A light night but not without excitement nor controversy.
Montreal 3 - Phoenix 2 (F/OT)
The stars showed up for Montreal, but it was Andrei Kostitsyn who stayed on fire who won it for Montreal. For the second time this year, Kostitsyn scored the game-winning goal for the Habs. Meanwhile, Tomas Plekanec and Mike Cammalleri had tallies in regulation for Montreal. Kyle Turris stayed hot scoring another goal for the Coyotes, while Derek Morris added a power play goal early in the third. Carey Price saved 27 shots for Montreal while Ilya Bryzgalov stopped 26.
You’d have thought that Philly would be a bit more focused going into a game against a Columbus team you’re never sure what you’ll get out of. Turns out they had to deal with a defensively responsible team that played hard and took advantage of Philly defensive mistakes. Ryan Wilson scored his first career goal and Derick Brassard had a power play goal for the Jackets. Ville Leino scored for Philadelphia. Mathieu Garon stopped 28 shots in earning the win for Columbus.
Los Angeles 3 - Minnesota 2 (F/SO)
The Kings came back from being down 2-0 early on to earn a victory over the Minnesota Wild in the shootout. Jarret Stoll and Anze Kopitar had goals for L.A. while Michael Handzus scored the deciding goal in the shootout. Minnesota got goals from John Madden and Nick Schultz. The game will be better known for providing the Kings with their second straight game of having a player receive a game misconduct. The other night saw Wayne Simmonds get the gate for butt-ending Colorado’s T.J. Galiardi, meanwhile tonight saw captain Dustin Brown get ejected for hitting Antti Miettinen with a newly outlawed by the NHL head shot. Replays showed that Brown didn’t connect with Miettinen’s head , but Brown did take advantage of hitting him while he was in a prone position. It seems doubtful that Brown will get added punishment from the NHL, but then again you just never know what to expect.