10 games on the schedule tonight. I can either mail in the 2 points (see Senators, Ottawa) or stay up and put in the effort to run-down each game.. In this case I think you have to ask yourself, "What would Robert Reichel do?"
OK fine, I'll write...
***
Los Angeles 4, San Jose 2
Due to an injury in the pre-game warmup to Cloutier, we saw Barry Brust get his first NHL start - and his first NHL win.
I wonder who was the emergency backup tonight - Hextall or Ranford?
No word on the severity of Cloutier's injury but if it is anything serious they'll be in a tough position. Garon is week-to-week and Labarbera is stuck in the minors. Something needs to be done about these waiver rules - it's hurting players like Labarbera whose team won't call him up for fear that another team will claim him (which they probably would).
19-year old Anze Kopitar continued to impress, scoring a pair of goals. I give all the credit to Nik Antropov for allowing him to fall to the Kings at #11. He's the guy who completely scared off teams from drafting players from small countries early in the first round.
***
Vancouver 3, Calgary 1
An important win for the up and down Canucks.
After all the talk about moving Morrison I think the Canucks are probably happy he's still there. Outside of the twins and Naslund, he's still their next best offensive threat.
Bieksa led the Canucks with 26:32 TOI and an impressive 8 SOG.
In injury news, Hamrlik left the game in the second and didn't return while (All-star) Rory Fitzpatrick came back for the Canucks.
***
Phoenix 5, Columbus 4 (SO)
J.R. = Just Retire.
Jeremy, I've been a huge fan of yours throughout your career. Last season when the Kings were in Toronto you flipped me a puck during the warmup while I was down by the glass taking pictures and I think it's great how you love the game and interact with the fans. When you admittedly showed up for camp out of shape, complained all year about your skates and refused to take accountability for the lack of production, I didn't pass judgement - despite the fact that you earned $5 million which prevented the Kings from being able to make moves to improve the team. I know it's always tough for a star athlete to admit when their skills have deteriorated and to walk away from the game they love. But if you don't see anything wrong with leaving your TEAMMATES and the organization that is paying you to go have dinner and some beers, just because 99 is resting you for a game, that's not acceptable in my opinion. The Coyotes brought you in to be a leader. You have 485 career goals and 1148 points. Please try and go out with grace so people can remember the elite power forward who once had three straight 100+ point seasons and not the guy who abandoned his team because he was pissed off.
(END OF RANT)
Credit to Wayne for making the tough move and benching JR for this one.
The Swedish backup beat the Finnish backup tonight.
Two stars from days gone by each scored shorthanded (Nolan and Fedorov).
***
Edmonton 3, Minnesota 1
Edmonton used their speed to take over this game in the third period.
I'm sure there's always a little extra pride on the line to play for when Dwayne meets Manny.
Good news, Hemsky skated today and is getting closer to returning (still a few games away though).
***
NY Rangers 5, Dallas 2
Henrik faced his twin brother Joel for the first time tonight.
New York's Lundqvist stopped 43 shots. Dallas' played just 5:44 and didn't show up on the stat sheet.
Bubbles started for the Stars but couldn't stop the streaking Rangers (who have now won 5 in a row).
The Rangers scored five times and Jagr, Shanahan, Nylander and Straka didn't have any of them.
***
Detroit 3, Chicago 2
Hasek played well against his former team, where he started out. What's your favorite Hasek in Chicago memory?
The Wings are playing guys like Cleary, Filppula, Franzen, Kopecky, Lebda, Lilja and Meetch - and still winning like the teams that had Yzerman, Shanahan, etc.
Kopecky broke his collarbone late in the third and will be out for three months. Kopecky had a goal in 26 games so they'll need somebody to pickup the slack there.
Havlat was very quiet tonight, marking the second game in a row that he went scoreless. Teams are certainly gameplanning around Havlat which means he'll have to compete hard night in and night out to remain successful.
Cleary now was a seven game point streak - I'll have more on his story in the next couple days..
***
Nashville 6, Ottawa 0
What's wrong with the Sens?
1. They're missing Redden and Alfredsson
2. Zdeno Chara >>>>>>>>>>>> Joe Corvo
3. Lack of secondary scoring on most nights
4. Inconsistent goaltending
5. Leadership - I'm just not seeing enough heart from this group
In the last 9 days the Sens have given up six goals and lost to Washington, Columbus AND Nashville.
