Saturday Football, week 16

Because they couldn't just handle playing on one major holiday, the Dallas Cowboys traveled to play the Arizona Cardinals on Christmas Day. Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie got Arizona on the board first with his 32 yard interception return off of Cowboys quarterback Jon Kitna. Jay Feely provided the extra point on this touchdown, and also on the Greg Toler interception return of 66 yards for a touchdown, giving the Cardinals an early 14-0 lead. Dallas got on the board in the second quarter when David Buehler kicked a 42 yard field goal. Arizona answered with a John Skelton touchdown pass of 74 yards to Andre Roberts, and Feely adding the extra point again. Kitna finally threw a touchdown for Dallas with his 2 yard pass to Jason Witten. Buehler added the extra point late in the second quarter, and kicked a 53 yard field goal in the third quarter. Making it a 21-20 Cardinals lead was Marion Barber's 24 yard touchdown run and Buehler's extra point. Jay Feely made it 24-20 with his 49 yard field goal for the Cardinals. Stephen McGee then connected with Miles Austin to give the Cowboys a lead, but the score stood at 26-24 after the 37 yard touchdown because Buehler missed the extra point, allowing Jay Feely to come in and save the day with his 48 yard field goal with 5 seconds remaining, and giving the Cardinals a 27-26 victory over the Cowboys. Both teams were at 5-10 at the conclusion of the game.

For those of you curious, I will be working on football tomorrow, with seven games early and the five late games plus the Sunday Night Football game mashed into one post. Also, there are eleven hockey games tomorrow, so expect everything to be caught up by Tuesday. I have been feeling a bit under the weather, which has caused me to be a bit slower with these posts, but hopefully I'll be better next week.

Thursday Night Football, week 16

This week's Thursday night game featured the Pittsburgh Steelers hosting the Carolina Panthers. Shaun Suisham got things started for the Steelers, kicking a 26 yard field goal before adding extra points on two touchdowns. The touchdowns were a Ben Roethlisberger pass to Mike Wallace for 43 yards and a 1 yard run by Rashard Mendenhall. Suisham also added a 29 yard field goal before halftime to make it 20-0 Pittsburgh. Roethlisberger added his own touchdown run, from 1 yard out, that Suisham added an extra point on to make it 27-0. Avoiding the shutout for the Panthers was John Kasay, who kicked a 27 yard field goal in the fourth quarter, bringing us to the final score of 27-3 Pittsburgh over Carolina. The Steelers improved to 11-4, while the Panthers fell to 2-13.

Massive Thursday Hockey Recap

Trying to squeeze games in before the Christmas break, 13 games were on the slate for Thursday. They start with the...

New York Rangers hosting the Tampa Bay Lightning. Dan Ellis and Henrik Lundqvist were the starters. Tampa Bay drew first blood when Martin St. Louis scored his 14th of the year, unassisted. The Rangers answered with Ruslan Fedotenko potting his sixth of the year, thanks to Brian Boyle. Twelve seconds later, New York took a 2-1 lead with Alexander Frolov netting his seventh of the season. The Lightning tied the game before the end of the first period with Steven Stamkos potting his 27th of the year, assisted by St. Louis. They took the lead back in the second period with Vincent Lecavalier's fourth of the year, helped along by Pavel Kubina and Brett Clark. Derek Stepan tied it again for the Rangers in the third period with his tenth of the season, with Brandon Dubinsky and Matt Gilroy picking up the helpers. The tie would last into a shootout, where New York's Erik Christensen scored, followed by Tampa Bay's Victor Hedman and Adam Hall, then retied with Mats Zuccarello, before several rounds of good goaltending ended when Ryan Malone earned the win for the Lightning. St. Louis, Frolov, and Malone picked up the stars in the game.

Next on the board were the New Jersey Devils hosting the New York Islanders. Dwayne Roloson and Martin Brodeur were in between the pipes. Josh Bailey opened the scoring, netting two in a row, his fourth and fifth of the season. The first was unassisted, and the second came on a power play from Andrew MacDonald and Blake Comeau. John Tavares gave the Islanders a 3-0 lead with his tenth of the year, assisted by Travis Hamonic and P.A. Parenteau. Travis Zajac got the Devils on the board with his fourth of the year, from Patrik Elias and Jamie Langerbrunner. New York responded with a shorthanded goal from Frans Nielsen, his fifth of the year made possible by Josh Bailey. Comeau made it 5-1 for the Islanders with his seventh of the year, assisted by Rob Schremp and James Wisniewski, and the score stood up to be the final. Bailey, Roloson (34 for 35 saves), and Comeau were awarded the three stars. Two fights were featured in the game, with New Jersey's Adam Mair fighting Zenon Konopka in the first period, before Konopka tangled with David Clarkson in the third period.

Staying far east, we have the Boston Bruins hosting the Atlanta Thrashers. Ondrej Pavelec and Tim Thomas were in between the pipes for the game. Patrice Bergeron opened the scoring for the Bruins with his seventh of the year, a shorthanded and unassisted goal. Michael Ryder extended the Boston lead to 2-0 with his tenth of the year, a power play goal from Bergeron and Dennis Seidenberg. Shawn Thornton continued the scoring run for the Bruins with his sixth of the year, assisted by Adam McQuaid and Daniel Paille. The Thrashers got on the board with Dustin Byfuglien, who scored his 13th of the year off of Evander Kane and Bryan Little. Shawn Thornton produced what would be the final score with his seventh of the year and second of the night, assisted by Paille and Gregory Campbell. The 4-1 final was in Boston's favor, and there was some fighting in the game. Two seconds in, Shawn Thornton and Eric Boulton dropped the mitts. The third period at the 15:54 mark featured a line brawl, involving Atlanta's Evander Kane, Freddy Meyer, Bryan Little, and Anthony Stewart, and Boston's Milan Lucic, Nathan Horton, Marc Savard, and Andrew Ference. All total, there were 110 penalty minutes assessed in what turned out to be an ugly game, with 86 of those minutes handed out in the brawl.

