Welcome to SportsNation! On Wednesday, former NHL greats Jeremy Roenick and Mike Modano stop by to chat about the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Roenick played 21 years in the NHL, playing for Chicago, Phoenix, Philadelphia, Los Angeles and San Jose. He scored 513 goals in his career and his 1,216 points ranks 40th all-time. Modano played all but one year of his 21-year career with the Dallas Stars, playing on Dallas’ only Stanley Cup winning team in 1998-99. His 561 goals and 1,374 both rank 23rd all-time.

During the NHL playoffs, Roenick, @Jeremy_Roenick, and Modano, @9modano, have been working with Philips Norelco on their playoff beards and Norelco’s Go With A Pro sweepstakes where a fan will win 2012-13 season tickets.

Send your questions now and join Modano and Roenick Wednesday at 3:45 p.m. ET!

Although a number of Flyers still remain from the 2010 playoff roster, players who are intimately familiar with being down 0-3 in a series, one stands out who was not part of that run: Max Talbot.

He was part of the Penguins 2009 Stanley Cup team and scored two goals in Game 7 against Detroit to give the franchise its third Cup.

Talbot has a lot of friends on the other bench. If you’ve looked at the close-ups on him during the games so far, you can see how it bothers him when he sees some of the out-of-character displays of thuggery from the Pittsburgh bench.

Even from his friend Sidney Crosby, who is doing things he usually doesn’t do to try and inspire the Pens.

“I see Sid as such a great competitor,” Talbot said. “He shows up every night for a game. When it’s not going his way, he tries to do other things. He’s like me, but 10 times as much skill. He’s going to do everything he can help his team and get a win.”

Crosby and his coach, Dan Bylsma, said it’s not beyond the Pens’ grasp to win Game 4 on Wednesday.

Nor is it unimaginable that Pittsburgh will do to the Flyers what Peter Laviolette’s club did to Boston in 2010 in the Eastern Conference semis – win four in a row.

When told this week that fans in Pittsburgh are “embarrassed” by the Penguins, Crosby got defensive.

“You know what, I think the tough part is that if they’re in this room, they’d see how much every guy cared,” Crosby said. “It’s more than one team that’s doing that stuff out there. They should have nothing to be embarrassed about.

“They should be pretty proud of the guys they have here. It’s a terrible situation to be in, being down 3-0. But that’s when you need your fans the most. We’re not going to sit here and make excuses.

“We can’t fix the fact that we’re down 3-0. But I think we all believe we can come back and I think this is when you lean on your fans the most.”
Talbot and Crosby are best friends, have been for years. Yeah, Sid said he “hates” all the Flyers but Talbot said that it was in the “heat of the moment” and that their friendship won’t be affected.

The point is, Talbot knows what the Penguins, who have 11 players on their roster from that Cup run, are capable of. He also knows the Flyers never thought they’d be in a position to sweep Pittsburgh.

So given the chance, Talbot said, it would be best for the Flyers not to give the Pens any life in Game 4 by extending the series.

“It’s not over,” Talbot said. “There’s one more game to be played. The three games don’t mean anything until the fourth one. This is a big test. They will come out and give everything.

“They’ve been one of the best in the league since for a while now. The second half of the season, they were really dangerous. It’s about Game 4 now.”

Did you ever think you’d be in position to sweep?

“If you asked me at the start of the playoffs if we’d be up 3-0, I would have said, no,” Talbot replied.

Should the Flyers sweep Pittsburgh, they would be likely face a lengthy delay to the start of the next series.

The good thing there, however, is that players can rest. Injuries can heal.

“Every time you get a chance to finish a series, whether it is [Game] 4, 5 or 6, you want to give it your all to finish it as fast as you can,” Talbot said.

“It’s important to finish and have more rest. Rest your body is always a good thing. You don’t want to go back to Pittsburgh and take that chance.”

The Phoenix Coyotes were a mere six seconds away from taking a commanding 2-0 series lead against the Chicago Blackhawks in the Western Conference quarterfinals.

Instead, for the second time in two games, the Coyotes failed to hold onto to a third period lead as the seconds dwindled off the clock. But unlike Game 1, the Coyotes couldn’t muster any overtime magic.

