Coming off a big hockey day, the schedule features just six games, with no lack of story lines and highlights which will be covered thoroughly in this post. The games started in...
Ottawa, where the Senators hosted the Detroit Red Wings. Jimmy Howard and Robin Lehner got the starts in the game. Alex Kovalev got Ottawa up on the board first with his tenth of the season, a power play goal made possible by Sergei Gonchar and Erik Karlsson. Johan Franzen added a pair of goals to give Detroit a 2-1 lead, his 22nd and 23rd of the year seeing help from Ruslan Salei, Valtteri Filppula, Henrik Zetterberg, and Todd Bertuzzi. The Senators tied it on the second of the season by Peter Regin, assisted by Kovalev and Chris Campoli. Campoli put Ottawa in the lead with his second of the year, courtesy of Daniel Alfredsson and Nick Foligno. The Red Wings replied in the second period with a Kris Draper goal, his fifth of the season, with the assists credited to Patrick Eaves and Darren Helm. Thirteen seconds later, and Detroit had a 4-3 lead with the Niklas Kronwall tally from Nicklas Lidstrom, Kronwall's ninth marker of the year. Lehner was pulled in favor of Brian Elliott in front of the Ottawa net. Only twenty-nine seconds after that, the Senators were back in a tie with the goal by Milan Michalek, his 12th of the season coming via Regin and Campoli. The Red Wings took the lead back on Franzen's completion of the hat trick with his 24th of the year, thanks to Zetterberg and Brian Rafalski on the power play. Twenty-nine seconds later, Ottawa tied it with the second of the game and 13th of the season by Michalek, helped along by Kovalev. Franzen decided to take control and pot another two consecutive goals, his 25th and 26th of the year, with the earlier power play goal from Rafalski and Lidstrom and the latter empty netter made possible by Zetterberg for a 7-5 Detroit Johans victory. The three stars were easily doled out to Franzen, Michalek, and Zetterberg.
Onward to Pittsburgh for an interesting game with the Penguins hosting the New York Islanders. Rick DiPietro and Brent Johnson opposed each other in the game. Pittsburgh started off the scoring with a Tyler Kennedy power play goal, his eighth marker of the season, with the help of Paul Martin and Zbynek Michalek. Chris Kunitz made it 2-0 for the Penguins with his 18th of the year, assisted by Pascal Dupuis and Martin. The second period was fairly quiet, save for the fight between Zenon Konopka and Michael Rupp, and the amazing Craig Adams deflection off of DiPietro, on top of the net rolling directly into the water bottle holder (seen here). The third period was much of the same before Talbot notched an empty net goal from Adams for his sixth of the campaign, making it 3-0 for Pittsburgh. But the game still had forty-one seconds, and they featured an interesting set of events. With time running down, Matt Cooke skates into the offensive zone and is laid out pretty severely by DiPietro. As a scrum emerges in the corner featuring the usual suspects for both teams, Brent Johnson calls DiPietro out, and with one swift movement, knocks the crap out of DiPietro. As this is a goalie fight, it deserves special mention. As for the rest of the game, it was quiet, with the three stars given out to Johnson (20 saves but no shutout for not completing the game), Kunitz, and Talbot.
Heading back into Canada, where the Montreal Canadiens hosted the Florida Panthers. Tomas Vokoun and Alex Auld were given the starting jobs. Scott Timmins opens the scoring for Florida with his first of the season, assisted by Rostislav Olesz and Steve Bernier. Montreal tied the game with Jeff Halpern's eighth of the campaign in the second period, courtesy of P.K. Subban. The Canadiens made it 2-1 with Tomas Plekanec's 17th of the year, made possible by Max Pacioretty. Brian Gionta extended the Montreal lead with his 19th of the season, helped along by Pacioretty and Subban. The Panthers got a goal back with Stephen Weiss notching his 15th of the year, with the assists from Michael Frolik and Dmitry Kulikov. Florida was unable to score again, losing 3-2 to Montreal, with the three stars awarded to Plekanec, Subban, and Auld (33 for 35 saves).
Crossing the country for the Edmonton Oilers hosting the Los Angeles Kings. In charge of netminding was Jonathan Quick and Nikolai Khabibulin. Edmonton was the first to strike in the second period, with a goal from Magnus Paajarvi that saw help from Sam Gagner and Linus Omark, his seventh tally of the season. Los Angeles answered with a pair of identically-set up goals, the 20th and 21st tallies of the year for Ryan Smyth, both on the power play from Drew Doughty and Jack Johnson. Johnson added his fifth of the campaign in the third period, making it 3-1 for the Kings with the unassisted goal, and the eventual final. The three stars were given to Smyth, Johnson, and Paajarvi.
Down in the desert, the Phoenix Coyotes hosted the Vancouver Canucks. Roberto Luongo and Ilya Bryzgalov started in front of the cages. Alexandre Burrows put Vancouver on the board with his 13th of the season, assisted by Daniel Sedin. The Canucks extended their lead to 2-0 in the second period with Jannik Hansen's sixth of the year, courtesy of Lee Sweatt and Mason Raymond. Cody Hodgson added on his first of the season for Vancouver, with helpers provided by Jeff Tambellini and Dan Hamhuis. Ryan Kesler made it 4-0 Canucks with his 29th of the year, made possible by Mikael Samuelsson, who picked up the lone assist on Vancouver's next tally, a Raymond goal good for his tenth of the season. Replacing Bryzgalov in the Phoenix net was Jason LaBarbera. Kesler wrapped the game up for the Canucks at the eventual 6-0 final with his 30th of the year, an unassisted goal. The three stars were received by Luongo (23 save shutout), Burrows, and Hodgson.
Lastly, the Anaheim Ducks battled their instate rivals, the San Jose Sharks. Antti Niemi and Jonas Hiller were in between the pipes. Fourteen seconds into the game, Dany Heatley struck for San Jose on his 19th of the season, assisted by Joe Thornton and Douglas Murray. Ben Eager added on his fourth of the year, with assists from Devin Setoguchi and Dan Boyle to put the Sharks up 2-0. Chasing away Hiller for San Jose was Jason Demers with his second of the season, bringing the score to 3-0 with the help of Ryane Clowe and Setoguchi. Curtis McElhinney tended the Anaheim net, and they got on the board in the second period thanks to the fifth of the year by Joffery Lupul, with helpers coming from Maxim Lapierre and Dan Sexton. Clowe answered for the Sharks with his 14th of the campaign, a power play goal made possible by Boyle and Joe Pavelski. Cam Fowler got the goal back for the Ducks with his sixth of the season, also a power play goal, thanks to Corey Perry and Saku Koivu. Bobby Ryan got Anaheim within a goal with his 23rd of the year, helped along by Perry and the goalie McElhinney, but it wasn't enough to come back fully, as the Ducks fell 4-3 to San Jose. The three stars were awarded to Fowler, Setoguchi, and Perry.
That's all for Wednesday, as I slowly catch up to the same day pace. Thursday's games may come out Thursday night or Friday afternoon.
No comments :
Post a Comment