Ovie Out, Sabres In

The word coming out of the World Championships today is that Ovechkin was ejected and later handed a one-game suspension for what was being termed a hit from behind in the game against the Swiss team.

I saw the replay of the game and was initially surprised that the hit in question was given such a strong punishment. It was a relatively innocent play - Ovie steps out of the box just as the Swiss player skates by with the puck, head down. Ovechkin lays him out with a hard shoulder check that knocks the other player down and shakes him up a bit.

But I didn't see the malicious intent, the hitting from behind, anything noteworthy other than the fact that it was around the head.

As I think about it a bit more, though, it's a good call and consistent with the standard set to this point at the World Championships. Just a few days ago, Shea Weber was suspended for an elbow to the head of a German player, now this. The IIHF is setting a standard that the NHL would do well to mimick - cracking down on hits to the head, regardless of intent or whether the player's head is down, seems like a good idea to me.

And luckily for Ovie and the Russian team, his suspension falls on a relatively meaningless game against Sweden, as Russia has already qualified for the next round.

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The last two games of the Rangers-Sabres series have been surprisingly entertaining, but if you're a Sabres fan I'd be concerned. (And I'm not saying that because I want to see them crash and burn...I don't, I swear!)

There's no reason Buffalo should have taken 6 games to finish off the Rags, especially not after the phenomenal regular season they had. So many times during this series they looked simply average, allowing New York to dictate the play far too often. That's not to say they didn't have their share of breathtaking moments - with that much talent it wasn't going to stay idle for the entire series. Still, they made the Rangers look much better than they actually were, and that's not a good sign.

Regardless, the Sabres move on to take on the Senators in the Eastern Conference Finals.

They're good friends, those two. Really good.

But fisticuffs aside, this should be a playoff series for the ages - with all the speed and skill on both of these rosters combined with the heated division rivalry, this series could be the perfect example of what the playoffs are all about. And it should come as no surprise that the two Eastern Conference finalists come out of the Northeast, one of the tightest divisions in the league this season. Ottawa holds a slight edge in the season series, winning 5 of 8 games, but this looks to be an evenly matched series that should go 7.

Unless I'm wrong.

Wouldn't be the first time.