Apparently, one fan wasn’t about to let the Chicago Blackhawks have the only streak in the Western Conference this season.

In the second intermission of the Calgary Flames’ 4-1 home victory against the San Jose Sharks, a spectator jumped over the glass wearing nothing but red briefs and did a silly walk on the Scotiabank Saddledome ice before he was escorted away:

Get a good look at our scantily clad friend here.

Getty Images

No. 1 Star: Miikka Kiprusoff, Calgary Flames

The 36-year-old goalie returned from a 13-game absence due to injury and helped the Flames defeat the San Jose Sharks, 4-1. Kiprusoff made 32 saves, including 17 in the third period as the Sharks had two power plays in the final frame.

No. 2 Star: Jonathan Toews, Chicago Blackhawks

Toews scored arguably the most important goal of the Blackhawks’ 3-2 win over the Colorado Avalanche: a shorthanded tally, his 10th goal of the season, to tie the game in the third period. Dan Carcillo had the eventual game-winner, as Chicago earned at least a point its 24th straight game.

Getty ImagesThe Chicago Blackhawks extended their NHL record streak in dramatic fashion on Wednesday night.

The Blackhawks recorded at least a point in their 24th consecutive game to start the season, defeating the Colorado Avalanche, 3-2, on this Dan Carcillo goal with 49.3 seconds remaining in regulation:

[Also: Creator of ‘The Hockey Song' dies at 77]

Granted, the Blackhawks were only 50 seconds away from extending the streak anyway, preserving their flawless record in regulation. (Chicago has three overtime losses in the streak, earning a charity point in each game.) But that shouldn't diminish the impressive rally the Blackhawks staged in the third period, as captain Jonathan Toews’ shorthanded goal just 2:19 into the final frame tied the game at 2-2 before Carcillo ended it in the final minute with his first goal of the season.

We hear it at NHL games. It echoes through minor league arenas. It’s something heard over static-filled speakers at youth hockey tournaments around North America. It’s “The Hockey Song”; and its creator, Canadian folk singer Stompin’ Tom Connors, died at 77 on Wednesday.

From the Canadian Press:

Connors passed away Wednesday from what a spokesman described as "natural causes."

… In the message posted on his website, Connors says Canada kept him "inspired with it's beauty, character, and spirit, driving me to keep marching on and devoted to sing about its people and places that make Canada the greatest country in the world."

“The Hockey Song” debuted on the 1973 album “Stompin’ Tom and the Hockey Song.” According to a 2008 interview on Sportsnet, the song didn’t become the iconic arena tune it is today until over two decades later:

Q: Were you surprised that some 20 years after its release, The Hockey Song suddenly enjoyed a second coming when the Ottawa Senators played it at home games?

A: It didn't take off overnight either. I didn't even know the Senators were playing it. I heard the same as anybody else. I hadn't even heard it watching the games. People were telling me they're playing your hockey song (at Senators games). That's how I got wind of it. It became a sleeper and what I mean by that is radio didn't care to know anything about it, I guess. They still don't play it.
...
Q: But when the Senators started playing it, the story goes Leaf coach Pat Burns heard it and wanted it played at Leaf games. True?

A: Some of the Leafs when they were younger had heard the song, too, in their local arena and they said, 'Hey, the Senators have a great idea here.' So then the Leafs started playing it and before you know it, American teams were right on it and they started playing it.

Since then, it’s appeared everywhere from “Late Night With Conan O’Brien” to EA Sports commercials.

[Watch: Watch: Sens’ Dziurzynski KO’d by Leafs’ McLaren in first-minute scrap]

Here's the full release from his official site on his passing ...

I'm not a big fan of hockey fights, especially staged fights, primarily because they're a sideshow. In my mind, hockey fights are to ice hockey what yelling "Car!" is to road hockey. Everything stops, this dangerous thing rolls through, eventually it passes, and the game starts back up again.

But it's not just that these fights are sideshows. More than that, every hockey fight runs the risk of ending in a decisive victory for one of the fighters. Strangely, when that happens, they don't seem so excellent. Consider, for instance, Wednesday night's tilt between Frazer McLaren and David Dziurzynski, which ended with Dziurzynski unconscious on the ice:

Yeah. I'm not so into that. I know others are, since the sight of Dziurzynski being scraped off the ice instigated an absurdly-timed "Go Leafs Go" chant, but I have a hard time understanding why, 26 seconds into this game, this was necessary. I guess you could argue momentum, since the Leafs scored twice in the period, but I seriously doubt that hockey players need to watch a guy knock another guy unconscious to get up to play.

“Just call me Dizzy,” Dziurzynski told reporters when he joined the Senators back in February. Here's hoping that nickname remains little more than a play on his name.

The Senators have announced that Dziurzynski has a concussion.

