No. 1 star: Marian Hossa, Chicago Blackhawks

The highly anticipated debut of Hossa was not a disappointment for the Blackhawks and their fans. A 7-2 rout of the San Jose Sharks included three consecutive shorthanded goals chasing Evgeni Nabokov after the second period. Hossa scored twice with one coming on a shorthanded breakaway after Sharks defenseman Jason Demers fell down. It was the second time in the past week that Chicago has scored seven goals in a game. 

No. 2 star: Ondrej Pavelec, Atlanta Thrashers

Thrashers fans are quickly forgetting about injured-goaltender Kari Lehtonen with every stunning performance by Pavelec. Stopping 40 Detroit shots, Pavelec blanked the Red Wings 2-0 for his seventh win of the season. It was the ninth time this season that Atlanta has allowed 35 or more shots with Pavelec in goal. Almost ruining the shutout was Henrik Zetterberg who came close to taking advantage of a Pavelec turnover before being robbed. 

No. 3 star: Semyon Varlamov, Washington Capitals

The Capitals rookie came up big making 25 saves and posting his first career regular-season shutout in the NHL as Washington blanked Buffalo 2-0. Varlamov, who had lost his previous two starts in overtime, improved his record to 9-1-2. Washington remains tied with Pittsburgh atop the Eastern Conference standings with 34 points. 

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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: Philadelphia Flyers at New York Islanders, 7 p.m. EST. Islanders goaltender Martin Biron will face his former team for the first time. In other goaltending news out of Long Island, Rick DiPietro participated in his first full practice after playing in just five games all of last season. The Flyer have won the last ten meetings between the two Atlantic Division teams and would like to continue the streak and end their current three-game slide. Danny Briere is currently serving a two-game suspension and will sit out tonight.

Preview: Montreal Canadiens at Pittsburgh Penguins, 7:30 p.m. EST. Montreal has seven points in their last four games, but their injury list has grown with the losses of Scott Gomez and Jaroslav Spacek. Andrei Kostitsyn now joins the list as he's currently doubtful for tonight after blocking a shot last night against Columbus. Carey Price will make his seventh straight start for the Canadiens. Pittsburgh has won four of their last five and are currently tied with the Washington Capitals for tops in the Eastern Conference.

Preview: Chicago Blackhawks at San Jose Sharks, 10:30 p.m. EST. The two best teams in the Western Conference meet as Marian Hossa makes his triumphant debut for the Blackhawks. Chicago has won their last seven games including the first three of their six-game west coast road trip. Dan Boyle will be back for the Sharks after taking a shot to the skate over the weekend. 

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On the 54th day of the 2009-10 National Hockey League season, the hockey gods gave the Chicago Blackhawks Marian Hossa. Almost five months after he signed a 12-year, $62.8 million contract, Hossa will finally suit up tonight for the Blackhawks as they visit the San Jose Sharks at HP Pavilion in a battle of the top two teams in the Western Conference. (Watch the game live on Y! Sports at 10:30 p.m. EST)

The return of "The Redeemer" will be noticed immediately as Chicago head coach Joel Quenneville will put Hossa with Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane, giving the Blackhawks one of the best lines in the NHL. Playing alongside the young duo should help Hossa quickly open his scoring account. With three more games on the west coast before returning home Tuesday against Columbus, it's not out of the realm of possibility that Hossa will have Blackhawks fans already forgetting about Martin Havlat (two goals in 19 games for Minnesota) by next week, as the Daily Herald's Tim Sassone wrote yesterday.

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("Sleepers, Keepers , Bench'em or Drop'em" is a weekly fantasy hockey column written by Darryl "Dobber" Dobbs, an honest-to-goodness expert on such matters and founder of DobberHockey.com. His column will run on Puck Daddy every Thursday in a non-holiday week.)

Marian Hossa makes his season and Chicago debut Wednesday, and his owners have been doing the fantasy hockey equivalent of waiting excitedly outside of Best Buy for the latest "Halo."

Injury replacement of the week: Brian Elliott, Ottawa

Well, duh. A starting goaltender is out for several weeks so of course the backup is going to warrant fantasy interest. But I'm singling out Elliott because he would have been a great No. 3 goaltender pickup at the draft. After all, predicting a Pascal Leclaire injury is like predicting a donut for a cop - you know he's going to get one, you're just not sure which.

Are you drunk?

No. Thanksgiving this week, so the Puck Daddy piece is a day early and cutting into my drinking time. I think Elliott will win eight of his next 12 starts -- and I also believe that we ain't done with the Leclaire injury news for 2009-10 just yet.

The Keepers who are on fire...

