A little late with this. So we’ll just provide some quick info and stuff:

HE SAID IT

“I don’t do a whole lot of moves on breakaways. I don’t want to confuse myself.â€? — Devils forward Jamie Langenbrunner.

FROM THE STAT WIZARDS AT ELIAS SPORTS BUREAU
Brian Gionta has scored a goal in five straight games, a Devils playoff record. Over the last 10 years, only one NHL player scored a goal in six straight playoff games: Martin Havlat, who had a six-game streak for Ottawa last year.

There was a multiple-overtime game each of the last three days: Vancouver over Anaheim (Friday), New Jersey over Ottawa (Saturday) and Rangers over Buffalo (Sunday). It was the first time in NHL history that a multiple-overtime game was played on each of three consecutive days in one playoff year.

NHL TODAY NEWS AND NOTES

MINNESOTA — The Minnesota Wild has nine players participating in the 2007 World Hockey Championships: D Nick Schultz (Canada), C Mikko Koivu and D Petteri Nummelin (Finland), C Pavol Demitra, RW Marian Gaborik, and RW Branko Radivojevic (Slovakia) and RW Adam Hall (United States). Nummelin is making his 13th consecutive appearance for Finland and Hall is making his fifth straight appearance for the United States in the tournament. Draft picks Morten Madsen (Denmark) and Julien Sprunger (Switzerland) are also playing in the tournament. NEW YORK ISLANDERS — Islanders general manager Garth Snow today announced the promotion of Jack Capuano as head coach of the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, the Islanders’ American Hockey League affiliate. Returning with Capuano for the 2007-08 AHL season is assistant coach Bernie Cassell. A second assistant coach will be introduced later this off-season. NEW YORK RANGERS — Sunday’s 2-1 victory was the longest game for the Rangers since Pete Stemkowski beat Chicago 36 years earlier to the day, 1:29 into triple-overtime at MSG (Apr. 29, 1971 - NYR 3, CHI 2) . . . It was also the seventh-longest game in team history . . . The game also marked the first time the Rangers have won a postseason game in overtime since May 11, 1997 (NYR 2, NJD 1 - Adam Graves, 14:08 of overtime) . . . The Rangers and San Jose are the only teams that are undefeated at home in the 2007 playoffs (NYR 3-0, SJS 2-0) . . . LW Martin Straka enters Tuesday’s game riding a four-game point scoring streak in the playoffs (1-3–4); This matches his longest career point scoring streak in the postseason (Two goals and five assists from May 8 - 15, 2001) . . . Among all NHL rookies in the playoffs, RW Ryan Callahan ranks first with 22 shots on goal and 20 hits . . . D Dan Girardi ranks second among all NHL rookies in average ice-time (21:07) in the postseason . . . In the first three games of this series, the Rangers have tallied three goals in 15 power play opportunities (20.0%) and have surrendered three goals in 21 times shorthanded (85.7%). OTTAWA added two assists to help Team Russia last week. — Ottawa’s loss to New Jersey in Game 2 (April 28) was its first road loss of the 2007 playoffs (3-1) . . . LW Dany Heatley leads all point-getters in the Eastern Conference semifinal with five points (2-3–5). PHILADELPHIA — RW Mike Knuble continues rehab after surgery on Thursday, April 26 to repair a torn labrum in his right shoulder . . . This week the Flyers Fan Development staff makes six stops in the community, teaching the values of T.E.A.M. (Teamwork, Education, Attitude and Motivation) to five separate schools and then leading a hockey clinic to get young children “Hooked on Hockey.â€? PITTSBURGH — The Penguins continue to watch their players in the World Championships. C Evgeni Malkin has scored a goal and D Sergei Gonchar added two assists to help Team Russia last week. SAN JOSE — C Joe Thornton has a point on three out of the Sharks’ four goals against Detroit (1-2–3). He has averaged a point a game in his playoff career with the Sharks (3-15–18, 18 GP). The 18 points are already eighth-best in the history of the franchise . . . With eight assists this postseason, Thornton is closing in on Igor Larionov’s franchise mark of 13 in 1993-94. Thornton’s assist output is tied for the third-best in franchise history as Sandis Ozolinsh posted 10 in 1994-95 . . . RW Mike Grier is looking to eclipse his personal best for postseason goals. He tied his career high by scoring his third goal of the playoffs on Thursday in Detroit. He posted three goals with Edmonton in his rookie season of 1995-96 and again last season with Buffalo . . . RW Milan Michalek matched his five points in the 2005-06 Stanley Cup Playoffs by adding his first assist of the postseason on Saturday at Detroit. Last season, he posted one goal and four assists. This season, he has four goals and one assist. VANCOUVER — C Trevor Linden currently shares the team scoring lead with LW Taylor Pyatt, having earned six points (2-4–6) in 10 games played this postseason. Linden scored his second playoff goal in Game 7 of the Conference Quarter Final versus Dallas to tie the all-time franchise record with 34 career playoff goals, originally held by Pavel Bure. Both of Linden’s goals this postseason have been game-winners and in four of Vancouver’s five playoff wins, Linden has either scored or assisted on the game-winner . . . Vancouver currently leads the league with three OT wins this postseason. The Canucks have played a combined 124:26 of overtime in the Playoffs.

