[Bits] Pack up the stockings and bag up the tree. It's back to work

After a three-day break, the NHL season resumes tonight. The Islanders get an extra day of toys and leftovers before playing the Devils on Saturday.

Islanders news:

• Incredibly, the Islanders are still in the playoff hunt. Mathematically, at least. [New$day]
• Michael Grabner: Austrian Hit Man [Islanders]
• How much blame should Jack Capuano get for how the Islanders season has gone so far? [Eyes on Isles]
• What is the true impact of having a healthy Evgeni Nabokov on the ice? [The Hockey Writers]
• No, seriously, the Islanders are only nine points out of the playoffs despite barely winning a game between November and January. [The Hockey Writers]
• Video: The players play host to kids at the holidays. [Islanders]
• Nostalgia: A program from the first game at Nassau Coliseum, October, 1972. [Islanders Point Blank]
• The Sound Tigers lost to Hartford 3-1 on Thursday. [BST]
  

While you were eating:

• World Juniors started yesterday and Red Wings' prospect Anthony "Black" Mantha shot out of the gate with a hat trick in Canada's win over Germany.
• Gary Bettman ruined Shawn Thornton's Christmas by upholding this 15-game suspension for attacking Brooks Orpik. [SB Nation]
• Elliotte Friedman's 30 Thoughts from Monday. All the Oilers news you need.
• Frederick Roy, son of Patrick, has a bit of a temper, and had a meltdown during the Spengler Cup going on right now in Switzerland. [Yahoo.ca]
• Which goalies are most likely to make a quote unquote BIG SAVE? [Eric T at SB Nation]
• Lists! Puck Daddy's worst Jersey Fouls of 2013.
• Lists! Sports Illustrated ranks the 13 best NHL games of 2013, half of which include the Chicago Blackhawks.
• The Winter Classic is around the corner. Dan Craig is the guy who makes the big outdoor ice, and not the guy that plays James Bond. [Yahoo!]
• The Washington Post takes time out from Redskins drama to shine a light on the "Moneypuck" phenomenon that has nothing to do with Moneyball at all but we won't bog them down with details like that.
• NHL.com ranks the 200 best fantasy hockey players at the mid-season mark. I hope Santa left some of them under the tree for you.

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