News of the Colorado Avalanche - Links from around the NHL - April 17th, 2013

As usual, 30 thoughts has some interesting nuggets. There are some Avalanche tidbits in there.

13. I'm careful with Colorado, because the Avalanche operate very secretly. It's hard to say what this organization is going to do. I do believe Sakic's been asked before to take an increased role, but decided he wasn't ready. There were two reasons: he wants to make sure he's fully prepared and wants to be an involved father to his three children.

14. Sakic did attend at least one major Board of Governors meeting during the lockout, which led to speculation he's considering more responsibility. If you look at Elway's job with the Broncos, he's not the day-to-day general manager. He oversees the "big picture," like convincing Peyton Manning to go there. Sakic's children are teenagers now. Can he balance family with the "Elway role?" That's the key.

Darcy Tucker talked to the National Post about what it was like being on a playoff team while in Toronto (reall,y worth clicking just to see the pic of Tucker).

At some point during the National Hockey League playoffs in 2002 or 2004 — it has been so long, he cannot remember — Darcy Tucker returned home to a surprise. A winger with the Toronto Maple Leafs, he discovered someone had created, “a monument on my yard of Leafs paraphernalia and congratulations.”

There were signs in the mix, too: “Way to go Tucker,” and “Good luck boys.”

Alexei Ponikarovsky, another Leafs winger in that era, said he remembered getting stuck in his car on the way home from the arena. Toronto won a playoff game, and the drive up Yonge Street was slowed by a roiling mass of celebration.

“I was trying to hide in my car, because people were walking and traffic wasn’t moving,” he said with a smile earlier this week. “They were knocking on the windows, with flags and stuff, screaming. And I was like, ‘Oh my god, if they find out I’m inside, you never know what could happen.’ ”

The Ottawa - Boston game has been rescheduled.

Monday’s postponed game between the Bruins and the Ottawa Senators because of the Boston Marathon bombings has been rescheduled.

The NHL announced Tuesday that the game will be played the night of Sunday, April 28 at TD Garden. The regular season was scheduled to end April 27.

There were four Ottawa Senators that had been discussing going to watch the finish line at the Boston Marathon.

As a rare scratch, Latendresse stayed at the rink late with the other three for a "bag" skate and a different meal time.

"Basically, we were just tired," said O'Brien. "We got done with practice, then when we went to lunch, we were all kind of talking about it. We thought it would be kind of cool to go see the finish line. It was Cowie and Lundy that kind of said, 'I don't really want to go.' I was kind of all for it. They were saying, 'I'm tired,' and I thought, I could probably use a nap, too.

"Sure enough I wake up from a nap and have a bunch of text messages. I turn on the TV ... it was just a twist of fate. It's definitely something that's hard to think about it.

Budaj will be getting the nod tonight.

The Montreal Canadiens will give struggling goaltender Carey Price a rest when they face the first-place team in the NHL's Eastern Conference.

Veteran backup Peter Budaj will get the start when the Canadiens try to stop a two-game losing run against the Penguins in Pittsburgh on Wednesday night.

Coach Michel Therrien explained the move Tuesday by saying he has "two good goalies" and likes to use them both.