Quick Hits

- All good things must come to an end, and the Sharks made that mighty clear tonight versus the Rangers at the Garden. It was an ugly 7-3 loss for the Blueshirts that saw San Jose notch six straight goals. It's hard to call out John Tortorella, whose called all the right shots thus far, but starting Steve Valiquette when the Rangers haven't played since Saturday and not again until Thursday is definitely a questionable move. To put Lundqvist in to start the third period in a 5-2 game that you didn't deem important enough to start him in the first place (it being an out of conference game) is an even more questionable move. Valiquette failed to supply the Rangers with the big saves that could've changed the outcome of the game. Hopefully the Rangers just mark this one down as a stinker and keep playing like they have over their first eight games.

- Dany Heatley was playing on the "second" power-play unit. Expect a trade request shortly - his role on the team has clearly been diminished!

- Michael Del Zotto scored again. Four goals, five assists, and nine points in nine games - it goes without saying, very impressive.

- Tonight's game was easily Marian Gaborik's least effective as a Ranger. He was a non-factor, and saw his point streak to start the season snapped at eight games. It happens. Expect a big game against the Devils on Thursday from the Rangers' game-breaker.

- Dustin Penner has started the season strong with five goals and nine points in the Oiler's first seven games. How do you feel about that MacT?

- Ilya Kovalchuk has quietly put up seven goals to lead the Thrashers to a 4-1-0 start. I still don't think the Thrashers make the playoffs, but if you're a Thrasher fan (correction, if there is a Thrasher fan) you need to be encouraged with what you're seeing.

- Can Brian Burke do all us Yankees a favor and fire Ron Wilson...as Team USA's coach?

- Eric Staal - two goals, two points in seven games. Ryan Getzlaf - three assists, three points in seven games. Staal is a bubble player to make Team Canada, and you have to think Getzlaf was down as a "probable." Could both play their way off the team? It's only a handful of games, but with an ultra-competitive field of Canadian players in contention, every game is important.

- The Canadiens have lost five straight. What a shocker...

- While on the subject of the Northeast Division, how about the Sens? Despite a poor start by Jason Spezza, the Sens are sitting pretty at 5-2-0. Daniel Alfredsson has played well, and has seemed to have jump-started Alexei Kovalev. Milan Michalek regrouped from a slow start to register a hat trick on the 15th versus Tampa Bay. Playoffs? It's very possible. I said at the start of the season the Northeast would be very interesting - nearly everyone had the teams slotting in for fairly different finishes. The one team everyone expected to be a certainy was Boston, and they've looked nothing like their squad of last season. Now they'll have to deal with no Milan Lucic for 4-6 weeks - but, hey, he was pretty invisible for the their first seven tilts of the season, anyway.

- Every once in a while don't you just stop and question, "Imagine if Crosby and Malkin actually had legitimate wingers?" In the salary-cap era, it may never happen.