Our buddy Dave was at the game last night, and he only paid $55 to sit where he sat

Imagine having seats like this for just $55? Be sure to follow Dave on Twitter @Hadly_ I'm more irritated they didn't win with Dave in the building than I am anything else here.

Hank rolls around inside his net in shootout

I don't know why, but I just found it funny seeing Hankie rolling around like this in a shootout tonight in Ottawa.

Monday's afternoon tilt with Ottawa will sell out

NEWARK —

Looks like yet another sellout is on its way at the Prudential Center.

Only single seats are left in the upper tier — and a handful of club seats remain — for the 1 p.m. holiday matinee against Ottawa. It's always a risk having games on holidays where not everyone gets off in the afternoon. But it appears to have again paid off for our hockey club.

As an attendance freak, I love this pick your own seats feature on Ticketmaster. Makes it easy to tell what games will and won't sell out.

Ironically, the only team that doesn't allow access to the ticket inventory arena-wide? Let's just say Manhattan's their home.

Limited seats remain for Devils-Senators Monday afternoon. 

Attendance Watch for Thursday, Feb. 7 — 4 non-sellouts out of 12 games played

There were 12 games played in the NHL on Thursday, Feb. 7 and of them, four didn't sell out.

Among them were:

• Tampa at the Devils — 14,802 (84 percent full)

• Carolina at Ottawa — 17,337 (93 percent full)

• Calgary at Columbus — 10,484 (57 percent full)

• Chicago at Phoenix — 15,096 (88 percent full — not bad for Phoenix).

As we mentioned earlier, the Devs' non-sellout was the first since the next-to-last game of last year's regular season. The Prudential Center will be sold out the next time the Devils play — Saturday v. the Pens. Still, the Devils are more than 3,000 over last year's average after five home games (17,060).

The Prudential Center was one of four NHL arenas that weren't sold out last night.

Attendance Watch for Tuesday, Feb. 5 — 4 of 10 games aren't full

There were 10 games in the NHL on Tuesday, Feb. 5, and nearly half did not sell out.

Our Devils hit their 16th-consecutive sellout, a streak dating back to the final game of last season. It also marks the very first time in franchise history the team has sold out its first four home games in any one season.

Among the non-sellouts were:

• Pittsburgh at the Islanders: 11,318 — 69 percent full.

• Los Angeles at Columbus: 11,019 — 60 percent full.

• Buffalo at Ottawa:  18,345 — 99 percent full.

• Nashville at St. Louis: 15,206 — 79 percent full.

The smallest crowd in the NHL Tuesday was at Columbus, where 11,019 showed for Blue Jackets/Kings. Not even the Stanley Cup Champions could help Columbus, which has had the second-smallest crowds in the entire league all season long.

Lots of empties at Panthers-Sens game in Sunrise

SUNRISE, Fla. —

Update:  Tonight's Panthers-Senators game drew 15,634 — meaning the game was 81.2 percent full. On opening night, the Panthers drew 19,688 — so there were 4,054 fewer people at the team's second home game.

Not sure what the overall attendance numbers are, just yet, but looks like a lot of empty seats at tonight's Panthers-Senators game in Sunrise. We'll bring you the full attendance recap later in Attendance Watch, where we list games that did not sell out in this new, shortened season.

Lots of empty seats can be seen at tonight's Panthers' game in Sunrise, Fla. Click on the image to see it enlarged.