Hype for April 12, 2010

The housecleaning is underway in Tampa Bay.

After missing the playoffs for the third straight year, the Lightning have fired both General Manager Brian Lawton and head coach Rick Tocchet.

"Now that the 2009-10 Tampa Bay Lightning season has concluded, we have decided to replace Brian and Rick," new Lightning owner Jeff Vinik said in a statement. "Our hockey operations department needs a fresh start in order to help us fulfill our goal of being a world-class organization. I'd like to thank both Brian and Rick for their dedication and service to the Lightning.

"Our search for a Chief Executive Officer is well underway and we are in the process of interviewing candidates. After the new CEO is hired, he will hire our new General Manager in time to prepare for the draft and free agency periods.

Brian Boucher was the only thing standing between the Flyers and failure, between a playoff berth and the very unpleasant consequences of an epic late-season collapse.

It was a remarkable moment for fans of irony as well as the game-deciding shoot-out format.

When Olli Jokinen flicked a backhand shot toward the space between Boucher's pads, not much was riding with the puck - merely millions of dollars, a couple of jobs and the fates of two NHL franchises. If Boucher could keep the shot out of the net, the Flyers would beat the New York Rangers and fill the Wachovia Center at least twice with playoff crowds.

If not, the abyss beckoned.

"I remember a Game 7 against Washington a few years ago that was pretty nerve-racking," Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren said. "But with the implications of missing [the playoffs], this was even more nerve-racking."

The carriage on which they arrived turned into a pumpkin. Their glass skates became lead boots. It's not that the party is over for the CinderRangers, it's that they couldn't get an invitation to the ball.

The Blueshirts' three-week joyride came to a halt here yesterday in a head-on collision with the Flyers that resulted in a demolition of hope, the season, and the opportunity to rewrite the history of this disappointing and difficult year that ends without a Rangers' playoff appearance for the first time since the lockout.

And it all came to an end in the cruelest way possible, by way of a shootout in which the gallant Henrik Lundqvist, who had been the singular reason the Blueshirts had been able to survive the regulation 60 minutes, yielded two goals on three shots while his teammates were able to score once against Brian Boucher.

Brian Burke, his Maple Leafs having just wrapped up another non-playoff season, will be introduced on Monday as the general manager of the American entry at next month's world hockey championship in Germany.

Burke filled that role for the Team USA at the Vancouver Olympics and the underdog Americans were successful beyond the expectations of most observers, pushing Canada to overtime in the gold medal match before Sidney Crosby scored to clinch top spot for the home nation.

However, don't look for the Leafs' coach Ron Wilson to again team with Burke and be behind the bench as he was at the Olympics and at last year's world championship in Switzerland. Wilson has begged off involvement this time.

The Detroit Red Wings and Phoenix Coyotes are as disparate as NHL franchises can be.

The Red Wings have a rich history and a wealth of playoff experience. The Coyotes last qualified for the postseason in 2002 and haven't won a round since 1987, when they were the Winnipeg Jets.

Detroit labeled itself Hockeytown. The Coyotes, in constant danger of relocating, filed for bankruptcy last year and are owned by the NHL.

So it will be a clash of different hockey cultures when the teams meet in the first round of the playoffs in a series that starts either Wednesday or Thursday. Games 1 and 2 are in Glendale, Ariz.

While Wayne Gretzky’s trade taught the sports world everybody has a price, the cries to trade Jarome Iginla are both irrational and based largely on emotion.

The Calgary Flames missed the playoffs because of the team’s inability to score. So what sort of logic suggests the answer is to trade away your perennial scoring leader?

Despite faltering down the stretch to punctuate an admittedly off-year, only

15 players scored more goals than Iginla’s 32 this year — that despite the fact every team in the league aims solely to shut down Iginla to beat Calgary.

For the Bruins, locked into sixth place even before yesterday’s puck drop, Game No. 82 meant nothing for a club that finally could breathe easy, knowing it had taken care of business the previous day.

“I can honestly say that coming in here today and having to battle for a win or even a point would have been a situation that would have been pretty stressful for everybody,’’ coach Claude Julien said before the game. “For us to be capable of coming here knowing that nothing will change certainly helps.’’

But in one of those funny twists of hockey fate — like the coda to a seven-month marathon requiring extra time — yesterday’s 4-3 shootout win (David Krejci and Miroslav Satan beat Semyon Varlamov to give the Bruins the victory) over the top-flight Capitals at the Verizon Center fulfilled just about every item on Julien’s wish list.

 And with that, it is over.

The Edmonton Oilers brought an end to a miserable season with a brutal performance Sunday, getting blown out 7-2 by the Anaheim Ducks.

Having beaten the Los Angeles Kings the night before and therefore managing not to be the worst team in franchise history, the Oilers had little to play for in their final game of the season.

Pride?

That went out the window a while ago as the Oilers went through the longest death march in team history that started back in December.