Sabres Edge

Sabres fans will hear familiar voices during the broadcasts of every game next season, even the ones without usual play-by-play man Rick Jeanneret.

Danny Gare and Kevin Sylvester will call the majority of Buffalo's road games, the team announced today. The Sabres were looking for replacements for Harry Neale and Jeanneret, who announced he was cutting back on travel, and they tabbed two well-known faces and voices.

Gare has his jersey number retired by the team thanks to a stellar playing career in the 1970s. He has done numerous television and emcee jobs for the Sabres, and he was also a broadcaster for the Columbus Blue Jackets.

"This is a very exciting opportunity for me, and I’m looking forward to getting back into the fold with the Sabres organization," said Gare, who will work the color commentary role. "I think Kevin is a very good broadcaster, and our styles will complement each other well."

Sylvester has been on the Sabres' broadcast team since 2005 as a game and studio host. He filled in for Jeanneret several times in recent seasons during the longtime announcer's vacations.

"I am thrilled for the opportunity to call away games," Sylvester said. “I have tremendous respect for RJ’s mastery of Sabres play-by-play and am happy that he will continue. I’m also excited to share the booth with Danny Gare, whose experience and knowledge of the game will be great assets to all Sabres fans."

Jeanneret will work 10 to 15 road games, depending on the yet-to-be-released NHL schedule. The rest will belong to Sylvester and Gare.

"Of the numerous applicants we received for these positions, we realized that our most qualified candidates came from within," Sabres President Ted Black said. "Both Kevin and Danny have a familiarity with the players and the organization, and there is also an existing comfort level with our fans. These were important factors in our decision-making process."

---John Vogl

Well, the NHL season is over. They're celebrating in Boston and cleaning up in riotous Vancouver. As usual, the folks in Buffalo watched it all with interest.

NBC Sports has released the overnight viewership numbers for Boston's 4-0 win in Game Seven, and the Buffalo market ranked third in the United States with a 10.6 rating and 17 share. Boston was first with a record 43.4/64, while Bruins' minor-league affiliate town of Providence was second at 25.9/38.

Now, the stories from the Stanley Cup finale ...

*The Stanley Cup weighs nearly 35 pounds, but Boston Bruins captain Zdeno Chara hoisted it over his head today like it weighed nothing.

Chara was the first to lift the Cup after the Bruins' decisive 4-0 victory in Vancouver over the Canucks in Game Seven of the championship series Wednesday. He raised it to the sky again when he was the last player off the team's plane following a noisy overnight flight that landed at Logan International Airport at about 8:30 this morning. Then he lifted and shook it one more time when the team got off the bus in front of TD Garden minutes later.

"We got it done, we brought it back to Boston and this is where it belongs," coach Claude Julien said.

*Parked cars were set on fire, others were tipped over and people threw beer bottles at giant television screens in Vancouver following the Canucks' 4-0 loss.

People chanted obscenities and some leaped over raging bonfires as riot police moved in to try to restore order in the downtown streets strewn with garbage and filled with acrid smoke. Flames shot about 10 yards into the air off the cars and some bystanders tossed firecrackers.

The Vancouver Sun has front-to-back coverage of the rioting, with videos, pictures and essays.

(My buddy George Richards of the Miami Herald suggests on his On Frozen Pond Facebook page the rioting is due to the seamy underside of the city. I can't disagree. As I wrote for our 2010 Olympic Preview, "Vancouver has a homeless and panhandling problem that permeates the city, with an estimated 3,000 living on the streets. Vancouver also is lenient about drug use. The aroma of marijuana wafts through many neighborhoods, and the city is also the controversial home to North America's first supervised drug injection site."

It is certainly one of the most beautiful cities in North America -- if you're looking at it from the outside.)

*Although Brad Marchand appears headed for a long NHL career, he'll always have trouble topping what he did as a rookie while driving the Bruins to the Stanley Cup. Marchand had two goals and an assist in the Bruins' 4-0 victory, ending his first NHL playoff campaign in sparkling fashion.

*Roberto Luongo insists the Canucks will be back.

"We're devastated, but we're a good team and we'll be back," said the dejected Luongo, his voice breaking slightly as he fought back tears.

With 11 years left on a 12-year, $64-million contract, Luongo should be back for a long time. The question is whether Vancouver fans want him to return.

