NHL

In this years heated Hart Trophy (MVP) race, two players have separated themselves from the pack in the eyes of fans and voters.  With all due respect to the spectacular seasons of Zach Parise and the ever-underappreciated Pavel Daytsuk, this one is coming down to Alexander Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin.

With two games to play, this duo is almost dead even in points.  Malkin leads the league in assists.  Ovechkin leads the league in goals. 

But this is not an MVP debate article. 

With recent injuries to defensemen Mathieu Schneider and Andrei Markov, the Montreal Canadiens have called up a coveted prospect.

Yannick Weber, a Swiss-born sharpshooter, will likely find most of his minutes on the Canadiens' power play.

Below is the Canadiens' official press release:

The New York Rangers roller-coaster regular season is ending with an up-and-down stretch run and whether that make it into the playoffs may come down to their final game. Cinderella needs a lift in order to get to the ball.

The Rangers became a Cinderella team after the NHL Trade Deadline, when they finally ended their longest skid in decades to go on a couple of three-game winning streaks.

New York Rangers head coach John Tortorella had a huge win over the Montreal Canadiens last night to get his team in the playoffs, but lost the Team USA coaching job to Ron Wilson of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Wilson officially took over the hockey team on Monday when USA Hockey announced he would take the reins of the U.S. men's hockey team for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

USA Hockey also announced that Wilson will coach America's team at the 2009 World Championships, which begin later this month in Switzerland.

The New York Rangers have just two games left and it could come down to the final day of the regular season and stretch run before they know if they are in the playoffs this season.

After a huge game against the Montreal Canadiens, the Rangers now own the final playoff berth in the Eastern Conference, moving out of a tie with Florida, as the Philadelphia Flyers beat the Panthers last night.

The Flyers 2-1 victory over Florida clinched a playoff spot for Philadelphia. Jeff Carter got his 45th goal of the year. The Flyers did the Rangers a favour by beating Florida.

The Montreal Canadiens were at Madison Square Garden yesterday to face the New York Rangers in an anticipated match-up that could have cleared up some of the Eastern Conference playoff race.

With only a handful of games to play, the Canadiens would have clinched a playoff spot with a victory last night.

But the story on the ice was truly different.

Nagoya Grampus Eight 1 - Newcastle Jets 1 (Asian Champions League, April 7, 2009) Newcastle started strongly and dealt the hosts an early blow when Tarek Elrich scored a rebound in the 9th minute. Grampus Eight were level in the 64th minute Keiji Tamada curled home a fine free-kick which had keeper Ben Kennedy rooted to the spot.

After not having written anything here for the last few months, I’ve decided to come back. I won’t bore you with the details of my absence, but suffice to say there was a contract dispute that was settled when Mr. Zander told me that I could take my then-current rate, multiply it by a trillion, and that would be my new rate per article. 

Of course, my former current rate was Zero, however the fact that he used such a big number made the five-year-old inside me feel good, and here we are.

Ninetieth overall.

Tonight we have some key matchups. Montreal plays Boston hoping to clinch a playoff spot with a win or overtime loss. Buffalo plays Carolina, trying to do thier part in getting a playoff spot. The Rangers are playing the Flyers, hoping to put the last spot out of the Panthers reach while Florida plays Atlanta to keep their playoff hopes alive.

New York Rangers captain Chris Drury scored twice and goalie Henrik Lundqvist made 24 saves for a huge 3-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens.

The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Florida Panthers 2-1, helping the Rangers to move out of a tie with Florida and up to just one point behind Montreal.

The Rangers (41-30-9) now have eighth in the Eastern Conference standings all to themselves with two games left to play -- against the Flyers. New York can clinch a playoff spot with one more Ranger win or one loss by Florida.