Wednesday NHL recap

There were seven games being played in hockey last night. Also, in this afternoon is a trade rumor involving Marco Sturm to the Kings. Details on that will come tomorrow if anything surfaces. Meanwhile, Sturm's current team, the Boston Bruins were in...

The City of Brotherly Love, playing guest to the Philadelphia Flyers. Tim Thomas was in front of the Bruins cage, while rookie goalie sensation Sergei Bobrovsky was in goal for the Flyers. Patrice Bergeron's fourth of the year opened up the scoring, giving the Bruins a 1-0 lead with his power play goal that went unassisted. Tyler Seguin added his fifth of the year later in the first, assisted by Michael Ryder and Brad Marchand. After a scoreless second period and relatively quiet majority of the third frame, Milan Lucic put his eleventh of the year in an empty net. David Krejci got the lone assist on the game's last goal, good for a 3-0 Bruins win. Tim Thomas' 41 save shutout was first star, while Patrice Bergeron's one goal was good for second star, and Zdeno Chara received the third star. Dropping the mitts were Jody Shelley for the Flyers and Shawn Thornton for the Bruins, who had a dance in the first period.

Into Ohio, where the Columbus Blue Jackets hosted the Nashville Predators. Steve Mason was the Columbus goalkeeper, while Pekka Rinne received another start for the Predators. Colin Wilson's fourth of the year opened the scoring late in the first period, with assists by Cal O'Reilly and Martin Erat to give the Predators a 1-0 lead. Antoine Vermette evened the score in the second period with sixth of the year coming from Jan Hejda and R.J. Umberger. Nashville responded with Sergei Kostitsyn's third of the year, assisted by Erat and Marcel Goc. Kris Russell re-tied it for Columbus with his first of the year, with assists by Vermette and the goalie Steve Mason. Vermette added his seventh of the season and second of the night to give Columbus a lead, assisted by Rick Nash and Umberger. Kevin Klein tied it again for the Predators, with his second of the year, unassisted. This lasted through to a shootout, where Nashville's Steve Sullivan was the determining factor, giving the Predators a 4-3 shootout win. Vermette was first star in a losing effort with two goals, while Kevin Klein was good for second star with a goal. Umberger, also of the losing Blue Jackets, received the third star, with two assists.

Up to Montreal, where the Canadiens hosted the Edmonton Oilers. Devyn Dubnyk tended the visiting twine, while Carey Price was in front of the Montreal net. Scott Gomez and Kurtis Foster both got first period power play goals, their third of the year, with Gomez being assisted by Michael Cammalleri and Mathieu Darche, and Foster's responding tally getting help from Sam Gagner and Ales Hemsky. Darche got his fourth of the year in the second period from Cammalleri and Roman Hamrlik on the power play. Hamrlik later added his own, the second for him this year, comnig from Benoit Pouliot and Lars Eller. Hemsky and Gagner added their seventh of the year each, to re-tie the game at three. Hemsky got his help from Magnus Paajarvi and Jim Vandermeer, while Gagner's shorthanded tally came from Hemsky. In overtime, Dustin Penner added his eighth of the year to win the game for Edmonton, 4-3. The game winner went unassisted. Penner received the first star for his goal, while Darche and Hamrlik received second and third star for their goal and assist in a losing effort.

Moving to the Gateway to the west, where St. Louis hosted the Washington Capitals. Semyon Varlamov started for the Capitals, as did Jaroslav Halak for the Blues. The Capitals opened the scoring with Brooks Laich's seventh of the year, coming on the power play with helpers by Nicklas Backstrom and Alexander Semin. Boyd Gordon extended the lead to 2-0 with his first of the year, assisted by Tom Poti and D.J. King. Alex Steen scored late in the second period for the Blues, his fifth of the year coming from B.J. Crombeen and Erik Johnson. Backstrom did all the scoring in the third period with two goals, his tenth and eleventh of the year. The first of the night was assisted by Mike Knuble and John Carlson, while the second was an empty netter from Alex Ovechkin and John Erskine. Semyon Varlamov was the first star with a 37 for 38 save performance, while Backstrom's two goals and an assist was second star and the third star went to Alex Steen's goal in a losing effort.

