This is why I love hockey. David Perron's tweet:

"Just got a very classy text from Joe Thornton wishing me good luck for tonight! He is a class act! Nap time and then game on!"

Thanks to Tim Lucarelli for sharing his thoughts on the Flyers/Ducks game from last night:

On multiple occasions in the warmups, Danny Briere collected a pile of pucks and isolated himself practicing various shots and moves in repetition. He was one of the only Flyers to do this and from my own experience, you typically only do this when your rhythm is off. Briere has been used with just about every combination of linemates possible this season and is still looking for the chemistry that he, Hartnell, and Leino had. He was also the last player off the ice and although he has 18 points in 22 games, he is capable of more. Owners stay patient.

Brayden Schenn showed a ton of speed and skill for the Flyers on a line with Talbot and Voracek, but he still has some adjusting to do. He is quickly discovering that it is not as easy to sidestep defenders as it was at the lower levels. Luca Sbisa caught him a couple times as did other Anaheim defenders.

In Jagr's return, he was nothing short of spectacular. He logged almost 23 minutes of ice time, with two goals and one assist and a whopping 10 shots on goal. The Flyers kept feeding Jagr late in the third and into OT looking for the hat trick, but it just wouldn't come. Finally they tried a one-timer on the other side to Giroux, resulting in the OT winner.

Francois Beauchemin laid out Zac Rinaldo with a clean, open ice hit. By the time Rinaldo got up, he was about 40 feet away from Beauchemin but you could read his lips clear as day, "You wanna go?" Despite being the two most penalized teams in the league, there were no fights.

In Bruce Boudreau's first game as head coach of the Capitals, he defeated the Flyers in a shootout. Despite carrying a 3-0 lead early in his Ducks debut, the tides went the other way in a 4-3 OT loss to the Flyers.

Boudreau's top six combinations featured a reunited Ryan-Getzlaf-Perry and Beleskey-Koivu-Selanne. Cogliano was shifted to the third line with Hagman and Smith-Pelly. Despite playing almost 20 minutes each, the top line had no points.

Ryan Getzlaf took a tripping penalty early in OT and got an extra two for unsportsmanlike conduct. Tough to see the game thrown away like that on the actions of your captain. After the game Getzlaf took full blame and vowed it will never happen again.

How different would the Ducks look if Scott Niedermayer came out of retirement? Despite being only 38 years old, there is absolutely no buzz about this actually happening. It does paint a picture though of how different the Ducks blueline could look with the addition of one defenseman. Problem is, as the Flyers found out earlier this week, everyone is looking for that one defenseman right now.

The December player rankings will be up by noon ET.

I was too young to see Joey Mullen play during the prime of his career, but from highlights and old games, I think I have a pretty good idea of what kind of player he was. Jordan Eberle reminds me so much of Mullen. Undersized, but so crafty, tenacious, and smart with the puck.

A solid read on Rangers young speedster Carl Hagelin.

"Hagelin has been impressive in his four games with the team, making smart decisions with the puck and meshing with his teammates no matter where he is in the lineup. He's averaging just over 11 minutes a night, he's a +4 on the season and he has yet to take a bad penalty (or even a penalty at all).

I know it's a very small sample size, but for a rookie who's fresh out of the AHL (who went to the AHL fresh out of the NCAA) it wouldn't be surprising to see a player need a few NHL games under his belt to get into the swing of things. But Hagelin -- who scored an impressive 49 points in 44 games with the Michigan Wolverines last year -- has been impressive every step of the way."

Taylor Hall has begun skating on his own, and could be back sooner than the estimated two-to-four weeks.

The Oilers put up five goals in the third period last night, including three from Ryan Jones. Jones has found a home as a versatile energy winger in Edmonton after bouncing around the Nashville organizaton a bit.

Ray Emery is playing tonight for the Blackhawks.

Jeff Carter’s nightmare season continues – he missed the game last with an ankle sprain. He’s been a huge disappointment for me in a few pools. Figured he was in for faceoff wins, shots on goal, and goals aplenty this season in Columbus.

Mike Richards may or may not have sustained a concussion on Thursday. Either way, he’s injured.

James Reimer is cleared to play and will back up Gustavsson tonight. If/when he finally gets in there (could be sooner rather than later), expect him to take the ball and run with it. The Leafs played well in his absence but he’ll bring a lot of stability to their overall game.

