Ice Hockey

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman's vision of a bigger footprint for hockey is finally coming into focus.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The Detroit Red Wings' anger over the NHL's refusal to suspend Shea Weber still simmered Friday. So it was important they regained the respect the league took away by shrugging its shoulders when Weber smashed Henrik Zetterberg's head against the glass at the conclusion of Game 1, treating it as an acceptable part of hockey.

Well, another acceptable part of the sport is the deliverance of frontier justice.

Not even two minutes into Game 2, Todd Bertuzzi went after Weber. The exchange happened early enough it wouldn't necessarily hurt either team. They merely exercised the customary hockey payback dance. Both landed punches. Both got five minutes in the box. But the symbolism was what mattered.

ST. LOUIS -- For those wondering which forwards Blues coach Ken Hitchcock will suit up when everyone is healthy, join the group -- a group that includes the players themselves.

Hitchcock hasn't been forced to make many difficult decisions yet because of the extended absences of Alex Steen and Matt D'Agostini because of concussions. Also, 18 games after returning from his concussion, Andy McDonald went back out of the lineup with a shoulder injury.

But with Steen rejoining the Blues on Sunday, and D'Agostini and McDonald on the verge of coming back, Hitchcock soon will have 16 bodies and only 12 spots he can fill. In perhaps a sneak peek of what could lie ahead, B.J. Crombeen has been a healthy scratch the past two games and Chris Porter was displaced Sunday when Steen returned.

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- As if the playoff stakes are not enough for the Sharks these days, Monday night's game at HP Pavilion features an added layer of competitive one-upmanship.

San Jose and the Colorado Avalanche -- each with 86 points -- are facing each other for the first time since the Feb. 27 trade that brought Daniel Winnik and TJ Galiardi to San Jose in exchange for Jamie McGinn.

The Avalanche has fared slightly better than the Sharks since then, going 7-4-2 while San Jose went 6-5-3.

STOCKTON, Calif. -- The Utah Grizzlies split a two-game series with the Stockton Thunder over the weekend, winning 5-2 on Saturday night at Stockton Arena to clinch their fifth-straight ECHL playoff berth before a 4-2 loss Sunday afternoon.

Winners of five of their last seven games, the Grizzlies got goals from Mitch Wahl and Colin Vock in the third period to put Saturday night's game away.

Utah never trailed in the contest, taking a 2-0 lead on power-play goals and finishing with three five-on-five scores.

Nothing in the comprehensive hockey profile of the New York Rangers suggests that they are destined for anything short of a decorous spring, so anything the Pittsburgh Penguins did to portray themselves as capable of matching Gotham's team stride for powerful stride was certainly worth the effort.

Thus there's little that can minimize what happened Tuesday night, when the Penguins not only whacked the best team this side of the NHL's conference divide, but perhaps exposed the one strand of Rangers DNA that doesn't hold up to scrutiny as well as the balance of their game.

That power play.

ST. LOUIS -- Big egos have small ears. No one will ever accuse Brian Elliott of having small ears.

"One of the things that you learn about 'Ells' is he's a really good listener," Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said. "He's resurrected a career based on being able to look in the mirror and make adjustments."

The alterations aren't about character or drive. Elliott has spent his hockey-playing life as an afterthought, the odd man out. It was that way in college, where he came out of a backup shadow to lead the University of Wisconsin-Madison to a national championship.