A Two-Night Recap

A recurring charleyhorse has kept Aaron Ward out of the line-up again in Boston. Ward has missed a number of games thanks to injury this year, having only played in 32 of 44 games this year. Ward has been on the team's top pairing with Zdeno Chara this year, but has only registered 5 points in the process.

The Hurricanes look to be completely healthy again on the blueline and that means that Box 28 defenseman, Frank Kaberle, will be the odd man out again. Kaberle cleared waivers earlier in the year, in hopes that he could find a new home to play in, but when injuries occurred, he was kept around to help fill the voids left behind.

Also getting healthier on the blueline has been the Columbus Blue Jackets, as they saw the return of Ole-Kristian Tollefsen. Having a seat in his place on Friday night was Christian Backman, who hasn't quite had the season that the Blue Jackets were hoping for when they wanted to have him in the Nikolai Zherdev deal in the off-season.

There's another odd-man out situation brewing in Florida, as the coaching staff of the Panthers have chosen to move away from using Cory Murphy on their backend this season. Murphy had cleared waivers earlier this week, which gives the team a month to decide his fate with the minors or remain a healthy scratch waiting for injuries to occur. Murphy had shown some flashes of offensive talent last season, but injuries both this year and last, have dampened his play and abilities. The Box 29 defender should be dropped if possible.

A bruised foot has kept Shea Weber out of the Predators line-up on Thursday night. Weber's injury shouldn't keep him out of the line-up for too long. The Draft pick of Jeremy's has had an amazing season, which now includes an invite to next weekend's All-Star Game in Montreal, if he's healthy enough.

An abdominal injury has kept Box 25 forward, Sean Bergenheim, out of the Islanders' line-up on Thursday night. Bergenheim has seen some time on the shelf already this year, playing in 39 of 44 games this year. It's unclear how long Bergenheim will be out of the line-up with this injury, but he's only listed as day-to-day.

The Penguins have serious injury problems mounting up at the moment, but that didn't stop them from beating Anaheim on Friday night. Sidney Crosby is out with a leg injury, Ruslan Fedotenko is out with a hand injury, Pascal Dupuis remains out with an undisclosed injury, as is Maxime Talbot, and finally, Kristopher Letang missed Friday's game with a lower body injury. It's amazing how they keep winning, isn't it?

On Thursday night, the Sharks lost the services of Rob Blake, after getting hit in the face from a blocked shot. There isn't any word on the severity of the injury, but his services were missed on Thursday night, as they failed to win at home for the first time since February, last season.

The Lightning are now without defenseman, Paul Ranger, a Draft pick of Chris', due to an upper body injury. Ranger has 11 points in 36 games with the Lightning this season. The team hasn't announced how long he'll be out with this injury yet. There is a possibility we'll get word on that over the weekend.

The struggling Canucks have resorted to some new tactics, as Box 8 forward, Kyle Wellwood, was scratched from their game against the Coyotes on Thursday night. The team's second-leading goal scorer hasn't been terribly productive over the team's losing streak and the coaching staff had decided to let him know that with a benching.

Click here to see an updated injury page.