Going to more peaceful lands with the Carolina Hurricanes hosting the Montreal Canadiens. Carey Price and Cam Ward were the netminders for the game. All the scoring occurred in the second period, led off by Chad LaRose's seventh of the year for Carolina, a shorthanded goal from Ryan Carter and Tim Gleason. Scott Gomez tied it for the Canadiens with his fifth of the season, assisted by Roman Hamrlik and Jaroslav Spacek. The Hurricanes retook the lead with Erik Cole's seventh of the season, assisted by Eric Staal. Andrei Kostitsyn tied it again for Montreal, potting his tenth of the year with help from Tomas Plekanec and Michael Cammalleri on the power play. The Canadiens would notch another late power play goal, courtesy of Alexandre Picard, which was his third of the season, assisted by Gomez and Spacek. The final was 3-2, favoring the Canadiens. Gomez, Spacek, and LaRose earned the three stars.

Moving inland a bit, to where the Columbus Blue Jackets hosted the Vancouver Canucks. Cory Schneider and Mathieu Garon were designated to protect the cages. Alexandre Burrows gave Vancouver the lead with his seventh of the year, assisted by twins Henrik and Daniel Sedin. Christian Ehrhoff extended the lead to 2-0 with his sixth of the year, with Henrik Sedin and Burrows picking up the assists. Raffi Torres kept the Canucks going with his ninth of the year, helped along by Andrew Alberts. Daniel Sedin made it 4-0 in the second period with his 18th of the season, assisted by Alexander Edler and Henrik Sedin, who completed a sock trick with that assist. Ryan Kesler followed it up with his 17th of the year to make it 5-0 in the Canucks' favor, with Jannik Hansen and Jeff Tambellini picking up the helpers. Henrik Sedin then chased away Garon with his eighth of the year, assisted by Daniel Sedin and Burrows. Steve Mason came on to tend the twine for the Blue Jackets, who showed they were still alive when R.J. Umberger netted his ninth of the year, courtesy of Antoine Vermette. Torres made it 7-1 for Vancouver, notching his second of the night and tenth of the season, with help from Dan Hamhuis and Mikael Samuelsson on the power play. Umberger went on to pot another goal, his second of the night and tenth on the campaign, with the assist by Jakub Voracek. Tom Sestito scored as well for Columbus, to make it 7-3, with his second of the year being helped by Kris Russell and Kyle Wilson. The score would stand as the final, with Henrik Sedin, Daniel Sedin, and Alexandre Burrows getting the three stars honors.

Heading back east to Buffalo, where the Sabres hosted the Florida Panthers. Tomas Vokoun and Ryan Miller were in the creases for the game. Florida opened up first with Chris Higgins scoring his fourth of the year, assisted by Evgeny Dadonov. The Panthers got to 2-0 when Stephen Weiss scored his tenth of the year, a power play goal from Michael Frolik and Bryan McCabe. Higgins notched another one to make it 3-0, and his fifth of the year was assisted by Weiss and Dadonov. Buffalo started a comeback in the second period with Jordan Leopold's eighth of the year, assisted by Jason Pominville and Jochen Hecht. Pominville netted his sixth of the year to cut the lead down to 3-2, which was a power play goal helped along by Tyler Myers and Andrej Sekera. Leopold tied it for the Sabres with his second of the night and ninth of the campaign, with help from Myers. Jason Garrison struck for Florida, netting his second of the year to make it 4-3, which held on to be the final. Higgins, Leopold, and Garrison were the three stars.

The most notable game on the slate featured a Winter Classic preview, as the Washington Capitals hosted the Pittsburgh Penguins. Marc-Andre Fleury and Michal Neuvirth were given netminding duties. Sidney Crosby opened the scoring for Pittsburgh, scoring his league-leading 29th of the year, assisted by Kris Letang and Evgeni Malkin. Mike Green tied it for the Capitals with his sixth of the year, a power play goal that was assisted by Alexander Semin and Nicklas Backstrom. Chris Kunitz retook the lead for the Penguins, potting his ninth of the year, courtesy of Crosby and Paul Martin. Mike Knuble gave Washington another equalizer with his eighth of the year, shorthanded and assisted by Brooks Laich. The tie would last into the shootout, where Alex Ovechkin and Kris Letang exchanged goals, and then in the seventh round, Pascal Dupuis secured the win for the Penguins. Fleury (32 for 34 saves), Crosby, and Knuble earned the three stars for the game.

More solidly in the west, we have the St. Louis Blues hosting the Detroit Red Wings. Chris Osgood and Jaroslav Halak were given the nods for the game. The Blues struck first with Erik Johnson's second of the year, a power play goal courtesy of Vladimir Sobotka and Brad Boyes. Thirty seconds later, the Red Wings had tied the game thanks to Johan Franzen's 15th of the year, assisted by Henrik Zetterberg and Brian Rafalski. Patrik Berglund made it 3-1 for St. Louis, scoring his seventh and eighth of the year back-to-back, with Alex Steen and B.J. Crombeen getting the assists for the first while the helpers for the second went to Carlo Colaiacovo and David Backes. In the second period, Matt D'Agostini extended the St. Louis lead to 4-1 with his eighth of the season, assisted by Backes and Eric Brewer. Nicklas Lidstrom tried to rally Detroit back with a power play goal, his ninth tally of the year, from Zetterberg and Rafalski. It became 4-3 when Patrick Eaves scored for the Wings, his eighth of the year being helped by Darren Helm and Kris Draper. However, the third period was without scoring, and the Blues held on to win 4-3. Berglund, Jaroslav Halak (35 for 38 saves) and Zetterberg were the three star recipients.

Heading to Nashville, where the Predators hosted the Ottawa Senators. Brian Elliott and Pekka Rinne were in the nets, with Rinne making his first start since returning from injury. Alex Kovalev produced the first goal for the Senators, assisted by Peter Regin. Nick Foligno extended the Ottawa lead to 2-0 with his fourth of the year, a power play goal from Milan Michalek and Filip Kuba. Nashville tried to rally with Marcel Goc, who netted his seventh of the year, helped by Cody Franson, but the last half of the game was scoreless, and the Predators fell 2-1 to the visiting Senators. Foligno, Elliott (25 for 26 saves), and Goc were the three stars.

The Dallas Stars hosted the Calgary Flames in the next game on the list. Miikka Kiprusoff and Kari Lethonen tended the twine for the game. Calgary struck first with a power play goal by Anton Babchuk, his fifth of the year assisted by Jay Bouwmeester and Brendan Morrison. Dallas answered with their own power play goal, from Mike Ribeiro, his sixth of the year being helped along by Loui Eriksson and Brad Richards. The second period went by scoreless, and the Stars broke the silence and took a 2-1 lead in the third period when Brenden Morrow scored his 13th of the year, assisted by Ribeiro and Jamie Benn. The Flames answered late in the period with Alex Tanguay scoring his tenth of the season, from Jarome Iginla and Rene Bourque. The tie lasted into the shootout, where Tanguay's lone marker gave the Flames a 3-2 victory. Ribeiro, Kari Lethonen (31 for 33 saves), and Tanguay were the three stars. Dropping the mitts in the first period were Iginla and Benn, followed in the third period with Robyn Regehr and Brandon Segal.

