VIEWS: It's about time the real Blues showed up in these playoffs, performing like the Presidents' Trophy winners against a No. 8 seed.

Game 7s are a roll of the dice, but you have to like St. Louis' chances now against the reeling (in) Sharks, who seem to have lost the fight. The Blues, of course, have been through this before, eliminating Phoenix after falling behind 3-1 in the opening round last year. And a year ago, they won the decisive game on the road in Phoenix.

That said, putting themselves through a difficult first-round grind diminishes the Blues' chances to win their first Stanley Cup. Not with Detroit in the second round and either Colorado or Dallas in the third. The key to winning the Cup these days is making short work of opponents early in the tournament, and St. Louis already has failed that test.

The second round of these playoffs has the potential to be the most competitive in years. Already five of the NHL's heavyweights have advanced: Western Conference powers Colorado, Dallas, Detroit and Philadelphia and New Jersey in the East. No. 3 seed Toronto put itself into position to win with a victory in a sensational overtime Saturday night.

If St. Louis advances, as expected now, the only upset in the first round would be Pittsburgh over No. 2 seeded Washington, and that's not much of an upset at all -- all things considered.

The Penguins finished 14 points behind Washington over the regular season. That's just more than two points a month difference. And remember, captain Jaromir Jagr missed 19 games, and played in several others at substantially less than 100 percent. His healthy presence in most of those games might have made a difference of 10-12 points, suggesting the difference between the Capitals and Pens was marginal at best.

Pittsburgh will give top-seeded Philadelphia all it can handle in the second round, as long as Jagr remains standing.

But it's important the top teams, particularly in the upset-prone East, survive this opening round. That increases the potential for its best team to advance to the Stanley Cup Finals against one of any of the four Western teams that could win it all. The NHL needs a competitive finals after too many Western sweeps in recent years.

NEWS: Philadelphia Flyers coach Roger Neilson was to discuss his role with the team as it continues in the playoffs with a meeting Sunday with general manager Bob Clarke.

VIEWS: Incredibly, Neilson has fought his way back from cancer surgery and now seems to be fighting for his job. Sunday's meeting was postponed until Monday, but it's fairly clear in Philadelphia that Neilson's team will continue with Craig Ramsay behind the bench -- at least through the second round against cross-state rival Pittsburgh.

Neilson returned to Philadelphia late Saturday after a week of rest at the home of his lifelong friend, Nancy Nichols, of Dallas. He is recovering from a stem-cell transplant for multiple myeloma. He declared himself fit for duty to start the opening round, but his doctors recommended more rest.

Clearly, he wants his job back. And as courageous a fight as he waged against the disease that killed his sister two years ago, Neilson deserves it if he feels up to it. But increasingly it appears the Flyers might not want him back as well as the team has played under Ramsay's guidance: 16-8-1 to close the regular season with the No. 1 seed, and a five-game elimination of the Buffalo Sabres.

Flyers' chairman Ed Snider tipped the club's position late in the Buffalo series, telling Philadelphia reporters: "I looked at Roger after our first playoff game. He was pale. He's been through a lot. He's a strong, fabulous man, but I'd hate to see him under the pressures he's going to be under here if he coaches. It's going to be up to the doctors, but it would be surprising to me if they said he could be the head coach."

Clarke says he'll do what is best for the team and that his decision won't be based solely on Neilson's medical condition. In other words, Neilson might as well head back to Dallas for more R&R.

Meantime, Neilson's pal, Ramsay, who covets a head coaching job in the NHL and probably will have one either way when this season concludes, is caught in a horribly awkward position.

"The best thing I can do for Roger Neilson and the Philadelphia Flyers is do the best job I can do," Ramsay said.

As for the other subplot in one of hockey's longest-running soap operas: Doctors say Eric Lindros, the former captain stripped of his "C" because of criticism levied at team medics since his latest concussion, won't be a participant in the second round. And there is growing sentiment among those familiar with the Flyers organization that Lindros has played his last game in a Flyers uniform.

But nothing should surprise us in this league after Boston decided to keep coach Pat Burns after all the acrimony in Beantown this season.

NEWS: Toronto and Ottawa, embroiled in a terrific series that has captured the imagination of all of Canada, played a sensational overtime in Game 5 Saturday night.

VIEWS: Welcome to the Stanley Cup playoffs, finally. Nothing defines playoff hockey more than sudden-death overtime, and before Saturday, there had only been two overtime games, neither lasting long enough to really notice.

Saturday's overtime was like a 14-minute, 37-second thrill ride on one of those white-knuckle roller-coasters. Frantic end-to-end action, pucks clanging off crossbars, players missing yawning nets, incredible saves at both ends until Steve Thomas, the NHL's all-time overtime scoring leader, notched his first playoff OT goal -- his second of the game - to win it 2-1 and give the Leafs a 3-2 series lead.

Thomas, 36, has 10 goals among 21 overtime points in his 14-year NHL career. This is his second stint with the Leafs.

After a slow start, this has turned into a very compelling series -- and both the NHL and Canada are the winners as another provincial rivalry is born. The home team has held serve through five games. This series seems destined to go seven games, and that's only fitting the way both teams have competed so far.

Slapshots

• As much a harbinger of spring in Edmonton as first-round losses to Dallas, is Oilers president and general manager Glen Sather denying interested in various vacancies around the NHL. Maybe it's wishful thinking, but New Yorkers don't want to believe him when he says he doesn't want the Rangers post vacated when Neil Smith was fired late in the season. Those close to Sather believe he could, however, be enticed by San Jose, should the Sharks decide to replace Dean Lombardi if his team blows a 3-1 series lead to St. Louis.
• Pardon the Toronto Maple Leafs if they refer to Ottawa's Corel Centre as "The House of Pain." So far this season, the Leafs have suffered injuries in Ottawa to captain Mats Sundin (ankle), Bryan Berard (eye), Danny Markov (foot) and Nik Antropov (knee) at the Corel Centre. Not to mention losing Games 3 and 4 of their series to the Senators despite outshooting Ottawa 68-37. Not to mention the mysterious loss of Alyn McCauley's wedding band and watch from the visitors' dressing room last Wednesday.
• Don't be surprised if Paul Allen's name is mentioned prominently when the Calgary Flames go on the market soon. Allen just sold some of his shares of Microsoft before tech stocks plummeted recently, grossing $2.3 billion. So $80 or $90 million is chump change. The Flames say they must sell 5,000 season tickets, raising the base to 14,000, within a month or the team will be sold.
• The Detroit Red Wings are just sitting around getting healthier after their four-game sweep of Los Angeles. "We have no injuries," coach Scotty Bowman said after defenseman Aaron Ward, out with shoulder surgery since mid-February, was been cleared to play. He could take swingman Mathieu Dandenault's position on the third defense unit opposite Todd Gill, making Dandenault available to play up front.

The final word

"Experience helps, but if you don't have it, you don't have it, and the only way to get it is to go out and play and get in those situations. The more you are in them, the better you respond and the more comfortable you feel. I definitely think that playing in all the different situations you've been in in the playoffs -- double-overtime, triple-overtime, down in series, up in series -- you feel more comfortable in all the situations that will arise, and you're better-able to deal with having gone through it."
-- Detroit captain Steve Yzerman, whose Red Wings underachieved in the playoffs for years before breaking through in 1997 with the first of two consecutive Stanley Cups.