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Riding the Zamboni - February 12; Tampa wins in OT, Vancouver rolls over Calgary

Tampa Bay 4 - Carolina 3 (F/OT)

Usually when a team blows a two-goal lead in the last minute of the game, they crash and burn horribly in the end. The Lightning were able to avoid such embarrassment tonight when Marc-Andre Bergeron scored his first of the year in overtime to win it for Tampa Bay. Jeff Skinner and Erik Cole scored in the final minute of regulation to tie the game up with Tampa Bay, but Bergeron’s goal finished them off. Sean Bergenheim had a goal and an assist for the Lightning while Dwayne Roloson made 31 saves for the win. Cam Ward made 37 saves in the loss while Eric Staal and Erik Cole each had a goal and an assist.

Vancouver 4 - Calgary 2

It’s tough when you play a great game and still lose. When you’re dealing with a team as good as Vancouver, these things will happen now and again. For Calgary it stinks as it’s their second loss in a row. After coming into this game winners of eight of their last ten, it might be a bit of a knock to the psyche to lose after playing well. The Canucks got two goals a piece from Mikael Samuelsson and Alex Burrows to lead the way. Tim Jackman and Curtis Glencross scored for Calgary. For Vancouver they extend their lead in the division to 16 points over Minnesota with the win and have an NHL-high 81 points.

Nashville 5 - Colorado 3

In Music City, USA it was a night of a pair of intriguing appearances. Newly acquired Mike Fisher made his Preds debut and earned an assist after being acquired from Ottawa. It also had former Predator and Avalanche legend Peter Forsberg on the ice yet again. Much like in his first game, Forsberg had trouble finding the scoresheet. Forsberg finished the game a -2 and played 17:32 on a line with Matt Duchene and Milan Hejduk. Martin Erat led the way for Nashville with a goal and two assists while Patric Hornqvist and David Legwand each had a goal and an assist. Pekka Rinne’s night was quite as he only made 15 saves in the win while Peter Budaj was hung out to dry being forced to make 34 saves. The loss marks the seventh in a row for Colorado as they slip back to 14th in the Western Conference.

Montreal 3 - Toronto 0

An Original Six clash in Montreal goes sour for the Leafs as Carey Price earned his sixth shutout of the season stopping 27 shots to get the win. Brian Gionta scored his 21st goal of the season while Benoit Pouliot and David Desharnais also tallied for the Habs as they snapped a three-game losing skid and got to within a point of Northeast Division leading Boston. Jean-Sebastien Giguere stopped 36 shots in the loss for Toronto as they lost their second in a row.

Phoenix 3 - Chicago 2 (F/SO)

Phoenix, like Tampa Bay earlier in the evening, avoided disaster by grabbing victory in the shootout after blowing a 2-0 lead against the Blackhawks in Phoenix. Radim Vrbata proved to be the hero on the night as he scored a goal in regulation and had the shootout winner for Phoenix. Ilya Bryzgalov made 31 saves for the Coyotes in regulation and didn’t allow Chicago to score in the skills competition. The win gets the Coyotes back to within one point of Dallas for the Pacific Division lead. Chicago’s comeback effort thanks to goals from Dave Bolland and Duncan Keith fell short but got steady play from Corey Crawford after a shaky first period. It wasn’t meant to be and the Hawks weren’t able to keep pace with L.A. and Minnesota in the West race.

Minnesota 3 - St. Louis 1

A feisty affair in the back end of a home-and-home series between these two saw the Wild chase Jaroslav Halak in the second period after the Wild jumped ahead 3-0 thanks to goals from Cal Clutterbuck, Antti Miettinen, and Kyle Brodziak. Patrik Berglund’s late second period goal was all the Blues could muster as the Wild got 24 saves out of Niklas Backstrom to earn the win and leapfrog Calgary into the eighth spot in the Western Conference playoff race.