RED WINGS’ CHELIOS CONTINUES TO IMPRESS
Eric Duhatschek writes in the GLOBE AND MAIL, “(Chris) Chelios achieved a rare milestone on Saturday when he played in the second game of the San Jose Sharks’ playoff series, a 3-2 Red Wings victory, in which he started the play that led to the game-winning goal. It was the 236th playoff game of his career, tying him with Mark Messier for second on the list of career games played. Tonight, the third game of the San Jose-Detroit series will move Chelios past Messier, and depending on how deep the Red Wings go into the playoffs, he could pass the leader, Patrick Roy with 247.”

PERRY’S HOCKEY SENSE MAKES A DIFFERENCE
Helene Elliott writes in the LOS ANGELES TIMES, “Corey Perry isn’t the swiftest of skaters. The 21-year-old winger carries about 200 pounds on his 6-foot-3 frame, so he’s not the brawniest guy who ever patrolled the right side in an NHL rink. What he has, in abundance, is skill. And that hard-to-define but unmistakable gift called hockey sense, which he displayed to its finest advantage on Sunday…Perry made the difference Sunday on the Ducks’ first goal. He anticipated Vancouver goaltender Roberto Luongo’s clearing pass up the boards, intercepted it and spied linemate Dustin Penner heading for the net. That was Perry’s hockey sense at work, a glimpse of the instincts that persuaded the Ducks to select him in the first round, 28th overall, in the 2003 entry draft.”

ROZSIVAL RALLIES RANGERS
Lynn Zinser writes in the NEW YORK TIMES, “After nearly 97 minutes of hockey yesterday, the Rangers player who should have been feeling the worst stared at the puck bouncing in front of him as he wound up for the game’s most important shot. Defenseman Michal Rozsival, playing deep into the second overtime on a left leg that had been injured twice in the two previous playoff games against Buffalo, said all he could do was focus on the puck. He did not look up. He did not see where it went. The roar that the Madison Square Garden crowd unleashed and the teammates who mobbed him told him what he needed to know.”

THE BEST THEATRE OFF BROADWAY
Dave Anderson writes in the NEW YORK TIMES, “For the Rangers, these were the desperate hours of why hockey people consider sudden-death Stanley Cup overtime to be sport’s best theater…No other event can match it. Not the Super Bowl, which has never had an overtime game. Not the World Series, where there is no time element. Not the N.B.A. playoffs, which has complete overtime periods. Not soccer’s World Cup, which can dissolve into a penalty-kick shootout. But when the score of an N.H.L. playoff game is tied at the end of the regulation 60 minutes, the teams keep playing until somebody scores. It’s always theater and it’s often history…Everybody loves overtime hockey in the Stanley Cup playoffs — the best theater in any sport.”

SERIES TURNING INTO A GOALTENDER DUEL
David Shoalts writes in the GLOBE AND MAIL, “Martin Brodeur made one thing clear the other night - the playoff series between his New Jersey Devils and the Ottawa Senators will be settled by goaltending. For three of the four-and-a-bit periods played on Saturday, the Senators were the better team. But that was not enough to prevent the Devils from tying the National Hockey League Eastern Conference semi-final 1-1. The difference was Brodeur, whose work in stopping 43 shots was responsible for the Devils being in position to win 3-2 in double overtime. If the Senators are to prevail, then their goaltender, Ray Emery, has to outduel Brodeur over what promises to be a seven-game series.”

FOR THE TROOPS
Mike Zeisberger writes in the TORONTO SUN, “Former NHL tough guys Tiger Williams, Bob Probert and Kevin Maguire played in some hostile venues over the years, but none like this. The three ex-NHLers are part of a entourage that left Canada yesterday for a week-long tour of Afghanistan, a trip that is scheduled to feature a ball-hockey game versus the troops. The group of 32 also includes NHL alumni Mark Napier, Stew Gavin, Ron Tugnutt, Lou Franceschetti, Ric Seiling and Dan Daoust; Tom Anselmi, executive vice-president of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment; a representative of the Vancouver Canucks ownership group; and veteran broadcaster Brian Williams, now with TSN. The endeavour has the blessing of the NHL. ‘We thought it would be a great way to show our appreciation for all they do for us every day to protect our freedoms and safeguard our way of life,’ NHL vice president Bill Daly said.”