Tuesday Games NHL

Tonight we have a total of ten games on, coming at you in a relatively live format. We start with...

The Toronto Maple Leafs hosting the New York Islanders. In front of the nets were Al Montoya and James Reimer. Toronto opened the scoring with a Clarke MacArthur goal, his 18th of the season coming via Nikolai Kulemin. New York replied with the 27th of the year for Matt Moulson, a power play goal assisted by Andrew MacDonald. The Maple Leafs retook the lead with Phil Kessel's 23rd of the season, an unassisted goal. This was the final, giving Reimer (28 for 29 saves), Montoya (23 for 25 stops), and Kessel the three stars.

Southward a bit, the Philadelphia Flyers hosted the Phoenix Coyotes. Russian goaltenders Ilya Bryzgalov and Sergei Bobrovsky tended the twines. Philadelphia opened the scoring with a Ville Leino goal, his 14th of the season, made possible by Matt Carle and Danny Briere. Phoenix replied in the third period with the ninth of the year for Eric Belanger, with help from Mikkel Boedker and Vernon Fiddler. The Coyotes took a lead with the 16th of the season for Taylor Pyatt, courtesy of Radin Vrbata. The Flyers tied it up at two with the 21st of the year by Claude Giroux, assisted by Jeff Carter and Mike Richards. Phoenix ended up winning 3-2 in overtime with the 13th of the season by Shane Doan coming on the power play thanks to Vrbata and Keith Yandle. Doan, Bryzgalov (37 for 39 saves), and Giroux earned the three stars.

South again to Raleigh, where the Carolina Hurricanes hosted the New York Rangers. Henrik Lundqvist and Cam Ward were the masked men. New York was the first to score with the ninth of the season for Brandon Prust, helped along by Sean Avery. Carolina replied with the second of the year for Jay Harrison, assisted by Brandon Sutter. The Rangers regained the lead late in the second period with a power play goal from Ryan Callahan, with helpers by Mats Zuccarello and Vinny Prospal for his 16th of the season. The Hurricanes tied it again with the 13th goal of the year for Jussi Jokinen, with help from Jamie McBain and Erik Cole. Carolina took a 3-2 lead with another Jokinen goal, his second of the game and 14th of the season, with assists provided by Harrison and Cole. New York found the equalizer with the second of the year by Mike Sauer, courtesy of Zuccarello and Ryan McDonagh. The Rangers toppled the Hurricanes in the shootout with the lone tally by Wojtek Wolski. Jokinen, Harrison, and Wolski picked up the three stars.

Into Ohio, where the Columbus Blue Jackets hosted the Nashville Predators. Pekka Rinne and Steve Mason collected the starts. Rick Nash, after two periods of mutual silence, opened the scoring for Columbus with his 28th of the season, thanks to Fedor Tyutin and Antoine Vermette. The Blue Jackets extended the lead with Matt Calvert potting his sixth of the year on the power play, made possible by Kris Russell and Tyutin. Columbus continued the third period onslaught with Vermette's 15th of the season, with helpers by Russell and Grant Clitsome. Nash wrapped up the scoring with his second of the game and 29th of the year, a power play goal going in unassisted. Nash, Mason (20 save shutout), and Vermette earned the three stars.

Up north a tad to Hockeytown, where the Detroit Red Wings hosted the San Jose Sharks. Antti Niemi and Jimmy Howard got the nods for the game. San Jose struck first late in the first period with a power play goal by Joe Thornton, his 15th of the season helped along by Joe Pavelski and Dan Boyle. Detroit tied it in the second period with a Danny Cleary marker, his 20th of the year coming from Jiri Hudler and Nicklas Lidstrom. The Sharks reclaimed the lead with the 17th of the season by Ryane Clowe, an unassisted goal. Thirty-four second later, the Red Wings tied it again with Cleary's second of the game and 21st of the year, with helpers by Hudler and Niklas Kronwall. San Jose reclaimed the lead with Devin Setoguchi's tally from Thornton and Logan Couture, registered as his 16th of the season. Setoguchi did it again in the third period for the Sharks, his second of the game and 17th of the year made possible by Thornton and Couture again. Henrik Zetterberg tried to start a rally for Detroit by netting his 18th of the season while on the mad advantage with assists by Tomas Holmstrom and Johan Franzen. The Red Wings failed to score again, leaving this as the final and giving the three stars to Thornton, Setoguchi, and Cleary.