Former Coyotes and Blackhawks center and NHL great Jeremy Roenick told Arizona Sports 620′s Burns and Gambo Monday the Coyotes’ Game 2 loss will sting for quite some time.

“That loss is demoralizing,” Roenick said. “Phoenix being tied right now, I don’t know how I would feel going into Game 3. You could be up 2-0, going into Chicago and feeling a little bit better about yourself. But now you’re 1-1, you’ve lost home ice advantage and you’re going into the Madhouse on Madison. It’s going to be nuts. It’s got to be so disheartening.”

The Coyotes missed an opportunity to take a stranglehold on the series, and while it is a tough pill to swallow, Roenick isn’t counting out Dave Tippett’s troops to rebound in Chicago.

“The Coyotes, in my opinion, are one of the best road teams in the National Hockey League and have been all year,” Roenick explained. “By no means am I writing them off. I can’t write them off. I picked them to win in seven. So, I expect them to play just as well on the road as they do at home.”

Roenick believes even if the Coyotes are to win this series, they’ll be much worse for the wear.

“You have to play extra games,” Roenick stated. “One of the best things about closing out hockey games and winning as fast as you can is rest. If you have to go play that sixth and seventh game because of games you dropped that takes away from your health, from your energy, so nobody wants to play more games.”

One of the players who could have surely benefited from extra rest is goaltender Mike Smith, who took a brutal hit from Blackhawks rookie forward Andrew Shaw in Game 2.

While Roenick doesn’t believe it was an intentional hit, he does think the league has a responsibility to review the play to see if it’s cause for suspension.

“[Shaw] made a bad decision in terms of the direction he went to,” Roenick explained. “He didn’t try to hit Mike Smith, I think he tried to sneak inside and take a very perilous route, no question. It was an accidental contact from the shoulder to his head.

“He could’ve avoided it. He could’ve closed off the boards and not let Mike Smith wrap the puck around the boards. So he made the decision to go into a very tough area. To me, I think [NHL Senior VP of Player Safety Brendan] Shanahan should look at it and see if the rules that he has written deem proper to suspend him for a game.”

Shaw will learn Tuesday if he will be sanctioned for his hit on Smith. As for the Coyotes, Roenick anticipates they’re in for a tenacious fight to the finish.

“I still think they’re going to win the series,” Roenick said. “I think it’s going to take seven and I say that because of Mike Smith and I say that because the Coyotes are a good road team. But, boy they make it a lot harder on themselves.”

We have another four playoff contests on Sunday. Nashville and Detroit will play in Game 3 on NBC at noon ET. Philadelphia will host the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 3 of their series at 3pm ET. That contest will also be on NBC. NBCSN will televise the two night games, which are New Jersey vs Florida (7:30pm ET) and Vancouver vs Los Angeles (10:30pm ET).

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The Flyers-Penguins series has certainly been the highlight of the first round, but the Canucks-Kings contest is another one to watch. Los Angeles has taken a 2-0 series lead, so the pressure will be on Vancouver to come back and avoid an embarrassing first round upset. One of the big questions in that game is who the Canucks’ starting goaltender will be. Canucks coach Alain Vigneault has the answer, but he hasn’t shared it with the world yet.

Even with rookie goalie Braden Holtby inspiring the Capitals through his confidence and swagger, Washington still find itself stuck in a major hole heading into Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals in Boston on Saturday (3 p.m. ET, NBC, TSN).

“They’ll be done in five if they lose Game 2,” NBC Sports analyst Jeremy Roenick told NHL.com Friday.

Roenick said as impressed as he was with Holtby — “He was better than any one of us expected him to be,” were J.R.’s words — he can’t get over the fact that the Capitals let a huge opportunity slip out of their grasp Thursday at TD Garden.

Holtby made 29 saves, but the Capitals put only 17 shots on Tim Thomas and lost 1-0 on Chris Kelly‘s overtime winner.

“They really did blow an opportunity,” Roenick said. “You can’t be a No. 7 seed going into the defending Stanley Cup champions’ arena, have it be 0-0 into overtime, and not come out and win the game. I think they let a big one slip through their fingers. Now they have to play from behind and the Bruins have a lot of playoff savvy. I give Washington credit for the way they played, but they had to find a way to win that hockey game.”

