FanHouse Curtis Sanford

Someone get Garth Snow on the line because there there is a goalie available through the NHL's waiver wire.

The Canucks have placed goalie Curtis Sanford on waivers today as they activated both uber-goalie Roberto Luongo and his injured groin from the injured reserve. While his groin was unavailable for comment, which is likely a good thing for us, TSN was able to get a word from the netminder himself.

"It's pain free. I wouldn't be on the ice if I wasn't," Luongo said. "That's done with as far as I'm concerned. I'm ready to go and back to 100 per cent."

Canucks blog Waiting for Stanley reports that Luongo will be the starter Thursday when the Canucks face the Coyotes. Sanford's days in the Canucks organization are over, according to CKNW via NHL.com. They say that "the Canucks will attempt to trade Sanford should he go unclaimed."

Putting Sanford through waivers is a vote of confidence in Jason LaBarbera, who started six of the Canucks seven games since New Year's. However, LaBarbera was pulled three minutes into last night's game against the Devils as he gave up two goals on six shots. He also gave up six goals in his previous outing against St. Louis on January 9th despite playing well in his other starts. It might be a curious vote of confidence but if Roberto Luongo manages to stay healthy, it will be more or less irrelevant.

It's great to see quality NHL action return to Chicago after years of disappointing hockey, and man, what a team the windy city has. With their 4-1 win in Minnesota on Sunday, the Blackhawks picked up their ninth straight victory, improving their record to 20-6-7, good enough for the fifth best record in the league.

Chicago received a four-point performance from Dustin Byfuglien, who scored a pair of goals in the first period and also added a pair of assists later in the game, as the Blackhawks dominated Minnesota. Cristobal Huet faced only 19 shots, turning away 18 of them to pick up his fifth consecutive win in goal. During his personal winning streak, Huet has allowed only four goals, posting a .967 save percentage.

Cal Clutterbuck scored Minnesota's only goal, while Martin Havlat and Kris Versteeg added tallies for the Blackhawks.

While Chicago has been reeling off win after win, the Wild have been going the opposite direction winning just two of their past 10 games.

The Islanders jumped out to an early 2-0 lead on Tuesday night, thanks to a pair of goals from Doug Weight and Andy Hilbert less than a minute apart. Unfortunately for them, as has been the case all season, they couldn't hold it, as the Flyers roared back to take a 3-2 lead in the second period, and eventually win, 4-3, handing the Islanders their fourth straight loss.

After Aaron Asham put the Flyers on the board late in the first period, Darroll Plowe, a former undrafted free agent -- a fact Versus mentioned no fewer than 30 times -- tied the game midway through the second with his first NHL goal. Eight minutes later, Jeff Carter scored his 20th goal of the season -- tied for the top spot in the league with Buffalo's Thomas Vanek -- to give Philadelphia its first lead of the night.

The Islanders fought back at the 2:07 mark of the final period, when Blake Comeau scored a relatively weak goal on Martin Biron, after it essentially rolled into the net behind him.

Simon Gagne scored the game-winner late in the third, moving the Flyers into a tie for second place in the Atlantic Division with cross-state rival, Pittsburgh.

Paul Maurice made his debut in his second stint with the Hurricanes on Thursday night, and, well, it wasn't exactly an impressive showing by Carolina, as the Penguins walked out of the building with a 5-2 win. Sidney Crosby registered four assists on the night, while Petr Sykora picked up a pair of power play goals to lead the Penguins.

Carolina goalie Michael Leighton struggled most of the night, giving up the five goals on only 22 shots. He struggled with puck control and wasn't exactly helped by his defense, as they were guilty of a few costly turnovers in the defensive zone. With the Hurricanes trailing 1-0 in the first, Josef Melichar (former Penguin) turned the puck over to Pascal Dupuis who ripped a shot behind Leighton giving the Penguins an early 2-0 lead.

Ruslan Fedotenko and Miroslav Satan also scored for the Penguins, while Tuomo Ruutu and Matt Cullen scored the only two goals of the night for Carolina. Both goals brought the Hurricanes to within two goals on the scoreboard, only to have the Penguins quickly strike back, squashing any momentum Carolina may have built.

The Hurricanes have now lost four of their past five games.

The Minnesota Wild are probably the last team you would expect to be involved in a 6-5 game, but, hark, here we are. Paul Stastny scored a pair of goals and picked up an assist for the Avalanche, as they snapped the Wild's modest two-game winning streak on Monday night.

Minnesota goalie Niklas Backstrom had what was, perhaps, his worst night of the season, giving up six goals on 26 shots through the first two periods. He didn't come back out for the third, as Josh Harding took over and stopped all five shots he faced in the defeat.

For the Avalanche, Peter Budaj gave up five goals of his own on 17 shots, as Minnesota picked up goals from Pierre-Marc Bouchard (2), Owen Nolan, Mikko Koivu, and Brent Burns.

Bouchard scored his second goal of the game just 22 seconds into the second period, giving Minnesota a brief 3-2 lead. Just three minutes later, Stastny picked up his first, as the Avalanche would fill the net three more times in the period, ultimately chasing Backstrom from the game.

Minnesota head coach Jacques Lemaire called the first 40 minutes the worst two periods he had seen, as Colorado was not only leading 6-4, but also holding a commanding 26-12 edge in shots on goal.

Calgary's Michael Cammalleri picked up a hat trick on Thursday night, helping lead the Flames to 4-3 win in Vancouver. Jarome Iginla assisted on two of Cammalleri's goals, while Curtis Glencross picked up the game-winning goal with just under seven-minutes to play in regulation, breaking a 3-3 tie.

For Cammalleri, it was his first career hat trick, and his first multiple-goal game as a member of the Flames.

Darcy Hordichuk, Daniel Sedin and Mason Raymond scored for the Canucks, while Curtis Sanford took the loss filling in for the injured Roberto Luongo, as he surrendered four goals on 33 shots. Miikka Kiprusoff picked up the win for Calgary -- its fourth win in the past five games -- as he turned aside 27-of-30 shots.

The news on Roberto Luongo's groin injury is now final, and the verdict is: well, they still don't quite know.

I'll let the National Post break it to you:

Luongo, who was injured early in the first period of a Saturday afternoon victory in Pittsburgh, officially has been diagnosed with an adductor strain.

The triangular adductor brevis is the smallest of three muscles running from the pubic bone to the femur. Together, the three pull a goalie's thighs in to stop the puck.

Dr. Mike Wilkinson, a specialist in sports medicine and physician with the National Hockey League team, said yesterday that Luongo's recovery would depend on how quickly he responds initially.

"It's week-to-week at this stage," Wilkinson said.

Asked if it could be two or three weeks, he replied: "Hopefully, before that, but we'll see."

As for the Canucks, the season goes on without Luongo. And last night, they showed that perhaps they'll make out just fine, as they beat Detroit 3-2 in OT. Curtis Sanford, Luongo's backup, had 32 saves.