Goldie: Neuvy’s “fall-back” continued, but his strong focus in the third period helped him clinch a big win over NYR. I was right about Budaj vs. CGY last night – a wild final five minutes was the first time all year he lacked confidence. Tough loss for Niitty, but WOW is Hiller proving his elite status right now! I never knew he had this kind of durability.

I’ll have the last two entries for the draw for the putter from Musty Putters tomorrow, and do the draw tomorrow as well. Reason for the delay? My brain is tapped.

Contest #3 is closed! – Answer: Steven Stamkos, Cal O’Reilly and Claude Giroux. Garrett Matthews, please email me your mailing address (dobber at dobberhockey .com) For a copy of the book – He Shoots, He Skewers!, Tweet to me the top three players who have the lowest salary per point.

The John-Michael Liles balloon has popped. He’s pointless in four games now. He’ll set a career high of 50 points this year, but that initial crazy pace he was on is obviously too much.

Joni Pitkanen returns to the lineup tonight for the Hurricanes, according to Chip Alexander.

Martin Brodeur was not in practice again today (bruised elbow). Johan Hedberg will get the next start. There is no light to be seen at the end of this New Jersey tunnel yet…

My revised predictions for Jordan Eberle and Taylor Hall – The last Fantasy Guide update had them penciled in for 72 and 70 points. My revision is now 67 and 65. Yes, they’ll still pick it up. Just my feeling on them. If it turns out that Horcoff is out for any extended period, I would probably knock another five of for each, because he is an important pivot with this team.

Goldie: Sabres reporter Bill Hoppe said Lalime possibly has appendicitis and went to the doctor, so Enroth starts on Wednesday vs. NJD. Steve Mason expected to start against the Blues on Wednesday – this is a coaching mistake. Bryz was a great fantasy start last night, but weak rebound control was a sign he’s suffering from energy drain.

Contest #2 is closed! Answer: the Sedin twins – Name the two teammates who have points in the highest percentage of games played this year, minimum of five games. The winner will receive this beanie and this jacket from Easton Hockey

Bound to happen – the Tomas Kopecky love. It looked good there for awhile, but the Hawks forward has just one point in his last nine games and is a minus-13 in that span. Yes, minus-13.

One player who is rounding into form is Kurtis Foster. After kicking off his tenure with the Oilers with one point in six games, he has five in his last five. He’s been pretty steady at 3.5 shots per game, too.

I’m sure you’ve noticed by now, but Jordan Leopold has embraced his role as the PP QB in Buffalo. He is on pace for 48 points. If healthy, I think he’ll end up with around 45, so he’s on the right pace.

All the Jon Bernier hype may have hidden this fact from you – Jon Quick is 8-1, 1.64 and 0.942. You can’t get better than that. Awesome.

Contest #1 now closed! – Winner is Savas Varadas (email me the shirt or hat you want, and mailing address). The most productive NHL line of the past month is Stoll, Williams and Smyth. For a DobberHockey shirt – tell me the most productive line in the NHL since October 9.

Jeff Halpern has seven points in his last six games. He is part of what has been an effective line for the Habs, the Ph.D line – with Pouliot and Darche.

If you can still get Ryan Kesler for a cheap price, then please do so. He has seven points in his last seven games and should be good to top 70 again this year, despite his current 49-point pace.

From the pages of the book “Unexpected” – Scott Upshall is pointless in his last eight games and he has just four points in 14 on the year. Huge strides were expected. He was making them last year before getting derailed by an injury.

The Rangers are starting to see how they were suckered into signing this guy. Ruslan Fedotenko was huge in training camp, but now he’s – Ruslan Fedotenko. Pointless in his last six. And still more ice time than he knows what to do with.

I know he only has four points in eight games this year, but I have a good hunch about Martin Hanzal. I hinted at this before, but he is getting a ton of ice time and the ‘Yotes are shallow up the middle. He is a “buy low” type of player who I think will get 50 to 55 points this year, even with the time missed.

With Hanzal back, Turris is back down to 11 minutes of ice time.

Nicklas Lidstrom, 40 years old, a defenseman, and 15 points in 13 games. He has 61 points in his last 70 games.

The grand prize of our five-day Anniversary bash – and this is Day 5 – is a customized (designed by YOU) putter from Musty Putters. And I am having contests throughout the day in order to gather 10 names for a draw. The winner will get the putter. Last night was a contest picking the goal-scorers of last night’s game. We got two winners from that. So today I will be getting eight more names for the draw. Just for getting in the draw, Musty Putters will give you $25 off of a putter (if you don’t win).

In addition to that, I’ll still be giving away a copy of the book He Shoots He Skewers!, a jacket from Easton Hockey, and a shirt (or hat – your choice) from DobberHockey’s shop. So I guess…. eight contests today in all. Man, I better get started – alright, who has been Dan Boyle’s defense partner the majority of the season? You can find this answer easily in the Frozen Pool section. Do that first, and you are added to the draw for the putter.  CONTEST CLOSED – answer: Douglas Murray

Brooks Laich missed practice yesterday. He has an upper body injury. You may see Mathieu Perreault get recalled, but I think Laich will play – he tends to play hurt, if he can still strap on the skates.

The Habs placed Dustin Boyd on waivers.

The Rangers have sent Evgeni Grachev back to the AHL. It was a nice six-game cup of coffee, but he wasn’t even averaging nine minutes of ice time. Next year.

The Hawks have shipped Jeremy Morin back to Rockford.

According to Lighting Strikes, Steve Downie is questionable with a back injury. He has been playing with the injury for a little while now, but it’s getting worse.

Did the Flyers get a great deal on Claude Giroux or what? This is why it’s smart to sign a surefire star the instant before he becomes a star. It’s clear that the guy is going to top 70 points this year. When he does that, he’s worth $5 million per year right there. But he signed yesterday for three years at $11.25 million. Nice work! Bob McKenzie Tweets that Jeff Carter will be signed long term next.

Alexei Ponikarovsky will miss the next four weeks with a broken finger. He was in a defensive role for LA anyway, and was hurting more fantasy teams than he helped.

Here is an interesting inside look on the Fleury vs. Johnson situation in Pittsburgh.

So far, it’s looking as though Blake Wheeler will be moved to center for the Bruins. Go figure – and abundance of skilled centers and so many are injured they have to convert wingers.

Brian Rafalski was back in the lineup after missing 10 games. Kronwall’s PP time lost at least a full minute as a result.

Dumbing thing I’ve ever seen – Mike Modano getting 3:55 of PP time/game, while Johan Franzen gets 2:39. Reverse those numbers and probably add another 10 goals to Detroit’s season by April.

Announced by Angus Saturday – A big DobberHockey Event in Vancouver on December 9! I’m interested to see who I’ll get to meet. Yes – I’m flying in and joining Angus for some pops and talk some fantasy hockey with all of you! The time? From around 6:30 to around 10:30. The place? Considering either Riverrock Casino (Richmond), or Ceili’s Irish Pub. Comment below for your preference, but one of the readers has a contact in Riverrock and can set that up.

Another announcement – another new columnist. Ray Irwin from the now-defunct School Your Pool website, will offer up his look at the DSE every Wednesday. What’s the DSE? Why, it’s the DobberHockey Stock Exchange, of course.

As some of you may (or may not) have noticed, DobberHockey has partnered up with CoolHockey to bring you custom hockey jerseys for a low price. Dobber took a smaller cut of sales in order to get the price down even further. And to celebrate DobberHockey’s fifth anniversary – until Tuesday – we will be offering an ADDITIONAL 15% off all hockey jerseys. Christmas is eight weeks away, so now is the time to buy – and this is the place! Browse the merchandise HERE and use coupon code: Dobber15.

Thanks to our sponsors for setting us up with some sweet stuff to give away!