Puck Previews: Perry shoots for 20 in Dallas; NBC/Comcast talk

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.

Preview: Anaheim Ducks at Dallas Stars, 8:30 p.m. EST. An interesting game for several reasons. Anaheim needs to start winning their division games, and fast, sitting seven points out of a playoff spot. They've lost six in a row on the road. Corey Perry(notes) is shooting for a 20-game point scoring streak. The Stars, meanwhile, are facing an impatient fan base that's not exactly stomaching the team's inconsistent play.

Preview: Colorado Avalanche at Pittsburgh Penguins, 7:30 p.m. EST. The Avs are 3-5-4 in their last 12 and Craig Anderson(notes) is "day-to-day" with a neck injury after getting plowed by Keith Ballard(notes) last night. We can only assume Mike Rupp's assault on the Richard Trophy will continue this evening. Watch The Game Live Via Hockey Night on Y!

Preview: Ottawa Senators at Los Angeles Kings, 10:30 p.m. EST. Along with Anze Kopitar(notes), Dustin Brown(notes) is also not putting many biscuits in the basket for the Kings. But Terry Murray is cool with him at least getting said biscuits on net. For Ottawa, Nick Foligno(notes) gets scratched due to some poor efforts lately. Watch The Game Live Via Hockey Night on Y!

Check out previews and updated scores for all of today's games on the Y! Sports NHL scores and scheds page.

Evening Reading

• If you've not seen it, here is the full Chicago Blackhawks press conference for the signings of Patrick Kane(notes), Jonathan Toews(notes) and Duncan Keith(notes). We'll have more about this on Friday.

• Paint It Blackhawks took a critical look at the deals. [PiB]

• Interesting column about headshots, players taking liberties and how it ties into the instigator rule. [Province]

• Jiri Tlusty(notes) is traded to the Carolina Hurricanes, in one of those project-for-a-project deals. [TSN]

• Has CBC Sports just reinvented the wheel for online hockey viewing? Introducing the user-controlled camera that offers a 360-degree angle of the game. [CBC Sports]

• Lepore makes six hockey-related predictions for the new Comcast/NBC monster, including "The NHL Network will open up a New York studio at 30 Rock." [Puck The Media]

• More about the NBC deal from Panicstreak, who wants to see the NHL Draft treated with more prominence. [Panicstreak]

• Jim Kelley of Sports Illustrated takes a calm, rational approach to the Alex Ovechkin(notes) suspension story ... by evoking the names of Todd Bertuzzi(notes), Marty McSorley and Chris Simon(notes) in relation to the Washington Capitals' support of AO. Wow. [SI]

Puck Buddy Comment of the Day: We give it to Pension Plan Puppets, in response to Brooks Orpik's(notes) Ovechkin critique:

Burn.

Bold Prediction: The St. Louis Blues score on the power play and beat the San Jose Sharks on the road.