• Jason Spezza was mic’d up, and it turns out that his rapport with Erik Karlsson is pretty funny. I am just disappointed TSN cut out Spezza’s fantastic laugh from all of the sound clips. By the way, he owes Evgeni Malkin 20 bucks.
• Speaking of the Ottawa Senators, can we all agree that besides boasting half the Swedish players in the league, Team Alfredsson is actually Team Hair? Lundqvist, Karlsson, Letang, Stamkos – all on Alfie’s team.
• On the flipside, Team Chara is really Team Russia & Slovakia & Bruins & Blackhawks & Leafs. Oh and Canucks rookie Cody Hodgson, too.
• The heckling Senators fans were actually an addition in making this thing better. When they weren’t busy booing Joffrey Lupul (and Phil Kessel and Dion Phaneuf), they added some pretty good commentary. My favorite line? “You sure that’s Daniel?” after Alfie chose D. Sedin. Honorable mention: “Where’s Ovechkin?”, which ended up trending on Twitter for a while.
• Joffrey Lupul, though, not so much a fan of the fan booing: “I don’t wanna be cheered in Ottawa anyway.”
• Carey Price thought he was at an airport lounge waiting for the team plane instead of about to be drafted by a giant.
• Man, Phil Kessel was looking rough. His awkward mumbling didn’t help either. Anyone else think he could use some tips from Team Hair?
• Alyonka Larionov said one of the funniest tweet chirps she saw was Claude Giroux saying he hoped teammate Scott Hartnell would be the last pick. Of course, she said in monotone and with barely a hint of a smile on her face.
• “That blonde is unbelievable.” – mic’d up Patrick Kane to Brian Campbell. It was assumed that he meant one of the jersey girls, but according to him, there was actually a blonde kid in the front row. Right. Of course.
• Marian Gaborik shook Big Z’s hand. Then put the blue jersey on. Then started talking to him in Slovak. Then started walking towards the white jerseys. Give the guy a break, he was just trying to make things more interesting.
• “Hug it out” is Zdeno Chara’s official remedy for picking Boston Bruins teammate Tyler Seguin late in the draft.
• Shortly after the draft, final pick Logan Couture tweeted that he had plans to pimp out his brand new Kessel Mobile Honda.

• The episode opens with the most interesting man in hockey, Ilya Bryzgalov, sitting in his stall. We hear him swear during his postgame interview out of frustration. It’s no secret that hockey players have the mouths of sailors, but I actually think this was the first time I ever heard him swear. There’s always something new with Bryz, isn’t there?
• I noticed this in (I think) episode 2, but Peter Laviolette has a pretty cool dynamic with his players during practice. He loops around the ice with them, one-on-one, even joking and friendly. This time it was with Max Talbot, but it’s been shown before with Scott Hartnell and Claude Giroux.
• Sean Avery wears his sunglasses indoors. He complains about not being able to connect to the internet on his tablet (loved it when Brandon Prust said, “that must be frustrating” with that knowing look on his face). He asks if the orange juice is unlimited. He does all of this while seemingly oblivious to the fact that he pretty much comes across as a huge douche on camera. I’ve never been a big Avery fan, and his short appearances on this series didn’t help. I’m curious if he really is like that all the time, or if the HBO crew just edited him that way.
• I will now picture every single one of Tortorella’s video sessions to be as tense as was shown in this episode. First Tortorella is showing the footage and calling guys out (I’m looking at you, Brian Boyle and Anton Stralman). Then the projector lamp burns out and he looks like he might blow a nerve in his head. Then it gets fixed and there’s forced a round of applause in the room. Awkward!
• Man, Laviolette really goes out of his way to agitate other teams and their fans, doesn’t he? If I didn’t think he was completely responsible for his team pointing out Tampa Bay’s 1-3-1 play way back when, I believe it now. First shift of the game, Jagr and Talbot are on the ice to hear the chorus of boos in Pittsburgh. I actually think that I really like this about Laviolette.
• Scott Hartnell doesn’t think Geno would win a beauty contest. He told Evgeni Malkin that he was the “ugliest guy in the league. Ugliest.” Hartnell is supposed to be good at being a pest, right? That’s a completely lazy insult. Someone get him some new, better material.
• Need a pep talk? Look no further than Jeremy Roenick. At the Citizen’s Bank Park practice, he’s heard telling Ilya Bryzgalov, “If this team wins a Cup, it’s going to be because of you.” I thought that was an interesting snippet for HBO to put in. The spin on Bryz is different in this episode. He’s not just the “hu-mang-us big” master of the universe guy, he’s the guy you want to cheer for. Even more so when he doesn’t play in the Winter Classic, the biggest game of the regular season.
• Mike Rupp is a very interesting presence in the dressing room. Often guys will say things like “______ is a great guy to have in the room”. It was really cool to see HBO be able to translate exactly what that means.
• Claude Giroux is very vocal on the ice. I wouldn’t have guessed that before seeing this series. He’s pretty funny, too. There was a moment during the Winter Classic game where he says to Henrik Lundqvist, “Let me score tonight. Just one.” And score he did.
• It just seemed so fitting for the New York Rangers to win. With Marc Staal back in the lineup, with Liam Treanor there, with King Henrik having to stop Danny Briere’s penalty shot so late in the game. The dramatic music selection helped, too.
• I want to know who wrote the narrative that Liev Schreiber did during the montage at the end of the episode. It was perfect. My favorite line: No bond is strong as the one that compels brothers to bleed for one another.
• And finally, Jaromir Jagr’s smile is still fantastic. Who the hell cares that he’s a 39-year-old man who salutes when he scores a goal. He’s a future Hall of Famer, and that smile is absolutely infectious.

