NHL Thursday: Blackhawks, Blues clinch playoff berths with wins

Ericsson and Marchand were jostling a bit near center ice when Marchand blatantly twisted his stick around and speared Ericsson in the most painful of regions.

Marchand tried to argue that Ericsson dove and fell onto the stick, which I guess is somewhat plausible if you only saw this half of the play.

No wonder the Flames goalie didn’t move. There was no way he’d think about shooting until his feet hit the ground.

Never underestimate the short guy.

The NHL is obviously aware of this, and they don’t like it. They think it’s embarrassing. If fans aren’t going to at least discuss ways to fix the draft lottery, they’d rather nobody mention tanking at all.

SO MUCH FOR THAT.

Here is Thursday’s full schedule. All times in ET.