Thursday Night Scratches

The flu bug is really getting around in Edmonton. It claimed two more players on the Oilers before last night's game against the Red Wings. Both Lubomir Visnovsky and Mike Comrie were down due to the illness on Thursday night, but neither have fallen victim to the H1N1 virus, officially. The Oilers are in Boston on Saturday afternoon and you would have to believe that both players would be questionable going into that match-up.

Not even Martin Erat is free from constructive criticism in Nashville. The coaching staff was not happy with his performance in the early part of the season, so they decided to make him a healthy scratch to try and motivate his game. Erat has one of the highest cap hits on the Predators and he was made an example of with this move, so we'll have to see whether or not it will motivate him at all.

The Senators kept Jason Spezza out of the line-up for their loss against the Lightning on Thursday night. Spezza has reportedly been suffering from an upper-body injury and last night was a night off for the playmaking forward. There have been little details about the injury and some sources are wondering whether or not this is the same injury that was hampering him in the preseason. He's considered day-to-day for the time being.

Much like Erat in Nashville, Scottie Upshall was also sent to the press box for a game because of poor play in the early part of the season. In 11 games for the Coyotes, Upshall has only three goals, which would indicate that his game is lacking some balance at the moment. Certainly, scoring three times in 11 games isn't a terrible stat, but when its the only thing you have done, it does lack oomph.