Three games took place in the NHL last night, with a big effort from the Hurricanes, a barn-burner in Philly, and some late heroics between Columbus and Colorado.
The Night That Was
The Bruins made their way to Carolina last night to take on the Hurricanes. After a scoreless first, Joni Pitkanen had the only goal of the second period on the power play. After that, all of the scoring rolled down in the third as Anthony Stewart put the ‘Canes up by two before Tyler Seguin cut the lead in half. Jiri Tlusty ripped home his first of the season in the slot to make it 3-1, and while Brad Marchand made it close, Cam Ward made 26 saves in a 3-2 Carolina win. Tim Thomas made 31 saves to even his record at 1-1 this season, as no one registered multiple points in this one.
Colorado played from ahead and behind last night, but it took a shootout to decide things. TJ Galiardi opened the scoring in the first with his first of the year, and after Rick Nash’s second of the season tied it in the middle frame, Radek Martinek but the Blue Jackets ahead early in the third. With under a minute to go however, Gabriel Landeskog notched his first-career NHL goal to tie things up and send it to OT. After a scoreless overtime, Milan Hejduk and Matt Duchene scored in the shootout to give Colorado a 3-2 win. Both Steve Mason (30 saves) and Semyon Varlamov (31 saves) were busy, as Nash finished the evening with a goal and an assist.
Vancouver and Philadelphia had the game of the night if you had a forward or defenseman going in your Fantasy League. Maybe not if you had a goalie. The Flyers were up 3-1 after the first thanks to a goal and two assists (1g/1a on the power play) from Claude Giroux alone. In the second, Vancouver clawed back with two to off-set one from Jakub Voracek to make it 4-3. Daniel Sedin tied it in the third on the power play with his second of the season, but Andrej Meszaros scored a minute later to seal Philly’s 5-4 win. Chris Pronger added two points to Giroux’s three, as eight other Flyers recorded points including Sean Couturier’s first-NHL point (an assist). Mikael Samuelsson, the Sedins, Alex Burrows, and Alex Edler all had two point nights for the Canucks. Ilya Bryzgalov salvaged a .900 save percentage (36/40), but Roberto Luongo finished the night with a 0.814 mark (22/27).
What’s on Tonight?
You won’t be short on NHL action tonight with 10 games on the schedule. The Los Angeles Kings head to New Jersey to take on the Devils, the Tampa Bay Lightning face the Islanders, and Washington faces Pittsburgh. The Calgary Flames and Montreal Canadiens go toe-to-toe in an All-Canadian matchup, Colorado plays their second of back-to-backs in Ottawa, and Vancouver does the same in Detroit. Phoenix heads to Nashville, Edmonton takes on Minnesota, Winnipeg makes their way into Chicago, and the St. Louis Blues and Dallas Stars face off in Dallas.
Injury Bug
-Adam McQuaid was hurt in last night’s game against Carolina. The Bruins’ defenseman crashed into the end boards and suffered an apparent head injury. He did not return to the game.
News and Notes:
-The Anaheim Ducks and forward Troy Bodie reached an agreement on a one-year, two-way deal yesterday.
-In one of two trades yesterday, the Dallas Stars acquired forward Eric Nystrom from the Minnesota Wild in exchange for Future Considerations.
-The second deal saw Los Angeles acquire prospect Stefan Legein from the Philadelphia Flyers for Future Considerations as well.
Overlooked Fantasy Line of the Night:
Some people were hot and cold around Alex Burrows at draft time, but more nights like last night could sway people in his favour. Burrows had two assists last night and finished with a plus-two rating. He added five shots and two penalty minutes for good measure in over 24 minutes of ice time.
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