Going into a Northwest division battle, where the Colorado Avalanche hosted the Minnesota Wild. Niklas Backstrom and Craig Anderson were given the go-ahead to guard the cages. Matt Cullen gave Minnesota an early lead with his seventh of the year, a shorthanded goal assisted by Cal Clutterbuck. David Jones and Colorado tied it with his 12th of the year, a power play goal assisted by Brandon Yip and Matt Hunwick. Cullen struck again for the Wild, notching his eighth of the season and second of the night, assisted by Marek Zidlicky. Andrew Brunette made it 3-1 for the Wild early in the second period with a power play goal from Cullen and Antti Miettinen, which chased away Craig Anderson in favor of Peter Budaj. The score would hold up through the rest of the game, giving Minnesota the win. Cullen, Niklas Backstrom (36 for 37 saves), and David Jones got the stars. Ryan Wilson of the Avalanche and Kyle Brodziak of Minnesota also fought in the first period.

Heading into California, where the Los Angeles Kings hosted the Edmonton Oilers. Devan Dubnyk and Jonathan Quick were the masked men in the game. After going scoreless through the first period, Taylor Hall recorded his eleventh of the season for the Oilers, a power play goal assisted by Sam Gagner and Ryan Whitney. The Kings tied it with a power play goal by Justin Williams, his 13th of the year, from Michal Handzus and Jack Johnson. Edmonton retook the lead with the first goal of the season by Jean-Francois Jacques, assisted by Theo Peckham and Zack Stortini. Los Angeles answered twenty seconds later with Jack Johnson's third of the season, assisted by Wayne Simmonds. The tie lasted into the shootout, where Jordan Eberle and Dustin Brown traded barbs before Jarret Stoll secured victory for the Kings. Johnson, Hall, and Williams were the three stars. Scrapping in the first period were the Kings' Kyle Clifford and the Oilers' Theo Peckham.

Staying in the same state, with the San Jose Sharks hosting the Phoenix Coyotes. Jason LaBarbera and Antti Niemi were the goalkeepers for this game. Going scoreless through the first period, until Ray Whitney marked his fifth of the year for Phoenix in the second, with the Wizard getting assistance from Keith Yandle and Shane Doan. San Jose answered with a power play goal of their own, produced by Dan Boyle, his fifth of the year, assisted by Patrick Marleau and Joe Pavelski. Giving the Sharks the lead was Joe Thornton, who tallied his eighth of the year, also a power play goal, with help from Dany Heatley and Pavelski. Marleau struck twice in the third period, his 12th and 13th of the season, with Thornton and Douglas Murray helping out on the first one and Thornton and Jason Demers picking up assists on the latter power play goal. The 4-1 score gave San Jose the victory over the Coyotes. Marleau, Thornton, and Pavelski were the three stars in the game.

That's all for hockey until Sunday I believe, and there will be a football post sometime tonight and also hopefully tomorrow night as well, with Saturday Night Football.

Wednesday NHL recap

Not many games on Wednesday, with only four, and I still found a way to get behind. We start with...

The New York Islanders hosting the Tampa Bay Lightning. Dan Ellis and Dwayne Roloson were the starters for the game. Ryan Malone and Tampa Bay got on the board first with a power play goal, Malone's tenth of the year. Brett Clark and Teddy Purcell picked up the helpers. P.A. Parenteau tied the game late in the second period with his sixth of the season, assisted by John Tavares and Andrew MacDonald. After going scoreless through the third period, Tavares gave the Islanders the win with his ninth of the year, assisted by James Wisniewski and MacDonald. Roloson (34 for 35 saves), Tavares, and Ellis (26 for 28 saves) got the three stars.

Next up, we have the Pittsburgh Penguins hosting the Florida Panthers. Tomas Vokoun and Brent Johnson were in the creases to start the game. Mark Letestu opened the scoring for Pittsburgh with his seventh of the year, from Tyler Kennedy and Chris Connor. Stephen Weiss tied it up with his ninth of the year for the Panthers, assisted by Michael Frolik and Mike Weaver. The Penguins regained the lead with Sidney Crosby notching his 28th of the season, assisted by Chris Kunitz and the goalie Brent Johnson. Pittsburgh took a 3-1 lead when Matt Cooke netted his seventh of the year from Max Talbot and Evgeni Malkin. Tomas Vokoun was then replaced for Scott Clemmensen. Making it 4-1 for the Penguins was Ben Lovejoy, scoring his first of the season, unassisted. Brent Johnson came out of the game after the second period with presumably an injury, and Marc-Andre Fleury was brought in, giving up a goal to Florida's Bryan McCabe, his fifth of the season, with helpers from Bill Thomas and Darcy Hordichuk. Pascal Dupuis put the Panthers out of their misery with his eighth of the year to give Pittsburgh a 5-2 win, the empty net goal assisted by Kris Letang and Chris Kunitz. Lovejoy, Crosby, and Letestu got the three stars. Two fights occurred during the game, with Lovejoy fighting Florida's Shawn Matthias in the first period, and Hordichuk taking on Pittsburgh tough guy Michael Rupp.

The next game had the Detroit Red Wings hosting the Vancouver Canucks. Roberto Luongo and Jimmy Howard were in between the pipes. The Red Wings struck first, with Danny Cleary netting his 15th of the season, assisted by Todd Bertuzzi and Brian Rafalski. Henrik Sedin tied the game early in the second period, scoring his seventh of the year for the Canucks, a power play goal assisted by Ryan Kesler and Daniel Sedin. Detroit regained the lead with a goal by Valtteri Filppula, his eighth of the year assisted by Cleary and Jonathan Ericsson. Daniel Sedin retied it for Vancouver with his 17th of the season, assisted by Kesler and Christian Ehrhoff on the power play. Late in the second period, the Canucks took their first lead with Mikael Samuelsson's seventh of the year, assisted by Henrik Sedin. Early in the third period, the Red Wings got it tied at 3 with Henrik Zetterberg's eleventh of the year, from Niklas Kronwall and Ruslan Salei. Jeff Tambellini made it 4-3 for Vancouver with his seventh of the season, assisted by Kesler, who locked up his sock trick for the night. Lidstrom tied the game at 4 for Detroit with his eighth of the season, a power play goal from Zetterberg and Rafalski. The tie lasted until Zetterberg tallied his 12th of the season and second of the night in overtime to secure the 5-4 win for the Red Wings. Assists were from Rafalski, getting his own sock trick, and Darren Helm. Zetterberg, Kesler, and Cleary were the three stars.

