via Mike Heika of Dallas Stars Blog at the Dallas Morning News,

The league just confirmed.

There are some fines involved, but both Ribeiro and Osgood are good to go for Game 3.

That’s important for the Stars, particularly if Lehtinen is hurt and can’t play.

Ribeiro was quite feisty today, so it will be interesting if he transfers that energy to the ice.

added 7:07pm, Sorry for the back to back posts on this topic.  At least we used different sources!

from Bruce Garrioch at Off the Posts,

The talk is Florida Panthers GM Jacques Martin is going to turn to an old friend for the coaching post in the Sunshine State.

Sources told me today that Pittsburgh Penguins assistant Andre Savard has emerged as one of the top candidates for the vacant coaching post with the Panthers.

a little more…

An Interview With: D. Tippett, M. Modano, M. Ribeiro, M. Turco, B. Richards…

Q Hear anything on Ribeiro?

COACH DAVE TIPPETT: Haven’t heard anything from the league yet, no.

Q How do you prepare if you don’t hear anything until tomorrow?

COACH DAVE TIPPETT: We’ll hear something today. I don’t suspect anything. I suspect he’ll be a player. Looking at the situation, I can’t see how it would be a suspension, myself, but that’s for them to figure out. And from our side, I’m going to prepare like Ribeiro’s a player and move forward.

from John Kreiser of NHL.com,

Chris Osgood doesn’t have the flash of Detroit teammate Dominik Hasek. He’s not a spectacular puck-handler like Dallas’ Marty Turco, his rival in the Western Conference Finals. He’s a solid goaltender who doesn’t do anything extraordinarily well.

Except win.

Few goaltenders in any era can match Osgood when it comes to winning games. He was 27-9-4 during the regular season while splitting time with Hasek, and improved to 8-0 during the playoffs with a 2-1 victory over the Stars Saturday night in Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals.

continued

Flyers coach John Stevens and Penguins coach Michel Therrien met with the media earlier today…

from Jack McCaffery of the Delco Times,

There is no secret to holding a lead; if there were, there would be no reason to watch a sporting event after the first team scores. But if there was a theme dominating the Flyers’ clubhouse conversation Saturday, it was that they would be better off continuing to attack while ahead rather than earning a lead and then start looking at the clock and listening for the horn.

It’s three series into a four-series tournament, but apparently the Flyers have decided that the next time they are ahead in the game, they’ll try to pretend that they are behind.

“We’ve done a great job at getting leads —- and that’s important,” Scottie Upshall said. “But keeping it is another thing. For us, we have to concentrate on having good starts. In the playoffs, you see two-goal leads just turn into tie games right away. So we have to keep playing that aggressive style of play.”

more

via the Detroit Free Press,

“Redneck to me, the word came about when the Scottish and Irish come over here and worked, and they were bent over in the fields all the time and their necks got red and the Indians called them rednecks,” Cherry said Saturday (and later on “Hockey Night in Canada"). “To be a redneck is to be proud.

“This is a redneck city, a blue-collar city, and Probert and Kocur and McCarty were the gods when they were here,” Cherry said. “I’m not knocking the team ... people would rather see a good, tough team.”

more from Don…

- Instead of putting her kids in time-out, she says she’s sending them to the penalty box.

- The bruise on her hand comes from banging on the glass along the boards.

more at Fish in my Hair…

Happy Mother’s Day!

from Bucky Gleason of the Buffalo News,

Simply, the Sabres aren’t going anywhere regardless of whether Golisano decides to cash in on his investment. And that remains a possibility.

Who could blame the guy?

Even conservative estimates show potential profits surpassing $50 million if the team is sold. Golisano expressed concerns about the NHL’s future if the salary cap continues rising. He would get the biggest bang from a sale after pulling the team from bankruptcy and assuming the risk. Quinn would stand to make a good buck. Presumably, Chief Operating Officer Dan DiPofi would get a slice, too.

If it were me, sorry, but I’d be selling.

more

from Shelly Anderson of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette,

Now that Therrien and the Penguins are within sight of the Stanley Cup final, he is more experienced and wiser than in his early days as a coach—and those stretch to when he was 23, after knee surgery ended his playing career—but he carries the same approach.

“Everybody to some degree changes a little bit, but he keeps the same drive, the same enthusiasm,” said Penguins assistant Andre Savard, who, as the Montreal Canadiens’ general manager, had the displeasure of firing Therrien from his first NHL head-coaching job during the 2002-03 season.

“He wants to win. He wants to be prepared. He works hard to be prepared for the opposition. His drive to win, that hasn’t changed.”

more

from Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun,

Even if they won’t admit it, the Senators know trading goalie Ray Emery just isn’t going to happen.

As a matter of fact, three league sources told Sun Media last week that dealing the enigmatic goalie is “nearly impossible” and the only option the Senators have is to buy out the remainder of Emery’s contract.

“I just can’t see anybody touching him with that deal. It’s a very high-risk situation for anyone who would want to get involved and nobody is sure if that is worth it,” a league executive said.

continued

from Mike Sielski of phillyBurbs,

“Vinny’s a great passer,” Stevens said yesterday at Mellon Arena, after the Flyers practiced. “He’s got great vision with the puck. He gets standing still and not moving his feet too easily when he gets checked, and I thought that was the case (Friday) night. When he’s moving his feet, when he’s jumping off the wall, when he’s giving and going, more things happen for him. I thought he got a little bit away from that.”

Though the jargon and coded language of a coach and teammate too generous to call out Prospal publicly, there came a clear message: Start skating, Vinny. Start working harder and doing more.

read on

Barry Melrose of ESPN breaks down the Wings/Stars game from last night.

Watch below…

from Phil Sheridan of the Philadelphia Inquirer,

With all this talk about time and space, you half expect Albert Einstein to turn up at the morning skate.

The Flyers need to create time and space for their best players, especially Danny Briere’s line. They have to deny time and space to Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, the Pittsburgh Penguins’ stars. The Flyers’ theory of hockey relativity - E=mc2 - stands for Energy equals Malkin/Crosby to the second power.

Of course, all this time/space continuum chatter is just modern coachspeak that means, We have to hit their guys before they can move with the puck.

continued

from Larry Brooks of the NY Post,

Playing in New York has tangible value for Avery, both as a personality and as a player. The parts of the city and the city culture that he cares about have embraced him. The coach for whom he plays has accepted him. Never will Avery play for a coach so loyal to his players as Renney....

The relationship has been mutually beneficial, but the Rangers need Avery every bit as much as Avery needs the Rangers. It’s crazy to think otherwise.

It’s imperative for Sather to recognize that and stop acting as if he’s Darcy Tucker at center-ice during warmups looking for a fight, looking for a fight he’s not going to win and that the Rangers are going to lose.

more