Back in Round 1, Kevin Bieksa of the Vancouver Canucks took a moment to suggest that the San Jose Sharks occasionally dabbled in embellishment. It was a fairly transparent bit of gamesmanship, and even moreso after he gave a second performance of the monologue, this time with props.

It didn't work, either. Thereafter, the Canucks won zero games.

But that didn't discourage San Jose Sharks' winger T.J. Galiardi from trying out the tactic himself. On Thursday, Galiardi had a few words to say about LA Kings' goaltender Jonathan Quick.

He's Quick on the ice and quick to the ice, if you catch my meaning. From the Mercury News:

Galiardi is speaking, as you'd expect, from experience. He was sent to the box for goaltender interference in the second period of Game 4, and he was almost sent again for the same infraction before he could even get back to the bench. After the Sharks killed off his penalty, he chased Slava Voynov into the LA end on the San Jose's final zone clear, and as he skated by the goal, he clipped Quick's skate.

The goaltender dropped.

But, just like on the ice, the Kings stand up for their goaltender. It was Drew Doughty who rushed to Quick's defense this time around, and he took about the same approach to dismissing Galiardi's observations that the Sharks took in dismissing Kevin Bieksa's: no, you are.

From the LA Times:

“It’s not even playoff talk,” Doughty told The Times after Thursday’s morning skate before Game 5. “It’s just funny to even hear that from a guy who is the biggest diver on their team. Like it’s just ridiculous he can even say that, to be honest.

“But I don’t want to get involved in that stuff. I don’t think you have to watch many (Sharks’ games). You can just watch three of his shifts and you’ll see how many times he dives. There’s been times where even the refs are telling him, just get up, because he’s diving so often.”

I have to take issue with Doughty's counterpoint. It's not even playoff talk? Really? Because it seems to me that complaining about your opponent's embellishment is pretty much a staple of playoff talk at this point.

Heck, even Galiardi knows that much. "It's the playoffs," he said, immediately after taking his shot at Quick, "Everyone's trying to draw a penalty. Whatever."

Yeah, pretty much.

It's the playoffs. That glorious time of year when the officials let the players play by swallowing their whistles, and the players, finding it easier to score big goals when their opponent can ice fewer guys, try to sell every hook, grab and hold in the hopes of coaxing the whistles back up the esophagi of said officials.

Then, of course, if one of your opponents is proving to be really good at it, you draw attention to it in the hopes of swaying the officials. In this way, it's exactly like diving.

And thus concludes another episode of Diving Divers and the Dives they Did. Game 5 goes Thursday night.

Welcome once again to hockey hugs, the Puck Daddy feature that's all about the love.

We're into the second round of the playoffs, and it's a double-edged sword. On the one hand, the hugs just keep getting more and more meaningful the further into the postseason you go. On the other hand, the variety is beginning to dwindle.

Fortunately, many of the teams remaining have characters you can't help but chuckle at. The San Jose Sharks, for instance, have the Wookiee Brent Burns. What's he howling? Why, he's swearing a life-debt to Marc-Edouard Vlasic, just like Chewbacca!

Meanwhile, the Boston Bruins are led by, basically, the Iron Giant in a spoked B, so they're going to produce a lot of great big-guy-little-guy shots. Case in point, this photo, where Brad Marchand looks less like a teammate and more like a troll that rides around on his back.

Coming up: more hugs, unsurprisingly. We've been doing this awhile now. You know how it works.

No. 5, Chicago Blackhawks

Patricks Sharp and Kane enact their plan to get under Jimmy Howard's skin by smiling menacingly at him from afar.

"Kaner, he's looking. Creepy smiles. Just like we practiced."

"Rawr!"

"What, no roaring. What are you doing?"

"Meow!"

"That's worse!"

No. 4, Team Switzerland

The Swiss may not have won gold, but they did produce the best hug at the World Championships. In this photo, Julian Walker stares blissfully and deeply into a teammate's eyes, and tells him the thing he's been wanting to tell him for so long.

"I've never liked you."

No. 3, Boston Bruins

Zdeno Chara and Patrice Bergeron celebrate their overtime winner versus the Toronto Maple Leafs, and take a moment to rub it in a little.

"Knock knock, Patrice!"

"Who's there, Big Z?!"

"Kessel!"

"Kessel who!?"

