No. 1 Star: Antero Niittymaki(notes), Tampa Bay Lightning

The Tampa Bay goalie improved to 7-0-1 over his last eight starts with a 3-1 win over the Vancouver Canucks, making 39 saves. Said Coach Rick Tocchet: "He's definitely earning his keep." Marty St. Louis scored two goals, while Steven Stamkos(notes) added his 33rd of the season in the first period.

No. 2 Star: Jason Spezza, Ottawa Senators

Spezza cashed in a perfect pass from Jonathan Cheechoo(notes) late in the second period for the eventual game-winner in Ottawa's 3-2 victory over the Calgary Flames -- his 10th goal in 10 games. Spezza also had an assist earlier in the game. Brian Elliott(notes) made 27 saves for the win, which got the Sens back on the winning track after being embarrassed by the Leafs in their last game.

No. 3 Star: Daniel Paille(notes), Boston Bruins

The former Buffalo Sabres winger scored two important goals in the first period for the Bruins, who won 3-2 in the shootout on the road despite a two-goal Buffalo rally. David Krejci(notes) had the definitive goal in the shootout, while Tuukka Rask(notes) made 43 saves.

Honorable mention: Matt Cullen(notes) had a goal and two assists while Manny Legace(notes) stopped 19 shots in the Carolina Hurricanes' 4-1 win over the Florida Panthers. ... Mark Streit(notes) scored a power-play goal with 12 seconds remaining in the third period, snapping a five-game slump for the power play, to force overtime. John Tavares(notes) had the game-winning shootout tally in the New York Islanders' 4-3 win over the Nashville Predators. ... Paul Kariya(notes) scored two goals and Chris Mason(notes) made 39 saves in the St. Louis Blues' 4-3 shootout win over the Detroit Red Wings. ... Patrick Kane(notes) scored two goals and Kris Versteeg(notes) had the shootout game-winner in the Chicago Blackhawks' 4-3 skills competition victory over the Dallas Stars. Mike Ribeiro(notes) scored a goal in his first game back after missing 15. ... Pretty amazing save from Miikka Kiprusoff(notes) here:

Did you know? "With one game to go in the season series March 24 in Detroit, the Red Wings have only an overtime win. The Blues haven't gone a season without a regulation loss to the Red Wings since 1980-81 when they were 4-0." (AP)

Dishonorable mention: The Panthers were 0-for-4 on the power play. ... Keith Ballard(notes) was a minus-3 for Florida. ... Finally, Stamkos may have been slightly offsides on Tampa's second goal.

Potentially momentous night for the Dallas Stars and their goaltending situation. First, they traded defensive prospect Ivan Vishnevskiy and a fourth-round pick to the Atlanta Thrashers for the recently rehabbed Kari Lehtonen; TSN reports the deal will be finalized after the Dallas game against the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday.

The move sparked instant speculation that Marty Turco's(notes) time in Dallas will come to an end before the trade deadline, with Nick Kypreos of Sportsnet claiming that the Philadelphia Flyers could be the destination. Makes sense, considering the uncertain status of Ray Emery(notes). (Due to injury; not because he's Ray Emery.)

But that's speculation; let's deal with this trade, which is a rather bold move for the Stars on two fronts. First, Vishnevskiy was rated as the top prospect in the Dallas system by Hockey's Future, and would have fit well with a group of young Stars defensemen (assuming the team can retain their services).

Second, this is at the very least a commitment to Kari Lehtonen(notes) as their playoff-push goalie or to the fragile 26-year-old as their franchise goalie, if they re-sign the pending RFA. Dallas began the night three points out of a playoff spot; does this move bring them closer?

Is it a gamble? Sure, but what's the alternative? Let Turco skate for nothing after foundering away a playoff seed? Leave the goaltending situation a major question mark heading into the summer and having bidding wars against rivals? Lehtonen's RFA status means there's a proven, affordable NHL starter as an option on a post-Turco team. Health is a concern, for sure; but it's better than fighting 10 other teams to offer $7 million per season to Evgeni Nabokov(notes).

We'll follow this story as it becomes official and if the other skate drops on Turco this evening. Follow Defending Big D for updates as well. Meanwhile, wrap your brains around Marty Turco playing for, and in front of, Flyers fans.

UPDATE: Those Turco rumors will have to sit still for now as Stars GM Joe Nieuwendyk(notes) tells Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News that for the moment, the team will carry three goaltenders.

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: Nashville Predators at New York Islanders, 7 p.m. EST. The slumping Islanders, losers of seven in a row, will look to right the ship by bringing Martin Biron(notes) back in goal. Biron last started for the Islanders on Dec. 27 and has been relegated to the press box after Rick DiPietro(notes) made his return. Pekka Rinne(notes) will be in net for the Predators. Colin Wilson(notes) was recalled today to fill in for Marcel Goc(notes) who is injured.

