Wednesday NHL recap

Not many games on Wednesday, with only four, and I still found a way to get behind. We start with...

The New York Islanders hosting the Tampa Bay Lightning. Dan Ellis and Dwayne Roloson were the starters for the game. Ryan Malone and Tampa Bay got on the board first with a power play goal, Malone's tenth of the year. Brett Clark and Teddy Purcell picked up the helpers. P.A. Parenteau tied the game late in the second period with his sixth of the season, assisted by John Tavares and Andrew MacDonald. After going scoreless through the third period, Tavares gave the Islanders the win with his ninth of the year, assisted by James Wisniewski and MacDonald. Roloson (34 for 35 saves), Tavares, and Ellis (26 for 28 saves) got the three stars.

Next up, we have the Pittsburgh Penguins hosting the Florida Panthers. Tomas Vokoun and Brent Johnson were in the creases to start the game. Mark Letestu opened the scoring for Pittsburgh with his seventh of the year, from Tyler Kennedy and Chris Connor. Stephen Weiss tied it up with his ninth of the year for the Panthers, assisted by Michael Frolik and Mike Weaver. The Penguins regained the lead with Sidney Crosby notching his 28th of the season, assisted by Chris Kunitz and the goalie Brent Johnson. Pittsburgh took a 3-1 lead when Matt Cooke netted his seventh of the year from Max Talbot and Evgeni Malkin. Tomas Vokoun was then replaced for Scott Clemmensen. Making it 4-1 for the Penguins was Ben Lovejoy, scoring his first of the season, unassisted. Brent Johnson came out of the game after the second period with presumably an injury, and Marc-Andre Fleury was brought in, giving up a goal to Florida's Bryan McCabe, his fifth of the season, with helpers from Bill Thomas and Darcy Hordichuk. Pascal Dupuis put the Panthers out of their misery with his eighth of the year to give Pittsburgh a 5-2 win, the empty net goal assisted by Kris Letang and Chris Kunitz. Lovejoy, Crosby, and Letestu got the three stars. Two fights occurred during the game, with Lovejoy fighting Florida's Shawn Matthias in the first period, and Hordichuk taking on Pittsburgh tough guy Michael Rupp.

The next game had the Detroit Red Wings hosting the Vancouver Canucks. Roberto Luongo and Jimmy Howard were in between the pipes. The Red Wings struck first, with Danny Cleary netting his 15th of the season, assisted by Todd Bertuzzi and Brian Rafalski. Henrik Sedin tied the game early in the second period, scoring his seventh of the year for the Canucks, a power play goal assisted by Ryan Kesler and Daniel Sedin. Detroit regained the lead with a goal by Valtteri Filppula, his eighth of the year assisted by Cleary and Jonathan Ericsson. Daniel Sedin retied it for Vancouver with his 17th of the season, assisted by Kesler and Christian Ehrhoff on the power play. Late in the second period, the Canucks took their first lead with Mikael Samuelsson's seventh of the year, assisted by Henrik Sedin. Early in the third period, the Red Wings got it tied at 3 with Henrik Zetterberg's eleventh of the year, from Niklas Kronwall and Ruslan Salei. Jeff Tambellini made it 4-3 for Vancouver with his seventh of the season, assisted by Kesler, who locked up his sock trick for the night. Lidstrom tied the game at 4 for Detroit with his eighth of the season, a power play goal from Zetterberg and Rafalski. The tie lasted until Zetterberg tallied his 12th of the season and second of the night in overtime to secure the 5-4 win for the Red Wings. Assists were from Rafalski, getting his own sock trick, and Darren Helm. Zetterberg, Kesler, and Cleary were the three stars.

Lastly was the Chicago Blackhawks hosting the Nashville Predators. Anders Lindback and Corey Crawford were given the starting nods. Dave Bolland opened the scoring with his fourth of the year, with Fernando Pisani assisting to give Chicago a 1-0 lead. Jack Skille extended the lead to 2-0 with his fifth of the season, a power play goal from Bolland and Duncan Keith. Skille added an even strength goal in the third period, assisted by Jake Dowell and Duncan Keith, good for his sixth of the year and second of the night. Giving Nashville a sign of life was Sergei Kostitsyn, potting his sixth of the year while the Predators were a man up, with help from Martin Erat and Ryan Suter. Bryan Bickell put it away for the Blackhawks, potting his tenth of the year with help from Jassen Cullimore to bring the final score to 4-1 Chicago. Skille, Bolland, and Corey Crawford (24 for 25 saves) got the three stars.

That's all there was for Wednesday. I'm sorry I've been behind on these, and I hope to get Thursday Night Football coverage out today, along with yesterday's hockey. Thanks for the patience.

Tuesday NHL recap

For Tuesday's hockey viewing, there were another seven games, similar to the Monday slate. We start off in...

Buffalo, where the Sabres hosted the Anaheim Ducks. Curtis McElhinney and Ryan Miller were in net for the game. Drew Stafford drew first blood for Buffalo with his ninth of the year, a power play goal from Derek Roy and Tyler Myers. Nathan Gerbe made it 2-0 for the Sabres, potting his first of the year with help from Craig Rivet and Paul Gaustad. Tyler Ennis continued the Buffalo scoring spree with two goals in a row, with the first period marker being a power play goal from Andrej Sekera and Jordan Leopold. Following up in the second period, assists went to Roy and Leopold. Ennis' two goals were his eighth and ninth of the season. Showing some signs of life were Anaheim in the third, as Corey Perry potted his 18th of the year thanks to Teemu Selanne and Cam Fowler. Rivet answered for the Sabres with his first of the year, assisted by Rob Niedermayer. Perry netted another power play goal with nine seconds left in the game, helped along by Selanne and Ryan Getzlaf. Buffalo would go on to win 5-2 over the Ducks. Ennis, Leopold, and Rivet earned the three stars. The second period was designated fight time, with three fights breaking out (Duck vs. Sabre format). One second in the period, Ryan Getzlaf fought Cody McCormick, followed five seconds later by Kyle Chipchura and Paul Gaustad, and later followed mid-period by George Parros and Mike Weber.

We head along to Columbus, where the Blue Jackets hosted the Calgary Flames. Henrik Karlsson and Mathieu Garon got the starting nods for their teams. Jakub Voracek opened the scoring for the Blue Jackets with his sixth of the year, assisted by Marc Methot and Derick Brassard. Jared Boll backed it up in the second period by scoring his third of the year from Tom Sestito and Kyle Wilson. Calgary answered with a power play goal by Olli Jokinen, his seventh of the year assisted by Jarome Iginla and Mark Giordano. The Flames were unable to produce any tying offense in the third period, and Rostislav Klesla's goal for Columbus, his second of the year being into the empty net and unassisted, finished the game at 3-1 for the Blue Jackets. Mathieu Garon (29 for 30 saves), Boll, and Voracek earned the three stars. Two fights broke out in the first period, with Calgary's Tim Jackman taking on Jared Boll, followed by Robyn Regehr dropping the mitts with Tom Sestito.

Next up is the Atlanta Thrashers hosting the St. Louis Blues. Ty Conklin and Chris Mason were in the creases. The Blues struck first with Brad Boyes' seventh of the year, assisted by Chris Porter. Bryan Little evened the score for the Thrashers with his tenth of the season, from Evander Kane and Anthony Stewart. Late in the second period, St. Louis took a 2-1 lead with Alex Steen's eleventh of the season, helped along by Barret Jackman and Alex Pietrangelo, who added his fourth of the season in the third period, assisted by Vladimir Sobotka. Dustin Byfuglien tried to rally the Atlanta troops by scoring his 12th of the year, courtesy of Tobias Enstrom and Nik Antropov, but Sobotka's empty net goal, his fourth of the year going unassisted, put the game away at 4-2 St. Louis. Steen, Boyes, and Little earned the three stars.

