Two-Minute Minors for 1/20/10

I've been considering doing some daily posts that are more like Twitter feeds where I just add thoughts as they pop into my head throughout the course of a day. Why not just join Twitter? I don't know—I just kind of like it here.

It then occurred to me that I already sort of do that occasionally with these Two-Minute Minor posts, though without the day-long aggregation. Anyway, we'll see what happens. Let's move on before I get called for delay of game...

• Last night the Isles went toe-to-toe with the offensively gifted Penguins and came out a little stubbed. When Sidney Crosby drops a six pack of points on you and Evgeni Malkin emerges from his funk with a hat trick, you just have to tip all those hats and get ready for the next one. Isn't it nice to be in a position to take the positives from a loss and still feel good about what the team is doing? It will feel even nicer if the four-game winning streak is not followed by a losing streak of any kind.
  
• Richard Park finally convinced an official that a shot off his stick is capable of being a goal.
  
• Here's my guess at how Colin Campbell handles Andy Sutton's boarding of Pascal Dupuis: "Well, I just gave Jovanovski, a star, a two-game suspension—I have to suspend Andy Sutton." You know, just a guess, because that's all we can really do at this point. It was a bad play by Sutton and it's refreshing to see a player admit as much. It doesn't matter if you didn't intend to hurt another player—you have to be able to make the split decision that stops you from putting another player in danger. When you don't make that decision correctly, you pay the consequences. In this case a major and a game misconduct suffice, but I actually wouldn't be too surprised or too upset to see Sutton sit out a game or two. But I can't wait for the explanation. Update: I was wrong. Sutton has been suspended for two games and I actually am a little ticked. Why? Because...Prediction: Sometime in the next 12-18 months, Sutton will board someone else and get suspended for five games. You know, because he'll be a repeat offender.
  
• The larger issue is, how long does Gary Bettman let this go on? It's not good for the league to have one of its top officials, especially one who impacts game play, constantly called out. I'm not even saying that Campbell has to be dismissed. But the issue does need to be addressed or the integrity question will continue to fester.
  
• You know what really made an impression on me last night? Very quickly after Sutton hit Dupuis, Dwayne Roloson waved to the Pittsburgh bench for the trainer to come out. Then he skated out of the crease, and out of the TV picture. The next time you see Roloson, he's skating back to Dupuis with the Pens' trainer in tow. Classy move by an opponent.
  
• Yesterday, Uni Watch mentioned John Tavares's bet-losing practice appearance in a Team USA jersey. Uni Watch proprietor Paul Lukas made mention of the mysterious slits in the back of the jersey and wondered about their purpose/origin. I e-mailed Paul to tell him that I had read that the jersey belonged to Sparky the Dragon, and the slits where there to accommodate his wings. At the time, I couldn't remember the source of that information. Paul published my note as an update in today's edition, so I want to make sure to give credit where credit is due. After a little searching, I can now confirm that my source for the Sparky information was none other than blogging pal Dee Karl. Good scoop, Dee!
  
• Finally, it's always good to remind yourself just how obsessed you are with sports. Yesterday, I got lunch from Five Guys for the first time. My order number was 57. While waiting on line, I kept thinking how cool it would be if, instead of calling out my order number when my food was ready, the line cook instead shouted, "Comeau!"