HOCKEY LAST NIGHT: PRONGS 1, OILERS 0

Oh, to join the rush... as the season builds.

Ducks 6 Oilers 2: Or should it be Chris Pronger 1, Edmonton fans 0? The big lug picked up three helpers to help the Ducks lay a sound whipping on his old team.

Good on Anaheim grinder Travis Moen, by the way, for having a two-goal night.

Panthers 4 Rangers 2: There's never not a good time to run photos of gadabout goalie Ed Belfour, especially after he turns aside 35 shots in a win over the Broadway Blueshirts.

Red Wings 2 Sharks 1: Lost interest in this one early in the second when San Jose was up 1-0 and was as shocked as anyone to learn the Wings pulled out the win on goals by Mathieu Schneider and Robert Lang.

Schneider's equalizer 38 seconds into the third period came on the power play, just Detroit's fifth in 50 opportunities. Calgary, Ottawa -- does it seem like a lot of teams have power plays that are clicking less than 10 percent of the time? Maybe there's something larger at play here.

Canucks 5 Blackhawks 0: Vancouver was on the final leg of a five-game road trip, and it didn't matter one bit since Chicago has next to no offensive punch with Martin Havlat out for at least three more weeks and Michal Handzus done for the season.

This blog has some readers down Simcoe, Ont., way where yours truly used to work at the Reformer. One of that area's NHLers, Chicago's big blueliner Jassen Cullimore, was a healthy scratch for the second straight game. The Chicago Tribune noted the Hawks are in a catch-22; Cullimore isn't playing well enough to merit the increased playing time you give a guy who you're showcasing a trade.

Hawks GM Dale Tallon might be well advised to call up Leafs GM John Ferguson Jr., who's never been averse to acquiring oversized defencemen who sometimes struggle to keep up in the new NHL. will try to add another economy-sized defenceman who's struggled to adjust to the new NHL?

Wild 3 Kings 1: Kind of an up-and-down week for our Norfolk County NHLers -- John Stevens is the new coach in Philly, but Cullimore's on the trade block and Rob Blake is minus-7 early on in his second stint with Los Angeles. That's probably more a reflection on the Kings' slow start -- Blake had a negative plus-minus for much of the early going last season when Colorado got off to a slow start.

The Wild, meantime, are 8-1-0-0, but no one south outside the State of Hockey has noticed. By the way, while several teams have terrible power plays, the Wild are 93.5 percent on the penalty kill. Something seems up here.

Carolina 5 Atlanta 4: It was a wild one in the NFC South last night, with John Carney deciding it in overtime after Michael Vick forced overtime with a touchdown pass to Alge Crumpler late in regulation. Oops.

Actually, it was Anton Babchuk who finished off a 2-on-1 in overtime to give Carolina a win over the Southeast Division rivals. From the sounds of it, there was a lot to see, with chances galore and Cam Ward and Kari Lehtonen trading excellent saves.

That's all for now. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca.