I've been traveling -- U2 was phenomenal, my hotel Internet access not so much -- so much of this you may have seen. But it's fun to put into context, for posterity.

I don't typically inflate my own prophecies as anything more than dumb luck, but did I call the "break up" of the first line or what? Mark Herrmann at Newsday and Chris Botta both reported that possibility from practice. "We have to find some secondary scoring," Gordon said, according to Botta. It's not that I think I know stuff -- rather that certain formulas in hockey are as recurring as the raising of the Cup. If they implement this in a game, I'm not a big fan, but ... well, they have to do something.

More importantly, if Frans Nielsen is back, color me excited. I just hope he's back into "game shape" soon. And by "game shape" I mean the shape that makes me think Nielsen is a hidden gem.

• Meanwhile, this wasn't so much a prophecy, but I'd accept it if I jinxed the Rangers into losing again. Or maybe it was just the Sharks, who played them better than they played the Isles.
  
• "We believe in this team.": Wang himself, and Garth Snow even mentioning the "P" word to Strang, plus Botta commentary.
• "We want this team." 7th Woman riffs on the potential intra-NY relocation suitors.
• Lighthouse Project: Nick with a take on recent developments, The worst-kept secret: Wang and Murray to meet. [Newsday]
• The nice section: Weight and Tavares read to kids as part of Literacy Day. [Newsday] Schremp, Park and Bergenheim, too. [7th Woman]
  
• Pierre LeBrun on Boston's good old-fashioned shake-up trade involving Chuck Kobasew.
• Behind the Net takes on my own pet suspect for the downfall of civilization: The shootout, projecting player performance therein.