FanHouse AnttiMiettinen

During a game against Minnesota earlier this month, Edmonton captain Ethan Moreau took an accidental stick in the face. The stick of Wild forward Antti Miettinen didn't cause any serious damage, but Moreau did end up in the hospital and missed a couple of weeks. Upon his return, you would not look down on Moreau for being very cautious. After all, it was a heck of a scare. However, Moreau wasn't nearly as skiddish as you'd expect. In just his third game back, he dropped the gloves with St. Louis' Jeff Woywitka. After the game, he admitted it probably wasn't a very good idea, but he was able to keep himself safe by pounding the snot out of Woywitka.

Rangers 5, Capitals 4: Thanks to his two-goal effort on Wednesday night, Mike Green has now scored in seven straight games which ties an NHL record for consecutive games with a goal by a defenseman. During the current streak Green has tallied nine goals and seven assists. He's simply on a different planet right now.

As for the game itself, despite Green's efforts, the Capitals dropped a 5-4 shootout decision to the Rangers. Ryan Callahan scored his 13th goal of the season in regulation for New York, and then added the game-winner in the fourth-round of the shootout.

Flyers 3, Thrashers 2: Thanks to a pair of goals from Jeff Carter the Flyers were able to hold off a late rally from Atlanta to pick a 3-2 win. Trailing 3-0 late in the third period, the Thrashers were able to cut the deficit to just one thanks to a pair of power play goals from Ilya Kovalchuk and Slava Kozlov, before Antero Niittymaki and the Flyers shut the door to preserve the win.

After winning three in a row a little over a week ago, Atlanta has now lost six of its past seven games.

There are certainly at least two really good teams in the NHL's Western Conference. Defending Stanley Cup champion Detroit and fast-starting San Jose appear in the clear to duke it out for the right to play for the Stanley Cup later this year.

Of course, we know that anything can happen in a best-of-seven series. In addition, we still have half a season left to play. What we don't know is which team in this conference is set up to challenge either the Red Wings or Sharks. They've beaten - at least once - pretty much everyone who has stood in their way, including each other.

While the top of the conference appears to virtually locked in place at this point, there are still serious battles to be fought, especially for the last four positions in the West. Currently, eight teams are separated by just six points. St. Louis, the last-place team in the West, is just nine points out of eighth.

Last week, things were getting bleak for the Minnesota Wild. Their only star skater was about to go under the knife, and could be done for the season in the last year of his contract. They can't score five-on-five, and they weren't scoring enough in any way to win games.

They were about to enter a stretch where they played top Western teams San Jose and Detroit, followed closely by trips to Boston and Philadelphia.

With last place in the Western Conference staring them right in the face, the Minnesota Wild responded. They beat San Jose, took Detroit to a shootout after the Wings tied the game on a controversial goal, and then beat the East's best team, Boston, Tuesday night.

1-0 wins are hardly awe-inspiring most of the time, but the Wild have found a way to get by lately. It's thanks in large part to the work of head coach Jacques Lemaire. He might not win the Jack Adams Award this year, but if the Wild continue to stay in the top eight of the Western Conference, he probably should.

As the Wild hit the halfway mark of their schedule this weekend, it's clear that Lemaire is doing some of his best work ever this season.

Thanks to a pair of goals from Matt Ellis, the Buffalo Sabres ended Boston's 10-game winning streak with a 4-2 victory at TD Banknorth Garden on Saturday afternoon. The loss not only snaps Boston's 10-game winning streak, it also ended a 14-game home winning streak, while also giving the Bruins their sixth regulation loss of the season.

Ellis opened the scoring for the Sabres just three minutes into regulation, while Thomas Vanek added his 26th goal of the season just two minutes later.

After Phil Kessel cut the deficit in half with his 24th goal of the season, Ellis added his second goal of the game early in the second period to score what proved to be the game-winner. Paul Gaustad added his fourth goal of the year for the Sabres, while Ryan Miller turned aside 29 shots in net.

The win for Buffalo, combined with Pittsburgh's loss to Florida, moved the Sabres into the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

Entering Thursday's game against the Islanders, Pittsburgh found itself with a three-game losing streak. Consider the streak over, as the Penguins systematically dismantled New York with a 9-2 thumping at Mellon Arena. The Penguins received hat tricks from both Petr Sykora and Pascal Dupuis (each player's first ever hat trick) as they never let up, while fans chanted "we want 10" during the final minute of regulation.

The Penguins scored four goals in both the first and second periods, before Dupuis completed his hat trick late in the third period. Defensemen Mark Streit and Andy Sutton scored the only goals for New York, as Penguins goalie John Curry picked up his second NHL win (both against the Islanders) making 24 saves.

The biggest problem for the Islanders was the fact they couldn't stay out of the penalty box, picking up 34 penalty minutes throughout the game, including three separate occasions where they handed Pittsburgh five-on-three advantages.

Pittsburgh had eight different players finish with multiple points, including Evgeni Malkin (goal, assist) and Sidney Crosby (three assists) who continue to distance themselves from the rest of the pack in the NHL scoring race. Amazingly, Jeff Taffe, recently called up from the minors, found a way to finish the game as a -1.

Should you feel sorry for the Islanders after a loss like this? Of course not. This is the big leagues, and as long as they're going to keep playing hard and physical (as they did), you should expect the other team to keep clicking on all cylinders in an effort to score as many goals as possible. You never know when the other team could mount an unexpected, late-game comeback.

Welcome to the NHL FanHouse 2008-09 season preview. While other sites are previewing "30 teams in 30 days," we decided to take advantage of the extra time off before the start of the season to bring you all 30 previews over the next three weeks. We're counting down in reverse order of finish from last season in each conference every weekday from now until October 3. Look for an Eastern Conference preview every morning and a Western Conference preview every afternoon. Click here to read them all.

Who's In: Andrew Brunette, F (FA-COL); Owen Nolan, F (FA-CGY); Marc-Andre Bergeron, D (Trade-ANH); Marek Zidlicky, D (Trade-NSH); Antti Miettinen, F (FA-DAL); Craig Weller, F (FA-PHX)

Who's Out: Brian Rolston, F (FA-NJ); Pavol Demitra, F (FA-VAN); Todd Fedoruk, F (FA-PHX)

What's Changed: Hopefully, the Wild found some stability. General manager Doug Risebrough acknowledged he made a mistake by employing ten players in contract years last year. As a result, there was a lot of player movement over the summer. Rolston should have been re-signed during the previous off-season. Once it was clear he would test free agency, it was also clear he wouldn't be back.

Risebrough tried to make up for his blunders (too many free agents and not re-signing Rolston) by taking a stab at Marian Hossa, placing a bid for Kristian Huselius, and also making a play at a contract extension for Marian Gaborik. None of these moves have been successful, however the potential for a Gaborik deal is far from dead as of this writing.

(Of course, this hasn't stopped fans of other teams from dreaming.)