New Year's hockey

Pulling out another blog of hockey semi-live. There are seven games today, highlighted by the Winter Classic (see the fifth game paragraph). It starts off in...

Carolina, where the Hurricanes host the New Jersey Devils. Martin Brodeur and Cam Ward started in net for the game. Carolina opened the scoring with Tuomo Ruutu's ninth of the year, assisted by by Joe Corvo on the power play. Jeff Skinner made it 2-0 for the Hurricanes with his tenth of the season, with help from Tim Gleason and Chad LaRose. Extending the lead farther was Sergei Samsonov potting his seventh of the year, from Corvo and Jamie McBain on the power play, chasing away New Jersey goalie Martin Brodeur in favor of Johan Hedberg. Zac Dalpe made it 4-0 for the 'Canes with his first of the season, assisted by Ruutu and McBain. Rod Pelley got the Devils on the board finally with his second of the campaign, assisted by Matthew Corrente and Anssi Salmela. New Jersey made it 4-2 with Travis Zajac striking early in the second period, with help from Patrik Elias and Anton Volchenkov. Samsonov answered with his eighth of the year and second of the night, helped along by Ruutu and Eric Staal on the power play. The Devils cut the lead to two goals again at 5-3 with Elias netting his eighth of the season, from Corrente. Skinner answered with his second of the night and eleventh of the campaign, with help from LaRose and Ruutu, the latter finishing up a sock trick. The 6-3 score favoring Carolina over New Jersey was the final, with Ruutu, Samsonov, and Skinner grabbing the three stars.

Heading north for an All-Canada match, with the Ottawa Senators hosting the Toronto Maple Leafs. James Reimer and Brian Elliott played in goal. Toronto opened the scoring with Clarke MacArthur scoring his tenth of the year, assisted by Tomas Kaberle. Tyler Bozak netted two in a row for the Maple Leafs, his sixth and seventh of the season, both from Joey Crabb and Phil Kessel. Brian Elliott was lifted for Mike Brodeur in the Ottawa goal. Matt Carkner tried to change the pace for Ottawa by dropping the gloves with Colton Orr while down 3-0. It did little good, as it became 4-0 in the second period with Darryl Boyce scoring his first of the year, assisted by Kris Versteeg and Colby Armstrong. Luke Schenn extended the lead farther with his second of the season, helped along by Kaberla and Nikolai Kulemin. The Senators finally got on the board with a power play goal from Sergei Gonchar, his fifth tally of the year made possible by Erik Karlsson and Daniel Alfredsson. Toronto held on through the scoreless third period to beat their rivals from Ottawa 5-1. Bozak, Crabb, and Schenn picked up the three stars.

Back into the states, with the Buffalo Sabres hosting the Boston Bruins. Tuukka Rask and Ryan Miller got the starting nods. The scoring started early on with Andrew Ference potting his second of the year for Boston, with Adam McQuaid and Marc Savard picking up the helpers. Thirty-seven seconds later, the game was tied after Jason Pominville sank his seventh of the season, from Thomas Vanek and Mike Weber. The Bruins retook the lead forty-three seconds after that with Dennis Seidenberg netting his second of the campaign, unassisted. They took a 3-1 lead with a goal by Brad Marchand, his sixth, with help from Johnny Boychuk and Mark Recchi. Cody McCormick and Adam McQuaid dropped the gloves mid-period to set a tone. It inspired Buffalo, specifically Vanek, who notched his 14th of the year, thanks to Tim Connolly and Pominville. Thirty second later, the Bruins had an answer in a shorthanded goal by Zdeno Chara, his fifth of the year coming from Patrice Bergeron and Recchi. Drew Stafford added two in a row, with his eleventh of the year in the first period going unassisted, enough to chase away Tuukka Rask in favor of Tim Thomas, and his 12th of the season coming in the second period thanks to Paul Gaustad. This tied the game at 4, and the Sabres took the lead on Pominville's second of the night and eighth of the year, assisted by Andrej Sekera and Jochen Hecht on the power play. Boston rookie Tyler Seguin tied the game at 5 with his early third period goal, the sixth for him this season, with help from Daniel Paille. Boston retook the lead with Steve Kampfer notching his second of the season, assisted by Seguin and Chara. Stafford completed his hat trick for Buffalo to send it to overtime with twenty-eight seconds left in regulation, his 13th of the year coming from Connolly and Pominville at an opportune time for the Sabres. The tie lasted into a shootout, where Stafford scored, was answered by Michael Ryder, followed up by Vanek netting a goal, answered again with Seguin scoring, and once more the Sabres took the lead with Tyler Ennis, and winning 7-6 on the miss by Chara. Picking up the three stars in the Sabres victory over the Bruins were Stafford, Pominville, and Seguin.

