Heads up – Saturday’s ramblings will be a few hours late. Apologies. Enjoy the great piece on Hamilton in the meantime.

Mike Richards has traveled with his teammates to Detroit, but he isn’t going to play. He is getting closer to returning from a concussion, though.

Taylor Hall scored two goals in his first game since suffering a shoulder injury at the end of November. The struggling Oilers (1-4 in their last five) recorded the loss, though.

b0ndon takes a look at a few Studs and Duds from yesterday’s games.

The Bachman show continues to roll on for Dallas. The rookie goalie made his third straight start, and he stopped 25 shots for his third straight win.

Kevin Poulin started for the Isles – the fifth goalie to do so this season.

Jamie Benn had two points for the Stars. He's really cooled off after a blazing hot start to the season. It was his first multi-point game since November 25^th.

Daniel Sedin missed the game last night with a minor back injury. Mason Raymond slid up to the top line, and he was far and away the best Canuck forward. He has been really, really good since returning from a broken back.

Cory Schneider stopped 37 of 41 shots. Luongo is going to get the start on Saturday in Toronto.

Henrik Sedin had two assists (without his brother), and now has 700 career points.

Big news out of Philly – Chris Pronger is done for the season and playoffs with concussion-related symptoms. Look for Meszaros, Carle, and Coburn to all see an increase in responsibilities at both ends of the ice.

Meszaros scored last night and Carle had three points. So far, so good.

Sean Couturier had an assist and is seeing a bit more ice time with Giroux out. Briere and Talbot still took most of the Flyer faceoffs.

Drayson Bowman had two career goals before last night, and he doubled that number with a pair against the Canucks. He was a Cory Schneider glove save away from the hat trick, too.

Bowman's 19:07 of ice time led all Carolina forwards (aside from Eric Staal). Pretty impressive stuff and Kirk Muller recognized he had the legs going early on in the game.

19-year-old Justin Faulk played over 25 minutes. Needless to say the Hurricanes won't be sending him back to the World Juniors to play for the US.

I watched a bit of the Detroit/Nashville game (was more interesting than the Vancouver/Carolina game). Nashville managed to win, but Detroit looked fantastic. Their power play was lethal, and their passing was crisp.

Datsyuk had two points and is really rolling after a slow start.

Speaking of slow starts, Erik Cole is also looking really, really good. He's driving the puck to the net with consistency, something that was always a staple of his game during the good years in Carolina.

Great save, but how the hell does Ballard miss this?