Friday NHL recap

Four games were played on Friday. Some lopsided hockey, although there was a close game in there. We start at the Prudential Center in...

New Jersey, where the Devils hosted the Nashville Predators. Martin Brodeur was in between the pipes for New Jersey, while Anders Lindback started again for the Predators. Steve Sullivan got Nashville going late in the first period, scoring his ninth of the year with help from Shea Weber. Martin Erat added two power play goals, almost exactly a period apart in the second and third periods, good for his fourth and fifth goals of the season. Assisting on the first were Ryan Suter and Shea Weber, and Suter and Sergei Kostitsyn had the helpers for the later one. Mattias Tedenby got New Jersey on the board with his fourth of the season, also a power play goal, from Ilya Kovalchuk and Brian Rolston. The Devils couldn't fully recover, however, and lost 3-1 to the Predators. Erat's two goals were good for the first star, followed by Weber's two assists. Tedenby's goal in the loss earned the third star.

Heading to Florida, where the Panthers hosted the Buffalo Sabres. Tomas Vokoun was in the paint for Florida, and Ryan Miller earned the starting duties for the Sabres. Bryan McCabe got the Panthers up early with his fourth of the year, assisted by Shawn Matthias and Evgeny Dadonov. Marty Reasoner added two goals in a row, his fourth and fifth of the campaign, with Dadonov and Dennis Wideman helping on the first goal and Jason Garrison picking up the lone assist on the second. Making it 4-0 was David Booth, whose eighth of the year came on the power play from Michael Frolik and Matthias. Frolik potted his own eighth of the year late in the second period, with help from Stephen Weiss and Chris Higgins, but not too late that Buffalo coludn't finally get on the board with Derek Roy's tenth of the year, assisted by Tyler Myers, and their relieving goaltender Patrick Lalime, who came on after Miller gave up Booth's goal. Weiss made it 6-1 early in the third period with his eighth of the season, a shorthanded goal assisted on by Higgins. Tim Connolly made it 6-2 with his sixth of the year for Buffalo, a power play goal assisted by Jochen Hecht and Tyler Ennis. The 6-2 margin proved to be the final, giving Florida the win on the back of first star Reasoner, who had two goals, followed by Frolik, who had one goal and one assist, and goalie Tomas Vokoun, who was 41 for 43 in saves.

Going to Chicago, where the Blackhawks hosted bitter rivals in the form of the Detroit Red Wings. There was a pregame ceremony for Chris Chelios, the Brett Favre of hockey, as he played for both teams. Starting in net for Chicago was Corey Crawford, and for Detroit there was Jimmy Howard. The Blackhawks struck early with Patrick Sharp's 18th of the season, a power play goal assisted by Brent Seabrook and Jonathan Toews. Bryan Bickell made it 2-0 with his ninth of the season, assisted by Fernando Pisani and Seabrook. Patrick Eaves cut the lead to 2-1 with his sixth of the year, from Jonathan Ericsson and Brian Rafalski just twenty-seven seconds after Bickell's goal. Tomas Kopecky added two goals, in the second and third periods, good for his fourth and fifth of the year, with Brian Campbell and Niklas Hjalmarsson assisting the first and Jack Skille and Jake Dowell picking up helpers on what would be the last goal of the game. Chicago went on to beat the Red Wings 4-1. Corey Crawford earned the first star, going 29 for 30 in saves, followed by Kopecky's tow goals and Seabrook's two assists.

Finally, the last game was in Ottawa, where the Senators hosted the Colorado Avalanche. Brian Elliott and Craig Anderson started for the hosts and visitors, respectively. Erik Karlsson's sixth of the year tore things open early in the first period, with Chris Kelly and Jarkko Ruutu helping the Senators get a 1-0 lead. The Avalanche answered with a T.J. Galiardi goal, his fourth this year, assisted by the Kevins, Shattenkirk and Porter. Milan Michalek retook the lead for Ottawa, scoring his seventh of the year courtesy of Ryan Shannon. It took Colorado until the second period to answer, with Cody McLeod's fourth of the season, assisted by John-Michael Liles and Philippe Dupuis. Keeping with the alternating pattern, as the Senators took a 3-2 lead with Matt Carkner's first of the season, helped along by Chris Neil and Chris Kelly. Matt Duchene and the Avalanche responded with a power play goal, the 12th score of the year for Duchene, assisted by Liles and Shattenkirk. Breaking the trend, Colorado got ahead in the third period with a goal by Kevin Porter, his sixth of the year coming from Dupuis. The Senators went on to answer with Jason Spezza's ninth of the year, a power play goal assisted by Alex Kovalev and Mike Fisher. Daniel Alfredsson made it 5-4 Ottawa with his eleventh of the year, assisted by Nick Foligno. Tying the game up was Ryan O'Reilly, netting his fourth of the year from Daniel Winnik and Ryan O'Byrne. The tie surprisingly held up until Duchene netted his second of the night in overtime, his 13th of the season, from Tomas Fleischmann to win it 6-5 for the Avalanche. First star honors went to Duchene for the two goals, followed by Alfredsson, who had a goal in his team's loss, and Ryan O'Reilly, who also tallied a goal.

That's all there is to it. Saturday features eleven games, which may be recapped in two pieces such as last week. Depends on if I can type, which is something I struggled with throughout here, so sorry if there are any typos.