• Any ounce of I worry I had that it wouldn’t be as good as last year was completely erased with the introduction. The black and white still shots were awesome. The first expletive happened within the first minute. There was a shot of New York Rangers’ coach John Tortorella and goaltender Henrik Lundqvist fist bumping during the intro graphics. I immediately knew it was going to be fantastic.
• I’m a little puzzled by what Sean Avery said, or rather, didn’t say though. Isn’t this guy one of the league’s biggest pests? Doesn’t part of being a pest in the NHL mean being a creative chirper? I kept waiting for them to cut to him saying something good…but “you fuckin’ loser!” was the most that came from him. Was he just not mic’d up during the games they shot?
• Ilya Bryzgalov is his team’s resident renaissance man. He really should have his own television show where he just spits knowledge about the universe. I already knew before that he had a great sense of humor and gave the media interview gold, but this just solidifies his entertainment value. Any less than five minutes of serious face time on the next three episodes should be considered a failure on HBO’s part.
• The kids sponsored by the Garden of Dreams Foundation weren’t fazed by Lundqvist and his slick European style or his hockey player friends. At one point Brian Boyle said, “You seem to be more of a thinker than I am.” It was in response to “Well, my favorite sport is chess.” Kids say the darnest things.
• Not sure if it was intentional editing by HBO but the fashion “modeling” along with the interview part of that segment just made Sean Avery just seemed like an arrogant douche. Even Flyers captain Chris Pronger seemed humble in comparison. That can’t be a good thing considering the way Avery is already perceived by many NHL fans.
• Jaromir Jagr cares. The veteran seemed completely genuine talking about his decision to sign with the Flyers instead of the Penguins. He chose Philadelphia because, “sometimes you think your brain knows everything, but you know you should follow your heart first.” He hasn’t lost his passion for hockey. He’s committed to his team. Also, his big smile is infectious.
• Philadelphia is Wayne’s World. Wayne Simmonds is happy he got traded to the Flyers because Philly is “a way better hockey town” than Los Angeles. That’s sure to resonate well with Kings fans at the Staples Center who still wear their Simmonds jerseys.
• John Tortorella is terrifying and apparently his players like him that way (“Nothing going ’round the bushes,” according to Marian Gaborik). I knew Torts was mean…but he is so mean. Last year when Bruce Boudreau was yelling in the room it was whatever. When Torts was yelling I felt like he was going to hit somebody in he face.
• It was nice to see the piece on Rangers captain Ryan Callahan. His blue collar roots in Rochester. The respect his coach and his team have for him. His 95-year-old grandma so proud and tearing up. Oh, my heartstrings.
• And finally, we find out that a visit to China would be no problem for Bryzgalov. He knows exactly how not to die: “If you kill tiger like this, death penalty…If you kill the tiger and they find you, you’re dead. That’s it.” Seriously, he is the most entertaining man in hockey.

