Tuesday NHL recap

There were five games of hockey again Tuesday. However, in baseball, Adrian Beltre signs with the Texas Rangers for 6 years and 96 million dollars. In hockey, we start with...

The New Jersey Devils hosting the Minnesota Wild. Jose Theodore and Johan Hedberg played in net as a battle of the backups. Cal Clutterbuck opened the scoring for Minnesota with his eleventh of the season, an unassisted goal. Ilya Kovalchuk tied it for New Jersey in the second period with his tenth of the year, helped along by Travis Zajac and Nick Palmieri. The Wild answered back with the first of the season by Clayton Stoner, with help coming from Martin Havlat and Pierre-Marc Bouchard. This goal would hold up for the Wild, who took the Devils down 2-1. Clutterbuck, Havlat, and Stoner picked up the three stars.

Up next, the Washington Capitals hosted the Tampa Bay Lightning. Dwayne Roloson made his Lightning debut, opposing Semyon Varlamov. The game was scoreless throughout regulation, and the tie was broken in overtime by Martin St. Louis of Tampa Bay potting his 17th of the year, from Vincent Lecavalier and Pavel Kubina, producing a 1-0 win over the Capitals. Roloson (34 save shutout), St. Louis, and Varlamov (37 for 38 saves) were the three stars.

Heading out west, with the Edmonton Oilers hosting the Detroit Red Wings. Chris Osgood and Nikolai Khabibulin guarded the cages. Detroit drew first blood with Henrik Zetterberg netting his 15th of the year, assisted by Nicklas Lidstrom and Drew Miller. Edmonton tied on Gilbert Brule's fifth of the season, helped along by Liam Reddox and Linus Omark. Todd Bertuzzi gave the Red Wings the lead back in the second period with his sixth of the season, courtesy of Jiri Hudler and Valtteri Filppula. Kris Draper added on his third of the year to extend the Detroit lead, with help coming from Darren Helm and Brian Rafalski. Theo Peckham got the Oilers going again in the third period with his second of the year, assisted on by Sam Gagner and Ales Hemsky. They tied the game with Gagner's tenth of the campaign, from Hemsky only. Bertuzzi once again took the lead back for the Red Wings, netting his second of the night and seventh of the season, with help from Niklas Kronwall and Filppula. Forty-four seconds later, Helm iced the cake and made it 5-3 for Detroit with his third of the season, courtesy of Justin Abdelkader and Lidstrom. This ended up being the final, with Helm, Gagner, and Bertuzzi picking up the three stars.

Following that was the Phoenix Coyotes hosting the Columbus Blue Jackets. In front of the nets were Mathieu Garon and Ilya Bryzgalov. The first period went scoreless, and Scottie Upshall got Phoenix to strike first with his eleventh of the year in the second period, assisted by Eric Belanger and Shane Doan. Sami Lepisto made it 2-0 for the Coyotes with his third of the season, with Martin Hanzal and Radim Vrbata picking up the helpers. R.J. Umberger got Columbus on the board with his 14th of the campaign, helped along by Rick Nash and Derick Brassard. The Blue Jackets tied it on Jakub Voracek's power play goal in the third period, his eighth goal of any sorts on the season, which got assistance from Brassard and Fedor Tyutin. Doan took the lead back for Phoenix with his tenth of the year, with Keith Yandle and Belanger getting the assists. Vernon Fiddler made it 4-2 Coyotes with his fourth of the season, assisted by Adrian Aucoin and Taylor Pyatt. This would later become the final, with Doan, Bryzgalov (26 of 28 saves), and Belanger earning the three stars awards.

Lastly, the Colorado Avalanche hosted the Buffalo Sabres. Ryan Miller and Peter Budaj got the starting nods for the game. Colorado struck first with Daniel Winnik notching his seventh of the year, from T.J. Galiardi and the goalie Peter Budaj. Thirty-three seconds later, Buffalo tied it on the 15th of the year by Thomas Vanek, a power play goal assisted by Drew Stafford and Tim Connolly. Shortly thereafter, the Avalanche had the lead again on a shorthanded goal by Ryan O'Reilly, his fifth tally of the season, from Winnik. Both teams took the second period off from scoring, and the Sabres regained the trick with Jochen Hecht netting his fifth of the season in the third period as a tying goal, from Jason Pominville and Vanek. Steve Montador gave Buffalo the lead with his fourth of the campaign, with Stafford and Paul Gaustad picking up the helpers. Matt Duchene came in the clutch to retie the game at 3 only thirty-one seconds later, his 16th of the year coming off of Tomas Fleischmann and Milan Hejduk. The tie lasted into overtime until the Avalanche won it on the 13th of the year by David Jones, a power play tally made possible by Fleischmann and Ryan Wilson. Earning the stars in the 4-3 Avalanche win were Jones, Winnik, and Budaj (37 for 40 saves).

That's all the Tuesday hockey we've got. Wednesday hockey will be completed tomorrow.