Lastly was the Chicago Blackhawks hosting the Nashville Predators. Anders Lindback and Corey Crawford were given the starting nods. Dave Bolland opened the scoring with his fourth of the year, with Fernando Pisani assisting to give Chicago a 1-0 lead. Jack Skille extended the lead to 2-0 with his fifth of the season, a power play goal from Bolland and Duncan Keith. Skille added an even strength goal in the third period, assisted by Jake Dowell and Duncan Keith, good for his sixth of the year and second of the night. Giving Nashville a sign of life was Sergei Kostitsyn, potting his sixth of the year while the Predators were a man up, with help from Martin Erat and Ryan Suter. Bryan Bickell put it away for the Blackhawks, potting his tenth of the year with help from Jassen Cullimore to bring the final score to 4-1 Chicago. Skille, Bolland, and Corey Crawford (24 for 25 saves) got the three stars.

That's all there was for Wednesday. I'm sorry I've been behind on these, and I hope to get Thursday Night Football coverage out today, along with yesterday's hockey. Thanks for the patience.

Tuesday NHL recap

For Tuesday's hockey viewing, there were another seven games, similar to the Monday slate. We start off in...

Buffalo, where the Sabres hosted the Anaheim Ducks. Curtis McElhinney and Ryan Miller were in net for the game. Drew Stafford drew first blood for Buffalo with his ninth of the year, a power play goal from Derek Roy and Tyler Myers. Nathan Gerbe made it 2-0 for the Sabres, potting his first of the year with help from Craig Rivet and Paul Gaustad. Tyler Ennis continued the Buffalo scoring spree with two goals in a row, with the first period marker being a power play goal from Andrej Sekera and Jordan Leopold. Following up in the second period, assists went to Roy and Leopold. Ennis' two goals were his eighth and ninth of the season. Showing some signs of life were Anaheim in the third, as Corey Perry potted his 18th of the year thanks to Teemu Selanne and Cam Fowler. Rivet answered for the Sabres with his first of the year, assisted by Rob Niedermayer. Perry netted another power play goal with nine seconds left in the game, helped along by Selanne and Ryan Getzlaf. Buffalo would go on to win 5-2 over the Ducks. Ennis, Leopold, and Rivet earned the three stars. The second period was designated fight time, with three fights breaking out (Duck vs. Sabre format). One second in the period, Ryan Getzlaf fought Cody McCormick, followed five seconds later by Kyle Chipchura and Paul Gaustad, and later followed mid-period by George Parros and Mike Weber.

We head along to Columbus, where the Blue Jackets hosted the Calgary Flames. Henrik Karlsson and Mathieu Garon got the starting nods for their teams. Jakub Voracek opened the scoring for the Blue Jackets with his sixth of the year, assisted by Marc Methot and Derick Brassard. Jared Boll backed it up in the second period by scoring his third of the year from Tom Sestito and Kyle Wilson. Calgary answered with a power play goal by Olli Jokinen, his seventh of the year assisted by Jarome Iginla and Mark Giordano. The Flames were unable to produce any tying offense in the third period, and Rostislav Klesla's goal for Columbus, his second of the year being into the empty net and unassisted, finished the game at 3-1 for the Blue Jackets. Mathieu Garon (29 for 30 saves), Boll, and Voracek earned the three stars. Two fights broke out in the first period, with Calgary's Tim Jackman taking on Jared Boll, followed by Robyn Regehr dropping the mitts with Tom Sestito.

Next up is the Atlanta Thrashers hosting the St. Louis Blues. Ty Conklin and Chris Mason were in the creases. The Blues struck first with Brad Boyes' seventh of the year, assisted by Chris Porter. Bryan Little evened the score for the Thrashers with his tenth of the season, from Evander Kane and Anthony Stewart. Late in the second period, St. Louis took a 2-1 lead with Alex Steen's eleventh of the season, helped along by Barret Jackman and Alex Pietrangelo, who added his fourth of the season in the third period, assisted by Vladimir Sobotka. Dustin Byfuglien tried to rally the Atlanta troops by scoring his 12th of the year, courtesy of Tobias Enstrom and Nik Antropov, but Sobotka's empty net goal, his fourth of the year going unassisted, put the game away at 4-2 St. Louis. Steen, Boyes, and Little earned the three stars.

Heading north to where the Washington Capitals hosted the New Jersey Devils. Martin Brodeur and Semyon Varlamov were given goalkeeping duties. Washington opened the scoring with Andrew Gordon's first of the year, assisted by Marcus Johansson and John Erskine. Patrik Elias answered with his seventh of the year in the second period, with Jamie Langenbrunner and Travis Zajac getting assists on the tying goal. The Capitals got ahead again with Jay Beagle's first of the season, assisted by Dave Steckel and Matt Bradley. Jason Chimera extended the lead to 3-1 with his fifth of the year from Gordon and John Carlson. Carlson added his fourth of the year, assisted by Alex Ovechkin. Mike Knuble finished the scoring in the third period with his seventh of the year from Tom Poti and Brooks Laich. The Capitals went on to beat the Devils 5-1. Carlson, Gordon, and Johansson got the three stars.

Heading to Dallas, where the Stars hosted the Montreal Canadiens. Carey Price and Kari Lehtonen were the masked men for the game. Adam Burish opened the scoring with his fourth of the season, from Steve Ott and Stephane Robidas, giving Dallas a 1-0 lead. Jamie Benn extended the lead with his eighth of the year, a shorthanded goal from Ott. Making it 3-0 was Karlis Skrastins, who netted his second of the year courtesy of James Neal and Matt Niskanen. Montreal finally responded with a goal by Mathieu Darche, his sixth of the year, assisted by Travis Moen and Tom Pyatt. Brad Richards made it 4-1 Stars with his 16th of the year, a power play goal from Robidas and Loui Eriksson. In the third period, Brian Gionta notched a shorthanded goal for the Canadiens, his 12th of the year being assisted by Scott Gomez. Eriksson put the game away with his 15th of the season, from Mike Rebeiro and Robidas. Dallas beat Montreal 5-2, with Benn, Kari Lehtonen (27 for 29 saves), and Ott picking up the three stars. Sharing a fight in the first period was the Stars' Brian Sutherby and the Canadiens' P.K. Subban.

