9:47 PM: Ilya Kovalchuk hasn't scored in 7 games, and was criticized heavily for his gaffe in the shootout against Buffalo - he made up for it tonight...a blast that Dubnyk never saw until it was behind him...heard the "clink" of the crossbar, though...hard to believe, but the Devils win just their first game of the season at home...4-3 the final...Oilers get a point...

Edmonton plays a matinee against the Rangers on Sunday, New Jersey heads to Boston for a game Monday...

Movie night in Adam's basement...coming up...

9:43 PM: 2:19 remaining...Dustin Penner goes to the penalty box for a trip...4 on 3 for New Jersey...

A lot has happened since I last had a chance to really sit down and blog...Sidney Crosby got in a fight with Matt Tiskanen (you probably saw the picture on the front page last week)...Joe Thornton fell victim of the new headshots rule and served a 2 game suspension...Brian McGrattan ran his mouth off against former team mate Chris Neil...Ryan Smyth played game #1,000...and, just today, we learned that Calgary's head coach Brent Sutter was involved in a bar fight in Phoenix...(Flames are playing the Dogs tonight)...and as I mentioned earlier, the Oilers went into Chicago and won their 2nd game in a row against the defending champions, only to get run out of the rink in Carolina and Detroit...they're holding their own tonight, but there's still time left...

But probably the biggest hockey story over the last week is the announcement by the NHL that they're now going to allow NHL Captains to name the majority of the All-Star game rosters...fan voting will determine the top 6 players, and the rest will go to a Captains' vote...interesting concept, and in all fairness, it should put an end to fans trying to stack players from their team (do you hear me Montreal?)...should also put a stop to getting players on the ballot that have no business being there...

Oh yeah...and how about those Toronto Maple Leafs?!?!  What a difference a month makes...a week into the season fans were already planning the parade route...now, not so much...now they're calling for Brian Burke's head...things seemed to go south in a hurry after John Tavares ended the winning streak with an overtime goal for the Islanders...hasn't gone much better for the Buds ever since...not long after the Tavares goal came the 2-0 shutout in Boston where Bruins fans were chanting "Thank You Kessel"...not long after that, Dion Phaneuf went down with a leg laceration in a game against their provincial rivals from Ottawa...this week they've been outscored 8-1 in two games in Florida...when it rains, it pours in Toronto...all of a sudden they're tied in points with...get this...Buffalo...OUCH!!!

In the meantime, the Northeast has seen an improved Ottawa Senators tie up with Boston (big game tomorrow to break the tie), and Montreal continues to roll atop the division...

Looking like we might be headed to another shootout at the Rock...there's 3 minutes left in OT...

9:21 PM: Big finish coming up in Newark...another 1st NHL goal - this time for Mattias Tedenby, on the power play...it's tied 3-3...moments earlier, Devan Dubnyk robbed him of an even prettier goal...

9:13 PM: Catching the Edmonton-New Jersey game tonight - couple of teams looking to turn their early season misfortunes around...something's got to give right!?  It's 3-2 Oil with 11 minutes left in the 3rd period...and the Devils pressing...Oilers are coming off two straight routs - 7-1 in Carolina, 6-2 in Detroit last night...Devils lost in a shootout against Buffalo on Wednesday - if you want a lesson in what NOT to do in a shootout, watch Ilya Kovalchuk's shootout attempt from that game...yikes!!!...tonight, Colin Fraser scored the first two goals of the game, Alex Vasyunov, called up from Albany, has scored his first NHL goal...Brian Rolston has his first of the year after being sidelined with a hernia...Sam Gagner has the potential GWG...Shawn Horcoff is out with a lower body injury (they're saying thigh), and Jamie Langenbrunner has an unspecified upper body ailment...nice tilt in the 2nd period between Zack Stortini and David Clarkson...Clarkson got the instigator...

More to come later...

So here we are, Remembrance Day...

Funny how every time I try to find time to blog lately, I never seem to get around to it...but a day like today reminds us that we need to be grateful that we can do things like Blog, like live a normal life...

So if you get a chance today, buy a poppy, thank a veteran/member of the military and take a minute to reflect on how good we have it...seriously...

I'll be slowly catching up with things as we go along here - plenty of things I have to talk about, the Sid fight, the Joe suspension, and Leafs skid notwithstanding...lots to say, not a lot of time to say it, but in due time, I'll be here...

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