NHL playoffs: 5 things to know for tonight

The Canucks and Flames, who have combined for 243 penalty minutes in three games, continue their nasty series in what promises to be an intense Game 4 in Calgary. Meanwhile, Chicago and the New York Islanders seek 3-1 leads in their respective series. In Detroit, the Red Wings have a few lineup changes planned for the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning.

Here's what you need to know for tonight's NHL playoff games:

Ready to rumble, again?

From the Whiteout in Winnipeg to the KO in Calgary? The Vancouver Canucks and hometown Flames are preparing for a critical Round 4, er, Game 4 (CBC, CBCSports.ca, 10 p.m. ET) after combining for 243 penalty minutes in the first-round series.

Calgary leads the way with 131 penalty minutes, but more importantly looks to take a 3-1 advantage in the best-of-seven Western Conference quarter-final. The Flames, no doubt led by Derek Engelland and Michael Ferlund (see below), plan to match the Canucks' intensity and suddenly aren't relying on just the top line of Jiri Hudler, Sean Monahan and Johnny Gaudreau for goals as 18-year-old rookie Sam Bennett has stepped up with Joe Colborne and Michael Backlund to form the best offensive line in the series.

Vancouver dodged a bullet as forward Alex Burrows won't be suspended after instigating a fight with Kris Russell with 95 seconds left in regulation in Game 3. Any instigator penalty called in the final five minutes carries an automatic one-game ban unless the NHL overrules it. However, Burrows won't play Tuesday after suffering an upper-body injury at the morning skate. He reportedly was moved from the dressing room to an ambulance on a stretcher and taken to hospital for precautionary reasons. Ex-Flames forward Sven Baertschi might suit up in Game 4 after the Canucks recalled him from Utica of the American Hockey League where he had seven goals and 15 points in as many games. Baertschi has two goals in three contests with Vancouver since it acquired him from Calgary for a 2015 second-round draft pick prior to the March 2 trade deadline.

Seeing less of Sedins

Willie Desjardins rolled four lines to a 101-point season with the Canucks, but isn't it time for the rookie NHL head coach to ramp up the ice time for Daniel and Henrik Sedin? The twins are playing nearly two minutes less than they did during the regular season. In Game 3 versus Calgary, Daniel played only 15 minutes five seconds, his fifth-lowest time in 85 games since training camp and well below his season average of 18:21. Henrik is averaging 16:51 in the series compared to 18:36 during the regular campaign.

Johnny be very good vs. Ovie

For all the flak Garth Snow has received over the years for questionable moves, the New York Islanders general manager hit a home run with last October's trade for defenceman Johnny Boychuk, who posted a career-high 35 points in the regular season. Now, the Edmonton native is showing off his defensive skills, having shut down Washington sniper Alex Ovechkin to help his team to a 2-1 series lead entering Tuesday's Game 4. Not only did Boychuk block three shots from this season's regular-season goal-scoring champion, he helped limit Ovechkin to three shots and blocked four others while playing a game- and season-high 26 minutes 23 seconds.

Washington centre Eric Fehr will miss the next two games with an upper-body injury. Rookie Andre Burakovsky will probably take his spot as the 20-year-old practised on a line with Evgeny Kuznetsov and Jason Chimera on Monday.

Red Wings to offer new look

Detroit plans to spread its offence in hopes of taking a 2-1 series lead against Tampa Bay. The return of forward Justin Abdelkader will enable Red Wings head coach Mike Babcock to split up top scorers Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk. At Monday's practice, Zetterberg skated between Gustav Nyquist and Abdelkader, while Datsyuk centred a line with Darren Helm and Tomas Tatar.

On the blue-line, Babcock will insert Brendan Smith into the lineup in place of rookie Alexey Marchenko and likely reunite him with Marek Zidlicky. Danny DeKeyser and Kyle Quincey would then play together like they have much of the season. Defenceman Jason Garrison (upper body) is out of Tampa's lineup.

Creating traffic

Corey Crawford has lost his starting job in goal for Chicago. Is Nashville's Pekka Rinne next? The Blackhawks took advantage of all-star defenceman Shea Weber's absence on the Predators' blue-line in Sunday's 4-2 win by getting bodies in front of Rinne and making him look vulnerable. Rinne, who sports a dismal .891 save percentage entering Tuesday's Game 4 in Chicago, didn't receive a lot of support from his defence, which will again be minus Weber (lower-body injury).

Backup Scott Darling returns to the Blackhawks' net after making 35 saves in Game 3.