Before heading up to Atlanta, I wanted to pass along a couple of injury updates.

Defenseman Andrej Meszaros took 64 stitches just above his upper lip. A team spokesman described it as a Craig MacDonald wound, minus the lost teeth. I saw Meszaros on his way to the plane, and in the dark it was difficult to see how bad it was. But he was talking kind of funny, so I imagine it either hurts real bad or he has some pretty good pain medicine. Or both.

Also, Jussi Jokinen was not a healthy scratch, he sat out with a lower body injury, which I can only speculate is the same knee that’s been bothering him. But that’s only.a guess.

Meszaros’s situation is supposed to be updated before tomorrw’s game, but perhaps since he was planning on returning, he’ll play. The team is running out of defensemen in the organization to field an NHL and AHL blue line!