Saturday's NHL recap

There were eleven games played on Saturday, all of which to be recapped in this post. In baseball news, Zack Greinke appears to be headed to Milwaukee from Kansas City, headlining a multi-player deal. Initial thoughts are the Brewers got a boost here, solidifying their rotation at the top. Also, with the recaps now in hockey, there will be less detail. The goalies will be listed in visitor and home format, with the three stars being trimmed down to the names. By now, many of you readers know who plays where, and you can all read the post, so I don't have to tell you twice what any given player did. We start in Philadelphia, where the...

Flyers hosted the New York Rangers. Henrik Lundqvist and Brian Boucher were the goalies. The first period went scoreless, and Nikolay Zherdev put Philadelphia up first with his 12th of the year, assisted by Mike Richards. Andreas Nodl extended the Flyer lead with his eighth of the season, helped by Claude Giroux. Derek Stepan got New York on the board with his ninth of the year, assisted by Alexander Frolov and Erik Christensen. Ville Leino made it a two goal game again with his eighth of the year, with assistance from Kimmo Timmonen and Danny Briere. Zherdev made it 4-1 Philadelphia with his second of the night and 13th of the season, a power play goal with help from Andrej Meszaros and Jeff Carter. This proved to be the final, with the Flyers getting the win. Zherdev, Timmonen, and Nodl got the stars. Breaking out in a fight were Dale Weise of the Rangers and Dan Carcillo of the Flyers, which was late in the third period.

Heading the short distance to Boston, where the Bruins hosted the Washington Capitals. Michal Neuvirth and Tim Thomas were the twinetenders. Patrice Bergeron opened the scoring with his sixth of the year, assisted by Blake Wheeler and Adam McQuaid. Andrew Ference extended the Boston lead to 2-0 with his first of the season, from Brad Marchand and David Krejci. Wheeler added his eighth of the year later in the first period, getting help from Bergeron and Johnny Boychuk. Washington finally answered in the second period with Matt Bradley's third of the year, courtesy of Dave Steckel and Matt Hendricks. The Capitals continued the rally back in the third period with a Karl Alzner goal, his second of the year, from John Carlson and Alex Ovechkin. However, the Bruins held on for the rest of the third period and won 3-2. Bergeron, Tim Thomas (39 for 41), and McQuaid received the stars. McQuaid and Bradley also had a first period fight.

Heading out west to British Columbia, where the Vancouver Canucks hosted the Toronto Maple Leafs. Jonas Gustavsson and Roberto Luongo got the starts in net. Alexandre Burrows got the Canucks started in the first period with his sixth of the season, assisted on by Kevin Bieksa and Daniel Sedin. Vancouver also scored a goal in the second period from Jannik Hansen, assisted by Ryan Kesler and Jeff Tambellini. Toronto responded in the third period with a Mikhail Grabovski goal, his eleventh of the year. Clarke MacArthur and Nikolai Kulemin picked up the helpers. The Canucks responded with Christian Ehrhoff's fifth of the season, with Hansen and Alexander Edler picking up assists. Henrik Sedin finished the scoring with an empty net goal, his sixth tally of the campaign, from Burrows and Bieksa. Vancouver cruised to a 4-1 win over the Maple Leafs. Luongo (27 for 28 saves), Kesler, and Bieksa picked up the stars for the game.

Going across the map and significantly south, to where the Atlanta Thrashers hosted the New Jersey Devils. Martin Brodeur and Ondrej Pavelec were in their respective creases to start the game. The Thrashers opened with a goal by Ron Hainsey, his first of the season, assisted by Brent Sopel and Nik Antropov. Eric Boulton extended the lead to 2-0 with his second of the year, from Chris Thorburn and Johnny Oduya. Evander Kane made it 3-0 with his eleventh of the season, thanks to Anthony Stewart and Hainsey. Atlanta continued with Andrew Ladd's eleventh of the season in the second period, courtesy of Rich Peverley and Tobias Enstrom. This was enough for Martin Brodeur to be replaced by Johan Hedberg. Ilya Kovalchuk got New Jersey on the board with his power play goal from Travis Zajac and Patrik Elias. The goal was his eighth of the year. The Thrashers got back on the scoring train with Boulton in the third period, who notched two more goals to complete his hat trick. The third of his season was helped by Thorburn and Jim Slater, and the fourth of the year went unassisted. Thorburn put the Devils out of their misery with his fifth of the year, helped out by Kane and Stewart. Atlanta won 7-1, with stars going to Boulton, Thorburn, and Hainsey. Zajac and Peverley also shared a dance in the third period.