At the quarter mark of the current NHL season, the Florida Panthers sit atop the Southeast Division, good for 2nd in the Eastern conference and 5th in the league.  As of November 22nd, Kris Versteeg had 11 goals and 25 points. Not only does that make him a point-per-game player, but that makes him the guy with the best 20 game start in Panthers history. The Cats’ top line trio of Versteeg, Stephen Weiss, and Tomas Fleischmann are currently the highest scoring line in the league.

It can easily be said that this is just a fluke, that rookie coach Kevin Dineen’s team has just been overachieving and will be out of playoff contention at the conclusion of 82 games.  The lack of coverage and accolades for the success of the team thus far is a shame because they look like a team that expects to find themselves in the playoffs.  Besides the beat reporters and loyal bloggers in Sunrise, FL, why does it seem like no one has taken notice of this team that has the goods on paper and on the ice?

On paper, GM Dale Tallon is dealing with a roster that boasts 9 first round draft picks and 3 former Chicago Blackhawks Stanley Cup Champions (including a two-time Cup winner in Tomas Kopecky).  Players selected in the first round are never guaranteed to become quality NHL players, but on draft day they were perceived as having that potential. Veterans and former first round draft picks Ed Jovanovski (1st overall, 1994) and Marco Sturm (21st overall, 1996) have certainly proven that they have what it takes to make it in the NHL for more than a decade.  Who’s to say that Stephen Weiss (4th overall, 2001) won’t thrive when he finally plays his first career playoff game? Weiss has centered his line with Versteeg and Fleischmann in every single game since the start of the season and it’s resulted in his 10 goals and 23 points. Regarding the former Blackhawks, they know what it takes to win and surely they want to help bring identity to a team that wins.

On the ice, the Cats are a group that collectively work hard and work for each other.  They boast a 12-6-4 record.  In 22 games, they have never lost more two consecutive games. After those two losses (to Washington and Buffalo) and a big trade, the Cats responded with two consecutive wins that saw 21-year-old netminder Jacob Markstrom earn first star honors in his first and second career NHL wins. On the blueline, Jason Garrison (8-4-12) and Brian Campbell (2-17-19) combine for 10 goals and 31 points. 16 of those points have come on the power play.

Good teams can hold a lead. They stay on top of their opposition and don’t allow the other team to outwork them. Great teams outwork. They don’t give up. They come back. On the night that the NHL saw the return of its favorite son, the Cats found themselves trailing 0-3 against the New Jersey Devils after the first period. But they played the full 60 minutes, scored 4 unanswered goals, and won the game. A new and improved Panthers team, it was just the second time in franchise history that the Cats rallied and overcame a 3-goal deficit.

Ladies and gentlemen, the Florida Panthers may not be an elite team but they are—to this point—a great team that shows no sign of declining as the season continues. Take notice.

• Let me start with a serious comment: Someone thought it would be a good idea to throw a banana peel at Wayne Simmonds. It wasn’t a good idea. It wasn’t a funny idea. At all.
• The St. Louis Blues ownership group turned down $167 million for the franchise.  Apparently there are tons of people out there just waiting to drop hundreds of millions of dollars on a hockey team. Take a number and move to the back of the line, businessmen.
• Anze Kopitar likes in In-N-Out. What I’d really like to know is if he takes his fries regular or animal style?
• If you ever lose your pigskin, rest assured that Ovi–a very big deal, mind you–will be there to help you get it back.
• Viktor Stalberg is on twitter. He knows how to use hashtags. And he does chirp.
• ESPN Magazine teaches us where Andrew Ference buys fresh food, which barber shop Milan Lucic goes to and the place where Tim Thomas…err…eats a lot of ice cream.
• Mike Commodore looks fantastic in 8-bit. I suppose it’s only fitting, given his namesake.