On a political note, if the HST gets carried through – and it already passed a vote today – all of my stuff will have another 8% tax added to it. So if you can speak up, or fight it, by all means do so.

Rod Brind-Amour and Cam Ward will be back in tonight. Sergei Samsonov is injured.

Florida has recalled Shawn Matthias.

Some Washington news – Varlamov is day to day with a LBI, but Boudreau believes he will be back Saturday. Neuvirth was recalled. Also, the Caps have placed Nylander on waivers again.

Check that – Ebbett is out for next game. Concussion.

Ed Jovanovski has been suspended for two games for an elbow to the head of Andrew Ebbett. Ebbett is actually doubtful for next game.

The Sabres have recalled Nathan Gerbe. I wouldn’t expect anything out of him this season or next. I do think he will do well in two seasons, though.

Alex Goligoski may be ready to play tomorrow, but given the nature of his injury (groin), they may give him one more game off to make sure.

Here’s a bit of a lucky break in the DobberHockey Expert League – bidding for waiver wire pickups is due at noon every Tuesday. I have $60 left on the season and I bid $7 on Rick DiPietro. I don’t need a goalie, I have Lundqvist, Bryzgalov and Theodore and we only dress two. I just felt that if I had RDP and he pans out, then I get a lot of wiggle room for trades. Well, I lost the bid to “Lanky”, who bid $8. So I won my backup bid. Here’s the “lucky break”: my backup bid was one dollar on Brian Boucher. The Emery news broke after the deadline…I just happened to throw that backup bid in there for no other reason than Emery’s slump.

JS Giguere started for the seventh time in nine games. Randy Carlyle is desperate for some wins and holds absolutely no loyalty to either goaltender – he’s only loyal to the W’s. So he’ll play whoever will win him games and right now the best candidate is JSG, who is 4-1-2 in those last seven games.

Lupul scores again, giving him four in three games since his return.

Meanwhile, Bobby Ryan isn’t doing so bad without being on the top line, as he has four points in three games also. The line of Ryan, Koivu and Sexton combined for six last night.

Dan Sexton is one of those under-the-radar small players that I like. The Ducks are adept at signing smallish college players who pan out to some degree, such as Andy McDonald and Ryan Shannon (as well as a big player in Dustin Penner). There is very little to dig up on Sexton – he’s a small, skilled player who tore it up in the NCAA before the Ducks signed him in April. He didn’t make the Ducks, nor could he stick in the AHL – likely a bias due to his size combined with the numbers game. But after making the ECHL his bitch for much of October and November, he was brought up to the Moose (AHL) where he tallied three points in five games. Now the big club is taking a flyer on him because they need a top six type to replace Selanne. After notching his first two NHL points last night, Sexton has earned a longer look. His ice time over his three NHL games: 13, 14 and 15 minutes. That’s a sexy trend. His nine shots last night don’t hurt either. I rate him a “watch”, but if you are in desperate need of a depth winger and have transactions to burn – do it. You can always undo it in a couple of weeks.

Martin Erat is smack in the middle of one of his hot streaks. The difference is the Preds are putting him on their top line now, which is great news for Arnott and Sullivan owners. Erat tallied four points last night. Barry Trotz might be onto something here – with Dumont and Erat always hot or cold, he can just swap them in and out of that top line as the pendulum swings.

Patric Hornqvist scored a goal in his return to the lineup. Healthy scratches really work on a lot of players, and I had a feeling that Horny was one of those players. Look for a short three-game spurt of production from him on the third line.

Interested box score for the Philly/Isles game – Richards scores twice, then Carter scores twice… Tavares then chimes in with a pair of goals and then Giroux closes it off with two more. They each scored their two goals back-to-back.

Plekanec is now up to a point per game after notching three last night.

Halak had his first strong performance since November 10th. It was only his second game since then, but he stopped 45 of 46. I can see his career mirroring that of Kiprusoff’s (or Bryzgalov’s) – second fiddle in Montreal this year and into next year before being moved to another team. He’ll flourish on that other team.

Brendan Bell was acquired to give Syracuse some depth, but Columbus would use him if Stralman were to get hurt.

David Backes did not skate yesterday due to a sore ankle from blocking a shot. No word on whether he will be in the lineup next game.