I hope Boults, or Thorby goes after Cooke next time we play Pittsburgh. Of course, none their guys wanted anything to do with either of them last night.

LET’S GO THRASHERS!!!!!

I didn’t see what set off the Kovy fracas (was too busy watching Orpik, who played a borderline dirty game, lift the net off the stanchions to make sure we didn’t score on a floundering Fleury), but those penalties seemed excessive…especially when compared to the no call from the ref watching as Malkin mugged Hainsey. Not sure if that’s when Hainsey was injured or not. As you can tell, I was less than thrilled with the officiating last night.

Fleury was sharp, and Gonchar played a heck of a game, disrupting more plays than I could count. Not quite sure why Crosby gets the third star…he got an assist, but wasn’t all that impressive to me.

Hope the boys are fired up and come out today and squash the Bolts.

BTW, shouldn’t the whole visor rule get negated if you “invite” another visored player to the dance? BS xtra 2 min penalty, but brilliant PK and SH goal by Bogo and Thorbs.

Speaking of BS calls and Bogo, that 1st period call on Z-Bo for interference was horse excrement! It was a fair and square puck battle that Bogo won. I spoz’ Zach should’ve made sure he got the puck as well. But man I love this kid’s grit and toughness. He hit Malkin 3 straight times in that sequence. Awesome! He is such a special player.

Finally, Mad Max was a facking animale last nite. He was all over the ice and hitting like a power forward. Loved how he knocked Staal on his rump surprising Jordan that it was indeed him. His goal was again spectacular, but alas about 40 seconds too late.

Now boys let’s bring it early tonite and shut down the Stamkos line as best we can. Let Kane shadow and abuse the Ooompa Loompa all over the ice and victory shall be ours. Ondrej gets the win in a 4 – 2 throttling of da Bolts.

I do see we have Carolina coming up on the schedule. I wonder if this will be the “lottery draft” version of the club, or the one that’s starting to resurrect its season. Any word on their goaltender, Leighton? I saw he had some leg or lower body injury, when a player landed on him, with his pad extended. That’s why they’ve been playing Manny Legace lately. Wouldn’t it be funny if Legace gets the start against the Thrashers?

Sharks just prevailed, 3-2, over Anaheim. I guess Joe Thornton had the winner.

Back to that shootout last week. I thought the NHL might review it in Toronto, since it “appeared” that the shooter had STOPPED. But, I guess, in their view, he had not. I just can’t remember which game it was. But it was crazy stuff. The player had this, “I give up” look on his face and he fired a desperation backhand into the net. The goaltender was stunned, too. I think, to make matters worse, it was ultimately the deciding goal of the shootout. Someone must have seen it.

Rick Nash, last time out in the shootout, lifted his left leg in the air and continued to deke, then scored. NHL Network listed his shootout goal as one of the “Pics of the Week.” By the way, they made Finny’s “fall away” goal #2 on this list for the week. It was an amazing highlight reel goal.

The 6-13 spots are going to be one tight cluster.

As for shootouts, I saw the CBJ-Nashville and the first two shooters were quite interesting for Columbus, catch it if you can on the replays. First guy was the easiest save I ever saw a goalie make in the shootout, then Rick Nash went into the net with the puck on their next attempt.

P.S. Stendec just may say something new.