(SJSharkTank / Creative Commons)

The playoffs have reached a boiling point as players continue to give it their all on the ice. This week we were privy to a face off brawl, unreal goals, and brilliant saves. Although the results of the playoff race are still uncertain, one thing is clear: this hockey season is about to get interesting. Let's take a look at this week's hardest hits, the greatest goals, and the most super saves. 

Hard Hits

Mikhail Grabovski

Mikhail Grabovski of the Toronto Maple Leafs flattens New Jersey Devils’ Anton Volchenkov as they go racing into the Devils’ zone.

Ryan Hamilton

Toronto Maple Leafs’ Ryan Hamilton delivers this monstrous hit on Brandon Prust of the New York Rangers immediately upon leaving the penalty box.

Mike Blunden and Erik Karlsson

Initially, Erik Karlsson of the Ottawa Senators checks Montreal Canadiens into the boards and continues on his way. Blunden waited for Karlsson to receive the puck, and proceeded to send him flying to the ice, which caused an immediate dog-pile fight between the teams.

Great Goals

Martin Havlat

St. Patrick’s Day brought luck to the San Jose Sharks as they went head-to-head with one of their archrivals, the Detroit Red Wings. As the five minutes of a scoreless overtime ticked by, fans began to draft up who they hoped to see in the shootout. With less than a minute left in overtime, San Jose’s Marty Havlat fought through a dog pile of Red Wings and Sharks players and chipped the puck in past Detroit’s goalie Jimmy Howard, to notch a badly needed win for his team.

Shea Weber

Nashville’s 25-year-old superstar defenseman proved he is worth his one-year, $7.5 million contract when he sniped the puck past Chicago Blackhawk’s goaltender Corey Crawford off the faceoff. A moment of stunned silence permeated throughout the crowd as the Predators celebrated the impressive goal that marked Weber’s 15th goal of the season.

Sidney Crosby

Sidney Crosby is back in action. The NHL’s wonder-boy scored for the second game in a row in the Pittsburgh Penguins game versus the New Jersey Devils. Crosby received the puck and soared down the ice in this beautiful breakaway goal.

Super Saves

Thomas Greiss

San Jose’s Thomas Greiss makes this beautiful save after replacing starting goalie Antti Niemi. Ultimately, the save provided false hope for San Jose, as the Sharks went on to lose the incredibly important game versus the Ducks, furthering talk that they will not make it to the playoffs this year.

Martin Brodeur

Martin Brodeur of the New Jersey Devils’ continues to prove his veteran status with this unbelievable glove save on Pittsburgh Penguins’ veteran Pascal Depuis. In just the blink of an eye one can miss Brodeur’s swift moves.

Jonathan Quick

The Los Angeles Kings are currently battling for a spot in the postseason, and goalie Jonathan Quick is making that battle a whole lot easier. Quick made two jaw-dropping saves this past week: one versus the St. Louis Blues and the other versus the Boston Bruins. Should the Kings make the playoffs this acrobatic goalie promises to produce more stellar save such as these.

Bonus: Rangers vs. Devils

The talk of the NHL this week was the line-on-line fight that erupted at the opening faceoff between the New York Rangers and the New Jersey Devils. This incident even sparked some choice words between Rangers coach John Tortorella and New Jersey’s coach Peter DeBoer.

Lauren can be reached via twitter and email.