Playoff Stuff
Penguins - Senators

-Welcome back Chris Kunitz ... to a line with Sidney Crosby and Pascal Dupuis.

-Wy can't the Penguins ever seem to take a 2-0 series lead?

-“When I first saw him play a few times in San Jose, I would not have guessed he was from Sweden. It’s just his size (6-3, 245 pounds) and his physical mentality and his toughness. He plays with an edge and that’s what he needs to do. He deters guys from coming to the front of the net and from going in the corners.” - Deryk Engelland on Douglas Murray.

-"(I want) to go out there and match up against those guys and make sure they’re not running around too much." - Engelland on matching up against the Senators' fourth line.

-Crosby speaks:

-Dan Byslma speaks:

-Kris Letang speaks:

-James Neal speaks:

-“For us, it’s about: What can we exploit in their game?. At the same time, how can we slow them down and (not) let their skill take over and let their skilled guys have too much time with the puck.” - Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson.

-Welcome back forward Guillaume Latendresse to the Senators' lineup?

-"I don't think he's played close to what he was playing before he got injured. He was a dominant, dominant player, possibly the best player in the league at the time of his injury. No, his play hasn't been up to the level of that. And our expectation wasn't that it would be at that level." - Senators coach Paul MacLean on Erik Karlsson's recovery from an Achilles injury.

-MacLean wants his team to go to the net in Game 2.

-MacLean speaks:

-Alfredsson speaks:

Calder Cup Playoff

-Down 3-0 in the series, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins will try to hold off being eliminated tonight in Game 4 against the Providence Bruins.

-After the Jump: Thrilling wins by the Bruins and Kings, a scary injury for Carolina's Eric Staal and Evgeni Malkin is a Jeopardy! answer?

AMELIA ISLAND, Fla. — The league's spring meetings wrapped up here this morning. The coaches were mostly gone, but the athletic directors met with conference officials this morning. That's when any votes would have taken place, but there were no major announcements to come out of these meetings. We did get a chance to meet with ACC commissioner John Swofford after the meetings were done, and here's a few quotes from him...

On potentially moving the ACC Tournament: "I think we'll just have to wait and see on that. Our tournament has tremendous tradition and history in North Carolina, and that's where it was built over a long period of time. We have, obviously, a new footprint and a very exciting new footprint and an unbelievable set of basketball programs that may be unrivaled at any time in the history of college basketball in any one conference. I think it's appropriate for us to kind of go through this process with the new membership in a very thorough and diligent way that will serve the conference well for many years to come.
"There's a great history [in Greensboro], there's a great tradition there that needs to be meshed with what can be an unbelievable future from a basketball standpoint and a tournament standpoint. That's what our membership will be trying to do is mesh those two things going forward in the best possible way."

On future locations for the league's championship game (held in Charlotte since 2010): "We've been really pleased, by and large, with Charlotte, in terms of the football championships. That has not been a major part of our discussions in these meetings. This is contractually our last year in Charlotte with the upcoming championship game, and we'll get into those discussions between now and December, in terms of the future site of the championship game. Two of the three years it's been there it's been sold out and they've done a terrific job with the events surrounding the game. The feedback we've gotten from our schools that have played in it has been very good."

On how the new teams help the league negotiate bowl deals: "Our inventory is deeper and stronger, and that's helpful. It is Notre Dame, obviously, but it's also Louisville, Pitt and Syracuse as well. When you couple those schools together with the ones we have, and you just visualize that, it's just a much stronger, deeper pool form a bowl standpoint as well as just a general overall football potential standpoint going forward. Basketball-wise, as I said, it'll knock you out when you look at it from that standpoint, and I think the football potential for that group is basically unlimited."

On the ACC doing better in bowl play, specifically in the BCS (the ACC has a 3-13 all-time record in BCS games): "That's how you're ultimately judged. The bowl season was, that's what we need more of in a more consistent way. Our four top teams won and they won against some pretty good brands as well. We just need to be more consistent with that. One thing about our schools is we're playing tougher non-conference schedules than any other major conference. It's not like we're not playing people. Overall we're giving ourselves opportunities and hopefully we can take advantage of those opportunities."

On ACC schools continuing to play FCS teams: "We haven't made a conference decision about that, which means it's an institutional decision. The Big Ten, geographically, the Mid-American Conference is right there. I think it'd be fair to say there's not a strong FCS conference in there geographic footprint. Our league has a long history with the Southern Conference, for instance. Same with the SEC. You do have to look at it [on] an institutional basis, and where you're located and what your history has ben. I think our coaches feel that our schedules, if done the right way institutionally, can be strong enough with an FCS opponent in some cases. They won't be hurt in terms of the new selection process."

On how he envisions the College Football Playoff selection committee being comprised: "I'm not sure yet, in total. This is a process and we're at a point now where we can really focus on it. Up until now, there's been a lot of other things to focus on: deciding to do the playoff to begin with, to the all-important revenue sharing discussions, to who's going to host the first championship game, who's going to be additional host bowls. There's been discussion about the committee along the way, but it's never been the focus and hadn't had the full energy and attention of the commissioners and [Notre Dame athletic director] Jack [Swarbrick] until now because of all the other decisions that had to be made. It wasn't totally ignored, obviously, but it's been kind of conceptual and 'Let's throw out some names.' We've got to kind of work our way through this and so forth. It'll be interesting to see because it's a challenge. I'm confident that we'll reach and endpoint where there's a committee of great integrity and legitimacy that can certainly do the job, but it's challenging to structure the very first one. The basketball committee and all the other NCAA sport committees are made up in similar fashion. It's probably appropriate that that be considered here as well, although a lot of the conversation has been about other individuals. Certainly the idea is people that know the game, are highly respected and bring a great deal of integrity to the group because it will be scrutinized tremendously picking only four teams."

