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Early Ride on the Zamboni - Monday, February 7th

zanddatsyuk

James O’Brien

Here are summaries of tonight’s first three games. Expect recaps for the second half of games later on.

Toronto 5, Atlanta 4

At this pace, the Thrashers might become an obvious “seller” during the upcoming trade deadline. It seems like the team needs to make some kind of swap to bring in some new blood, as Toronto handed Atlanta their fourth consecutive loss. The Thrashers have only won two games in the last month.

It was a high-scoring affair between the two squads, as the Leafs and Thrashers have combined for 30 goals in their three contests.

The Thrashers actually took 2-0 lead into the first intermission before being outscored 5-2 in the last two periods. Dustin Byfuglien ended his scoring slump with a power-play goal while Phil Kessel remained stuck in his slump, but their teams produced different results.

Detroit 3, NY Rangers 2

It didn’t take long for Pavel Datsyuk to make an impact in his first appearance with the Red Wings after missing 19 games. Detroit had gone two games without scoring a single goal before Dastyuk scored on his own rebound in the second period. He added an assist for a successful return to action as the Red Wings squeezed out a tough win against the rugged Rangers.

Jimmy Howard has been struggling quite a bit lately (as Mike Milbury noted), but he stopped 45 out of 47 shots in this game. Martin Biron was solid in his second straight start, making 32 saves, but he wasn’t able to earn the win.

Edmonton 4, Nashville 0

The Predators have now lost five of their last six games, with their only win coming against the Red Wings (of all teams). Nashville remains in fourth place in the West, but they are rapidly falling back into the conference’s sizable bubble. While the Oilers don’t have as much to play for, it must have been a relief for them to end their four-game losing streak.

The Predators weren’t exactly sleep-walking to start this game, though, as they out-shot Edmonton 13-1 through the game’s first 10 minutes. Devan Dubnyk stood strong to earn a 37-save shutout, the first of his NHL career. Pekka Rinne didn’t have such a good night on the other end of the ice, as he was pulled late in the game after allowing four goals on only 20 shots.