Stefan Elliott, welcome to the NHL. Almost 23 minutes of ice time last night, including four on the power play.

Erik Johnson missed another game due to an injury.

The mercurial Patrik Berglund scored a goal.

Kudos to a few readers the other day who let me know Ryan O’Reilly has changed from a defensive specialist into more of an offensive one. He plays almost no time on the PK this season, a far fry from the last few. O’Reilly had another great game last night and he now leads the team in scoring with 19 points in 24 games.

I have made the point a few times, but power play ice time is so important for offensive production, and O’Reilly’s hot start is a great example of that (although he did post a similar hot start out of the gate two seasons ago).

Ho, hum, anothertwo points for Claude Giroux.

Kimmo Timonen continues to be an offensive stud whenever Chris Pronger is out of the lineup. Timonen was the difference last night in Anaheim, recording three points for the Flyers.

Not really a fan of what the Islanders are doing with Niederreiter. He finally scored his first goal of the season, but he played only seven minutes.

Letang is out tonight with a “possible” concussion.

Jimmy Howard now leads all NHL goaltenders in wins, after winning last night against Buffalo. It was also his 17^th consecutive start.

Tyler Ennis played about 13 minutes in his return to the lineup.

Kyle Brodziak was fantastic last night against the Devils. He has really turned into a good NHL player over the past year and a half in Minnesota.

Zach Parise finally had a Parise-like game. One goal, one assist, 22 minutes played, and eight shots on goal.

Adam Henrique is outscoring Parise and Kovalchuk this season. Put your hand up if you saw this one coming.

David Perron is making his season debut tonight (assuming the Blues filed the proper paperwork on time). Will be interesting to see how he does - the Blues have really been missing a playmaking element up front with him and McDonald out.

I know Tim Lucarelli must have had a blast at the Ducks game last night. Tim is a big Flyers fan and got to see his team come back from a 3-0 deficit to win 4-3 in OT, spoiling Bruce Boudreau's Anaheim debut.

Cory Sarich has requested a trade from the Flames. I wonder if there is a big market for a healthy scratch who makes over $3 million?

A save that reminder me of one Luongo made against the LA Kings a few years ago in the playoffs:

Comments (7)

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Sheepish said:

	Zach Parise I wouldn't take away too much from Parise's game against the Wild last night considering he just saw his new home in Orono, MN for the first time. If he puts a couple more games together like that then I would say he's back, but for right now I see his game last night as a game in front of family and friends.
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December 03, 2011
Votes: +1

Chris Casteller said:

	Reimer starting tonight Looks like Reimer is starting tonight: https://twitter.com/#!/ArashMadani/status/143012794596474880
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December 03, 2011
Votes: -1

littleranger said:

	10 Fantasy Thoughts Here's a link to my 10 Fantasy Thoughts on Orlov, Bouchard, E.Kane, etc. http://www.dobberhockey.com/in...p&t=119424
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December 03, 2011
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Jocular Hockey Manager said:

PK vs PP TOI A guy playing on the PK needs to play about 100 minutes to register a point (yes some of the league leaders are turning in a much better ratio than that) A guy playing on PP needs about 15 minutes to register a point. (yes I'm sure someone has a nicer number than that). I suspect a similar ratio would be about 40 minutes with regular ice time, if you factor in all the D-men. Yes, PP TOI is very important.

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December 03, 2011
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Dean Youngblood said:

	Letang "Possible Concussion" My point from yesterday's ramblings on Pittsburgh's medical team stands. So when can we expect this "possible concussion" to turn into "mild concussion" and then into "out indefinitely with concussion" much like Crosby's diagnosis was last year. What a joke.
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December 03, 2011
Votes: +1

Noam said:

... This Timonen-without-Pronger, night and day situation is getting insane... Is anyone less lazy than I am and keen to put together the stats for Timonen without Pronger in the lineup vs with him in? Actually it's looking a bit like J. Staal without Crosby vs J. Staal on the third line (on the bright side I just dropped him for Tavares because the J. Staal on the third line looks to be sleeping over on the couch for a way too long and uncomfortable stay). Maybe there should be a category for players who only do well when a certain injury happens? Somewhere out there, Matt D'Agostini just sneezed...

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December 03, 2011
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bill said:

	tim is not the only one we all had a blast at the game ) i got to see selanne and jagr score in the same game...freakin awesome
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December 03, 2011
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