Going up to Columbus, where the Blue Jackets tried to break the nearly-infamous Third Jersey Curse against the visiting Dallas Stars. Kari Lehtonen and Mathieu Garon earned the starts. Brad Richards got Dallas up first with his 13th of the year, assisted by Mike Rebeiro and Stephane Robidas. The Blue Jackets answered with the first goal of the season for Fedor Tyutin. Ethan Moreau and Anton Stralman provided the helpers. The game was scoreless through the second, and Richards second of the night and 14th of the year in the third period gave the Stars a 2-1 lead. Picking up the assist was Loui Eriksson. Dallas held on to win 2-1, with the stars going to Richards, Lethonen (35 for 36 saves) and losing goaltender Garon (21 for 23). The game was not without activity, as their were a total of 88 penalty minutes assessed, including fights between Krys Barch of the Stars and Tom Sestito of the Blue Jackets in the first period, before Barch came back for more to fight Jared Boll in the second period. Various other misconducts and minor penalties were a common sight throughout the game as well.

Continuing along to Long Island, where the New York Islanders hosted the traveling Phoenix Coyotes. Jason LaBarbera and Nathan Lawson picked up the starts in place of the normal netminders. Opening the scoring for Phoenix was Radim Vrbata, notching his seventh of the year, a power play goal from Shane Doan and Keith Yandle. Jesse Joensuu answered in the second period with his second goal of the year, from John Tavares and James Wisniewski. Joensuu also assisted on the go-ahead goal for the Islanders, which was from Michael Grabner, his seventh of the season. Phoenix re-tied the game in the third period with a goal by Wojtek Wolski, his fifth of the year assisted by Doan and Oliver Ekman-Larsson. Rob Schremp regained the lead for New York with his sixth of the season, from Grabner and Andrew MacDonald on the power play. Martin Hanzal tied it at 3 late in the third period for the Coyotes with his ninth of the year, helped along by Vrbata and Keith Yandle. The tie would last into a shootout, where Doan and Frans Nielsen exchanged barbs before Vrbata and Kyle Turris put the game away, giving Phoenix a 4-3 win. Joensuu of the Islanders was the first star, followed by Hanzal and Labarbera (41 of 44 saves). Setting the tone early were pugilists Paul Bissonnette of the Coyotes and Trevor Gillies of New York.

Onward to Carolina, where the Hurricanes hosted another traveling Pacific Division team, the Anaheim Ducks. Jonas Hiller and Cam Ward were in between the pipes. Ryan Getzlaf got the Ducks on the board first with his 12th of the season, assisted by Corey Perry and Bobby Ryan. Eric Staal added a natural hat trick, his 14th, 15th, and 16th of the year, with the first two being power play goals in the first period, assisted by Jussi Jokinen and Joni Pitkanen on the first and Jamie McBain and Jokinen again on the second. Erik Cole and Jeff Skinner assisted on the third one that came at even strength in the second period. Carolina's lead was cut to 3-2 by Anaheim's Getzlaf, who added his second of the night and 13th of the year on the power play from Lubomir Visnovsky and Perry, in the third period. Joe Corvo put the game out of reach, making it 4-2 Hurricanes with his empty net goal, from Brandon Sutter, as his sixth of the season. Staal's hat trick earned the first star, followed by Ward (43 for 45 saves) and Tim Gleason (contributions unidentified), with a personal Honorable Mention to Getzlaf.

