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The Philadelphia Flyers have played 23 games this season, and Scott Hartnell is on the cusp of becoming the fourth Flyer suspended for an illegal check:

Sept. 25: Steve Downie on Dean McAmmond (20 games)
Oct. 10: Jesse Boulerice on Ryan Kesler (25 games)
Oct. 27: Randy Jones on Patrice Bergeron (2 games)
Nov. 26: Scott Hartnell on Andrew Alberts (pending)

I'm not going to debate what Hartnell did last night because I personally don't think there's much to debate. The referees gave him a five-minute major and a game misconduct, and that was the right call. Alberts could have been doing a handstand out there for all I care - you don't hit a guy like that, and you certainly don't do it in the very next game against the team whose star you've already whipped into cream corn on the dasher.

It doesn't sound as though Bergeron will play again this season, and with a Grade 3 concussion, his career is in jeopardy at age 22.

Imagine the outcry if this was Sidney Crosby, or Ilya Kovalchuk, or Henrik Zetterberg? Bergeron is in the next tier of stars, a player whose presence alone could be responsible for the Bruins' return to the playoffs and who is instead unable to function as a normal human being.

In any event, we're back to "guess the suspension" and the league has apparently accomplished diddly squat with the suspend them all mentality to this point. Hartnell's busy telling us he let up when it's plain to see that's not the case.

The only thing saving Alberts from Bergeron's predicament is the fact he's a huge, rock-headed Minnesota lad who can take the hard knocks.

The best of the rest:
Dallas beat the Isles for their sixth consecutive win
[Of note: Mike Modano's officially back, with six goals and 12 points in his last 10 games]

Capitals new coach Bruce Boudreau suffered his first NHL defeat
[My take is that the 31 minutes he played Tom Poti weren't nearly enough]

Dwayne Roloson has a huge night to give the Oilers a big win
[Vezina candidate Pascal Leclaire left this one with some hamstring hurts for Columbus]

Eric Duhatschek pulls out "ludicrous" to describe the four-headed monster rumoured in Toronto
[I would agree if not for the fact ludicrous implies it has no chance of happening]

Earl Sleek drew feces
[More commendable than anything I did yesterday, really]

Lowetide professes his love for Columbus
[He's a strange, lonely old man with two names]

And, finally, the sale of the Lightning is officially a fiasco
[That's what happens with guys with no money try to buy teams]