The Eastern Conference Final jumped out to an, uh, interesting start Friday night with an injury-filled affair between Tampa Bay and Pittsburgh. The Bolts came out victorious with a 3-1 victory to take the series lead, although losing starting goaltender Ben Bishop to injury could dampen that excitement a bit.
HAWKS
**An update on all the Hawks performing at the World Championships (Blackhawks)
**Toews won best social moment of the year. It was an obvious choice. (Blackhawks)
@shawz15er pipe down ya little puke, it’s game day get focused
— Jonathan Toews (@JonathanToews) February 21, 2016
**Artem Anisimov’s season recap from Scott Powers, note that there is a paywall, but it’s worth it for the great work these guys do. (The Athletic)
CENTRAL DIVISION
**Lindy Ruff still doesn’t think you need a No. 1 goalie to win it all. You do you, Lindy. (Dallas Morning News)
**Dallas revealed yesterday that Patrick Sharp was among the Stars playing through injuries this postseason (DBD)
NHL
**(sad) RECAP: Penguins drop Game 1 to the Lightning in the ECF (Pensburgh)
**(happy) RECAP: Lightning take Game 1, but lose Ben Bishop (Raw Charge)
**Ben Bishop stretchered off after suffering knee injury (SBN)
**What went wrong for Pittsburgh in the final period Friday (Pensburgh)
**Here’s the hit that hurt Kris Letang last night (SBN)
**The Islanders know keeping their prominent RFAs this summer won’t be easy (Newsday)
**Wayne Gretzky says today’s stars aren’t defined as much by Cups as they used to be (Edmonton Journal)
HOCKEY WORLD
**The New York Riveters are selling #BestKessel shirts now, which is pretty dope (SBN)