Uh, we saw this act a year ago, eh?

After making four major trades at the deadline, the Wings went on a roll that continued in the playoffs, when they dismissed Anaheim in four easy games.

"I was on that Anaheim team," Dallas defenseman Jamie Pushor said. "After that series, we just said, 'Wow. That team might not lose a game the rest of the way.'"

Indeed, Detroit went to Colorado and beat the Avs in the first two games in Denver. But things have a way of changing in a hurry. The Wings, with goaltender Chris Osgood suffering a knee injury in the final at Anaheim, lost the next four and their quest for a third consecutive Stanley Cup title ended like a train wreck.

Osgood, despite his legion of doubters, is the key to this hockey team, and last spring was proof. The four victories against Los Angeles raised his postseason record to 35-17 for a win percentage of .673 with two shutouts. Only 27, Osgood is already sneaking up on the all-time NHL shutout leaders in the playoffs. He has eight, just four behind Patrick Roy and Terry Sawchuk. Jacques Plante is the modern-era leader with 14.

Besides solid goaltending, Detroit got superior special teams play against the Kings. The Wings face the second round tied for the NHL lead on the power play with seven goals in 23 chances for a 30.4 success rate. And they lead the league in penalty killing, now allowing Los Angeles a goal on 23 tries. Even strength, the Kings actually were better, outscoring Detroit 6-5.

A 'No comment' will do just fine, thank you

The Ugly American lives. Canadian hockey fans know him as the goaltender for the Ottawa Senators.

All things considered, Massachusetts-born Tom Barrasso would just as soon not answer questions from the media. And perhaps we should leave him alone.

After a sputtering start in two opening losses to Toronto, Barrasso led the Senators comeback with two victories in Ottawa to even the best-of-7 series at two games each. But after Game 4, when a Canadian broadcaster asked him if he had heard the criticism early in the series, Barrasso dropped a four-letter bomb on national TV.

"I could really give a s--t what you people have to say," Barrasso said. "I mean, this is my life. I chose to do this. It's been a very hard year with the passing of my father. Quite frankly, this is important to me. I don't really care what you people have to say about it."

Wednesday night's game was Barrasso's best in a Senators uniform since he waived a no-trade clause before a deal that sent him from Pittsburgh at the March 14 deadline. But the post-game interview was just another bad moment among many for Barrasso, who must have the market cornered on grief.

Barrasso, 35, once went nearly 10 years without speaking to the media. Perhaps he'd be kind enough to do us that favor again.

Blues or Sharks condemned to repeat history?

Let's not bury the St. Louis Blues just yet, even though the upstart San Jose Sharks are kicking sand in their faces.

Of the 31 teams that found themselves down three games to one in a best-of-7 series in the past five years, only three have recovered to win. St. Louis did it only last year, against Phoenix.

And the Sharks? Well, in four trips to the playoffs in their nine-year existence, the Sharks have never held a 3-1 series lead. So this is new to them, too.

What is not new to the Sharks is being a No. 8 seed and knocking off the No. 1. The Sharks did it to the 100-point Detroit Red Wings in 1994, Scotty Bowman's first season as coach in Hockeytown.

Only one current Shark player was on that team: defenseman Jeff Norton. But he was traded away the following season and played with four other teams before returning to San Jose.

The Blues enter the must-win game complaining of bad luck and lousy bounces on some awfully bizarre goals. But the Stanley Cup playoffs offer irrefutable proof that teams that work harder tend to get those kinds of breaks. St. Louis players clearly are frustrated, taking poor penalties and begging for power plays by diving all over the ice. And captain Chris Pronger is the worst offender in both categories.

One absolutely remarkable statistic from this series: San Jose bad boy Bryan Marchment, a defenseman with limited skills, has more goals (one) than Pierre Turgeon and Al MacInnis combined. Even more incredible is that Marchment hasn't taken a penalty in four games. Pronger was the most penalized player in the postseason with 24 minutes in the box.

Oilers fiddle while Dallas gets hot

The Dallas Stars were intent on finishing off the Oilers in Game 5 at Reunion Arena rather than heading back to Edmonton to face the music in an extended series.

Stars coach Ken Hitchcock, an Edmonton native, couldn't name that tune, but he knew the fiddler near the roof.

"So, it's the third period and there's a break in the action and I'm looking up in the stands and I see this fiddler," Hitchcock recalled after Game 4 at the raucous Skyreach Centre, perhaps the most hostile environment for an opponent in the NHL.

"I'm looking up, marveling at the scene yet again, and it hits me: 'Good God! That's Tony! That's my old goalie Tony Michael!' He played goal for me the first year I coached midget in Sherwood Park. He wasn't bad. Pretty good fiddler, too."

Hitchcock used to shuttle the goalie back and forth to the rink in his '65 Chevy Nova.

"He didn't have a way to get to the rink, and I didn't have anybody to stop pucks," Hitchcock said. "My old goalie. Now he's up there trying to beat me with a fiddle."

Maybe he'll spring for season tickets

Count Dallas center Joe Nieuwendyk among those who hopes the cash-strapped Calgary Flames can find a way to stay in Alberta. Nieuwendyk, 33, spent his first nine seasons in Calgary, helping the Flames win the Stanley Cup in 1989. He was traded to Dallas four years ago, primarily because the Flames couldn't afford to pay him the salary he commanded.

The Flames estimate they will lose upwards of $50 million over the next four seasons and will be forced to sell the team if they can't raise the season-ticket base to 14,000 from the 9,000 this season. Owner Harley Hotchkiss said the team can't sustain such heavy losses for long.

"Years from now, I don't want to tell my kids I won my first Stanley Cup with Calgary and have them say to me, 'Where's Calgary? When were they in the league?'" said Nieuwendyk. "Harley Hotchkiss is such a caring person. I watched the press conference the other day and when I saw Harley start to break down I almost lost it myself. That team means so much to him and so much to the city, I'd hate to see it leave."

The final word

"We're a better team than that, and our season is over so quick. We all realize since 1993, your chances don't come all the time, and you've got to take advantage of them. The last two times, we didn't take advantage. We should be mad. This is not enough, what we've done this year. This is nothing. It's not a good memory." -- Los Angeles left wing Luc Robitaille, on the Kings' lack of playoff success since their trip to the Stanley Cup finals seven years ago.