The Night that Was:
While the Carolina Hurricanes had an early 1-0 lead after one thanks to Tim Brent, it didn’t last. James Neal’s 21st tied it up at one in the second, and Steve Sullivan, Pascal Dupuis and Jordan Staal all scored within the first 8:05 o the third to give the Pens a 4-1 lead. Tuomo Ruutu got the ‘Canes closer with his 14th, but that’s all as they fell 4-2. Neal had a goal and an assist while Evgeni Malkin and Tyler Kennedy each finished with two helpers. Marc-Andre Fleury faced just 18 shots in the win, his 19th of the season, while Justin Peters made 48 saves in a losing effort.
After a scoreless first, Derick Brassard scored halfway through the second to give the Columbus Blue Jackets the lead. The visiting Calgary Flames had trouble solving Steve Mason all night before Jarome Iginla snuck his 14th through Mason early in the third, tying him with Keith Tkachuk for the most goals against the Blue Jackets ever. Things would stay scoreless through the rest of the third and overtime before Iginla scored the only goal of the shootout for a 2-1 Flames win. Mason and Miikka Kiprusoff dueled all night, with Mason making 25 saves and Kipper 27.
There was no exaggeration of the 1-3-1 last night when the Flyers stopped by in Tampa Bay. The hometown Lightning opened up the scoring in the first though when Bruno Gervais snuck one through off of a power play before Claude Giroux’s rebound was slammed home by Scott Hartnell to tie it up. After that it was all Lightning: Steven Stamkos had two in the second, book-ending a Steve Downie goal, and Vincent Lecavalier’s 12th in the third capped a 5-1 Lightning victory. Mathieu Garon stood on his head, making 31 saves as Stamkos, Downie and Martin St. Louis all finished with two points. The game was marred by a stick-swinging incident in the second, when Hartnell swung his stick at the Lightning bench. Ryan Malone came off the bench to try to deal with the situation, but both got 10-minute misconducts. There were plenty of unsportsmanlike conduct penalties thrown around, meaning this might be one enjoyable playoff series if it were to happen.
The wait is over for the Montreal Canadiens and Randy Cunneyworth as they scored a huge win over Ottawa last night. Zach Smith actually opened the scoring, giving the Sens a 1-0 lead, but Lars Eller (shorthanded), Tomas Plekanec and Mike Cammalleri handed the Habs a 3-1 lead after one. Louis Leblanc’s second and a returning PK Subban got Montreal a 5-1 lead in the second before Jason Spezza cut it to 5-2. Erik Cole tapped home a power play goal in the third to wrap up a 6-2 win. Craig Anderson stopped just three of the first seven shots he faced, giving way to Alex Auld as his replacement while Carey Price made 33 saves. Raphael Diaz finished with three assists on the night while Cammalleri, Plekanec, Cole, Leblanc, Subban, and Mathieu Darche all had two points each.
The Rest of the Story…
With the game tied at one in the second, the Florida Panthers scored three goals between 12:30 and 16:55 of the third to give themselves a 4-1 lead over the visiting Leafs. Dion Phaneuf and Mikhail Grabovski (his second of the game) got it to 4-3, but Tomas Fleischmann put the finishing touches on a 5-3 victory. Brian Campbell had three assists in the win as Jose Theodore made 29 saves. Cody Franson had two assists for the Leafs.
The Red Wings may have been down last night, but they’re rarely out. Trailing 2-0 in the second, Nick Lidstrom scored at 18:57 of the middle frame to cut the St. Louis Blues’ lead to 2-1. The Red Wings would get two quick goals out of Pavel Datsyuk and Niklas Kronwall to earn themselves a comeback, 3-2 win on the road. Ian White added two assists to Datsyuk’s goal and assist, as Jimmy Howard made 29 saves for win number 22. Kevin Shattenkirk and Jason Arnott had two assists each for the Blues.
Evander Kane scored two of Winnipeg’s first three goals as they had a 3-0 lead after two. Jim Slater made it 4-0 before Kevin Porter scored the final goal for Colorado in a 4-1 Jets win. J.S. Giguere was touched for four goals on 26 shots, while Ondrej Pavelec made 32 saves for the victory as Stapleton and Kane each had two points.
What’s on Tonight?
Buffalo travels to New Jersey to take on the Devils, while the Rangers put their five-game winning streak on the line against the Capitals. Minnesota, losers of four in a row, travel to Nashville to take on the Preds who try to avoid three-straight losses, Los Angeles tries to vault into a playoff position with a win against the Blackhawks, Boston goes for win number seven in Phoenix, and the second (Vancouver) seed in the West travels to the Shark tank to take on the third seed.
The Injury Bug:
-Nashville’s Shea Weber has been sidelined with a concussion. The concussion was caused by a hit by Dallas’ Mark Fistric.
-Bryan Little continues to miss time with a foot injury. The Jets say that he might not get back into the lineup until next week.
-Simon Gagne suffered a concussion against the Phoenix Coyotes and is out indefinitely. Gagne suffered two consecutive jostling hits around the mid-point of the game, and it’s thought that was caused the concussion.
-The Toronto Maple Leafs will be without John-Michael Liles. The defenseman was also diagnosed with a concussion and placed on IR.
-Chris Higgins has not accompanied the Vancouver Canucks on their road trip. Higgins stayed behind with a hand injury, which is believed to be related to an earlier staph infection.
News and Rumours Around the League:
-In World Junior news, the Czech Republic beat Denmark last night 7-0 on the strength of two goals by Tomas Hertl and a shutout from Petr Mrazek. It was closer between Slovakia and Latvia however, as the Slovaks won 3-1. Slovakia got two of their goals in the third as Jur Simboch made 25 saves for the win.
The Overlooked Fantasy Line(s) of the Night:
Brian Campbell and Raphael Diaz each had three-assist nights. Campbell notched two on the power play and one even-strength while Diaz had one shorthanded and two even-strength for a plus-three rating. We’ll also give the 48-save effort of Justin Peters some recognition, the hard-luck loser against the Pittsburgh Penguins.