On the Beat: Lawton not happy with Lightning, Sakic and Kariya hurt and line combinations for your reading pleasure

What team beat writers are saying this afternoon:

• Here are the Hurricanes’ lines for tonight’s game against Washington.  Cullen and Sutter remain on the sidelines.
• Joe Sakic (back) is doubtful for tonight’s game.  Sakic continues to play at a very high level, so the Avalanche will obviously miss him tonight.
• Looks like Mark Parrish will be in the line-up for Dallas tonight.  The struggling Stars have two tough games coming up against the Ducks and Sharks, so we will see if the past few days off have helped the team regroup.
• Martin Brodeur’s surgery on his torn biceps was 100% successful, according to Devils GM Lou Lamoriello.  Great news for Devils fans.
• It looks like Wild defenseman Brent Burns will miss his third straight game with an apparent back injury.  His absence from the line-up is more important than Marian Gaborik’s in my opinion.
• Here are the Habs’ lines for tomorrow night’s game versus Columbus.  Also of note, Jaroslav Halak is slated to start that game.  Nothing really surprising about those line combinations.
• With Martin Brodeur out for a while, the Devils finally got some good news today with word that Brian Rolston is inching closer to a return to the line-up.  The Devils miss his immensely.
• Islanders coach Scott Gordon has tapped Joey MacDonald for his third start in four nights tonight at Atlanta.  With the way he’s been playing, it is hard for Gordon to move away from him.
• Jim Gintonio of the Arizona Republic has a good article about the 2008 NHL draft class.  Many of the 2008 draft class are being rushed to the NHL in my opinion.
• Paul Kariya (lower-body injury) won’t play tonight against the Sharks.  The Blues are obviously hoping this injury is minor because Kariya has been arguably their best player this season.
• Lightning GM Brian Lawton was extremely unhappy with his team’s play in last night’s game versus New Jersey.  The Lightning as a whole need to have a little more patience with this group.
• The Capitals have rolled out an all Russian first line of Ovechkin-Fedorov-Semin.  That line sure doesn’t lack for speed, skill or scoring ability.  This new line is obviously Bruce Boudreau’s attempt to Alexander Ovechkin going.