Tyler Seguin

In a crucial week, the Philadelphia Flyers came up short, earning no points against Eastern Conference Stanley Cup contenders, losing to the Boston Bruins 3-0. It was the Flyers' third straight loss.

A game with a largely defensive identity took seven minutes to get the first shot on goal. Danny Briere let a weak shot fly to open the shooting stat. That opened the floodgates of scoring—for the other side.

The 2013 NHL season is no longer an 82 game marathon, but instead is a 48 game dash to the finish line.

Will teams that had multiple players skating in Europe fair better? Will veteran squads win because they will have fresh legs all season long? Only the next few months will tell.

Here are my Eastern Conference power rankings.

1. Pittsburgh Penguins – A healthyEvgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby will lead Pittsburgh deep into the Stanley Cup playoffs. The addition of veteran goalie Tomas Vokoun gives Coach Dan Bylsma a solid option if Marc-Andre Fleury falters.

2. New York Rangers – With the ...

If the Islanders won all of their remaining games and the Washington Capitals and Buffalo Sabres lost their remaininga games, then the Isles would have done the unthinkable and made the playoffs for the first time in years. However, miraculous combinations of wins and losses are hard to come by these days, especially when you are playing against the defending Stanley Cup champions.

The Bruins scored six goals this afternoon for the third time this season against the Islanders, taking the season series with a 3-1-0 record. The loss finally elimanted the Islanders from playoff contention, concluding the thoughts of even the most hopeless fan that thought somehow they would squeak in. The focus now will shift to finishing the season with a winning record for the first time since Ted Nolan was the head coach and ending up somewhere between 9th and 11th place.

With a very poor 4-1 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday night, a lot of Stars fans weren’t expecting a lot from their game against the Bruins two days later who were on a very hot streak. With a fierce rivalry and a packed out American Airlines Center, it was set to be an awesome encounter between two good teams.

The Stars came out of the blocks very fast and played some great hockey early on and taking just three minutes to take a one goal lead as Loui Eriksson wristed one upstairs on the powerplay. Despite the fast start from the Stars, the reigning Stanley Cup champions hit back halfway through the period through a Tyler Seguin wrist shot that just squeezed past ...