Thursday NHL recap

Once again, there were six games of hockey being played. However, I will take the time here to go to college football and congratulate the University of Washington Huskies on their Holiday Bowl win over Nebraska. Bringing pride to the locals. As for hockey, it started off in...

Toronto, with the Maple Leafs hosting the Columbus Blue Jackets. Steve Mason and Jonas Gustavsson were in net for the game. The Maple Leafs struck first with Nikolai Kulemin scoring his 13th of the year, assisted by Clarke MacArthur and Darryl Boyce. Kristian Huselius tied it for the Blue Jackets with his seventh of the year, from Jan Hejda and Antoine Vermette. Tyler Bozak gave Toronto the lead back with a power play goal late in the first period, assisted by Phil Kessel as his fifth of the season. Huselius retied it in the second period with his second of the night and eighth of the campaign, from Rick Nash and Vermette. Columbus took the lead in the third period with R.J. Umberger scoring his eleventh of the year, a power play goal from Nash and Kris Russell. The Blue Jackets would hold on to defeat the Maple Leafs 3-2. Huselius, Nash, and Kulemin picked up the three stars.

Heading far south, to Atlanta, where the Thrashers hosted the Boston Bruins. Tim Thomas and Ondrej Pavelec were in between the pipes. Tobias Enstrom got Atlanta up first with a power play goal, his sixth tally of the season, assisted by Dustin Byfuglien and Niclas Bergfors. Patrice Bergeron tied the game for Boston with his eighth of the season, which was unassisted. The Bruins took the lead in the second period on a goal by Blake Wheeler, his ninth of the season, from David Krejci. Enstrom put the Thrashers back into a tie with his seventh of the year and second of the night, another power play goal this time going unassisted. The tie would last through until the shootout, where goals by Atlanta's Bryan Little and Tim Stapleton and misses by Boston's Blake Wheeler and Tyler Seguin clinched a Thrasher victory of 3-2. Enstrom, Pavelec (42 of 44 saves), and Little earned the three stars.

Next up was the Tampa Bay Lightning hosting the Montreal Canadiens. Carey Price and Cedrick Desjardins played in goal, with the latter making his first NHL start. Max Pacioretty opened the scoring for Montreal with his second of the year, helped along by Scott Gomez. Tampa Bay tied it in the second period with a goal by Martin St. Louis, his 16th of the season made possible by Vincent Lecavalier and Steven Stamkos on the power play. The Lightning took the lead on Pavel Kubina's second of the season, from St. Louis and Stamkos. Stamkos added two goals of his own in the third period, his 30th and 31st of the year, with the first coming on a penalty shot thanks to Roman Hamrlik's hooking penalty, and the second from Ryan Malone and Victor Hedman. Tampa Bay would cruise to a 4-1 victory over the Canadiens.

Heading to Chicago next, with the Blackhawks hosting the San Jose Sharks. Antti Niemi and Marty Turco got the starts. Patrick Sharp scored first for the Blackhawks, his 21st of the year coming on the power play from Tomas Kopecky and Brent Seabrook. The Sharks tied it with Scott Nichol notching his fourth of the season, assisted by Marc-Edouard Vlasic. Benn Ferriero gave San Jose the lead with his fourth of the year, a power play goal courtesy of Logan Couture and Dan Boyle. They extended the lead with another power play goal, this time from the stick of Dany Heatley, his 15th tally of the season made possible by Jason Demers and Boyle. Troy Brouwer sent Chicago back in the right direction with his tenth of the year, assisted by Patrick Kane and Sharp on the power play. Twenty-two seconds later, the game was tied at 3 with a goal by Brian Campbell, his second of the campaign, with help from Dave Bolland and Bryan Bickell with just one second left in the second period. San Jose came back in the third period with a Joe Thornton goal, his tenth of the year, assisted by Vlasic and Heatley to give them a 4-3 lead. Ryane Clowe finished it for the Sharks with his empty net goal, the tenth of his season, unassisted. Thornton, Sharp, and Boyle picked up the three stars honors.

Following that was the Edmonton Oilers hosting the Colorado Avalanche. Craig Anderson and Devan Dubnyk were the starters. T.J. Galiardi opened things up for Colorado early, registering his seventh of the year, from Paul Stastny and Ryan Wilson. Stastny scored the next one for the Avalanche, his 14th of the season, assisted by David Jones and Galiardi. Making it 3-0 was Tomas Fleischmann, who potted his tenth of the year, thanks to Matt Duchene. Edmonton got their crap together and started scoring in the second period, with Taylor Hall's 12th of the year leading the way, assisted by Sam Gagner and Kurtis Foster. Ales Hemsky scored in the third period to make it a one goal deficit for the Oilers, his eighth of the year finding mesh with help from Andrew Cogliano and Dustin Penner. Cogliano tied it with his fourth of the season, from Hemsky and Penner. The tie lasted into a shootout, where the Avalanche won on the lone goal by Milan Hejduk. Stastny, Hemsky, and Galiardi were the recipients of the three stars.

Finally, the Los Angeles Kings hosted the Philadelphia Flyers. Michael Leighton and Jonathan Bernier were in the paint for the start. Ryan Smyth started the scoring, giving Los Angeles a 1-0 lead with his 13th of the year, helped along by Rob Scuderi and Jarret Stoll. Philadelphia tied it on Danny Briere's 18th of the season, assisted by Mike Richards and Matt Carle. Justin Williams took the lead back for the Kings, notching his 15th of the year thanks to Drew Doughty and Anze Kopitar. The Flyers tied it again with Richards netting his 12th on the year, courtesy of Claude Giroux and Sean O'Donnell. Scott Hartnell gave the black and orange the 3-2 lead with his ninth of the campaign, assisted by Giroux and Darroll Powe. Richards extended the lead with his 13th of the season and second of the night, from James van Riemsdyk and Briere. Jack Johnson tried to start another rally with his fourth of the year for the Kings, an unassisted power play goal. Philadelphia got back to scoring with Jeff Carter's 15th of the season, a power play goal from Richards and Giroux, the latter completing a sock trick. Van Riemsdyk made it 6-3 with his eighth of the year, also a power play goal, and unassisted. Los Angeles made it 6-4 with Smyth's 14th of the season and second of the night, assisted by Stoll and Doughty. Ville Leino capped it off for the Flyers in the third period with his ninth of the year, assisted by Carter and Andreas Nodl. Philadelphia cruised from there to a 7-4 victory over Los Angeles. Richards, Giroux, and Smyth were the three stars.

There are nine New Year's Eve hockey games on, and I'll try to have that post out tonight. I am going to attempt to do it as scores come. Also, for those planning on watching tomorrow's Winter Classic, it has been postponed to 8 P.M. Eastern, 5 Pacific.