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On Tuesday, ESPN hockey writer Pierre Lebrun penned an entry on his blog about Dallas Stars forward Loui Eriksson and his under-the-radar, meteoric rise to 30-goal scorer in the NHL.

The basic premise of the article was essentially: this guy has more goals than a host of star players, and you probably don't know who he is.

Panthers 5, Hurricanes 0: With the No. 8 spot in the Eastern Conference on the line the Florida Panthers went into Carolina and pulled out a 5-0 win. The Hurricanes actually held a commanding edge in the shots department, firing 42 shots at Tomas Vokoun, who stopped them all to pick up his fourth shutout of the season.

Florida managed only 23 shots on goal, but was able to get four behind Cam Ward and another past Michael Leighton. The Panthers now hold a three-point edge over Carolina for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

It was a great night of rivalries in the NHL on Tuesday, including a classic original six tilt in Boston, where the Bruins pulled out a 3-1 win over Montreal.

Tim Thomas stopped 34-of-35 shots, and even inserted himself into the rough stuff when he clobbered Montreal's Andrei Kostitsyn just moments after he sent Aaron Ward into the boards.

Kostitsyn gave the Canadiens a 1-0 lead early in the second period, until Zdeno Chara added a pair of power play goals later in the period. David Krejci put the game out of reach late in the third period, scoring 17th goal of the season, helping lead the Bruins to their third straight win. Montreal had won four in a row, and eight of its past nine entering the game.

What a dreadful month of December for the Penguins. After their 2-0 loss to Tampa Bay on Tuesday night, the Penguins find themselves with a 4-6-1 record this month, and have dropped back-to-back home games to Toronto and Tampa Bay by a combined score of 9-3, while getting outshot 69-38 in the process. There's no way to sugarcoat it -- that sucks. Even worse, the Penguins haven't won two straight games since November 13-15. Ouch.

Tampa Bay picked up goals from Matt Pettinger and Paul Szczechura, while Mike Smith turned aside all 15 shots he faced. Though, he received a little help from the Penguins, when Petr Sykora honked a pair of shots wide of the goal when he had Smith beat, and then Evgeni Malkin inexplicably attempted to make a pass when he had a breakaway. Perhaps he's serious about that century mark with the assists, I don't know.

Though, the save of the night was when Malkin, shorthanded, had another breakaway in the third period -- in what was still a one-goal game -- and was stoned by Smith. Tampa Bay turned it around the other way and Szczechura redirected a pass from Jussi Jokinen passed Marc-Andre Fleury to ice the game.

It's important to realize it's only December and that the Penguins had a similar record a year ago today -- and, hey, that season turned out okay -- but that doesn't change the fact this is some really bad hockey right now.

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.

Every day from Monday to Saturday, The Ice Sheet will take a look at the biggest stories in the league that happened on the ice and elsewhere the night before.

Wrong Time for Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

Suck it up and dry those eyes, Captain Canada. Same goes for you Edmonton fans in the Rexall Place, doing your best impression of Ellen DeGeneres blubbering over an adopted dog. Ryan Smyth became the second Smith to be honored with a weepy video tribute by the Edmonton Oilers this season upon his return to Alberta. But while Jason Smith and the Flyers lost, Ryan Smyth and the Colorado Avalanche defeated the last-place Oilers, 4-2. Images of the final numbers on the scoreboard will fade from memory; those of Smyth and Oilers fans sharing their inexplicable emotional bond will linger.

Smyth returns to Edmonton and the fans cry for him. Chris Pronger -- the only reason "Cap'n Canada" got even a sniff of a Stanley Cup during his 12 seasons with the Oilers -- returned to Edmonton and was given the kind of reception a convicted child molester receives when he moves into a suburban cul-de-sac. Both effectively asked to be traded: Smyth for the money and Pronger for a woman (icky!). Pronger actually only dicked over one fan base; Smyth abandoned his fans for money at the trade deadline last season, completely ignored New York Islanders fans who treated him like a Messiah-on-skates by choosing not to re-sign with the team, and then spurned his Edmonton admirers a second time by signing with a prominent division rival. No wonder there were so many tears last night -- that's quite a trail of broken hearts for the sake of a padded wallet.

(Coming Up Next: More Smyth, Michael Cammalleri's on fire, the Stat Line of the Night, trading Sidney Crosby, previewing tonight's action and NHL Celebrity Jeopardy.)