Here are your Evening Puck Headlines and Previews: A glorious collection of news and views collected from the greatest blogosphere in sports and the few, the proud, the mainstream hockey media.
• Reader comment awards on Sunday. Let's see how much we can get away with.
• Terrific bit of stathead nirvana over on TSN, as Scott Cullen breaks down the top lines in the NHL this season based on a minimum of 400 shifts together. Alexander Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom and Alexander Semin rank first; but the Sharks' stellar trio of Patrick Marleau, Joe Thornton and Devin Setoguchi only rates fourth. Why? Three reasons: Detroit, Red and Wings. [TSN]
• Remember that incident we covered between the Oshawa Generals and the Kingston Frontenacs? Well, the Ontario Hockey League has suspended Oshawa's James DeLory for 12 games for his attack on Nathan Moon; nothing for Moon for instigating the attack, however. [CP]
Preview: Detroit Red Wings at Columbus Blue Jackets (7 p.m. EST; TV: FSD, FSOH). So the big news here should be the return of Calder favorite Steve Mason between the pipes for the Jackets. And it would be if not for the fact that the Chris Osgood Reclaiming the Throne Tour 2009 is hitting Columbus this evening for the Wings.
Preview: Boston Bruins at New Jersey Devils (7 p.m. EST; TV: NESN, MSG+). Scott Clemmensen takes on Tim Thomas in this battle of conference powers. The Bruins' power play is in a bit of a rut, going without a goal in five of their last six games. Doesn't mean it won't be firing on all cylinders tonight; if Chico Resch can get an Emmy nomination, anything is possible. (We kid because we love.)
Sports
Preview: New York Rangers at Florida Panthers (7:30 p.m. EST; TV: MSG, FSFL). Reasons why we love Steve Zipay of Newsday: In a column about the Rangers needing to match the torrid pace they set to close out last season, he just casually drops this nugget about Sean Avery: "Can't specify when Avery could make his home debut -- in fact, a team like Pittsburgh, we hear, might claim him on recall waivers." Uh ... come again?
• Speaking of Avery: He'll hit the ice again for the first time since his "sloppy seconds" suspension on Saturday night with the Hartford Wolfpack, who might experience a slight uptick in media coverage. [Sportsnet]
• Bobby Ryan of the Anaheim Ducks offers some advice and analysis to demoted Kyle Turris of the Phoenix Coyotes. Pierre Lebrun sees their situations as similar; we think Phoenix might have been expecting a faster maturation from Turris than the Ducks of Ryan, no? [ESPN]
• The Alaska Avalanche and Fairbanks Ice Dogs will play the first-ever NAHL outdoor hockey game tonight in Fairbanks. And none other than America's most famous hockey mom will be there to drop the first puck. Somewhere, Manny Legace silently weeps. [WCHBlog]
Preview: San Jose Sharks at Buffalo Sabres (7:30 p.m. EST; TV: CSBA, MSG ). Sabres players and coaches were justifiably freaked out by the tragic plane crash that's dominated the news, including Teppo Numminen who heard the thing go down. The Sharks, meanwhile, landed in Buffalo just hours before the crash. Should be a peculiar night at the rink.
Preview: Chicago Blackhawks at St. Louis Blues (8:30 p.m. EST; TV: CSNC, FSMW, Yahoo! Sports). The Blackhawks end their longest road trip of the season in St. Louis. Meanwhile, don't judge the Blues by their looks; it's what's inside that counts. Like that girl who takes off her glasses and her paint-covered overalls and becomes prom queen.
• Could Mike Green hit 50 goals in a season during his career? [THN]
• Mikhail Grabovski and Jason Blake have a little skirmish on the ice for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Over the merits of "Confessions of a Shopaholic," no doubt. [Sportsnet]
Preview: Vancouver Canucks at Dallas Stars (8:30 p.m. EST; TV: RSW, FSSW). From the Dallas Stars Blog: "The Stars are 4-1-0 on Friday the 13th since moving to Dallas in 1993, including a win in the 2007 playoffs at Vancouver (the last time the Stars played on a Friday the 13th)." The Canucks are looking for their fifth-straight win.
Preview: Montreal Canadiens at Colorado Avalanche (9 p.m. EST; TV: TSN, RDS). Jaroslav Halak gets the call tonight for Montreal, as Carey Price is given some sound advice on how to turn around his season. The good news is that no matter how bad your goaltending is, you're playing the Avalanche.
• You know, we named one of our reader comment awards after Tom Benjamin. His latest take on the salary cap and declining revenues is one reason why: "This CBA can't handle even moderate drops in revenue. A salary cap at $52 MM in 2010-11 will cause problems when a third of the players are already contracted to receive more than half the money available if everybody spent to the cap. There are solutions to the salary problem but they all involve Gary Bettman asking Paul Kelly to reopen an unworkable CBA. Call it Gary Bettman's nightmare." Killer stuff. [Canucks Corner, via. From the Rink]
• Finally, the new "Friday the 13th" hits theaters today, which presents a great opportunity to check out the Top 13 Scariest Masks in Sports History (H/T Puck Daddy reader Shane); as well as the original trailer for the original hockey-masked killer classic. Oh, that Mrs. Voorhees ... (some NSFW spookiness):
