Friday NHL Action

First of all, plenty of news to cover in this one. Two little nuggets from the baseball world, as the union reports Adrian Beltre's deal with the Rangers as 5 years and $80 million. Second, the Tampa Bay Rays offloaded some more salary and dealt away stud pitcher Matt Garza and spare parts Fernando Perez and an unnamed pitcher in the minor leagues were sent to the Chicago Cubs for five prospects: RHP Chris Archer, shortstop Hak-Ju Lee, infielder Robinson Chirinos and outfielders Sam Fuld and Brandon Guyer. Another trade, but this time in hockey, was conducted between the New Jersey Devils, sending their captain Jamie Langenbrunner to the Dallas Stars for what is reported as a conditional third round pick in 2011, with possibilities of it being a second round pick if Dallas wins a first round playoff series or resigns Langenbrunner. As for the high scoring slate of games today, we start with the big one in...

Atlanta, where the Thrashers hosted the Toronto Maple Leafs. James Reimer and Ondrej Pavelec got the starts, but Chris Mason also saw time in front of the Atlanta net. Atlanta opened the scoring on Tobias Enstrom netting his eighth of the season, from Ben Eager. Toronto answered the call with Kris Versteeg potting his 12th of the year, with help from Colby Armstrong and Carl Gunnarsson. Mikhail Grabovski gave the Maple Leafs the lead with his 16th of the year, a power play goal from Phil Kessel and Tomas Kaberle. Armstrong kept the Leafs going in the second period with his fifth of the season, from Versteeg and Francois Beauchemin. Nikolai Kulemin added on with his 14th of the season, courtesy of Grabovski and Mike Komisarek. Grabovski added another, his 17th of the year and second of the night, with help from Clarke MacArthur and Kulemin. Kulemin, obviously in a friendly battle with his teammate, potted a power play goal for his 15th of the season, assisted by Tomas Kaberle, on the ten minute match penalty being served by Ben Eager for a sucker punch. MacArthur added two in a row thirty-five second apart on the power play, his eleventh and 12th of the season, with Kaberle getting secondary assists on both, putting him in the position of a sock trick with a bonus assist, and the primary assists went to Kulemin and Versteeg in that order. Kessel made it 9-1 (trust me on this, it's 9-1) with his 17th of the year, the fourth goal on the match penalty, with Beauchemin and Tyler Bozak picking up the helpers. Toronto let the Thrasher off the hook in the third period, with Patrice Cormier scoring his first of the season (obviously Ben Eager's accomplice, as noted for his previous dirty hit in the minors) which was unassisted. Andrew Ladd chipped in his 14th of the year for the Thrashers, with Bryan Little and Niclas Bergfors getting the assists. The final ended up being in Toronto's favor, 9-3 over the host Atlanta team, with Grabovski, Kaberle, and Kulemin grabbing the three stars and getting out of town before Eager sucker punched anyone else (end bad jokes here). Final interesting note here, as the Maple Leafs went 5 for 3 on the power play, due in part to the major penalty style application of the match penalty.

Heading down to Florida, where the Panthers hosted the Carolina Hurricanes. Justin Peters and Tomas Vokoun were sent out to block the puck. Florida opened the scoring on a David Booth goal, his eleventh of the season, coming from Mike Santorelli and Rostislav Olesz. Marty Reasoner gave the Panthers a 2-0 lead with his seventh of the year, assisted by Dennis Wideman and Bryan Allen. Into the second period, where Jeff Skinner single-handedly tied the game for Carolina, notching his 12th and 13th of the year, with Tuomo Ruutu assisting on both goals, and the rest of the assists going to Jamie McBain and Pat Dwyer in that order. Eric Staal gave the Hurricanes a lead of 3-2 with his 20th of the campaign, assisted on by Zach Boychuk. Carolina got out to a 5-2 lead on two consecutive goals by Erik Cole, his ninth and tenth of the season, with the first coming from Skinner and Ruutu, the latter completing a sock trick, and the second going into an empty net unassisted. Reasoner made a late attempt to get the Panthers back into the game with his second of the night and eighth of the year, with help from Mike Weaver and Radek Dvorak, but it was too late, mitigating the damage to a 5-3 loss. Skinner, Staal, and Wideman picked up the three stars.

Down to Dallas, where the Stars welcomed back in a chorus of boos Sean Avery and the New York Rangers. Henrik Lundqvist and Kari Lethonen were in front of the cages for the game. Dallas opened the scoring with Brian Sutherby potting his second of the season, with help from Brandon Segal and Krys Barch. In the second period, Ruslan Fedotenko evened the score for New York with his eighth of the year, a shorthanded and unassisted goal. Mike Ribeiro took the lead back for the Stars with his ninth of the season, assisted by Loui Eriksson and Jeff Woywitka, on the power play. The Rangers tied it again in the third period with Artem Anisimov netting his tenth of the year, a power play goal from Marc Staal and the goalie Henrik Lundqvist. The tie was preserved into the shootout, where Mats Zuccarello scored the lone goal and giving the Rangers a 3-2 win. Anisimov, Lundqvist (28 for 30 saves) and losing goalie Lethonen (29 for 31 saves) earned the three stars.

