Top Line: Underdog Red Wings teaching Blackhawks bitter lesson, more links
It's all suddenly gone very wrong for Joel Quenneville and his Blackhawks. (Dave Reginek/NHLI via Getty Images)
An annotated guide to this morning's must-read hockey stories:
• Eric Duhatschek points out that those surprising Red Wings are rudely reminding the Blackhawks that a stellar regular season means nothing once you're in the playoffs.
• The more Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville mixes and matches and juggles and tinkers, the more out of synch his team becomes.
• George Malik on one of Detroit's subtle x-factors in the series.
• Mired in a 26-game scoring slump, the Kings' Anze Kopitar did what big game players do, writes Helene Elliott.
• Think the Kings-Sharks series will go seven? The Sharks sure hope so.
• Drew Doughty responded to T.J. Galiardi's embellishment accusation against Jonathan Quick by pointing out that it takes a diver to know a diver.
• Sparked by lineup changes, the reeling Rangers found their inner resolve just in time to stave off summer, at least for one more game.
• After spending much of the season in John Tortorella's doghouse or the AHL, Chris Kreider picked a fine time to rekindle some of the magic he worked last year in the playoffs.
• In his usual, bracingly candid manner, Tortorella defended his benching of Brad Richards ... with a charming invitation to the media.
• Boston's normally reliable Tuukka Rask took responsibility for a "goaltending error for the ages" in a loss that probably left some Bruins fans wondering what kind of horror comes next.
• If the Penguins' offense is truly awake now, can anyone tame the monster in a seven-game series?
• Daniel Alfredsson spoke an uncomfortable truth with his team in need of another miracle, but the Senators vow to keep chipping away, and Penguins are still wary of them ahead of tonight's Game 5.
• The Ottawa Sunhas Alfie's back. And so do his teammates.
• Apparently being pesky isn't enough to capture the heart of a nation, even if you're Canada's last team standing in the postseason.
• The Denver Post's Terry Frei wisely recommends that Joe Sakic best be a boss and not a friend to new coach Patrick Roy.