Steve Sullivan had a natural hat trick in his first game back in the lineup. He's just so fast, creative and has great hands - the Leafs could use an exciting player like Sul..never mind.
Radulov notched #10, added an assist, was +2 and played over 14 min. He's definitely a candidate for tonight's Yachmenev.
Watch out for the Preds in the West. VERY quietly they are third overall in the league with 43 points. And Vokoun should be back soon..
***
Montreal 4, Tampa Bay 2
Habs got two first goals of the season (Streit and Lapierre), two shorthanded goals (Streit and Koivu), two guys from Koivu and three points from Souray.
Tampa had three players who played under three minutes of ice time. May as well just let them leave and go out for dinner if they're not going to play.
Huet was fantastic yet again.
St. Louis, Lecavalier and Richards have 50% of Tampa's goals this year. Richards has now scored in four straight.
TSN is reporting that Higgins will return this weekend. Great news for a team that may still make a run at the Sabres for the division title.
***
Boston 5, New Jersey 3
The "National Treasure" (Daisuke Matsuzaka) was on hand for the ceremonial faceoff tonight. The puck seemed to be spinning with a strange rotation and it dropped at least a couple feet.
Clemmensen finally got a start for New Jersey and the Devils gave up a season high 45 shots. In Brodeur's 28 starts they've only given up 30+ six times - I thought you're supposed to play tighter defensively when you're starting a backup goalie (especially one who is rusty)?
Bergeron and Boyes both had big nights - the Leafs could use a young player like Boye.. never mind (OK I'm going to stop now, seriously).
Chara played over 30 minutes. He's having quite the impact thus far..
***
Buffalo 2, Florida 1
The Panthers really outplayed Buffalo (outshooting them 33-16) but could only beat Ryan Miller once.
I think a lot of people forget that Afinogenov was rumored to be in the block with little interest after failing to surpass the 40 point barrier during his first five years in the league. Even Axl knows that all you need is just a little patience (speaking of Axl, how many Tuesdays are left in 06?)
Buffalo's PP unit which has been really struggling, came through with a big goal tonight. It's proof that no matter how much talent you have, over the course of an 82-game season, every team will have special teams difficulties.
Buffalo got Drury and Numminen back and are now 14-2 in one-goals games.
***
In other news...
Leclair is free to sign with anyone. Since cap room isn't an issue for the Penguins then it's a good move for them (saves $). It's too bad that with the new economic system we'll have veteran players who will be ending their careers on a similar note.
Someone should call up the guy who wrote "Boy at Leafs Camp". I have a great idea for a book - "Snitch at Cowboys Camp".
I think last year's Christmas episode of The Office was a bit better than tonight's but there were some classic moments like Kevin signing Alanis Morrisette's "You Oughta Know" - a song that was rumored to be about one of Felix Potvin or Dave Coulier.
I'm not feeling these new NHL commercials, the ones with Thornton buttering bread and Richards/Lecavalier playing video games followed by 3 seconds of hockey footage. Sell the game by selling the GAME.
Iverson is still in play and could go any day now. I said it a few days ago - it's strange how Philly stars all seems to leave on bad terms..
Bettman is apparently meeting with Bertuzzi and Steve Moore's agents in an attempt to help reach a settlement. For the sake of the game let's home that they can figure out something that is fair for everyone so this story can finally be put to rest.
Another day, another NFL arrest. It's so strange how nobody seems to care about these stories that have become far too frequent.
Tonight's NFL game in the rain was a bit of a bore. With Smith and Gore the Niners are definitely moving in the right direction now - finally. Unfortunately for Seattle they are moving the other way. After losses to Arizona and San Francisco they now face the Chargers next week.
Sportsnet is reporting that the Jays' Vernon Wells is close to signing Toronto's offer of $126 mil, instead of becoming a free agent next summer when he could have made between $170-200 mil. If true, this will be a huge move for the franchise - now they just need some pitchers..
They are also reporting that David Beckham may be coming to the MLS as soon as January, which will give soccer's profile a huge boost in the US.
Nightly awards
Vitali Yachmenev rookie of the night award:
BARRY BRUST
Dmitri Khristich nightly leadership award:
STEVE SULLIVAN
Allan Bester goalie of the night award:
HENRIK LUNDQVSIT
Aki-Petteri Berg top defenseman trophy:
SHELDON SOURAY
Bruce Shoebottom unsung hero award:
MATT CULLEN
Andre Racicot red light special award:
RAY EMERY
Have a great Friday,
Danny Tolensky -
[email protected] 
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