FanHouse Andrei Kostitsyn

The real NHL awards will be handed out Thursday night in Las Vegas, so FanHouse decided to hand out its own special awards for the 2008-09 season.

It takes a special player to get paid a lot of money. In the salary cap era, you expect guys who are signed to big-money deals to produce. When they disappear into the Witness Protection Program, it's usually a notable occurrence. With that said, we present nominees for the 2008-2009 Witness Protection Award, and boy do we have some options to pick from.

Back in February, the Montreal media, and by extension, everybody else in the hockey world, was awaiting a bombshell of a story that was sure to not only rock the very foundation the Montreal Canadiens franchise stood on, but also forever tarnish the legacy of the NHL's most storied team in its centennial season. In other words: this was going to be huge.

I remember having 14 browsers open, furiously clicking the refresh button waiting to see something scandalous, only to be severely disappointed.

Just one day after signing his new contract extension, Boston's Tim Thomas stopped all 31 shots he faced to pick up a 1-0 shutout win over the New York Rangers. He also made some highlights with another epic meltdown, this one sparked by Rangers super-pest Sean Avery.

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Rangers 3, Islanders 1: For one night, everything was great at Madison Square Garden as the Rangers picked up a much needed 3-1 win over the Islanders. Scott Gomez, Nigel Dawes and Fredrik Sjostrom all scored goals in the win, while Chris Drury picked up an assist on each score.

Henrik Lundqvist stopped 25-of-26 shots in the win, which is only the Rangers second in their past 10 games.

Blues 2, Rangers 1: A day after getting crushed on their home ice, the New York Rangers dropped a 2-1 decision in St. Louis, losing for the eighth time in their past nine games.

At this point, it's anybody's guess as to how long Tom Renney remains behind the bench, as the Rangers continue to slide down the Eastern Conference standings.

Red Wings 8, Oilers 3: Here's a fun fact: at the end of the first period of Saturday's Detroit-Edmonton game, the Red Wings had as many goals (five), as the Oilers had shots. One word can sum this up: domination. The Wings continued to pour it on, completing an 8-3 thrashing of Edmonton at Joe Louis Arena.

It's the second time in just over a week that the Oilers have been on the wrong end of a blowout, getting steamrolled by Buffalo, 10-2, back on January 27. The Oilers have now lost four of six, while the Red Wings extended their modest winning streak to three as they head into their NBC tilt with the Penguins on Sunday.

Thursday night was Tim Gleason bobblehead night in Carolina, and after a quick search of eBay, I've found that you too can own this rare collectible for the low, low price of $29.99 (starting bid)! Exciting. And incredibly bizarre. Anyway, after the Maple Leafs jumped out to a 4-0 lead, the Hurricanes roared back to tie the game, thanks in large part to three goals in the first eight minutes of the third period.

Unfortunately, at the 13:44 mark of the period, Gleason, the man of the night, was sent to the box for high-sticking Nik Antropov which ultimately led to Tomas Kaberle scoring the game-winner, helping Toronto to a 6-4 win. Jason Blake netted a hat trick -- and picked up two assists -- for the Leafs, while Ian White and Niklas Hagman also added goals, as Toronto snapped a four-game losing streak.

Adam Gretz mentioned the Boston Bruins' big win over Montreal Tuesday night. Goaltender Tim Thomas was the big man for Boston, stopping 34 shots. He also asserted himself physically, making it clear that he didn't appreciate Andrei Kostitsyn's suspension-worthy blast from behind on already-hobbled defenseman Aaron Ward. The following video doesn't show Kostitsyn's hit (trust me, it was a textbook five-minute major), but you can see that Thomas wasn't shy about letting his feelings be known.

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.

Montreal's Andrei Kostitsyn recorded his first career hat trick on Saturday night, while Carey Price stopped 31 shots, including 16 in the third period to lead the Canadien's to a 3-2 victory in Pittsburgh. With the win, Montreal moves ahead of the Penguins in the Eastern Conference standings, while the Penguins failed to win consecutive games yet again -- they haven't won two in a row since November 13-15. Just sayin'.

Kostitsyn scored a pair of goals in the first period before completing the hat trick early in the third period with a quick slap shot that beat Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury through the five-hole.

Following Kostitsyn's goal, Price turned into a brick wall, as the Penguins had a trio of power plays in the final period, and peppered the Montreal netminder. Of course, if you're Pittsburgh, you have to be a tad frustrated you failed to convert on five power plays, after going 0-for-5 one night ago in New Jersey. How a power play that features Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby, Petr Sykora and Ryan Whitney, among others, can consistently have so many 0-for-5 and 0-for-6 nights seems to defy all logic. Yet, here we are.

Crosby and Pascal Dupuis each finished with a goal and an assist for Pittsburgh.