It's great that the Washington-Pittsburgh series is getting so much publicity in the States. The three best players in hockey are involved and Alex Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are certainly giving the sports and hockey world a lot to talk about.

You have to love the way Ovechkin plays the game. His passion for the game is unbelievable and he is definitely not afraid to throw his weight around. Crosby sees the ice better than anyone else in the game and his passing abilities are amazing. Then you get Malkin, who led the NHL in scoring this season and you get quite a series that everyone is interested in. The Pens just tied the series at two so this could easily go seven games.

Ryan Getzlaf is leading all players in scoring heading into Friday as he has 3 goals and 13 assists. Getzlaf has shown that he deserves a spot on the 2010 Canadian Olympic team with his playmaking abilities and all around play, and has led the Ducks in both rounds of the playoffs.

Of course the star of the post-season this year has been Anaheim netminder Jonas Hiller, who has came out of no where to lead the Ducks. Anaheim has played ten times in the playoffs thus far and have been out shot in every game. The Ducks have faced at least 35 shots per game and the Sharks and Red Wings have averaged over 40 shots per game in the playoffs against Hiller. The Ducks better start playing better d or the Red Wings will be headed to the Western Conference finals next week.

I have to admire the way that head coach Paul Maurice has the Carolina Hurricanes are playing. They defeated the New Jersey Devils and Martin Brodeur in seven games and have the Bruins on the ropes, leading two games to one and have a 2-1 lead in the third period of Game 4. Cam Ward is playing as well as he did when the Hurricanes won the Cup in 2006 and he was the Conn Smythe Trophy winner.

The final series has the Canuckstied with Chicago at two apiece in the best of seven series. It looked like Vancouver would take a 3-1 lead on Thursday but the Blackhawks scored with less than three minutes to go in the third to tie the game at one and then Andrew Ladd's tip-in early in the first overtime put Chicago back in the series. The crowd was unbelievable in the United Center and this series is far from over.

One tip for the United Center. When goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin comes onto the ice, they should play the theme from the NBC show "Howie do it" and the crowd could shout " This is Khabby Bulin".

Just some thoughts as I need to get up and stretch now.