Currently, there are nine active coaches who have heard their name called as the League's finest at the end of the season, including [Dan] Bylsma, Joel Quenneville, Jacques Martin, John Tortorella, Lindy Ruff, Alain Vigneault, Bruce Boudreau, Claude Julien, and Dave Tippett. While a few of those coaches might also be in the running at the conclusion of this season, here are the three who deserve the most recognition. As it turns out, all of them are in their first year on the job.

- NHL.com's Mike Morreale; care to guess the quarter-mark Jack Adams Award "winner"?

 

Not to be forgotten: all of us at LBC send our very best to you and yours on American Thanksgiving. As have the Cats, we've come a long way since the early days of the 2008-09 season, and it's been our honor and pleasure to have the opportunity to host each and every one of you day in and day out as the years have progressed.

Sure is a lot more fun these days, eh? On to the goods, beginning with Wednesday's highlights:

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EASTERN
Rank	Team	GP	W	L	OT	PTS	GF	GA	Home	Away	Last 10	Streak
1	Pittsburgh	22	12	6	4	28	67	53	7-1-2	5-5-2	4-4-2	OT 1
2	Florida	21	12	6	3	27	62	52	5-2-3	7-4-0	6-2-2	Won 3
3	Boston	20	13	7	0	26	69	42	8-5-0	5-2-0	10-0-0	Won 10
4	Philadelphia	21	12	6	3	27	77	65	5-4-2	7-2-1	6-2-2	Won 1
5	Toronto	22	12	8	2	26	70	70	6-3-2	6-5-0	4-5-1	Won 1
6	Washington	20	12	7	1	25	66	62	8-1-1	4-6-0	4-5-1	Won 2
7	Buffalo	21	12	8	1	25	61	55	5-6-1	7-2-0	6-3-1	OT 1
8	NY Rangers	18	10	5	3	23	48	40	5-1-1	5-4-2	7-2-1	Lost 2
9	New Jersey	20	11	8	1	23	54	55	5-3-1	6-5-0	7-3-0	Won 1
10	Montreal	22	10	9	3	23	57	53	4-5-3	6-4-0	5-4-1	Won 1
11	Ottawa	21	10	9	2	22	62	70	5-4-1	5-5-1	4-4-2	OT 1
12	Tampa Bay	20	9	9	2	20	55	67	6-3-0	3-6-2	5-5-0	Lost 2
13	Winnipeg	21	8	9	4	20	61	69	5-3-0	3-6-4	4-3-3	OT 1
14	Carolina	23	8	11	4	20	56	76	5-5-2	3-6-2	3-6-1	OT 1
15	NY Islanders	19	5	10	4	14	38	65	5-5-2	0-5-2	2-6-2	OT 1

 

Why last night freaking rocked:

• St. Louis over Pittsburgh, 3-2 (OT); hey, it's something

Why last night completely jonesed:

• Boston over Buffalo, 4-3 (SO)
• New Jersey over Columbus, 2-1 (SO)
• Philadelphia over the Isles, 4-3 (OT)
• Washington over Winnipeg, 4-3 (OT)
• Montreal over Carolina, 4-3 (SO)
• OT: This overtime/shootout/loser-point thing is getting way out of hand. C'mon...6 of 7 games in the East went overtime? Seriously?

Why tonight is a Big Deal:

• Sked be empty. Enjoy the day, friends!

Next up for the Cats:

• Friday vs Tampa Bay, 7:30pm