The National Hockey League’s board of governors approved the sale of the Predators to a group led by David Freeman, the Chief Executive Officer of a venture capital firm. David Freeman’s group still needs approval from the city council and Nashville’s Metro Sports Authority in order to implement some changes that will maximize the revenues to the arena lease for the Nashville Predators. The club lost $70 million in outgoing owner Craig Leipold’s ten years of ownership. The League changed the scheduling format, so that every team will from now on face each other at least once every season, cutting down on division matches.

Scott Hartnell, Philadelphia Flyers’ forward, was suspended for 2 games by the National Hockey League yesterday. He is actually the 4th Philadelphia Flyers player, who was disciplined this season for an illegal hit. Scott Hartnell checked defenseman Andrew Alberts from the Boston Bruins in the head on Monday. He was assessed a major penalty for boarding. During the 2nd period, he was ejected in and Andrew Alberts left the game with an unspecified head injury.

Dallas Stars 3, New York Rangers 2: Morrow’s power-play goal early in the 3rd period lifted the visiting Dallas Stars over the New York Rangers on Sunday and stretched the Stars’ winning streak to 5 matches. Despite being outshot 41-18, Dallas used a sizzling power play in order to win the 1st of a 6-game road trip that will take the team to all 5 teams in the EC’s Atlantic Division.

Anaheim Ducks 3, Los Angeles Kings 2: Kunitz and Getzlaf scored 3rd-period goals as the Anaheim Ducks rallied for a win over Los Angeles.

Vancouver Canucks 2, Chicago Blackhawks 0: Morrison scored an early goal and Luongo made twenty-seven saves to lead Vancouver over the visiting Blackhawks.

Rick DiPietro earned his 100th National Hockey League victory with an eighteen-save effort yesterday night and the Islanders beat the Rangers for the 3rd time this season, 2-1. Rick DiPietro, the 1st goalie ever drafted Number 1, when the New York Islanders took the Massachusetts native in 2000, followed up a 1-0 victory on Friday against the New Jersey Devils with another stunning performance in a game against Long Island’s biggest rival.

Ohlund’s clean record in ten seasons did not count for much on Sunday. The veteran Canucks defenseman was handed a 4-game suspension for playing woodchopper’s ball on the back of Koivu’s left calf. Mattias Ohlund met with reporters between the 1st and 2nd periods of the Vancouver Canucks’ game with the Calgary Flames on Sunday and said he respected the league’s decision.

The Thrashers look to continue their home dominance of the Panthers, when the two teams meet Tuesday. Atlanta has won the last eleven home meetings against Florida since their last loss in October 2003. The Thrashers had their season-best 3-game win streak snapped against the Hurricanes on Saturday, suffering a 5-3 setback. Hossa scored 2 goals in the loss, logging his 2nd consecutive 2-point match.

Eric Lindros, the winner of the Hart Trophy as the NHL’s MVP in 1995, retired in his hometown of London, Ontario, yesterday, ending a career derailed by a series of concussions and other minor injuries. Eric Lindros, a 6-foot-4, 240-pound center, had 372 goals, 865 points and 1,398 penalty minutes in 760 games for the Rangers, Philadelphia, Toronto, and Dallas.

Modano broke Housley’s National Hockey League record for career points by an American-born player with 2 quick goals in the opening minutes of the Dallas Stars’ 3-1 victory against the Sharks yesterday night. Mike Modano’s 2 goals in the first 4:24 gave him 1,233 points in 1,253 regular-season games — 242 games fewer than Phil Housley played.

The Senators are off to the best start to a season in the National Hockey League history after Tuesday night’s 5-1 win over their rivals Maple Leafs. The Senators improved to an impressive 13-1-0, making this season’s Senators the fastest team in the league to reach the thirteen-win mark. Each Ottawa player got a phone call from John Paddock last summer warning against a letdown following their trip to the Stanley Cup final last year. Paddock warned against the type of meltdown that happened to 2006 Cup finalists Edmonton and the Panthers, both of which missed the playoffs last season.

After Wellwood steps onto the ice at Scotiabank Place tonight, the Maple Leafs will welcome back his brains rather than his brawn. Given Kyle’s medium-sized frame, brawn is in short supply with the player, however, he has lots of brainpower that the Maple Leafs’ moribund power play desperately needs. Before last night’s matches, the Leafs’ power play was 26th among the League’s thirty teams with a success rate of 13.4 %. Toronto had also allowed 4 short-handed goals, the most in the NHL.

Kyle Wellwood, who has not played a match this year after requiring surgery for a 2nd time on his sports hernia, will inject a healthy shot of creativity in the power play.

The most obvious reason for this year’s travails is that Kyle Wellwood, defenseman McCabe and winger Tucker, who were regulars on last year’s power play, have not played on it for the past 2 weeks.

Kyle Wellwood is going to play centre on the 4th line with another newcomer to this season’s lineup. Bell finished his fifteen-game League suspension and will play with Kyle Wellwood and John Pohl. On the power play, Kyle will be on the Number 1 unit with Sundin and Antropov as the forwards, with Blake dropping down to the 2nd unit.

There is no better test for the Toronto Maple Leaf power play than the Senators tonight. At 12-1 before last night’s matches, Ottawa is the Number 1 hockey team in the League and they enjoy a perfect record against Toronto’s power play. In the first 2 matches of the season, Ottawa blanked the Maple Leafs on fourteen power-play opportunities in winning both matches.