Friday, February 18, 2011

Trading Blitz and the Thursday Games

As the post title suggests, the hockey world has been spun with many trades recently. Notable aspects of the trades include Jarkko Ruutu to Anaheim for Ottawa, the Ottawa-Colorado goalie swap featuring Brian Elliott and Craig Anderson, the biggest trade of the season so far sending Tomas Kaberle from Toronto to Boston for Joe Colborne (a prospect), a first round pick in the 2011 draft, and a conditional pick. The subsequent deal sent Boston's Blake Wheeler, who was originally rumored into part of the Kaberle deal, and Mark Stuart down the coastline to Atlanta for Rich Peverley and Boris Valabik. Most recently was the St. Louis Blues exchanging with the Tampa Bay Lightning, sending Eric Brewer to St. Pete Times Forum for Brock Beukeboom (prospect), and a third round choice in 2011. As for the games, they started in...

New York, with the Rangers hosting the Los Angeles Kings. Jonathan Bernier and Henrik Lundqvist took to the nets. Dustin Brown opened the scoring for Los Angeles with his 19th of the season, a power play goal from Justin Williams and Jack Johnson. New York tied it in the second period on Ryan Callahan's 15th of the year, coming off of Derek Stepan and Artem Anisimov. The Rangers took the lead in the third period with Marian Gaborik scoring his 17th of the season thanks to Mike Sauer. The Kings retied it on Matt Greene's first of the year, assisted on by Brad Richardson and Anze Kopitar. Anisimov put New York back out front with his 13th of the season, which gathered steam from Brandon Dubinsky and Callahan. Brown tied it again for Los Angeles with his second of the night and 20th of the year, with the help of Rob Scuderi and Alec Martinez. This tie lasted into the shootout, where the Rangers held off the Kings with goals by Erik Christensen and Mats Zuccarello, only answered by Jarret Stoll. Callahan, Gaborik, and Brown earned the three stars.

Also in the Big Apple, the New York Islanders hosted the Boston Bruins. Tuukka Rask and Nathan Lawson picked up the starts. Blake Wheeler got Boston on the board first with his eleventh of the season going in with help from Tyler Seguin and Andrew Ference. Mark Recchi extended the Bruins lead with his own eleventh of the season, assisted by Patrice Bergeron and Johnny Boychuk. Gregory Campbell kept Boston going with his unassisted ninth of the season. David Krejci made it 4-0 for the Bruins with his ninth of the year, courtesy of Nathan Horton and Milan Lucic. John Tavares put New York on the board with his 22nd of the campaign, with an assist by Blake Comeau. Seguin was able to scare off Lawson, making it 5-1 Boston with his tenth of the season, made possible by Shawn Thornton and Wheeler, and Al Montoya came on in relief. The Islanders replied with the eighth of the year by Josh Bailey, helped along by Comeau and Radek Martinek. Lucic made it 6-2 for the Bruins with his 24th of the season, a power play goal set up by Krejci and Zdeno Chara. Tavares notched his second of the game and 23rd of the year for New York.  later in the third period with help from Jack Hillen and Matt Moulson, bringing the final score of 6-3 Boston over the Islanders. The three stars were given to Krejci, Rask (34 for 37 saves), and Tavares.

In what could be dubbed the Yzerman game, the Tampa Bay Lightning hosted the Detroit Red Wings. The masked men were Jimmy Howard and Dwayne Roloson. Danny Cleary opened the scoring for Detroit with his 18th of the season, a power play goal made possible by Nicklas Lidstrom and Henrik Zetterberg. Pavel Datsyuk made it 2-0 for the Red Wings with his 15th of the year, assisted by Cleary and Niklas Kronwall. Tampa Bay got on the board with Victor Hedman nailing his third of the season thanks to Simon Gagne. Steve Downie tied it for the Lightning with his eighth of the year from Steven Stamkos and Martin St. Louis. Kronwall put Detroit back out front with his tenth of the season, a power play marker coming off of Zetterberg and Lidstrom. The Red Wings extended the lead with the fourth of the year by Justin Abdelkader, with assists from Tomas Holmstrom and Jakub Kindl. Datsyuk made it 5-2 Detroit with his second of the game and 16th of the season, helped along by Jiri Hudler and Cleary. The final score of 6-2 was produced when the Red Wings scored one from Darren Helm, his seventh of the year going in unassisted. The three stars went out to Datsyuk, Cleary, and Lidstrom.

