With each passing game in these Stanley Cup playoffs, we learn something new about the teams, the players, the coaches and, even the fans.

On Thursday night, with two games (Hurricanes at Canadiens and Red Wings at Blues) on the schedule, we got a real education. So did the Canadiens.

The lesson is that referee Kerry Fraser will only take so much.

With Montreal leading, 3-0, early in the third period, Fraser whistled Habs defenseman Stephane Quintal for an obvious cross-checking penalty on Canes left winger Martin Gelinas. For some reason, the call sent Canadiens coach Michel Therrien off the deep end. The second-year coach began waving his arms and cursing at Fraser, who promptly busted Therrien with a two-minute bench penalty for abusing officials.

Of course, with a 5-on-3 advantage for a full two minutes, the Hurricanes scored to begin their monster comeback. Can you say, turning point?

This wasn't the first time in the playoffs that Fraser cracked the whip. Officiating Game 4 of the Leafs-Senators series in Ottawa, he whistled Bryan McCabe for unsportsmanlike conduct after the Leafs defenseman objected to a ruling.

I guess it's true. Those who don't learn from history are destined to repeat it.

We also learned that Therrien doesn't have a lot of faith in the defensive ability of center Yanic Perreault.

How did we come about this discovery? Well, why else would Perreault -- the league's top faceoff man -- be sitting on the Canadiens bench while Joe Juneau took several key defensive zone draws (against Rod Brind'Amour, the NHL's second best faceoff man) in the final two minutes of a one-goal game?

Remember, as the home team, the Canadiens had the last change.

Brind'Amour, who finished 0-2 in offensive zone faceoffs against Perreault, beat Juneau cleanly off the draw with just 58.1 seconds left in regulation. The 'Canes never lost possession of the puck and they tied the game 18 seconds later.

And, if we needed any further evidence, Therrien didn't send Perreault out to take a defensive-zone draw against Jeff O'Neill early in overtime. Instead, he went with his fourth line, centered by Bill Lindsay.

Yeah, you guessed it; O'Neill won the draw cleanly. And, about two seconds later, defenseman Niclas Wallin fired a wrist shot past screened Habs' goalie Jose Theodore. Game over.

Unfortunately, we recently learned that there are some serious morons going to hockey games in Montreal these days.

One of them threw a banana at Kevin Weekes after the Habs' 2-1 overtime win in Game 3 on Tuesday, literally hurling a racial slur at the Toronto-born goaltender. Sadly, no one turned in the person to security.

Also, after the Habs' OT loss in Game 4, another brilliant fan managed to shatter a pane of Plexiglas the Canes' net.

They may be isolated incidents, but they aren't happening at other NHL arenas.

Out west, we were sorry to learn that stud Blues defenseman Chris Pronger suffered a season-ending knee injury in Game 4 of their Western Conference semifinal series against the Red Wings.

In a perfect world, every team would have their full complement of players for each playoff game. But, as we've already learned, guys drop like a butterfly goalie in the postseason. Sometimes, a team can survive a major injury. Last season, the Avs were good enough to win two series and the Cup without Peter Forsberg. The Blues, though, aren't that good. Expect Detroit to finish off St. Louis on Saturday afternoon at the Joe.

And finally, upon checking the calendar, we discovered that Wings captain Steve Yzerman turned 37 on Thursday. Of course, after watching Stevie Y in action against the Blues in Game 4, we had to double check.

Yzerman, playing with a bad right knee, logged 24:51 minutes of ice time -- the most among all forwards in the game. He scored what turned out to be the game-winning goal (albeit a birthday gift from Blues goalie Brent Johnson), battled in every area of the ice and won 18 of 33 faceoffs.

After this physical tilt, Yzerman likely needed more than a couple of ice packs to soothe his wounds. But, Yzerman knows that's the price for victory in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

E.J. Hradek writes hockey for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail him at ej.hradek@espnmag.com.