, seeing them in the spot we should be in - it's very frustrating. I'm sick of losing, it's getting exhausting and it's not fun. It sucks the fun out of the game."

O'Reilly is in his second campaign with the Sabres since being acquired from the Colorado Avalanche at the 2015 draft. Last season was almost equally as heartbreaking for O'Reilly, as the Sabres finished with the third-worst record in the East with 81 points.

"Your first year it's all right because there are so many new faces and you can see it took a while for guys to get used to each other in playing, but then this year you start to get tings going and then you fall back into old habits again and our old ways and, again, that's a big piece of it is me," O'Reilly added.

"Being a leader, a lot of it falls on me, but to do it two years in a row like this and not go anywhere and not get any better is pathetic. It's so frustrating and things have got to change. We've got three games left here and we've got to prove something at least to ourselves."

The Sabres have just three games remaining on the schedule, starting Wednesday against the Montreal Canadiens, and you have to think at least one player will be looking to bring his A game.

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Henrik Zetterberg spills fan’s beer, gives him autographed stick

If you were under the impression that Henrik Zetterberg isn't one of the classiest players in the league, this story will surely convince you.

The following message was sent to the Ottawa Citizen by a fellow named Mike, whose friend Ryan was the victim of some beer spillage on Tuesday night in Ottawa:

My buddy Mike and I were down against the glass for the warms ups last night in the Red Wings end ... he had his beer sitting on the up against the glass as we were taking pics. When Hank was done stretching, he got up and banged into the boards a couple times.

In doing so, Mike’s pint went smashing to the floor. We knocked on the glass to show him what happened as I got a kick out of it. Zetterberg started laughing! A few minutes later, he went over to the bench, grabbed one of his brand new game sticks and autographed it saying: “Sorry! I owe u one! (with his signature.) He skated over and tossed it over the glass to us! How classy is that guy!!! Amazing!

As many of us know, a beer can cost a pretty penny at some sporting events, but I'm sure this fan would trade in a pint for an autographed stick by Zetterberg any day of the week. What a kind gesture by the Red Wings captain.

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