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A rapid fire account of a few things happening around the league:

The Los Angeles Kings welcome the Phoenix Coyotes to STAPLES Center for game 3 of the Western Conference Finals. May not be an arms wide open welcome after game 2 saw a pair of boarding penalties and a knee-to-knee hit. Oh, and a pretty good slash from Coyote’s goalie Mike Smith . Out of it all, only Martin Hanzal took a game suspension from league disciplinarian after his boarding of King’s Captain Dustin Brown. It seems Brown is a thorn in the Coyotes side, being hit form behind, taking a nice shot to the back of the leg, and netting 1 goal and adding 2 assists in the series thus far. If the Coyotes want to stay in this series, or even have the slightest opportunity for a comeback (doubtful), they need to keep their emotions in check and channel their aggression in the form of goals.

Jumping to the other Conference, big news about Marian Gaborik of the New York Rangers being benched last night. Gaborik, who made a couple of bad plays that resulted in a game tying New Jersey Devil’s goal, was benched for much of the third period. Benched for roughly 13 minutes, Gaborik saw less ice and the Rangers saw a loss. Call me what you want, but Gaborik is tied for the second highest point total on the team for the playoffs. If you ask Philadelphia Flyer’s goalie Ilya Bryzgalov, we are only “human”, and mistakes happen. Chalk it up for another tally of why I dislike Head Coach John Tortorella, and why I think the Stanley Cup Contender talented New York Rangers will not win until they get rid of him. Try and compare this to the Nashville Predators or the Washington Capitals and I believe you will fail to see a direct connection.

The Collective Bargaining Agreement between the league and the NHLPA is still getting nowhere. The agreement expires in less than 4 months, and from the outside looking in, it seems like neither side is doing anything. Perhaps a poker-face like mentality, show no signs of good or bad, but at some point the sides need to start talking. Armageddon would be another lockout, a worse-case scenario perhaps miss a little bit of pre-season and hopefully no regular season games, and a best case scenario that the two sides realize that an average fan makes nowhere near the amount of the dollars the two sides will eventually fight over; hence we don’t care about your frivolous disagreements. Figure it out, shake hands and let us enjoy the sport we love.

The Slovakia power play late in the game came from a five minute major on Ryan Getzlaf after a knee on knee hit to Juraj Mikus. The hit resulted in Mikus being helped off the ice. Ultimately, the Slovakian squad made Getzlaf, as well as Canada, pay for the hit.

“He jumped inside on me,” Getzlaf said of the hit. “He’s a smaller guy. All I tried to do was get a piece of him with my shoulder, which I did. It’s a sick way to lose; it’s a tough pill to swallow. It hurts. It hurts like hell right now. To lose in that fashion is not easy to swallow. The guys worked way too hard to be delivered something like that.”

Slovakia opened the scoring, grabbing a quick lead just under six minutes into the game. Tomas Kopecky was in the right place at the right time as he crashed the net and had a shot bounce off his leg and into the net. Miroslav Satan padded the lead not longer after as he fired a shot which beat a screened Cam Ward. Feeling the pressure, Canada began to turn it on later in the period and pulled within one as Evander Kane scored at 16:14 of the first.

In the second, Canada clearly dominated the opposition and controlled the puck for almost the entire period. The pressure resulted in a 17-7 shot advantage during the period, but Canada only managed two goals during the offensive onslaught. Jeff Skinner tied the game 2-2 at 6:30 of the second with a power-play goal. Alex Burrows added another tally late in the period to give Canada a 3-2 lead heading into the third period.

While Canada maintained strong and physical play during the third, they collapsed late in the period. With six and a half minutes left to play, Evander Kane gave the puck away turned the puck over while in the offensive zone. The resulting rush lead to a Milan Bartovic which was shot which Ward stopped, but Bartovic followed it up and put home his own rebound to tie the game. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was assessed a boarding penalty shortly after, and it was just after Canada finished killing it off that Getzlaf was sent away for his knee on knee hit. It only took Slovakia four seconds to capitalize on that power-play and seal the victory.

The loss now marks the third straight year that Canada has made a quarterfinal exit from the World Championships. The have yet to medal since they won Gold at the Vancouver Olympics.

Slovakia will play the winner of Sweden and the Czech Republic in the semifinals on Saturday.

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We have ourselves a series. After watching the Los Angeles Kings take control over the Phoenix Coyotes, some were beginning to wonder if the same would happen the Eastern Conference. The New Jersey Devils did not disappoint as they beat the New York Rangers 3 – 2 last night to tie the series at two a piece. Ranger’s Head Coach John Tortorella was his typical self in the post-game press conference; constantly saying he is keeping it for the locker-room. Game 3 is Saturday at 1:00 PM EST in New Jersey. Figure that out as the Kings and Coyotes play tonight, a farther trip than New Jersey to New York, while the Rangers and Devils get an extra night off. You can claim scheduling conflict, but if you ask me, I think it is BS that the Western Conference does not get an extra day off as well between the road travel.

