from Pierre LeBrun of ESPN,

Well, that was a fun game to watch. Talk about entertaining. The San Jose Sharks rallied from 2-0 and 3-2 deficits to defeat the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-3 (including an empty-netter) Thursday night in a battle of Cup contenders. It avenged a 5-1 loss in Pittsburgh earlier this season.

What struck me the most was how physical the Sharks were against the Penguins, Brent Burns and Raffi Torres in particular.

The win pushed the Sharks seven points above the hard-charging Kings, winners of six straight, with the California clubs seemingly destined to play each other in the first round of the playoffs.

Home ice is no small thing between those two, with the home team winning all seven games in their terrific second-round playoff series last spring. Mind you, the Sharks haven't given up trying to catch first-place Anaheim, either, with just five points separating them from the Ducks and to games remaining between the teams.

read on for notes from Burnside on the Canucks, Custance on the Avalanche and Strang on Caps/Bruins...