The key for the Capitals if they plan to win Game 2, according to Roenick, is to play the way they did in the third period of Game 1. After getting only seven shots on Boston in the first 40 minutes, the Caps took it to the Bruins in the third and peppered Thomas with nine shots.

Roenick said they were able to start opening up their game a bit because they had confidence in Holtby, who had 26 saves through two periods.

“That’s a very good sign for Washington,” Roenick said. “I think as a seven seed, you’ve got to take more chances for sure. I don’t think anybody is picking them to win the series, so what do they have to lose? I would run it and gun it, to tell you the truth.”

If the Caps are to run-and-gun, which hasn’t exactly been their style under coach Dale Hunter, Alex Ovechkin will have to play more minutes. He was given only 17:34 of ice time in Game 1 — not enough, according to Roenick.

“Not in this situation, no,” he said. “In this situation, when you’re in the first game of the playoffs, you have to expend all energies to your best player to get up in the first round. I think Alex wants to play, he wants to be on the ice. He’s going to work hard for you. You win with your big guns right now, and Ovechkin has to get back to his 20 or 21 minutes or Washington is going to have trouble winning this series.”

Having played on one side of Pennsylvania rivalry for three seasons, NBC Sports Network analyst Jeremy Roenick is looking forward to a potential Philadelphia-Pittsburgh first-round playoff series if for no other reason than the emotion that will spill out of each city and meet somewhere between Harrisburg and Altoona.

“It is a massive matchup in terms of Pennsylvania ego,” Roenick, who played for the Flyers from 2001-04, told NHL.com. “These fans don’t like each other. It’s amazing to be in one state and have fans on each side dislike each other as much as they do.”

To Roenick, the fans can play a role in the outcome of the game in each city with their emotion and noise. That’s why the winner of the game Sunday in Pittsburgh (12:30 p.m. ET, NBC) could have a huge advantage come playoff time.

The Penguins and Flyers are locked in a battle for the fourth seed, which includes home-ice advantage in the first round. The Penguins had a four-point lead entering Saturday thanks to their 5-3 win against Buffalo on Friday, but the Flyers were playing Ottawa on Saturday afternoon.

Roenick said if the Flyers and Penguins meet in the first round, he’d pick the team had the home-ice advantage.

“That’s why you saw Philly care so much in Toronto on Thursday,” Roenick said, referring to the Flyers 7-1 pounding of the Maple Leafs. “I believe they are focused that Pittsburgh is going to be their first-round matchup and their main goal is to get home-ice advantage. I think they feel they can beat them in their own building, which they showed last game coming back from two goals down (to win 3-2 in overtime).

“If you’re going to play a team like Pittsburgh in the first round, home-ice advantage becomes so critical. That might be the Flyers mentality right now.”

What about the Penguins, who lost to the Islanders twice this week by 5-3 scores before beating the Sabres in Buffalo by the same count?

Roenick said Pittsburgh’s defensive structure was bad against the Isles, and it could be a result of overconfidence on the offensive side since Sidney Crosby returned to the lineup March 15.

The Penguins have scored 45 goals in the 10 games since Crosby came back, but they’ve given up 35, including eight in a blowout loss to Ottawa and the 10 over two games against the Islanders. They’ve played the last three games without All-Star defenseman Kris Letang, who Roenick called “one of the more important defenseman in the NHL to his team.”

Letang is questionable for Sunday.

“They’ve had a lot of confidence when they go on the offensive, but it’s almost like they’ve taken their defensive structure and gone free-wheeling, for lack of a better word,” Roenick said of the Penguins. “To lose 5-3 to the Islanders twice in one week … I mean, really? They might be a little bit overconfident right now with having so much talent offensively. I would expect that coach (Dan) Bylsma is going to step on these guys and make them realize they were winning games because of their style, structure and defense, not because of what they can do offensively.

“If they can put it all together, I don’t know who can beat them in the playoffs.”

Well, the Flyers can, according to Roenick, if they get home-ice advantage in the first round.

They can move closer to that with a win Sunday in Pittsburgh.

“The Flyers will try to put a Broad Street pounding on them,” Roenick said. “If it happens, it might be the best first round matchup of the playoffs, not only talent-wise, but physically, mentally and geographically. It’s great for TV. It’d be great for NBC to carry such a great rivalry in the first round.”

At first glance in the bright Air Canada Centre, it appeared as if the Flyers added a giant to their lineup for the morning skate.

The only thing that stood out for Eric Lindros on Thursday was his black helmet, the one contrast between himself and the rest of the Flyers’ white domes. Everything else looked the same as it ever did, in an orange jersey with the Flyers crest.

Lindros, 39, was a surprise on-ice guest at the Flyers’ morning skate with the team, in preparation for Thursday night’s contest against the dreadful Maple Leafs.

Lindros received an invitation from Flyers general manager Paul Holmgren to join the team in his hometown. Once estranged from the organization not so long ago, those fences were mended and polished during the Winter Classic celebrations in January.

He dressed in the Flyers’ main locker room with everyone else. Big E’s presence was a welcomed and exciting. And his size, even to the Flyers’ current players, is still astonishing.

“I’m a midget compared to him,” Scott Hartnell said. “He’s just so thick.”

“We could use his size,” said Danny Briere, who really is a midget compared to Lindros, with a smile. “He’d be a nice addition, that’s for sure.”

Lindros participated in all of the Flyers’ drills. He stayed out on the ice with the Flyers’ scratches, Jody Shelley and Andreas Lilja, for extra skating. Not surprisingly, the former Flyers superstar looked good. His passes were crisp. His skating was impeccable. And his shot was accurate.

“He can still play,” Hartnell said. “He’s a good man. I think he was just out there for fun. It was cool to see him in this dressing room. I remember him being a Flyer and just absolutely dominating out there – big presence, big checks, big goals. Just to see him out there was pretty cool.

Needless to say, some of the current Flyers grew up playing in their driveways pretending to be Lindros. Zac Rinaldo, 21, said he owes a lot of his style and drive to play hockey to Lindros. He used to play as Lindros in video games as a kid.

Rinaldo’s jaw likely hit the floor when Lindros entered the dressing room with his equipment.

“He’s a big part in the way I play hockey,” Rinaldo said. “I was kind of surprised to see him here.”

“He was a guy that I idolized,” Claude Giroux said. “So it was pretty cool to see him out there.”

So, does that mean Lindros could still play in the NHL? He retired in 2007 at the age of 34 due to multiple injuries, including a wonky wrist and concussions.

“I think he could do a comeback,” Giroux said. “I grew up watching him play, he was dominating for a long time. He still has it.”

Lindros is actually one year younger than one of the Flyers’ leading scorers, Jaromir Jagr.

“If I can play, why not?” Jagr asked. “He’s younger than me. He would have to lose some pounds. Maybe 20. But that’s easy to do.”

Alas, Lindros has no plans to return to playing. Thursday’s twirl on the ice was just that, a chance to get in a workout with a few familiar faces. It was just so much more real than any Winter Classic alumni game.

“I realized there was more to life than playing the game,” Lindros said. “The game is fantastic, but there are many more things to do. I’ve had the opportunity to explore a few of those. It was great to get back out there.”

FACING THE LEAFS: The media coverage in Toronto has been, well, interesting. The Flyers face the Leafs just two days after being officially eliminated from the Eastern Conference playoff race. They also have a 10-game losing streak (0-7-3) at home, just 4 losses away from the NHL record set by Pittsburgh in 2003-04.

One headline in the Toronto Sun: “WHAT ARE YOU GUYS DOING?!?! Series… Part 1 in a series so long, even we don’t know when it’s going to end.” Nice work.

With Florida set to win the Southeast division, the Leafs – the NHL’s richest franchise – will now hold the NHL’s longest streak of postseason inactivity since the 2004-05 lockout. They haven’t made it since being bounced by Jeremy Roenick and the Flyers in 2004.

That said, the Flyers aren’t planning on taking their last non-playoff opponent this season lightly.

