Edmonton 4 - Montreal 3 (F/OT)
Some nights a loss is worse than normal. The Habs went into the third period of this game with a 3-1 lead on Edmonton and playing great. The foot came off the gas pedal and the Oilers took advantage. Ales Hemsky and Sam Gagner scored in the final ten minutes of the game to send it to overtime. There, Dustin Penner won it on a breakaway goal after a brutal turnover by Mike Cammalleri. Both Cammalleri and P.K. Subban were instrumental in Edmonton’s final two goals. The win is Edmonton’s second in a row, their first two-game win streak since the first two games of the year. For Montreal, it serves to be a lesson that sometimes playing it safe means death.
Tim Thomas had himself a hell of a night. Thomas had 41 saves in what turned out to be his fifth shutout of the year. Patrice Bergeron, Tyler Seguin, and Milan Lucic had the goals for Boston as they got a little bit of payback on the Flyers after they ousted Boston last season. Sergei Bobrovsky made 29 saves for Philly in the loss.
Nashville 4 - Columbus 3 (F/SO)
Who knew that these division rivals would have a barn burner of a game? While Antoine Vermette had two goals for Columbus, it would be Steve Sullivan and his ridiculous deke in the shootout that would win the day for Nashville.
What do you get with a rested Caps team and a Blues team that lost a 7-5 slugfest last night? A tired Blues team getting skated off the ice. Nicklas Backstrom had two goals and an assist for the Caps while Semyon Varlamov had a busy night stopping 37 shots for the win. Don’t let the shot total fool you, Washington was in control of the game but still, a stellar effort out of the young goalie to get it done. Alex Steen had the lone goal for St. Louis.
The Wild drop another one but it wasn’t without trying. Coyotes goalie Jason LaBarbera made life on the Wild difficult stopping 33 shots in the win. Scottie Upshall scored twice for Phoenix to lead the way. For Minnesota, it seems like piling on because any mistake the team makes ends up in the back of the net and now it’s the team leaders that are making the mistakes. For Phoenix, the win snaps a two game skid while the Wild have now lost three in a row. Pierre-Marc Bouchard played 14:05 in his first game back in over a year and had no points and finished a -2 on the night.
Things got out of hand fast in Calgary for the Flames and by the time it was over, Mason Raymond finished with a hat trick and an assist while Jeff Tambellini had a goal and an assist. Daniel Sedin scored his 14th goal of the year while Ryan Kesler and Henrik Sedin each added two assists. For Calgary, the inconsistency continue s while Vancouver looks like they’re starting to figure things out.
This game was one of miracles. Ducks enforcer George Parros finished the game with more goals than fights (two goals, one fight). Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry each had a goal and an assist as well for Anaheim who stays hot. Meanwhile the Florida Panthers snapped their horrendous power play inefficiency streak and piled on by scoring twice with the man advantage, each time by Steve Bernier. Bernier finished the game with three points earning an assist on Mike Santorelli’s goal in the second period.