Next on the list, the Tampa Bay Lightning host the New York Rangers. Henrik Lundqvist and Cedrick Desjardins were in the paint. Tampa Bay struck first with Dana Tyrell netting his fourth of the season, courtesy of Nate Thompson. It was 1-0 Lightning until late in the third period, with a timely goal by New York's Marian Gaborik, his eleventh of the season, assisted by Dan Girardi. The Rangers would fall in the ensuing overtime, however, as Thompson netted his sixth of the year for the Bolts, from Tyrell and Mike Lundin to win it 2-1. Earning the three stars were winning goalie Cedrick Desjardins (34 of 35 saves), losing goalie Henrik Lundqvist (31 of 33 saves), and Nate Thompson.

The Main Event of New Year's Day will go here, in full neon green color, as the Pittsburgh Penguins host the Washington Capitals on the Heinz Field rink outside at the home of the Steelers. Semyon Varlamov and Marc-Andre Fleury earned the starts in this prestigious game. The first period was uneventful, save for a John Erskine of Washington and Michael Rupp of Pittsburgh fight. The second period featured more of what we like to see, scoring, opened up by the Penguins' Evgeni Malkin, who scored his 14th of the year thanks to Kris Letang and the goalie Marc-Andre Fleury. Mike Knuble answered for the Capitals with his ninth of the season, a power play goal from Nicklas Backstrom and Mike Green. Eric Fehr extended the Washington lead with his sixth of the season, helped along by Marcus Johansson. Fehr extended the lead with his seventh of the season, also his second of the night, from Jason Chimera and John Erskine, which led to the Capitals 3-1 win over the Penguins outdoors. Varlamov (32 for 33 saves), Fehr, and Malkin earned the three stars.

Heading out west for the Los Angeles Kings hosting the San Jose Sharks at Staples Center. Your goalies for this game are Antti Niemi and Jonathan Quick. After going nearly two periods scoreless, Devin Setoguchi got San Jose on the board with his seventh of the season, from Kent Huskins and Marc-Edouard Vlasic. This would prove to be the final, and the three stars went to winning goalie Antti Niemi (29 save shutout), Setoguchi, and losing goalie Jonathan Quick (18 of 19 saves).

Lastly, in the battle of Alberta, the Edmonton Oilers host the Calgary Flames. Miikka Kiprusoff and Nikolai Khabibulin are in between the pipes. Tim Jackman put Calgary up first, his fifth of the season being helped along by David Moss and Jay Bouwmeester. Edmonton evened the score with Ryan Jones' ninth of the year, assisted by Tom Gilbert and Dustin Penner. The Flames retook the lead on Mark Giordano's fourth of the season, with Alex Tanguay and Olli Jokinen getting the helpers. Calgary would hold onto the 2-1 win and defeat their vicious rivals at the enemy rink. Giordano, losing goalie Khabibulin (28 for 30 saves), and Bouwmeester were the three stars.

Busy day on Sunday, with all football being played today. That will be spread over three posts. I'll try to put out the hockey post as well. Also, last minute hockey news, as the New York Islanders have traded ageless Dwayne Roloson to the Tampa Bay Lightning for minor league defenseman Ty Wishart.