Photo by Bill Smith/NHLI via Getty Images

He’s back.  Who, you ask?  Lubomir Visnovsky.  I’ve got bad news too.  He looks really good.

After a fairly disappointing start, posting 1 goal and 3 assists in 16 games, Visnovsky broke his finger and sat out a month.

Visnovsky returned to his team and made a statement last night against the Phoenix Coyotes.  He had an assist, was a +2, and recorded 7 shots, while posting an impressive post-injury 24:23 of ice time.  I watched the game for this very reason.  I was interested in seeing how Visnovsky would bounce back from his injury and if he was capable of returning to the form he was in last season.  He scored 18 goals and recorded 50 assists last year for the Ducks.

I was not disappointed.  It was a really fun game to watch.  The headline of this article, much like the well-known tagline from the Disney move, was a perfect description of what I saw last night.  Reigning MVP, Corey Perry was a monster on the ice.  He terrorized the Coyotes defense.  Niklas Hagman scored two goals and had really good positioning last night.  As any respectful linemate would have done, Perry was on a mission to help Hagman complete his hat trick.  Although they failed, Perry gave him a couple of really nice chances to do so with some 2-on-1 breaks.

Visnovsky was a beast on the power play.  Mike Smith was probably praying for the game to end.  Visnovsky was relentless, firing shots on Smith from the blue line over and over again.

If the Ducks play as well as they did last night, we are in for a tough game tomorrow.

As for the Hawks, they played the number one team in the NHL.  It went down to the wire with the Hawks winning in the shoot out.  The Hawks dominated most the game last night, and played one of their best team-games in a while.  The defense was solid, the positioning was very good, and the passing was precise.

Dan Carcillo is questionable for tomorrow with an upper-body injury.  Perhaps it is a bruised ego (or head) plaguing Carcillo after taking a good beating from Brad Staubitz last night.

The Blackhawks have recalled Ben Smith from Rockford again (the kid should probably invest in an apartment in Schaumburg to cut his travel times down).   He’s been back-and-forth from Rockford quite a few times already this season.

Ray Emery will be in between the pipes for the Blackhawks.  Emery has been about as solid as anyone can ask from him.  He played really well last night and didn’t give up an goals in the shoot out.

Look for Hawks’ captain Jonathan Toews to continue his reign of terror.  He has simply been blowing the rest of the league away as of late, amassing 15 points in his last 9 games.

Newest dad Patrick Sharp is on a 7 game point streak and will look to extend that as his play has been absolutely stellar lately.  He seems to be in the right spot game-after-game.

Look for a physical effort from the Ducks tomorrow.  They are trying to avoid a ten game road losing skid, which would be the worst in their franchise history.  With Carcillo out and big John Scott having limited ice time, the Hawks will be faced with some bullying from the Ducks. The last game between these two teams was on November 25, which the Hawks won 6-5. Toews recorded 2 goals and 3 assists in that game, while Sharp had a hat trick and Corey Perry also scored 2 goals.

You can catch the game on Comcast Sports Net at 7:30 PM CST.