Monday, January 3, 2011

Sunday NHL coverage

This post comes a tad late, as the return of work into my not-so-busy life has complicated matters a bit. I'll try to keep on pace with this now. The games for Sunday started in...

Montreal, with the Canadiens hosting the Atlanta Thrashers. Ondrej Pavelec and Carey Price guarded the cages. Rich Peverley got Atlanta scoring first with his ninth of the season, from Tobias Enstrom and Zach Bogosian. Montreal evened the score with a goal by Tomas Plekanec, his 12th of the year, a power play goal assisted by James wisniewski and Yannick Weber. The Thrashers retook the lead with Evander Kane potting his 13th of the year, with help from Patrice Cormier and Chris Thorburn. The Canadiens retied it on P.K. Subban's third of the season, a power play tally made possible by Roman Hamrlik and Scott Gomez. Atlanta retook the lead at 3-2 again with Andew Ladd netting his 13th of the season, from Enstrom and Niclas Bergfors. Brian Gionta tied the game again for Montreal in the third period, registering his 14th of the year with help from Max Pacioretty and Wisniewski. The tie was preserved until Dustin Byfuglien won it for the Thrashers in overtime on his 16th of the season, a power play goal from Enstrom, who completed a sock trick with that assist, and Kane. The three stars honors went to Byfuglien, Pavelec (47 for 50 saves), and Plekanec.

Next up was the Florida Panthers hosting the New York Rangers. Martin Biron and Tomas Vokoun were in net for the game. The game's first half went scoreless, and David Booth opened the scoring in the mid second period for Florida with his tenth of the season, a power play goal from Mike Santorelli and Dennis Wideman. Chris Higgins extended the Panthers lead in the third period with his sixth of the year, an unassisted goal. Stephen Weiss topped it off at 3-0 with his 12th of the season, into the empty net with no assistance. Higgins, Vokoun (32 save shutout), and Booth earned the three stars.

Heading up to Detroit, where the Red Wings hosted the Philadelphia Flyers. Brian Boucher and Jimmy Howard earned the starts from their coaches. The game was scoreless through the first period into the second until James van Riemsdyk opened the scoring for Philadelphia with his ninth of the campaign, from Andreas Nodl and Mike Richards. Dan Carcillo made it 2-0 for the Flyers with his second of the season, assisted by Andrej Meszaros and Matt Carle. Scott Hartnell extended the lead with his tenth of the year, with Sean O'Donnell and Danny Briere picking up the helpers. Jimmy Howard was replaced by Chris Osgood in the third period. Valtteri Filppula sparked Detroit into life with his tenth of the season, assisted by Johan Franzen. Henrik Zetterberg also scored for the Red Wings, cutting the Flyers lead to one goal with his 14th of the season, which was helped along by Tomas Holmstrom and Nicklas Lidstrom on the power play. However, Detroit managed no further offense, and fell 3-2 to visiting Philadelphia. Boucher (25 for 27 saves), Filppula, and Hartnell were the three stars.

Staying in the west, with the Minnesota Wild hosting the Phoenix Coyotes. Jason LaBarbera opposed Jose Theodore in the crease. Phoenix struck first with Ray Whitney potting his seventh of the year, from Radim Vrbata and Martin Hanzal. Minnesota answered late in the first period with Andrew Brunette, his eighth of the year coming from Mikko Koivu and Antti Miettinen. Brunette scored his ninth of the season and second of the game in the second period, a power play goal courtesy of Brent Burns and Koivu. Nick Schultz made it 3-1 for the Wild with his third of the year, from John Madden and Eric Nystrom. Scottie Upshall got the Coyotes going again in the third period with his tenth of the year, assisted by Shane Doan and Eric Belanger. Thirteen seconds later, Keith Yandle tied the game at 3 with his sixth of the season, from Vernon Fiddler and Lee Stempniak. Minnesota reclaimed the lead with Burns scoring his 12th of the year, with help from Koivu. Ed Jovanovski tied it up again for Phoenix with his fifth of the season, from Yandle and Doan. The Coyotes took the lead on the second of the night and eighth of the year from Whitney, assisted by Kyle Turris and Vrbata. The Wild tied the gmae at 5 with a Pierre-Marc Bouchard goal, his second of the year, with Brunette and Burns grabbing the helpers. Minnesota won it in the ensuing overtime on Cam Barker's first of the year, from Bouchard and Koivu, who wrapped up a four assist night. Earning the stars were Brunette, Burns, and Whitney.

