Every day from Monday to Saturday, The Ice Sheet will take a look at the biggest stories in the league that happened on the ice and elsewhere the night before.

There may be a lot of you who are surprised there is hockey this weekend.

I'll freely admit to being one of them. I'm even more surprised that there are two games this weekend.

Both the Dallas Stars and Philadelphia Flyers were left for dead after falling behind 3-0 in their respective series. Even though they were playing on home ice, they were heavy underdogs in Game Four.

They both got the job done. Their prize? They're being left for dead entering road games this weekend.

While I think it would be outright lunacy to predict one of these series will be extended, you can't rule it out. After all, most of you ruled out these series even going five games, and here we are.

Dallas tries first, as they face Detroit Saturday in "Hockeytown". We'll be live-blogging the game here at FanHouse, so join us for the action starting at 1pm Eastern.

Can this added confidence carry the Stars to a Game Five upset?

(Still to come: The conference finals indeed continue, NBC prays for a regulation end to Saturday's game, and a YouTube to remember from the incomparable Tie Domi)

It's not as far-fetched as you may think.

Now don't get me wrong here. I'm not saying the broadcast is biased towards the Flyers -- it's not, despite what Pittsburgh may say. Versus is actually doing a pretty good job of covering the playoffs, in my opinion. They haven't really had any major snags, although their studio team is lacking any names recognizable to the casual fan. But that's neither here nor there.

Let's get back to what we were here for in the first place. A business lesson. So, we have the Flyers and Versus, two seemingly separate organizations. Let's do about .01 seconds of research. Who are each of them owned by?

From the Versus website:

VERSUS, a wholly owned company of Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA, CMCSK), is distributed via cable systems and satellite operators throughout the United States.

And from the Flyers website:

Copyright © 1999-2008 Comcast Spectacor, L.P. and the National Hockey League. All Rights Reserved.

See any similarities?

Now it's clear that there haven't been any serious conflicts of interest here. I really don't think that the coverage on Versus has been biased towards the Flyers in any way. It's just interesting what happens -- or what could happen -- in this country when we have so many large conglomerates.

Every day from Monday to Saturday, The Ice Sheet will take a look at the biggest stories in the league that happened on the ice and elsewhere the night before.

Two nights ago, the Dallas Stars turned the tables on their opponents, and last night the Philadelphia Flyers did the same. Maybe it was the magic of throwing jerseys all over every statue in Pittsburgh (I doubt it) or maybe it was an emphasis on crashing the net and their physical style of play (I think so). Either way, we're headed back to Pittsburgh for a Game Five on Sunday.

Probably just as happy as the Stars and Flyers right now are the folks over at NBC. Had both of these series been sweeps, they would have had no games to televise this weekend. Instead, the Wings and Stars play Saturday and the Pens and Flyers square off on Sunday. Now should Sunday's game go into a lengthy overtime, we might have a situation like we did last year during the Preakness Stakes (horse race). If you remember, NBC cut away from Game Five of the Sabres and Sens Eastern Conference Final to air pre-race coverage for a bunch of horses. As you might have guessed, hockey fans didn't like this a whole lot. Sunday, the pre-race coverage is set to air on NBC at 4:30 PM EST, with race time at 6:15. Personally, I'm hoping that the game does go into overtime so that we can see if NBC has learned anything from last year.

But yes, there was a hockey game last night so let's talk about that! The Flyers entered the game, at home, in a 3-0 series hole. They came out of the gates flying, not literally, and took a 3-0 lead after one period thanks to goals from Joffrey Lupul, Daniel Briere and Jeff Carter. The latter two were on the powerplay, as the Flyers went 2-for-4 with the man advantage on the night upping their playoff conversion rate to 23.4%. Now let's skip ahead to the third, but before we do, a little insight from Lupul.

''It's pretty simple, win or go home,'' said Lupul. ''We didn't have to do that much thinking before the game.''

Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. Thanks for that, Mr. Lupul.

And so we've come to this. What was supposed to be a knock-down drag-out series is looking very dangerously like a Pittsburgh sweep. Except for about ten minutes during the first period in game one and brief stretch in the second period of game two, this series has been almost all Penguins these first three games. Marian Hossa, Sidney Crosby, and Evgeni Malkin have stepped things up big for the Pens while everyone not named Mike Richards has faded into the woodwork for the short-handed Flyers.

Braydon Coburn won't be coming back tonight thanks to his ugly eye injury, but playing to avoid a sweep in front of the home crowd is always a huge incentive (just ask Dallas or New York). Gary Roberts won't be playing for the Penguins thanks to what's being called "mild pneumonia," which I had no idea existed. The Flyers are really going to have to raise their level of play from where it was in Game 3 if they want to make another trip to the western part of Pennsylvania. Can they pull it off? Follow along with our liveblog after the jump.

The leading contender to host the NHL Winter Classic on New Year's Day 2009 may have come up lame, and we're barely past the quarter pole. In an interview with USA Today, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, the league has run into some unspecified snags when it comes to using Yankee Stadium next year:

"There is some construction going on, which may impact us," he said. "There are some winterization issues because it's an older stadium. As I sit here today, I don't know whether or not they can be resolved."

Fair enough. And if Yankee Stadium won't be available, what other options does the league have?

We already know that Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell has contacted the league and offered to have Penn State's Beaver Stadium host the game -- as long as its between cross-state rivals Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.

Given how that series has proven to be something of a ratings winner for Versus during this playoff, it might not be a bad idea. As far as Bettman is concerned, he says that an announcement could come as early as next month.

But that's not the only option. There have already been reports concerning a possible game at Soldier Field in Chicago or even Fenway Park in Boston.

