The Night that Was:
In a chippy affair, the Boston Bruins and Pittsburgh Penguins squared off last night, showcasing two of the Eastern Conference’s best teams. It was a scoreless first period as Tim Thomas only had to make six saves, while Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 11. The Bruins were able to move ahead in the second as Gregory Campbell’s second of the season and Benoit Pouliot’s four staked the B’s to a 2-0 lead. Tyler Seguin would slam a one-timer past Fleury early in the third period on the power play to open up a 3-0 lead, before Matt Cooke would make it 3-1. Despite an unbelievable 23 shots in the third period, that’s as close as the Pens would get though. Despite a combined 14 shots from Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby, the two superstars were both held scoreless, while Rich Peverley led all scorers with two assists. Thomas made 45 saves for the win.
It was another shoot-first affair in Ottawa as the Sens outshot the Tampa Bay Lightning 14-9 in the first period, but no one came up with a goal. Bruno Gervais scored his second of the season midway through the second to give Tampa a 1-0 lead before Zach Smith knotted things up. The Lightning would lead again when Martin St. Louis’ eighth early in the third, but Daniel Alfredsson (sixth), Nick Foligno (eighth), and Smith (eighth) would give Ottawa three unanswered goals and a 4-2 win. Craig Anderson stood tall in the win with 31 saves while Smith and Alfredsson finished with two points each, while Steven Stamkos recorded two assists but no goals.
After two tough games against Boston, the Toronto Maple Leafs were in search of a win last night. Things started well with Cody Franson’s second to give them a 1-0 lead after one. The Leafs would go up 3-0 in the second after Tim Connolly and Joffrey Lupul scored, but the Rangers would cut it to 3-2 before the second was up thanks to Artem Anisimov and Marian Gaborik. The Rangers would make Jonas Gustavsson sweat in the third, as they fired 12 of their 32 shots on net in the frame, but Gustavsson stood tall, stopping them all. David Steckel would add a short-handed marker into an empty-net for a 4-2 win. Kessel had his own two-point night, the only player from the game with a multi-point effort.
The Florida Panthers continue to make statements, and they made one early against the Washington Capitals last night. Stephen Weiss, Mike Santorelli and Dmitry Kulikov had the Panthers out to a 3-0 lead by 16:31 of the first before Washington’s Mike Knuble made it 3-1 before the end of the first. Sean Bergenheim and Weiss would make things even worse for the Caps, as they put Florida up 5-1 before Cody Eakin made it 5-2 with 20 seconds left in the frame. Washington tried to mount a comeback in the last ten minutes, but they couldn’t get a third goal as Brooks Laich and Jason Chimera made it a 5-4 Panthers win. Weiss finished with three points, along with Kulikov and Campbell, while John Carlsson had three assists for Washington.
The Rest of the Story
Jonathan Toews had a pair of goals and an assist for the Blackhawks, as the Coyotes chased Corey Crawford early in the second. Mike Smith and Ray Emery would carry their teams to a shootout, where Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Radim Vrbata scored to give the Coyotes a 4-3 win.
New Look NHL
The board of governors met and decided on a new look NHL next year, realigning the divisions into four conferences. Essentially, the Southeast Division and Pacifice Division would be split and merged into the two other divisions, with Winnipeg moving to join the two conferences containing Western Conference teams. Each team will play teams outside their conferences twice, once at home and once away, while seven team conferences will play each other six times and eighth team conferences will rotate between five and six game schedules of interplay.
Here is the breakdown…
CONF. A CONF. B CONF. C CONF. D
Anaheim Chicago Boston Carolina
Calgary Columbus Buffalo NJ Devils
Colorado Dallas Florida NY Islanders
Edmonton Detroit Montreal NY Rangers
Los Angeles Minnesota Ottawa Philadelphia
Phoenix Nashville Tampa Bay Pittsburgh
San Jose St. Louis Toronto Washington
Vancouver Winnipeg
What’s on Tonight?
Busy night as the New York Islanders host the Tampa Bay Lightning, Toronto continues to face off against the Atlantic Division as they host the New Jersey Devils, Columbus visits Montreal and Detroit stops by in St. Louis. Phoenix hits the Music City to take on Nashville, Boston travels to Winnipeg, Carolina stops by in Calgary, and Los Angeles and Anaheim faceoff. The Vancouver Canucks look to stay hot as they welcome the Colorado Avalanche to town while Minnesota swings by San Jose as former teammates square off once again after a slew of off-season deals.
The Injury Bug:
-Paul Stastny went with Colorado on their road trip, so there’s a good chance he’ll play at some point in the next three games. No word on tonight yet, as Stastny is recovering from a minor upper-body injury.
-It’s unknown as to whether or not James van Riemsdyk will return to the Flyers’ lineup tonight or not. Van Riemsdyk is recovering from an upper-body injury of his own.
-No new news on Valtteri Filppula and his lower-body laceration. It’s considered unlikely that Filppula plays this evening but unverified.
-Andrei Markov continues to have set backs. After nearing a return, Markov had surgery to clean up his injured knee, and will now be out another 4-to-6 weeks. It is the third surgery that Markov has had on his knee in under two years.
News and Rumours Around the League:
-We will know later today how long Jordin Tootoo will be suspended by the NHL. Tootoo had a hearing yesterday with Brendan Shanahan for his hit on Buffalo’s Ryan Miller.
-Shanahan has a busy day planned, as he’ll also have a hearing with Mark Fistric for his hit on Saturday night on the Isles’ Nino Niederreiter.
The Overlooked Fantasy Line(s) of the Night:
Rich Peverley earned two assists last night, one on the power play and one even-strength. Peverley added a plus-one rating, two penalty minutes, and three shots. Dmitry Kulikov had a night to remember in Florida as well, with a power play goal, a power play assist, and an even-strength assist. He had an even-rating and five shots on goal.
You can follow Bryan on Twitter at BryanThiel_88