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.

Oilers 5, Canucks 4: Horcoff had one goal and one assist in regulation, then scored the game-winner in the 5th round of a shootout for the Edmonton Oilers on yesterday night. The Oilers took a 3-1 lead after one period but saw Vancouver take the lead on Naslund’s power-play goal at 7:34 in the 3rd period. Penner tied it forty-six seconds later on an Oilers man advantage. The Oilers outshot The Canucks 14-4 in the 2nd period and 25-11 through the first forty minutes

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.

Ilya Kovalchuk’s real accomplishment came when his awesome performance in Tampa Bay cracked the Top 3 on SportsCenter’s top plays. He is definitely doing something special getting a hockey match into the ESPN highlight mix on a college football Saturday. That was perfect, and everybody after the match was talking about how it all started in Ottawa. The club, right now, feels like they can come back on anyone. A breakdown by The Falconer points out that Kovalchuk contributed to 54.3 percent of Atlanta points this year, more than any other player in the League.

Zetterberg was named the National Hockey League’s first star for the past month. Henrik Zetterberg leads the league with twenty-two points and have a twenty-game points streak that dates back to last season. With a point tonight at the Calgary Flames, the player would tie the Wings’ longest season-opening point streak, set by Ullman in 1960-61. The Blue Jackets goaltender Leclaire and the Flames right wing Iginla were the 2nd and 3d stars, respectively.