-The Sens loss last night means they can only face either Boston or the New York Rangers.  There’s no doubt that the team would be better off against the Rangers, but in either case they will be heavy underdogs.  As neither the Bruins, Rangers, nor the Sens have anything to play for in their final two games, no conclusions can be drawn by what happens over the next several days.  The key for Ottawa is to stay healthy.

–Daniel Alfredsson can’t understand how Chris Neil‘s goal was called off last night, “I cannot believe that wasn’t a goal. In Winnipeg (Evander Kane) scored the exact same way and he didn’t use his hand to bat it in. It should have been a good goal.”

–Sport Illustrated‘s rankings are out with Ottawa 11th.

-Here’s my profile of Sens prospect Jakub Culek.

-Elmira lost last night, with Brian Stewart taking the loss (Stewart, incidentally, was named the ECHL goaltender of the month for March).

-No one should care what Mike Milbury thinks, but his rant about Sidney Crosby is an opportunity to talk about the NHL’s marketing focus.  Crosby is a great player, arguably the best player of his era, but the idea that he should be immune to criticism (recall his elbow on Nick Foligno earlier this season) is absurd.  He’s a histrionic, chippy player (Craig Berube weighs in, although as one of the Flyers assistant coaches it’s in his interest to criticise) and even if he wasn’t no one is beyond reproach.  It does seem like criticising him is unacceptable around the league however (as Milbury‘s subsequent apology illustrates)–it reminds me of the approach to the league’s officiating–“best in the world” is the only acceptable narrative.

This article is written by Peter Levi, be sure to follow @eyeonthesens