NHL Action - Tuesday

Trying to catch up now, with Tuesday's games coming today before I hit the homework. Also, I have another song that will be added on after this post. For the games, we started off in...

Pittsburgh, where the Penguins hosted the New York Islanders. Kevin Poulin and Marc-Andre Fleury made the starts. Craig Adams, after two periods of scorelessness with two fights between Travis Hamonic and Tyler Kennedy, followed by Zenon Konopka and Aaron Asham, scored his third of the season for Pittsburgh. The assists came from Dustin Jeffrey and Asham, and the Penguins would shut the Islanders out 1-0. Fleury (29 save shutout), Poulin (30 for 31 saves), and Adams were given the three stars.

Speaking of New York, the Rangers hosted the Florida Panthers. Tomas Vokoun and Henrik Lundqvist were in the creases. Rostislav Olesz opened the scoring for Florida with his fourth of the season, coming from Chris Higgins and Dennis Wideman. Derek Stepan tied it for New York in the second period with his 14th of the year, assisted by Wojtek Wolski and Mats Zuccarello. Keaton Ellerby put the Panthers back in front with his first of the season, helped along by Dmitry Kulikov and Shawn Matthias. Mike Santorelli put Florida up 3-1 with his 13th of the year, as Bryan Allen and Radek Dvorak picked up the helpers. The Rangers got a goal back early in the third period with Brandon Prust notching his seventh of the season, thanks to Mike Sauer and Zuccarello. New York tied the game at 3 on the power play when Brian Boyle scored his 18th of the year, from Marian Gaborik and Zuccarello, who completed a sock trick. The Panthers finished things in regulation with a Mike Weaver goal, his second of the season coming from Olesz and Santorelli. In the 4-3 Panther victory over the Rangers, Olesz, Santorelli, and Zuccarello picked up the three stars.

Into Ohio, where the Columbus Blue Jackets hosted the Anaheim Ducks. Guarding the cages were Jonas Hiller and Steve Mason. Teemu Selanne scored first for Anaheim, his 15th of the season coming with the man advantage, courtesy of Bobby Ryan and Lubomir Visnovsky. Cam Fowler made it 2-0 for the Ducks on his fifth of the year, also a power play tally, helped along by Visnovsky and Saku Koivu. Columbus got on the board with their own power play goal, after a Jared Boll-George Parros fight, as Rick Nash netted his 23rd of the season thanks to Derick Brassard and Grant Clitsome. Anaheim made it 3-1 in the third period on a Jason Blake goal, his tenth of the year made possible by Koivu and Selanne. Brassard answered for the Blue Jackets with another power play goal, good for his 12th of the campaign, from Jakub Voracek and Fedor Tyutin. Columbus wouldn't muster any further offense, falling 3-2 to the Ducks, with three stars awarded to Hiller (35 for 37 saves), Selanne and Brassard.

Back east and south, where the Tampa Bay Lightning hosted the Toronto Maple Leafs. In front of the nets were James Reimer (despite what Yahoo! would think) and Dwayne Roloson. Tampa Bay got on the board first with a goal by Simon Gagne, his ninth of the season getting help from Victor Hedman and Teddy Purcell. Purcell made it 2-0 on the power play with his eighth of the year, helped along by Brett Clark and Sean Bergenheim. This score would last throughout the rest of the game, resulting in a 2-0 Tampa Bay win over Toronto, where Roloson (26 save shutout), Hedman, and Purcell earned the three stars.

Up into Ottawa, where the Senators hosted the Buffalo Sabres. Ryan Miller and Brian Elliott were given the starting nods. Chris Kelly put Ottawa up first with his eleventh of the season, coming from Nick Foligno. Paul Byron responded for Buffalo with his first of the year, made possible by Tyler Ennis and Drew Stafford. The Sabres extended the lead to 2-0 with a power play goal by Jochen Hecht, his eighth marker of the season, with helpers coming from Tyler Myers and Thomas Vanek. The Senators finally retied the game in the third period with a Sergei Gonchar goal, his sixth of the year coming on the power play thanks to Erik Karlsson and Mike Fisher. The tie was broken by Buffalo in overtime on Shaone Morrison's goal, his first of the season, assisted by Jason Pominville and Thomas Vanek. The three stars were given out to Miller (27 for 29 saves), Kelly, and Byron.

Next up, the Philadelphia Flyers hosted the Montreal Canadiens. Carey Price and Sergei Bobrovsky were elected to block rubber. Philadelphia struck first, with Jeff Carter scoring his 23rd of the season on the power play, assisted by Mike Richards and Chris Pronger. Kimmo Timonen made it 2-0 Flyers with his own power play goal, helped along by Pronger and Richards as his third of the year. Dan Carcillo also scored his third of the season, early in the second period, with help from Pronger, who secured his sock trick early. Montreal finally visited the scoreboard when David Desharnais scored his third of the campaign, courtesy of Hal Gill and Mathieu Darche. Claude Giroux got Philadelphia up to 4-1 with his 19th of the year, made possible by Scott Hartnell and Danny Briere on the power play. The Canadiens scored again in the third period to make it 4-2 with Darche's ninth of the season, from Travis Moen and Roman Hamrlik. Briere made it 5-2 Flyers, which would be the final, with his 26th of the year, the empty net goal going with assistance from Pronger and the goalie Bobrovsky. Giroux, Pronger, and Richards got the three stars.

Out west in the Windy City, the Chicago Blackhawks hosted the Minnesota Wild. Niklas Backstrom and Corey Crawford tended the twines. Martin Havlat put Minnesota on the board first with his 14th of the season, assisted by Kyle Brodziak. Patrick Sharp tied the game for Chicago with his 26th of the year, courtesy of Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews on the power play. The Blackhawks took a 2-1 lead on the 15th of the season by Troy Brouwer, made possible by Toews and Brian Campbell. The Wild tied it in the second period with Chuck Kobasew notching his ninth of the year, with help from Jared Spurgeon and Pierre-Marc Bouchard. Antti Miettinen gave Minnesota a 3-2 lead with his ninth of the season, thanks to Andrew Brunette and Mikko Koivu. Bouchard wrapped the game up for the Wild in the third period, making it 4-2 with his fourth of the year, which was assisted by Matt Cullen and Kobasew. Picking up the three stars were Backstrom (31 for 33 saves), Toews, and Havlat.

Finally, the Phoenix Coyotes played host to the Edmonton Oilers. Playing in goal were Devan Dubnyk and Ilya Bryzgalov. Scottie Upshall opened the scoring for Phoenix on his 13th of the season, getting help along the way from Keith Yandle and Lee Stempniak on the power play. Kyle Turris made it 2-0 Coyotes with his eighth of the year, courtesy of Ray Whitney and Keith Yandle. Edmonton finally got on the board with Jean-Francois Jacques' third of the season, which got help from Zack Stortini and Kurtis Foster. Taylor Hall tied it in the third period with his 16th of the year, a power play goal from Shawn Horcoff and Jeff Petry. Linus Omark gave the Oilers the lead with his third of the season, made possible by Sam Gagner and Magnus Paajarvi. Phoenix got back into a tie with the second of the night and 14th of the year by Upshall, receiving assistance from Shane Doan and Turris. Dustin Penner secured a 4-3 victory for Edmonton by sinking his 15th of the campaign with just twenty-two seconds left, with assists provided by Hall and Horcoff. Getting the three stars were Upshall, Turris, and Hall.

That's all for Tuesday's games. I'm still significantly behind, so Wednesday's will be out tomorrow. That song I mentioned at the start of the post will be on a whenever I get to it plan.