No. 1 Star: Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins

One month to the day since his hat trick against the Montreal Canadiens, Crosby had good timing delivering his fourth career three-goal performance on free hat night at Mellon Arena. The Penguins captain added two assists for a five-point night as Pittsburgh the New York Rangers 8-3. Crosby is now tied for sixth in the scoring race with 30 points.

No. 2 Star: Johan Hedberg, Atlanta Thrashers

"Moose" made 34 saves for his first shutout of the season in a 1-0 Thrashers victory. Atlanta entered the game on a 14-game losing streak against Philadelphia before Rich Peverley's 10th goal of the year put the Thrashers up for good. Hedberg has now won four of his five last starts and Atlanta is undefeated in their last three games. 

No. 3 Star: Eric Fehr, Washington Capitals

Down a goal with under a minute to play and on the power play, Washington won a faceoff in the Montreal zone and Fehr knocked home a rebound to send the game into overtime. Nicklas Backstrom's goal in the shootout gave the Capitals a 4-3 win. Fehr ended the night with two goals giving him six on the year. He's currently half way to his single-season high of 12 goals which he reached last year.

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(No, the first decade of the 21st century doesn't technically end until 2011. Save your bellyaching. But we've had nine NHL seasons and one stolen from us since 1999-2000, and Yahoo! Sports has decided it's time to rank the best and worst of the last "decade." Enjoy, and snark freely in the comments.)

Moments of unjustifiable criminal behavior. Economic despair. Debilitating physical ailments that irrevocably changed the lives of many.

Man, was this a great decade for the NHL or what?

It wasn't all doom, gloom, frustration and desperation. The lowest points for the NHL sometimes led to new heights for the game. But in thinking about the stories that received the most scrutiny, coverage and attention from fans and media over the last decade, there's no question that bad news made the headlines more often than the positive vibes.

Here's a look back at the 10 biggest stories in the NHL over the last decade ...

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No. 1 Star: J.S. Giguere, Anaheim Ducks

The Chicago Blackhawks rolled into Anaheim with an eight-game winning streak, but Jean-Sebastien Giguere put an end to that with his first shutout of the season. The Ducks won, 3-0, as Teemu Selanne had two power-play goals and Nick Boynton added another. Giggy had 28 stops against the fifth-best offensive team in the NHL, and the Ducks have won four of their last five games.

No. 2 Star: Patrick Marleau, San Jose Sharks

There was a lot of fun hockey played in the NHL on Friday night, but few games matched the high drama of Dany Heatley's visit to the city he refused to be traded to last summer. Yet it was Patrick Marleau who stole the show. Heatley was a plus-2 and had an assist on Marleau's first goal, who later completed his hat trick in the third period with a shorthanded goal from Joe Thornton at 18:34 to tie the game. Joe Pavelski had the shootout game-winner for a 5-4 San Jose victory.

No. 3 Star: Miikka Kiprusoff, Calgary Flames

The Flames goalie made 40 saves in shutting out the Detroit Red Wings, as Calgary skated out of the Joe with a 3-0 victory. He made 32 saves in the first two periods. Of course, this being the Red Wings playing in a game officiated by NHL referees, controversy reigns: Dan Cleary had two near-goals waved off on the night, first on a goalie obstruction call and the second when Brad Meier lost sight of the puck. Here's the first call: Does Cleary appear to make contact with Kiprusoff while in the crease? Because Mike Babcock believes he did not. If not, does simply being in the crease interfere with the goalie attempting to make the save?

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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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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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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.

• OMG Jersey Fouls on Wednesday. Should be a chat 1 p.m. EST as well.

• When is Marian Hossa going to learn to stop answering questions about the teams he used to play for? To the Chicago Tribune, about the differences between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Detroit Red Wings: "The difference is this is one of the youngest groups of guys I've ever played with. It's lots of fun in the dressing room. It's a different crowd than it was in Detroit. It might be a little bit more mature there, but it's fun in the (Hawks') room." [Snapshots]

• The many questions about Marian Hossa finally joining the Blackhawks' lineup this week. [Paint It Blackhawks]

• Buccigross with a column on Brian Burke's son, who is gay. Very interesting, insightful stuff, though we might have structured it a bit differently. (The "imagine you are" device makes is a little clunky.) [ESPN]

