New Jersey 2 - Philadelphia 1 (F/SO)
Johan Hedberg stopped 40 shots in the shootout win for New Jersey. Adam Mair had the Devils lone regulation goal while Travis Zajac got the shootout winner. Brian Boucher played well in defeat for Philly. For the Devils, it makes for a strong bounce back game after losing to the Islanders on Friday.
The Flames’ horrible road trip of terror came to a crashing end in Pittsburgh as Sidney Crosby netted a hat trick to give the Pens the win. Crosby’s trick gives him 18 goals on the season and the NHL point scoring lead, leap frogging Steve Stamkos for the time being. This just in, Sidney Crosby is still pretty good. Meanwhile, the Flames close out their five-game road trip going 1-2-2, managing to get four points out of a road trip where they only won one game. There’s your silver lining I suppose.
Brian Gionta’s two goals helped pace the Canadiens past the Sabres. While Ryan Miller did play well for Buffalo, Carey Price was the man once again. Price stopped 35 shots and barely missed out on earning another shutout when Jordan Leopold scored with 1:13 left in the game.
Brian Elliott was once again standing tall for the Senators earning his second shutout of the season. Mike Fisher finished with two goals for the Sens. Meanwhile, the Leafs offense continues to be miserable. Tonight marked the fifth time this year the Leafs were shutout.
Florida 4 - Tampa Bay 3 (F/SO)
The Panthers snapped a three game losing streak and did so thanks to getting a beauty of a penalty shot goal by Radek Dvorak during the game and an equally sweet shootout winner from Stephen Weiss. Tomas Vokoun was solid saving 34 shots in the win. As for Steve Stamkos, he finished the game with an assist.
In a game where you’d expect Jaroslav Halak to be the scene-stealing goalie, Kari Lehtonen stops 35 shots for Dallas and gets the headlines himself. Jamie Benn and Loui Eriksson had the goals for Dallas and for Eriksson it was his 10th of the year. B.J. Crombeen had the lone goal for St. Louis while Halak saved just 21 shots in the loss.
NY Rangers 2 - Nashville 1 (F/SO)
The Preds tried to coast on Colin Wilson’s first period goal all game, but Ryan Callahan’s tying goal late in the third sent it to overtime. Erik Christensen had the lone goal in the shootout to give the Rangers the win. Henrik Lundqvist stopped 29 shots for the Rangers while Pekka Rinne saved 23 for Nashville. Highlight of the night came when agitators Jordin Tootoo and Sean Avery squared off in a fight that saw Tootoo win handily.
Bobby Ryan’s hat trick paced the Ducks to the win in the high-scoring affair in the desert. Jonas Hiller had 30 saves for Anaheim, meanwhile Ilya Bryzgalov was underwhelming stopping just 19 in the loss. Ryan Getzlaf finished the game with four assists.
A goaltending exhibition this was not. Niklas Backstrom was awful yet again, this time yielding six goals, two of which were to Greg Mauldin. It wasn’t all good news for the Avs though as they lost Chris Stewart to a broken hand suffered in a fight with Kyle Brodziak. Brodziak had two goals for the suddenly defensively incapable Wild.
Dany Heatley was booed throughout the game in Edmonton thanks to him turning down a trade to Edmonton last off-season which lead to him being sent to San Jose from Ottawa. Heatley gave Oilers fans a real reason to boo him after scoring twice in leading the Sharks to the victory. The Oilers tried to storm back in the third after being down 4-1 and got to within 4-3 thanks to quick goals from Shawn Horcoff and Jim Vandermeer but couldn’t get the equalizer. For the Sharks, holding off a team in the third could be the boost they were looking for.
The name “Patrick” isn’t likely to be popular in L.A. tonight as Patrick Sharp and Patrick Kane had the goals for the Blackhawks tonight in their win over the Kings. Corey Crawford got the nod once again in goal and got the win stopping 21 shots. Anze Kopitar had L.A.'s only goal and Jon Quick was the hard luck loser saving 21 shots. Chicago closes out their west coast swing strongly and gets to head back home feeling pretty good about things.
Game highlight for the squeamish and blood thirsty: Chicago’s John Scott beating the living daylights out of Kings enforcer Kevin Westgarth. For those keeping track at home, that’s Michigan Tech alum Scott beating Princeton alum Westgarth. Who says higher education doesn’t serve a purpose?