Morning Snapshots: Kunitz, Zucker Net OT Winners, Sharks Up 3-0 + More

• What started out as a hockey game devolved into a boxing match last night during the Ottawa Senator's 6-1 win over Montreal. A total of 236 penalty minutes were handed out, and so many players were ejected for fighting that at one point Ottawa had only five players on their bench while Montreal had six. It even forced Senator's captain Daniel Alfredsson, a forward, into playing defense beside Erik Karlsson during the third. Many expected there would be some fallout for the Eric Gryba hit on Lars Eller in game one, but this has gone too far. Despite all the fights, slashes and cheap head-shots, the NHL has announced there will be no supplemental discipline coming for either team. The referees and the NHL need to be careful here that this series doesn't spiral out of control more than it already has.
• However, as I mentioned, there was actually a hockey game played last night in Ottawa. Sens rookie Jean-Gabriel Pageau picked up his first career hat trick and lost a tooth in the process. The hometown crowed began a mocking chant of Pageau to the tune of Montreal's famous Ole chant after his third goal. Alfredsson, Karlsson and Sergei Gonchar all had multi-point games for the Sens and Craig Anderson made 33 stops for the victory. The Habs got a goal from Rene Bourque, but were ultimately let down by their poor specialty teams and even poorer goaltending by Carey Price. The Senators now lead the series 2-1.
• Chris Kunitz notched the OT winner on a power play to give the Pittsburgh Penguins a 5-4 win over the New York Islanders last night. Pens star Sidney Crosby, who drew the questionable penalty in overtime, set up the winning goal and finished the night with three assists. He now has five points in the two games he's played since returning from injury. With the win, Pittsburgh now holds a 2-1 series advantage.
• Despite the loss, the Islanders played very well last night, outshooting the Pens 36-25. That included 13-2 in the third period when they came back from a 4-2 deficit to tie the game and force overtime. Kyle Okposo started the comeback with a huge shorthanded goal early in the third, and finished with two points on the night. However, all their efforts were wasted by goalie Evgeni Nabokov, who only stopped 20 of those 25 shots.
•  The Minnesota Wild went into last night's game with the fear of going down 3-0 in their series against the Chicago Blackhawks and fought back hard with a 3-2 overtime win. Jason Zucker was the hero, sniping the winner from a sharp angle early in the extra frame. It's a tough loss to take for the Hawks, who came back to tie the game with just under three minutes remaining on a goal from Duncan Keith. The Wild outplayed Chicago all over the ice, outshooting the Hawks 37-27 and this game would not have been so close if Corey Crawford hadn't made several outstanding stops. The Hawks who are now up 2-1 in the series, are not winning as easily as most thought they would and will have to come up with a better effort in game four tomorrow.
• However, what the Wild were able to do last night the Vancouver Canucks were not, as they fell 5-2 to San Jose and now face a nearly insurmountable 3-0 series deficit. Logan Couture had an outstanding game for the Sharks, picking up two goals and two assists while Joe Pavelski also netted a pair. The game was close until the third period when Couture and Patrick Marleau scored just nine seconds apart to blow the game open. The Sharks can sweep the series with a win in game four on Tuesday.
• Canuck's goalie Cory Schneider was playing his first game of these playoffs after missing the last two with an undisclosed injury and he was simply awful, allowing five goals on 28 shots before being pulled in favor Roberto Luongo. Luongo, who has been great so far this series, did not allow a goal in relief and now creates another controversy about who will start game four. Though the focus has been on the goaltenders for Vancouver, there's a much more disturbing trend emerging: the Canucks have now scored only 18 goals in their last 15 playoff games, stretching all the way back to 2011 when they lost in the Stanley Cup finals to Boston. It now seems likely that a second straight first round exit is imminent for Vancouver, and heads may roll as a result.
• Detroit Red Wings forward Justin Abdelkader got a 2 games suspension from Sheriff Shanahan for his hit on Anaheim's Toni Lydman on Saturday. The decision comes in the wake of several ambiguous calls by the NHL's Department of Player Safety, and offers no more clarity or insight into how the game is currently being policed. 
• And finally, here's an update from day three at the IIHF World Championships: France got past Austria 3-1, Belarus beat Slovakia 4-3, the Russians cruised past Germany 4-1, Switzerland shocked the Canadians 3-2 in a shootout, USA defeated Latvia 4-1 and Norway edged Denmark 3-2. 

That's all for now, I'll be back later with your nightly playoff previews. Don't forget to check out our header image contest, your image could be featured at the top of WAAP! For details, go here. And as always, please comment and share if you like the content here at WAAP. After the game last night, Canadiens head coach Michel Therrien called Sens coach Paul MacLean classless. I don't know how he can make such a statement if his own players are doing things like this: