(updated) Brent Burns out tonight with illness; Havlat out with strained hammy; Smith on way up; Biron in the cage; Roli: "Write with your heart, Roose"

(UPDATED) Brent Burns, who did skate yesterday and this morning, will not play tonight due to what the team's saying is an illness. John Scott will play D. Nathan Smith made it to play center. James Sheppard will play second-line wing judging from warmups.

Anybody see the fight that started in the stands after Scott Niedermayer tried to give a stick to a fan after being named one of the Three Stars last night? It's a must see here.

Shame, eh, when a team tries to do such a good thing and it goes bad like that because of a couple of morons?

Great Deadspin headline: This is why Anaheim hockey fans can't have nice things.

Also, if you didn't see the failed goal celebration in Sweden the other day,check this funny video out.

If you ever find funny hockey videos and want to fwd them along for me to possibly put on the blog, feel free. I know the blogs have been a little -- OK, a lot -- drab this season. That's what often happens when you cover a bad season. Players don't feel comfortable joking around, which makes for a tough team to cover. And if you think about it, some of the funniest blogs/articles I've written originated with me just having my notebook in the back pocket, witnessing or hearing or being a part of something funny and then asking, "Mind if I write that?"

There was a lot of joking inside a loose Islanders room this morning. Kyle Okposo returns to Minnesota, and his mom threw a pre-Thanksgiving bash in his honor last night. There's also a pre-game party she's throwing today for about 60 friends, family members and neighbors.

This morning, he ran into tonight's refs at Starbucks. He jokingly went up to them and said, "How the heck did the refs guys blow that call in Detroit the other night?" It was a reference to Brad May clearly scoring a goal that was waved off by the refs (it's been big news this week) and not reviewed in Toronto. Biron was saying it as a joke, having no clue that the ref he was talking to, Dennis LaRue, was the actual ref who messed it up.

Biron said LaRue immediately put his head down and was like, "I know, I messed up, I..." And at that moment, Biron went into panic mode because he didn't know he was joking about it with the ref that messed it up. Then he's like, it's not your fault, it's Toronto's, which is funny, too, because LaRue ruled the whistle should have blown before the goal, making it unreviewable. Ha!

So now, Biron's jokingly worried he'll get the short end tonight.

Roloson, knowing full well I grew up on Long Island (Plainview/Old Bethpage minutes from Nassau Coliseum), made sure to remind me, "Write with your heart tonight, Roose."

Roli actually lives down the street from the hospital my brother was born at -- uh, and the hospital I sent my uncle to when as a kid I broke his ankle with a slide tackle playing soccer (nobody told me you're supposed to hit the ball, not the foot)

Talked to John Tavares this morning. Here's a funny story. He apologized to me profusely for calling me back last night at 11:13 p.m. for today's Tavares-Cal Clutterbuck story. Tavares was great on Clutterbuck, especially on how good his shot is coming down the wing. Tavares says he's got some barbs to throw back at Clutterbuck tonight when Clutter talks smack to him. Clutterbuck says John Tavares' nickname, "J.T." is because of his fanaticism toward Justin Timberlake, and that it has nothing to do with it being Tavares' initials. Tavares rolled his eyes at that one.

Martin Havlat will miss tonight's game with a strained hamstring. I talked to him and said it was a nagging injury he had been playing with and that it finally got worse vs. Phoenix. He said he doesn't think it's major and hopes to play in the next game, Wednesday. Nathan Smith has been recalled to play fourth-line center tonight and James Sheppard will move up lines and play wing instead of center.

Sheppard, by the way, was hit in the mouth against Washington and looks like he has a lip ring. It's funny.

If the Wild wins tonight, it sounds like the Wild will practice Saturday and take Sunday off. If the Wild loses, it sounded like Richards plans to practice the team all four days before the next game Wednesday.