Sunday NHL recap

There were three games this afternoon, all starting at 2 PM Pacific time, and all of which appeared to be good games. This should provide a good recap of anything a hockey fan might have missed during the football and with three games all at the same time. Please note that Fantasy Hockey All-Stars of the week will be coming out tomorrow afternoon. It will be formatted to show the best Center, Left Wing, Right Wing, Defenseman, and Goaltender of the past week. This will be a weekly feature. Also, I will start living up to the music end of the bargain for this blog, as so far, it's been mainly a sports blog. Here's your hockey recaps for the day.

Starting in the Motor City, where the Detroit Red Wings hosted the Columbus Blue Jackets. Jimmy Howard was in the net for Detroit, and Steve Mason was the Masked Man for the Jackets. Opening the scoring late in the first with his sixth tally on the season was Derrick Brassard, who got some help from Anton Stralman and Jan Hejda. Detroit got back together in the second period, with a Niklas Kronwall goal, the fifth of his season from Pavel Datsyuk and Johan Franzen. They took the lead with Darren Helm's second of the year, coming from Drew Miller. Valtteri Filppula found the back of the net early in the third as well, good for his sixth of the year with assists by Franzen and Todd Bertuzzi. Columbus attempted a late comeback, with R.J. Umberger scoring his eighth of the year on the power play, with assistance from Antoine Vermette and Jakub Voracek. Danny Cleary squashed these hopes with his tenth of the season placed firmly into the empty net with the assist from Datsyuk. Jimmy Howard received first star status for his 27 of 29 save performance, and Darren Helm and Derrick Brassard receiving the second and third stars for their goals.

Moving along to D.C. where the Capitals played host to the Carolina Hurricanes. Cam Ward was the twine tender for the Hurricanes, while Semyon Varlamov controlled the Capital crease. Washington got on the board with a goal by Marcus Johansson, his third of the season. Eric Fehr picked up the assist. Late in the first, Alexander Semin made it 2-0 Washington with his 18th of the year, getting helpers from Alex Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom. Erik Cole got his fifth of the season early in the second off of Eric Staal, who scored with less than three seconds left in the third to force an overtime. Jussi Jokinen and Joni Pitkanen assisted on Eric Staal's goal. Overtime was scoreless, and in the shootout, Alex Ovechkin's goal was the deciding factor. Washington came away with a 3-2 victory. Despite the loss, Cam Ward was the first star with a 38 for 40 save performance, followed by Ovechkin, who had an assist and the game clincher in the shootout, and lastly, Semyon Varlamov, who was 26 for 28 in saves.

Going to Georgia, where the Atlanta Thrashers hosted the Boston Bruins. Ondrej Pavelec played in goal for the Thrashers, while Tuukka Rask got a start for the Bruins. Atlanta opened the scoring with Evander Kane's ninth of the season, with Anthony Stewart and Dustin Byfuglien picking up assists. Byfuglien had one of his own, his ninth on the year, and assisting him were Alex Burmistov and Johnny Oduya. Jim Slater also recorded his third of the season for Atlanta, and Byfuglien had another assist. Boston got on the board with Blake Wheeler's fifth of the year assisted by Michael Ryder and Milan Lucic. Atlanta answered late with Niclas Bergfors sixth of the year, coming of the power player with helpers going to Byfuglien and Tobias Enstrom. This was the end of the scoring, as the third period produced no goals, and Atlanta won 4-1. Byfuglien was the first star with his goal and sock trick, with Pavelec 40 for 41 save performance and Evander Kane's goal registering the other two stars.

That's all the hockey we've got tonight, but there is still football to be played (and blogged about). Keep watch for the San Diego Chargers-Indianapolis Colts Sunday Night Football post coming at the conclusion of the game.