Heading north to where the Washington Capitals hosted the New Jersey Devils. Martin Brodeur and Semyon Varlamov were given goalkeeping duties. Washington opened the scoring with Andrew Gordon's first of the year, assisted by Marcus Johansson and John Erskine. Patrik Elias answered with his seventh of the year in the second period, with Jamie Langenbrunner and Travis Zajac getting assists on the tying goal. The Capitals got ahead again with Jay Beagle's first of the season, assisted by Dave Steckel and Matt Bradley. Jason Chimera extended the lead to 3-1 with his fifth of the year from Gordon and John Carlson. Carlson added his fourth of the year, assisted by Alex Ovechkin. Mike Knuble finished the scoring in the third period with his seventh of the year from Tom Poti and Brooks Laich. The Capitals went on to beat the Devils 5-1. Carlson, Gordon, and Johansson got the three stars.

Heading to Dallas, where the Stars hosted the Montreal Canadiens. Carey Price and Kari Lehtonen were the masked men for the game. Adam Burish opened the scoring with his fourth of the season, from Steve Ott and Stephane Robidas, giving Dallas a 1-0 lead. Jamie Benn extended the lead with his eighth of the year, a shorthanded goal from Ott. Making it 3-0 was Karlis Skrastins, who netted his second of the year courtesy of James Neal and Matt Niskanen. Montreal finally responded with a goal by Mathieu Darche, his sixth of the year, assisted by Travis Moen and Tom Pyatt. Brad Richards made it 4-1 Stars with his 16th of the year, a power play goal from Robidas and Loui Eriksson. In the third period, Brian Gionta notched a shorthanded goal for the Canadiens, his 12th of the year being assisted by Scott Gomez. Eriksson put the game away with his 15th of the season, from Mike Rebeiro and Robidas. Dallas beat Montreal 5-2, with Benn, Kari Lehtonen (27 for 29 saves), and Ott picking up the three stars. Sharing a fight in the first period was the Stars' Brian Sutherby and the Canadiens' P.K. Subban.

Next up, we have the Colorado Avalanche hosting the Los Angeles Kings. Jonathan Quick and Craig Anderson were selected to play goal for the game. Rob Scuderi and Los Angeles struck first, with Scuderi's first of the season, assisted by Anze Kopitar and Dustin Brown. Brad Richardson extended the lead with his fifth of the season in the second period, from Drew Doughty and Brown. Brown tallied his 12th and 13th of the year in the third period to make it 4-0, with Kopitar and Doughty assisting the first one and Ryan Smyth and Scuderi helping out with the second. Icing the cake was Justin Williams, scoring his 12th of the year while the Kings were a man up, with help from Jack Johnson and Jarret Stoll. Brown, Jonathan Quick (23 save shutout) and Kopitar earned the three stars.

Lastly, we stop in San Jose, where the Sharks hosted the Edmonton Oilers. Nikolai Khabibulin and Antero Niittymaki were in between the pipes for their teams. The first period went scoreless, and Logan Couture's 18th of the year gave San Jose a 1-0 lead, with Ryane Clowe getting the assist. Dan Boyle made it 2-0 for the Sharks with his fourth of the season, from Patrick Marleau and Joe Thornton on the power play. Dustin Penner tried to get Edmonton to rally back late in the third period with his eleventh of the year assisted by Ryan Whitney and Taylor Hall, but it was too late for the Oilers, who fell 2-1. Couture, Boyle, and Clowe got the three stars.

That's all the hockey for Tuesday. Wednesday's recap will be covered tomorrow, along with Thursday Night Football.

Monday NHL Recap

There were seven games played on Monday, and we'll jump right in with...

The Phoenix Coyotes visiting the Pittsburgh Penguins. Jason LaBarbera and Marc-Andre Fleury got the starting nods. Kris Letang opened the scoring for the Penguins with his sixth of the year, a power play goal assisted by Tyler Kennedy and Evgeni Malkin. Malkin added two goals, his 12th and 13th of the year, in the late first and early second periods. Sidney Crosby picked up the lone assist on each goal, and the latter was a power play goal. Crosby later tallied his own power play goal to make it 4-0 Pittsburgh, and the marker was his 27th of the year. Picking up the helpers were Malkin and Letang. Matt Cooke notched his sixth of the year as well, chasing Jason LaBarbera away in favor of Matt Climie, and Max Talbot and Malkin picked up the assists on the Penguins' fifth goal of the game, giving Malkin the sock trick. Wojtek Wolski showed that Phoenix had life in the third period with his sixth of the year, assisted by Derek Morris and Eric "the Dentist" Belanger. Chris Connor's third of the year for Pittsburgh made it 6-1 late in the third period, with Mark Letestu grabbing the assist. This would be the final, with Malkin, Crosby, and Fleury (26 for 27 saves) getting the three stars. Deryk Engelland of Pittsburgh and Taylor Pyatt of Phoenix shared an early third period fight.

