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Riding the Zamboni - Thursday, January 6th

Sabres Oilers Hockey

The Buffalo Sabres goalie Ryan Miller deflects a shot from the Edmonton Oilers during third period NHL hockey action in Edmonton, on Tuesday, Dec. 28, 2010.(AP Photo/The Canadian Press,John Ulan)

AP

Buffalo 3 - San Jose 0

Some nights we’re reminded why Ryan Miller is one of the best goalies in the NHL. Tonight he stopped all 36 shots he faced en route to a 3-0 Sabres win over the Sharks. The Sharks have been decidedly average so far this year, but tonight they pulled out all the stops to try and beat the Sabres only to be turned away at every turn. Luke Adam, Jochen Hecht, and Thomas Vanek each scored for Buffalo to make the lead insurmountable. The win gives Buffalo victories in three of their last four games. For San Jose, it’s their second loss in a row.

Montreal 2 - Pittsburgh 1 (F/SO)

On a night where the big news turns out to be Sidney Crosby being diagnosed with a concussion, the Canadiens were able to take advantage of a Pens lineup that was without Crosby, Matt Cooke, and had Brent Johnson in goal. Johnson did well enough to keep his team in the game but he couldn’t stop Benoit Pouliot. Pouliot had Montreal’s lone goal in regulation and scored their game-winner in the shootout on a rather Peter Forsberg-like move. Arron Asham had Pittsburgh’s lone goal in regulation as Carey Price saved 31 shots in the win. Johnson stopped 22 in the tough loss. The Pens have now dropped four of their last six games.

Philadelphia 4 - New Jersey 2

It doesn’t seem to matter whether it’s Johan Hedberg or Martin Brodeur in goal for New Jersey these days and tonight it was Hedberg taking the loss once again. Daniel Briere and Scott Hartnell each had two goals in leading the Flyers over New Jersey. New Jersey went into tonight’s game having dropped a drama bomb having captain Jamie Langenbrunner out of the lineup as a healthy scratch and speculation about him being traded dominating the evening. The mess in New Jersey is out of hand and the Flyers were more than happy to take advantage of the aimless Devils.

The suddenly sliding Kings keep on falling back in the standings dropping their fifth straight game. Making tonight a bit more painful was the fact the Kings jumped out to a 2-0 lead before folding things up. Patric Hornqvist scored two goals, Marek Svatos scored his first goal since returning from Russia while Colin Wilson and Sergei Kostitsyn each had a goal and two assists each. Jonathan Bernier wasn’t able to contain the Predators attack tonight to the tune of 23 saves. Anders Lindback stopped 28 shots for Nashville in the win.

Minnesota 3 - Boston 1

While the Bruins won’t admit to it, a bad call against Shawn Thornton that turned into a Martin Havlat power play goal got in their heads early in this one. Steven Kampfer was able to tie the game up at 1-1 minutes after that, but the Bruins played a bit off all night. In the third period, the Wild capitalized getting a go-ahead goal from Cal Clutterbuck and an empty netter from Mikko Koivu to ice the game. Tuukka Rask played strong for Boston but was out-dueled by Jose Theodore. Theodore stopped 35 shots compared to Rask’s 31 on the way to the victory. For Boston, it’s their first non-shootout loss since December 20th, but third loss in four games. Meanwhile, the Wild have quietly won three in a row much in thanks to Theodore’s solid play.

It wasn’t supposed to be Jason LaBarbera’s start tonight, but he made the most of his emergency start in goal pitching a 24-save shutout over the high-scoring Avalanche. Taylor Pyatt made it stick with two goals including an empty netter as the Coyotes got out of last place in the Pacific Division thanks to the win and the Kings loss. For Colorado, it was a sloppy loss and one they’ll need to forget about if they’re looking to get back on the winning side. Losses are becoming a bit too common lately for the Avs as they’ve lost six of their last eight games with their wins coming in overtime and a shootout.

Toronto 6 - St. Louis 5 (F/SO)

The Leafs looked strong tonight getting out to a 5-2 lead at one point and chasing Jaroslav Halak from the game. But as things go with Toronto of late, they allowed the Blues to score three in a row from Brad Winchester, Eric Brewer, and Matt D’Agostini to send the game into overtime. As the teams went to the shootout, it was Mikhail Grabovsky dazzling the fans with his shootout goal and Tyler Bozak sealing the deal with his shootout winner to get Jonas Gustavsson the win.

Edmonton 2 - NY Islanders 1

It certainly wasn’t the highlight game of the night by any means for Isles starter Nate Lawson giving up two goals on the first three shots he saw, but fellow rookie goalie Kevin Poulin relieved him and at least kept the Isles in the game. As it turned out, Gilbert Brule and Dustin Penner’s goals would be all the Oilers would need to give Devan Dubnyk the win for Edmonton. Dubnyk, unlike Lawson, was able to stop 30 shots on his way to the win. Poulin stopped all 19 shots he saw in relief. Blake Comeau’s second period goal was all the offense the Isles would muster against fellow cellar dwellers in the NHL.