This article is part of our The Daily Puck series.
The Daily Puck
by Kevin King
- They're kicking it pretty old school in the Southeast Division these days. Seems like when any of those guys get on the ice together it turns into the NHL of the 1980's. The Canes and Lightning were at it again, putting up 10 goals in a crazy end-to-end game on Saturday night.
- Staying in the Southeast Division, the Falcons' loss on Saturday night won't help the mood in Atlanta, where
exactly 13 people are also pretty upset that the Thrashers look to be falling apart.
- Sticking with depressed fan bases - the Islanders' John Tavares isn't even old enough to go have a few beers to celebrate his natural hat trick against the Sabres on Saturday night!
Ottawa (Brian Elliott) vs. Washington (Michal Neuvirth), 3 p.m
Ottawa injuries:
Alexei Kovalev (RW) - Out; not expected to return until later in the week
Pascal Leclaire (G) - Out; remains sidelined with lower body injury. Could possibly return this week, but it won't be Sunday.
Washington injuries:
Alexander Semin (LW) - Won't play Sunday due to thigh injury. Coach Bruce Boudreau hasn't been very clear on a timetable for Semin, only saying he'll miss the €œnext little bit.€�
Tom Poti (D) - Out for Sunday, and again, the Caps have been vague about when to expect Poti to return to the ice.
Eric Fehr (RW) - Out and could miss up to a month after leaving Friday night's game
The Daily Puck
by Kevin King
- They're kicking it pretty old school in the Southeast Division these days. Seems like when any of those guys get on the ice together it turns into the NHL of the 1980's. The Canes and Lightning were at it again, putting up 10 goals in a crazy end-to-end game on Saturday night.
- Staying in the Southeast Division, the Falcons' loss on Saturday night won't help the mood in Atlanta, where
exactly 13 people are also pretty upset that the Thrashers look to be falling apart.
- Sticking with depressed fan bases - the Islanders' John Tavares isn't even old enough to go have a few beers to celebrate his natural hat trick against the Sabres on Saturday night!
Ottawa (Brian Elliott) vs. Washington (Michal Neuvirth), 3 p.m
Ottawa injuries:
Alexei Kovalev (RW) - Out; not expected to return until later in the week
Pascal Leclaire (G) - Out; remains sidelined with lower body injury. Could possibly return this week, but it won't be Sunday.
Washington injuries:
Alexander Semin (LW) - Won't play Sunday due to thigh injury. Coach Bruce Boudreau hasn't been very clear on a timetable for Semin, only saying he'll miss the €œnext little bit.€�
Tom Poti (D) - Out for Sunday, and again, the Caps have been vague about when to expect Poti to return to the ice.
Eric Fehr (RW) - Out and could miss up to a month after leaving Friday night's game with a shoulder injury.
Vancouver (Cory Schneider) vs. Minnesota (Anton Khudobin), 6 p.m
Vancouver injuries:
Alexandre Bolduc (C) - Probable for Sunday after leaving Friday night's game with an upper body injury that didn't appear to be worrisome.
Aaron Rome (D) - Out for three weeks with sprained knee
Minnesota injuries:
Niklas Backstrom (G) - Out for Sunday but did fully participate in Saturday's practice and should be all set for Minnesota's next game on Tuesday.
Jose Theodore (G) - Out with a hip injury.
Marco Scandella (D) - Out for Sunday after sustaining a nasty gash to his right ear that required 25 stitches in Friday night's loss to Colorado.
Philadelphia (Sergei Bobrovsky) vs. N.Y Rangers (Martin Biron), 7:00 p.m
Philadelphia injuries:
Chris Pronger (D) - Out for Sunday but has returned to practice and is targeting Tuesday night's game against Washington to return from the foot injury that has kept him out for the last month.
N.Y Rangers injuries:
Ryan Callahan (RW) - Out with hand injury and won't return until after the All-Star break.
Derek Boogaard (LW) - Out with shoulder injury with coach John Torterella saying on Wednesday that Boogaard may not be back this season.
Nashville (Anders Lindback) vs. Chicago (Corey Crawford, 7:00 p.m
Nashville injuries:
Shane O'Brien (D) - Will sit out the second game of his two-game suspension on Sunday night.
Steve Sullivan (LW) - Out with lower body injury, and will not accompany the Preds on the 10-day road trip that starts on Sunday night.
Chicago injuries:
Nick Boynton (D) - Questionable for Sunday night as he battles to overcome the flu.
Edmonton (Nikolai Khabibulin) vs. Anaheim (Jonas Hiller), 8:00 p.m
Edmonton injuries:
Gilbert Brule (C) - Out for Sunday night with ankle injury.
Shawn Horcoff (LW) - Out with knee injury but could return this week after being sidelined since early December.
Anaheim injuries:
Ryan Getzlaf (C) - Remains out with sinus fracture.
TRANSACTIONS
Robert Lehner (G) - Reassigned to Binghamtom (AHL) by Ottawa
Dustin Jeffrey (LW) - Recalled to Pittsburgh from Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (AHL)
Andrew Gordon (RW) - Recalled by Washington from Hershey (AHL)
Thomas McCollum (G) - Recalled by Detroit from Grand Rapids (AHL)
Tomas Tatar (LW) - Recalled by Detroit from Grand Rapids (AHL)
Matt Hackett (G) - Assigned to Houston (AHL) by Minnesota
AROUND THE LEAGUE
Who's Hot
Daniel Briere (C/RW) Philadelphia- It looks like Danny Briere took some inspiration in the All-Star snub he was given earlier in the week. Briere has three goals and four assists in the last three games for the Flyers.
Lubomir Visnovsky (D) Anaheim - With an assist on Saturday night, Visnovsky got his name on the scoresheet for the fourth straight game. He has a goal and six assists over that stretch, making him easily the hottest fantasy blueliner going right now, and with the Oilers on tap Sunday night, there's no reason to think he won't extend his streak to five straight.
Jussi Jokinen (LW) Carolina - Jokinen capped off a huge week for his owners with two goals and an assist on Saturday night. In his last five games, the Finnish winger has five goals and five helpers while carrying a plus-6.
Who's Cold
Chris Drury (C) N.Y Rangers - It's been a really, really rough go for Drury, who is 0-for-January in the points category. Pretty rough if you had Drury stashed away on your roster in hopes that he'd come off of injury and light it up.
Brooks Orpik (D) Pittsburgh - Orpik hasn't scored in over a month for the Pens, and while nobody expected him to become the next Ray Borque, there was reason to believe that Orpik would be better offensively this season. He had 23 assists last season, and he'll be lucky to hit half that number this year.
Recommended Pickup
Tuomo Ruutu (LW) Carolina - If Ruutu is available in your league, grab him...now. The Canes are rolling offensively, and most likely you have a winger to spare on your roster. Ruutu has four goals and eight assists in January alone.