*Tim Thomas was too focused on winning the Stanley Cup to look back at what has been one of the most remarkable seasons ever by an NHL goaltender. When he finally does, it will be with a wide grin.

*(I don't gamble on sports -- anyone who's seen my caveat when I put up odds knows that -- but I wonder what I could have earned for picking Boston to beat Vancouver in the finals way back in October.)

---John Vogl

Will Roberto Luongo be a rock in net tonight for the Vancouver Canucks? Or will Boston Bruins goalie Tim Thomas be the one to lead his team to Stanley Cup glory? John Vogl and Mike Harrington take a look at Game 7.

Roberto Luongo survived the pressure to win an Olympic gold medal last year in Rogers Arena. He's going to have to defy the detractors again to win the Stanley Cup tonight in his home barn. Here's a look at today's front page from the Vancouver Province, which clearly puts the onus on the Canucks' goaltender to get it done in Game Seven.

The image is from the Today's Front Pages collection of the Newseum.

---Mike Harrington
(www.twitter.com/bnharrington)

If there's a big game, you can count on the folks at the gambling site Bodog.com to send me the odds. And, in turn, you can count on me to give you the following disclaimer:

Gambling is bad. Your money is much better spent on concerts, women and whiskey.

STANLEY CUP FINAL - Game Seven

Boston Bruins                            +130
Vancouver Canucks                   -150 

Team to score first in the game

Boston Bruins                EVEN 
Vancouver Canucks       -130    

Will the team that scores first win the game?

Yes                  -250   
No                    +195   

Will there be a goal in the first 10:00 of the game?

Yes                  +105   
No                    -135   

First to 3 Goals

Boston Bruins                9/5      
Vancouver Canucks       1/1      
Neither                          5/2      

Will the game go to overtime?

Yes                  +250   
No                    -325   

Will Roberto Luongo get pulled and replaced by another goaltender at any point during the game (excluding injury)?

Yes                              5/1      

If the Bruins win who will Zdeno Chara pass the cup to first during their on ice celebration?

Tim Thomas                  2/5      
Mark Recchi                  4/1      
Patrice Bergeron            9/2      
David Krejci                   6/1      
Milan Lucic                    10/1    
Brad Marchand              15/1    

If the Canucks win who will Henrik Sedin pass the cup to first during their on ice celebration?

Daniel Sedin                  1/2      
Sami Salo                     5/2      
Roberto Luongo             11/2    
Ryan Kesler                  6/1      
Manny Maholtra             12/1    
Alex Burrows                 15/1    

---John Vogl

What do you get when an Olympian, a Super Bowl champion, a world-class golf teacher, a legendary running back, a multipurpose hockey star and seven other sporting luminaries come together?

The newest class of the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame.

The Hall announced a dozen inductees for the 2011 class this morning, with an introductory news conference set for 3 this afternoon in HSBC Arena. Former Bills All-Pro guard Ruben Brown and two-time Super Bowl champ Jim Burt of Orchard Park will give remarks on behalf of the class.

The other honorees are: Curtis Aiken, basketball standout for Bennett and the University of Pittsburgh; Don Colpoys, baseball player, coach and administrator; Jim Lorentz, longtime player and broadcaster for the Sabres; Phil Mankowski, major league baseball player; Steve Mesler, bobsled gold medalist at the 2010 Olympics; and Cindy Miller, golf professional and teacher.

Four others will join the Pride of Western New York, which honors deceased athletes: Cookie Gilchrist, Bills fullback; Lewis “Deerfoot” Bennett, a long-distance runner in the 1800s; Michael Broderick, a founder of the West Side Rowing Club; and William Morgan, credited with inventing volleyball.

The dozen members represent the 21^st class inducted to the hall since its inception in 1991. The hall now has 240 members.

---John Vogl

This is it. The last game of the 2010-11 NHL season. It'll be either Tim Thomas and the Bruins or (insert someone finally stepping up here) and the Canucks winning the Stanley Cup tonight.

*The Vancouver Canucks have traded home victories of increasing intensity with the Boston Bruins for six games, with their veteran goalies dueling before a backdrop of bites, taunts, dangerous injuries and gut-wrenching road losses. The Presidents' Trophy-winning Canucks and the profoundly resilient Bruins will play their 107th and final game when their draining seasons finally end in Game Seven tonight.

Both teams are ready to enjoy their drastically shortened summers, but nobody can bear the thought of coming this far without drinking from the Stanley Cup.

