Eight games in exhibition action last night in the NHL featuring five Canadian teams.
The Night that Was:
-The first of those Canadian teams was shutout by Cam Ward and the Carolina Hurricanes. Ward made 36 saves in a 4-0 win over the Winnipeg Jets and got goals out of Zac Dalpe, Jay Harrison, Jerome Samson, and Riley Nash.
-The Chicago Blackhawks and Detroit Red Wings needed a shootout to decide their game last night, and thanks to a couple of highlight-reel goals by Todd Bertuzzi, the Wings pulled out the 4-3 win. Bertuzzi scored in the shootout and regulation, Val Filppula had three points and Nik Lidstrom and Henrik Zetterberg had two points each. Brandon Pirri scored two of Chicago’s goals while Jimmy Hayes nabbed the third, as Ty Conklin made 21 saves for Detroit and Alexander Salak made 30 saves for Chicago.
-Jeff Carter, Grant Clitsome, Ryan Johansen, and Dane Byers all scored for Columbus last night in a 4-1 win over Buffalo. Tyler Myers was the only goal-scorer for the Sabres. Byers added two assists for a three-point night and Clitsome added an assist for a two-point evening. Steve Mason stopped 19 shots for the victory, while Ryan Miller was 23/27.
-The Bruins got a couple of power play goals (Brad Marchand and Joe Corvo), a couple of shorthanded goals (Zdeno Chara and Dan Paille), and a handful of even-strength goals (Gregory Campbell, Tyler Seguin, and Jordan Caron) in a 7-3 win. Brian Willsie, Scott Gomez, and Aaron Palushaj scored for Montreal.
-Two goals out of Ryan O’Reilly was enough for Colorado, but they got another from Ryan Stoa in a 3-0 win over the Dallas Stars. Jean-Sebastien Giguere played for the shutout with just 16 saves. Richard Bachman made 28 saves for the Stars in a losing effort.Kyle Quincey added two assists for the Avalanche, along with solo helpers from Gabriel Landeskog, Joakim Lindstrom, and a few others.
-Devan Dubynk made 30 saves to record the shutout over rival Calgary. The Flames split time between the pipes with Miikka Kiprusoff and Henrik Karlsson. Jordan Eberle, Linus Omark, and Taylor Fedun all had two points while three other Oilers recorded a point.
-Tommy Wingels had two goals and nine other Sharks recorded a point as San Jose scraped out a 4-3 win over Vancouver. Cody Hodgson was amongst the goal-scorers for Vancouver, who got single points out of eight players. Eddie Lack gave up four goals on 34 shots for the Canucks while Thomas Greiss stopped 26 of 29.
-A 32-save effort Jeff Deslauriers carried the Ducks to a 3-2 win over the Los Angeles Kings. Patrick Maroon, Andrew Gordon, and Kyle Palmieri off-set the one from L.A.’s Andrei Loktionov. Jonathan Quick struggled, stopping just 15 of 18 shots.
What’s on Tonight?
Just four games tonight. Winnipeg travels to Canada’s Capital to take on the Senators, Columbus faces Washington, the Rangers head to Philadelphia, and Boston faces Montreal.
Notes From Around the League:
-Buffalo’s Brad Boyes was suspended a pair of games for a hit to the head of Joe Colborne over the weekend. The hit was deemed “reckless but unintentional”. Anaheim’s J.F. Jacques may also be in line for more than just his automatic one-game suspension he received for his instigator penalty over the weekend.
-Both Owen Nolan and Niko Dimitrakos were released by the Vancouver Canucks last night, following their game against the Anaheim Ducks.
-Crosby took faceoffs and ran set plays yesterday at practice as a step in his progress towards a return from a concussion. He still did not participate in contact exercises however.
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