For a few brief, progressive moments, as the Stanley Cup playoffs stirred toward the final round, it looked that common sense may be blooming in the NHL. Tampa Bay, an astoundingly strong contender in the playoffs as it was, stunned the Boston Bruins in Game One of the Eastern Conference finals without a street assault in sight. There had been one goalie-interference penalty called and a couple of dives, but no atrocities.

Could it be that hockey at its top would be accessible on our television screens?

The Bruins did what they regularly do when things are not going their way: They resorted to thuggery. They were not alone. Vancouver, loaded with talent, has been the overall favorite to win the Cup since the playoffs started. Its adversary in the Western finals decided to even the ice. Dany Heatley of the Sharks was penalized 2 times in 2 games for elbowing brutal weapons, those elbows.

Not only do the Lords of Hockey reject to confess they have a major problem on their hands, they act as if it’s not a lethal one. Two weeks before Derek Boogaard, the New York Rangers enforcer, just twenty eight years old, died in his sleep. Less than a year ago, Bob Probert, for more than a decade the leading battler in the league before he retired, died under similar conditions.

The families of both players donated their brains to medical science. It might be a long time before the researchers reach a conclusion about whether the savage way Probert and Boogaard played the game contributed to their demise, though Boogaard's death was ruled an accident.