"Everything in the past is in the past," Vancouver center Ryan Kesler said. "If we win [tonight], we become legends."

*The Canucks are counting on fan support as they try to hold serve in a series already featuring six home victories. Only three times in Stanley Cup finals history has a home team won all seven games: in 2003, 1965 and 1955.

*The hockey sticks were loaded on the plane. The goalie pads were placed in the baggage compartment. The skates were stowed on board.

What about the aggressive playing style that brought three dominant victories at home?

The Boston Bruins hoped that also made the 2,500-mile journey to Vancouver in search of hockey's biggest prize in a stirring Stanley Cup finals.

*Even though the team is on the road, Boston police are deploying hundreds of extra officers to patrol the streets around TD Garden and Fenway Park, neighborhoods with dozens of sports bars where fans tend to congregate.

The Bruins also decided against holding a fans viewing party in the TD Garden because of potential problems.

*NHL.com takes a look back at five unlikely names to make the grade in a seventh game.

*Congrats to fellow Southtowner Jeff Lavelle, who finished third out of 3,157 entrants in a World Series of Poker no-limit hold 'em, $1,500 buy-in. He earned $321,947.

---John Vogl

The report is out, and it's not good for Vancouver's Mason Raymond.

The Canucks forward will be out three to four months with a fractured vertebrae after he was checked into the boards during Game Six of the Stanley Cup finals.

Raymond sustained a "vertebrae compression fracture" Monday night, the team said today. Defenseman Johnny Boychuk rode him into the boards 20 seconds into Boston's 5-2 victory that forced a decisive Game Seven on Wednesday night in Vancouver.

In other news:

*Vancouver's Daniel Sedin tells the Vancouver Sun: "It's enough with the blaming and all that. We lose as a team and win as a team, and we're going to win Game Seven."

*The Ottawa Senators have a new coach, and new philosophy. Paul MacLean, an assistant coach for the Detroit Red Wings the past five years, was hired today by a team that failed to make the playoffs two of the last three seasons.

"I think it's important in the NHL today that the coach and players communicate," MacLean said at a news conference. "Communication with the players is important in empowering them and having them invest in what you're trying to do and what you're trying to accomplish. It's not me against them. It's us - the Ottawa Senators - against the rest of the league."

---John Vogl

Happy Tuesday, though I'm sure Roberto Luongo would disagree.

*Inexplicably, the Canucks took the evening off for the biggest game of the season, Bucky Gleason writes from Boston following the Bruins' 5-2 victory Monday night. You have to wonder if the Canucks are crumbling under the pressure and the expectations of a nation that hasn't hoisted the Cup since Montreal won it all in 1993.

Game Six wasn't really a game, but a smackdown for the Bruins. The good news for the Canucks was that Roberto Luongo will be well rested Wednesday for Game Seven. He was sent to the bench with 11:25 remaining in the first period, or roughly four minutes too late.

*Brad Marchand, Milan Lucic and Andrew Ference scored in the first 8:35 to chase Luongo from his second straight game in Boston, and the Bruins emphatically evened the finals with a 5-2 victory in Game Six, sending the series to a decisive Game Seven in Vancouver on Wednesday night.

For the sixth time in the last 10 seasons, the finals have been stretched to their limit. The home team hasn't lost in this series, with Vancouver winning three one-goal games and Boston posting three blowout victories.

*A shaky Roberto Luongo ended up farther out of his crease than even a roaming Tim Thomas likes to go. All the way to the bench. Again.

But Vancouver's inconsistent goalie didn't plan to dwell on his latest journey to a loss too long. He was already looking forward to the cross-continent trip back home.

"There's one game for the Stanley Cup, so you can't hang your head now and feel sorry for yourself," Luongo said after the Boston Bruins forced a seventh game with a 5-2 win over the Canucks on Monday night. "That would be the worst thing I could do."

*Brad Marchand wasted little time setting a Boston Bruins record for goals by a rookie in a playoff year. Marchand's ninth goal of the postseason broke a team rookie record set by Mike Krushelnyski in 1983 and tied by Bobby Joyce in 1988.

*Vancouver's Mason Raymond was driven backside-first into the corner boards by Boston defenseman Johnny Boychuk. He stayed down on his stomach, unable to get up on his own. Eventually he was helped to his feet by linemates Ryan Kesler and Chris Higgins. Raymond needed help just to step up to the bench. He couldn't walk down the hallway on his own power.

