Standings in the SE Division and Smith's injury

Even though Washington finally broke their losing streak this past weekend, with wins from both Atlanta and Tampa Bay last night, the Thrashers and Lightning now sit on top of the SE Division in the #1 and 2 spot respectively. Right now that translates to the Thrashers being in the 2nd place in the conference, the Lightning in 5th place and the Capitals in 6th. I can honestly say I didn't think I'd be writing that when we started the beginning of the season.

On the injury front via NHL.com, Mike Smith is out with a knee injury for approximately two weeks. The injury to his left knee occurred during the morning practice before yesterday's game against Carolina. As we saw last night, Cedrick Desjardins will be Ellis' back-up, now the question is, will he get a start while Smith is out? Does Ellis have to suck to give Boucher a reason to start Desjardins?

Your Lightning and NHL links after the jump...

Your Lightning links:

• The Norfolk Admirals visit their namesake ship, the USS Norfolk
• Mike Chen at From the Rink asks "what if the Lightning had average goaltending?"
• Written in the St. Petersburg Times, Boucher told his Mike Smith and Dan Ellis last week to not read the papers
• Craig Custance of the Sporting News on the trash talking between Nate Thompson and Atlanta's Eric Boulton. The two teams play again on December 26th in Atlanta

Your links from around the NHL:

• Haven't seen the first episode of 24-7 Penguins Capitals yet? Really? Head over to AOL Fanhouse to watch it legally if you haven't done so already
• Video from Puck Daddy of Deryk Engelland KO punch on Taylor Pyatt which happened last night during the Pens' 6-1 win over the Coyotes
• Hockey Independent made a list of the 10 most disappointing players so far this season
• Nine years ago Espen Knutsen shot a puck that killed 13 year old Brittanie Cecil at a Columbus Blue Jackets game. The fatal incident is why all NHL arena's now have nets to protect fans from flying pucks. For the first time Knutsen met with her family and the Columbus Dispatch has a great article about the meeting
• Elliotte Friedman's 30 Thoughts this week: on new NHLPA head Donald Fehr
• Not all of Team Sweden's luggage arrived in Toronto with equipment bags of 10 out of the 22 players missing. Sweden's team for the world juniors were forced to do a little last minute shopping because of it (Globe and Mail)
• Bruce Arthur of the National Post on a look back at the gold medal game of the Winter Olympics. It's pretty Canada-heavy, but a good read nonetheless
• If you want a more American flair, let me introduce The Sleeping Giant, a world junior blog written by Chemmy of PPP and Ryan of the Two-Line Pass

And if you haven't seen the video aired during Hockey Night in Canada this past Saturday, here is a video remixed by DJ Steve Porter (of the "Slap Chop" rap remix fame) on Don Cherry (via Puck Daddy):