THE ROUNDUP: Fixed Foundations, One Way To Stop A Streak, and more...

FIXED FOUNDATIONS- Yeah, I will come out and admit it: It’s good to see Brandon Sutter back in the lineup. For all his flaws, the guy’s had a genuinely rough go of things in terms of injuries since coming to the Canucks, and mean tweet aside,

he’s a pretty likable dude who plays a pretty important role for this team. So knowing how long he’s been waiting to get back into the lineup, it was great to see him get the OT winner last night. Also great? Thomas Vanek, the master of low key goal celebrations looking genuinely pumped after he tied up the game last night. Vanek’s been a real pleasant surprise, especially for a team with a history of free agent signings that end up disastrous. Will the Canucks move him at the deadline? I would say probably, and his play of late, especially with Sam Gagner and Brock Boeser is pushing his stock higher. Gotta give props to Jacob Markstrom for his play last night. He was probably the best Canuck on the ice last night, and it’s encouraging to see him turning things around. Now if we could only get Erik Gudbranson to stop being so pourous defensively...

ONE WAY TO STOP A STREAK: The NHL’s reigning ironman is losing his impressive streak, not like Henrik Sedin did when he held the crown (through an injury) thanks to a 2 game suspension from the Department of Player Safety.

Pretty hard to argue with the decision here, and kudos to DoPS (weird, right) for actually doing the right thing when it would have been easy to just fine him and allow him to keep the streak alive. It sends a pretty good message for a department that has a history of sending mixed ones (insert repeat offender joke here).

SPEAKING OF SUSPENSIONS- The captain of the Calgary Flames is awaiting his date with DoPS after an ugly hit last night in their win over Carolina. Mark Giordano stepped up on Sebastian Aho, and right away many were quick to decry Giordano’s ejection from the game, saying it was a clean hit. The problem here is that they were assuming the call related to a suspected head shot. Yeah, not really...

This seems out of character for Gior... oh, wait. No it’s not.

Also, I will leave this here.

The Flames, who won their 7th in a row last night, have put Jaromir Jagr on the IR, and it’s really starting to look like this might be the end for one of the all time greats. Shame it didn’t work out for him, but on the bright side, we can blame the Flames for it, and that’s always fun.

GOOD NEWS FOR DANAULT- Montreal’s Phillip Danault was released from hospital yesterday after spending the night there thanks to something most humans fear: taking a Zdeno Chara slapshot to the head.

Glad to see he’s going to be okay after a truly scary moment.

A MILESTONE FOR KESSEL- Phil Kessel recorded point number 700 for his career in Pittsburgh’s 5-2 win over the Rangers yesterday. We should all celebrate by sending 700 hot dogs to Steve Simmons.

HOORAY FOR AFTERNOON HOCKEY!- With the holiday down in the States today, three of the 4 games on the schedule are in the afternoon. Dallas and Boston are set to go at 10 am PST, Anaheim and Colorado at Noon, and San Jose takes on the Kings at 1. As someone who has a day off today, this makes me happy. And for all our American friends, have a Happy Martin Luther King Day.