We go to Toronto for the next game, where the Maple Leafs hosted the Atlanta Thrashers. Ondrej Pavelec and Jonas Gustavsson got the netminding duties. Fredrik Modin opened the scoring for Atlanta, notching his fifth of the year from Ron Hainsey and Jim Slater. Twenty-eight seconds later, Tobias Enstrom made it 2-0 with his fourth of the year, a power play goal from Dustin Byfuglien. The Maple Leafs got on the board with a power play goal by John Mitchell, his first of the year, assisted by Phil Kessel and Tomas Kaberle. Modin answered with his sixth of the year and second of the night, assisted by Enstrom and Byfuglien to give the Thrashers a 3-1 lead after two periods. Anthony Stewart kept Atlanta going with his tenth of the season, assisted by Bryan Little, who assisted on the next goal, Enstrom's fifth of the year and second of the night, with Stewart getting the other assist. Jonas Gustavsson was replaced for James Reimer. Toronto finally struck back with power play goals from Mikhail Grabovski (12th of the year) and Nikolai Kulemin (eleventh). Clarke MacArthur and Kaberle picked up assists on the first one, with helpers going to Kris Versteeg and Grabovski on the second goal. The score stood at 5-3 until Andrew Ladd put it away with his 12th of the year into an empty net, assisted by Chris Thorburn and Enstrom. Picking up stars in the 6-3 Thrasher victory were Enstrom and Modin, followed by Toronto's Grabovski.

Next up is Philadelphia, where the Flyers hosted the Florida Panthers. Tomas Vokoun and Sergei Bobrovsky were in between the pipes. Bill Thomas gave Florida the lead with his second of the year, assisted by Steven Reinprecht and the goalie Tomas Vokoun. Evgeny Dadonov added on for the Panthers with his second of the season, from Bryan McCabe and Dmitry Kulikov. Going into the second period, where Florida poured some more on with a goal by Shawn Matthias, assisted by Marty Reasoner and Dadonov. Mike Santorelli made it 4-0 Florida with his ninth of the season, from Steve Bernier, and this goal chased Bobrovsky away, with Brian Boucher replacing him in the Philadelphia crease. It did little to stop the bleeding for the Flyers, who would fall 5-0 after Kulikov potted his second of the year, with help from McCabe and Stephen Weiss. Dadonov, Vokoun (26 save shutout + assist), and Thomas earned the stars in the routing.

Continuing along to Boston, where the Bruins hosted the Anaheim Ducks. Jonas Hiller and Tim Thomas earned the starts for their teams. Brandon McMillan and the Ducks struck first with his second of the year, assisted by Luca Sbisa and Teemu Selanne. Making it 2-0 for Anaheim was Lubomir Visnovsky, who scored his fifth of the year, with assistance from Selanne and Saku Koivu. Corey Perry extended the lead even farther with his 17th of the year, a shorthanded goal helped by McMillan and Andy "the Expert" Sutton. The 3-0 margin would stand for the rest of the game, with Hiller's 45 save shutout earning the first star, followed by Selanne and McMillan. Sharing a fight in the early second period was Gregory Campbell of the Bruins and Kyle Chipchura of the Ducks.