In the Group S, Russia dominated the field. They went undefeated in seven games played while only allowing eight goals against, the fewest of round robin play. Their great finish gives them a number one seed heading into the quarterfinals where they will match up against Norway. The thirteen points for Norway were enough to send them into the quarterfinals, with Latvia finishing behind them with only six points. Russia defeated Norway 4-2 during round robin play, and will look to duplicate that feat again on Thursday. The Russian squad will be lead by Evgeni Malkin, who is second in tournament scoring with seven goals and seven assists. Russia’s offense will be even more potent now, however, as Alex Semin and Alex Ovechkin have joined the team. Norway, on the other hand, features the tournaments leading scorer – Patrick Thoresen. He currently has six goals and ten assists in seven games.

In the other Group S quarterfinal matchup, Sweden will square off against the Czech Republic. Sweden finished round robin play with a 6-0-0-1 record, while Czech Republic earned the third seed with a 4-0-1-2 finish. The Swedish team features several Red Wings, two of whom have been on a tear at the World Championships. Henrik Zetterberg is currently third in tournament scoring with two goals and eleven assists. Teammate Johan Franzen, who broke his nose at the tournament, has four goals and four assists in only six games. Even Niklas Kronwall is contributing with heavy hits. In their previous matchup, Sweden skated away with a 4-1 victory.

In Group H, Canada came away with the first seed. Their only loss came in overtime against the U.S. squad. In the quarterfinals, they’ll be matched up against Slovakia. Their five wins and two losses were good enough for fifteen points in round robin play, and their thirteen goals against were the lowest amongst Group H teams. Canada defeated Slovakia 3-2 in their opening game of this years tournament. Both teams have changed since then and grown more comfortable, so expect this rematch to be completely different.

Rounding out the quarterfinals, the United States take on Finland in a battle of the second vs. third seed. The U.S. came to the tournament with a very strong team, backed by Red Wings goaltender Jimmy Howard, and have proven they belong with the top teams in the world. First they defeated Canada, then put a beating on the defending champions from Finland with a 5-0 final. Max Pacioretty leads the Americans with two goals and ten assists for twelve points in the tournament.

The quarterfinal matchups will all take place on Thursday, May 17th. Remember, all games from the 2012 IIHF World Championships are streaming live on YouTube. Just head to the ice hockey channel at YouTube.com/icehockey.

Last Monday, in a playoff game against the Lincoln Stars, Williams’ glove slid off as he shuffled to reposition himself to face shooter Kevin Roy. As Roy collected a pass and stood alone in front of the net, Williams scrambled to get into position. Roy fired a quick shot and Williams flipped his glove hand up, just as he would have if the glove were there, and knocked the puck away.

The amazing save drew many cheers from the crowd, and Williams quickly began signaling to the referee that he had lost his glove. Despite blocking the shot with his bare hand, Williams was not injured on the play.

Perhaps even more impressive is the fact that Kevin Roy dominated the league in scoring this season. He tallied 54 goals and 50 assists for 104 points in only 59 regular season games. Despite his success in the regular season, Roy couldn’t convert on this chance where he stood the advantage. Perhaps Roy should have tried to squeeze one of these moves in real quick instead?

Check out the video below of Stephon Williams amazing bare handed save and let us know your thoughts in the comments!

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It is not looking pretty for the Phoenix Coyotes as the Los Angeles Kings have won game two, putting them up 2 – 0 in the series. If it was not a do-or-die game for the Coyotes last night, it surely is for game three as they will be traveling to Los Angeles to play. A final score of 4 – 0, Jeff Carter picked up a hat-trick and goalie Jonathan Quick picked up a shutout. Frustrations throughout the game from the Coyotes was apparent, as the Coyotes took a total of 56 penalty minutes to the Kings 24 minutes. Captain Shane Doan and Martin Hanzel of the Coyotes both received 5 minutes for boarding and 10 minutes game misconducts. Disciplinary action could come from the plays.

Mike Richards, pictured above, takes a face-off with the new Bauer Nexus. The Nexus is set to come out June 15th and can be pre-ordered through PureHockey.com. Using coupon code HOCKEYWORLD at checkout gets you 10% off select products in your order.

Semin’s agent, Mark Gandler, told ESPN the Magazine that his client decided to test free agency and would not be re-signing with the Capitals during the offseason.

“It was good while it lasted. With the lack of playoff success, with the direction they are going. They decided to change directions. That’s within their rights. Alex doesn’t fit into that system obviously,” Gandler said. “It just doesn’t make any sense to him. He plays, he did the best he could under the circumstances and he earned his right to be a free agent.”

