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Riding the Zamboni - Friday, February 18th

Rod Brind'Amour

Former Carolina Hurricanes captain Rod Brind’Amour and his family watch as his No. 17 is raised prior to an NHL hockey game against the Philadelphia Flyers in Raleigh, N.C., Friday, Feb. 18, 2011. Pictured with Brind’Amour is wife, Amy, right, and at left are his children Reece, Briley and Skyler. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)

AP

For a recap of the Devils’ 1-0 win over the Rangers, click here. Let’s summarize the other six games now, shall we?

Detroit 4, Florida 3

Todd Bertuzzi has been a thorn in Florida’s side, whether he was with them (for a blink) or against them. The aging forward scored the first and final goal against his former team as the Red Wings outlasted the perennially bubble bound Panthers. Pavel Datsyuk provided a one goal, one assist game for the Wings while Stephen Weiss did the same for the Panthers.

Boston 4, Ottawa 2

Both the Bruins and Senators look different after making deadline deals, yet the result wasn’t very different. Tomas Kaberle and Chris Kelly suited up for Boston, but it was Brad Marchand (two goals), David Krejci (two assists) and Tuukka Rask (32 saves) who made the biggest impact in the team’s win.

St. Louis 3, Buffalo

It seemed like all the pieces were in place for a Sabres win. The Blues aren’t very good on the road and haven’t been very effective in general lately. They went into the game without their big money goalie Jaroslav Halak. St. Louis also shipped off their captain Eric Brewer, which might not be a white flag but couldn’t be a great sign of confidence either. Yet Ty Conklin shut out the Sabres and TJ Oshie scored a goal and an assist to keep their faint playoff hopes alive while leaving Buffalo’s dimmer.

Carolina 3, Philadelphia 2

The Hurricanes and Flyers must have made Rod Brind’Amour proud on a night in which the two teams honored him while Carolina retired his No. 17 jersey. It was an intense, exciting game that featured some great goaltending and yet another game winning goal by human GWG-generator Erik Cole. It’s hard to argue with the allure of this possible first round top vs. bottom seed series.

Minnesota 5, Anaheim 1

It’s too early to tell how long Mikko Koivu might be out of the Wild lineup, but for at least one night, they looked OK without him. (OK, for at least two+ periods.) Koivu actually scored the tying goal before injuring his hand blocking a shot, but Kyle Brodziak ended up being the star of the game with one goal and two assists. Niklas Backstrom showed why he’s the team’s other player of the future/big moneymaker, stopping 29 out of 30 shots for his 19th win of the season.

Columbus 4, Chicago 3

The Blue Jackets rode a three-goal outburst during a six minute span of the second period to outlast the Blackhawks, thus tying the two teams at 10th place with identical 29-23-6 records (for 64 points). While Chicago struggles as an up-and-down team, Columbus is hot, going 6-1-1 thanks in some part to a great run of games by their best player Rick Nash. The Hawks lost despite a two-goal, one assist performance by Patrick Sharp and two point outputs by Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane.