Tonight's TV Void

Tonight marks the first of three potential off-days for the NHL's conference finals. (The other two are Memorial Day Monday and next Thursday, May 28) -- a rarity for the NHL, which usually has games nearly every day throughout the playoffs (excluding the finals). The bigger breaks between games is straight out of the NBA's book and reeks TV-determined scheduling.

There's also another factor working here. The Stanley Cup finals don't start until June 5, and the NHL is trying to stretch out the conference finals to lessen the break between rounds. That's created quiet nights like tonight, when the NBA gets center stage while the NHL is dormant.

With all of the troubles the NHL has experienced in competing with the NBA's ratings, it would behoove the NHL to avoid such occurances in future years. Yes, it's important to have games on NBC (that's all of the finals games, not just most of them) -- but taking NBA-like breaks between games ruins any momentum that the NHL has built.