First, defenseman Keith Ballard got beat back down the ice, then he failed to secure the rebound after Vokoun stopped a breakaway shot, then stood by helplessly as Ilya Kovalchuk put the puck home to take the lead for Atlanta. Understandably peeved, Ballard reared back with a two-handed baseball swing to smash his stick on the goal post, but instead landed a blow flush on Vokoun's noggin, slicing his ear open and knocking him out of the game. (He's okay, but had to be taken off the ice on a stretcher.)

It's one thing to try and give your teammates a little nudge when the team is down, it's another thing to blindside him with a stick to the skull. It's like the one time you decide to throw a spitball in class and you end up hitting some girl in the face and killing her. (Not that there's any proof of that!) I suggest that Ballard pick up Vokoun's dinner tabs when the team is on the road, from now until forever.

Tomas Vokoun Injury [NHL.tv]
Video: Vokoun's ear sliced by angry Florida teammate's stick [Puck Daddy]

A lot of clutching and grabbing but nothing really good happened, although Rivet and Carcillo made up for it when they went at it again during the second period.

Carcillo ultimately received a 10-minute game misconduct penalty after the second fight, but if you ask me, it was worth it. You can't leave the hometown fans disappointed and wanting more, but it would have been cooler if when he was getting escorted off the ice, Carciillo would have busted out a "Are you not entertained? Are you not entertained? Is this not why you are here?" speech. Actually, that would have been pretty lame, so forget that idea.

Fight Video: Carcillo vs. Rivet is the undercard and main event [Puck Daddy]
Connolly the key as Sabres double up Flyers [NHL.com]

Ouch. Come on, Briere, don't bother starting a fight if you're not going to throw some punches. If all two players are going to do is grapple, fall on the ice and wait for the referees to separate them, what's the point? NHL fans should not have to be subjected to this kind of rubbish. Don't we have to put up with enough already?

Obviously, this is all Gary Bettman's fault. Screw that guy.

Columbus Blue Jackets forward (and NHL2K9 coverboy) Rick Nash went with an unorthodox move in last night's 3-2 shootout victory over the Anaheim Mighty Ducks. As he approached Franco-Canadianophile goaltender Jean-Sébastien Giguère, Nash lifted up his left leg and apparently that was enough to completely baffle Giguère since Nash easily snuck the puck in the corner of the net.

It was an inspiring victory for the Blue Jackets, as they responded nicely and appeared no worse for wear after getting thumped 9-1 by the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday. And if you're not a keen hockey mind like myself, you should know that nine goals in one game is like, a lot of goals.

Columbus 3, Anaheim 2 (SO): Jackets climb out of their rut [The Columbus Dispatch]

Obviously, I'm not going to give it away and tell you which injury in the last decade was the most vile, disgusting or disturbing, but I will hit you with a few of the highlights from Puck Daddy's Top 10 List.

No. 7. Kurtis Foster's broken femur.

No-touch icing would have prevented this injury, but hockey is played by men, not wussies, right? Whaddya mean preferring not to have your femur snapped in half isn't a sign of weakness? Whatever.

No. 5. Patrice Bergeron's concussion.

I particularly enjoy how players from the Flyers and Bruins are seen mixing it up while Bergeron is just laying there on the ice out cold.

No. 3. Richard Zednick's slashed throat.

Hoo boy was that gnarly, man. And I don't want to hear any complaints about how gross the video was - if you clicked play on a video that was referenced as depicting someone getting their throat slashed, you did so of your volition.

Of course, there are seven more of these testaments to the brutality of professional hockey to see and be grossed out by. Go take a look, if you think you can handle it.

The 10 most brutal NHL injuries of the last decade [Puck Daddy]

While Alberta suffers an H1N1 vaccine shortage, the Calgary Flames and their relatives got the shots at the request of the team doctor. Now a senior official at Alberta Health Services, the sole clinic that rather Orwellianly controls the entire vaccine supply for the province, has been fired.

Like most Albertans, I am deeply offended that this circumstance has occurred," said a statement signed by Ken Hughes, Alberta Health Services' board chairman, and Stephen Duckett, the authority's CEO.

"AHS board and management have a fundamental commitment to serve all Albertans according to their needs, in medical priority. This circumstance was a clear departure from that principle. We set the expectation that this should not have happened and should not happen again," the statement said.

Now hold on a minute. You're telling me that professional athletes aren't more important than ordinary people? How very socialist of you, Canada.

I'm sure Jarome Iginla's, Miikka Kiprusoff's, and to a much lesser extent Freddy Sjostrom's health matters a great deal more to Alberta's economy and general happiness than 76-year-old Edna Martyn of Red Deer. And while every child is precious, I doubt the average child is going to have a plus-minus rating like Craig Conroy's.

Alberta Official Fired As Flu Shot Fury Hits Calgary Flames, B.C. Farm Team [Calgary Herald]

For coming into contact with another player in a contact sport, Ladd received a five-minute major for roughing, a game misconduct and an additional minor for roughing for what transpired in the scrum afterward. D'Agostini never returned to the game. Looking at the replay, it looks to me like Ladd caught D'Agostini with his shoulder, not elbow.

