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Kevin Porter is out with an upper body injury and Adrian Dater is reporting that neither Peter Mueller nor David Jones will be ready for Game 3. Ryan Stoa is expected to slide back into the lineup. Marek Svatos is another option.

Mueller has not even resumed skating, so you can write him off for Game 4 as well. Look for Game 5. Did I say “look”? I meant “hope”.

Patric Hornqvist did not practice yesterday, but the Tennessean reports that he will be in the lineup for Game 2.

Brian Campbell will not play in Game 2. Again, with him I’m thinking Game 5. Maybe Game 4 if the Hawks are in trouble.

So just like last year, Jose Theodore gets the hook. He gave up two goals on two shots, and when you consider the Habs won Game 1 in OT, Theodore has allowed his last three shots faced to go in. I think they’ll come back with Theodore, as Varlamov didn’t establish himself like he did last year. But it’s a short leash. This is precisely why I cautioned you against any WAS goalies for the postseason.

Mikko Koivu will undergo knee surgery. Nothing major, but apparently he hurt it in November.

So I took the last three full days, plus Wednesday night to – gulp – enjoy some playoff hockey. Didn’t think of the fantasy impact of this line combo or that line combo. I did some housekeeping for the keeper league I run, but otherwise I shut my brain down from fantasy hockey. Now I’m pumped. The 2010 edition of the Fantasy Prospects Report is firmly on my radar and outline is in place, as well as the intro written. It will be the best one yet, as I have brought Ryan Van Horne and Justin Goldman on board to lend their expertise, and we can now draw from the hockey mind of Alessandro Seren Rosso for all Russian prospects. Late Monday this will become available for sale and the long awaited Keeper League Fantasy Pack will, too.

A shout out to our Playoff Pool sponsors – Easton’s S17 stick is the top prize; and a custom jersey from Cool Hockey is the second prize. There is a problem with scoring the goaltenders, I am in the process of getting that fixed. You can check out your pool team’s progress right here. I have the stick – can’t get over how light it is. It shoots ‘left’ by the way (sorry righties). Team Dobber is ranked 171 and my second team is ranked 1524.

So what can I say about John Carlson? I’ve been hyping this guy since watching him in an OHL playoff game a year ago between London and Windsor. He was the best player on the ice, when players like Taylor Hall, John Tavares, Michael Del Zotto and Nazem Kadri were on the ice with him. He has three points and is a plus-3 in his first two career playoff games, while Mike Green has no points and is a minus-1. Bold prediction here, but I think Carlson will start to erode Green’s production beginning next year. I think Carlson can get 50 points and knock Green down to 70, and within two years after that they will meet in the middle. In fact, the economics of the game today could see Green starring as a 60-point QB on a different team three years while Carlson becomes the new – more defensively responsible – Green. Bold indeed.

So how many of you have Derek Morris in the pool?

The Sabres have sent Nate Gerbe back to the minors, though they may call him back up after Thomas Vanek left in the second period yesterday. The team is very hush-hush about it, but it could be anything from a torn ACL to a mild sprain. I don’t think we’ll see him next game and Drew Stafford is apparently not yet cleared for contact (concussion). Enter Gerbe.

Tyler Ennis has a point in two playoff games, seeing significant ice time. He was a minus-2 yesterday, but with the Vanek injury he won’t be scratched. His leash is a little longer now. I know some of you took him on my “dark horse” advice.

Jason Arbuthnot will hopefully have the Frozen Pool section up and working for the postseason shortly.

Drew Doughty played 33 minutes last night. That’s about 30 minutes more than Vancouver’s Michael Grabner.

So I picked sixth of 13 in last Wednesday’s office pool with The Hockey News (finished 5th of 19 in the regular season one). I picked, in order: Malkin, Burrows (just missed D. Sedin by one pick), Guerin, Raymond, Fedotenko, Ehrhoff, Demitra. At this point, the VAN and PIT bones were picked clean and I looked for a third team. With only 10 players, three teams are all you need. I settled on Boston and wanted Krejci. Well, he was picked just before I went so I had to quickly come up with a new strategy. I decided Nashville and went with Sullivan even though someone already took Hornqvist. Well, someone took Weber and when it got back to me I changed my third team to Montreal. Not a good idea to shirt strategy like that, but in hindsight I should have grabbed a MTL player instead of Sullivan. Anyway, I got Gomez and Cammalleri. Will they beat Washington? No. But if they do, I win this pool. And I think the odds of Montreal winning a seven-game series against a great team exceed the odds of winning a typical 13-team playoff pool. And if they don’t beat the Caps, I can still win with PIT/VAN.

Johnny Boychuk whacks Vanek in the knee:

I love John Carlson’s composure here. He calmly sidesteps a sliding Hab and then puts the shot on net. Ovechkin then whacks home his first goal of the postseason: