WEEKEND LEFTOVERS

Here's some advice for any NBA or NHL team that is trailing their playoff series and playing tonight.

Hang a big "Mission Accomplished" banner from the scoreboard. That trick's bound to work sometime.

It was three years ago today that the Bush White House did just that and declared "major combat operations" over in Iraq. Since the: 2,261 U.S. soldiers have died. Good thing it was it wasn't "major combat operations," huh?

OK, that's enough with political announcements, although if someone wants to answer the question of how a Canadian government that's promising to be more open and accountable won't let the media see their new terror jail, be my guest.

By the way, I can't think of a better image for the Dubya era -- posing for a photo-op next to an ugly redneck in an uglier shirt while half of New Orleans was underwater.

NHL PLAYOFFS DAY 10

• SABRES 3 FLYERS 0 (Buffalo leads 3-2): Philly was, once again, unable to win in Buffalo. Funniest comment: Sabres goalie Ryan Miller afterward talked about the critics he's had to win over, including those who said he was too small. Miller is 6-foot-3. That didn't pass the smell test with TSN analyst Darren Pang, the 5-foot-4 former NHL 'tender. Now here's hoping Buffalo wraps it up tomorrow, since I said Buffalo in 6.
• AVS 3 STARS 2 (Colorado wins series 4-1): Score one for the new rules. On Andrew Brunette's game-winner, Joe Sakic cut toward the high slot on his backhand. Time was, the defender would have put the hook into me. This time, Dallas' Sergei Zubov couldn't, out of fear of drawing a penalty, even in overtime. Sakic was able to shove a shot toward then net, which became a great pass when Brunette cut it off and lobbed a shot over a fallen Marty Turco.
• 'CANES 2 HABS 2 (Carolina leads 3-2): Ironic, isn't it? Going into this series, one storyline was about the Swiss connection with the goalies -- the Habs' David Aebischer and Carolina's Martin Gerber are both from Switzerland, and Habs starter Cristobal Huet, a Frenchman, played there. Now the odd one out in the equation, Cam Ward of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, has stolen the show.
• SHARKS 2 PREDATORS 1 (San Jose wins 4-1): San Jose, who was in 10th place about six weeks ago, could end up becoming the top seed in the Western Conference if Edmonton finishes off Detroit and Anaheim comes back to beat Calgary. Crazy.
  
  DAY 11 LOOK AHEAD

• 8 p.m., RED WINGS AT OILERS (Edmonton leads 3-2): Here's some numbers for you: Edmonton's Dwayne Roloson and Detroit's Manny Legace have each allowed 14 goals in the series, but Roli the goalie has faced 202 shots to Legace's 126. I still say, however, Edmonton's going to have to win in Detroit one more time. The Oilers never do anything the easy way.
• 11 p.m., FLAMES AT DUCKS (Calgary leads 3-2): If I'm Ducks coach Randy Carlyle -- and this may surprise you, but I'm not -- Ilya Bryzgalov starts tonight and J.S. Giguere sits. Anaheim has outscored Calgary (not by much, 3-2, but a point's a point) when he's been in the net. I've said all along this series will go seven games, so I'm sticking to it, even if I doubt Anaheim will have much left in the tank for Game 7 on Wednesday. And pretty please with sugar on top, for the sake of us in the Eastern and Atlantic time zones, don't let this go into overtime.

OTHER BUSINESS

Here's the AL East standings this afternoon:

New York 13-10 .565 --
Boston 14-11 .560 --
Toronto 12-11 .522 1
Baltimore 13-13 .500 1 1/2
Tampa Bay 11-14 .440 3

• The Jays are 6-5 on their 15-game stretch against the AL East and probably need to win three out of four on this mini-trips to Baltimore and Boston. Taking two wins off the Orioles will be a tad easier now that Brian Roberts is on the disabled list, while Kevin Millar and Javy Lopez are also ailing. Who's going to DH for Baltimore now, Tommy Davis?
• As for the Boston trip, the pitching matchups are Roy Halladay-Matt Clement on Wednesday and Josh Towers-Lenny DiNardo on Thursday. Guess which one I'm a little more optimistic about. Go ahead, guess.
• I have to second what Chris Zelkovich of the Toronto Star wrote today -- NBC is doing a great job with the NHL playoffs, but too bad almost no one in America is watching.

See you after the games tonight.