President's Day Hockey

There were three total games today. Before diving into those, there is on trade, sending James Neal and Matt Niskanen to Pittsburgh for Alex Goligoski. No picks or prospects tagged along in the big deal that is rumored to have found the winger for Sidney Crosby. As for the games, the first matinee was in...

New York, where the Islanders hosted the Florida Panthers. Tomas Vokoun and Al Montoya were in front of the nets. New York jumped out to a 2-0 lead with two Matt Moulson goals in the first period, his 24th and 25th of the season seeing assistance from John Tavares and P.A. Parenteau as the primaries, and Travis Hamonic picked up both secondary assists. The Islanders extended the lead to 3-0 with Radek Martinek potting his second of the year, a power play goal from Frans Nielsen. Josh Bailey kept New York going with his ninth of the campaign, assisted by Blake Comeau and Andrew MacDonald. Mike Santorelli put Florida on the board with his 17th of the season, a power play goal made possible by Jason Garrison and Dennis Wideman. The Islanders wrapped it up with Moulson completing the hat trick with his 26th of the year, thanks to Jack Hillen and Zenon Konopka on the empty netter. Moulson, Montoya (20 for 21 saves), and Hamonic picked up the three stars.

The other midday game had the St. Louis Blues hosting the Chicago Blackhawks. Corey Crawford and Ben Bishop were called on to guard the cages. Andy McDonald opened the scoring for St. Louis with his 13th of the season, a power play goal coming off of Patrik Berglund and Alex Pietrangelo. The Blues extended the lead by Brad Boyes notching his 12th of the year, via T.J. Oshie and Brad Winchester. Chicago got going in the second period with Viktor Stalberg netting his ninth of the season with the help of Tomas Kopecky and Ryan Johnson. A minute later, the Blackhawks had tied it with a Dave Bolland tally, his 13th of the year, assisted by Marian Hossa and Bryan Bickell. Chicago took the lead with the 20th of the season by Patrick Kane, helped along by Jonathan Toews and Patrick Sharp. Toews notched his own 20th of the year to put the Blackhawks up 4-2 on the power play from Kane and Brent Seabrook, scaring away Bishop in favor of Ty Conklin. St. Louis attempted to come back with a Pietrangelo goal, his seventh of the season coming courtesy of Oshie and Berglund. Chicago sealed the deal at 5-3 with Hossa's 13th of the year into the empty net, thanks to Seabrook and Johnson. The three stars were Toews, Kane, and Pietrangelo.

finally, the Pittsburgh Penguins hosted the Washington Capitals. Michal Neuvirth and Marc-Andre Fleury put on the masks and stood tall in the paint. The game's only goal came off of the stick of the yellow-laced Alex Ovechkin, his 24th of the season coming on the power play in the second period via Marcus Johansson and Mike Knuble. The three stars went to Neuvirth (39 save shutout), Ovechkin, and Fleury (23 for 24 stops).

That's all for Monday. Lots of games Tuesday, so we'll see if I can get them done.