Here are your Evening Puck Headlines and Previews: A glorious collection of news and views collected from the greatest blogosphere in sports and the few, the proud, the mainstream hockey media.
• Dear god, it's the first ever Thirsty Thursday tonight for our friends the AHL's Iowa Chops. "$1 beer sales will commence at 6:05 p.m. when the doors open and continue until the start of the 2nd period." Anyone within spitting distance of Des Moines, you still have time! [Chops]
Preview: Philadelphia Flyers at Pittsburgh Penguins (7 p.m. EST; TV: CSP, FSPI, Yahoo! Sports). An overtime goal by Pascal Dupuis gave the Penguins the first round in this season's Battle of Pennsylvania. The Flyers have lost seven straight games at the Igloo. The 700 Level calls this game a "gut check" for the Flyers; one that could fire up the fan base with a win. We'd settle for another escalation of the Sidney Crosby/Mike Richards rivalry.
Preview: Montreal Canadiens at Boston Bruins (7 p.m. EST; TV: RDS, NESN). Huge division game for the Bruins, as they try and snap a 12-game regular season losing streak to the Habs. We're sure both Boston fans who watch this game instead of the Pats and Jets tonight will really enjoy it. Seriously, NHL, is it too much to ask not to schedule a huge rivalry battle in Boston on the same night as a Patriots game?
• How much more Alexander Ovechkin would owe in taxes under Barack Obama's plan. Oh, and Ovie: Again with the "bad translation" excuse for the Semin/Crosby thing? [Japers' Rink]
• Meanwhile, on his French-language blog, Max Talbot believes that Alexander Semin is jealous of Sidney Crosby. He also said Sean Avery has a "character he himself created around him" that Talbot has no respect for. "Bad translation" excuse in 3 ... 2 ... [PSMP]
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Preview: New York Islanders at Ottawa Senators (7:30 p.m. EST; TV: MSG, RSN). Maybe the Senators are a gaggle of underachievers fight through bitter disappointment. Maybe Daniel Alfredsson's stick just slipped, and he didn't intentionally smash a pane of glass during practice. Uh-huh. Alex Auld's between the pipes against the Isles; Ryan Shannon is in for the suspended Jarkko Ruutu, and could play with Jason Spezza and Dany Heatley.
Preview: Detroit Red Wings at Tampa Bay Lightning (7:30 p.m. EST; TV: FSD, SUN). Let's see ... a tremendously pissed Wings team, a Lightning team that was just shut out by the Panthers ... well, that's why they play the games, right? The Lightning seem to believe they have a defensive advantage tonight. OK.
• Quote of the day from Tim Gleason of the Carolina Hurricanes: "That's what happens when you suck." [N&O]
• One of the 2008 Draft Class's defenseman has finally been shipped to juniors: Alex Pietrangelo of the St. Louis Blues. [Blues]
• Uh, Eyes on the Prize has some Habs Girls they'd like to show you. Including some that show how far that classic logo can stretch. Yowzer. [Eyes on the Prize]
Preview: Phoenix Coyotes at Minnesota Wild (8 p.m. EST; TV: FSNO, FSAZ). The Wild have come back down to earth a little bit with a 2-4-0 streak. Brent Burns will dress as a forward this evening as Jacques Lemaire works him back into the lineup.
Preview: Los Angeles Kings at Dallas Stars (8:30 p.m. EST; TV: FSW, FSWW). Rematches between teams that had a little bad blood in a previous game rarely get as nasty as we all hope they would. Let's hope this one, featuring the showboating Mike Ribeiro against the Kings bench he insulted, is the exception.
• A goaltending controversy between Kevin Weekes and Scott Clemmensen is like when people argue about whether White Lion or Slaughter is the better hair metal band. The point is that neither of them is Poison. Hell, neither of them is Stryper. [Battle of NY]
• More angles from that whole Rangers fan getting kicked out of The Rock thing we posted this morning. [The Score]
Preview: Toronto Maple Leafs at Edmonton Oilers (9 p.m. EST; TV: LTV, RSW). Gotta love Lowetide's assessment: "Should be a good game tonight, with the only real negative being the number of Leafs fans in the house." Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers gets his first home start tonight.
Preview: Calgary Flames at San Jose Sharks (10:30 p.m. EST; TV: FPPV, CSBA). A rematch from last year's Western Conference quarterfinals, the Flames will see Brian Boucher between the pipes for San Jose. Dion Phaneuf's partner Jim Vandermeer will miss six weeks with a broken ankle.
• Finally, good to see Jon Mirasty is still doing his thing in the minors. Here's Nasty with Syracuse against Matt Kassian of the Houston Aeros from a few days ago:
