Plenty of action on the ice, but guess what: There were more trades. Is there going to be anyone left come Trade Deadline Day?!
The Night that Was:
You can make it points in 11-straight for the Los Angeles Kings and if you think the players don’t notice, you’re wrong. I wouldn’t know this if it wasn’t for the fact Dustin Brown Tweeted it. Speaking of him, Brown had two goals last night, while Matt Greene in a losing effort as the Kings fell 4-3 in a shootout to the New York Rangers. The win was Henrik Lundqvist’s 200th career victory and Ryan Callahan and Artem Anisimov had two points each in the win and Mats Zuccarello scored in the shootout, his fifth in six chances.The Rangers have now won two in a row after a six-game losing streak.
Detroit visited their Hall-of-Fame former Captain and his new team last night and the Wings showed Steve Yzerman that the Tampa Bay Lightning still have a little ways to go. Pavel Datsyuk had two goals and Daniel Cleary had a goal and two assists. Along with them, three other Wings recorded multiple points as Dwayne Roloson lost the fourth of his last five starts. Victor Hedman and Steve Downie had the goals for Tampa Bay as Steven Stamkos and Martin St. Louis were limited to just one assist each. Detroit has now won three of four.
A pair from John Tavares wasn’t enough to help the New York Islanders to their fifth straight win, as Boston doubled up the Isles 6-3. The oft-talked about Blake Wheeler was one of four Bruins with a goal and an assist, while Mark Recchi had a goal to give him points in three-straight games, as the veteran moved within three points of matching last year’s total with Boston. Nathan Lawson failed to make it back-to-back wins after earning his first NHL win Tuesday against Ottawa, but Al Montoya stopped 15 of 16 shots in relief. Boston was able to finally separate themselves from Montreal in the Northeast, gaining a two-point lead.
It was because of what happened in Edmonton last night that the Bruins were able to take that lead. The Canadiens and Oilers were tied at one after two periods of play, but two goals within 15 seconds from Jordan Eberle and Ryan Jones. Ales Hemsky also scored twice for Edmonton, giving him six points over his last four games and Nikolai Khabibulin won his second-straight start. Jeff Halpern had the only goal for Montreal in the 3-1 loss and is now just one away from his ninth ten-goal season, although Lars Eller did break out of a nine-game scoreless streak. On the injury front however, the Habs lost James Wisniewski to a deep facial laceration after he was struck in the face by a puck. No word on his condition.
Quick Hits:
–Mike Fisher scored his first goal as a member of the Nashville Predators as all four goals came in the second period of this game. Nashville beat Vancouver 3-1 despite Daniel Sedin’s 30th goal.
-Three assists went the way of Keith Yandle last night as Phoenix dumped Atlanta by a 4-3 score.
–Dany Heatley’s 20th of the season held up as the winner after a late goal by Nik Backstrom as Washington fell to San Jose 3-2.
What’s on Tonight?
The New York Rangers meet up with the New Jersey Devils and St. Louis heads to Buffalo. Boston and Ottawa hook up in a divisional matchup, while Detroit continues their tour of Florida when they visit the Panthers. Philadelphia faces off with Carolina, fittingly, on Rod Brind’Amour night, Anaheim heads to Minnesota, and Columbus visits Chicago in a matchup of Central Division foes.
The Injury Bug:
-Vancouver may have gone from shopping one defenseman, to having to buy one or two. Kevin Bieksa has a broken bone in his foot and is expected to miss at least three weeks.
–Jaroslav Halak was hurt in practice on Wednesday and yesterday he ended up on the Injured Reserve. There’s no timetable for his return from his hand injury.
-Columbus also placed Derek Dorsett on IR with a head injury. He’s listed as day-to-day.
–Steve Sullivan took a puck to the face last night and didn’t come back to the game. Something to monitor.
-Atlanta has put both Alexander Burmistrov and Freddy Modin on the Injured Reserve. Burmistrov has a foot injury while Modin has an upper-body injury.
Rumours and News Around the League:
-It’s four-for-four in terms of Canadian teams making a trade a day this week. Ottawa sent Jarkko Ruutu to Anaheim for a sixth-round draft pick his year. This is also the third trade for Anaheim this week.
UPDATE: It’s five for five. Craig Anderson has been traded by the Colorado Avalanche. Anderson is headed to the Ottawa Senators for Brian Elliott.
The Overlooked Fantasy Line of the Night:
Because of Dustin Brown’s Tweet, he gets it today. Two goals last night, one of them coming on the power play and a plus-one against the New York Rangers last night. Oh, and an insightful Tweet.
You can e-mail Bryan at bryanthiel74@hotmail.com. You can also follow him on Twitter at BryanThiel_88.