The Night that Was:
The New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils squared off in an Atlantic Division battle last night, as both teams looked to gain some ground on Philly. The first period saw the only goal go to Travis Zajac, his first goal in his third game since recovering from his achilles’ injury, as well as a fight off of the opening faceoff between Mike Rupp and Cam Janssen and two more 1:44 later between Brandon Dubinsky and David Clarkson and Eric Boulton and Ryan Callahan. Artem Anisimov tied things up with his seventh in the second period before the third belonged entirely to New York. Marian Gaborik scored his 18th 4:45 in, and ten minutes later Carl Hagelin added one shorthanded to make it 3-1. Gaborik would add an empty netter to give him 19 for the season and Henrik Lunqvist made 30 saves for a 4-1 win. Gaborik added an assist for a three point night, while Derek Stepan had three helpers to cap off his night.
Things seem to be getting better for the Washington Capitals. Despite coming in off of a loss to the Avalanche, the Caps were looking for their fourth win in their last six as they hosted Nashville. Alexander Ovechkin started things off with his 11th and Nicklas Backstrom added his 12th before the first was out. A scoreless second followed where the Caps were outshot 8-3 by the Preds, but Nashville wouldn’t get on the board until early in the third where Sergei Kostitsyn made it 2-1 with his fifth. Alex Semin restored the two-goal lead and Troy Brouwer added his ninth on the power play as Washington scored a 4-1 win. Marcus Johansson assisted on both third period goals while Backstrom would add an assist for a two-point night, as Michal Neuvirth made 20 stops for his fifth win of the season. Anders Lindback got the start for Nashville, stopping 19 of 23.
In what many think might be a preview of the Stanley Cup Final, Chicago visited the Pittsburgh Penguins last night. It was the Pens who struck first, when Chris Kunitz snapped home his 12th on the power play to give Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead. James Neal would add his 19th in the second and Tyler Kennedy his fourth to open up a three-goal advantage. After getting outshot 24-19 through two periods, the Blackhawks seemed to pick up the slack in the third, as Jonathan Toews scored his 19th of the season 49 seconds in and Viktor Stalberg would score his sixth five minutes later. Chicago would outshoot the Penguins 19-4 in the period, but couldn’t muster any more than those two goals, falling 3-2. Marc-Andre Fleury ended up with 36 saves in the victory as Evgeni Malkin had three assists and Matt Niskanen had two. Stalberg was in on both Chicago goals, scoring one and assisting on another.
There were a few storylines in Ottawa last night: The Foligno brothers met for the first time in the NHL as Marcus made his NHL debut with Buffalo, and Kyle Turris made his Ottawa debut. It was Zack Smith opening the scoring in the first, as about 12 minutes in his ninth gave Ottawa a 1-0 lead. Jordan Leopold would tie it on a power play in the second, and while it was close at intermission, that wouldn’t last long. Erik Condra would score his fifth, eight minutes into the third with the assist going to Turris, and Erik Karlsson would score his third on the power play. With a 3-1 lead, Condra’s second of the game into an empty net sealed the 4-1 victory Ottawa victory. Karlsson would add an assist to his goal, and Turris’ assist was his first point of the season and first with his new team.
The Rest of the Story….
Ray Whitney (11th) and Radim Vrbata (16th) continued their strong seasons for Phoenix. They gave the Coyotes a 2-0 lead over the Panthers halfway through two before Brian Campbell cut that lead in half. Florida nearly tied it on a penalty shot with 25 seconds left, but Stephen Weiss was stopped on the goalline, literally, by Jason Labarbera. Mike Smith started the game (19/20) for Phoenix but left early in the third with an injury.
The Islanders and Jets exchanged goals in the first (PA Parenteau and Nik Antropov) and the second (Michael Grabner and Andrew Ladd), but things were scoreless after that until the shootout. Blake Wheeler and Kyle Wellwood would be stopped by Evgeni Nabokov (who replaced Al Montoya after he was run over by Evander Kane in the third) and Parenteau and Frans Nielsen would score on Ondrej Pavelec (who made 31 regulation saves) to give the Isles the win.
Minnesota made their way to Calgary last night to take on the flames, and while Curtis Glencross’ 11th gave the Flames an early lead, Pierre-Marc Bouchard scored soon after that to tie it up in his return to the lineup. Jarome Iginla would score his 13th in the second to put the Flames ahead and eventually give them a 2-1 win. Iginla would finish with a goal and an assist as Miikka Kiprusoff made 29 saves for the win.
What’s on Tonight?
The Phoenix Coyotes travel to Carolina to take on the Hurricanes, Chicago returns home to host Montreal after falling to Pittsburgh last night, and Philadelphia makes their way to Dallas. St. Louis and Colorado square off, Detroit and Vancouver meet up in a showcase of two of the West’s hotter teams and Tampa Bay makes a stop at the Shark Tank in San Jose.
The Injury Bug:
-The Claude Giroux injury watch should end tonight. While reports had him wearing a no-contact jersey as recently as the 18th, and hadn’t had back-to-back symptom free days as recently as the 17th, the forward has been practicing and is expecting to take the pre-game skate tonight.
-Mikko Koivu didn’t return from his leg injury last night, but Thursday is identified as a possible return date. Koivu continues to skate.
-Martin St. Louis practiced yesterday for the first time since being struck in the face by a puck. He has missed the past two weeks and did travel with the team to San Jose.
-Martin Havlat’s lower body injury will have him out longer than the Sharks though. Havlat suffered a lower-body injury over the weekend and will miss at least the next two games.
-Milan Michalek skated on his own yesterday. It’s a good sign, but still no return to practice for the Senators’ star.
-The Toronto Maple Leafs placed forward Colby Armstrong on IR with a concussion yesterday. Forward Philippe Dupuis was also placed on IR with an upper-body injury.
News and Rumours Around the League:
-Controversy continues to swirl in Montreal over Randy Cunneyworth’s inability to speak French. The media has ripped Cunneyworth for only being able to speak English, and it was even reach political circles. Cunneyworth took over December 17th, in the middle of what has become a three-game Montreal losing streak.
-Another controversy continues to surround hockey in terms of Sweden’s Gold Medal win at the 2006 Olympics. After saying that team may not have had the same determination to win in a game against Slovakia that resulted in a 3-0 loss for Sweden at the Olympics, Peter Forsberg has back-tracked, saying that “(personally) maintaining that winning mentality is difficult for a game that didn’t mean anything”. The game did mean something though, as with a win Sweden would play Canada in the Quarterfinals. They instead played Switzerland.
The Overlooked Fantasy Line(s) of the Night:
Derek Stepan and Matt Niskanen played a big part in their teams wins yesterday. Stepan had three assists and a plus-three rating in 18:52 of ice time, getting in on the game-tying, game-winning, and empty-net goal for the Rangers. Niskanen meanwhile, had a power-play assist on Pittsburgh’s first goal, and an even-strength helper on Pittsburgh’s second goal. Niskanen did finish with a minus-one rating in 23:33 of ice time.
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