Sharks hold on, Avery losses his spleen, Montreal is doomed

The Sharks held on to their very slim chances, and got a win against Dallas, but are still down three games to one. Because the games have been close, they have a better chance at coming back than any of the other teams do. Still, that said it remains incredibly unlikely. Turco is good enough that he can win one of three pretty consistently.

Unlike San Jose, Montreal is absolutely falling apart. In game four, they choose not to start rookie goaltender Caret Price, and instead went with Jaroslav Halak who has even less experience. The experiment obviously didn't work, and the Habs lost to the Flyers 4-2. Many still feel that it was a mistake to give up Huet, but if you are going to go with Price, you really need to commit 100% to him. Now Montreal's "goaltender of the future" is suddenly no longer wanted and the team is without any solid player in net at all. When Calgary pulled their starter in favour of Curtis Joseph it at least had the result of changing the pace of the game, and inserting a very experienced veteran. In Montreal, starting Halak over Price, does nothing to motivate the team, and gives you a goaltender with zero career playoff starts. Regardless there is no way that Montreal comes back from their current 3-1 hole, so it doesn't really matter what they try next game.

Furthermore it is a tad bit depressing seeing former Sabres Biron and Briere, get the first and second stars in the past game. Marty has had a very good string of games in the playoffs, and Briere has actually put forth some effort in the post season this year for some unknown reason.

Rangers forward Sean Avery is out for the rest of the season with a blown spleen. The New York Rangers only realistically have a single game remaining in their schedule, so it won't make much of a difference on the ice. He is expected to make a full recovery, but we can still hope that it won't happen. I'm not mean enough to hope that it's fatal, but if this ends his hockey career that would make me happy.