The official word from the Canucks that came in the first intermission was that Raymond was transported to a local hospital with an undisclosed injury.

*Here are some of the key stats and figures from Game 6, courtesy of NHL.com.

Detroit Red Wings assistant Paul MacLean has been hired as the new coach of the Ottawa Senators. The Senators fired head coach Cory Clouston and two assistants in April after the team failed to qualify for the playoffs for the second time in three seasons.

*The NHL's competition committee agrees with a recommendation to broaden the league's definition of illegal hits to the head.

"We don't like some of the hits that we see and we don't like the results of those hits," said Dallas Stars General Manager Joe Nieuwendyk. "The numbers of concussions are hard to ignore. That was the goal in mind.

"I think there's a broader spectrum of hits that will fall into this category now."

*The Phoenix Coyotes have signed former Calgary Flames head coach Jim Playfair to a multiyear contract as associate coach.

---John Vogl

BOSTON -- There is nothing greater in sports than the seventh game of a playoff series, and it's even better when a championship is on the line. The Bruins did their part again Monday with a 5-2 win over Vancouver to set up one game for the Stanley Cup.

Roberto Luongo was brutal once again in allowing three goals on eight shots before getting chased for the second time in the series. What is with this guy? He's a $10 million goaltender who was worth about 10 cents during the three games in Boston. He allowed 15 goals in the three starts and split town with an 8.05 goals-against average in TD Garden.

"They came out flying," Luongo said. "I obviously didn't make enough key saves to weather the storm early. We're going to put what happened tonight behind us as soon as possible and get ready for what is going to be a dream, playing in Game Seven in the Stanley Cup final."

If he has another stinker, it's going to be a nightmare for the Canucks. They lost in seven games i8n 1994, when Mark Messier scored the winner for the Rangers. The Canucks are looking for their first Cup in 40 NHL seasons. The Bruins are gunning for their first since 1972.

The Bruins deserve their share of credit. They were buzzing early, but Luongo failed to make a routine save on Brad Marchand for the first goal, allowed Milan Lucic to score 5-hole for the second goal and was gone with 11:35 left in the first period.

"Both teams have fought for 106 games to get to his point," said Bruins winger Milan Lucic, a Vancouver native. "It definitely doesn’t get any better than this. You dream about, as a kid growing up, playing in Game Seven in a Stanley Cup final. Here we are, in that situation. We have to go there, do what we need to do to win and embrace the situation." 

You think they're getting nervous in Vancouver?

--- Bucky Gleason

BOSTON -- The latest in a string of storylines coming out of the Stanley Cup finals had the Canucks trying to sell television rights for their parade in Vancouver assuming they won.

Several media outlets were reporting that the NHL would not allow the Canucks, who have a 3-2 series advantage going into Game Six, to sell the broadcast rights if they finished off the Bruins tonight or Wednesday. Bruins tonight or Wednesday. Fluto Shinzawa, the fine beat writer for the Boston Globe, broke the story Sunday.

http://articles.boston.com/2011-06-12/sports/29650472_1_canucks-parade-broadcast-rights

As you might expect, word quickly made it back to the Bruins' dressing room. Boston already was plenty motivated with the Stanley Cup in its building and the Canucks one win away, but the move was certain to give the Bruins a little extra incentive.

"I don't know what to say to that," Bruins winger Michael Ryder told WEEI in Boston after the morning skate. "That's what they did, and that's what they want to do, and we want to rain on that parade and make sure that it doesn't happen, maybe use it to our advantage a little bit and make sure that doesn't happen."

--- Bucky Gleason

BOSTON -- The Bruins and Canucks were scheduled to have their morning practices in preparation for Game Six of the Stanley Cup final. No major lineup changes are expected after both teams came through Game Five unscathed and satisfied with their combinations.

Boston reporters caught up with goalie Tim Thomas, who laughed off comments made by Roberto Luongo that were supposedly out of line. Frankly, I thought it was much about nothing and eventually was blown out of proportion by the Bruins and various media outlets.

Thomas made a crack about Luongo's reference about Thomas not praising him after Luongo had been complimentary of his play.

"I have been pumping his tires ever since the series started," Luongo told reporters in Vancouver. "I haven't heard one nice thing he has to say about me."

Said Thomas: "I guess I didn't realize my job was to pump his tires," Thomas said. "I guess I have to apologize for that."

