FanHouse David Jones

Nikita Filatov, the No. 5 overall pick in this year's Entry Draft, entered play on Saturday night for Columbus with one goal in his first five NHL games. During the Blue Jackets 4-2 win over Minnesota, the 18-year-old rookie notched his first career hat trick -- and recorded an assist -- helping lead Columbus to its second straight win and sixth in its past eight games.

Steve Mason continued his strong play in net for the Blue Jackets, turning aside 21 of 23 shots to pick up his 15th win of the season. It's a big win for Columbus, as it entered the game trailing the Wild by one point in the Western Conference standings.

Mason is still leading the league in goals against average and save percentage, and he is still not an all-star. Crazy.

Okay, so maybe the title is a bit of an overreaction. Still, that doesn't change the fact the New York Islanders are a terrible, terrible third period hockey team, and they proved it once again on Tuesday, giving up four goals in the final 20 minutes on their way to a 5-4 loss to the Rangers.

The Islanders actually entered the third with a 2-1 lead, only to watch the Rangers beat Joey MacDonald -- starting in place of Rick Dipietro -- four times on their final 12 shots. Petr Prucha, playing for the first time in eight games, tied the game just 49 seconds into the third period, while Michal Rozsival gave the Rangers their first lead of the night two minutes later. Markus Naslund and Nigel Dawes also tallied late goals for the Rangers, while Scott Gomez tapped in a tic-tac-toe pass from Nikolai Zherdev and Brandon Dubinsky in the second period, opening the scoring for the Rangers.

Mike Sillinger, Kyle Okposo, Blake Comeau and Mike Comrie scored for the Islanders.

Physical game between the crosstown rivals, resulting in a pair of fights in the first 10 minutes, and capped off with a crushing hit by Ryan Callahan on Trent Hunter early in the third. Callahan smashed the Islanders forward into the penalty box door, forcing it open, resulting in Hunter's midsection smashing off the boards. He was down for quite a while, and appeared to be in severe pain, resulting in a stretcher being brought on the ice. Hunter, however, managed to bring himself to his feet and skate off because, you know, he's a hockey player.

22 roster moves were made today, and there were some surprising names involved (although not as surprising as a few other teams moves - still amazed at the Detroit fiasco with Charles Rogers). From Mark Curnutte, the full list:

WAIVED: wide receivers Glenn Holt, P.K. Sam and McNeal, offensive linemen Nate Livings, Kyle Takavitz, Pete Lougheed and Wilkerson, tight ends Darnell Sanders, David Jones and Ghent, running backs DeDe Dorsey, Naufahu Tahi and Chris Manderino, defensive lineman Eric Henderson and safety John Busing.

PUP: tailback Chris Perry, defensive end Jonathan Fanene and offensive lineman Adam Kieft.

IR: wide receiver Bennie Brazell, cornerback Patrick Body and defensive tackle Marcus Lewis.

SUSPENDED: Linebacker Odell Thurman was officially placed on the "Reserve/Suspended by Commissioner" list for his second violation of the league substance abuse policy.

The names that surprise me the most here are Reggie McNeal, the Bengals sixth rounder from this past draft. McNeal was Texas A&M's quarterback, but the Bengals drafted him as a wide receiver / special teams player. The pick confused me then, and I guess it confuses me even more now. As deep as this team is at wide receiver I just don't understand why they wasted a draft pick on the position.

I'm also surprised to see center Ben Wilkerson cut. I'd always assumed he'd one day be the heir to Rich Braham, but I guess that won't be happening now. Eric Ghiaciuc kind of made him redundant. The Bengals also cut a couple of players who had impressive preseasons in Tahi and Dorsey, which is to be expected with how deep this team is.

I'm glad to see Bennie Brazell kept, I think he has a future in the NFL in some capacity. The guy's crazy fast and speed is always worth something.
The most gratifying part of cut day has to be seeing so many quality players getting waived, players who could easily play for plenty of NFL teams. It's impressive that the Bengals have enough talent to waive guys like McNeal and Wilkerson.

More: Team makes 22 roster moves - Mark Curnutte's Blog
Roster Cut Thoughts - Cincy Jungle