Tuesday had twelve games to be played in returning to the regular season. There were originally thirteen scheduled, but due to heavy snowfalls throughout the Midwest, the St. Louis-Colorado game was postponed, to be held on a different day. For the games that did play, it started with...
The Toronto Maple Leafs hosting the Florida Panthers. Scott Clemmensen and Jean-Sebastien Giguere were in goal to lead off the unofficial second half of the season. Kris Versteeg opened the scoring with his 13th of the season, with Colby Armstrong and Luke Schenn picking up the helpers. Stephen Weiss tied the game later in the first period for Florida with his 14th of the year, helped along by Chris Higgins and Bryan Allen. Twenty-three seconds later, Nikolai Kulemin put the Maple Leafs back ahead with his 17th of the season, assisted by Clarke MacArthur and Mikhail Grabovski. In the second period, the game was retied by the Panthers' David Booth, notching his 15th of the year with the help of Cory Stillman and Keaton Ellerby on the power play. Grabovski gave Toronto yet another lead when he sank his 21st of the season, also a power play goal, thanks to Tomas Kaberle and Kulemin. Late in the third period, Florida tied the game at 3 with a Stillman tally, made possible by Dmitry Kulikov and Weiss on the power play as his seventh of the year. The tie lasted to a shootout, where Booth and Tyler Bozak swapped tallies before Armstrong secured a 4-3 victory for the Maple Leafs over the Panthers. Armstrong, Grabovski, and MacArthur were the three stars.
Next on the list was the Carolina Hurricanes, fresh off of hosting the All-Stars, inviting the Boston Bruins for a match. Tim Thomas and Cam Ward got the starts after opposing each other in the All-Star game. Daniel Paille opened the scoring in the second period for Boston with his first of the season, receiving help from Zdeno Chara and Shawn Thornton. Carolina tied it up with a Jamie McBain score, his fourth of the year, with help coming from Sergei Samsonov and Erik Cole. Nathan Horton gave the Bruins the lead back in the third period with his 13th of the season, made possible by David Krejci and Chara. Patrice Bergeron made it 3-1 for Boston with his 17th of the year, courtesy of Mark Recchi and Andrew Ference. Joe Corvo got the Hurricanes back on track with his eighth of the season, a power play goal with assists from Cole and Samsonov. Boston weathered the storm and held on to defeat Carolina 3-2, with the three stars given to Thomas (24 for 26 saves), Cole, and Chara.
Moving right along, with the New Jersey Devils hosting the Ottawa Senators. Martin Brodeur and Robin Lehner were given the goaltending responsibilities. New Jersey got on the board early in the second period with a Nick Palmieri goal, his fourth of the season seeing the tape of Andy Greene and Ilya Kovalchuk previously. Alex Kovalev tied the game for Ottawa with his ninth of the year, a power play goal helped along by Daniel Alfredsson and Erik Karlsson. In the third period, the Devils took a 2-1 lead on a Dainius Zubrus goal, assisted by Patrik Elias and Brian Rolston and counting as his eighth of the season. This score would be the final, giving Zubrus, Lehner (31 for 33 saves), and Elias the three stars.
Southward to Atlanta, with the Thrashers hosting the New York Islanders. Seeing the rubber were Kevin Poulin and Ondrej Pavelec. Atlanta opened the scoring with Freddy Meyer's first of the season, with Nik Antropov and Alex Burmistrov getting the assists. New York answered in the second period on a Travis Hamonic goal, helped along by John Tavares and P.A. Parenteau, good for his first of the year. The Islanders took a lead on the first of the season by Kyle Okposo, an unassisted goal. A minute later, New York was up 3-1 courtesy of Parenteau's 13th of the year, a power play goal made possible by Okposo and Tavares. Okposo made it 4-1 for the Islanders in the third period, with Michael Grabner grabbing the lone helper on what would be the final goal of the game, and also Okposo's second of the game and campaign. The three stars were awarded to Okposo, Parenteau, and Poulin (25 for 26 saves).