The home team won each of the five games. If the Bruins continue the trend tonight, they will force Game Seven on Wednesday back in Vancouver. It would make for another difficult travel situation for both teams going across North America.

"It’s definitely a different mindset with what they’re going through and what we’re going through," said Bruins forward and Vancouver native Milan Lucic. "We’re fighting to live another day. They’re fighting to win tonight. I know Vancouver and people from British Columbia want the Cup in Vancouver. We’re going to do whatever we can to stop that from happening tonight."

--- Bucky Gleason

Listen to comments this morning from Canucks coach Alain Vigneault

More from Bruins coach Claude Julien

Happy Monday. We could have the final game of the 2010-11 NHL season tonight.

*Bucky Gleason is in Boston, and he writes the Canucks are one win from winning their first Stanley Cup in franchise history while the Bruins are looking to force Game Seven. Both teams have won their games at home. You would think at this stage of the series that they would have much more on their minds than postgame comments.

*Even after all the taunts, bites and vicious hits the Vancouver Canucks have thrown at the Boston Bruins the past two weeks, skating the Stanley Cup around the TD Garden ice would be the biggest insult of all. The Canucks could do it after Game Six tonight, when they'll attempt to clinch the testiest Stanley Cup in recent memory. If the Bruins win, the series will be decided Wednesday in Vancouver.

*The Boston Bruins know their hopes of getting back to Vancouver and a chance to win the Stanley Cup ride largely on how they play in front of the Canucks' net. Get traffic in front of goalie Roberto Luongo and start launching pucks his way. It's a simple formula that helped the Bruins go 2-0 at home in the Stanley Cup finals, but hasn't translated north of the border.

*Vancouver defenseman Aaron Rome wouldn't change much about the hit on Boston's Nathan Horton that got him suspended for the rest of the Stanley Cup finals. Rome spoke Sunday for the first time about his finals-record four-game suspension after skating with the Canucks in practice heading into Game Six on Monday.

"I've got to play on the edge, and I guess that was a little bit over the edge," Rome said.

*TSN.ca reports that Winnipeg General Manager Kevin Cheveldayoff informed head coach Craig Ramsay that he intends on interviewing other candidates for the job. Ramsay, contacted Sunday by the Winnipeg organization, has also agreed to an interview as part of the process.

*USA Hockey's Board of Directors voted in favor of banning bodychecking at the Pee Wee (11- to 12-year-olds) level during the youth hockey governing body's annual meeting.

---John Vogl

The New York Rangers plan to buy out the final year of captain Chris Drury's contract, the New York Daily News is reporting.

Drury, the former Sabres co-captain, is entering the final season of a five-year, $35.25 million deal. The buyout window is June 15-30. The Daily News reports buying out the 34-year-old would save the Rangers $3.3 million against next year's salary cap, with a $1.6 million charge in 2012-13.

---John Vogl

Greetings. Happy Thursday. It sure is in Boston ...

*Bucky Gleason writes the Stanley Cup final was on the verge of becoming a joke. And the joke is over.

For the most part, both teams stopped the monkey business and returned to the business of playing for the Cup. The result Wednesday in Game Four was an entertaining game in which two passionate and talented teams played the way the game was designed.

The Bruins were more efficient and came away with a 4-0 victory to even the series. Game Five will be Friday night in Vancouver after the two teams fly back across the continent in search of hockey's biggest prize.

Remember, that's why we're here.

*Tim Thomas made 38 saves in his third shutout of the playoffs, Rich Peverley scored two goals after replacing Nathan Horton on Boston's top line, and the Bruins emphatically evened the finals.

The Bruins rolled through Game Four on an emotional high that began with a stirring pregame tribute to Horton, who will miss the rest of the series after a late hit in Game Three from Vancouver defenseman Aaron Rome, who was suspended for four games.

*The NHL's general managers agreed Wednesday with a recommendation to broaden the league's definition of illegal hits to the head, likely expanding the scope of a rule enacted last year to outlaw blindside head shots.

A panel of former players, including Brendan Shanahan and Rob Blake, has been investigating new ways to protect defenseless skaters from head hits since March. The panel and the GMs agreed the word "blindside" should be taken out of Rule 48, expanding the rule to allow referees to issue bigger penalties on more instances of contact with an opponent's head.

*With the NHL draft fast approaching, Steve Tambellini is open to dealing the No. 1 selection.

