Articles by Doug Stolhand

VOORHEES, N.J. – Defenceman Jason Smith practised Thursday and hopes to return from his upper-body injury for Game 1 of Philadelphia’s NHL playoff series against Washington.

MONTREAL – Montreal defenceman Mike Komisarek will return to the lineup for Thursday night’s opening game of the Habs’ Eastern Conference quarter-final against the visiting Boston Bruins.

Summaries from Wednesday’s NHL playoff games:Senators 0 at Penguins 4First Period1. Pittsburgh, Roberts 1 (Laraque, Talbot) 1:082. Pittsburgh, Sykora 1 (Malkin) 12:28Penalties – Staal Pgh (holding) 4:25, Schubert Ott (holding) 14:39.

Movements in the world of hockey Wednesday:National Hockey LeagueCAROLINA HURRICANES-Assigned F Jeff Hamilton and D Tim Conboy to Albany (AHL).

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Minnesota Wild right-wing Mark Parrish left Wednesday night’s playoff opener against Colorado with a head injury following an awkward run-in with Ruslan Salei in the second period.

SAN JOSE, Calif. – Something about the teal jerseys, the white pompons and the Shark Tank’s earsplitting crowd inspires fantastic hockey from Stephane Yelle and his teammates.

ST. PAUL, Minn. – If this is Joe Sakic’s final post-season, he sure started it with a flourish.Adding another line to his remarkable resume, Colorado’s 38-year-old captain tipped in a rebound for the winner 11:11 into overtime and sent the Avalanche past the Minnesota Wild 3-2 on Wednesday night in the first game of this first-round series.

HAMILTON – Corey Locke had three goals and three assists and the Hamilton Bulldogs recovered from a 4-1 deficit and defeated the Rochester Americans 8-4 in American Hockey League action Wednesday.

TORONTO – A smashing return by Jiri Tlusty helped the Toronto Marlies keep their hopes of winning the West alive.Tlusty had two goals and two assists and a five-goal Marlies second period helped Toronto pull away from the Chicago Wolves for an 8-3 win on Wednesday night.

NEWARK, N.J. – If Scott Gomez’s ribs were still sore during the New York Rangers’ playoff opener, he transferred every bit of that discomfort to the team that let him get away.

PITTSBURGH – When the Pittsburgh Penguins opened the NHL playoffs in Ottawa a year ago, Marc-Andre Fleury got pumped for six goals and Evgeni Malkin was invisible as the Senators jumped out to a series lead they would never relinquish.

ANAHEIM, Calif. – Forget about the Ducks’ being defending Stanley Cup champions. Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle has – or at least that’s his story as Anaheim prepares to open its Cup defence.

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Providence Bruins’ Scott Gordon has won the Louis A.R. Pieri Memorial Award for American Hockey League coach of the year.

MONTREAL – Barring a last-minute recovery by Saku Koivu, it will be Alex Kovalev wearing the captain’s C when the Montreal Canadiens begin the playoffs against the Boston Bruins on Thursday night.

DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings led the NHL in points for the third time in four seasons and the sixth time since 1995.
No other team has won the President’s Trophy more than twice since the league started recognizing the accomplishment a little more than two decades ago.

Canada and USA haven’t fought over a piece of land since the War of 1812, but almost 200 years later, the United States has managed to lay claim to Pominville.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Forward Patrick Kane, the first player selected in last year’s NHL entry draft, was among 17 players named Wednesday to the U.

PITTSBURGH – The conspiracy theorists in Ottawa believe the Pittsburgh Penguins purposely lost last Sunday’s regular-season finale to Philadelphia in order to avoid the Flyers in the first round and instead draw the Senators.

MONTREAL – The National Hockey League is trying to score more goals in the digital world.It launched an online site Wednesday, timed with the start of this year’s Stanley Cup playoffs, that focuses on video content, a growing trend on the Internet.