Wednesday Hockey

Few announcements before the actual post for the games. First of all, there have been a few trades spun as the deadline approaches, with Michael Frolik heading to Chicago, who sends Jack Skille to Florida. Also, Toronto sent Francois Beauchemin to Anaheim for Joffery Lupul. Most recently, Mike Fisher was sent from Ottawa to Nashville for a picks package. Also, for scheduling concerns due to an increased workload for me in the coming weeks, I will try to get these done regularly, but forgive me if I miss a day. With that said, we start in...

Boston, where the Bruins hosted the Canadiens of Montreal. Carey Price and Tim Thomas were sent out to block the pucks. Boston opened the scoring in the first period with a Brad Marchand goal, his 15th of the season, getting help along the way from Patrice Bergeron and Mark Recchi. Twelve seconds later, the Bruins went up 2-0 with a Dennis Seidenberg marker, his fifth of the year, made possible by Nathan Horton. There was a scrum at the end of the first period, featuring Carey Price, Travis Moen, and Milan Lucic, among others. Twenty-five seconds into the second period, Brian Gionta notched his 20th of the season for Montreal, with the help of Tomas Plekanec and James Wisniewski. The Canadiens tied it with a P.K. Subban goal from Gionta and Plekanec on the power play, going as his seventh of the year. Boston retook the lead with Adam McQuaid potting his first of the season, from Horton and Lucic. Yannick Weber retied it for Montreal with his own first of the year, thanks to Mathieu Darche. The Bruins took the lead back once again, 4-3, with a Michael Ryder goal thirty-one seconds later, his 15th of the season a product of Blake Wheeler and Zach Hamill. Fifty-nine seconds later, Lucic made it 5-3 with his 22nd of the year, courtesy of Horton (completing a sock trick) and David Krejci. Another brawl broke out, with Montreal penalties handed out to Gionta (double minor for roughing), Wisniewski (roughing), Max Pacioretty (roughing), and Boston penalties doled out to Recchi (roughing), Marchand (roughing and charging), Zdeno Chara (roughing), and Steve Kampfer (roughing). However, that was not all, as Carey Price and Tim Thomas also received fighting majors for their goalie fight, along with leaving the crease penalties. Twelve seconds after the brawl, David Desharnais netted his fourth of the season for the Canadiens on the power play, with the help of Subban and Weber. Lucic later potted his second of the game and 23rd of the year for the Bruins, shorthanded from Krejci and Horton. Montreal makes it 6-5 a little ways into the third period with a Pacioretty marker, his seventh of the season assisted by Wisniewski on the power play. Boston made it 7-5 with Ryder getting his second in the game and 16th of the year with the help of Seidenberg and Kampfer on the power play. Horton potted his 14th of the season, giving the Bruins a three goal lead well into the third period, allowing Krejci to complete his sock trick. At 17:06 in the third period, another small brawl broke out, with Subban and Lucic taking misconducts, Krejci and Benoit Pouliot fighting, and Horton getting called for a cross check. Not satisfied with already beating the holy crap out of each other already, a massive brawl broke out at the 19:11 mark. Andrew Ference dropped the mitts with Moen (who received two majors for that brawl), Shawn Thornton and Roman Hamrlik both drew fighting majors and game misconducts, alongside Thornton taking a roughing call, Johnny Boychuk and Jaroslav Spacek also dropping the gloves, good for a game misconduct and fighting majors each, and Tom Pyatt dancing with Gregory Campbell. For good measure, the Canadiens brought the eventual final to 8-6 Boston with Pacioretty's second goal of the night and eighth of the year, helped along by Desharnais and Weber. There were the three stars Horton, Lucic, and Ryder, but the special mention goes to the 192 total penalty minutes assessed, alongside possible supplementary discipline. That would be three times the length of a game in sin points.

Going along to more peaceful and lower-scoring areas, the Columbus Blue Jackets invited the San Jose Sharks to Ohio. Antti Niemi and Steve Mason got the starting honors. Columbus opened with a power play goal from Kristian Huselius, his 12th tally of the season, assisted by Anton Stralman and R.J. Umberger. The Blue Jackets went up 2-0 with the third of the year by Grant Clitsome, also a power play goal, with Fedor Tyutin and Derick Brassard picking up the helpers. San Jose got a goal back fairly early in the second period with Kent Huskins notching his first of the campaign, thanks to Joe Pavelski and Patrick Marleau. The Sharks tied the game with the second of the season by Kyle Wellwood, putting it into the goalmouth with the help of Ryane Clowe and Logan Couture. In the third period, San Jose took a 3-2 lead when Marleau sank his 20th of the year, helped along by Pavelski. This was the eventual final, giving the three stars to Niemi (42 for 44 saves), Marleau, and Clitsome.

Continuing to Detroit, where the Red Wings hosted the Nashville Predators. Pekka Rinne and Jimmy Howard were wearing the masks. Nashville was the first to strike with a Martin Erat goal, his eighth of the season going down with the help of Marcel Goc and Sergei Kostitsyn. David Legwand extended the Predators lead out to 2-0 with his eighth of the year, with Ryan Suter grabbing the lone assist. Colin Wilson made it 3-0 Nashville with his 13th of the campaign early in the second period, courtesy of Jerred Smithson and Joel Ward. Kostitsyn added on his 15th of the season for the Predators, scaring off Jimmy Howard for Joey MacDonald with the power play tally from Patric Hornqvist and Shea Weber. Detroit did get on the board with Ruslan Salei scoring his first of the year thanks to Henrik Zetterberg and Danny Cleary. After a silent third period, the final stood at Nashville taking a 4-1 win, giving out the three stars to Kostitsyn, Legwand, and Weber.