Back north a bit into Chicago, where the Blackhawks hosted the Ottawa Senators. Brian Elliott and Corey Crawford got the starts. The first period went scoreless, and Ottawa took only forty-nine seconds in the second period to get on the board with Daniel Alfredsson potting his 13th of the season, with help from Erik Karlsson and Sergei Gonchar on the power play. Patrick Sharp evened the score for Chicago with his 24th of the season, helped along by Brian Campbell and Marian Hossa. Patrick Kane gave the Blackhawks the lead in the third period with his 12th of the season, an unassisted goal. Milan Michalek tied it late for the Senators with his eighth of the year, courtesy of Chris Campoli and Alfredsson. The tied lasted into a shootout, where Chicago won on goals by Jonathan Toews and Kane. Kane, Alfredsson, and Sharp were the three stars in the game.

Next up were the Calgary Flames hosting the Detroit Red Wings. Jimmy Howard and Miikka Kiprusoff played in goal for the game. Calgary got up first with Curtis Glencross netting his eighth of the season, with help from Matt Stajan and Anton Babchuk. Darren Helm answered for Detroit with his fourth of the year, assisted by Johan Franzen. Jarome Iginla gave the Flames the lead back with ten seconds left in the first period on his 17th of the season, helped along by Glencross and Jay Bouwmeester. Brian Rafalski retied it quickly in the second period with his first of the season, thanks to Jonathan Ericsson. Glencross answered back to make it 3-2 Flames only twenty-eight seconds later, his second of the night and ninth of the year coming from Babchuk and Niklas Hagman. Babchuk made it 4-2 for Calgary with his sixth of the season, a power play goal courtesy of Mark Giordano and Iginla. Patrick Eaves cut the lead back down for the Red Wings with his 12th of the year, a power play goal coming from Jiri Hudler and Todd Bertuzzi. Tying it in the third period for the Red Wings was Rafalski, with his second of the year and the night, with Henrik Zetterberg and Helm picking up the helpers. The tie was broken in the shootout by Bertuzzi's lone goal, giving Detroit a 5-4 win over Calgary. Glencross, Rafalski, and Babchuk were the game's three stars.

To British Columbia, where the Vancouver Canucks hosted the Edmonton Oilers. Nikolai Khabibulin and Cory Schneider were in between the pipes. The game was scoreless until thirty seconds into the second period, with Daniel Sedin potting his 23rd of the season, with help from Henrik Sedin and Kevin Bieksa. Ryan Kesler extended the Vanocuver lead with his 21st of the year, assisted by Andrew Alberts. Daniel Sedin made it 3-0 for the Canucks with his second of the night and 24th of the season, getting help from Henrik Sedin and Alexandre Burrows. Ales Hemsky got Edmonton on the board with a second left in the second period, his ninth of the year coming from Taylor Hall and Ladislav Smid. Kesler answered to make it 5-1 in the third period with two in a row, completing a hat trick with his 22nd and 23rd of the year, from Dan Hamhuis and Raffi Torres first and Christian Ehrhoff on the power play later. Alexander Edler wrapped it up for Vancouver, making it 6-1, a score later to be the final, with his fourth of the year, a power play goal from the Sedin twins, with Henrik finishing up a sock trick. Kesler, Daniel Sedin, and Henrik Sedin got the three stars.

Lastly, the Anaheim Ducks hosted the Columbus Blue Jackets. Steve Mason and Jonas Hiller were given the starting nods. Anaheim struck first with Teemu Selanne scoring back to back in the first and second periods, his eleventh and 12th of the season, both coming on the power play, with assists going to Saku Koivu and Lubomir Visnovsky first, and Cam Fowler and Visnovsky again. Matt Beleskey made it 3-0 for the Ducks with his second of the season, assisted by Maxim Lapierre and Toni Lydman. Making it 5-0 was Bobby Ryan in the third period, his 16th and 17th goals of the year being scored consecutively, with Corey Perry and Fowler getting the assists on the earlier goal, and Fowler wrapping a sock trick alongside Joffery Lupul on the latter power play tally. Brandon McMillan added on to make it 6-0 for Anaheim with his third of the season, a shorthanded goal from Beleskey and Luca Sbisa. This would be the final, with Selanne, Ryan, and Hiller (27 shutout) getting the three stars. In the fighting column, it was a fight night, with Jared Boll of Columbus taking on George Parros in the first period, before coming back for more against the Ducks' local expert, Andy Sutton, in the third period.

That's all the Friday hockey we've got. Check back here tomorrow for the Saturday coverage, and also watch for a sandwich post and football tomorrow.