Here are your Evening Puck Headlines: A glorious collection of news and views collected from the greatest blogosphere in sports and the few, the proud, the mainstream hockey media.
Preview: Boston Bruins at Buffalo Sabres (7 p.m. EDT; TV: VS). As the late Gorilla Monsoon would say, this is a battle between the immovable object and the irresistible force. The Bruins are playing their second game in two nights, which could mean an even more defensive posture than usual. Getting Caught From Behind says, "Thank god they only have to play them 5 more times. No one plays a more boring brand of hockey then the Boston Bruins." The Sabres, meanwhile, are 4-0-1 out of the gate and Thomas Vanek has been "teh awesome" (as the kids say) with seven goals. How about this factoid: The Sabres are 14-0-2 against Boston when Vanek has a point. Yowzer.
• Is this set of Montreal Canadiens hockey cards from 1911 worth a million dollars? [Eyes on the Prize]
• Remember that news about a second NHL team in Toronto, reported by the Globe & Mail? Yeah, so the Toronto Star disputes it, with columnist Damien Cox writing that "an NHL 'governor' could be a somebody or a nobody. That's why this story with anonymous sources gets tricky." That must be why Star reporter Kevin McGran sourced his article, "Reports of second NHL team in Toronto 'nonsense'" to "one highly placed NHL source." See, totally different, right? [Toronto Star]
Preview: Anaheim Ducks at Toronto Maple Leafs (7 p.m. EDT; TV: TSN). Beyond the usual Brian Burke/Leafs storylines, which is media catnip second only to Mats Sundin speculation in Toronto, there's another interesting plot here: The fact that former San Jose Sharks Coach Ron Wilson knows a thing or two about how to handle the Ducks. Will tonight see a goal from Ryan Getzlaf or Corey Perry? Mike Van Ryn is back in for the Leafs, with Carlo Colaiacovo a scratch. A healthy scratch, for the record.
• The New York Times Slap Shot blog is pessimistic about something KHL-related? And hamburgers now eat people. [Slap Shot]
Sports
• Mirtle wonders if we're going to see Thrashers games with attendance under 10,000 this season, based on early trends. [From the Rink]
Preview: Atlanta Thrashers at Tampa Bay Lightning (7:30 p.m. EDT; TV: None). If someone wants to pop TV info into the comments, please do, because we couldn't find any. The Bolts had a busy day, claiming Matt Pettinger on waivers, losing David Koci to the St. Louis Blues on waivers and putting Jason Ward on waivers. There weren't many fights for Koci to handle, which led to the Barry Melrose classic: "That's why the United States has a nuclear arsenal. It's called a deterrent. Do you think (Minnesota's Derek) Boogaard is in the lineup because he's going to get 10 goals? I don't think so."
• Speaking of the Thrashers, The Kahlua Line has to be one of the greatest nicknames we've were heard for a scoring line. It's Bryan Little-Todd White-Ilya Kovalchuk. Or little White Russian. [AJC]
• A celebration of the Chicago Blackhawks ice girls. Look what you're missing Savard. [Epic Carnival]
Preview: Vancouver Canucks at Columbus Blue Jackets (7:30 p.m. EDT; TV: RSW, SNET-P). Freddy Modin was placed on IR by the Jackets, who are hoping to welcome back Manny Malhotra soon. Nikita Filatov will play on a line centered by Jiri Novotny. Meanwhile, the Vancouver special teams are in the cross-hairs over on the KB. Kyle Wellwood and Jason Krog are up for the Canucks.
• Alexander Semin is your early season MVP. Don't tell Ovie. [Puck Stops Here]
• Now that Sports Illustrated has taken notice, is the watch on for "control freak" Mike Keenan in Calgary? [SI]
Preview: Washington Capitals at Calgary Flames (9:30 p.m. EDT; TV: TSN, CSN, and Yahoo.com). Five Hole Fanatics believes this is a really, really crappy matchup for Calgary. Donald Brashear and Jose Theodore return to the Capitals lineup tonight. The Caps, by the way, are doing OK on local television, per the team: "The average number of households watching a Capitals game in 2008-09 represents a 100% increase over the number watching the first four Capitals games of 2007-08."
• Finally, we kid the KHL, but damn if that League doesn't continue to give us some rather entertaining fight videos. Vladimir Gusev of Novokuznetsk Metallurg takes on Alexander Gutov of Khabarovsk Amur.