Next up, we have the Colorado Avalanche hosting the Los Angeles Kings. Jonathan Quick and Craig Anderson were selected to play goal for the game. Rob Scuderi and Los Angeles struck first, with Scuderi's first of the season, assisted by Anze Kopitar and Dustin Brown. Brad Richardson extended the lead with his fifth of the season in the second period, from Drew Doughty and Brown. Brown tallied his 12th and 13th of the year in the third period to make it 4-0, with Kopitar and Doughty assisting the first one and Ryan Smyth and Scuderi helping out with the second. Icing the cake was Justin Williams, scoring his 12th of the year while the Kings were a man up, with help from Jack Johnson and Jarret Stoll. Brown, Jonathan Quick (23 save shutout) and Kopitar earned the three stars.

Lastly, we stop in San Jose, where the Sharks hosted the Edmonton Oilers. Nikolai Khabibulin and Antero Niittymaki were in between the pipes for their teams. The first period went scoreless, and Logan Couture's 18th of the year gave San Jose a 1-0 lead, with Ryane Clowe getting the assist. Dan Boyle made it 2-0 for the Sharks with his fourth of the season, from Patrick Marleau and Joe Thornton on the power play. Dustin Penner tried to get Edmonton to rally back late in the third period with his eleventh of the year assisted by Ryan Whitney and Taylor Hall, but it was too late for the Oilers, who fell 2-1. Couture, Boyle, and Clowe got the three stars.

That's all the hockey for Tuesday. Wednesday's recap will be covered tomorrow, along with Thursday Night Football.

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.

Fantasy Football All-Stars, week 15

There were a lot of blowouts this week, the first week of standard format playoffs, which means half of your team did well and the other half likely not so much. Here's who was good:

Quarterbacks: Michael Vick and Rex Grossman
Running Backs: Ray Rice and Jamaal Charles
Wide Receivers: Vincent Jackson and Mario Manningham
Tight Ends: Jason Witten and Aaron Hernandez
Kickers: Robbie Gould and David Buehler

Those are the guys that would have helped you the most this week, and good luck to everyone in the championships. We'll see you here next week.

Monday Night Football week 15

As stadium woes continue, the Minnesota Vikings hosted the Chicago Bears outside at TCF Bank Stadium, home of the University of Minnesota football team. The field was good enough to play ice hockey on, frozen solid in the cold Minnesota winter. Onward to the scoring, opened by brickhouse Brett Favre, who connected with Percy Harvin for 23 yards and a touchdown. Ryan Longwell added the extra point. Robbie Gould kicked a field goal for the Chicago Bears, before adding the extra point on Jay Cutler's 67 yard touchdown pass to Johnny Knox. Cutler found Devin Hester in the second quarter, and after Gould added the extra point, the Bears led the Vikings by a score of 17-7, which would be the score into halftime. Gould kicked a 23 yard field goal to open the scoring in the third quarter, following up with an extra point on the Devin Hester 64 yard punt return for a touchdown. Minnesota found the end zone again when Joe Webb ran it in for 13 yards and the score. Longwell added the extra point. Cutler found another receiver for a touchdown, this time being Rashied Davis for 9 yards, with Gould adding the extra point to make it 34-14. Gould added a third and fourth quarter field goal, from 34 and 20 yards. The final had the Bears up 40-14, improving to 10-4, and dropping the Vikings to 5-9.

Fantasy Football All-Stars will follow this post directly.

Fantasy Hockey All-Stars week 10

Another week down, another group of players leading the pack for their Fantasy Managers, hoping to give them a midseason push. Here's who got work done this week

Center: Matt Duchene, 4 goals, 3 assists, +1, 0 penalty minutes, 3 power play points, 10 shots on goal
Left Wing: Tomas Fleischmann, 4 goals, 3 assists, +2, 4 penalty minutes, 2 power play points, 9 shots on goal
Right Wing: Loui Eriksson, 2 goals, 4 assists, +1, 2 penalty minutes, 3 power play points, 10 shots on goal
Defenseman: Jack Johnson, 1 goal, 2 assists, +2, 14 penalty minutes, 3 power play points, 10 shots on goal
Goaltender: Anders Lindback: 3 wins, 1.89 goals against average, 74 saves, .925 save percentage, 1 shutout

These were the best players by position for the week. Here's to the midseason push.

Song of the Week IV

This week, we have our first repeat artist on here, with James Blunt earning the honors with 1973. The song is the lead track off of his second album, All the Lost Souls, and it went on to be a single for him. The song has a rhythmic beat and a good piano, notorious of his work and setting the soft, strong tone the rest of the album carries. A perfect example of what a first track should sound like. Check this series again next week for the next song.

Sunday Night Football, week 15

This week's prime time Sunday game is between the Green Bay Packers, who are paying a visit to the New England Patriots. Mason Crosby put the Packers up first with a 31 yard field goal. New England responded with a touchdown run from BenJarvus Green-Ellis, from 33 yards, followed by Shayne Graham's extra point. Matt Flynn got Green Bay going the right way in the second quarter, with touchdown passes of 66 and 1 yards to James Jones and Greg Jennings, both followed by Crosby extra points. Tom Brady cut the lead to 17-14 with his touchdown pass to Aaron Hernandez for 2 yards, followed by Graham's extra point. The Patriots took a lead when Kyle Arrington intercepted Flynn for 36 yards and the touchdown, followed by an extra point from Graham, but Flynn regained himself and threw one to his own teammate, John Kuhn, for 6 yards and the touchdown. Crosby added the extra point, before kicking a 19 yard field goal in the fourth quarter. Graham answered that and made the score 27-24 Packers with his 38 yard field goal, and he also tacked on the extra point for Brady's second touchdown to Hernandez, this time from 10 yards. The final score ended up being 31-27 New England over Green Bay. The Patriots improved to 12-2, while dropping the Packers down to 8-6.

Sunday NHL recap

There were four games on for the puckheads among us in a football-dominated Sunday, with the first two being early enough to compete a bit with football broadcasts. We start in Detroit...