And there you have it. That's a wrap from this year's ACC meetings in Amelia Island. As you can see, nothing exciting like a TV network announcement or even a bowl lineup, but a lot of progress made on several important issues. The ADs and conference officials laid a lot of groundwork this week that will come to votes in future meetings, and hopefully some tangible results.

(4) Bruins vs. (6) Rangers

Bruins Leading Postseason Scorer: David Krejci (right), 13 points (5 goals, 8 assists).

Rangers Leading Regular Season Scorer: Derick Brassard (below), 9 points (2 goals, 7 assists).

Bruins Expected Starting Goaltender: Tuukka Rask (4-3, 2.49 GAA, .923 SV%).

Rangers Expected Starting Goaltender: Henrik Lundqvist, (4-3, 1.65 GAA, .947 SV%).

Bruins Postseason Statistics

Rangers Postseason Statistics

Bruins Injuries: Defenseman Wade Redden (undisclosed) is questionable. Defensemen Andrew Ference ("lower body") and Dennis Seidenberg (left leg) are doubtful. Center Marc Savard (concussion) is on injured reserve.

Rangers Injuries: Left winger Ryane Clowe ("upper body"), center Darroll Powe ("upper body") and defenseman Marc Staal (eye) are doubtful. Defensemen Michael Sauer (concussion) is on injured reserve.

Bruins with Stanley Cup bling: Patrice Bergeron, C; Johnny Boychuk, D; Gregory Campbell, C; Zdeno Chara, D; Andrew Ference, D; Nathan Horton, RW; Jaromir Jagr, RW; Chris Kelly, C; David Krejci, C; Milan Lucic, LW; Brad Marchand, C; Adam McQuaid, D; Daniel Paille, LW; Rich Peverly, C; Tuukka Rask, G; Marc Savard, C; Tyler Seguin, C; Dennis Seidenberg, D; Shawn Thornton, LW.

Rangers with Stanley Cup bling: Brad Richards, C.

Something worthwhile about the Bruins: The Bruins have recorded the most missed shots of any Eastern Conference team in the postseason with 114.

Something worthwhile about the Rangers: At 7.1 percent, the Rangers have the worst power-play percentage of any team still alive in the postseason.

Something useless about the Bruins that is vaguely connected to the Penguins: The Rangers and Bruins last met in a postseason series when they faced one another in a 1973 quarterfinal. THe Rangers clinched the series with a 6-3 win in Game 5. The Bruins' goaltender of record was future Penguins general manager/coach Eddie Johnston who made 22 saves in the loss.

Something useless about the Rangers that is vaguely connected to the Penguins Pirates: The first home postseason shutout in Rangers history was recorded by Lorne Chabot in a 4-0 win in Game 1 of 1928 quarterfinal series against the NHL's Pittsburgh Pirates franchise.

Former Penguins on the Bruins: Andrew Ference, D; Jaromir Jagr, RW.

Former Penguins on the Rangers: Arron Asham, RW; Rick Kehoe, professional scout; Glen Sather, general manager.

Who needs to be the difference for the Bruins: Krejci, Brad Marchand, Jaromir Jagr, Patrice Bergeron, etc. The Bruins' offensive stars must find a way to penetrate the Rangers defense. If they can do that, they need to pray for a goal against Lundqvist who recorded shutouts in Games 6 and 7 in the quarterfinal round against the Rangers. The Bruins racked up some solid offensive numbers against the Maple Leafs. They'll have a much tougher time against the Rangers..

Who needs to be the difference for the Rangers: Lundqvist. Now and forever, Lundqvist is the most important player on this team. Yes, he has a very strong defense in front of him, but he was forced to shutdown a potent Capitals offense in the first round. Regardless of the opponent, Lundqvist must bring his best every night.

Best Bruins YouTube Video We Could Find: An overtime goal by former Bruins defenseman Brad Park in Game 7 of the 1983 Adams Division final against the Sabres:

Best Rangers  YouTube Video We Could Find: Richard's goal which tied Game 5 of a 2012 Eastern Conference final series against the Capitals with 6.6 seconds remaining in regulation:

EN Prediction: The Bruins enter this series with a lot of injuries on the blue line. While some of the Rangers' offensive stars such as Rick Nash and Brad Richards are struggling, they will have an excellent chance to take advantage of Boston's weakened defense. Additionally, Lundqvist is simply a better goaltender than Rask. In a series which figures to be tight and defensive, we'll take the Vezina Trophy winner over the goaltender still trying to prove himself in a lot of ways. Rangers 4-3.

(Photos: Krejci-Jared Wickerham/Getty Images; Brassard-Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

Freshman quarterback Chavas Rawlins will transfer from West Virginia, his former high school coach at Monessen confirmed with the Post-Gazette this afternoon.

Coach Andy Pacak said Rawlins was recruited by and had developed a strong relationship with former quarterbacks coach Jake Spavital who left to take a position at Texas A&M earlier this winter. The loss of that connection weighed on him, said Pacak.

“Everyone at West Virginia was great to him, but as you now he came in right when Jake left. His initial decision was I’m gonna go down there and make the most of it, but that (loss of Spavital) weighed on him a little bit,” said Pacak.

Pacak said Rawlins has not determined where he will transfer to yet.

“His options are open right now,” said Pacak.