Quick Strikes for Sunday, April 24

Editor note: Saturday night action was not included in putting together Quick Strikes. Results from the Anaheim / Nashville series and Chicago/St. Louis affair are not posted.

• With the opening round over early, it gives the Tampa Bay Lightning something the over-active-to-end-the-season club something they need: Rest. [Tampa Tribune]
• During the 3^rd period of games, AK-17 (also known as Alex Killorn) has been an integral element for the Bolts. [Tampa Bay Times]
• The highlight of the 1^st round was the power play by the Lightning in game 4. Mike Stuart writes how it’s necessary the club needs embrace the system an execution of the man-advantage from that game. [The Lightning Lounge]
• It’s a couple of days old now but in case you missed it, Martin Fennelly recapped/reviewed the Bolts (ugly) series against the Detroit Red Wings. [Tampa Tribune]
• Christine Gunn also rambles about the series against the Wings, touching on a cast of characters from both sides. [Lightning Shout]
• J.T. Brown may be out of the lineup for Tampa Bay at the moment (by way of upper-body injury) but his style of play makes him a prototype for bottom-6 forwards in the NHL. [Today’s Slapshot]
• Auction alert: This one is a bigger deal than the Syracuse Crunch auctions we’d been helping promote the past few weeks. Game-worn Tampa Bay Lightning jerseys from the 2015 Stanley Cup Finals. The auction ends on Friday, April 29 at 5 PM EDT. [auctions.nhl.com]
• Writer and radio personality Brent Axe asks Syracuse Crunch fans what they want to make the team a success next season. He also pays homage to semi-retired Raw Charge staff Allovimo. [Syracuse.com]
• Wishes or not, here’s the status for the Crunch roster regarding contracts for 2016-17. [Syracuse.com]
• One of those contracts is Captain Mike Angelidis. The veteran center talked about his future with Lindsay Kramer and where he hopes to go and what he hopes to achieve. [Syracuse.com]
• Site Note: A little community event is underway – introduce yourself to us. We’ll do the same. [Raw Charge]
• Saturday’s big news in the playoff ranks is the elimination of the New York Rangers from the playoffs by the potency of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Pittsburgh advances. [Pensburgh]
• Friday night, it was the Los Angeles Kings that fell out of the playoffs. [Jewels form the Crown]
• The shot differential was 44-11 and the winning club did it by way of a shutout. A 2-0 win was pulled off by the Philadelphia Flyers over the Capitals, and the Flyers did it on 11 shots. The world is not ending even if something that bizarre / atrocious aspired. [Russian Machine Never Breaks]
• It was former Capital Michel Neuvirth who stopped the Capitals onslaught. It’s always odd when a player faces his old team in the playoffs… [Russian Machine Never Breaks]
• None of Canada’s 7 franchises made the playoffs. 3 of the Original 6 clubs didn’t make the post-season. Of the teams that did – the Blackhawks, the Rangers and Red Wings – two have been eliminated while the third is on the brink. Those are contributing factors to Canadian TV ratings having plunged in the 2016 NHL playoffs. [Tampa Tribune]
• Mayhem in the Midwest: A tight, tight series between the St. Louis Blues and Chicago Blackhawks. St. Louis held a 3-2 edge in the series going into action Saturday night. [Second City Hockey]
• The return of potency to the playing life of Ales Hemsky. [Defending Big D]
• The Islanders lead the series with the Florida Panthers 3 games 2… Find a way whatever the challenge. [Islanders Insider]
• Trade talk could get wild in the summer of 2016… Now tie Steven Stamkos to the New York Islanders and it just gets bizarre. [Today’s Slapshot]
• By the way, the Lightning are not the only tam with game-used jerseys up for auction. [auctions.nhl.com]
• With the Kings out of the playoffs, two players get sudden attention: Milan Lucic and Vincent Lecavalier. Is Vinny’s career over? [Puck Daddy]
• History gets rehashed and reminded to the public from a now-eliminated Detroit Red Wings: Ken Holland is part of the reason Steve Yzerman is not GM of the Detroit Red Wings. [Winging it in Motown]
• And there’s a tight deadline between Holland and Pavel Datsyuk to try to get the forward back into the fray in the Motor City. [Winging it in Motown]
• In the IIHF World under-18 Championship tournament, Team Finland took down the United States on Saturday. [SB Nation College Hockey Blog]
• Just a reminder that the Deke the Deuce Campaign is out there to raise awareness of the rare genetic disease Neurofibromatosis Type 2 (or NF2 for short). Your help in raising awareness and bringing support to a non-profit would be appreciated. [Go Fund Me]

Do you believe NHL players actually read fan web logs?