"Kessel's go get the golf clubs!!!!!

"Ahahahaha! You're so bad, Big Z!"

No. 2, Chicago Blackhawks

Marian Hossa receives a hug from Patrick Sharp, and takes a moment to gloat to all the women in Chicago.

"Oh wooooow what a hug from Patrick Sharp! This Patrick Sharp fellow's quite something! Sorry, ladies!"

"Marian, knock it off."

"What's that, Patrick? Marian is best? How kind of you to say! Sorry, ladies!"

No. 1, Boston Bruins

Coming this fall to NBC: It's "Marchie and Z", the tale of Zdeno, a man trying to juggle being the captain of the Boston Bruins and a single dad to a mischievous little son Marchie. In this episode, Marchie somehow gets into a uniform and -- oh no! -- gets out onto the ice!

"Daddy, Marchie wanna play! Marchie wanna help!"

"Marchie, no! How did you get out here? I thought Mr. Jacobs was watching you!

"He was, but then he got into a fight with a baby."

*canned laughter*

• The Dallas Stars won't be the only ones revealing new jerseys on June 4. That same day the Carolina Hurricanes will unveil their new home and road looks. Their logo and colors will remain the same. [Hurricanes]

• Meanwhile, the Texas Stars showed off their new jerseys on Thursday. Could these be a hint as to what the Dallas Stars' new look will be? In a word, no. [Stars Inside Edge]

• As the Boston Bruins go for the sweep tonight, it appears as if they'll ice the same lineup from Game 3, meaning Dennis Seidenberg and Wade Redden will be spectators. Redden and Brad Richards in a press box together? Glen Sather must be proud. [CSNNE]

• Remember Brian Boyle's giant family from 24/7? Well, residing from outside Boston, their custom-made t-shirts reveal who they're supporting in the series: “Bruins? Rangers? We’re rooting for Boyle.” [Boston Globe]

• Jimmy Howard on how his nap went during Wednesday's full day off for the Detroit Red Wings: “It was great. I think I had a little dream, too, so it was a bonus.” [Free Press]

• San Jose Sharks forward T.J. Galiardi on Jonathan Quick: "What kind of bugs me about him, I don't know if I should say it, but a little embellishment every now and then. You skate by and you don't even touch him or you barely even touch him and he's throwing his hands in the air. So that's one of those things." [Mercury News]

• Vezina Trophy finalist and Columbus Blue Jackets netminder Sergei Bobrovsky is set to be a restricted free agent this summer. At the moment, there has been no progress in contract talks between both sides. What is he worth? And how soon until Paul Holmgren throws him an offer sheet to get him back? [Columbus Dispatch]

• Vancouver Canucks general manager Mike Gillis on the firing on Alain Vigneault: “We've lost consecutive games in the last two playoff years and there comes a point in time where the message has to change and we have to be better. We didn't get the results we expected and, in this business, you have to get results.” [Vancouver Sun]

• Bourne on the feeling inside a locker room after elimination. [Backhand Shelf]

• How Phil Housley's hiring as an assistant coach for the Nashville Predators could be beneficial for Ryan Ellis. [Smashville 24/7]

• Somehow, this high hit by Dalton Thrower during the Memorial Cup went unpenalized Wednesday night. [Buzzing the Net]

• But there is a chance Thrower gets punished. From Sunaya Sapurji: "The Canadian Hockey League uses the NHL’s hockey operations department – which is off-site -- as both a review and disciplinary body. Despite the fact that no penalty was assessed to Thrower for the hit, the NHL group can review any incident that results in an injury." [Y!]

UPDATE: Thrower has been suspended for the rest of the tournament.

• He wasn't nominated, but here's the case for Garth Snow as General Manager of the Year. [Lighthouse Hockey]

• Should Ryan Miller move on from the Buffalo Sabres, Jhonas Enroth is more than capable of replacing him full-time. [Rant Sports]

• The Dallas Stars and Edmonton Oilers will play a preseason game in Oklahoma City on September 27. [News OK]

• The "Huge Specimen" Hugh Jessiman has signed with the KHL's newest team, Medvescak Zagreb. [KHL]

• Don't expect NHL 14 on the new XBOX One when it debuts later this year. [IGN]

• Finally, via Reddit, here's a mock ESPN 30 for 30 trailer on the legendary Gordon Bombay:

It's a Thursday edition of Marek vs. Wyshynski beginning at 2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT, and we're talking about the following and more:

Special Guest Star: Ken Daniels of the Red Wings broadcast team joins us.