The Edmonton Oilers general manager has had discussions with some of his counterparts around the league and remains willing to discuss a trade leading up to the June 24 draft in Minnesota. It's the second straight year Edmonton has held the top pick.

*Kris Draper is doing all he can to stay in shape, hoping Detroit Red Wings general manager Ken Holland will want him back for an 18th season.

"I hope to know within a week to 10 days," Draper said Wednesday after working out with the locked-out Detroit Lions. "If Kenny could've seen me working out here, I think he would've made a decision right away."

*Former NHL star Bill Guerin has joined the Pittsburgh Penguins as a player development coach.

---John Vogl

BOSTON -- Concussed winger Nathan Horton made a surprise visit to the Bruins' dressing room after watching his teammates roll to a 4-0 victory over the Canucks in the Stanley Cup finals. Horton is out for the playoffs after Aaron Rome unloaded with a blindside check in Game Three.

Horton, a popular player since joining the Bruins last summer, spoke to his teammates afterward and told them he was proud of their effort without him. The Bruins have outscored the Canucks, 12-1, since he was taken away on a stretcher after being knocked unconscious. The series is tied with Game Five set for Friday in Vancouver.

"We didn't know he was coming in," said Rich Peverley, who scored two goals after being bumped to the top line Wednesday. "Everyone saw him and was really excited. Nobody had seen him since everything happened. Just to see him and have a smile on his face was important to us."

Horton presented a teammate, presumably Tim Thomas, with a jacket given to the MVP of the game. He had the jacket after scoring the winner in Game Seven over Tampa Bay in the conference finals. He was in the hosptal and therefore wasn't in the dressing room to present it after Game Three. His teammates decided it would stay with him until he was healthy enough to handle the honors.

Thomas stopped 78 of the 79 shots he faced during the two games in Boston. Roberto Luongo gave up 12 goals over the same span and was chased from the net after surrendering Peverley's second goal Wednesday night. Remember, Luongo was benched for Game Six in the opening round against the Blackhawks but came back when Cory Schneider was injured.

Is it time for another hook?

--- Bucky Gleason

BOSTON -- Just a few tidbits before Game Four of the Stanley Cup final, compiled by the NHL stats experts.

* The Bruins victory in Game Three improved the home team's record to 26-8 (.765 winning percentage) in the finals since 2006 and 14-2 in the final round over the past three years. The home team is 282-228 (.556 winning percentage) in all other playoff series since 2006.

* Boston's 8-1 win Monday was just the third time a team won a finals game by seven or more goals since 1927, when NHL team began competing for the Cup. Pittsburgh had an 8-0 win over Minnesota in 1991 and Colorado blew out Florida, 8-1, in 1996.

* It also marked the third time Roberto Luongo allowed eight goals in a game. He gave up nine goals to Pittsburgh during the 1998-99 season when he played for the Islanders and surrended eight goals while playing for the Canucks last season in a loss to Los Angeles.

* Henrik Sedin has been held without a point in the finals. With one more, he'll tie Pavel Bure for second place in franchise history with 65 career points in the playoffs. Daniel Sedin has 60 playoff points. Trevor Linden leads the Canucks with 95.  

* Boston's two shorthanded goals (Brad Marchand, Daniel Paille) made it the first team since Minnesota in 1991 to score two shorties in the same game. The North Stars lost that game to Pittsburgh.

* The Bruins snapped a five-game home losing streak in the finals with the win Monday. Their last previous victory at home was May 21, 1978, when they played in the old Boston Garden.

--- Bucky Gleason

Here is some audio from today:

Canucks forward Manny Malholtra

Download the audio and take it with you

Bruins forward Brad Marchand

Download the audio and take it with you

Canucks coach Alain Vigneault

Download the audio and take it with you

Bruins coach Claude Julien

Download the audio and take it with you

--Bucky Gleason

BOSTON -- Look for the Bruins and Canucks to clean up their acts tonight in Game Four of the Stanley Cup finals after senior vice president and interim dean of discipline Mike Murphy warned both teams they would be penalized if the shenanigans continued.

Murphy said referees would start calling penalties if player kept sticking fingers near the mouths of their opponents and other carried on with other extracurricular "garbage." One reason it continued, of course, is because Alex Burrows wasn't punished for biting Patrice Bergeron in Game One. If the NHL suspended Burrows, it would have ended there.

