5 questions C Nate Thompson
What's your fiancee's name? Cristin Stuart.
When's the wedding? July 19 in Montana. She's from Rochester, Minn., and I'm from Alaska, so we're kind of meeting in the middle.
What's your go-to Valentine's Day move? I don't know if I had one; nothing like helicopters or anything.
So, the standard stuff? I sent her flowers.
And that was enough? I think so.
House hunting
Cory Conacher was told by the Lightning to look for permanent housing. The team had put the rookie left wing up in a hotel while determining if he would stick in the NHL or go back to AHL Syracuse.
Conacher, 23, entered Saturday leading all rookies with 12 points and seven assists, so it probably wasn't much of a decision. But he still called it "a Christmas gift."
"It takes a lot of stress off," he said. "It puts some stress on about finding a house, but I'll take that any day. It's such a dream come true."
Sock it to me
After watching the season of Senators D Erik Karlsson come to an end when his Achilles tendon was sliced by a skate blade, Lightning C Steven Stamkos decided to start wearing cut-resistant Kevlar socks.
The socks, which are not mandatory in the NHL, are believed by many players to be heavy, hot and bulky. But after watching video of Karlsson's injury (he was stepped on — accidentally, most believe — by Penguins pest Matt Cooke), "you start to think," Stamkos said. "Who knows in that particular instance if it would have stopped (the injury) completely, but maybe a little bit. Everything kind of counts toward that, I guess."
With that, Stamkos took a pair of socks off his locker room seat and tried to cut them with scissors. The socks crimped but didn't tear.
"Better than nothing," he said. "On a force like Cooke's skate, maybe you still get cut there but it's not as bad."
Quote to note
"We should have been a little calmer about our expectations. All teams are good. All teams are fighting. It's going to be a grind to make the playoffs."
— Coach Guy Boucher, on the team's 6-1-0 start
Date of the day
March 30, 1995
When the Devils, during the 48-game 1994-95 season, went over .500 for good (14-13-6) on their way to the Stanley Cup title
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