Thursday's Daily Dosage - Garrison, Pacioretty, Burmistrov...

Happy Thanksgiving to our readers below deck... enjoy the dirty bird and the NHL-free day (wtf?)

Jason Garrison with his eighth goal of the season last night, which leads all dmen.  Panthers coach Kevin Dineen has his team firing as they're 8th in the league in both goals/gm & PP% and he's been looking to Garrison to play a major role.  Garrison sees 24 mpg in ice-time and 2:33 on the PP (typically 2nd unit).  I have some serious doubts about this guy but maybe he has more staying power than I'm giving him credit for?

Max Pacioretty threw a total of 12 pucks towards goal last night with seven hitting the target.  He's up to 3rd in the league with 82 sog through 22 games.  He also chipped in four PIMs in what is becoming a monster fantasy breakout season.

Alexander Burmistrov has just 2A in his last nine games and his ice-time fell to a season low 7:56 last night.  Man, I never really liked this guy, then he sucked me in with a good start this season and now I'm back to my original hypothesis... he's frustrating me cause I don't like to flip-flop.

Game #2 for Sidney Crosby last night and the Blues didn't just lay down so it was a little more challenging than game #1.  No points for Sid but he was very feisty with six PIMs and he even made it look like he wanted to fight David Backes... which would have been an unwise decision.

Did you know... after a 34 save shutout of Chicago last night, Antti Niemi is 5-0-0, 1.20 & .963 over his last five games? 

Cory Schneider with back-to-back strong outings as he blanked Colorado to improve his digits to 4-4-0, 2.24 & .920 in 10 games this year.  Luongo is on the mend so he could be back soon.

Jason Chimera had two goals last night, including the OT winner, and that gives him 4+2=6 over his last seven games.  He now has eight goals after just 10 goals last season but he's scored 17 before, so he has the ability to bury a few. 

Curtis Sanford stopped 23 of 24 but took the SOL.  He's now 2-0-2, 1.33 & .946 after four straight starts so while I haven't been very complimentary towards him, maybe he'll be useful to some of you.

Mike Richards with another goal last night and he now has eight in as many games.  Even more impressive is that just one of those goals have come on the PP and he's doing it all himself as nobody else on the Kings is really rolling right now.

Pavel Datsyuk with 1+2=3 & five shots last night and he's back to his usual self with 3+5=8, plus-4 & 16 shots during a four game point streak.  

Ryan Getzlaf now has points in four straight but dude was in the giving mood for poolies as he dropped the late-night, late-game PIMbomb with 16 PIMs!  Thank you, sir.

Travis Moen with his seventh goal of the season last night, eclipsing the six he had all of last year.  He's really learned how to snipe this year, shooting at a 28% clip... expect that to continue (e5).

Two goals last night and Radim Vrbata has five during a three game goal streak. 

Sabres dman T.J. Brennan scored in his first NHL game last night.  The kid has some upside as shown by the 15 goals he scored in the AHL last year but it's hard to see him playing a big role in Buffalo unless there are a few more injuries.

Alexander Semin played 18 minutes in his return last night after being a scratch last game.  He scored, was a plus-2, had three shots and, most importantly, no PIMs!

Anton Stralman made his season debut last night for the Rangers.  He played just 10 minutes but saw 3:25 on the PP, which led all Rangers dmen.  If you're desperate for help on D then see if he's hiding in your FA pool.

The plan is likely to have Kyle Turris get himself into shape with a stint in the AHL.

Matt Hackett is up from the AHL, filling in for Niklas Backstrom while he's away dealing with a personal issue.

Niclas Bergfors cleared waivers and was assigned to Milwaukee of the AHL.