Staying in the Midwest, the St. Louis Blues played their make-up game with the Colorado Avalanche. Peter Budaj and Ty Conklin played in the blue paint. David Jones got Colorado on the board first with his 20th of the season, with help from Paul Stastny and John-Michael Liles. Milan Hejduk extended the Avalanche lead with his 18th of the year, a power play goal fueled by Liles and Stastny. St. Louis cut the deficit back to one goal with Patrik Berglund potting his 16th of the season via T.J. Oshie and Alex Steen. The Blues tied it using Colorado's former weapon Chris Stewart with his 16th of the year on the power play, helped along by Kevin Shattenkirk and Brad Boyes. Colorado fired back with former St. Louis defenseman Erik Johnson, who netted his sixth of the season unassisted. Stastny followed that up for the Avalanche to make it 4-2 with his 18th of the year, also an unassisted goal. St. Louis didn't take kindly to this and twenty-two seconds later were only down by a goal again after Andy McDonald put his 14th of the season away with the help of Nikita Nikitin. This comeback would fall short, and the three stars went to Stastny, Liles, and Stewart.

North again, to Minnesota, where the Wild host the Edmonton Oilers. Nikolai Khabibulin and Niklas Backstrom are the designated starters. Minnesota was the first to score, with the 19th of the season by Martin Havlat, coming off of Greg Zanon and Clayton Stoner. Edmonton tied it with a Kurtis Foster tally, his fourth of the year going in thanks to Linus Omark and Sam Gagner. The Wild took a 2-1 lead with a Kyle Brodziak marker, his 13th of the season being assisted by Nick Schultz and Pierre-Marc Bouchard. Minnesota quickly extended the lead with the first of the year for Jared Spurgeon, a power play goal made possible by Marek Zidlicky and Bouchard. Bouchard tacked on his sixth of the campaign for the Wild, helped along by Cal Clutterbuck and John Madden. This would be the final, with Bouchard, Havlat, and Spurgeon.

Far south to where the Dallas Stars host the New Jersey Devils. Johan Hedberg and Kari Lethonen have the starting duties for the game. New Jersey was the first to score, late in the third period with Nick Palmieri potting his sixth of the season, with the help of Ilya Kovalchuk and Mark Fayne, on the power play. This was the game's only goal, giving Palmieri, Jamie Benn (returned from injury), and Hedberg (19 save shutout) the three stars.

Back north, crossing the border to Calgary, where the Flames host the Boston Bruins. Tim Thomas and Miikka Kiprusoff are in between the pipes. Milan Lucic opened the scoring early for Boston with his 25th of the season, with assistance from David Krejci and Adam McQuaid. The Bruins made it 2-0 with a Brad Marchand goal in the third period, his 19th of the year a product of Patrice Bergeron and Andrew Ference. Calgary attempted a comeback with a power play goal by Curtis Glencross, his 20th of the season, with the help of Jarome Iginla and Alex Tanguay. This uprising was put down by Lucic netting his second of the game and 26th of the year, with guidance to the empty twine from Krejci and Mark Recchi. The three stars were awarded to Thomas (28 for 29 saves), Glencross, and Krejci.

Finally, going west for the Vancouver Canucks hosting the Montreal Canadiens. Carey Price and Roberto Luongo were entrusted with guarding the twine. David Desharnais put Montreal on the board first with his sixth goal of the season, with assists from Benoit Pouliot and Hal Gill. Brian Gionta made it 2-0 Canadiens shortly thereafter with his 22nd of the year, with the help of P.K. Subban and Scott Gomez. Vancouver got on the board with a power play tally by Henrik Sedin, his 15th of the season gathering steam from Mikael Samuelsson and Ryan Kesler. Montreal replied with the 14th of the year for Andrei Kostitsyn, helped along by Lars Eller and James Wisniewski. The Canucks tried to recover with another power play goal, this time off the stick of Samuelsson, his 17th of the campaign getting helped by Christian Ehrhoff and Daniel Sedin. This wouldn't be enough, as the Canadiens held on to win 3-2, giving the three stars to Price (37 for 39 saves), Kesler, and Gionta.

That's all for Tuesday.