john erskine

What team beat writers are saying this afternoon: The schedule making has been odd this season, and that will continue as the Ducks play 16 of their next 21 games at home. With a home-heavy schedule like that, the Ducks should have the goal of leading the Pacific Division by the end of that stretch. The Thrashers' lines remained the same at practice today. No shortage of offense in Atlanta; if only they could start paying attention to detail on defense... "We're 4-1-1 and yet is unacceptable the way we are playing," said Flames coach Brent Sutter this morning. Gotta love that quote if you are a Flames fan. Expectations are high this year and performances like last night's better be a thing of the past or else this season will end in yet another first round exit. Eric Staal and Joni Pitkanen were not at Hurricanes practice today. Staal is still expected to play tomorrow, but Pitkanen remains out. Nikita Filatov will be a healthy scratch for the Blue Jackets tonight versus the Flames. Coach Hitchcock is trying to bring this kid along, so no real surprise here. Marc Crawford kept the Stars on the ice for about two hours today working on the penalty kill and shootouts. Those have been the two key weakness for the Stars so far this young season. Although, I have to say I was quite impressed with the way this team played when I watched their game against Vancouver on Sunday. Crawford gets a lot of criticism, but I think he's done a very nice job with this group so far. Erik Ersberg will get the start tomorrow for the Kings tomorrow at MSG. Nothing like getting your first start of the season at the World's Most Famous Arena against the streaking Rangers. Here are the Habs' lines from practice today. They need players not named Gomez, Gionta or Cammalleri creating offense. Paging Max Pacioretty.... The Sharks got out of town a couple hours early today because of bad weather. One long road trip for the Sharks. Ron Wilson will make Niklas Hagman and Matt Stajan healthy scratches tonight. Leafs fans may be excited to see a seemingly weak Colorado team in town, but this team can skate and move the puck and with the Leafs' troubles on the back-end and on the penalty kill, it could be 0-5-1 by night's end. Jason Botchford of the Vancouver Province tells us that Canucks defenseman Sami Salo will be out of the lineup for 4-6 weeks with a sprained MCL. Who had October 13th in the pool for Salo's first injury? With both Salo and Schneider on the back-end, there is a reason the Canucks have so many defensemen on the roster. John Erskine, Tom Poti and Boyd Gordon all didn't practice for the Capitals today. Some changes to the top two lines too.

On the Beat: Healthy scratches in Toronto, Sami Salo out 4-6 weeks and new top lines in Washington

Tonight’s Top Scorers – November 19