Will Ladd get suspended or subjected to additional fines because of the hit? Who knows? The NHL is anything but consistent in these matters. Here's Sean Leahy's two cents from over at Puck Daddy:

As far as supplementary discipline for Ladd? If history is about to repeat itself, don't expect Ladd to be punished anymore than the $200 fine he'll receive for being ejected from the game. Then again, it is the NHL we're talking about, so guessing punishment in this situation would be a fool's game.

Either way, I get the feeling will be subjected to further debate about the danger of headshots. Why can't we just enjoy professional athletes getting their brains scrambled without having to discuss all the long-term, health-related implications that these guys will be forced to endure? Is that so selfish? Yeah, maybe it is, but it doesn't take away from the fact that watching it over and over and over again is immensely entertaining.

Andrew Ladd gives us something to debate this weekend [Puck Daddy]

When the Flyers' Mike Richards blindsided the Panthers' David Booth last night, the media instantly began revving up their outrage. "Suspension!" they call. "Villain!" they cry. And why not? A brutal hit like that, which ends with a player unconscious in a pool of his own blood, appears to be a graphic illustration of what's wrong with hockey.

But let's rein things in for a moment. Before you join the lynch mob outside the Wachovia Center, there are a couple things to consider:

•These stories are always going to be played up when it's a promising young player who's injured. If that's, say, Dominic Moore being carted off, and not superstar-in-the-making David Booth, we're not seeing nearly as much outrage today.

•Also feeding the hype is the fact that this happened at the hands of a Flyer. It's been almost 40 years since the birth of the Broad Street Bullies, but that label's stuck. There's always a tendency to blame something like this on a culture of dirty play in Philadelphia, even if it's an isolated thing. But it's fun and easy to dredge up past incidents, and try to fit this in as part of a pattern.

Also worth noting: Richards didn't leave his feet for the hit, and none of this would have happened if Booth hadn't had his head down - that's a youth hockey mistake.

Booth didn't suffer any neck injuries, and remains in a Philadelphia hospital for observation. Let's all hope he recovers quickly, suspend Richards for a game or two, and move on. It's fucking hockey, people.

UPDATE: No suspension.

Florida Panthers, David Booth Receive Heavy Blow In Defeat [Miami Herald]
Hit Mars Flyers' 5-1 Victory Over Panthers [Philly Inquirer]

Tucker was taken off the ice on a backboard and Ruutu, who has a history of dirty play, was assessed a five-minute major for boarding and a game misconduct, so he was ejected from the game. After a neck brace was placed around Tucker's neck and he was placed on the backboard, a pool of blood could be seen where he had been laying on the ice for over five minutes.

Tucker's Avalanche teammates were not impressed, to say the least. Said Avalanche captain Adam Foote:

"Ruutu's got a history. He hits late, he hits from behind. So I felt like it was probably dirty if your guy is laying there."

Thankfully, it has been reported that Tucker is okay. Well, as okay as a person can be after being taken to the hospital on a stretcher. According to Craig Stancher of the team's official website, "[l]ate in the second period it was announced that Tucker had regained consciousness, was fully alert and was sent to the hospital for further evaluation."

Tucker has been called a dirty player as well, so some may argue that this is simply a guy getting what's coming to him.

Either way, it's nearly a certainty that Ruutu will be facing a suspension for the hit. Like all things hockey-related, I base this on the opinion of the estimable Greg Wyshynski, a/k/a Puck Daddy:

Ruutu's getting a suspension here, no doubt. It was a scary scene that resulted from a completely irresponsible play, and even his coach is hinting at further punishmen. Now it's just a matter of duration: Both Ruutu's time away from the rink and the amount of time Tucker needs to get back on it.

The Avalanche won't get the chance to exact revenge on Ruutu until January 8th, when Colorado travels to Raleigh. Speaking of milkshakes, methinks some player on the Avalanche might just try something that ensures a straw will be the only means through which Ruutu will be able to feed himself.

You know, because hockey is violent and stuff.

Avalanche beat Hurricanes 5-4 [The Associated Press]
Avalanche/Hurricanes Notebook [Avalanche.com]
Colorado's Darcy Tucker taken off ice with a concussion [NHL.com]
30 Dirty Players in 30 Days. The Toronto Maple Leafs [Armchair Pools]
Video: Scary moments for Darcy Tucker after Ruutu cheap shot [Puck Daddy]

Sheldon Souray and Angelica Bridges divorced two years ago, and she received full custody of their two children. But the Edmonton defenseman has gone to court to argue that her showing her ta-tas in Vegas isn't the most stable single-parent situation for them.

Bridges debuted in "Fantasy: the Hottest Adult Revue for Couples" at the Luxor hotel this week. Souray went to a family court judge in Los Angeles to say their kids would be kept away from here as long as she continued to perform.

I've lived in New York with the children. I've visited Las Vegas two dozen times, and he never made a move like this. It's only because I landed a great show on the Strip, and he didn't want me to have any success or recognition. He's only using the kids to break me."

Bridges, who the kids have already seen nude if they've learned how to Google mommy, has temporarily quit the production until the legal situation is settled.

Exclusive: Fantasy Star Fights To Keep Kids And Return To Luxor Show [Vegas Deluxe]
[Pic courtesy of 25stanley.com]