Blackhawks' Andrew Shaw accused of using gay slur against referee in loss to Blues (VIDEO)

Andrew Shaw was called out on Twitter after shouting what appeared to be an expletive and a gay slur at a referee during Chicago’s 4-3 loss to St. Louis in Game 4 on Tuesday night.

The Blackhawks right winger took a penalty with two minutes to go in the game for an interference call. Cameras showed he flipped a double middle-finger and continued yelling at referees from the box.

here is the stuff from the Blues broadcast pic.twitter.com/S5bGm4qVqP

— Stephanie (@myregularface) April 20, 2016

Lip readers on social media said that Shaw’s comments included the gay slur.

“Emotions were high. I don't know what I said. I wasn't happy with the call,” Shaw said afterward, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

The You Can Play Project, an organization for equality in sports tweeted this in response to the Shaw video: “We are aware of tonight's incident and will be reaching out to the NHL immediately to assist in an appropriate response.”

Here's the two-finger salute for your enjoyment:

Andrew Shaw flipped a ref the double bird on his way to the box pic.twitter.com/NLAYnXYpsj

— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) April 20, 2016

The Blackhawks lost the game 4-3 and trail the Blues, 3-1, in the series.

Police searching for man who stole glove off Islanders bench during last game at Nassau Coliseum

Long Island police are searching for a man they say stole a glove from the Islanders bench during Game 6 of the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. The matchup against the Washington Capitals turned out to be the team's final game at Nassau Coliseum.

A photo has been released of the suspect, who is seen holding a beer bottle with a CCM glove in Islander blue and orange. He is described as a white male with a beard that was wearing a hooded sweatshirt, blue shirt and blue hat, according to Newsday.

The Nassau County Police Department is asking anyone with information regarding the incident to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-244-TIPS. All callers will remain anonymous.

Other Islanders fans also took pieces of the Coliseum home with them as the season came to an end. There were several reports of stolen chairs after Game 3 of the same series against the Capitals on April 19.

The Isles move from the 40-year-old arena to Barclays Center at the start of next season.

NBC pays tribute to Nassau Coliseum in final season (VIDEO)

The Islanders might have stumbled a bit down the stretch leading into the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but NBC does recognize a good story when it sees one.

And the Isles' curtain call at the Nassau Coliseum — before heading 30 miles west to Brooklyn next season — is certainly one of those.

Although it's been 22 years since the Isles last won a playoff series, NBC's promotional advertisement for its playoff coverage should bring back cherished memories of the glory days at the self-proclaimed barn to nostalgic Islanders fans.

The Islanders begin the first-round playoff series at Washington on Wednesday night, with Games 3 and 4 at Nassau Coliseum on Sunday and Tuesday.

Martin St. Louis goes top shelf for OT winner in Game 4 (VIDEO)

For the second consecutive game, the Rangers and Canadiens battled to overtime and while it was a pretty ugly goal that won Game 3 for the Madison Square Garden visitors, Martin St. Louis' sweet wrister over the glove of Dustin Tokarski won Game 4 for the Rangers Sunday night.

St. Louis found himself one-on-one to the side of the net with Tokarski and, with little angle and the defense closing in, St. Louis' only option was to roof it — and roof it he did.

Rangers 3, Habs 2.

"The goal he scored tonight is exactly what you see him practice every time he's on the ice, like a hundred pucks," Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said. "He's trying to put it right there. Made obviously a great shot on that goal."

A beauty, eh?

Rangers' Carcillo faces lengthy suspension after contact with linesman (VIDEO)

Down 2-0 in the Eastern Conference Finals to Rangers, the Canadiens decided to physically take it to their New York counterparts in Game 3 at Madison Square Garden and came out on top after a thrilling 3-2 overtime victory.

Adding insult to injury from Thursday night's Rangers home loss could be a potential lengthy suspension for forward Daniel Carcillo — after he made contact with linesman Scott Driscoll.

The incident took place while Rangers winger Derek Dorsett was fighting with Montreal’s Brandon Prust at 5:51 of the first period — moments after Carcillo had been called for a charging penalty. Dorsett went after Prust for a making questionable hit to the head that left Rangers center Derek Stepan hurt on the ice minutes earlier.

As Dorsett and Prust fought, instead of skating to the penalty box, Carcillo stood a few yards away watching the fight, showing no intent on joining the melee.

Driscoll skated over and put his hands on Carcillo’s midsection to move him away from the fight. That’s when Carcillo inexplicably lost his composure, angrily trying to push and even elbow Driscoll. With that, Driscoll tossed him from the game — and now possibly longer.

Aside from the game-winning goal by Montreal’s Alex Galchenyuk 1:12 into overtime, the Carcillo incident was the ugliest moment of the night for the Blueshirts.

Carcillo, who was unavailable for comment after the game, faces possible suspension depending on how the NHL interprets his offense.

And here's Rule 40:

"40.1 Game Misconduct - Any player who deliberately applies physical force in any manner against an official, in any manner attempts to injure an official, physically demeans, or deliberately applies physical force to an official solely for the purpose of getting free of such an official during or immediately following an altercation shall receive a game misconduct penalty. In addition, the following (40.2, 40.3, 40.4) disciplinary penalties shall apply."

No matter how you look at it, things don't look good for Carcillo, who can probably expect the hammer to fall on Friday.

Martin St. Louis' funeral for mom pushed back because of playoffs, Rangers team will attend: Report

To call Martin St. Louis' past week an emotional roller-coaster would be a gross understatement.

The New York Rangers forward's mother, France, died unexpectedly the day before Game 5 of New York's playoff series with the Penguins and, afterwards, the unified team came to life by winning the final three games in an improbable push to move on to the Eastern Conference Finals.

The Rangers did everything in their power to accommodate the grieving St. Louis but on Thursday, the NHL would not make changes to accommodate his funeral plans during the upcoming series against the Montreal Canadiens.

According to coach Alain Vigneault, the Rangers asked the league to move the time of Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals in Montreal back from its proposed 1 p.m. start to allow St. Louis to have the funeral for his mother in the afternoon. The request was denied, presumably because the time slot for the game on NBC was locked in. The network will begin its coverage of The Preakness Stakes at 4:30 p.m.

So instead, St. Louis moved the funeral to Sunday, and the whole team plans to attend. The services will be in St. Louis’ hometown of Laval, Quebec, is just outside Montreal.

“The funeral was supposed to be Saturday,” Vigneault said after the Rangers had an optional practice Thursday at their Westdchester training center. “We couldn’t move the time of the game, so Marty being who he is was able to move the funeral to Sunday.

“So, Sunday, as a team, we’ll be able to attend his mother’s funeral, and hopefully we’ll play a good game Saturday and get ready for the next one after.”

The 38-year-old winger flew back to Montreal after his mom's death, but returned in time for the following night’s Game 5. That kicked off the Rangers' three-game win streak to beat the Penguins in the best-of-seven series.

St. Louis' emotional post-Game 6 speech might have had something to do with it.

Martin St. Louis status uncertain after mom passes away: Report

The Rangers were blindsided by terrible news on Thursday: Veteran forward Martin St. Louis’ mother, France, unexpectedly passed away from a heart attack at the age of 63.

The team confirmed the report but was not prepared to discuss St. Louis’ status for Game 5 Friday night in Pittsburgh, when the Rangers face elimination from this second-round playoff series against the Penguins, trailing three games to one.

The 38-year-old St. Louis, a 5-foot-8, 180-pound future Hall of Famer, originally born in Laval, Quebec, joined the Rangers at this year’s deadline in a major trade with the Tampa Bay Lightning. He tied for the team scoring lead in the first round of these playoffs with six points but has struggled mightily against the Penguins.

Rangers' Carcillo stares down finger-flipping Flyers fan after goal (VIDEO)

Daniel Carcillo skated out of the penalty box and scored a goal giving the Rangers a 4-1 lead over the Flyers they would never relinquish Tuesday. While he celebrated near the glass, surrounded by his New York teammates, one Philadelphia fan congratulated the former-Flyer with double middle finger salute, right in his face.

Carcillo noticed and stared back at the glass-shielded fan until his stubby fingers wore out. And also seemed to have a few less than pleasant words for the Flyers bench while passing them.

Afterwards, Carcillo was asked his thoughts on his once-adoring fans in Philadelphia.

