Here are your Evening Puck Headlines and Preview: A glorious collection of news and views collected from the greatest blogosphere in sports and the few, the proud, the mainstream hockey media.
• YouTube legend "DayWalk3r" sent this clip along, which shows a much-discussed (on the Interwebs) hit by Anaheim Ducks defenseman Chris Pronger on Pavel Datsyuk of the Detroit Red Wings from Wednesday night's game.
No injury, no penalty ... but what do you think about this one, in light of our discussion earlier today and in light of who is doing the hitting? Because The Two-Line Pass believes "Chris Pronger should be fired into the sun."
• Eric McErlain reports that Alexander Ovechkin will be back in D.C. on Sunday after visiting his ailing grandfather in Russia, and details a crazy KHL game Ovie attended that was cut short after military flares were set off in the arena. [FanHouse]
• Three bits of Puck Daddy house cleaning: Please remember our Florida Panthers ticket contest is running through Nov. 5; please note that our first Reader Comment Awards will be published on Saturday; and please check out Puck Daddy Friday morning for a really, really killer interview. Thanks again for reading. On to the 23,000 previews for tonight's action.
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Preview: Montreal Canadiens at Minnesota Wild (8 p.m. EDT; TV: RDS, KSTC). Clash of the titans here. The Wild finally lost a game in regulation last night in Dallas. Michael Russo stirs the pot by asking Saku Koivu if he'd like to play with Mikko Koivu next season. We go to Four Habs Fans for this kind of analysis: "The Koivus have faced each other twice in the past, with Koivu getting two assists in those games while Koivu has been held pointless."
Preview: Detroit Red Wings at San Jose Sharks (10:30 p.m. EDT; TV: FSD, CSBA). Man, what a fun game. Lingering animosity, two teams on a roll right now -- San Jose's off to the best start in franchise history -- and, of course, the first regular season battle between former Wings assistant and current Sharks Coach Todd McLellan against his former team. McLellan: "A lot of things that I brought with me from Detroit, we're trying to play that way, so we'll see who can do it better."
Preview: Atlanta Thrashers at New York Rangers (7 p.m. EDT; TV: SS, MSG). The Rangers attempt to extend their preposterously good start against the struggling Thrash, shaking up their lines a bit. The Rangers traded away Hugh Jessiman to the Nashville Predators today for futures. The Rangers do a lot of things well; drafting in the first round isn't one of them.
Preview: Tampa Bay Lightning at Buffalo Sabres (7 p.m. EDT; TV: SUN, MSG). Center Paul Gaustad will play tonight for the Sabres, while Craig Rivet and Henrick Tallinder are skating again. Something doesn't seem right with the world when the Sabres are healthy. Go, go Stamkos! The drive for Point Deux is on!
Preview: New York Islanders at Philadelphia Flyers (7 p.m. EDT; TV: MSG, CSP). Are the Flyers now relegated to No. 3 status in Philadelphia after the Phillies' World Series win? Oh, and Rick DiPietro is now in IR, per Chris Botta. So long fantasy league, hello booze.
Preview: Ottawa Senators at Florida Panthers (7:30 p.m. EDT; TV: FSFL, NHLN). Despite having played a bizonkers game against Ottawa last time out, Craig Anderson rides the pine and Tomas Vokoun will start against some other crappier goalie. Sens fans are really impressed with the hometown discount Daniel Alfredsson gave Ottawa.
Preview: Edmonton Oilers at Nashville Predators (8 p.m. EDT; TV: OPPV, FSS). Lowetide loves what it's seeing out of the Edmonton defense these days, and the Predators' defense is really quite good, too. The way these two teams play, this could be one that you check on Center Ice once or twice tonight. And not just because we may have a helping of delicious Pekka Rinne tonight.
Preview: Carolina Hurricanes at St. Louis Blues (8:30 p.m. EDT; TV: FSS, FSMW). Wow, there's still a ton of Rod Brind'Amour nostalgia in St. Louis: "Brind'Amour turned 38 in August. Remember when he was a pimply-faced 19-year-old when he made his debut for the Blues back in 1989-90? That's a lot of $9 beers ago."
Preview: Columbus Blue Jackets at Colorado Avalanche (9 p.m. EDT; TV: FSOH, ALT). Besides the fact that Andrew Raycroft is in goal and Rick Nash is (ugh) playing center, one extra bit of intrigue tonight: The return of first game between the traitorous Adam Foote to Columbus and the Blue Jackets since getting traded last season. (Ed. Note: Had the home team wrong at first. Apologies.)
Preview: Boston Bruins at Calgary Flames (9 p.m. EDT; TV: NESN, RSW). Goalie Tim Thomas appears to be getting the start again after back-to-back shutouts. Should be a good chess match (or snoozer, depending on how you feel about these things) between Mike Keenan and Claude Julien.
Preview: Pittsburgh Penguins at Phoenix Coyotes (10 p.m. EDT; TV: FSPI, FSAZ). Maxime Talbot and Hal Gill should be back tonight for the Penguins, who are going to reveal their Winter Classic-inspired alternate jersey next week. In case you missed it, Phoenix is worth about as much as a Dan Cloutier second-year card.
Preview: Vancouver Canucks at Los Angeles Kings (10:30 p.m. EDT; TV: CPPV, FSW). Finally, two teams hoping to get to the .500 mark. Some lineup changes for the Canucks, as they face a Kings team with a reunited O'Sullivan-Kopitar-Brown line.
• Wow, that was a lot of previews. This deserves a mental health break. Thank you, cheerleaders at the IIHF Champions Hockey League Group C match between Slovan Bratislava and Salavat Yulagev at the Samsung Arena in Bratislava, Slovakia. Thank you very much:
