Goldie: Remember a School of Block piece from 2 years ago called Of Slumps and Shadowers about backups that mimic their starters? Here’s an in-depth piece I wrote that expands on the subject called The Science of Shadowing. Also note that Niemi looked terrific last night against the Sens. 

Last week, Brent Lemon did a column on Martin Brodeur, using some of the work found in the book "HockeyNomics" by Darcy Norman. The column created quite a buzz and there was a lot of interest in this book. The good people at OverTime Books are giving away one of these books per day until Saturday. A great Christmas gift for the fantasy nerd in your life (or for yourself, if you’re the fantasy nerd!).

The first person who can create a thread in the forum in The Lounge called "Friday’s Answer" and can tell me, using the Frozen Pool “Game Planner” tool, how many points Kyle Brodziak has scored against Dallas in his career (hint, the two teams play tomorrow), will get a copy free. If you have won something from the site this year, you are ineligible – sorry!

Alex Burrows has scored goals in three straight games. He has four on the season. At this point in 2009-10 (a season in which he finished with 35 goals), he had six.

Marc Crawford with a gusty call last night, and it paid off. He started Andrew Raycroft against the Capitals. Raycroft stopped 37 of 38 shots for the win. He's been a fantastic backup for (the still healthy) Kari Lehtonen this season.

Neuvirth got the start. He allowed two goals on 21 shots.

San Jose rookie defenseman Justin Braun now has a goal and four points in his first four career NHL games. He saw about a minute of PP time last night.

Braun was a late round draft pick from 2007, and he played four years in college. He had eight goals and 31 points in 36 games during his final season at UMass in 2009-10.

Hall, Eberle, and Gagner all found the scoresheet for the Oilers, who have now won four of their past five games.

The Leafs have already been shut out six times this season. How close to the bottom are they?

Khabibulin recorded the shutout for the Oilers – his first start in seven games, as he has sat out with a groin injury.

Ales Hemsky, who I wrote about yesterday, missed the game with a minor groin injury. Consider him day-to-day.

Sidney Crosby is pretty good. He is tearing the league apart playing with Chris Kunitz and Pascal Dupuis.

The saying ‘so and so is carrying my team’ is overused in both real hockey and fantasy hockey, but Crosby literally is carrying my team in a rotissere league that counts faceoff wins. It is scary how valuable he is.

Gaborik had three goals for the Rangers last night on a new look top line. His linemates were Erik Christensen and Sean Avery.

Avery had three helpers and Christensen added a goal and an assist.

DiPietro has started four straight for the Islanders.

Matt Taormina remains sidelined with an ankle injury – my apologies for missing this over the past few weeks.

Lars Eller has five points in 25 games – four of them have come in the past six games.

Marc Savard returned to Boston's lineup last night. The Bruins scored eight but he was held off the scoresheet.

Rookie Jordan Caron was a healthy scratch.

It appears that the Sturm to Los Angeles reports were a bit premature.

I've said this before, and I'll say it again – Mike Smith is arguably the worst goalie in the NHL. Starter, back-up, whatever.

Tim Thomas stopped 37 shots for the win. By far the biggest surprise this season – I didn't even really consider drafting him in any of my leagues.

How long is Ottawa going to keep Bobby Butler in the AHL?

I have added a few new wallpapers to the DobberHockey collection – Pekka Rinne, Pavel Datsyuk, Mike Richards, and Ovechkin/Backstrom. Check the entire collection out here. New ones are posted at the bottom.

Don't forget to check out DobberBaseball. Community is still growing there, but things will be picking up as the season approaches.

The DobberHockey meet-up will take place one week from today at the River Rock Casino in Vancouver. The event will kick off at 6pm and run until 9 or 9:30pm in Lulu's Lounge. Food will be half priced for anyone attending, and we have some sweet prizes and giveaways.

We are trying to get a rough idea for numbers, so post in the comments below if you are interested in coming!