“You never know what kind of team you’re going to face,” said defenseman Marc-Andre Bourdon, who will play his first game with the Flyers since Feb. 18. “Even on a bad team, guys are always playing something, whether it’s a spot in next year’s lineup or a new contract.”

Bourdon will re-join the lineup in place of Kimmo Timonen, who did not make the trip to Toronto to rest a chronic lower-back problem. Andreas Lilja and Jody Shelley will be scratched.

Jeremy Roenick isn’t a big fan of the Pittsburgh Penguins, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t recognize the impressive nature of the franchise’s accomplishments.

The Penguins will face their bitter intrastate rivals, the Philadelphia Flyers, on Sunday afternoon at Wells Fargo Arena (12:30 ET on NBC), and they are one of the hottest teams in hockey.

“I don’t have any good memories from playing against the Pittsburgh Penguins. I didn’t like them very much,” Roenick, once a member of the Flyers and now an analyst for NBC, told NHL.com. “They beat us [the Chicago Blackhawks] in the ’92 Cup finals and I’ve never had good memories about them.

That said, I do admire them and respect their dominance and what they’ve accomplished. I respect everything Mario Lemieux has done for that franchise, and I love watching them play right now.”

The Penguins won their 10th consecutive game Thursday night at Madison Square Garden, soundly defeating the Eastern-Conference leading New York Rangers. It was also the first game back from concussion-related absences for captain Sidney Crosby and No. 1 defenseman Kris Letang.

New York was missing three key players, including Vezina Trophy candidate Henrik Lundqvist, but Roenick agrees with the overwhelming number of pundits who have anointed the Penguins as the team to beat the conference — and maybe the entire League — now that they are at full strength.

“Yes, I do think [they're the favorites],” Roenick said. “Look at how they just manhandled the New York Rangers. Getting Sid and Letang back makes them a scary team.

“Teams want to rate themselves at this time of year, and this a “rate yourself” game for the Flyers. If the Flyers can beat Pittsburgh with the way they’re playing right now, they have to feel good about their chances of competing for the Stanley Cup.”

The Flyers have also been playing well of late, especially since the arrival of defensemen Nicklas Grossman and Pavel Kubina near the trade deadline. Roenick said Grossman might be Philadelphia’s best defensive defenseman, and those additions have helped goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov rediscover his elite form — though Bryzgalov had a lot to do with it as well.

“Bryzgalov isn’t worried about what everyone else thinks, and now he’s playing better,” Roenick said. “He isn’t worried about the stars or the planets or the solar system. He’s just worrying about stopping the puck.”

The Flyers and Penguins have two more matchups in the final few weeks of the season. Pittsburgh has closed the gap on the Rangers for the top spot in the East, but Philadelphia is closing fast as well.

“It’s the battle of Pennsylvania, and having Sidney Crosby back is probably the most exciting news in the NHL right now,” Roenick. I’m sure Philly hates everyone saying Pittsburgh is now the team to beat and would love to put them in their place.

“It is the perfect game to have on NBC this weekend. It is a great rivalry and both teams are battling for playoff position. They might also see each other in the playoffs. It should be exciting.”

Jeremy Roenick understands why there is an amped up Crosby Watch for a nationally televised Sunday matinee on NBC (12:30 p.m. ET). The ex-NHLer turned NBC Sports analyst says it should be escalated and promoted simply because it’ll make for an even better matchup between the Penguins and Bruins.

“The possibility of Sidney Crosby coming back on national television gives a jolt to not only the Penguins, but the fans in Pittsburgh, Boston, Toronto, everywhere,” Roenick told NHL.com. “Wherever you may be, everybody is waiting for this guy to come back. It’s early to tell, but it adds to the excitement.”

However, Roenick also said he doesn’t believe the wait for Crosby will have an effect on Pittsburgh’s preparation for Sunday’s game.

Crosby said Friday he still isn’t sure about his status for Sunday because he needs to take more contact in practice. If he doesn’t return against Boston, the Penguins’ schedule is favorable for him. Their next game is Thursday against the Rangers at Madison Square Garden.

“Dan Bylsma has this team in a zone and he has them wired to not be thinking about Crosby,” Roenick said. “He has them thinking they’re going to play the whole season without him and that’s how they go into every game. That’s a perfect way to coach a team with a star player out.”

