NBC decided to put both games on the weekend because they are worried of an overtime game and thus cutting into the debut of Conan O’Brien on The Tonight Show.

This is very embarrassing for the NHL.  They are at the mercy of NBC and have to comply with whatever NBC wants to do.  The Red Wings won their series on Wednesday giving them only two full days of rest before taking the ice tonight.  If tonight’s game goes into a couple of overtimes the players will be severely fatigued and have to play another game tomorrow night.  The Red Wings fought hard to earn home ice and the scheduling of the games effectively negates it for the first two games.

Hockey often gets made fun of in America and when the biggest event of the season is less of a priority of a late night talk show it speaks volumes. NBC treats the NHL like crap but the NHL won’t do anything because they’re happy at least some of the games are not on cable and everyone can watch.  Two years ago in a conference finals game between Buffalo and Ottawa that went into overtime NBC put the overtime coverage on a cable affiliate and cut to its pre-race coverage of the Preakness Stakes.

But the reality is that hockey is having a great season.  The playoffs have been great and have had a Crosby-Ovechkin matchup and now have a rematch of last years finals in Pittsburgh vs. Detroit.  It’s a shame the NHL doesn’t have a deal with a company that actaully cares about hockey.  Hockey needs to renew their TV deal they had before the lockout or get another network to broadcast the games.  While Versus does a good job in the coverage it’s not available to enough fans and if the NHL is ever going to compete with the NFL, MLB, and NBA they need to do something.  Until then we’ll enjoy the Stanley Cup and hope the two games in two days doesn’t have any negative effects on the series.

Cam Ward kept Carolina in the game in the second making a terrific glove save on a one timer off Bill Guerin’s stick.  Chad LaRose then made it 2-1 beating Marc-Andre Fluery five hole.  In the third Philippe Boucher gave the Penguins a 3-1 scoring on the power play.  Boucher. who was only playing because Penguins coach Dan Bylsma decided to dress seven defensemen because of Sergei Gonchar’s knee injury, was key in the victory adding an assist in addition to the big third period goal.  The Hurricanes made it close in the end scoring in the final 90 seconds on the power play but it wasn’t enough.  They did have a great chance with under 30 seconds remaining but Eric Staal couldn’t put it home.  Fluery was great all night and made his best save of the night at the end when stopped Staal.  The series continues with Game 2 scheduled for Thursday night in Pittsburgh where the Hurricanes will look to even the series.