• The New York Posts lists the most overrated teams in sports. There's one hockey entry. [NY Post]

• Ottawa Senators goalie Pascal Leclaire will be out for a month after an errant puck struck his cheekbone last night as he sat on the bench nursing another injury. That's, like, the stuff of gypsy curses right there. [Sportsnet]

• Terrific satirical post by View From My Seats on John Tavares's visit to Toronto last night: "The Globe and Mail piece waited until the 1st sentence of the 2nd paragraph before mentioning the name Wayne Gretzky. Don't feel special, they do this to every hotshot prospect that is a native of Ontario." [VFMS]

• Also recommended, as always: Down Goes Brown's reasons why Alex Ovechkin won't light up the Leafs this weekend: "Had heard a rumor that if the game went to a shootout, entire Leafs roster would embarrass themselves with a ridiculously demeaning attempt at rally caps." [DGB]

• Goaltender Vesa Toskala and center John Mitchell head to the IR. [CBC Sports]

• Mike Chen presents Fun With Google Image Search, including some sort of Cheechoo-related Care Bears photo we can't figure out. [Chen]

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(No, the first decade of the 21st century doesn't technically end until 2011. Save your bellyaching. But we've had nine NHL seasons and one stolen from us since 1999-2000, and Yahoo! Sports has decided it's time to rank the best and worst of the last "decade." Enjoy, and snark freely in the comments.)

How you choose to define, or quantify, the "best" player in the NHL over the last decade will determine your level of agreement with this ranking, which is sure to be one of our most controversial End of Decade lists.

Do you judge greatness based on flashy stats? Championship rings and playoff performance? Individual awards? Do you factor in intangibles like leadership or reputation?

We took everything into account for our Player of the Decade countdown, which focuses on NHL achievement rather than bringing international hockey into the equation. Every spot on the list is up for debate, but we feel as though these 10 players defined the 2000s for professional hockey. Keep in mind that the 2000s meant one set of rules, a work-stoppage, and then another set of rules.

Here are the 10 best players of the last decade ...

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There was plenty of hype for the Florida Panthers last night, coming back to BankAtlantic Center after an undefeated road trip and facing the defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins. They even had a 2-0 lead on Pittsburgh, but the Cats eventually lost in overtime, 3-2.

But the real hype for the Panthers and their fans was the unveiling of the team's new third jerseys, which they will wear a dozen times this season. After speculation about whether the team would go retro like the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers, or create a new look that would have fans reaching for their wallets, the Panthers decided on a two-tone blue scheme and a redesigned logo.

Along the same line of thinking as FanHouse, my first thought was that the Panthers new duds are the end result of a Conan O'Brien "If They Mated" sketch featuring the Penguins' and St. Louis Blues' third jerseys.

The other thought, as Puck Daddy reader Shae and the Miami Herald's George Richards pointed out, is that Florida new design was inspired by the Hockey Night in Canada jerseys that came out a few years ago (and a similar template that the Colorado Avalanche used):

With the crop of new jerseys debuting this season, it's becoming noticeable that navy blue is becoming the new black around the NHL. Formerly all the rage among NHL teams, navy blue can now be found with the Panthers, Blues and Nashville Predators third jerseys. Is this the start of the trend away from the black jersey?

But back to the topic at hand here ...

Pass or Fail: The Florida Panthers' new third jerseys.

No. 1 star: Dwayne Roloson, New York Islanders

Usually, goalies who give up three goals aren't going to be the No. 1 star. But those goalies usually don't face 61 shots. In fact, Roloson's 58 saves in the Islanders' 4-3 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs are the most since Ron Tugnutt's 70-save game in March 1991, according to the AP. (Phil Kessel had 12 on his own.) Not bad for a 40-year-old. Josh Bailey had the game-winner in overtime, after the Leafs rallied from a 3-0 hole. 

No. 2 Star: Marian Gaborik, New York Rangers

After the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets took a 2-0 lead, the Rangers used a John Tortorella timeout "just relax" chat and exploded for seven straight goals in a 7-4 victory. Gaborik had two goals (18 on the season) and two assists, including a beautiful helper on Sean Avery's second of the night. Also beautiful: Michael Del Zotto's Leetch-like solo effort for goal No. 3.

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