Where the Red Wings hosted the Dallas Stars. Andrew Raycroft and Chris Osgood were the netminders. Pavel Datsyuk drew first blood for the Red Wings, potting a power play goal, his 12th marker of the season, from Tomas Holmstrom and Johan Franzen. Patrick Eaves made it 2-0 with his seventh of the year, from Niklas Kronwall and Valtteri Filppula. Brad Richards put Dallas on the board with his 15th of the year, thanks to Loui Erikssoin and Jeff Woywitka. Brenden Morrow potted a goal for the Stars to even it at 2 after the first period, a power play goal from Trevor Daley and Eriksson, good for his eleventh of the year. Franzen put Detroit back up late in the second period with his 14th of the year, helped along by Brian Rafalski and Datsyuk. Morrow tied it for the Stars in the third period with his second of the night and 12th of the year, with help from Jamie Benn. The tie lasted late into overtime, but was broken by Dallas with Eriksson's 14th of the year, assisted by Jamie Benn. Eriksson, Morrow, and Eaves got the stars for the game. Fighting in the second period were Dallas' Steve Ott and Detroit's Justin Abdelkader.

We head to Chicago for the second game, where the Blackhawks hosted the Los Angeles Kings. Jonathan Quick and Corey Crawford were the goalkeepers for the game. Jonathan Toews got the Blackhawks up first with his 15th of the season in the first period, assisted by Brian Campbell and Patrick Sharp. Kyle Clifford evened the score for the Kings, potting his second of the year, with help from Michal Handzus and Wayne Simmonds. Duncan Keith netted his third of the year to make the lead 2-1 for Chicago, assisted by Sharp and Toews. Fernando Pisani made it 3-1 for the 'Hawks, potting his fifth of the year, with help from Bryan Bickell and Dave Bolland. Simmonds tried to get Los Angeles back together with his seventh of the year, with help from Anze Kopitar and goalie Jonathan Quick, but they couldn't muster any more offense in the third period and fell 3-2 to Chicago. Toews, Keith, and Simmonds earned the stars for the game. Sharing a dance in the first period were the Blackhawks' John Scott (the real estate manager) and the Kings' Kevin Westgarth.

Moving along to Ottawa, where the Senators hosted the Washington Capitals. Michal Neuvirth and Brian Elliott got the nod for their respective teams. Ottawa opened the scoring with a goal by Ryan Shannon, his fourth of the season, from Jesse Winchester. The Senators had a 2-0 lead when Chris Kelly potted his eighth of the year, assisted by Chris Neil. Washington answered in the second period with an early goal by Mathieu Perreault, his third of the year, with helpers from Mike Knuble and Brooks Laich. Forty-six seconds later, Eric Fehr tied it with his fifth of the year, assisted by Alex Ovechkin. Later that same period, Perreault had struck again, with his second of the night and fourth of the year, with assistance for this goal coming from Fehr, on the power play. No more scoring would be conducted after this point, and the Capitals went on to defeat the Senators 3-2. Perreault, Kelly, and Fehr earned the stars for their performances.

Lastly, we have the game between the Colorado Avalanche and Montreal Canadiens, at the Pepsi Center in Denver. Carey Price and Craig Anderson were in between their pipes for the game. Michael Cammalleri opened the scoring for the Canadiens, with a power play goal from Tomas Plekanec and Andrei Kostitsyn. The Avalanche answered with a power play goal from Ryan Wilson late in the first period, his second marker of the season helped along by Ryan O'Reilly and goalie Craig Anderson. Montreal regained the lead in the second period with a goal by Alexandre Picard on the power play, his second goal of the year, assisted by Max Pacioretty and Scott Gomez. Kevin Porter tied it up for Colorado with his seventh of the campaign, helped along by Philippe Dupuis, and they took the lead on a goal by T.J. Galiardi, his fifth of the season, helped by O'Reilly and Jonas Holos. This 3-2 Avalanche lead would hold up to defeat the Canadiens. O'Reilly, Anderson (27 for 29 saves) and Cammalleri were the three stars.

That's all the hockey there is for Sunday. The Sunday Night Football post will follow this one at the conclusion of the game. Tomorrow, there will be Song of the Week and Fantasy Hockey All-Stars, plus the Monday Night Football post at its regularly scheduled time.

NFL Week 15 late games recap

There are three games late for today. The first one was between...

The Atlanta Falcons, and the hosting Seattle Seahawks. Marshawn Lynch got the Seahawks on the board first with his 1 yard touchdown run, followed by an extra point from Olindo Mare. Matt Ryan's pass to Jason Snelling for 3 yards and the touchdown, followed by an extra point by Matt Bryant was enough to tie the game for the Falcons. Bryant and Mare exchanged field goals, with Bryant true from 27 yards and Mare good from 38 yards. Atlanta took the lead when Ryan passed to Michael Jenkins for a touchdown of 24 yards before the half, followed by a Bryant extra point to make it 17-10. The Falcons jumped on a Matt Hasselbeck fumble, with Jonathan Babineaux recovering it and taking it in, followed by an extra point by Bryant, who added a 25 yard field goal to make it 27-10. Ryan then found Roddy White later in the third quarter, good for 5 yards, with Bryant providing the extra point. Trying to create a rally, backup quarterback Charlie Whitehurst ran a touchdown in for a yard, followed by a successful two point conversion pass from Whitehurst to Ben Obomanu. This produced the final score of 34-18, improving Atlanta to 12-2, and dropping Seattle to 6-8.

The next game featured the New York Jets paying a visit to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Brad Smith of the Jets opened the scoring early, returning the kickoff from Shaun Suisham 97 yards for the touchdown, with Nick Folk adding the extra point. Pittsburgh tied it with a touchdown pass from Ben Roethlisberger to Matt Spaeth, good for 9 yards, and Suisham's extra point. Folk and Suisham exchanged field goals in the second quarter, with a 25 yard shot from Folk answered by Suisham's 42 yard kick in the last minute of the half, leaving the game tied at 10. Rashard Mendenhall made it 17-10 for the Steelers with his with a two yard rush, followed by a Suisham extra point, but the game was soon tied with Mark Sanchez running it in himself from 7 yards out, followed by Folk's extra point. Folk added a field goal from 34 yards in the fourth quarter, and the Jets defense sealed the deal with a safety by tackling Mewelde Moore in his own end zone, producing a 22-17 final with the Jets on top. Both teams ended up at 10-4 at the conclusion of the game.