Nathan Horton, Florida Panthers: He has 19 points in his last 18 games, with 22 PIM and is a plus-8 in that span. His slow start is as distant a memory as that OMC song "How Bizarre." Definitely a career season on the horizon, possibly over the 70-point mark.

Maxim Afinogenov, Atlanta Thrashers: It's the perfect storm - playing for a contract, surrounded by fellow Russians, and no Lindy Ruff. Injuries will prevent him from getting to 75, but don't completely rule out 70.

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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.

• Turkey Day on Puck Daddy features Three Stars and the next all-decade ranking, and it's something Bettman bashers will enjoy. Happy Thanksgiving to all; we're obviously thankful that you give this silly blog your time and attention.

• A video update on the Minnesota Wild "movember" charity mustache growing stunt. Clutterbuck looks like a kid trying to buy beer with a Fake ID. [CBS, via Hockey Wilderness]

• The New York Times sets the scene for tonight's Chicago Blackhawks/San Jose Sharks smackdown on the left coast, as perhaps the hottest team in hockey is expected to have Marian Hossa ready to roll. The Sharks, meanwhile, haven't lost at home in regulation yet. Flip on Center Ice tonight while diagramming your Turkey Day eating game-plans. [Slap Shot]

• Nik Kronwall of the Detroit Red Wings calls Georges Laraque's hit on him "more of an accident." Wonder if he had any influence on the NHL's suspension duration? [Hockey Fights]

• TFP is reporting that the Kostitsyns are on the block for the Montreal Canadiens, and that Edmonton is a possibility with Andrew Cogliano coming back the other way. Are the Oilers better off looking for another kind of forward for that price? [Copper & Blue]

• Get Drunk on Hockey, Vol. 1: The Tampa Bay Lightning are offering a "$25 Tailgate - Unlimited Food, Beer, Wine and Soda" both pregame and postgame for their game tonight vs. the Toronto Maple Leafs. Oh, and there's a concert by Danko Jones afterwards, too. RAWK! [Lightning, stick tap DH Speedwagon]

• Miami Herald writer George Richards? Not a fan of the new Florida Panthers third jerseys, in a "who do we blame for this?" sort of way. [On Frozen Pond]

• On Thanksgiving Day, Boston Bruins defenseman Dennis Wideman will personally deliver $1,000 worth of pies to various homeless shelters throughout Boston. Kyle Wellwood last scene checking Expedia East Coast flight options, looking for Vietnam-era Army jacket at Goodwill. [Bruins]

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So you're stuck at work on Turkey Day Eve, and you're like, "Man, I wish there was some sort of live chat with so-called experts that combines occasional moments of breaking hockey news with scores of awful jokes and puckhead geek references."

Wish no more, friend; the Puck Daddy Hockey Rumors Live Chat begins at 1 p.m. EST, so join us along with Lyle "Spector" Richardson of Fox Sports and hopefully David "Dave" Pagnotta of The Fourth Period for the latest rumors, scuttlebutt, innuendo and Thanksgiving dietary preferences from an American and two Canucks.

(For the record: Lightly toasted white bread with mayo, stuffing, turkey with skin, about 10:30 at night. No cranberries, as in the photo. Nothing beats it.)

Puck Headlines will follow the chat. As always, bring the funny and we'll bring ... well, whatever it is we bring to this nonsense.

John Buccigross's ESPN.com column on Brendan Burke -- who came out as a gay man to his father, Toronto Maple Leafs President Brian Burke, two years ago -- has been the talk of the hockey world in the last 24 hours.

(ESPN.com labeled his coming out as an "admission" on the top of Buccigross's story, which is about as faintly damning a term as can be applied to someone coming out to their parents.)

Not only has this been buzz-worthy because it reignites one of the hottest of hot-button issues in professional sports (homosexuals in the locker room), but because it instantly transformed Burke, that steadfast promoter of truculence and testosterone, into a de facto gay icon. Brendan Burke has become hockey's Mary Cheney of the moment, though both child and parent are treating this public outing with much less political parsing than Dick Cheney did in an election year.

From Damien Cox in the Toronto Star:

Burke believes there will be those who won't embrace the family love inherent in his acceptance of his son's orientation or of Brendan's decision to go public with his sexuality. Burke remembered that when he was in California in November to vote in the U.S. presidential election - he voted for Barack Obama - he was aggressively confronted by anti-gay activists protesting a same-sex marriage proposition on the California ballot.

"I told them to (expletive) get lost," said Burke, who also voted for the proposition. "But over the next two weeks, yeah, I expect to get some hate mail over today's story. There is going to be a backlash. All I care about is if Brendan is prepared for it. It takes jam to do what he's done."

