NHL Friday

The NHL had eight games on Friday, and *spoiler alert* there was a lot happening in a majority of the games. We start, however, in a relatively calm environment known as...

Columbus, where the Blue Jackets welcomed Peter Forsberg and the Colorado Avalanche. Peter Budaj and Mathieu Garon got the spot starts. Colorado opened the scoring with Philippe Dupuis notching his fourth of the season, an unassisted goal. Rick Nash answered for Columbus in the second period with his 25th of the year, from Jakub Voracek and Fedor Tyutin. Derick Brassard put the Blue Jackets in front with his 14th of the season, courtesy of Nash. Sealing the deal late in the third period was Derek MacKenzie with his third of the year, an empty netter gathering steam from Samuel Pahlsson. The three stars were given out to Nash, Garon (31 for 32 saves), and Brassard.

Heading to the site of an earlier brawl, the Detroit Red Wings visited the Boston Bruins and the TD Garden. Jimmy Howard and Tuukka Rask started the game. Detroit struck early with a Todd Bertuzzi goal from Johan Franzen and Henrik Zetterberg, good for his ninth of the season. Danny Cleary put the Red Wings up 2-0 with his 17th of the year, courtesy of Jiri Hudler and Niklas Kronwall. David Krejci put Boston on the board in the late first period on the power play goal from Milan Lucic and Zdeno Chara, going down as his eighth of the campaign. Hudler got Detroit going again in the second period, with his sixth of the season seeing help from Zetterberg and Brian Rafalski. Zetterberg made it 4-1 Red Wings later with a power play goal from Tomas Holmstrom, who returned from injury, and Cleary for his 17th of the year. Twenty-four seconds later Detroit got another with Bertuzzi potting his second of the night and tenth of the season with Pavel Datsyuk picking up the helper. Rask came out of the came after the second period, and Tim Thomas took over the reigns in front of the Bruins net. Holmstrom tacked on a goal for the Red Wings later in the form of his 12th of the year, a power play marker made possible by Hudler and Datsyuk. The final stood at 6-1, a different form of carnage from earlier in the week, with the three stars going to Datsyuk, Zetterberg, and Bertuzzi.

Moving along to the Prudential Center, where the New Jersey Devils hosted the San Jose Sharks. Antti Niemi and Johan Hedberg got the starting nods. The scoring was opened by San Jose in the third period with Patrick Marleau sending his 21st of the season into the mesh thanks to the help from Niclas Wallin and Joe Pavelski. New Jersey answered with Brian Rolston marker, his eighth of the year coming with the man advantage from Ilya Kovalchuk and Patrik Elias. Kovalchuk also netted the eventual game winner in the form of his 19th of the season, with Travis Zajac adding on the lone helper for the Devils. Earning the three stars were Kovalchuk, Hedberg (31 for 32 saves), and Rolston.

Heading over to the Nassau Coliseum on Long Island, where the New York Islanders hosted the Pittsburgh Penguins. Brent Johnson was out in net, as was Mikko Koskinen, but Marc-Andre Fleury also saw some pucks. Opening the scoring for New York was Travis Hamonic with his second of the season, assisted by Michael Grabner and Frans Nielsen. A traditional fight later occurred between Micheal Haley and Craig Adams. The Islanders made it 2-0 with a Jesse Joensuu marker, his fourth of the year coming off of Josh Bailey and Matt Martin. P.A. Parenteau made it 3-0 New York with his 14th of the season with the help of Hamonic and John Tavares on the power play. Dropping the mitts eight seconds later were Eric Godard and Trevor Gillies. Michael Grabner extended the Islanders lead out to 4-0 with his 20th of the year, courtesy of Bruno Gervais and Radek Martinek. Tavares kept New York going in the second period with his 20th of the season, helped along by Hamonic and Matt Moulson. Thirty seconds later, the Islanders got the first of the year by Haley, with an assist from Jack Hillen. There was a brawl at 5:21 in the second, featuring a notable moment between Matt Martin and the Pittsburgh goalie Brent Johnson, who took a twirl before Deryk Engelland came off the Pittsburgh bench to play linesman between his goalie and his opponent, earning him a ten game suspension. After cleaning up the mess, Pittsburgh came out an scored a goal off the stick of Kris Letang, who appeared to be better after a rough slash from Tavares at the end of the first period, sinking his eighth of the season on the power play from Alex Goligoski and Brett Sterling. Jordan Staal added on his fifth of the year, also coming on the power play, with the help of Tyler Kennedy. Moulson regained those two goals for New York by potting two of his own, 20th and 21st on the campaign, with Parenteau and Tavares grabbing assists on the earlier goal and Tavares finishing a sock trick alongside Milan Jurcina on the latter power play marker. Another brawl occured in the early third period at 4:47, depleting the benches of further players. The Penguins made it 8-3 with a Tyler Kennedy power play goal, his eleventh of the season, thanks to Letang and Joe Vitale. More multiple penalties were called at 12:12, 12:40, 16:04, 16:12, and 17:43 before Grabner was able to pot his second of the game and 21st of the year, both shorthanded and unassisted. Another penalty set at 17:58 concluded the sinning for the 346 minutes of misbehavior. Getting the three stars were Tavares, Moulson, and Grabner, who did a decent job of staying out of the box. Since so many players were involved in the brawls, it will be easier to honor the Penguins (Goligoski, Nick Johnson, Kennedy, Paul Martin, Zbynek Michalek, Brooks Orpik, Staal, and Eric Tangradi) and the Islanders (Gervais, Grabner, Joensuu, Jurcina, Martinek, Moulson, Nielsen, Parenteau, and Tavares) who only earned minor penalties or no penalties throughout the game. May you all have a good time competing for the Lady Byng.

