I didn’t catch last night’s Lightning/Penguins game, but Steven Stamkos is proving to be the best 4th round fantasy draft steal of my career.  To more injurious happenings of the game, minor league superstar Matt Lashoff nearly puts Ruslan Fedotenko through the boards on this nasty boarding call.  This to me shows that no legislation or impromptu rule is going to prevent hockey players from attempting to murder each other.  The reasons why I feel like this are a list for another day, but clearly there’s an overall lack of respect amongst players.  Anyway, hat-tip to Fandome for the clip.

If anyone had told me that Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers was going to play 45+ games this season I’d have guessed that Nikolai Khabibulin would be injured and/or drunk.  It wouldn’t really matter who was between the pipes this season, the Oilers would still be embarrassingly awful.  I mean, Shawn Horcoff has got be the saddest excuse for a first-line centre, am I wrong here?  Anyway, the Red Wings blew a four goal lead last night to Edmonton, but still managed to win of course despite the efforts of Deslauriers.  The Drouin Wall made 39 saves including a few that he had no business making.

[s/t to The Big Lead for the clip]

Richard Park and his blazing set of wheels had a better night on blades than his South Korean countrymen Lee Ho-Suk and Sung Si-Bak.  Park scored his second goal of the night, sniping the winner late in the third to put the Islanders ahead of the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-4.

Park narrowly missed stuffing the puck by Ontario Nittymaki on a wraparound attempt then grabbed his own rebound and zipped the little black bastard right into the top corner.  Stripes had to review it, apparently because of its awesomeness.

Spartak Moscow’s Sergei Zinoviev provides the KHL’s must-see highlight of the week.  Give it a look, watch for the replay.  Scoring on your arse has a new poster boy, and his name is Sergei Zinoviev.

Somebody in St. Louis has been playing some inspired hockey as of late.  After frustrating fantasy owners and Blues fans for the first couple months of the season, David Backes has been scoring in bunches to help put an underachieving St. Louis team back into contention.

Backes potted two goals in Sunday’s gritty 3-1 victory over Vancouver, one of which would be the game winner.  After scoring just once in his first 21 games, Backes has found the back of the net eight times in his last 13 games including two two-goal games.

Horton and Erat Destroying December

Florida’s Nathan Horton saw his personal five-game point streak snapped on Saturday in a 3-2 loss to Carolina.  Horton has been making good on that big breakout we’ve been waiting on for about three years now.  In the month of December alone Horton has registered 13 points in 11 games, not to mention elevated his overall play that has led him to a +/- rating of 7.  It’s about time.

Martin Erat has been showing signs of earning some of that seven-year $31.5 million deal he signed last May.  The Nashville Predators winger piled up three points on Saturday’s 5-3 win over Calgary to give himself 15 in just ten games on the month.  Erat has most noticeably stepped up his offensive zone awareness and shown both highlight reel passing and scoring over that strectch.

Nashville has been hot, and when you can make a team look this lost then you’re probably going to win a few more:

Philadelphia’s Daniel Briere (of all people) delivered a nasty flying elbow on Colorado’s Scott Hannan while the Avalanche defenseman was admiring his goal.  Of all the dirty plays that have transpired around the NHL recently, this one may be the cheapest shot yet.  Unlike Georges Laraque’s knee, or James Neal’s blindside “boarding”, Briere’s elbow came after the play.

Hannan left the game and did not return.  Briere was not penalized on the play and totaled four points in the contest.  The Avalanche hung on to win the game 5-4, and Briere was named the game’s third star. Somebody ought to pound the living shit out of this weasel…