HOCKEY LAST NIGHT: SLICK OILERS TRIO

That's it, I'm going bowling!

Oilers 5 Coyotes 2: The line of Ales (Pinto) Hemsky, Petr Sykora and Norwegian-born rookie Patrick Thoresen (pictured) combined for 10 points and added a few more worry lines to Wayne Gretzky's forehead.

Perhaps more importantly for the Oilers, Shawn Horcoff and Jarret Stoll each scored for the first time this season.

Poor Wayne. The Coyotes (2-7-0-0) are dead last in the West and are averaging a nice, tidy even 2.0 goals per game. Their only wins so far have come over St. Louis, the worst team in '05-06, and the New York Islanders. You'll remember how in the off-season, the Islanders essentially declared independence from the NHL and rational thought.

As for the Coyotes, if this keeps up, Wayne is going to fleeing Arizona for somewhere far away where the climate actually requires you to drive one of those pick-up trucks he shills for in TV commercials.

San Jose 3 Columbus 0: San Jose's Steve Bernier, who skated alongside Thoresen with the QMJHL's Moncton Wildcats back in 2001-02, scored 2:26 in to give Vesa Toskala the only goal he would need as he won his 12th straight regular-season game dating back to last season.

Ordinarily a Sharks-Blue Jackets matchup wouldn't be mentioned this high up, but between Thoresen getting three points for Edmonton and Columbus rookie defenceman Ole-Kristian Tollefsen whipping San Jose's Mark Smith in a second-period fight, it was a pretty good night for NHLers from Norway.

Sabres 4 Habs 1: Ralph Waldo Emerson's compensation theory seems awfully pertinent to Western New York's sportscape -- the Bills are sinking fast, but the Sabres can't lose. One more win and the Sabres tie the '93-94 Leafs' record for most consecutive wins to start a season. Of course, you never want to be too proud of tying a record held by the Leafs.

Thrashers 6 Panthers 3: Atlanta's an awful dangerous team when their power play clicks -- they got five goals with the extra man, three from Ilya Kovalchuk. Prior to last night, the Thrashers had just four goals in their last 31 power-play chances. Kingston's Bryan Allen, the one-time Ernestown Jet, scored his first goal for the Panthers.

Stars 2 Canucks 1: Marty Turco's 33-save night helped Dallas improve to 8-1-0-0, the team's best start since it moved to Texas in 1993. Of course, the Cowboys were on Monday Night Football, so pretty much no one noticed.

Are the Stars really that good? The gut feeling is no, they're playing a little over their heads and probably don't have enough depth or skill to be a player in April and May -- just like last season.

Kings 6 Avs 1: L.A. took it on the chin and so did Colorado winger Milan Hejduk, who got one of his two goals when a shot hit him in the jaw and deflected into the net.

HOMETOWN BREAKDOWN

The Kingston Frontenacs are in total nosedive, having lost six in a row to fall from being ranked No. 2 in Canada to being dead last in the entire Ontario Hockey League with just seven points in their first 11 games. Yikes.

There's no reason the Fronts, with the talent most observers say they have, should have just three wins in 11 games. It's a little like the situation the Ottawa Senators were in before that 8-1 win over the Devils last week -- it's just a matter of time before they have a breakout game and have a big blowout win. Kingston gets a chance to do that tonight on the road against the Sudbury Wolves.

Note to readers: Some kind of live blog is planned tonight, what with the Leafs-Sens game and the World Series contest between the Cardinals and Tigers. Not sure of the logistics, though.

Kingston gets a chance in Sudbury tonight against the Wolves.

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