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Without yet having a good, close look at the replay (the TVs in the Scotiabank Place pressbox should be in somebody’s cottage), I’m thinking it’s possible Matt Carkner is being honest and true.
Maybe he didn’t flick blood at the Rangers bench, as some of their players claim. Maybe he was pretending to wipe his forehead and toss off the sweat, a gesture commonly used when somebody makes short, easy work of something. Or somebody.
Carkner was obviously fired up after his fight with Derek Boogaard. Rangers coach John Tortorella said afterwards he believed Boogaard suffered a broken nose in the scrap. At the same time, Carkner had stitches over his left eye as a souvenir of the dust-up.
But actually flicking blood and making the gesture of flicking blood are two different things, remember.
Anyway, more should be revealed on the matter down at the rink Friday, but Bloodgate could wind up being overshadowed completely by bigger news. If the Senators lose to the lowly Devils tonight, it’s unimaginable that coach Cory Clouston will survive – if he’s not fired before the game.
I don’t know if Clouston deserves to take the blame the majority of the mess for this situation or not. Is it his fault, for instance, that Brian Elliott’s “puck luck” (really, Brian?) was such that he was a complete sieve on Erik Christensen’s game tying goal in the third? Is it Clouston’s fault that Sergei Gonchar is so bad these days? Or Alex Kovalev? Did he tell Chris Neil to take the stupid charging penalty?
Is he to blame for the scoring troubles of Daniel Alfredsson and Jason Spezza?
Whether or not the Senators like Clouston is irrelevant. They’ve got to have some pride. They’ve got to be better than this.

Just found out former Senators centre Todd White was traded from the Atlanta Thrashers to the New York Rangers late Sunday night. It’ll be the sixth NHL team for White and, at 35, would seem to be a good move.
Most would bet the Rangers have a better chance of winning the Cup than the Thrashers in the next few years – not that anybody would put a lot of cash on either.

By his comments on Coach’s Corner, it’s obvious that Don Cherry is not a big fan of  some stunts pulled off  by Philadelphia bad boy Dan Carcillo.

On Friday, Carcillo was asked if he’s losing any sleep over that.

“Absolutely not,” he said.

With that, the Carcillo interview was over.

Not a lot of people outside the Flyers room are entralled with Carcillo. It was even suggested that if he and Habs pest Max Lapierre were to fight, the majority would be cheering for them both to lose.

But Carcillo and Lapierre are both effective players and one or both are likely to become a central figure in this very interesting series.

In the opinion of Sid “The Man” Crosby, the Senators Game 5 triple-OT victory was evenly played.
Okay, I know the triple-OT tells you that, but The Man thought ownership of the actual flow and tempo was “50-50″ too.
“If you look at that game, they were better in the first and we were better in the third,” Crosby said Saturday morning at Scotiabank Place. “Overtime was 50-50. We could have started better, but we didn’t feel we played a terrible game.”
I tell you this because I’m a little tired of hearing how the Penguins suffered a deflating, emotional letdown as the losers of such a long, hard battle.
No doubt the Senators have a stronger sense of confidence going into Game 6 than they had going into Game 5, but I don’t think anyone should expect to see the Penguins at anything less than their best Saturday night.
I also think that sooner or later, the Senators are going to win a home playoff game. They’ve lost five straight heading into this one, and they’ve lost to the Penguins the last four times the teams have met at Scotiabank Place in the playoffs.
I could be wrong, of course, but I think it will be sooner, as in tonight, rather than later, which would be next spring or one of the springs after it.
Then, what else am I going to say? I picked the Penguins in seven right from the outset.

PITTSBURGH – Coach Cory Clouston dropped a bombshell when he announced Pascal Leclaire as his starting goalie for Thursday’s do-or-die game against the Penguins.
Clouston clearly prefers Brian Elliott, and even though his guy has a .853 save percentage in the playoffs, very few would have guessed he’d turn to Leclaire now.
Leclaire, who relieved Elliott in the second period of Game 4, played in just eight of the team’s final 35 regular season games.
He has just one win since Dec. 31.
No, you read that right. ONE win.
“I’m excited, it’s a great challenge for me,” Leclaire said Thursday morning. “Not a lot of people think we have a chance.”
Leclaire said he’s not thinking about going in and stealing the game, which may or may not be true.
“That would be the worse thing to do,” he said. “Its a team game, not just one guy. I’m going to do my best and see what happens.”
At their morning skate, meanwhile, the Penguins were as loose as you’d expect them to be.
Bill Guerin walked into the dressing room after his time on the ice and, upon seeing the media horde that was waiting, pretended he was angry.
“What are you guys doing in here?” he shouted. “You’re not supposed to be in here ….. until three minutes after me.”
That, of course, would give him just enough time to change out of his hockey gear and disappear.
Matt Cooke said past experiences will help the Penguins close out the Senators.
“We were in this position a couple of times last year and I don’t think we realized how desperate the other team would be,” said Cooke. “I think we have to get to our level early push them to play at our pace. I wouldn’t be surprised to see them play their best game of the series.”