Monday NHL action

Sorry for the later post, I've spoiled the reading community with all this live stuff lately. The NHL hosted six games for Monday's schedule. We start with...

The Carolina Hurricanes hosting the Toronto Maple Leafs. Jean-Sebastien Giguere and Cam Ward made the starts in goal. Joe Corvo started the scoring for Carolina with his seventh goal of the season, a power play tally from Joni Pitkanen and Tuomo Ruutu. Tomas Kaberle evened the score for Toronto with his second of the year, with help from Phil Kessel and Joey Crabb. The Hurricanes made it 2-1 in the second period with the third of the season from Jamie McBain, assisted by Jussi Jokinen. Carolina continued extending their lead in the third period with Brandon Sutter notching his ninth of the year, getting helped along by Ian White and Zach Boychuk. The Maple Leafs got back into a tie when Tim Brent potted two straight, his fifth and sixth of the season, with Luke Schenn and Francois Beauchemin helping out the first time, and Dion Phaneuf and Mike Brown picking up helpers on the latter shorthanded goal. Sutter potted his second of the night and tenth of the year, putting the Hurricanes back ahead thanks to Jokinen. Carolina extended the lead again on a Jeff Skinner goal good for his 18th of the year, courtesy of Corvo and Eric Staal on the power play. Toronto attempted another comeback with Brown nailing his second of the season, made possible by Brent and Carl Gunnarsson on the man advantage. The Hurricanes wrapped the game up 6-4 with an Erik Cole empty net goal, his 13th marker of the year going unassisted. Sutter, Corvo, and Brent were given the three stars.

Up to Washington, D.C., where the Capitals hosted the New York Rangers. Martin Biron and Braden Holtby were given the starting nods. Matt Hendricks got Washington on the board in the second period with his seventh of the season, assisted by Marcus Johansson and Scott Hannan. New York answered in the third period with Marian Gaborik scoring his 16th of the year, with help from Brian Boyle and Sean Avery. The tie lasted into the shootout, with four shooters converting in a row (Wojtek Wolski, Hendricks, Mats Zuccarello, and Nicklas Backstrom) before the Rangers could seal the game off with an Artem Anisimov conversion. The three stars went to Gaborik, Biron (22 for 23 saves), and Alex Ovechkin for being the best Russian hockey player of the 21st century.

Out west a distance, where the Colorado Avalanche hosted the St. Louis Blues. Tending the twines were Jaroslav Halak and Peter Budaj. Brandon Yip opened the scoring for Colorado early in the second period with his eighth of the year, coming from Ryan Wilson. St. Louis tied the game on Jay McClement putting his sixth of the season in the mesh, assisted by Brad Boyes and Brad Winchester. Eric Brewer tied the game for the Blues with his eighth of the year, helped along by Boyes and McClement. Yip retied the game for the Avalanche with his second of the night and ninth of the season, a power play goal from Paul Stastny and Kyle Cumiskey. Colorado made it 3-2 with a power play goal by Kevin Shattenkirk, his seventh of the campaign getting some assistance from John-Michael Liles and Milan Hejduk. Forty-four seconds later, the Avalanche lead was up to 4-2 with the first of the season by Ryan Stoa, courtesy of Adam Foote and Cumiskey. David Backes tried to get St. Louis back in the game with his 16th of the year, from Patrik Berglund and sock-trick-earning Boyes, but it was not good enough, as the Blues fell 4-3. Earning the three stars were Yip, Stoa, and McClement.

Up north into Calgary, where the Flames hosted the Nashville Predators. Pekka Rinne and Miikka Kiprusoff were chosen to receive ice time. Curtis Glencross opened the scoring for Calgary with his 12th of the season, helped along by Matt Stajan and Niklas Hagman. David Legwand put Nashville into a tie at 1 with his seventh of the year in the second period, with the helpers provided by Colin Wilson and Joel Ward. Jarome Iginla put the Flames back in the lead with his 21st of the season, a power play goal made possible by Stajan and Alex Tanguay. Brendan Morrison produced what would be the final goal of the game while putting Calgary up 3-1 with his eighth of the year. The power play goal got help from Tanguay and Mark Giordano. Tanguay, Kiprusoff (23 for 24 saves), and Stajan were awarded the three stars.

Staying in Canada, the Vancouver Canucks played host to the Dallas Stars. Kari Lethonen and Roberto Luongo were in between the pipes. Vancouver struck early with an Alexandre Burrows tally, his tenth of the season coming via Daniel Sedin and Keith Ballard. Brad Richards tied the game for Dallas with his 20th of the year, helped along by James Neal. Ryan Kesler gave the Canucks the lead back with his his 27th of the season, a power play goal from Alexander Edler and Henrik Sedin. Vancouver was up 3-1 by the end of the first with Christian Ehrhoff netting his eighth of the year, with help from Henrik and Daniel. Mikael Samuelsson kept the Canucks going with his ninth of the season in the second period, receiving help from Kesler and Mason Raymond. Henrik continued the scoring for Vancouver, making it 5-1 on his eleventh of the year, helped along by Aaron Volpatti and Raffi Torres. Raymond kept the Canucks rolling in the third period with his ninth of the season, assisted by Edler and Samuelsson. Wrapping up the scoring at 7-1 Canucks was Dan Hamhuis on the power play, his fourth of the year going in thanks to Jeff Tambellini and Chris Tanev. Kesler, Henrik, and Raymond got the three stars.

Lastly, previous trading partners played a game, with the Los Angeles Kings hosting the Boston Bruins. Tim Thomas and Jonathan Quick were given starting honors. Ryan Smyth put Los Angeles up first with his 18th of the season, a power play goal from Jarret Stoll and Drew Doughty. The Kings went up 2-0 in the third period on an Andrei Loktionov goal, his second of the year made possible by Dustin Brown and Anze Kopitar. This would be the final, with Quick (34 save shutout), Smyth, and Thomas (32 for 34 blocks) earning the three stars.

That's all for Monday. Again, I'm sorry to be slow, but I've been getting swamped lately. Luckily, the All-Star break is fast approaching, and I will be caught up by Friday. Tuesday's games should be out tomorrow, and we'll see how I can do from there.