Tuesday NHL

Against my plans, I will cover these games, at least the early ones, live. We start with...

The Philadelphia Flyers hosting the Washington Capitals. Michal Neuvirth and Sergei Bobrovsky will see game action tonight. Philadelphia strikes first on Jeff Carter's 20th of the season, an unassisted goal. Neuvirth was pulled from the Washington net during the intermission, being replaced by Semyon Varlamov. The Flyers extended the lead to 2-0 on Claude Giroux's 18th of the year, courtesy of Carter and Kimmo Timmonen. Washington started a comeback with Mike Knuble notching his eleventh of the year, with help from Marcus Johansson. Alex Ovechkin tied the game at 2 with his 16th of the season, a goal assisted by Jason Chimera and Nicklas Backstrom. The tie lasted into overtime, but it was short-lived with Philadelphia winning on the second of the year by Andrej Meszaros, with Matt Carle getting credit for an assist. Carter, Giroux, and Bobrovsky (23 for 25 saves) are the three stars.

Next, we travel across Pennsylvania, with the Pittsburgh Penguins hosting the Detroit Red Wings. Picking up the starts are Joey MacDonald and Marc-Andre Fleury. Jordan Staal has Pittsburgh up 1-0 with his third of the season, made possible by Tyler Kennedy. The Penguins make it 2-0 on the sixth of the year by Chris Conner, who converted a penalty shot from a Kris Draper hook. Detroit got on the board late in the second period with a Johan Franzen goal, his 20th of the season, made possible by Patrick Eaves and Henrik Zetterberg. Thirty seconds later, Chris Kunitz restored the two goal lead for Pittsburgh with his 16th of the campaign, assisted by Pascal Dupuis and Evgeni Malkin. Matt Cooke netted his ninth of the year for the Penguins, putting them up 4-1 with the empty net goal from Kennedy and Brooks Orpik. This was the final, with Fleury (36 for 37 saves), Conner, and Kennedy earning the three stars.

Down the East Coast to Raleigh, where the Carolina Hurricanes host the Boston Bruins. In between the pipes are Tim Thomas and Cam Ward. Boston jumps out to the early lead with the third of the season by Marc Savard, a power play tally with help from Johnny Boychuk and Michael Ryder. Carolina answers late in the period also on the power play with Jussi Jokinen, who netted his eleventh of the season, thanks to All-Star Game captain Eric Staal and Joe Corvo. The Bruins took the lead back with Brad Marchand potting his tenth of the season, with help from Zdeno Chara and Mark Recchi. The Hurricanes tied the game again with Chad LaRose scoring his ninth of the season, thanks to Tuomo Ruutu and Jeff Skinner. Boston retook the lead with Milan Lucic scoring his 17th of the year, from Recchi and Steve Kampfer on the power play. The final was 3-2, Boston over Carolina, with Tim Thomas (43 for 45 saves), Recchi, and Ruutu earning the three stars.

Farther south, the Tampa Bay Lightning host the Columbus Blue Jackets. The starting goalies will be Mathieu Garon and Dwayne Roloson. Columbus struck first with an R.J. Umberger goal, his 16th of the season, thanks to Antoine Vermette and the goalie Mathieu Garon. Tampa Bay evened the score with the 34th of the year by Steven Stamkos, helped along by Victor Hedman. The Lightning take a 2-1 lead on Stamkos' second of the night and 35th of the season, a power play goal coming from Martin St. Louis and Teddy Purcell. Derick Brassard supplied the goal to retie the game for the Blue Jackets, his eleventh of the year getting help from Rick Nash and Jakub Voracek. Ryan Malone gave Tampa Bay a 3-2 win in the shootout with his lone tally. Roloson (28 for 30 saves), Stamkos, and Hedman earned the three stars.

North of the border, the Ottawa Senators are hosting the Anaheim Ducks. Jonas Hiller and Brian Elliott will receive the starting duties. Corey Perry opened the scoring for Anaheim with his 24th of the year, from Bobby Ryan and Matt Beleskey. There was a fight in the late first period between notorious pugilists George Parros of Anaheim and Matt Carkner of Ottawa. Mike Fisher tied the game for Ottawa on his 13th of the season, from Milan Michalek and Erik Karlsson. Anaheim did eventually take home a 2-1 win in the shootout on the lone tally by Bobby Ryan. Winning goalie Hiller (39 for 40 saves), losing goalie Elliott (26 of 27 stops), and Fisher got the three stars.

