A Day in the NHL: January 19 2010

Today isn’t so busy, so hopefully you got your fill yesterday. J.P. Dumont turned the trick, the Bruins made it back-to-back wins, and the San Jose Sharks were busy on the personnel front.

The Night that Was:

J.P. Dumont had two for the Predators on Sunday, but yesterday he did one better. Dumont had the hat-trick, giving him five goals over his past two games, as Nashville beat Phoenix 5-2. After going scoreless in his previous four games, Patric Hornqvist scored two goals, while Matt Halischuk had two assists in his second game since getting called up. For those keeping track of Shea Weber’s recent point-streak, it stopped last night at nine games, but the Preds have now won eight of their last ten.

The Montreal Canadiens were hit hard by the injury bug last night. Both Mike Cammalleri and Max Pacioretty left the game early with injuries yesterday, as Pacioretty had to get carted off after taking a puck in the chest. PK Subban also got hurt in the first period, but he came back to make a handful of huge defensive plays against the Sabres. The two sides managed just one goal each in regulation, but in overtime, Jason Pominville sealed it for the Sabres with his ninth. Thomas Vanek and Tyler Ennis each had two points for Buffalo, as Montreal has gone to overtime in five of eight games this month, winning three and losing two.

Washington had won just two of their previous six, but that didn’t stop them from nearly making a statement against the Philadelphia Flyers. Alexander Ovechkin scored just his second goal of the month as he and Mike Knuble scored just a minute apart in the third to tie the game at two. It wasn’t to be though, as Andrej Meszaros scored his second of the year to win it in overtime, his seventh career game-winner. Sergei Bobrovsky has now won three-straight starts while the Flyers have lost just once in eight games this month, this one 3-2 in overtime.

On Monday the Bruins hosted the Carolina Hurricanes and on Tuesday they visited Carolina and ended up winning both. While this one was no 7-0 shutout, Tim Thomas thwarted the ‘Canes again with a 43 save performance in the 3-2 win. Marc Savard recorded an assist, giving him three points in his last four games, while Mark Recchi led the way with two assists as Milan Lucic scored the winner, breaking a 2-2 tie. Super-rookie Jeff Skinner recorded an assist in the 3-2 loss, giving him points in seven of his last eight, while Jussi Jokinen score to give him five goals over his last five games and eight points in that stretch.

Quick Hits:

–Jordan Staal continued his hot play as he scored his third goal since returning form injury, putting him on a three-game point streak. Pittsburgh beat Detroit 4-1.

–Steven Stamkos scored two goals giving him 35 on the year, but it took Ryan Malone scoring in a shootout for Tampa to pull off the 3-2 win.

–Jonas Hiller proved to everyone why he was an All-Star last night if they didn’t believe him before, making 39 saves in regulation and overtime and making three saves in the shootout. Anaheim beat Ottawa 2-1.

-Los Angeles lost for the seventh time this month as St. Louis eeked out a tough one 2-1.

-Vancouver has now lost three of their last four as Milan Hejduk and John-Michael Liles had three points each to lead Colorado to a 4-3 overtime win against the Wests’ best.

-Four Wild players had two points while the Oilers finally scored a power play goal. Edmonton lost though, 4-1.

What’s on Tonight?

Hopefully you’ve got something planned for this Wednesday night as Toronto visits the Broadway Blueshirts, Columbus heads to Florida, and Minnesota visits Calgary. That’s all folks!

The Injury Bug:

–Jordan Eberle says that he’s close to returning to the Oilers lineup. Eberle is listed right now as day-to-day with his ankle injury.

-It turns out that Mike Cammalleri suffered a separated should last night, while Max Pacioretti flew home with the team following a brief hospital stay. Cammalleri will be out at least the next two weeks while Jeff Halpern hurt his shoulder as well.

-The Sabres also suffered an injury in last night’s game, as Drew Stafford injured his groin.

–Sidney Crosby is still unsure of when he’ll return to Pittsburgh’s lineup. If he’s cleared before the All-Star game though, he will play.

Rumours and News Around the League:

-The San Jose Sharks were busy yesterday, trading for Ben Eager and swiping Kyle Wellwood off of re-entry waivers from the Blues. Wellwood was just signed by St. Louis, leading Blues’ President John Davidson to say the re-entry rule should be tweaked. This is the same team that lost Marek Svatos earlier in the season.

-San Jose continued to make headlines. Forward Scott Nichol was suspended four games for his hit on Coyotes’ defenseman David Schlemko.

–Niklas Lidstrom and Eric Staal will be the captains for the 2011 All-Star game in Carolina. The will draft their teams from the pool of available All-Stars two days before the actual game.

The Overlooked Fantasy Line of the Night:

John-Michael Liles and Milan Hejduk tie. Three points each, a plus-one rating for each, and two power play points (including a power play goal) for both of them.

E-mail Bryan at bryanthiel74@hotmail.com, or follow him on Twitter at BryanThiel_88.