Heading into Florida, where the Tampa Bay Lightning hosted the Buffalo Sabres. Ryan Miller and Mike Smith were given goaltending duties. The first period went by scoreless, and Tampa Bay opened the scoring with a power play goal by Simon Gagne, his third goal of the season, with assists by Vincent Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis. Steven Stamkos made it 2-0 for the Lightning with his 25th of the season, assisted by St. Louis and Ryan Malone. Jason Pominville got the Sabres on the board with his fifth of the year, from Jochen Hecht and Andrej Sekera. The Lightning finished the game off late in the third period with an empty net goal by Martin St. Louis, his 12th of the season being helped by Stamkos and Mattias Ohlund, giving them a 3-1 win. The three stars provided don't exactly add up to what I think they should, so my top three in the game would be St. Louis, Stamkos, and Mike Smith (22 for 23 in saves).

Heading into Tennessee, where the Nashville Predators hosted the Los Angeles Kings. Jonathan Bernier and Anders Lindback got the starts. Justin Williams gave Los Angeles a lead fifteen seconds in with his eleventh of the season, assisted by Dustin Brown and Drew Doughty. Trevor Lewis made it 2-0 with his first of the year, from Alexei Ponikarovsky and Kevin Westgarth. The next goal for the Kings, Doughty's second of the year, scared off Anders Lindback, and it was assisted by Michal Handzus and Wayne Simmonds. Mark Dekanich came on in relief. Steve Sullivan gave Nashville signs of life with his tenth of the year, assisted by Ryan Suter and Colin Wilson, but LA put that comeback down with Ryan Smyth's tenth of the season, a power paly goal from Dustin Brown and Jarret Stoll. Ponikarovsky made it 5-1 in the second period with his third of the year, helped by Oscar Moller and Trevor Lewis. Smyth added his second of the game and eleventh of the year later in the second, with Stoll and Moller picking up the helpers. The 6-1 score ended up being the final after a silent third period, and Los Angeles had no trouble winning. Smyth, Doughty, and Lewis earned the stars for the game.

Going to St. Louis, where the Blues hosted the San Jose Sharks. Antero Niittymaki and Jaroslav Halak were the netminders. Logan Couture opened the scoring for San Jose, notching his 16th of the season, a power play goal from Dan Boyle and Ryane Clowe. Extending the lead was Marc-Edouard Vlasic, who scored his second of the season, from Joe Pavelski and Jamal Mayers. Couture made it 3-0 for San Jose with his 17th of the year and second of the game, helped along by Boyle and Patrick Marleau. St. Louis finally struck with a David Backes penalty shot goal, his seventh of the year made possible by a Jason Demers slashing infraction. The Sharks topped it off in the third period with a Devin Setoguchi goal, his fifth on the campaign, with help from Vlasic and Pavelski. The Sharks cruised to a 4-1 win. Couture, Boyle, and Vlasic earned the stars for the game. The first period ended up being a brawlfest with three fights (St. Louis guy, San Jose guy format in listing). The first involved B.J. Crombeen and Ryane Clowe, followed by the middle bout of Chris Porter and Scott Nichol, and lastly, the finale involving Brad Winchester and Jamal Mayers.

Lastly, we head up to Calgary, where the Flames hosted Northwest division rivals, the Minnesota Wild. Niklas Backstrom and Miikka Kiprusoff earned the starting duties for the two teams. After going half the game with no scoring, Antti Miettinen opened things up with his eighth of the year, a power play goal assisted by Mikko Koivu and Brent Burns. Koivu later tallied his own goal for the Wild, his seventh of the year making it 2-0, with assists from Burns and Andrew Brunette. Chuck Kobasew made it 3-0 for Minnesota in the third period, notching his third of the year with help from Koivu and Nick Schultz. Calgary finally answered with a goal by Matt Stajan, his second of the season, helped along by Cory Sarich and Rene Bourque, but it was far too late to help, and Minnesota held on for a 3-1 win over the Flames. Koivu eanred the first star, followed by Mark Giordano of the Flames for unknown reasons, and Backstrom earned the third star with his 28 for 29 saves.

That's all we got for hockey on Saturday. Posts to be put out later today will include a Sandwich Review, three football posts, and if I get lucky, a Sunday Hockey recap.