What has he done, exactly? Has Brendan Burke helped drag professional hockey from its close-minded, closeted traditions regarding gay players with his story? Or is this just a personal choice and a compelling narrative without political impact? (To that end, we recommend Big League Screw's "it's a personal choice" essay on gay athletes coming out.)

To help answer those questions, we reached out to Justin Bourne, the former minor league player-turned-columnist whose piece on gay slurs in hockey for USA Today is actually the reason the world now knows Brian Burke has a gay son. (Follow Bourne on Twitter here.)

The following Q&A is an attempt to clarify what this news means and if, in the end, it's actually newsworthy.

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Jersey Fouls is our ongoing exploration of the rules and etiquette for proper hockey jersey creation and exhibition. If you spot what you think may be a foul in your arena, e-mail a photo to us at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com for inclusion in future installments.

Oh, how adorable: Like the cake topper at a St. Louis Blues Jersey Fouls wedding.

She'll no doubt look back on this sweater stunt fondly when she's had to explain for the 10,000th time that "Bride 20" isn't an indication of her age at the time of matrimony, or that she married a polygamist.

Look, we're not completely cold-hearted bastards here; maybe just slightly chilled, like a plastic bottle of Miller Lite at the arena. So we wonder if there is an acceptable, less-Foulish way to pull off commemorative wedding jerseys, because we don't want to begrudge two puckheads in love the chance to walk down the aisle in support of their favorite teams (and for true love, eternal bliss, yadda yadda yadda).

Does this happy couple pull it off? Is there another way to do it? Are Bride/Groom jerseys just a complete Fail and a harbinger of doom for the relationship?

If there can be a Star Wars wedding, there can be an NHL fan wedding, right? (Thanks to Puck Buddy Ryan M. for the photo.)

Meanwhile in the Windy City, this Chicago Blackhawks fan really broke the bank to update what we assume was either a Chris Chelios (in which case ... why?) or Lyle Odelein (in which case ... OK) jersey to a Brent Seabrook model. Materials alone are setting him back, what, two to three dollars?

That said, we respect his flawless artistry in using all capital letters.

Thanks to Roman for the image.

(Coming Up: A incredible New Jersey Devils Stanley Cup Hat Foul; a debatable T.J. Oshie Foul; the mascot jersey conundrum; Alfie's folly; religious freedom; Franken-T-Shirts; your Sidney Crosby Foul updates; and a Washington Capitals Foul that we're frankly tired of seeing stream into our inbox.)

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No. 1 star: Marc-Andre Bergeron, Montreal Canadiens

Bergeron was signed to slap a Band-Aid on the Montreal power-play following the injury to quarterback Andrei Markov, who was sidelined on opening night. In that sense he's been a failure, providing only one point on special teams since his first week in a Montreal sweater. But lately – and somewhat uncharacteristically – he's been a force at even strength. Tuesday Bergeron scored a pair of goals in Montreal's 5-3 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets. Neither will go in the scrapbook – the first was scored on a deflection and Bergeron hardly got all of the slapshot that resulted in the game-winner – but it's hard to discount a game-high eight shots and a plus-3 rating for a defenseman generally considered an even-strength liability.

No. 2 star: Carey Price, Montreal Canadiens

Price made several highlight-reel saves and kept the Canadiens within striking distance after two periods despite the fact that Columbus held a 28-16 advantage in shots through 40 minutes of action. With each passing game, Price's November numbers are making it harder to fathom the fact that they were calling for exile to the AHL a little more than a month ago. R.J. Umberger (5 shots, 0 points) may not be sleeping soundly Tuesday night.

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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: Columbus Blue Jackets at Montreal Canadiens, 7 p.m. Huge night in the NHL ... for anyone that has Blue Jackets or Canadiens players on their fantasy team. The lone contest on the schedule pits Carey Price (4-2-1 in his last seven) against Mathieu Garon, starting in place of Steve Mason, who was yanked against the Rangers last night. But the real intrigue is the return of Sergei Kostitsyn, who went from suspended by the franchise to AHL exile to back to the big league. Watch The Game Live Via Hockey Night on Y!

Check out previews and updated scores for all of today's games (OK, "game") on the Y! Sports NHL scores and scheds page.

Evening Reading

• Danny Briere has been "suspended for two games, without pay, as a result of a late hit on an unsuspecting opponent -- Avalanche defenseman Scott Hannan" in the Philadelphia Flyers' game at Colorado last night. The Flyers seem surprisingly cool with it, being the Flyers and all. [Courier Post]

• Don Cherry on how he'll watch the CBC bio-pic about him that's premiering in 2010: "I'm going to be in the basement by myself, and I'll cry and laugh - I guess at the same time." A.K.A. how most of us watch Coach's Corner. [CP]

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