Let’s take a look at a pretty wild night in the NHL, with eight games overall.
The Gionta brothers squared off in this one and older brother Brian’s team absolutely crushed the Devils. Johan Hedberg had one of the shortest non-injury related starts in recent memory, getting pulled after allowing two goals on three shots in the first 1:38. Carey Price stopped 27 out of 28 shots to help Montreal dominate New Jersey.
Things are starting to look pretty bad for the Maple Leafs while the Oilers seem like they’re building some momentum. Nikolai Khabibulin returned in style, earning a 33-save shutout. It was Edmonton’s young players who truly crushed Toronto’s spirit, though, as Taylor Hall scored two goals, Jordan Eberle had a goal and two assists and Ryan Whitney added two helpers.
The Rangers won a wild one in this game on the strength of a great performance by Marian Gaborik. The oft-injured yet sublime Slovakian scored three goals - including the game winner - and also added an assist. The Rangers rushed to a 2-0 lead, fell behind 3-2, got another nice lead at 5-3, then allowed the Islanders to tie it up before that Gabby game winning goal.
Read all about Sidney Crosby’s amazing three goal performance here.
Marc Savard made his return in this one, but his teammates deserved the spotlight by crushing Tampa Bay. (Click here for the full recap.)
Boos turned to hushed silence in Dany Heatley’s LeBron James-like return to Ottawa.
This one ended in some legitimate controversy, as a goal in the last 10 seconds was called off for goalie interference after Alex Ovechkin bumped Karlis Skrastins into Andrew Raycroft. It’s a shame, too, because it overshadows a fantastic performance by Raycroft, who stopped all but one of the 38 shots the Capitals sent his way.
In one of those “someone had to win it” games, the Kings finally got a win thanks to a late third period goal by Anze Kopitar. Jonathan Quick stopped 25 out of 27 shots to beat out Tomas Vokoun, who allowed three goals on 24 shots.