With both the Eastern and Western Conference Finals essentially on the brink, I was wondering -- what the heck happens to the postseason schedule if each of those series end in a four-game sweep?

Heck, it was hard enough going Sunday-Thursday last week without any hockey between Round Two and Round Three. How in the world would puckheads be able to cope with the prospect of a massive layoff between Round Three and the Stanley Cup Finals?

Fear not, for we have uncovered evidence that the powers that be are already considering just that eventuality. We've paired this news -- provided via the tireless Sean Leahy -- with a picture of the Cup and actress Lindsay Lohan, because, well, you never know when Ms. Lohan might want to check her schedule and plan around the Finals.

After all, she's originally from Long Island and they used to win Cups there a lot. Though, to be sure, not anytime in recent history.

With that, here it is, all mapped out:

Red Wing & Penguins sweep 4-0
Game One: Tuesday, 5/20 @Detroit
Game Two: Thursday, 5/22 @Detroit
Game Three: Saturday, 5/24 @Pittsburgh
Game Four: Monday, 5/26 @Pittsburgh

If one or both series lasts five games
Game One: Thursday, 5/22 @Detroit
Game Two: Saturday, 5/24 @Detroit
Game Three: Monday, 5/26 @Pittsburgh
Game Four: Wednesday, 5/28 @Pittsburgh

If one or both series goes to six games
Game One: Saturday, 5/24 @Detroit
Game Two: Monday, 5/26 @Detroit
Game Three: Wednesday, 5/28 @Pittsburgh
Game Four: Friday, 5/30 @Pittsburgh

These Russian to English translations are coming fast and furious now. But now, instead of taking a look at the IIHF World Championships, we got hold of an interview Sovetsky' Sports' Natalia Bragilevskaya did with Evgeni Malkin last night after Pittsburgh's Game Three win over Philadelphia. Thanks once again to Sovetsky's Washington correspondent, Dmitriy Chesnokov, for giving us a hand. The big news in this interview: Malkin revealing how the third Pittsburgh goal last night essentially deflated the Flyers and ended the game.

Why can't the Flyers compete with your team even at home?

"To be honest, the game was very difficult for us. Right until the third period the score was 2-1, and only towards the end of the period did we extend the lead. When we scored the third goal, the Flyers gave up. They had had a lot of difficult games. It was obvious they were tired. And our schedule wasn't as intense. We are looking fresher and are skating better."

Yesterday I wrote about how Sunday night's Pens-Flyers game was the most watched program in the history of the Versus cable network, though I cautioned that while ratings are up, you really need to understand just how small a footprint the NHL started from to understand just how far they still have to go.

Today, we got some of that perspective. Over at Media Life Magazine, Toni Fitzgerald wrote about Sunday's historic game on Versus, and how the cross-state Pens-Flyers rivalry and the emergence of stars in the playoffs like Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin are undoubtedly combining to drive ratings 36% higher than last season.

Then again, Fitzgerald also includes a number of charts that ought to bring us back to reality. When you look at the first, a list of the top 25 ad supported cable networks, Versus is nowhere to be seen. Even worse, the second chart, provides nothing more than a bucket full of cold water on some of the numbers, as it lists the top 25 cable programs from the week before.

While there are a couple of NBA playoff games, some WWE and a couple of episodes of Sponge Bob Square Pants, you won't find one NHL playoff game in the mix, not even the supposedly historic Sunday night game between Philly and Pittsburgh.

As always, Gary Bettman still has miles to go before he sleeps. If ever.

Every day from Monday to Saturday, The Ice Sheet will take a look at the biggest stories in the league that happened on the ice and elsewhere the night before.

It appears that the only thing separating the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Detroit Red Wings from a date in the Stanley Cup Finals is the formality of a fourth win. Just like Detroit had done in Dallas Monday night, the Penguins took a 3-0 series stranglehold in Philadelphia with a 4-1 win last night.

Defenseman Ryan Whitney and trade deadline acquisition Marian Hossa scored goals less than three minutes apart in the first period to open the Game Three scoring, with new playoff scoring leader Sidney Crosby assisting on both goals. Flyers forward R.J. Umberger cut the lead in half with his 10th goal of the postseason, but a third period goal by Ryan Malone and an empty-net goal by Hossa sealed the decision for Pittsburgh.

It's tough to say why 3-0 series leads are such the rage in the NHL lately, but since the first round ended, five of the six series in Rounds Two and Three have started with near-sweeps. While I'll admit that there is some excitement generated from having elimination games happen early in a series, in a practical sense it makes for some quickly uninteresting series. Granted, I'm a fan of a team that was eliminated in Round One, so I'm somewhat cynical. Even so, from a competitive angle these playoffs seem to have lost the thrill of a tightly-contested series; right now the most interesting topic of discussion seems to be what will happen when juggernauts collide in the cup finals. It looks as if the Fanhouse panel will be discussing that Detroit-Pittsburgh matchup sooner than we thought.

After the break: More from your Fanhousers, the Stat of the Day, and a YouTube summary of Detroit and Dallas Game Three.

Games don't get much more important than game three's in a 2-0 series and tonight's Penguins/Flyers game is no exception. If the Flyers win, they cut Pittsburgh's lead down to 2-1 with another game in the Wachovia Center looming on Thursday. If the Penguins win, they take a 3-0 lead and history, the odds, and basic probability is on their side.

Can the Flyers get to Marc-Andre Fleury? Can the Penguins silence the Philadelphia crowd early? Can the Flyers keep up being down two defensemen? Did Gary Roberts really get pneumonia? The answer to all these questions and more are coming tonight in the biggest game of the season for both teams, so follow along with the liveblog after the jump.