Carcillo also smiled, laughed, asked about Philly fan reaction to him. "Nothing surprises me about the city and way people act."
— Andrew Gross (@AGrossRecord) April 23, 2014

Red Wings' Smith wants no part of Bruins' Chara (VIDEO)

Nothing represents the Boston Bruins physical presence like 6' 9" captain Zdeno Chara.

And, as the beefed up Bruins team evened up their series with the Detroit Red Wings with a 4-1 victory Sunday, at least one Red Wings player seemed a little intimidated by the big Bruin.

Brendan Smith, at 6' 2", is a pretty big size  himself, but looked like he wanted no part of the giant Zdeno.

It's the kind of scuffle you see outside your local tavern every weekend.

"Hold me back."

Steen scores game-winner to lift Blues over Blackhawks in triple overtime (VIDEO)

It took the St. Louis Blues five overtime periods, and then some, to take advantage of the defending Stanley Cup champions.

Alexander Steen scored at 26 seconds of the third overtime to cap the longest playoff game in franchise history and give the Blues a 4-3 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series on Thursday night.

Steen beat Corey Crawford off a pair of short passes from Steve Ott and David Backes to end the exhausting opening game. 

Blues coach Ken Hitchcock greeted reporters for the postgame news conference with a humorous "Good morning" early Friday after the marathon match.

"It's big. We want to start this series off on a good note," Steen said. "Especially at home in front of our fans."

Both teams will certainly enjoy a day of rest before meeting in Game 2 Saturday afternoon.

Tortorella says anyone who doesn't believe he still loves Brad Richards can 'kiss his bleep'

John Tortorella has a way with words but it's too bad most of them can't be posted on family media sites.  The New York Rangers head coach once again needed his potty-mouth washed out with soap during Thursday night's postgame presser after the New York Rangers staved off elimination against the Boston Bruins with a 4-3 overtime win.

Tortorella made expensive forward Brad Richards a healthy scratch in an eventual Game 4 win, but — in his own profane way — Torts insisted that he and Richards are still close and if you don't believe him well ...

“I love that guy,” Tortorella said. “I’ve grown up with that guy. Kiss my [expletive deleted] if you’ve written anything differently.”

It’s not the first time the Blueshirts' blue-mouthed coach's comments have needed a five-second delay and, with the second-round series extended for at least one more game, it might not be the last.

Tortorella didn’t elaborate on the chances that Richards would be back for Game 5 but did admit he's happy they survived Thursday's OT victory.

“I’m happy for them,” Tortorella said. “They’re still breathing.”

Capitals' Tom Wilson loses skate blade after big hit, stumbles to bench

Skating on ice is tough enough, but doing it when you are missing a blade on one foot during an NHL playoff game — as we found out yesterday — is next to impossible.

That's what happened to Washington Capitals rookie Tom Wilson when he was crashed into the boards and "lost his steel" during Game 6 against the New York Rangers Sunday.

The 19-year-old rookie, playing just the second game of his NHL career, came flying in for a check along the end boards. So far, so good. But on the check his skate hit the boards, and his blade went flying off. The hit was high and hard but the trip back to the bench to replace the damaged skate turned into a hilarious lowbrow journey for the hobbled Cap.

Wilson looked like a drunk Quasimodo as he flailed and stumbled back to the bench before teammate Jason Chimera helped out.

It's funny because Wilson wasn't hurt on the play.

Devils win Game 7 in double-overtime classic

The New Jersey Devils won Game 7 of their first-round Eastern Conference match-up against the Florida Panthers— on a goal by Adam Henrique in 3:37 of the second overtime period— after blowing 2-0 lead.

The two teams went into the first OT tied, 2-2 and basically played dump-and-shoot hockey after regulation was over.

It was the Devils first playoff series win since 2007 propels the exhausted team into the second round against the Philadelphia Flyers— ending five years of playoff frustration.

The 3-2 win also put a sweet finish on a tough seven game series against a solid Panthers team who made  the Devils fight for every goal to win the final two games and move on.

Martin Brodeur had 43 saves and was magnificent in the first OT period.  It was his 103rd playoff victory in what might be his last playoff run.

The game had an unusually late starting time of 8:30 pm Thursday, even though the game was played in South Florida, because of another Game 7 playoff game between the New York Rangers and Ottawa Senators in the same time zone in New York.

By the time Henrique's game winner went by Panthers goalie Jose Theodore, it was 12:15 am on Friday morning.