Preview: Vancouver Canucks at Tampa Bay Lightning, 7:30 p.m. EST. Entering the fifth game of their 14-game trip, the Canucks will be without Pavol Demitra(notes), who has left the team to tend to a personal matter. Lightning goaltender Antero Niittymaki(notes) says that the key to stopping the Sedin twins is to watch the one without the puck. He'll be wise to do so as the twins have been in a "slump," with only Daniel recording a point in Vancouver's past three games.

Preview: Dallas Stars at Chicago Blackhawks, 8:30 p.m. EST. It's "Tony Esposito Night" at United Center and the Blackhawks are looking to snap out of a two-game skid at home. Brian Campbell(notes) believes the power play is key down the stretch: "A lot of games down the stretch are going to be one-goal games and we have to be ready for that because it's going to lead into the playoffs. Our special teams need to be better. If the power play can add one a game, that will create more scoring for us."

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

Evening Reading

UPDATE: No ligament damage to Ryan Getzlaf's(notes) ankle. He's listed day-to-day and may return to the Ducks lineup before the weekend. [TSN]

-The door may be open again for Johan Franzen(notes) to play for Team Sweden next week at the Olympics. He is expected to speak with Swedish coach Bengt-Ake Gustafsson after tonight's game about how he feels after returning from injury. [Freep]

-Edmonton's AHL franchise will be moving to Oklahoma City for the 2010-11 season. The team will play at the Cox Convention Center in downtown Oklahoma City. [AHL]

-A week after the Ottawa Senators expressed interest in one of the upcoming All-Star Games, the Pittsburgh Penguins submitted a bid to host the game next season. It will be their first in the new Consol Energy Center, which is set to open on October. The team also will apply, along with Robert Morris University, to host the NCAA Frozen Four in either 2013 or 2014. [Penguins]

-On hockey equipment being used for more than just the safety of players. [Running with the Devils]

-A take on why building a hockey team from the net out is a bad idea. [Two for Slashing]

Puck Buddy Comment of the Day: Scuuba expresses a sentiment felt by many NHL fans caught in the middle of the DirecTV / Versus mess:

"I shouldn't have to change my television provider from one I love to one I hate (Time Warner) or one that doesn't get my team in HD (fios) to get a major sporting event. The NHL should absolutely get involved in this considering that their television deal is putting its fanbase out of the way."

Bold Prediction: Johan Franzen scored twice in his return to Detroit's lineup as the Red Wings down St. Louis.

Please recall last month where we broke down the race for the Vezina (and Hart) Trophy race between Ryan Miller(notes) of the Buffalo Sabres and Martin Brodeur(notes) of the New Jersey Devils. Well, it must have been a jinx because since Jan. 12, Miller is 4-6-2 and Brodeur has posted a 5-8-1 record. One goaltender that has played himself into consideration but has been over looked due to the dreaded "East Coast bias" is Evgeni Nabokov(notes) of the San Jose Sharks.

A finalist for the Vezina Trophy in 2008 (losing to Brodeur), Nabokov has been one of the NHL's more consistent goaltenders over the past three seasons and a workhorse for the Sharks. Since the 2007-08 season, Nabokov has been in goal for 190 games, winning 120 of them.  This season he's won 33 of the Sharks' 39 victories and is currently second in the NHL in wins, fifth in goals-against average (with the second most played games of the five) and tied for fourth in save-percentage. Nabokov, 34, is doing this in the season before he becomes an unrestricted free agent this summer. With San Jose seemingly not ready to hand the reigns to Thomas Greiss(notes) or any other prospect in their system, there could be a nice bump in pay for Nabokov as the Sharks would rather chase a Stanley Cup with their experienced netminder as this team is built to win now.

This Sharks team, according to Nabokov, is a much different team than what we've seen in the past:

"We can score, this team," Nabokov said. "Some games when we are not playing well, we are still able to win because of that. Some guys can be having a tough night, but we are still able to get two points."

"I think we are more patient with each other and calmer, off the ice and on the ice," he said. "I think we ... stay more even keel, where in the past, we might get excited too much at certain times."

It's been a whirlwind year for Colorado Avalanche rookie Brandon Yip. Last April, he was involved in the memorable NCAA Frozen Four championship game that saw his Boston University Terriers come from behind in dramatic fashion to tie Miami (Ohio) University and then win the National Championship in overtime. Five months later, the 24-year old Vancouver native was making his National Hockey League debut with the Avalanche.