Back by popular demand, here are your Puck Previews: Spotlighting the key games in NHL action, news and views as well as general frivolity. Make sure to stop back here for the nightly Three Stars when the games are finished.

GettyPreview: Ottawa Senators at Toronto Maple Leafs, 7 p.m. ET. These teams have split the Battle of Ontario thus far. Good stuff here from PPP on Randy Carlyle coaching myths. Ben Bishop gets the nod for the Sens against James Reimer.

Preview: Colorado Avalanche at Chicago Blackhawks, 8 p.m. ET. Will the first meeting between the teams this season result in the first regulation loss for the Blackhawks? Says Mile High Hockey: “The jig is up, the news is out. Let a new day come. The Hawks will feel like nothing's going right at all. The Avs aren't here to be denied.”

Getty ImagesThe visor debate in the National Hockey League shouldn’t exist.

There’s not a debate in the AHL or in European leagues or in countless levels of amateur and youth hockey, because eye protection is mandatory. In that sense, it isn’t about NHL players wearing a visor but rather choosing to take it off once they make The Show.

[Also: Carcillo’s last-minute goal extends Blackhawks’ points streak to 24 games]

New York Rangers defenseman Marc Staal wore one with the Sudbury Wolves – as you can see right here – but chose not to wear one in the NHL. Which is his prerogative, as has been collectively bargained by the NHLPA: Players can opt to wear, or not to wear, visors.

The eye injury Staal suffered on Tuesday night against the Philadelphia Flyers wasn’t one of those gray areas in the visor debate. If he had a shield, it would have deflected the puck and protected his face.

So why would a player choose not to wear one? Because:

1. They’re a veteran player that has played without one for so long that wearing one could lead to discomfort and ineffective play.

2. They’re a player that is just as concerned about safety as those advocating for mandatory visors are, but they believe that not wearing one actually improves their vision to the point at which their safety is increased.

3. In a point related to No. 3, those players who fight are against mandatory visors because they get in the way of a spontaneous donnybrook. Or as Jody Shelley termed it: “Ease of fighting.”

[Also: Creator of ‘The Hockey Song' dies at 77]

4. They see it as a political issue. That the NHL shouldn’t determine how to best protect the players, because the players know better than the NHL how to do so. That the NHL would be taking away a right from players that generations have enjoyed, as our anonymous NHL columnist The Player wrote (don’t worry, he’ll be back, by the way):

These are all valid arguments, but somehow I can't rationalize telling someone else they have to wear a visor when I was given the choice when I came into the League, and would still have the choice under a "grandfather" rule. It doesn't seem right to me, even it's "for their own good." I think there would be fewer foot injuries if every player had to wear the extra plastic "shot blockers" that some guys choose to wear but no one is arguing to make that compulsory.

All of these issues that involve player safety are complicated. The League has a vested interested in keeping the players (its most valuable assets) safe, but it's difficult to reconcile that while promoting hockey for what it has always been — extremely fast, and physical to the point of violent. It's a fine line and I don't think there are many easy answers.

The easy answer for many of us is “just wear the damn visor,” and I’d count myself in that group.

Here are your 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.

• Martin St. Louis: not tall.

• Miikka Kiprusoff returns for the Calgary Flames. [Calgary Herald]

• Peter "Bootzilla" Chiarelli on the trade market: "Everyone has played from 20 to 24 games so far; you've got to adjust your thinking to making a quicker assessment. We’re used to making our assessments over a longer period of time. And this year it’s different. Therefore, for me it’s a little funky right now to know we’re that close to making deals." Aw yeah. A little funky. [ESPN]

• Garth Snow is the lone hockey inclusion on this list of the 10 least powerful people in sports. Fair? [SI]

• Damien Cox says the Canucks could have traded Luongo to Toronto for Bozak and Kadri but they refused. Meanwhile, an old report from the Vancouver Sun's Iain MacIntyre says that was Gillis's standing offer to Burke, who wouldn't take it. Who's right? [PITB]

• Bill Daly: “The league continues to support a rule that would make visors mandatory in N.H.L. games." So does Harrison. [NY Times]

• No update on Marc Staal just yet, but Eric Staal is hopeful it will be a positive one when it comes: "It's hard to say now. They're just waiting for the swelling to go down," Eric Staal told NHL.com. Eric said he spoke to Marc on Wednesday morning. "He sounded like he was in OK spirits but we don't know a lot right now. Obviously we're saying prayers and hoping he dodged a bullet as far as being struck in that area. We'll know more with some more time." [NHL]

• Jo Innes on the visor debate: "'Visors are uncomfortable' ... suck it up. Because you know what else is uncomfortable? A laceration ON YOUR EYEBALL." [Backhand Shelf]

• Dan Girardi on Marc Staal's puck to the eye: "“I heard the shot, and I heard him." Fortunately, the Rangers have claimed Roman Hamrlik, who may be able to help cover Staal's absence. [NY Daily News]