NHL recap 12/29

Wednesday brought us six games as we close down on 2010 and get ready for 2011. They started in...

New Jersey, with the Devils hosting the New York Rangers. Henrik Lundqvist and Martin Brodeur were in between the pipes. Travis Zajac got the Devils on the board first with his fifth of the year, assisted by Mattias Tedenby and Ilya Kovalchuk. Forty-seven seconds later, Brian Boyle put the Rangers in a tie with his 14th of the year, from Ruslan Fedotenko and Brandon Prust. Michal Rozsival gave New York the lead with his third of the year, helped along by Brandon Dubinsky and Derek Stepan. Dubinsky put the game away with six seconds left in the third, potting his 16th of the season, with help from Artem Anisimov on the empty netter to give the Rangers a 3-1 win over New Jersey. Lundqvist (43 for 44 saves), Rozsival, and Brodeur (23 for 25 saves) were the three stars recipients. Dropping the gloves in the second period were Dainius Zubrus and Brian Boyle.

Staying in the Tri-State area, the New York Islanders hosted the Pittsburgh Penguins. Marc-Andre Fleury and Rick DiPietro picked up the starts. After going scoreless in the first period, Josh Bailey scored his sixth of the year to give the Islanders a 1-0 lead early in the second period. Travis Hamonic picked up the lone assist. The Penguins tied it on Chris Connor's fourth of the year, from Tyler Kennedy. The tie would be preserved until a shootout. Rob Schremp and Kris Letang traded barbs in the first round, Frans Nielsen put New York ahead in round two, but was answered by Evgeni Malkin in the third. P.A. Parenteau ended up saving the Islanders with his goal and the subsequent miss from Mark Letestu, giving the Islanders the 2-1 win over Pittsburgh. DiPietro (37 of 38 saves), Bailey, and Fleury (25 of 26 saves) earned the three stars.

Next up, the Ottawa Senators hosted the Carolina Hurricanes. Cam Ward and Brian Elliott were the starters. Carolina got out hot in the first period, with Zach Boychuk scoring his first and second of the season, with help from Pat Dwyer and Joe Corvo on the first, and Tuomo Ruutu on the latter power play goal. The Hurricanes extended their lead with Erik Cole's eighth of the year in the second period, which was unassisted, as was Dwyer's seventh of the campaign in the third period. Carolina took down the Senators 4-0. Ward (37 save shutout), Boychuk, and Jesse Winchester of the Senators earned the three stars.

Heading into the state of hockey, where the Minnesota Wild hosted the San Jose Sharks. Antero Niittymaki and Niklas Backstrom were the masked men. Minnesota opened the scoring as Kyle Brodziak scored his seventh of the year, a power play goal from Martin Havlat and Pierre-Marc Bouchard. San Jose answered with Joe Thornton potting his ninth of the season, also a power play goal, courtesy of Ryane Clowe and Dan Boyle. The Sharks took the lead in the second period on Devin Setoguchi's sixth of the season, assisted by Clowe and Logan Couture. Mikko Koivu retied the game for the Wild with his ninth of the year, made possible by Andrew Brunette and Antti Miettinen. San Jose took the lead back with Patrick Marleau's 14th of the season, a power play goal helped along by Thornton and Dany Heatley. Minnesota put themselves into a 3-3 tie with Chuck Kobasew potting his fifth of the season, assisted by Nick Schultz and John Madden. Brent Burns gave them the lead with his eleventh of the year, an unassisted goal. Brodziak made it 5-3 with his eighth of the year and second of the night, from Havlat and Burns, and that margin proved to be the final later. Brodziak, Koivu, and Burns were the night's three stars.

Moving along to Dallas, where the Stars hosted the Detroit Red Wings. Jimmy Howard and Kari Lethonen were in the paint for the game. Jiri Hudler opened the scoring with his third of the year for Detroit, a power play goal from Todd Bertuzzi and Nicklas Lidstrom. Brad Richards evened it for Dallas with his 17th of the year, from Loui Eriksson and Trevor Daley. They took the lead on Mark Fistric's second of the season, assisted by Brenden Morrow and Jamie Benn. The Stars led 3-1 with Benn potting his ninth of the year, thanks to Mike Ribeiro. The Dallas goals came within 1:14 of each other. Detroit finally answered back, as Lidstrom netted his eleventh of the season, assisted by Valtteri Filppula and Betuzzi. Patrick Eaves put the Red Wings back into a tie with his ninth of the campaign, with help from Johan Franzen and Brian Rafalski on the power play. Detroit continued the scoring trend in the third period, with Brad Stuart registering his third of the season, thanks to Hudler and Drew Miller. Giving the Wings a 5-3 lead was Kris Draper, netting his second of the year with help from Eaves and Darren Helm. Eaves scored his second of the night and tenth of the year with assistance from Franzen and Henrik Zetterberg. Eaves then completed the hat trick with a long range shot into an empty net for his eleventh of the season, made possible by Jonathan Ericsson and the goalie Jimmy Howard. The Red Wings would topple the Stars 7-3, with Eaves, Benn, and Lidstrom earning the three stars in a scoring fest.

Finally, the Phoenix Coyotes hosted the Los Angeles Kings. Jonathan Quick and Ilya Bryzgalov played in front of the nets, with Bryzgalov returning from injury. The Coyotes scored first, as Shane Doan scored his sixth of the year, from Scottie Upshall and Ed Jovanovski. The Kings answered with Brad Richardson scoring his sixth as well, with help from Anze Kopitar and Kevin Westgarth. Phoenix took the lead back on Ray Whitney's sixth of the season, from Keith Yandle and Lauri Korpikoski. Ryan Smyth tied it again for Los Angeles with his 12th of the campaign, a power play goal from Drew Doughty and Jack Johnson. Upshall took the lead back for the Coyotes with his ninth of the year, from Doan and Yandle. Brett MacLean extended the Phoenix lead to 4-2 with his first of the year, assisted by Upshall and Adrian Aucoin on the power play. Marco Sturm capped off the seven goal first period with his second of the year, assisted by Kopitar to keep the Kings within striking distance. Doan potted his second of the night and seventh of the year in the second period, a power play goal requiring assistance from Whitney and Yandle, who completed a sock trick. Kyle Turris made it 6-3 for Phoenix, notching his sixth of the year, unassisted. This would prove to be the final through the quiet third period, with the Coyotes toppling their division rivals. Earning the three stars were Upshall, Yandle, and Doan. Fighting in the second period were Kevin Westgarth of Los Angeles and Paul Bissonnette of Phoenix.