Jonas Hiller is feeling lightheadedness again (can we call it a concussion soon?) and will miss the next three games for Anaheim. Methinks they are in the market for a goalie…

I’m back baby! I really got my ass kicked yesterday thanks to week-old leftover pork that wasn’t cooked enough (clearly). Now it’s time to play catch-up.

JP Dumont was finally made a healthy scratch by the Preds. He could use a change of scenery more than anyone.

Pekka Rinne took the OTL despite stopping 48 of 50 shots.

Dustin Jeffrey is ineligible to return to tonight’s game due to his IR status, but Sunday is looking promising. Interesting to note that in five AHL games after being sent down (he has been called up six times), he has nine points. Great attitude.

The word on Mike Green – ‘inner ear trauma’. Concussion – stop being fancy.

Big defenseman Brendon Nash played his first NHL game for the Habs, actually getting a couple of shots on goal in 12 minutes of ice time. Potentially, the undrafted rearguard could be a 30-point, 80 PIM blue liner.

The Dispatch is reporting that Steve Mason has broncitis, so his next several starts are in question, though the team has not recalled another goaltender yet.

For a season and a half, what Joe Sacco did with the Avalanche was a miracle. The attitude about coaches changes far too quickly in the NHL. I’d hate it if I kicked ass at my job for 18 months and then really make some bad calls for two months and so my boss fires me.

How much do the Sabres trust Patrick Lalime? Well, to give Ryan Miller a break they recalled Jhonas Enroth rather than just give Lalime the start. Wow. Lalime is 0-5-0

Interesting that Toronto has acquired Aaron Voros. You know, they are a team who lacks depth so if he gets recalled, he could see enough ice time to become the Voros of old. That is – a point every two games and tons of PIM. But watch for a call-up first.

I think if I were the Atlanta GM I would have got the same term out of Byfuglien, but for $20 million, and not $26. I think this “could” be a good deal for them, but lets face it – they are paying him based on 40 games. He’s getting points again now, but is that because Tobias Enstrom is back? One has to wonder. If they can so easily pay Byfuglien the equivalent of a Top 20 salary in the entire league based on 40 games, then I wonder why the Blue Jays are bickering with Jose Bautista over paying him $10 million based on one season.

I like how TSN calls Alexei Kovalev “red hot” when he has been pointless in three of his last four games.  The column was written after his three-point effort, so that must be it.

Eric Condra got into his first NHL game for Ottawa last night and picked up his first point, an assist. As “fzusher” pointed out in the comments of my Chris Kelly breakdown, Condra also stands to benefit from the trade in terms of ice time. Now 24, Condra is close to being NHL ready. After a stellar career for Notre Dame in which he had 38 points in 40 games in his last season there (seven points more than teammate Christian Hanson and 12 more than teammate Ian Cole), he took last season to get acclimated to the pro game. This year he already has more points (46) than he did all of last year for Binghamton (38). He’ll never be a first liner, but he did get on my radar and I think he has similar upside to Peter Regin.

Bobby Butler has now posted back-to-back two-point games. His minus-13 in 11 games on the season will need work though.

The streaky Benoit Pouliot has goals in three straight now, playing with the talented David Desharnais. Put another up-and-comer on this line with them and I think you have a potentially awesome second line of the future. Pouliot’s game is taking forever to come along, but I warned you of this four years ago.

Prediction: in two seasons from now, Nathan Gerbe will be Top 5 in the NHL in shots. That’s all the guy does is shoot, and with third-line ice time he still manages two or three shots per game. Reason No. 47 why I think he’ll be a star in a year or two.

Andrei Kostitsyn is a minus-7 in his last five games and yet he is still plus-5 on the season. At 26 years old, he should be through with this inconsistent stuff by now.

Kris Versteeg played 17:44 in his Philly debut. Dan Carcillo played under six minutes. I didn’t see any noticeable drop in ice time for JVR or Nodl, nor did I see any slip in Leino’s PP time (Versteeg did not play on the PP at all).

Nathan Lawson got the win, stopping 28 of 31 shots for the Isles. They are doing everything possible not to give Al Montoya a shot. That bugs me, as I picked him up in one league. The Isles are on fire right now, so they could throw you or I between the pipes and we’d get the win.

Tim Thomas has lost three of his last four decisions, with the win coming despite giving up six goals. I think Rask will get a start soon. But for Rask to flourish, he needs multiple starts – not once every three weeks like this.

Nice Kovalev shootout goal: