We've covered this before here at Puck Drunk Love; the NHL previously announced that they would be holding six outdoor games next season instead of the usual one. We both believe that it waters down a very special event for the league to do this, and it basically boils down to a cash grab after a lockout shortened season. You have to be blind as a bat to believe that it's anything but.

Between the second and third periods at Chicago Blackhawks games, they play a little intermission game called "Shoot the Puck." You get a few chances to get the puck through one of the teeny holes in the wooden backstop and into the net; you do this, and you get a prize (!). It's more mini-golf than hockey, but it's still fun. Sometimes the Blackhawks will trot out celebs like Mr. T and Vince Vaughn to participate. Since last night was the first game of the playoffs, they trotted out Danica Patrick.

Patrick, who is known for being a NASCAR driver, expert scowler, Go Daddy Girl, and trailblazer for women in sports despite many other women drivers coming before her, made everyone else participating look like a schlub. She potted one on her first shot.

I loved her shrug at the end. "Eh, I'm ust Danica Patrick. I take left turns at 230 MPH an film terrible commercials every day, so this is no big shake."

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Poor Jonathan Quick. After he kept the Los Angeles Kings in a tightly contested Game 1 with the Blues for just over 73 minutes, he coughed up the puck behind the net, allowing Alexander Steen to pounce and score the winning goal for the Blues in OT. 

Quick appeared to be trying to pass the puck off of the boards and around Steen, but instead knocked the puck into Steen's stick, causing it to bounce off the boards and off of the back of the net. The rest is history as Steen buried his chance, sending Blues fans home happy in Game 1.

It's a pretty cruel ending for Quick. He made some miraculous stops throughout regulation. Had he not been as sharp, we might be talking about a lopsided result. Instead, he stood tall, robbing countless St. Louis opportunities. In a flash, it was all gone and forgotten. The man that kept the Kings in the game all night long suddenly gave it away, ending the game in heartbreaking fashion.

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It’s widely believed within the hockey community that TSN is a much better product than ESPN just on the basis of hockey coverage alone. Analysts like Bob McKenzie, Darren Dreger, James Duthie, and Aaron Ward provide the most comprehensive coverage of NHL that you’ll find anywhere. Before this year’s playoffs kicked off, the guys got together with some members of the Los Angeles Kings and created a parody of “The Hangover”. 

Hockey fans around the league are debating which man should take home the Hart Trophy, the award given to the player judged to be the most influential for his team during the regular season. Depending on your interpretation of the award, odds are you're torn between several worthy candidates. 

Which player would Wayne Gretzky pick if he was given the authority? According to a recent interview with Hockey Night in Canada radio, he'd hand the award to Alex Ovechkin.

On Monday evening, the fourteen teams who did not qualify for the NHL playoffs were placed in a lottery to determine the draft order in the 2013 NHL Draft. While the Edmonton Oilers have won the lottery each of the last three years, it was the Colorado Avalanche who won it this year, meaning they will have the first overall selection in the upcoming draft. The Florida Panthers, who had the worst record in the league and had the best odds to pick first, will pick second. From three to fourteen, the draft order matched the order that the teams finished in during the regular season.

Ilya Bryzgalov has had it with the media in Philadelphia. As the Flyers cleaned out their lockers following a disappointing season that ended with the team outside of the playoff picture, local media questioned Bryzgalov about being the man blamed for the poor season. 

Bryzgalov curtly responded by asking reporters, "What have you done for the city?"

Welcome to our final regular season installment of Hockey Fights of the Week. We'll have a "Best Fights of 2013" post coming in the near future, but this is our final regular column about the best fights in hockey now that the regular season has concluded. 

Did the final week of the regular season end with a bang? You better believe it. We saw some of the best fights of the season during the final few games on the schedule. This was one of the most difficult weeks to rank as numerous players left us with memorable fights before their year came to an end.

The Columbus Blue Jackets fell just short of a spot in the 2013 NHL playoffs. How close were they? As close as you can be without actually clinching a spot. The Blue Jackets ended the year with a 24-17-7 record and 55 points, matching the Minnesota Wild's total. Minnesota held the tiebreaker by having a larger number of wins in regulation and overtime, giving them the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. 

While there's bound to be disappointment in Columbus, fans should celebrate over the miraculous comeback the Blue Jackets had after a disastrous start to the season. More importantly, the team is in a much better spot now than they were a year or two ago, which should have fans optimistic for 2013-14. 

God love Don Cherry. You can think what you want about his taste in clothing, or his opinions on Europeans, or good ol' Ontario boys, but you have to admit that you would love to spend one day having his total lack of a filter. He just says whatever he wants to, Ron MacLean sits and grimaces, and then the second period of that evening's Hockey Night In Canada game starts. 

I, for one, would love to go about saying whatever I want while being labeled a national treasure.