Drafted in the eighth round (239th overall) of the 2004 NHL Draft, Yip starred for the Coquitlam Express of the British Columbia Hockey League before moving on to Boston University for the 2005-06 season. After winning Hockey East Rookie of the Year honors in 2006 and then scoring game-winning, overtime goals in both the Hockey East quarterfinal and Final in 2007, Yip was second in goals and fourth in team scoring en route to helping the Terriers to the 2009 championship.

This past July he signed an entry-level contract with Colorado and after just six games with the Lake Erie Monsters of the American Hockey League, Yip got called up the NHL. Through 22 games with the Avalanche Yip has made the most of his opportunity scoring 11 goals and 7 assists and has become an integral part of Joe Sacco's mostly young lineup. Despite living out of a local hotel at the moment, with his current production, Yip will likely soon be told to start looking for a permanent place of residence.

We spoke with Yip last week about that memorable night in Washington D.C. last April; pre-game superstitions; killing time on road trips; and a possible post-hockey career with Shaq. Do enjoy.

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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.

-Just a reminder, Wysh is up in Vancouver and will be helping out the Y! Sports Olympic blog Fourth Place Medal while checking in from time to time here. Do check out FPM for all of your Olympic blogging needs over the next few weeks.

-During Anaheim's 4-2 win over Los Angeles Monday night, Ducks forward Ryan Getzlaf got tangled up with Dustin Brown and tweaked his ankle. He'll be getting an MRI today to determine the severity. Team Canada awaits the results, as do Jordan Staal, Jeff Carter, Vincent Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis and the other forwards that were left off of their Olympic roster. [OC Register]

-The NHL announced Tuesday that six teams will begin the 2010-11 season as part of NHL Premiere. Carolina and Minnesota will play in Helsinki. Columbus and San Jose will open in Stockholm, and Boston and Phoenix will faceoff in Prague. [NHL]

-According to Tom Gulitti, Anssi Salmela likely suffered a concussion, broken nose and lost some teeth due to the hit from Jeff Carter Monday night. [Fire & Ice]

-MARIAN GABORIK INJURY ALERT!!! Andrew Gross reports that Gaborik suffered a knee laceration while jumping over Henrik Lundqvist during practice. Lundqvist's skate caught Gaborik's knee during play. Rangers' assistant coach Jim Schoenfeld said it was too early to determine if the team's leading scorer would play Wednesday against Nashville. [Rangers Report Twitter]

-Congrats to Boston College after it beat Boston University 4-3 in the Beanpot championship game. It's the 15th Beanpot title in school history. [Boston College]

-The funeral for Brendan Burke is this today in Canton, Mass., and the entire Miami University hockey will attend. The team will also wear a patch on their jerseys for the remainder of the season in honor of him. [Dayton Daily News]

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Every week, we receive pleas from puckheads with DirecTV who are angry about missing NHL hockey because the satellite provider yanked the Versus network off its airwaves in September 2009.

That "chatter" has increased recently as the chances of missing postseason hockey because of the dispute theoretically increase.

Bad news on that front. We checked in with Versus on Tuesday about the progress of the talks, and a spokesman released the following statement to Puck Daddy:

"At this time, we are not optimistic that an agreement will be in place with DirecTV in time for the start of the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs."

Well, that's no good. The sides are still talking, but a source with knowledge of the negotiations told me that there's a multitude of issues still being debated in the stalemate. The source characterized the talks as "two sides speaking different languages."

The same source said recent optimism that a deal would get done by March, mostly coming from MMA media that are also affected by the DirecTV/Versus dispute, doesn't sync up with the current state of negotiations -- going as far as to say it's status quo from the end of last year.

Now, Versus has attempted to rally its viewers before during different segments of this stalemate, hoping hockey fans would pressure DirecTV into a deal. It hasn't worked before ... but the Stanley Cup playoffs haven't been this close before, either.

At the beginning of this dispute, NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told XM Radio that "we have the luxury of some time for the parties to work this out ... Our interest is protecting the interests of hockey fans." Time is running out; and every week, hockey fans are asking us why the NHL isn't protecting their interests in this ordeal, like reader Joseph C.:

I have tried in vain to contact the NHL on this matter and gotten no response, maybe you'll have better luck if you choose to peruse it. Since the beginning on the hockey season Versus and DirecTV have been in a spat that has had the channel black on DirecTV. I understand the business involved in these sort of negotiations, what I don't understand is how the NHL is allowing their small fan base to shrink even further by allowing these entities to restrict the viewership.

The clock is ticking. Time for all parties to get this done for the sake of the fans.