Both teams agreed they had been making headlines for all the wrong reasons and wanted to get back to playing hockey. That's why we're here, right?

The Canucks promised a much better effort tonight in Game Four. It shouldn't be a problem because they couldn't play much worse in Game Three. Their power play is 1-for-16 in the first three games, strange considering its been the best in the league. The Bruins have five goals on special teams, including two shorthanded scores.

I plan to bring you updates and audio from the Cup throughout the day. That's the plan, but nothing is guaranteed with the wireless network in TD Garden. Putting it mildly, it's not very effective. In Game Seven against Tampa Bay in the conference finals, they lost wireless for more than an hour after it ended while writers were on deadline.

--- Bucky Gleason

Check back to the Sabres Edge blog for audio from today's news conferences and more updates from News NHL Columnist Bucky Gleason prior to Game Four of the Stanley Cup final tonight.

Issues with the wireless setup in TD Banknorth Garden have limited multimedia updates this morning.

Also check back and join Gleason in a live chat at 7 p.m. leading up to tonight's opening faceoff.

Happy Wednesday. It's going to be sunny and hot, thankfully. If you complained about the spring rain or the long, dreary winter, no complaining today.

*Bucky Gleason writes the shenanigans in the first three games of the Stanley Cup final, after what many expected would be a tight and entertaining series between two teams with distinctly different styles, were an embarrassment to a league already fighting credibility issues. Is this the NHL or the WWE?

So far, the finals haven't been about hockey. It's been about biting, head shots, street justice and everything else wrong with hockey. Is that what the league is selling?

*Michael Ryder and Keith Ballard both realize the Stanley Cup finals have reached a tipping point, and they've each got a chance to push the series in their club's favor.

Either Ryder's Boston Bruins will ride the momentum from their blowout victory and even the finals in Game Four tonight, or Ballard's Vancouver Canucks will rediscover their dominance with a third victory, earning the chance to parade the Stanley Cup around their own rink two days later.

"It's a big game, a big point in the series," said Ballard, a healthy scratch in the first three games. "Both teams know what's at stake in this one."

*Even without an owner and with the NHL running the team, the Phoenix Coyotes were hopeful of re-signing free agent goalie Ilya Bryzgalov. When it became clear they weren't going to be able to reach a deal, the Coyotes backed out and decided to let Philadelphia give it a go.

Frustrated with what it felt was a high asking price, Phoenix sent Bryzgalov's negotiating rights to the Flyers on Tuesday for a third-round draft pick in 2012, forward Matt Clackson and future considerations.

The Philadelphia Inquirer writes that four years ago, the Flyers had success in dealing for pending free agents, signing Scott Hartnell and Kimmo Timonen. However, they were unable to sign Evgeni Nabokov and Dan Hamhuis after acquiring their rights last year, though they did move Hamhuis' rights to Pittsburgh for a third-round pick in this year's draft.

*The Ottawa Citizen writes it wasn’t what he wanted to do and he spent months in a rehab program trying to avoid it. But in the end, Ottawa Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson decided that if he wanted to continue playing in the NHL, he’d have to have surgery to correct a nerve problem in his lower back.

General manager Bryan Murray delivered the news on Tuesday afternoon: Alfredsson will have surgery on Friday. The recovery time will four to six weeks, which will take him to the beginning of August, about six weeks before the beginning of training camp.

*Ryan Keller scored a power-play goal at 9:09 in the third period and Robin Lehner made 33 saves as the Binghamton Senators defeated the Houston Aeros 3-2 Tuesday night to win the American Hockey League's Calder Cup championship.

The success of Binghamton, which eliminated the Portland Pirates in the second round, has delayed Ottawa Senators general manager Bryan Murray's decision on hiring a new coach, writes the Ottawa Citizen.

*The Carolina Hurricanes have named former captain Rod Brind'Amour and former NHL head coach Dave Lewis to their coaching staff.

*The Chicago Cubs drafted the son of the Great One. Trevor Gretzky, the son of hockey Hall of Famer Wayne Gretzky, was selected in the seventh round by Chicago. The younger Gretzky knocks in runs -- not goals -- as a left-handed power-hitting California high school first baseman.

---John Vogl

Here is audio from today's news conferences:

Bruins coach Claude Julien

Download the audio and take it with you

NHL Senior VP Mike Murphy

Download the audio and take it with you

--Bucky Gleason