Coming just a bit back stateside, the Buffalo Sabres will host the Montreal Canadiens. Carey Price and Ryan Miller will be stopping pucks at the ends of the ice. Montreal got the first goal of the game on David Desharnais' second of the season, a power play goal from Roman Hamrlik and James Wisniewski. Buffalo evens the score with Tyler Ennis on the power play for his eleventh of the season, with the helpers provided by Thomas Vanek and Tim Connolly. Buffalo took the game 2-1 in overtime with the Sabres scoring on the ninth of the year by Jason Pominville, a power play goal made possible by Vanek and Ennis. The three stars go to Ennis, Miller (29 for 30 saves), and Nathan Gerbe (nothing special).

Out west we have the St. Louis Blues hosting the Los Angeles Kings. Jonathan Quick and Jaroslav Halak are in the creases for their teams. St. Louis strikes first with Patrik Berglund netting his ninth of the year, a power play marker made possible by Matt D'Agostini and Alex Pietrangelo. Los Angeles tied it on the first of the season by Matt Greene, with Brad Richardson and Kyle Clifford picking up the helpers. The Blues retook the lead in the third period with Erik Johnson putting away his fifth of the year, courtesy of Alex Steen and Eric Brewer. The final was 2-1 Blues over Kings, with T.J. Oshie, D'Agostini, and Justin Williams getting the official, albeit sketchy three stars. As an opinionated blogger, I would give three stars status to Erik Johnson, Jaroslav Halak (26 for 27 saves), and Alex Steen.

The Phoenix Coyotes are also playing a home game, hosting the Nashville Predators. Pekka Rinne and Ilya Bryzgalov will be facing the rubber. Nashville drew first blood with J.P. Dumont scoring his seventh of the season, assisted by Chris Mueller and Matt Halischuk. Patric Hornqvist made it 2-0 Predators with his 14th of the season, from David Legwand. Radim Vrbata answered for Phoenix, his tenth of the year making it 2-1 with assists going to Shane Doan and Keith Yandle on the power play goal. Lee Stempniak tied the game at 2 for the Coyotes with his eleventh of the year, from Adrian Aucoin and Sami Lepisto. Nashville took a 302 lead when Dumont recorded his eighth of the year and second of the night with help from Joel Ward and Martin Erat. The Predators ran the lead to 4-2 with Dumont completing his hat trick with his ninth of the season, helped along by Halischuk and Mueller. Hornqvist made it 5-2 for Nashville with his second of the night and 15th of the season, an unassisted goal. This would be the final, with Dumont, Halischuk, and Hornqvist earning the three stars.

Into the Rocky Mountains, where the Colorado Avalanche host the Vancouver Canucks. Roberto Luongo and Craig Anderson are responsible for guarding the nets. Alexander Edler puts Vancouver up first with his sixth of the year, a power play goal coming from Daniel Sedin and Ryan Kesler. John-Michael Liles tied the game for Colorado with his sixth of the season, also a power play goal, helped along by Milan Hejduk and Paul Stastny. The Canucks took the lead back with a goal by Kesler, a power play marker going as his 25th of the year, from Christian Ehrhoff and Edler. The Avalanche responded, tying the game at 2 on a David Jones goal, his 15th of the year coming off of Hejduk and Liles. Vancouver took the lead back again, with Sergei Shirokov making it 3-2, thanks to Dan Hamhuis and Mikael Samuelsson. Colorado will not be outdone, however, and tied the game at 3 as Hejduk netted his 15th of the season, thanks to Stastny and Liles on the man advantage. The tie was preserved into overtime, where the Avalanche won 4-3 on Jones' second of the night and 16th of the season, courtesy of Tomas Fleischmann and Kevin Shattenkirk on the power play. Hejduk, Liles, and Anderson (40 for 43 saves) got the three stars.

Finally, the Edmonton Oilers tee off the last game against the Minnesota Wild (no pun to the annual Edmonton tradition of early April golfing). Anton Khudobin and Nikolai Khabibulin get the starting nods tonight. Minnesota opens the scoring with Matt Cullen putting away his tenth of the season, assisted by Eric Nystrom and Pierre-Marc Bouchard. The Wild extend their lead to 2-0 with Brent Burns netting his 13th of the year, thanks to Kyle Brodziak and Martin Havlat. Bouchard made it 3-0 for Minnesota with his third of the season, from Nystrom and Burns. Making it 4-0 Wild was Andrew Brunette, who struck with his 12th of the year on the power play, assisted by Cullen and Mikko Koivu. Magnus Paajarvu put Edmonton on the board in the third period with his sixth of the year, from Andrew Cogliano and Taylor Chorney. The final had the Wild over the Oilers 4-1, with Khudobin (31 for 32 saves), Bouchard, and Liam Reddox (huh?) as the three stars.

That's all for Tuesday. Wednesday's hockey may not come out until Thursday due to health problems in the family, so I thank you all in advance for your patience. As for the three stars, I do not make these up, it's official from the rinks, but they don't always make statistical sense. Feel free to, if you watch the games instead of the box scores, to justify inclusion/exclusion in three stars in the comments section of any post.