Going to the Central Division for the Columbus Blue Jackets hosting the Chicago Blackhawks. Marty Turco and Steve Mason started off in the creases. Columbus opened the scoring with a Derek Dorsett goal, his third of the season going in with help from Kris Russell and Grant Clitsome. Chicago answered with a Nick Leddy tally, his second of the year finding twine thanks to Jack Skille and Nick Boynton. Duncan Keith put the Blackhawks up 2-1 with his fourth of the season, a power play goal coming off of Patrick Kane and Patrick Sharp. The Blue Jackets awakened in the second period, with Derick Brassard scoring his 13th of the year thanks to Rick Nash and Jan Hejda. Forty-two seconds later, Samuel Pahlsson gave Columbus a 3-2 lead with his fourth of the season, assisted by Chris Clark and Dorsett. Viktor Stalberg put Chicago back into a tie with his eighth of the year, with the help of Fernando Pisani and Jonathan Toews. Kane gave the Blackhawks a lead with his 14th of the campaign, with assistance from Toews and Troy Brouwer. Toews makes the lead 5-3 for Chicago with his 18th of the season, a shorthanded goal made possible by Marian Hossa and Brent Seabrook. For the third period, Mathieu Garon tended the Columbus net. Dave Bolland kept the Blackhawks rolling in the third period, making it 6-3 with his eleventh of the year, courtesy of Bryan Bickell and Pisani. The Blue Jackets put another goal on the board, the third of the season by Matt Calvert, with the lone assist by Derek MacKenzie. Chicago put the game away with an empty net goal by Marian Hossa for his 12th of the year, assisted by Seabrook and Jake Dowell to bring up the final score of 7-4 Blackhawks over Blue Jackets. Earning the three stars were Toews, Dorsett, and Stalberg.
Following that up, the New York Rangers hosted the publicized game against the Pittsburgh Penguins on the TV network Versus. Marc-Andre Fleury and Henrik Lundqvist made the appearances in front of the cages. Brandon Prust put New York up first with his eighth of the season, assisted by Wojtek Wolski and Brian Boyle. The Rangers went up 2-0 in the early second period with Artem Anisimov's eleventh of the year, helped along by Brandon Dubinsky and Marian Gaborik. Dustin Jeffrey got Pittsburgh on the board with his third of the season, with the assists credited to Chris Kunitz and Alex Goligoski on the power play. Michael Rupp tied the game for the Penguins with his fifth of the year, courtesy of Max Talbot and Deryk Engelland. Kunitz put Pittsburgh up 3-2 with his 17th of the season, assisted by Zbynek Michalek and Brooks Orpik. Ryan Callahan retied the game for New York with his eleventh of the year, thanks to Michael Del Zotto and Mats Zuccarello on the power play. The tie was preserved through the third period and overtime into the shootout, where Jeffrey secured a 4-3 victory for the Penguins over the Rangers. Three stars were credited to Jeffrey, Callahan, and Kunitz.
Back down into Florida, where the Tampa Bay Lightning hosted their fellow powerhouse, the Philadelphia Flyers. Sergei Bobrovsky and Dwayne Roloson were in the blue paint. Teddy Purcell opened the scoring up for Tampa Bay with two in a row, his ninth and tenth coming in the first 1:21 of the game, with Vincent Lecavalier picking up an assist and Simon Gagne getting two helpers. Steve Downie added on for the Lightning, potting his fifth of the season with the assistance of Martin St. Louis and Randy Jones. Brian Boucher came on to guard the Philadelphia net, and was mostly effective before Steven Stamkos made it 4-0 for Tampa Bay with his 39th of the year, courtesy of St. Louis and Brett Clark. This score was the eventual final, giving three stars status to Roloson (38 save shutout), Purcell, and Gagne.
In the nation's capital, the Washington Capitals hosted the Montreal Candiens. Carey Price and Semyon Varlamov tended the twines. Washington opened the scoring with a Mathieu Perreault goal, his sixth of the season going in without assistance. Mike Knuble put the Capitals up 2-0 with his 12th of the year, a power play goal from Mike Green and Perreault. Montreal tied it up with two goals in a row by Brian Gionta, the 17th and 18th of his campaign, with assists coming first from Andrei Kostitsyn and James Wisniewski and later by Tomas Plekanec. This tie was upheld throughout the third period and overtime until the shootout, where Gionta gave the Canadiens a 3-2 victory. The three stars we handed out to Gionta, Perreault, and Wisniewski.