Getting away from the bloodbath, we travel to Atlanta, where the Thrashers hosted the New York Rangers. Henrik Lundqvist and Ondrej Pavelec were selected to guard the cages. Keeping with the theme of Friday night fights, Eric Boulton and Brandon Prust took a twirl. This was not the theme of the game, as Atlanta soon registered a goal from Anthony Stewart, good as his 14th of the season with the help of Alex Burmistrov and Evander Kane. New York evened the score early in the second period with a power play goal by Marc Staal, his seventh of the year going in with the help of Marian Gaborik and Vinny Prospal. The Rangers took the lead with a Brandon Dubinsky marker in the third period, his 19th of the season seeing help from Gaborik and Ryan McDonagh. Kane gave the Thrashers the lead back with two in a row later in that period, good for his 15th and 16th of the year, with helpers coming first from Stewart and Ron Hainsey and later on the power play from Dustin Byfuglien and a healthy Tobias Enstrom. Picking up the three stars were Kane, Pavelec (27 for 29 stops), and Stewart.

Out west a bit farther, the St. Louis Blues hosted the Minnesota Wild. Jose Theodore and Jaroslav Halak played in between the pipes. St. Louis opened the scoring early with a Patrik Berglund marker, his 13th of the season going in thanks to T.J. Oshie and Carlo Colaiacovo, who got his first point since coming back from injury. Trying to change pace, Brad Staubitz took on his namesake, Brad Winchester in a fight. Minnesota tied the game shortly after with an Andrew Brunette goal, his 15th of the year, with the help of Brent Burns and Mikko Koivu. The Blues retook the lead when the ninth of the season by Andy McDonald found twine, with helpers from Brad Boyes and Roman Polak. Cal Clutterbuck retied it for the Wild in the second period with his 15th of the year, courtesy of Martin Havlat. Nineteen seconds into the third period, St. Louis took the lead back with David Backes scoring his 19th of the season, thanks to Boyes and Barret Jackman. Twenty-two seconds later, Minnesota had gotten another equalizer off of Clutterbuck again, going as his 16th of the year via Kyle Brodziak. The Blues did take the lead back once more when Backes potted his second of the game and 20th of the season, made possible by Alex Pietrangelo and McDonald. The Wild, with only fifty-eight seconds left got a well-timed goal out of Havlat to tie it at 4, with his 16th of the year getting help from Koivu and Brunette. The tie lasted into a shootout, where Oshie and Pierre-Marc Bouchard exchanged goals, followed by another canceling pair by Boyes and Koivu, and equal scoring in the fourth round by Brent Burns and Alex Steen. John Madden finally wrapped it up for Minnesota several rounds later. The three stars were given out to Clutterbuck, Backes, and Brunette.

In Texas, the Dallas Stars hosted their old goalie who now plays for the Chicago Blackhawks. Marty Turco, a former Stars hero, opposed Kari Lethonen in the creases. Chicago was the first to score with Patrick Kane netting his 18th of the season with no assistance. Thirty-one seconds later, the Blackhawks sported a 2-0 lead after Brent Seabrook nailed his fourth of the year in with the help of Jonathan Toews and Kane. Patrick Sharp later extended the Chicago lead out to 3-0 with his 28th of the season, a power play goal made possible by Toews and Kane. Dallas got on the board in the second period when Stephane Robidas put his fourth of the year in the twine unassisted. Brad Richards added on a power play goal for the Stars, his 23rd of the season also going unassisted. Dallas found the equalizer early in the third period with Brenden Morrow notching his 24th of the year thanks to Jamie Langenbrunner and Robidas. The tie lasted throughout the rest of the game into the shootout, where the Stars sealed victory after Morrow, Richards, and Ribeiro converted, and only Toews got a tally for the Blackhawks. Given the three stars were Richards, Kane, and Robidas.

Finally, the Calgary Flames host the Anaheim Ducks. Curtis McElhinney got the start against his former team, taking the crease across from Miikka Kiprusoff. Anaheim struck first with a Saku Koivu marker, his 12th of the season going in with the help of Jason Blake and Teemu Selanne. Calgary replied with a Rene Bourque goal, his 17th of the year, in the second period, coming from Robyn Regehr and Jarome Iginla. The Flames took the lead with Olli Jokinen's eleventh of the season forty-one seconds later, assisted by Curtis Glencross and David Moss. Koivu retied it for the Ducks on his second of the game and 13th of the year, thanks to Selanne and Blake. Brandon McMillan put Anaheim back out in front with his seventh of the season, a shorthanded goal from Corry Perry and Andy Sutton. Calgary tied it again in the third period, as Iginla notched his 23rd of the year, courtesy of Regehr and Brendan Morrison. Glencross put the Flames up 4-3 with his 16th of the season, helped along by Moss and Jokinen. The Ducks would not give up though, and evened the score with Selanne scoring on the power play for his 16th of the year, made possible by Ryan Getzlaf and Perry. This forced an overtime, and the pattern of scoring prevailed, when Cam Fowler sealed a 5-4 victory with his seventh of the campaign, coming from Koivu and Selanne, the latter of which completed a sock trick. Glencross, Jokinen, and Selanne got the three stars.

That's all for a busy Friday. Eight games are featured Saturday, the Hockey Day in Canada. Hoping to get that post out later.