This comes on the heels of news that Capitals coach Dale Hunter will not be returning to the team next season. Hunter implemented a more defensive, puck-possession style of play that the team may look to continue when they hire a new head coach for next season. If so, that could be a big factor in Semin deciding not to re-up with Washington.

“I think the issue is with the organization, not necessarily with the coach,” Gandler said. “They told us Alex is not going to play short-handed, he’s not going to play in the last minute. He’s going to get the same ice time as everybody else … Alex is not ready to be a role player. He wants to be a full-time player. It’s important to him.”

However, Gandler may have spoken preemptively about his client’s future. Semin was en route to join the Russain national team at the World Championships with teammate Alexander Ovechkin while this story unfolded. So when Semin landed and reporters questioned him about his agent’s remarks, Semin quickly clarified his stance.

“This is all just talk. Words can get twisted,” Semin said. “There was no talk at all that I am not going to sign with the Capitals for sure. I have not talked to them [the Capitals] about leaving. And please don’t ask me questions about the next season anymore.”

Gandler later clarified his comments in another interview with TSN Radio, but stuck to the earlier theme that Semin is unhappy with the way the team is utilizing his skills.

“There’s no question, he likes Washington and the organization,” Gandler said. “He does not like the way he’s being used. He does not like the role he has under the [Capitals'] new direction.”

Even if the Capitals want to bring Semin back into the mix next season, they would likely offer less than the $6.7 million he is making this season. More than anything this is probably a ploy by Gander to churn interest in Semin and possibly drive the price for his client higher in the offseason – a price that the Capitals will have to match if they intend to keep Semin in the loop next year.

At this point, it would be incredibly surprising if Semin re-signed with Washington. He averaged a little more than 16 minutes of ice time per game this season, the lowest since his rookie year, and his numbers have steadily declined over the past several seasons as well. And with the team looking to move in a more defensive-minded direction, a sniper like Semin, who doesn’t play important minutes, doesn’t seem to fit into their long-term agenda.

Still, at 28-years-old, Semin is in the prime of his career and several teams would be more than willing to sign the enigmatic winger to a lucrative contract – especially teams needing to spend money to meet the salary cap floor before the start of the season. After all, Semin is only two years removed from a 40-goal season. Don’t be surprised in a few weeks to hear teams Carolina, Colorado, Columbus – and even Detroit – are all linked to possible contract offers for Semin.

The video of Kronwall hit on Saulietis can be viewed here.

Sweden won the game 4-0 in a game in that saw a combined five points from his Detroit teammates Henrik Zetterberg and Johan Franzen. Zetterberg had one goal and two assists while Franzen added a goal and an assist. Just like the United States in the other group, Sweden finished second after round robin play and will take on Czech Republic in the quarterfinal Thursday night in Stockholm. The Americans will take on the other co-host Finland in Helsinki Thursday evening.

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Eastern Conference Finals kicked off last night as the New York Rangers held their home-ice advantage with a 3 – 0 victory over the New Jersey Devils. Many fans that did not get to see the game last night might look at the score and think it was not a contest, but the score is a little misleading. Both teams were scoreless going into the third when 53 seconds in Dan Giradi scored his second of the playoffs. It was that type of game where you kind of knew whoever scored first would win and that is what happened. The Devils had 21 shots to the Rangers 27 as both goalies played very well. The series is far but over, expect another tight game 2 Wednesday night at 8 PM EST.

Hunter, who lives in Canada, has cited his family as the reason for leaving his position.

“It was the right thing to do” he said of his decision to return home.

“I’ve got a good thing going there with the family, so I’ll stay home.” he added later.

The current owner and former head coach of the London Knights informed Capitals GM George McPhee this morning of his plans. His announcement comes only two days after the Capitals lost in a critical second round game seven matchup against the New York Rangers.

Hunter posted an above .500 record during his time in Washington, ending the season at 30-23-7. As the replacement for former coach Bruce Boudreau, management and fans alike had high hopes that Hunter could lead the Capitals to a deep post-season run. Emphasizing defense first, the new coaching tactics in Washington helped the Capitals to eliminate last season’s Stanley Cup Champion, the Boston Bruins.

Despite some of his post-season success, there were indeed critics of his strategies. Many questioned why his star player, Alex Ovechkin, was seeing his lowest minutes ever in the NHL. Others, however, continued to praise Hunter as Ovechkin excelled when needed, and the coach was strongly supported by players such as Brooks Laich.

“I can’t [say] enough. He’s been great,” Laich said of his coach. “It’s almost like having another veteran in the locker room, is what it feels like. You can draw on his experience [and] he’s willing to open up and share it. He’s been through these battles.”

The Capitals now have several questions heading into the offseason. In addition to finding a new coach, they must also determine whether or not they should bring back Mike Knuble, Alexander Semin, and Dennis Wideman – all unrestricted free agents. Their restricted free agents also include the offensively gifted defenseman, Mike Green.