Colton Orr(notes) of the Toronto Maple Leafs must have been feeling pretty confident after his knockout of Ottawa's Matt Carkner on Saturday night. Midway through the first period of the Leafs 3-2 loss against the San Jose Sharks last night, Orr decided to jump up the fight experience ladder moving on from Carkner's 28 career tussles (pre and regular season) to Jody Shelley(notes), a seasoned pugilist with 171 scraps under his belt.

The results were not what Orr had in mind.

Shelley obviously remembered their last tussle back in February of 2007 when they were both with former teams and Orr got the best of him in that one. Unlike Carkner, Orr didn't have any issues getting up and skate himself to the penalty box. The scrap must have rubbed off on the Leafs as they would opening the scoring in their 3-2 loss just 41 seconds later. 

Looking at Orr's HockeyFights.com scorecard, he's taken on some of the NHL's biggest and toughest fighters this season, but has only been voted winner in four of his 15 scraps, with two of them coming against Carkner. At least you can say that Orr is trying to bring the "truculence" to the Leafs that GM Brian Burke promised. 

The only thing missing from Orr's resume is a NHL fight with Derek Boogaard(notes) of the Minnesota Wild. The two did have a pair of scraps in their Western Hockey League days with Orr handling himself well against an obvious size difference, but that's a fight that will have to wait until next season as Minnesota and Toronto already met back in November.

No. 1 Star: Matthew Lombardi, Phoenix Coyotes

It was a career night for the Phoenix forward as his two goals and three assists led the way in the Coyotes' rout of the Edmonton Oilers 6-1. Lombardi, playing on the right wing instead of his normal center, was also a game-high plus-five. His first goal came with 31 seconds left in the first period and then just over a minute into the second, Lombardi fired a wrister past Jeff Deslauriers to give Phoenix a 3-0 lead. Lombardi's last two-goal game was almost a year ago, February 14, 2008 against the Coyotes while he was a member of the Calgary Flames.

No. 2 Star: Chris Stewart, Colorado Avalanche

Second star, second career night for an NHL player on Monday. Stewart scored the eventual game-winner, his 18th of the season, during a 5-2 win over the St. Louis Blues. He also assisted on two other Colorado goals and completed the Gordie Howe Hat Trick with a scrap against B.J. Crombeen. Stewart is now tied for the team lead in goals with Matt Duchene. 

No. 3 Star: Jonas Hiller, Anaheim Ducks

The Anaheim netminder bounced back from a 6-4 loss at the hands of the Kings last Thursday with a 35-save performance in the second game of a home-and-home with Los Angeles that ended with the Ducks victorious, 4-2. In the process, LA's nine-game winning streak was snapped and Anaheim beat Los Angeles for the first time in seven games. Speaking of streaks, Anaheim won their 10th straight at Honda Center as Hiller won his fourth game in five starts and recorded his 24th victory of the season, a career-high. 

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One recurring topic of discussion this NHL season has been the number of questionable hits doled out whether from knee-on-knee collisions or those to the upper body/head region of a player. Every few weeks it seems another hit happens, Colin Campbell's name is brought up and the "Wheel of Justice" is spun. Sometimes punishment is handed out and sometimes the player in question gets off with a fine or no punishment at all.

One of those hits that will debated into tomorrow occurred tonight during the New Jersey Devils-Philadelphia Flyers game. Newly acquired Anssi Salmela(notes) of the Devils had just scored his first goal for his new team early in the second period when Jeff Carter(notes) completed a body check moments after the puck was shot past Michael Leighton(notes) of the Flyers. Salmela landed face first onto the ice and lay motionless for a few minutes. No penalty was called on the play and as you'll see in this clip, Salmela was taken off the ice on a stretcher.

In real-time the hit looks ugly, but the more you look at it, you realize that Carter is not skating towards Salmela from the red line at full speed like we saw in the David Koci hit on Mike Green. He takes a few quick strides to separate Salmela from the puck during a scoring play and uses his shoulder (keeping his elbow down) as the hit is delivered. His elbow only comes up after the hit is completed and it makes no direct contact with Salmela's head. As Carter tries the shoulder-on-shoulder hit, Salmela's head is already a bit lowered (not down) from him driving to the net. Unfortunately, the end result of Salmela laying motionless, face first on the ice may cause some initial outrage and calls for Campbell to discipline the Flyers forward.

Salmela's agent, Jay Grossman, Tweeted tonight that the Devils defenseman suffered a refractured broken nose and lose some teeth. He didn't return to the game, but is expected to be okay.

This hit will bring yet another round of debate regarding headshots. Some will consider what Carter did dirty, while others will simply say it was a "hockey play" and that the end result is affect the judgment of others. Which side of the fence do you stand on?