Boston has no such concerns, even though injuries are very much a part of its identity lately with Nathan Horton, Rich Peverley,Andrew Ference, Daniel Paille and Tuukka Raskall sidelined. Consistency, though, has been one of the Bruins’ biggest problems for the better part of the last two months.

Their win Thursday against Buffalo gave them their first winning streak since Jan. 10-12. They will look to make it three in a row Saturday at home against Washington before they travel to Pittsburgh.

“When you have a quality team like Boston, success is going to continue to breed. (A two-game winning streak) is going to make them feel better,” Roenick said. “That’s a dangerous team when they’re feeling that way and that is good for Boston, because coming down the playoff run here they need something to spark them. They know how hard it is to win a Stanley Cup, and now they need to make sure they start amping their game up.

“Not only is it nice to string two together, but then to play Washington and Pittsburgh back-to-back is good.”

There is a possibility that Marty Turco will play in one of the next two games. He took the bulk of the shots in practice on Friday.

Turco, who was signed earlier this week to spell Rask, is not eligible for the postseason, but Roenick said it’s essential he gives Boston three or four good games to allow Tim Thomas to have his proper rest before the playoffs begin.

“That’s the reason he’s there, and that’s a good reason,” Roenick said. “Thomas is going to pick up most of the load for the rest of the season and he knows that, so it’s going to be easy for him to get zeroed in and concentrate on his game. That’s important. He loves the action, loves to have the ball in his court. I look for Thomas to be one of the better goaltenders going into the playoffs.”

Roenick is also looking forward to Crosby being in the Penguins’ lineup sooner rather than later.

“If he comes back and plays Sunday this is going to be an even better matchup,” Roenick said. “Let’s hope it’s a start for the rest of the season for Crosby if it happens.”

The first of two opportunities for the Boston Bruins to get some confidence against the Eastern Conference-leading New York Rangers comes Sunday at Madison Square Garden, according to NBC Sports analyst Jeremy Roenick.

The Rangers already have beaten the Bruins twice at TD Garden, but Sunday’s nationally televised game (12:30 p.m. ET, NBC, NHLN-CA) is the first of two meetings at Madison Square Garden in the next month. Boston also comes down to play the Rangers on April 1 in what could be another NHL on NBC Game of the Week.

“You don’t want to be the team that loses the last couple of games against each other because it becomes part of the confidence factor,” Roenick told NHL.com. “So, the Boston Bruins have to learn and believe that they can win in Madison Square Garden. Mentally it’s a big issue. When you go into a building that you’ve had trouble playing in, you can’t help but be nervous and not totally ready, prepared and confident going into the game. So for the Bruins, they have to learn that they can beat the Rangers in MSG because they might have to in order to win the Stanley Cup.”

Roenick said he believes the Bruins very much still are a Cup contender despite their slightly better than average record in the last nearly two months. Since losing to Vancouver at home on Jan. 7, the Bruins are 12-10-2. They haven’t lost any more than two in a row, but they also haven’t had anything better than just one two-game winning streak.

They’re going for their second two-game winning streak Saturday against the Islanders at TD Garden. Boston beat New Jersey in overtime on Thursday.

“Yes, I do think they’re good enough, but they’ve played more hockey than any team in the NHL other than the Canucks in the last year and that will play a large role in their fatigue level right now,” Roenick said. “Once the playoffs come around, your mentality changes. You get into playoff mode and that’s where the fun starts. Playing right now is not fun; when playoffs start it becomes fun. That instantly will revive them.”

The Rangers, Roenick said, should be in a completely different frame of mind right now. They won’t need to be revived come playoff time; they just need to keep thriving before they get there.

The Rangers carry a three-game winning streak into Friday’s game at Tampa Bay, and they’re 12-3-2 since their 3-2 overtime win against the Bruins on Feb. 14.

“They need to keep that mojo up,” Roenick said. “The Rangers don’t need to change anything; they just have to maintain. Their goal scoring will keep coming if they play a good defensive game. The Rangers have to make sure their goaltender stays healthy and they maintain their level of play; if they do that than they’re going to be just fine.”