• Daniel Alfredsson's 'probably not' problem.

• The Canucks' coaching change.

• Brad Richards gets scratched.

• Previewing tonight's games.

Question of the Day: What's the last thing you want to hear from your captain? Email puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or hit us on Twitter with the hashtag #MvsW to @wyshynski or @jeffmarek.

Click here for the Sportsnet live stream or click the play button above! Click here to download podcasts from the show each day. Subscribe to the podcast via iTunes or Feedburner.

Granted, it’s a fourth-liner signed through 2021, whose contract was valued at $60 million when he signed with the New York Rangers as a free agent.

Granted, he was their No. 1 center to start the season.

Granted, he’s a former Conn Smythe winner who is now a healthy scratch in his team’s most important playoff game of the season.

Such is the disastrous season for Brad Richards of the New York Rangers.

From Rangers Rants on Thursday:

“I’m surprised, I guess,” said Richards, who turned 33 on May 2 and is still owed $36 million through 2020. “I’m disappointed.”

… Richards said Tortorella called him this morning at home with the news. “Nothing’s over,” Richards said. “Work harder and try my best to never let it happen again.”

It's the beginning of the end, according to Rick Carpiniello:

The next step is then obvious. The Rangers will use their one remaining compliance buyout within the new CBA to end Richards’ relationship with the team this summer. Richards, who rceived $12 million in 2011-12 and most of his $12 million for the lockout 2013 season, will get a $24 million going-away present this summer (spread out over twice the remaining seven years), removing his contract from the books and his salary from the decreasing salary cap.

Richards will then be an unrestricted free agent, able to strike a deal with any of the other 29 teams, but not with the Rangers. And he surely will resurface after a summer of conditioning, and sign somewhere at a much smaller salary.

Torts has handled the rapid decline in Richards’ game with kid gloves, never torching his former No. 1 center publicly.

The demotion couldn’t have been easy for the Rangers coach, who won a Cup with Richards as his playoff MVP in Tampa Bay. To scratch Richards shows what a non-factor he’s become in the semifinals, skating 8:10 in Game 3 and getting benched in the third period.

Richards came to the Rangers because the money was right and he felt they could challenge for the Cup. But he also signed because of Tortorella. He believed in Torts; and Torts believed in Richards as a veteran leader in that room who could act as his proxy.

Now, Richards is scratched in what could be Tortorella’s last game as Rangers coach.

Kevin Schultz, Islanders Point Blank:

The Penguins have a hell of an offense, there’s no doubt about that. However, Anderson has still played much better against the Penguins in this series, and throughout the 2013 season, than Nabokov did. And Nabokov’s play, or trying to relate Anderson’s play to Nabokov, doesn’t change the fact that the Islanders have a goaltender question to solve this summer.

Keith put the stats together quite succinctly last night: namely that Anderson has an .899 save percentage in this series against Ottawa, while Nabokov had an .842 mark. What that translates to is at least an extra 5-6 goals allowed by Nabokov. Think the Isles could have used a couple of those against the Pens?  All that is over a really similar sample, too. Nabokov faced 152 shots, while Anderson has faced 139. And on top of that, Anderson has had to work harder, facing those shots in four games as opposed to six for Nabby.

We can also look at the regular season save percentage between the two goalies, which are worlds apart; Nabokov at .910 and Anderson at a stellar .941.

So what can we learn from all this?

Well, first that the Pens will make any goalie l0ok bad, as both goalies played well under their season averages in their respective series. The Pens offensive is really good. But, at the end of the day, a better goalie is still better, even if a powerhouse like the Pens makes them look below average.

THAT NEW ARENA SMELL

Via Deadspin, some uh, interesting news on the Barclays Center:

SOUNDS OF ROUND 1

This is a few days old, but it’s worth a listen if you haven’t seen it:

YOUR MOMENT OF ZEN

#nhl14tavares “@kevinmkopf: This has to be the greatest thing I ever searched on google images @91tavares #isles twitter.com/kevinmkopf/sta…”

— Michael Grabner (@grabs40) May 19, 2013