A little west, the Minnesota Wild hosted the Colorado Avalanche. Craig Anderson and Niklas Backstrom were called upon to tend the twines. Minnesota struck first with an Antti Miettinen goal, his tenth of the season coming on the power play via Matt Cullen and Brent Burns. Eleven seconds later, Colorado tied it with the 17th of the year by David Jones, made possible Matt Duchene. Forty seconds after that, the Wild took the lead back when Martin Havlat netted his 15th of the campaign, courtesy of Kyle Brodziak and Cal Clutterbuck. John Madden added on his eighth of the season for Minnesota, making it 3-1 with the help of Cullen and Jared Spurgeon. The Avalanche attempted a comeback in the third period on the second Jones tally of the game, also his 18th of the year, from Milan Hejduk. The full rally failed, giving the Wild a 3-2 victory. Andrew Brunette, Cullen, and Backstrom (23 for 25 saves) were given three stars status.

Far south, the Dallas Stars hosted the Phoenix Coyotes. Ilya Bryzgalov and Kari Lethonen were in the blue paint. Steve Ott opened the scoring for Dallas with his tenth of the season, with Brad Richards and Loui Eriksson picking up the helpers. Michal Rozsival tied the game with his first goal for Phoenix and fourth of the year, a power play tally from Taylor Pyatt and Lee Stempniak. The Stars took the lead back in the second period with Richards putting his 22nd of the campaign in the twine, assisted by Nicklas Grossman and Brenden Morrow. The Coyotes retied the game at 2 with Mikkel Boedker's first of the season in the third period, helped along by Ray Whitney. The tie lasted into an overtime frame, where Radim Vrbata won it with his power play tally from Keith Yandle and Whitney for his 14th of the year. The three stars were awarded to Vrbata, Richards, and Whitney.

Criss-crossing the map again, the Calgary Flames hosted the Ottawa Senators. Robin Lehner and Miikka Kiprusoff were allowed to play the goal. Calgary was the first to score, with Tim Jackman picking up his eighth goal of the season, made possible by Niklas Hagman and Robyn Regehr. Thirty-seven seconds later, Ottawa tied the game when Chris Kelly put his 12th of the year in the mesh, with Jarkko Ruutu and Filip Kuba getting the assists. Chris Campoli put the Senators up 2-1 with his unassisted third goal of the season. Olli Jokinen tied the game back up for the Flames with his tenth of the campaign, a power play goal assisted by Curtis Glencross and Anton Babchuk. Glencross put Calgary out in front with his 15th of the year, from Jokinen and Babchuk. Babchuk added on his seventh of the season for the Flames, a power play goal in the third period from Regehr making it 4-2. Icing the cake for Calgary was Jackman with his second of the game and ninth of the year, a power play goal courtesy of Jarome Iginla and Brendan Morrison. Babchuk, Jackman, and Glencross were the three stars in the Flames 5-2 victory.

Staying in the same province, the Edmonton Oilers hosted the Chicago Blackhawks. Corey Crawford and Devan Dubnyk got the starting nods. Patrick Sharp put Chicago up first with his 27th of the season, coming off of Jonathan Toews. In the second period, the Blackhawks went up 2-0 on a Bryan Bickell goal, his 13th of the year going unassisted. Patrick Kane made it 3-0 Chicago with his 16th of the season, a power play goal from Tomas Kopecky and Toews. Edmonton got on the board with the eleventh of the campaign by Jordan Eberle, courtesy of Taylor Hall and Jim Vandermeer. Kane finished it off with his second of the game and 17th of the year, making it 4-1 for the Blackhawks with the unassisted empty netter. Toews, Crawford (23 for 24 saves), and Eberle earned the three stars.

Finally, the west coast rhyme scheme battle between the host Vancouver Canucks and visiting Anaheim Ducks. Curtis McElhinney and Cory Schneider faced off in the backup battle. Anaheim struck first with the eleventh of the season by Jason Blake, helped along by Teemu Selanne and Toni Lydman. The Ducks extended their lead in the second period with Brandon McMillan's sixth of the year, made possible by Dan Sexton and Andreas Lilja. Bobby Ryan made it 3-0 Anaheim with his 24th of the season, assisted by Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry. Vancouver finally got on the board with a Daniel Sedin power play goal, his 29th of the year coming from Mikael Samuelsson and Ryan Kesler. Alexandre Burrows put the Canucks within a goal with his 15th of the season, from Henrik Sedin and Daniel Sedin. Ryan potted his second of the game and 25th of the campaign to make it 4-2 for the Ducks, this time with assists from Selanne and Lubomir Visnovsky. With twenty-one seconds left in the game, Kesler put his 32nd of the year in the twine with the help of Daniel Sedin and Kevin Bieksa. Vancouver failed to score again, however, and lost 4-3 to Anaheim. The three stars went to Ryan, Selanne, and Daniel Sedin.

Thursday's games will be when I can get to them.