Following that was the Nashville Predators hosting the Columbus Blue Jackets. Steve Mason and Pekka Rinne played in goal. R.J. Umberger got Columbus on the board first with his 13th of the season, assisted by Marc Methot and Derick Brassard. Shea Weber tied it for Nashville in the second period with his sixth of the year, from Colin Wilson and Patric Hornqvist. The Predators took the lead on Nick Spaling's second of the season, with help from Weber and Joel Ward. Hornqvist made it 3-1 for Nashville with his tenth of the campaign, a power play goal made possible by Weber and Ryan Suter. Sergei Kostitsyn brought it up to 4-1 with his eighth of the year, courtesy of Wilson and David Legwand. This was the final score, with Weber, Hornqvist, and Rinne (19 of 20 stops) getting the three stars.

Into St. Louis, with the Blues hosting the Dallas Stars. Kari Lehtonen and Jaroslav Halak played in between the pipes. The game opened with a pair of fights, involving St. Louis' Cam Janssen squaring off against Dallas' Krys Barch and later B.J. Crombeen dancing with Brandon Segal. David Backes opened the scoring for the Blues, notching his tenth of the year from Matt D'Agostini. Brenden Morrow evened the score for the Stars with his 15th of the season, a power play goal assisted by Brad Richards and Loui Eriksson. Alex Steen retook the lead for St. Louis with his 13th of the season, helped along by Eric Brewer and D'Agostini. The second period was scoreless, and Morrow retied the game in the third period for Dallas with his second of the night and 16th of the campaign, from Jamie Benn and Mike Ribeiro. Brad Richards gave the Stars the lead with his 18th of the season, assisted on by Trevor Daley. Extending the Dallas lead to 4-2 was James Neal, his 14th of the season coming from Toby Petersen and Richards. This would later be the final, with Morrow, Richards, and Eriksson picking up the three stars.

To the west coast, with the Anaheim Ducks playing host to the Chicago Blackhawks. Corey Crawford returned from injury to make a start, opposing Jonas Hiller in net. Andreas Lilja got Anaheim on the board first with his first of the year, assisted by Joffery Lupul and Brandon McMillan. Bryan Bickell later evened it for Chicago with his eleventh of the season, with help coming from Brian Campbell and Dave Bolland. Corey Perry retook the lead for the Ducks early in the second period on his 21st of the campaign, with the helpers accredited to Matt Beleskey and Toni Lydman. The 2-1 margin ended up being the final, with Hiller (39 for 40 saves), Lydman, and Bickell earning the three stars.

Lastly, the Vancouver Canucks hosted the Colorado Avalanche. Featured in net were Craig Anderson and Roberto Luongo. Vancouver got on the board first late in the first period with the first of the year (lots of firsts, eh?) by Alexandre Bolduc, with assists from Tanner Glass and the goalie Roberto Luongo. The score was unchanged in the second period, and the Canucks extended their lead in the third period on the eighth of the year by Mason Raymond, making a return from injury and receiving help from Bolduc and Kevin Bieksa. Colorado tried to rally back on Paul Stastny's 15th of the year, assisted by Matt Duchene and John-Michael Liles, but the Avalanche mustered no further offense and lost 2-1 in Vancouver. The three stars were Luongo (31 for 32 saves), Dan Hamhuis (unknown contributions), and Bolduc.

That's all for Sunday. Sorry for the delays, my laziness has returned. Officially in Ketchup mode.

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