Into Minnesota, where the Wild hosted the Phoenix Coyotes. Jason LaBarbera was the goaltender for the Coyotes, while Jose Theodore was in the home team's crease. Ed Jovanovski opened the scoring for Phoenix with his fourth of the year from Adrian Aucoin and Scottie Upshall. Upshall scored his seventh of the year in the second period, with helpers from Shane Doan and Kyle Turris. Matt Cullen gave the Wild life with his sixth of the year in the third period, coming from Patrick O'Sullivan and Marek Zidlicky. Upshall added another goal, seocnd of the night and eighth of the season to restore the two goal lead, with assists this time going to Eric Belanger and Adrian Aucoin. Mikko Koivu's fifth of the year put Minnesota in striking distance, down 3-2 because of assists from Martin Havlat and Brent Burns. Phoenix killed the hopes of a comeback, with an empty net goal, unassisted, from Lauri Korpikoski. Jason LaBarbera was the first star with his 33 for 35 save performance, while second star honors went to Scottie Upshall for two goals and an assist, and the thrid star was given to Martin Havlat's one assist in the losing effort for his Wild.

Up to Alberta, where the Calgary Flames hosted divisional rivals from Vancouver, the Canucks. Studly goalies Miikka Kiprusoff of the Flames and Roberto Luongo of the Canucks were the twinetenders. Mason Raymond scored early for Vancouver, his fifth goal of the season, coming from Andrew Alberts and Ryan Kesler. Jeff Tambellini also scored for the Canucks, his fourth of the year from Alexander Edler and Mason Raymond. Tim Jackman added his third of the year for the Flames, cutting the lead to 2-1. Assists came from Mark Giordano and Cory Sarich. Daniel Sedin notched a power play goal, his 14th tally of the season, from Ryan Kesler, and playmaking twin brother Henrik. Alex Tanguay responded for the Flames with his seventh of the season from Matt Stajan and Jarome Iginla. Vancouver responded in the third with Mason Raymond's sixth of the year, and second of the night, a shorthanded goal from Manny Malhotra. Alexandre Burrows extended the lead with his fourth of the year, assisted by Henrik Sedin. Mason Raymond completed his hat trick on the power play, assisted by Mikael Samuelsson. Dan Hamhuis put it out of reach with his third of the year, also on the power play, with assists by Jeff Tambellini and Raffi Torres. Mason Raymond was the obvious first star, with a hat trick and an assist, with second star status going to Ryan Kesler with two assists and the third star was given to Daniel Sedin, who had one goal. Tanner Glass of the Canucks and Tim Jackman of the Flames also had a first period fight.

Onto Anaheim, where the Ducks hosted the Florida Panthers in the last game of the evening. Jonas Hiller was in net for the Ducks, while Tomas Vokoun was in between the pipes for Florida. George Parros opened the scoring with his second of the year, assisted by Kyle Chipchura. Getzlaf extended the Ducks lead with his eighth of the year, assisted by Toni Lydman and Corey Perry. Anaheim's lead extended even farther with Parros' second of the night and third of the year, again from Chipchura. Florida finally responded with Mike Santorelli's seventh of the year, with assists coming from Steve Bernier and Dmitry Kulikov. Bernier added his own goal in the third to cut the lead to 3-2, a power play goal from Stephen Weiss and Dennis Wideman. Anaheim answered with Corey Perry's 12th of the season, from Ryan Getzlaf. Florida attempted to rally back again, behind Bernier's third of the season and second of the night from Bryan McCabe and Santorelli, but Bobby Ryan's 13th of the year into an empty net squashed those hopes. Ryan's goal was unasssisted. The Ducks beat the Panthers 5-3, with first star honors going to George Parros for his two goals. Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry were second and third stars, each with a goal and an assist. Parros also dropped the gloves with Darcy Hordichuk in the first period, leaving him one assist away from the Gordie Howe hat trick.

There are eight games that will be recapped tomorrow from tonight's action. Also, the trade rumors mentioned in the introduction will be confirmed or denied in tomorrow's post as well. Have a great night, and I'll catch you tomorrow.