Lastly, we have the Oakland Raiders hosting the Denver Broncos. Jacoby Ford opened the scoring for the Raiders with a 71 yard touchdown rush, followed by a Sebastian Janikowski extra point. Tim Tebow found a couple ways to score touchdowns in his first NFL start, with a 40 yard run and a 33 yard pass to Brandon Lloyd, with Steve Hauschka adding the extra point. Michael Bush got Oakland back together with his 1 yard touchdown run, with Janikowski's extra point tying the game. Hauschka and Janikowski went on a kicking spree when the teams switched sides, with Hauschka getting two field goals from 46 and 35 yards, and Janikowski kicking three from 49, 35, and 47 yards. At the end of the third quarter, it was 23-20 in favor of Oakland over Denver. Jason Campbell extended the Raider lead when connecting for a touchdown with Marcel Reece for 73 yards, with Janikowski adding the extra point. Cutting it back down to a one-score game was Hauschka, kicking a field goal of 45 yards, but Correll Buckhalter got pinned in his own end zone on the next Bronco drive, and the Raiders nabbed a safety, making it 32-23. Bush added another 1 yard touchdown for insurance, with Janikowski's extra point making it 39-23, which proved to be the final. Oakland advanced to 7-7, and Denver fell to 3-11.

Two more posts coming out today (maximum) so keep an eye out for a hockey recap and a Sunday Night Football post.

Week 15 football Early Games

There was a lopsided slate of games on Sunday, with ten kicking off early, and only three late. This imbalance and my recent laziness results in this post being somewhat late and possibly boring. The scores were relatively average early, so here we go, starting with...

St. Louis hosting Kansas City, in the Missouri battle. Josh Brown got the St. Louis Rams on the board first, kicking two field goals of 37 and 52 yards. Matt Cassel, coming off an appendectomy, found Leonard Pope in the end zone for two yards in the second quarter. Ryan Succop added the extra point on this touchdown and the one by Jamaal Charles, which was a two yard run. The Chiefs took the 14-6 lead into halftime. Succop extended the lead to 20-6 with field goals in the third and fourth quarters from 53 and 38 yards. The Rams tried to come back with a 5 yard touchdown run by Steven Jackson and extra point from Brown, but Thomas Jones 2 yard run for a touchdown and Succop's extra point making it 27-13 was too much. The Chiefs won and improved to 9-5, while the Rams fell down to 6-8 with the loss.

The next game featured the Carolina Panthers hosting the Arizona Cardinals. John Kasay opened the scoring for Carolina with two field goals in the first quarter, from 28 and 29 yards. He also added the extra point on the touchdown pass from Jimmy Clausen to Jeff King, for 16 yards, making it 13-0 Panthers. Arizona got on the board with a Jay Feely field goal of 23 yards, to make it 13-3 at halftime. Kasay made it 19-3 in the third quarter with two more field goals, from 24 and 43 yards. The Cardinals tried to come back in the fourth quarter, with Steve Breaston recovering a fumble by teammate Tim Hightower to get a touchdown, but the two point conversion attempted was no good. Jay Feely added one more field goal from 30 yards, but it was too late to do anything, and Carolina survived to win 19-12. Carolina improved to 2-12 (it is improvement, surprisingly) while Arizona fell to 4-10.

In a far more meaningful game, the New York Giants hosted the Philadelphia Eagles in a battle of the NFC East's two best teams. Eli Manning opened the scoring for the Giants with a touchdown to Mario Manningham, good for 35 yards, followed by Lawrence Tynes adding an extra point. David Akers answered for the Eagles with a 34 yard field goal to make it 7-3. Manning connected with Manningham again, however, this time for only 33 yards and a touchdown, with Tynes adding an extra point, followed by a field goal of 25 yards, and another extra point on the Manning touchdown pass to Hakeem Nicks of 8 yards right before halftime. New York led Philadelphia 24-3 heading into the locker room. Michael Vick got the Eagles going in the right direction out of the half, throwing 8 yards to Jeremy Maclin for the touchdown, followed by David Akers' extra point. Manning answered with an 8 yard touchdown pass to Kevin Boss in the fourth quarter, with Tynes adding the extra point. Vick finally found his groove after this, throwing first to Brent Celek to get a 65 yard touchdown, and then running 4 yards to get another touchdown, before connecting with Maclin again for 13 yards. Akers added all three extra points, tying the game at 31. The last play of the game was a Matt Dodge punt, which DeSean Jackson fumbled, but recovered and returned for 65 yards and the touchdown, giving the Eagles a 38-31 victory after Akers added the last extra point. Philadelphia improved to 10-4, while dropping their rivals to 9-5.

Back to more meaningless games, with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers hosting the Detroit Lions. Drew Stanton got the Lions on the board first with a touchdown pass of 10 yards to Nate Burleson, followed by Dave Rayner's extra point. Josh Freeman responded in the second quarter with a touchdown pass to Mike Williams, good for 24 yards, followed by Connor Barth's extra point, and Barth provided another extra point after LeGarrette Blount had a 39 yard touchdown run. Making it 14-10 Buccaneers before the halftime, Dave Rayner added a field goal of 41 yards for the Lions. He added the extra point on Maurice Morris' touchdown run of 10 yards in the third quarter. Reclaiming the lead for Tampa Bay was Connor Barth, kicking two field goals from 30 and 26 yards. Rayner sent it to overtime with his 28 yard field goal at the end of regulation, and won it for Detroit in the extra frame with a 34 yard field goal. The 23-20 victory improved the Lions to 4-10, and knocked Tampa Bay down to 8-6.

In another relatively pointless match, the Battle of Ohio raged on with the Cleveland Browns hosting the Cincinnati Bengals. Colt McCoy opened the scoring, giving the Browns a lead with a 20 yard touchdown pass to Robert Royal, followed by Phil Dawson's extra point. Cedric Benson scored on an 18 yard touchdown run, and Clint Stitser tied it for the Bengals with the extra point. He then kicked three straight field goals, 25 yards to make it 10-7 Cincinnati at halftime, and 39 and 34 yards in the third quarter to make it 16-7. Dawson and Stitser traded kicks in the fourth quarter, with Dawson good from 23 yards and answered by Stitser's 20 yard kick. McCoy tried to rally the Cleveland troops with a 46 yard touchdown pass to Brian Robiskie, followed by a Dawson extra point, but it wasn't enough, and Cincinnati hung on to win 19-17. They jumped up to 3-11, knocking down their stately rivals to 5-9.

