For a recap of the six “early” games, read this post.
For a team with one win in their last nine games, the Oilers pushed a legitimate contender like the Red Wings to the limit. It was a great goalie duel, as Jimmy Howard made 29 out of 30 saves to beat out Nikolai Khabibulin’s 27 out of 29.
Justin Abdelkader and Valtteri Filppula scored the big goals for Detroit while Danny Clearly added an empty-netter. Taylor Hall scored Edmonton’s only goal on the power play, his third of the season.
It was a battle between two struggling (former?) contenders - not to mention teams with cute and cuddly mascots - and the Ducks won.
After a scoreless first period, Bobby Ryan, Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry scored three goals in a little under seven minutes to give Anaheim a 3-0 lead. Sidney Crosby scored two goals - one late in the second and the other early in the third - to bring Pittsburgh within one, but the Penguins’ misery extended to 1-4-1 in their last six games after they fell short despite out-shooting Anaheim 12-4 in third.
Jonas Hiller stopped 30 out of 32 to even up his season at 5-5 while reliable scapegoat Marc-Andre Fleury allowed three goals on only 19 shots to bring his horrid 2010-11 record to 1-6.