Somewhere on Long Island, my buddy Mike is wearing a big smile today. Your goaltender has returned Mike, and with him.... hope.

Rick DiPietro returned to the New York Islanders line up last night against the Buffalo Sabres for Game 2, after being cleared to play on Friday. The Islanders netminder who had been missing in action for three weeks with multiple concussions, looked like his old self. DiPietro made 32 saves and helped inspire his club to a series tying 3-2 win over the Sabres.

The series continues on Long Island for Game 3. Game 2 was a big wake up call for the Sabres. As I stated last week, the Islanders are not a team to be overlooked. I expect to see a Sabres team executing with extreme prejudice on Monday night.

Playoff Beard Alert:
DiPietro is sporting a beautiful face mane right now, but he's had that look going since mid-season (when the Isles were playing their strongest.... coincidence? you know it's not), however if he lets that go... look out! Buffalo Sabres forward, Brian Campbell seems to be going after the GI Joe Snow Job award (won last year by Oilers forward Raffi Torres) as he is sporting some lovely red chin fur right now. Keep an eye on that guy!

Quick Shave:
Jeff you're right, that Senators goal was amazing (I think it was the second for them on the power play... a tic tac toe from Spezza, Heatley to Alfredsson), but it still wasn't enough to stop the CROS-BEARD! I don't quite see the hint of a beard yet, but Crosby's play, as well as the rest of the Penguins have brought the series to a 1-1 tie. The Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the Ottawa Senators 4-3 in another physical matchup that saw Pittsburgh's keeper Marc-Andre Fleury bounce back from a rough Game 1 outting, to make 34 saves and help secure the win. Sidney Crosby scored the game winner mid way through the final period and added an assist on Ryan Whitney's power play goal. The amusing thing to me is that no one is giving the Penguins a chance in this series (yeah Murray, your team is the underdog....). The Penguins converted 2 of their 3 power play opportunites. The Sens converted one of nine chances. This speaks volumes. The Penguins need to play more disciplined, and Senators, well they should play more disciplined too (since the Penguins don't need many opportuties to cash in on), and should work on their special teams. The Senators are feeling the pressure of being an early round knock out again...... underdogs? Righhhht. To make things even sweeter, Game 3 is in Pittsburgh, TONIGHT!! The New York Rangers took a 2-0 series lead over the Atlanta Thrashers yesterday afternoon with a 2-1 victory. Coach Bob Hartley started goalie Johan Hedberg in favor of youngster Kari Lehtonen for the Thrashers and the move while widely panned, could hardly be called a bad one after his performance yesterday. Hedberg made 37 saves last night and gave the Thrashers an opportunity to win the game, however Rangers keeper Henrik Lundqvist was equal to the task (I hate that phrase so much by the way) and secured the win by making 27 saves of his own. For the Rangers, I have to mention the presence of Sean Avery. This guy has changed the organization. He's added a level of grit, toughness, and skill that they haven't seen since Essa Tikkanen was a Ranger. Last night Avery delivered his trademark physical play, scored a goal, and as assist (took 9 shots on net ) and got Kovalchuk and Tkachuk so flustered in the final moments of the game they were both ready to pound him. The Rangers and Thrashers will meet in back to back games on Tuesday and Wednesday this week at Madison Square Garden in New York. The Tampa Bay Lightning thundered (got chils on how lame that was, sorry) back to tie their series with the New Jersey Devils on the legs of a 3-2 win last night. The Lightning's big boys delivered again as Martin St. Louis and Vincent Lecavalier both scored (Lecavalier the game winner) and goaltender Johan Holmqvist made 34 saves to secure the win.

I'd like to thank Jamie Mottram and Dan Steinberg from the Blog Show for highlighting Playoff Beard.com during their broadcast on Friday night. To view the Blog Show broadcast click here, or watch it below. Thanks again for the support guys!

Game of the Night:
Calgary at Detroit 1:00 PM
Ottawa at Pittsburgh 6:00 PM
Anaheim at Minnesota 8:00
Vancouver at Dallas 9:30 PM

Calgary and Minnesota need to get back into their series (especially Minnesota) and will have ample opportunity to do so today. All eyes will really be on the Sens / Pens series which should get ugly tonight. The third period last night started getting nasty, so look for the first periord today to look like the fourth period last night. That probably didn't make much sense but after a few Molson's you'll have a moment and go.... 'AAAHHHHH, that's what Bosh meant'. The goaltending duel continues in Dallas tonight as the Canucks visit the Stars in the late game. Enjoy the games my bearded fuzzies!

Your friend on ice,
Captain Bosh