Staying in the AFC, but going to the East for the Miami Dolphins hosting the Buffalo Bills. It took until the second quarter for any scoring to be put on the board, when Ryan Fitzpatrick threw a touchdown pass to David Nelson for 18 yards, followed by Ryan Lindell's extra point, and also a later field goal from 29 yards to make it 10-0 Bills. The Dolphins made it 10-7 after Ronnie Brown ran 6 yards for the touchdown, followed by Dan Carpenter's extra point. The score stood solid through halftime, and was changed by Fitzpatrick's touchdown pass of 15 yards to Stevie Johnson, followed by Lindell's extra point making it 17-7. Chad Henne passed to Brandon Marshall for 9 yards in the fourth quarter, and Carpenter's extra point made it 17-10, but it was too late to save Miami, who fell by the aforementioned score. The Bills advanced to 4-10, while the Dolphins fell down to 7-7.

Heading down to Texas, where the Dallas Cowboys hosted the Washington Redskins. David Buehler broke the scoring game open with his 42 yard field goal, followed by his extra point on the 3 yard touchdown pass from Jon Kitna to Miles Austin. Buehler added a 20 yard field goal in the second quarter to make it 13-0 before the Redskins struck with a Rex Grossman touchdown pass of 19 yards to Ryan Torain. Graham Gano added the extra point. Kitna and the Cowboys responded with a 14 yard touchdown pass to Jason Witten before halftime, with Buehler adding the extra point to make it 20-7. Buehler provided an extra point on Tashard Choice's 3 yard touchdown run in the third quarter as well, which was answered by Grossman's touchdown pass of 10 yards to Santana Moss, and Gano's extra point. Buehler kicked another 20 yard field goal to make it 30-14 at the end of the third quarter. Washington came out on the attack in the fourth quarter, with Grossman connecting on touchdowns of 5 yards to Santana Moss and Chris Cooley, followed by two successful two point conversions to Cooley and Mike Sellers. The score was suddenly tied, but Buehler saved the day for Dallas with a 39 yard field goal, making it 33-30 Cowboys, proving to be the final score fifty seconds later. Dallas improved to 5-9, dropping their rivals to the same record.

We move along to an AFC South rivalry between the visiting Jacksonville Jaguars and the host Indianapolis Colts. Peyton Manning and the Colts drew first blood, passing to Austin Collie for 7 yards and a touchdown, followed by an Adam Vinatieri extra point. Josh Scobee responded for the Jaguars, with a 22 yard field goal to make it 7-3. Manning did find Collie again, this time for 27 yards, with Vinatieri adding another extra point. Jacksonville struck again with a punt return touchdown by Mike Thomas, 78 yards to dent the goal line, with Scobee adding the extra point before halftime. Indianapolis led 14-10 at the half. Donald Brown kept the Colts going in the third quarter with a 43 yard touchdown run, with Vinatieri adding another extra point before kicking a 34 yard field goal to make it 24-10. Jacksonville responded with David Garrard finding Mike Sims-Walker for 6 yards and the touchdown, followed by a Scobee extra point. Indianapolis made it 27-17 with a field goal of 37 yards by Vinatieri. Garrard made it 27-24 with another touchdown to Sims-Walker, followed by a Scobee extra point, but on the kickoff, Tyjuan Hagler returned the ball for 41 yards and the touchdown to put the game away at 34-24 after Vinatieri's extra point. This proved to be the final, with Indianapolis improving to 8-6, simultaneously dropping their rivals to the same mark atop the division.

Back east, where the Baltimore Ravens hosted the New Orleans Saints, in what could be a Super Bowl preview (probably not). Drew Brees allowed New Orleans to draw first blood with his touchdown pass of 18 yards to Jimmy Graham, followed by an extra point from Garrett Hartley. Baltimore evened the score with Joe Flacco passing to Ed Dickson for 34 yards and touchdown, followed afterward by Billy Cundiff's extra point. Ray Rice added onto the Ravens score with his 10 yard touchdown run, and a touchdown reception of 17 yards from Flacco. Cundiff added both extra point, making it 21-7. The Saints trimmed the lead, as Brees found Graham again, for 1 yard, and Hartley added the extra point to make 21-14 going into the locker room. Hartley and Cundiff traded barbs in field goals in the third quarter, with Hartley good from 47 yards and Cundiff completing from 33. Brees found Lance Moore in the fourth quarter for 15 yards and a touchdown, which Hartley added an extra point on, but they would not hold on to the tie, as Cundiff kicked two more field goals, from 32 and 27 yards. The 30-24 score was a Baltimore win, improving to 10-4, and dropping the Saints to 10-4 as well.

Lastly, we have a rematch for the Andre Johnson-Cortland Finnegan fight, with the Houston Texans visiting the Tennessee Titans. The Titans came out swinging, so to speak, with Kerry Collins throwing touchdown passes of 3 and 1 yards to Nate Washington and Justin Gage, shortly followed by Chris Johnson's 11 yard touchdown run. Rob Bironas added all three extra points to make it 21-0 after the first quarter. Neil Rackers got a quieted Houston team on the board with a 37 yard field goal, but the 24-3 score at halftime was made possible by Bironas' 30 yard field goal right before the break. Matt Schaub connected with Andre Johnson in the third quarter for 12 yards and the touchdown, followed by Rackers' extra point, but Javon Ringer replied with a 7 yard touchdown run to make it 31-10 after Bironas added the extra point. In a futile attempt to make a comeback, Schaub found Kevin Walter for 4 yards, and Rackers added the extra point to make it 31-17, which ended up being the final. The Titans improved to 6-8, with the Texans falling to 5-9.

That's all for the early games, keep watch for the late games in a couple hours or so.

Saturday Sandwich Review

Due to my eyes literally being bigger than my stomach Saturday night at KFC, there is no Sandwich Showdown this week. However, I will take this time to review my Roast Beef on wheat that I had yesterday. It was delicious and nutritious, featuring a healthy bread and protein from the deli cut of beef. The sauce really brought out a nice kick in the sandwich, and simplicity was key in making it a delicious feature and a great meal. Good sandwich idea for anyone, in my opinion, and the Roast Beef has always been a favorite of mine. Sandwich Showdown will likely not occur next week either, with the Christmas holiday. Keep eating though, and eat happily.

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.