Out further west, the Nashville Predators hosted the Vancouver Canucks. Roberto Luongo and Pekka Rinne were in between the pipes. Martin Erat scored for Nashville first, with his tenth of the season coming from David Legwand and Shea Weber. Vancouver tied it with a power play goal by Daniel Sedin, his 30th of the year going in with help from Henrik Sedin and Christian Ehrhoff. Nick Spaling put the Predators back in front seven seconds later with his fifth of the season, assisted by Patric Hornqvist. Mike Fisher put Nashville in front 3-1 with his 15th of the year, helped along by Alexander Sulzer and Erat. There was no scoring in the third period, so this was the final, and the three stars went to Rinne (35 for 36 saves), Fisher, and Spaling.

Up in Canada, the Edmonton Oilers hosted the Montreal Canadiens. Carey Price and Nikolai Khabibulin guarded the cages. Edmonton struck first with Ales Hemsky netting his eleventh of the season with the help of Shawn Horcoff. Montreal replied in the second period with Jeff Halpern getting his ninth of the year, assisted by Lars Eller and Roman Hamrlik. The Oilers got back in front with the 13th of the campaign by Taylor Hall and Andrew Cogliano. Fifteen seconds later, Ryan Jones notched his 13th of the season for Edmonton, with helpers from Jean-Francois Jacques and Liam Reddox. Hemsky secured a 4-1 victory for the Oilers with his second of the night and 12th of the year, with assistance provided by Dustin Penner and Theo Peckham for the empty netter. The three stars were awarded to Khabibulin (36 for 37 saves), Jones and Eberle.

Down in Phoenix, the Coyotes hosted the Atlanta Thrashers. Ondrej Pavelec and Ilya Bryzgalov tended the twines. Phoenix struck first with Eric Belanger getting his eighth of the season via Lauri Korpikosi shorthanded. Atlanta replied with the seventh of the year by Chris Thorburn, a power play goal coming off of Tobias Enstrom and Rich Peverley. The Coyotes took the lead back with a Shane Doan goal, his 12th of the season going down with the help of Derek Morris and Keith Yandle. The Thrashers tied it at 2 with Andrew Ladd scoring his 20th of the campaign on the power play from Peverley and Dustin Byfuglien. Peverley gave Atlanta a lead with his 14th of the year, gaining steam from Enstrom and Evander Kane. Korpikoski retied it for Phoenix by potting his 12th of the season, helped along by Yandle. Martin Hanzal put the Coyotes up 4-3 with his 13th of the year, assisted by Ray Whitney and the sock trick earning Yandle. The third period went silent, leaving us with the previously mentioned score as the final, giving the three stars to Korpikoski, Yandle, and Peverley.

Finally, the San Jose Sharks hosted the Washington Capitals. Michal Neuvirth and Antti Niemi took care of the goaltending. San Jose opened the scoring with Joe Pavelski notching his 13th of the season shorthanded from Patrick Marleau. Twenty-two seconds later, Washington tied it with Alex Ovechkin putting his 23rd of the year away, a power play goal made possible by John Carlson and Alexander Semin. The next goal came off a Shark stick in the third period, which was Ryane Clowe's 15th of the campaign, assisted by Kyle Wellwood and Logan Couture. Dany Heatley put San Jose up 3-1 with his 20th of the season, a power play goal crafted from passes by Joe Thornton and Pavelski. The Capitals attempted a comeback with Nicklas Backstrom recording his 15th of the year with the help of Carlson and Ovechkin, but it wasn't going to be enough, as they lost 3-2. The three stars went to Pavelski, Clowe, and Dan Boyle.

That's all for Thursday. Friday's games should be when you would probably expect them.

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