Wednesday NHL action

Today in the NHL (Wednesday), there were six games being played. SPOILER: One game was very high scoring as of 6:43 PM Pacific. As for the games, we start in...

The Big Apple, with the New York Rangers hosting the Carolina Hurricanes. Cam Ward and Henrik Lundqvist were the designated puckstoppers. The game was scoreless through the first two periods, until Matt Gilroy got New York on the board with his third of the season, from Mats Zuccarello and Brandon Dubinsky. Carolina tied it on a goal by Eric Staal, his 19th of the year a byproduct of Joe Corvo and Tim Gleason. The tie lasted into overtime, where Zuccarello notched his first of the season to win the game for the Rangers 2-1 over the Hurricanes. Dubinsky and the goalie Lundqvist picked up the assists, and Lundqvist also led the three stars with 31 of 32 saves, followed by teammates Gilroy and Zuccarello.

After that, the Pittsburgh Penguins hosted the Tampa Bay Lightning. Dwayne Roloson and Dan Ellis saw action for Tampa Bay, with Marc-Andre Fleury being across the ice from either of them. Pittsburgh opened the scoring seven seconds in with a goal by Evgeni Malkin, his 15th of the season, an unassisted goal. Chris Conner extended the lead for the Penguins with his fifth of the year, assisted by Ben Lovejoy and Matt Cooke. Making it 3-0 was Tyler Kennedy, with his sixth of the year being helped by Kris Letang. Chris Kunitz took the lead farther for Pittsburgh, scoring back to back his eleventh and 12th of the year, the first from Sidney Crosby and Pascal Dupuis and the second a power play marker that had Alex Goligoski and Letang picking up the helpers. The Penguins kept the scoring going in the second period, with Mark Letestu notching his ninth of the campaign, with Kennedy and Goligoski picking up the assists. Kunitz made it 7-0, wrapping up his hat trick with his 13th of the season, a power play goal that saw both Goligoski and Letang finish off both of their sock tricks for the night. The Lightning made a whimper of life in the third period with Adam Hall registering his fifth of the year, assisted by Nate Thompson and Dana Tyrell. Goligoski made it 8-1 Penguins with his seventh of the year later in that period, with Conner and Lovejoy picking up the helpers on the eventual last goal of the game. Kunitz, Goligoski, and Letang picked up the three stars, all with tricks of some sort.

Going to a lower-scoring environment, we have the Florida Panthers hosting the Atlanta Thrashers. Ondrej Pavelec and Tomas Vokoun got the starting designations. Niclas Bergfors put Atlanta on the board first with his eighth of the season, assisted on by Andrew Ladd. Stephen Weiss tied it for Florida with his 13th of the year, helped along by Chris Higgins and Michael Frolik. Rich Peverley took the lead back for the Thrashers with thirty-one seconds left in the first period, his tenth of the year coming from Nik Antropov and Tobias Enstrom on the power play. Peverley chased away Vokoun in the second period with his second of the night and eleventh of the season, which came off of Ladd and Zach Bogosian. Scott Clemmensen came in to tend the Panthers net. The Panthers got a goal back in the third period with Higgins netting his eighth of the season, thanks to Mike Weaver and Jason Garrison, but failed to produce more offense after that and lost 3-2 to Atlanta. Peverley, Higgins, and Bergfors were the three stars.

Heading to the Windy City, where the Chicago Blackhawks hosted the Dallas Stars. Kari Lethonen and Corey Crawford were in between the pipes. Dallas scored first in the game, with Brenden Morrow potting his 17th of the season, with help from Loui Eriksson and Matt Niskanen. Mike Ribeiro extended the lead to 2-0 for the Stars on his seventh of the season, also a power play goal, with Brad Richards and Morrow picking up the helpers. Chicago got on the board in the second period with Fernando Pisani scoring his sixth of the year, helped along by Bryan Bickell and Niklas Hjalmarsson. Tomas Kopecky tied the game with his seventh of the campaign, assisted by Patrick Kane and Jassen Cullimore. Ribeiro gave Dallas the lead back with his second of the night and eighth of the year, another power play goal coming from Richards and Trevor Daley. Steve Ott iced the cake for the Stars, making it 4-2 with his ninth of the year, helped along by Eriksson to find the empty net to defeat the Blackhawks. Ribeiro, Pisani, and Morrow picked up the three stars.

To the west coast, where the Anaheim Ducks hosted the Nashville Predators. Pekka Rinne and Jonas Hiller played in net. Jerred Smithson opened the scoring for Nashville with his fourth goal of the year, with Nick Spaling picking up the lone assist. There was a fight between Nashville's Wade Belak and Anaheim's George Parros in the middle of the first period. The Predators made it 2-0 with the eleventh of the year by Patric Hornqvist, with help coming from Sergei Kostitsyn and Ryan Suter. Saku Koivu got the Ducks going in the third period with his own eleventh of the season, helped along by Dan Sexton and Teemu Selanne. Nashville, unwilling to lose, potted back to back empty netters to make it 4-1, with the first from Kostitsyn as his ninth of the season, assisted by Hornqvist and Marcel Goc, and the second going down as the seventh of the season from Shea Weber, unassisted. Pekka Rinne (40 for 41 saves), Saku Koivu, and Maxim Lapierre (Ducks debut) earned the three stars in the 4-1 Predators win.

Lastly, the Vancouver Canucks hosted the Calgary Flames. Miikka Kiprusoff and Roberto Luongo were given the starting nods. Vancouver struck first with a goal by Ryan Kesler, his 20th of the year coming off of the sticks of teammates Mason Raymond and Alexandre Burrows. Kevin Bieksa extended the Canucks lead with his fifth of the season, with Raffi Torres and Dam Hamhuis picking up the helpers. Daniel Sedin extended the lead to 3-0 with his 22nd of the year, helped along by Bieksa and Burrows. Tim Jackman got Calgary on the board with eleven seconds left in the third period, far too late to save the Flames from anything but the humiliation of a shutout, with Mikael Backlund grabbing the assist on his sixth of the season. Luongo (43 for 44 saves), Bieksa, and Burrows earned the three stars.

That's all for Wednesday hockey. Tomorrow will bring Thursday's recap.