Heading north and west to Minnesota, where the Wild hosted the Los Angeles Kings. Jonathan Bernier and Niklas Backstrom made the starts, and did their job exceptionally well throughout the game, as it took Pierre-Marc Bouchard's shootout marker to give the Minnesota Wild a 1-0 victory. Backstrom (27 save shutout), Bouchard, and Bernier (25 save "shutout") were the obvious three stars.
Down to Nashville, with the Predators hosting the Calgary Flames. In front of the goals were Miikka Kiprusoff and Pekka Rinne. Nashville opened the scoring with Martin Erat putting away his seventh of the season, with the assists provided by Sergei Kostitsyn and Marcel Goc. Matt Stajan answered for Calgary in the third period with his fourth of the year, thanks to Tim Jackman and Curtis Glencross. Patric Hornqvist gave the lead back to the Predators with a power play goal from Shea Weber and Kostitsyn, going in the books as his 16th of the season. Cory Sarich provided another tying goal for the Flames in the form of his second for the year, courtesy of Alex Tanguay and Brendan Morrison. The 2-2 tie lasted into a shootout, where Rene Bourque had the lone tally for Calgary, toppling Nashville 3-2. The three stars were given out to Tanguay, Kostitsyn, and Kiprusoff (25 for 27 saves).
In Texas, the Dallas Stars played host to the Vancouver Canucks. Cory Schneider and Kari Lethonen were designated the masked men in the game. Vancouver struck in the second period to start the scoring with a Mikael Samuelsson mark just twenty-six seconds in, his tenth of the season going in with the help of Christian Ehrhoff and Daniel Sedin on the power play. Ehrhoff scored his own power play goal later in the period, good for his ninth of the year and made possible by Daniel Sedin and Mikael Samuelsson. Loui Eriksson put Dallas on the board with his 18th of the season, courtesy of Brad Richards and the goalie, Kari Lethonen. The Canucks took a 3-1 lead with a shorthanded marker by Ryan Kesler, his 28th of the year seeing the stick of Jannik Hansen before his own and the twine. Alexandre Burrows brought the score to 4-1 Vancouver, the eventual final score, with his 12th of the campaign coming from Henrik Sedin. The three stars were handed out to Ehrhoff, Samuelsson, and Schneider (25 for 26 saves).
Lastly, the San Jose Sharks hosted the Phoenix Coyotes. Ilya Bryzgalov and Antti Niemi were in the creases. Phoenix opened the scoring with a Radim Vrbata power play goal, his eleventh of the season with the help of Shane Doan and Ray Whitney. Keith Yandle made it 2-0 Coyotes with his ninth of the year, assisted on by Derek Morris. Twitter legend Paul Bissonnette made it 3-0 for Phoenix, scoring his first goal of the season with help from Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Lauri Korpikoski. (for game spoiler and BizNasty's reaction, click here.) Obviously insulted by getting scored on by the Coyotes enforcer, Antti Niemi was pulled for Alex Stalock. San Jose figured out they need to score to win, and Joe Pavelski did it twice, in the late second and early third periods, good for his tenth and eleventh markers of the year. Dany Heatley and Dan Boyle got the assists on the former power play goal, while Devin Setoguchi and Ryane Clowe picked up helpers on the latter even strength tally. Tying the game for the Sharks was Kyle Wellwood, scoring his first goal since returning from the KHL, with the help coming from newly acquired Ben Eager and Jason Demers. San Jose took the lead on the shorthanded Patrick Marleau goal, his 19th of the season getting the required help from Pavelski. Sealing a 5-3 stunning come-from-behind victory for the Sharks was Joe Thornton, potting his 14th of the year into an empty net, courtesy of Marleau and Marc-Edouard Vlasic. The three stars were Pavelski, Marleau, and Wellwood.
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