Shrapnel - 11/21/11

It's a game day here in Columbus, but the eyes of the NHL will be turned squarely to Pittsburgh today.

It's Sidmas. PHT wonders what we can reasonably expect in his first game back, Dan Bylsma gave some non-answers about his game plan, and oddly enough both CBC and Versus dumped their planned coverage to focus on tonight's Islanders / Penguins matchup.

Getting back to Columbus, the guys at Red Light District had a nice interview with Ryan Johansen yesterday.

At PHT, they look at two stars in the SE division going in totally different directions: slumping Alexander Semin and the heart and soul efforts of Stephen Weiss.

From the Dispatch, you have Aaron Portzline continuing to bask in the win at Puck-Rakers, some notebook discussion of the fisticuffs on Saturday and the developing chemistry between Jeff Carter and Rick Nash, Curtis Sanford makes the most of his opportunity, and a report from the DIspatch that part of the reason the arena deal has moved so quickly is the need to show positive action to the team's creditors. Unsurprisingly, they also mention the reason for the current delay on the final vote comes down to lawyers, lawyers, lawyers...

Want to see an insane save? Check out Jimmy Howard's last second glove stop on Bobby Ryan last night, or Cam Ward stealing a goal from Tim Connolly thanks to turtle power.

From the "Wait, really?" department: The Minnesota Wild are currently the top team of the NHL.

At DBJ, Gallos has some thoughts about Derick Brassard, and thinks the current stretch of demotions and scratches might actually be a good learning experience for his development.

Finally, Jeff Little at TMM takes a look at the team, and sees some heat beginning to rise from the ashes...