Monday NHL Recap

There were seven games played on Monday, and we'll jump right in with...

The Phoenix Coyotes visiting the Pittsburgh Penguins. Jason LaBarbera and Marc-Andre Fleury got the starting nods. Kris Letang opened the scoring for the Penguins with his sixth of the year, a power play goal assisted by Tyler Kennedy and Evgeni Malkin. Malkin added two goals, his 12th and 13th of the year, in the late first and early second periods. Sidney Crosby picked up the lone assist on each goal, and the latter was a power play goal. Crosby later tallied his own power play goal to make it 4-0 Pittsburgh, and the marker was his 27th of the year. Picking up the helpers were Malkin and Letang. Matt Cooke notched his sixth of the year as well, chasing Jason LaBarbera away in favor of Matt Climie, and Max Talbot and Malkin picked up the assists on the Penguins' fifth goal of the game, giving Malkin the sock trick. Wojtek Wolski showed that Phoenix had life in the third period with his sixth of the year, assisted by Derek Morris and Eric "the Dentist" Belanger. Chris Connor's third of the year for Pittsburgh made it 6-1 late in the third period, with Mark Letestu grabbing the assist. This would be the final, with Malkin, Crosby, and Fleury (26 for 27 saves) getting the three stars. Deryk Engelland of Pittsburgh and Taylor Pyatt of Phoenix shared an early third period fight.

We go to Toronto for the next game, where the Maple Leafs hosted the Atlanta Thrashers. Ondrej Pavelec and Jonas Gustavsson got the netminding duties. Fredrik Modin opened the scoring for Atlanta, notching his fifth of the year from Ron Hainsey and Jim Slater. Twenty-eight seconds later, Tobias Enstrom made it 2-0 with his fourth of the year, a power play goal from Dustin Byfuglien. The Maple Leafs got on the board with a power play goal by John Mitchell, his first of the year, assisted by Phil Kessel and Tomas Kaberle. Modin answered with his sixth of the year and second of the night, assisted by Enstrom and Byfuglien to give the Thrashers a 3-1 lead after two periods. Anthony Stewart kept Atlanta going with his tenth of the season, assisted by Bryan Little, who assisted on the next goal, Enstrom's fifth of the year and second of the night, with Stewart getting the other assist. Jonas Gustavsson was replaced for James Reimer. Toronto finally struck back with power play goals from Mikhail Grabovski (12th of the year) and Nikolai Kulemin (eleventh). Clarke MacArthur and Kaberle picked up assists on the first one, with helpers going to Kris Versteeg and Grabovski on the second goal. The score stood at 5-3 until Andrew Ladd put it away with his 12th of the year into an empty net, assisted by Chris Thorburn and Enstrom. Picking up stars in the 6-3 Thrasher victory were Enstrom and Modin, followed by Toronto's Grabovski.

Next up is Philadelphia, where the Flyers hosted the Florida Panthers. Tomas Vokoun and Sergei Bobrovsky were in between the pipes. Bill Thomas gave Florida the lead with his second of the year, assisted by Steven Reinprecht and the goalie Tomas Vokoun. Evgeny Dadonov added on for the Panthers with his second of the season, from Bryan McCabe and Dmitry Kulikov. Going into the second period, where Florida poured some more on with a goal by Shawn Matthias, assisted by Marty Reasoner and Dadonov. Mike Santorelli made it 4-0 Florida with his ninth of the season, from Steve Bernier, and this goal chased Bobrovsky away, with Brian Boucher replacing him in the Philadelphia crease. It did little to stop the bleeding for the Flyers, who would fall 5-0 after Kulikov potted his second of the year, with help from McCabe and Stephen Weiss. Dadonov, Vokoun (26 save shutout + assist), and Thomas earned the stars in the routing.

Continuing along to Boston, where the Bruins hosted the Anaheim Ducks. Jonas Hiller and Tim Thomas earned the starts for their teams. Brandon McMillan and the Ducks struck first with his second of the year, assisted by Luca Sbisa and Teemu Selanne. Making it 2-0 for Anaheim was Lubomir Visnovsky, who scored his fifth of the year, with assistance from Selanne and Saku Koivu. Corey Perry extended the lead even farther with his 17th of the year, a shorthanded goal helped by McMillan and Andy "the Expert" Sutton. The 3-0 margin would stand for the rest of the game, with Hiller's 45 save shutout earning the first star, followed by Selanne and McMillan. Sharing a fight in the early second period was Gregory Campbell of the Bruins and Kyle Chipchura of the Ducks.

Going south for a Southeast division battle between the host Tampa Bay Lightning and visiting Carolina Hurricanes. Justin Peters and Dan Ellis started the game in net. The Lightning struck first with Dominic Moore's sixth of the year, assisted by Teddy Purcell and Dana Tyrell. The Hurricanes answered on the power play with a goal from Sergei Samsonov, his sixth of the year coming from Jeff Skinner and Erik Cole. In the last second of the first period, Martin St. Louis gave Tampa Bay a 2-1 lead, notching his 13th of the year from Ryan Malone and Moore. Brett Clark extended the lead with his seventh of the season, with St. Louis and Victor Hedman picking up the helpers. Making it 4-1 was Steven Stamkos, who potted his 26th of the year with the man advantage, thanks to St. Louis and Purcell. Adding icing on the cake was Sean Bergenheim's seventh of the year, also on the power play with Clark and Vincent Lecavalier getting the assists. The third period went by scoreless, giving the Lightning a 5-1 win over Carolina. St. Louis, Dan Ellis (21 for 22 saves) and Lecavalier earned the three stars in the game. Dropping the mitts in the third period were Tampa Bay's Matt Smaby and Carolina's Troy Bodie.

Heading to the west a bit now, with the St. Louis Blues hosting the Vancouver Canucks. Roberto Luongo and Jaroslav Halak were the starting goalies for the two teams. After going scoreless through the first period, Vancouver struck with the first of the year by Aaron Volpatti, assisted by Alexandre Bolduc. Ryan Kesler made it 2-0 with his 16th of the year, assisted by Raffi Torres and Mikael Samuelsson. Alex Steen responded late in the second period with his tenth of the season, assisted by Adam Cracknell and Roman Polak. The Canucks put the Blues away when Jeff Tambellini struck on the power play with his sixth of the year, helped along by Samuelsson and Dan Hamhuis. The 3-1 score proved to be the final, and the three stars went to Kesler, Samuelsson, and Steen.

Lastly we have the Minnesota Wild hosting the Calgary Flames. Miikka Kiprusoff and Niklas Backstrom received goalkeeping honors for the game. Kyle Brodziak and the Wild struck first with his sixth of the year, courtesy of Marco Scandella and Martin Havlat. In the second period, Calgary evened things up with Olli Jokinen netting his sixth of the year, from Jarome Iginla and Alex Tanguay. Havlat answered in the third period with a power play goal, his eighth of the year, from Cal Clutterbuck and Marek Zidlicky. John "Mr. Football" Madden added his fifth of the year, also a power play tally, from Andrew not blond, not redheaded, but Brunette and Greg Zanon. Clutterbuck finished it off with his ninth of the year, an empty net goal from Brent Burns, making it 4-1 for Minnesota. Backstrom (34 for 35), Havlat, and Scandella earned the three stars.

That's all there was for Monday. Sorry for the delay in the post, I was Christmas shopping last night and had no time to put this one out. Tuesday's recap will come tonight.