Going south for a Southeast division battle between the host Tampa Bay Lightning and visiting Carolina Hurricanes. Justin Peters and Dan Ellis started the game in net. The Lightning struck first with Dominic Moore's sixth of the year, assisted by Teddy Purcell and Dana Tyrell. The Hurricanes answered on the power play with a goal from Sergei Samsonov, his sixth of the year coming from Jeff Skinner and Erik Cole. In the last second of the first period, Martin St. Louis gave Tampa Bay a 2-1 lead, notching his 13th of the year from Ryan Malone and Moore. Brett Clark extended the lead with his seventh of the season, with St. Louis and Victor Hedman picking up the helpers. Making it 4-1 was Steven Stamkos, who potted his 26th of the year with the man advantage, thanks to St. Louis and Purcell. Adding icing on the cake was Sean Bergenheim's seventh of the year, also on the power play with Clark and Vincent Lecavalier getting the assists. The third period went by scoreless, giving the Lightning a 5-1 win over Carolina. St. Louis, Dan Ellis (21 for 22 saves) and Lecavalier earned the three stars in the game. Dropping the mitts in the third period were Tampa Bay's Matt Smaby and Carolina's Troy Bodie.

Heading to the west a bit now, with the St. Louis Blues hosting the Vancouver Canucks. Roberto Luongo and Jaroslav Halak were the starting goalies for the two teams. After going scoreless through the first period, Vancouver struck with the first of the year by Aaron Volpatti, assisted by Alexandre Bolduc. Ryan Kesler made it 2-0 with his 16th of the year, assisted by Raffi Torres and Mikael Samuelsson. Alex Steen responded late in the second period with his tenth of the season, assisted by Adam Cracknell and Roman Polak. The Canucks put the Blues away when Jeff Tambellini struck on the power play with his sixth of the year, helped along by Samuelsson and Dan Hamhuis. The 3-1 score proved to be the final, and the three stars went to Kesler, Samuelsson, and Steen.

Lastly we have the Minnesota Wild hosting the Calgary Flames. Miikka Kiprusoff and Niklas Backstrom received goalkeeping honors for the game. Kyle Brodziak and the Wild struck first with his sixth of the year, courtesy of Marco Scandella and Martin Havlat. In the second period, Calgary evened things up with Olli Jokinen netting his sixth of the year, from Jarome Iginla and Alex Tanguay. Havlat answered in the third period with a power play goal, his eighth of the year, from Cal Clutterbuck and Marek Zidlicky. John "Mr. Football" Madden added his fifth of the year, also a power play tally, from Andrew not blond, not redheaded, but Brunette and Greg Zanon. Clutterbuck finished it off with his ninth of the year, an empty net goal from Brent Burns, making it 4-1 for Minnesota. Backstrom (34 for 35), Havlat, and Scandella earned the three stars.

That's all there was for Monday. Sorry for the delay in the post, I was Christmas shopping last night and had no time to put this one out. Tuesday's recap will come tonight.

Fantasy Football All-Stars, week 15

There were a lot of blowouts this week, the first week of standard format playoffs, which means half of your team did well and the other half likely not so much. Here's who was good:

Quarterbacks: Michael Vick and Rex Grossman
Running Backs: Ray Rice and Jamaal Charles
Wide Receivers: Vincent Jackson and Mario Manningham
Tight Ends: Jason Witten and Aaron Hernandez
Kickers: Robbie Gould and David Buehler

Those are the guys that would have helped you the most this week, and good luck to everyone in the championships. We'll see you here next week.

Monday Night Football week 15

As stadium woes continue, the Minnesota Vikings hosted the Chicago Bears outside at TCF Bank Stadium, home of the University of Minnesota football team. The field was good enough to play ice hockey on, frozen solid in the cold Minnesota winter. Onward to the scoring, opened by brickhouse Brett Favre, who connected with Percy Harvin for 23 yards and a touchdown. Ryan Longwell added the extra point. Robbie Gould kicked a field goal for the Chicago Bears, before adding the extra point on Jay Cutler's 67 yard touchdown pass to Johnny Knox. Cutler found Devin Hester in the second quarter, and after Gould added the extra point, the Bears led the Vikings by a score of 17-7, which would be the score into halftime. Gould kicked a 23 yard field goal to open the scoring in the third quarter, following up with an extra point on the Devin Hester 64 yard punt return for a touchdown. Minnesota found the end zone again when Joe Webb ran it in for 13 yards and the score. Longwell added the extra point. Cutler found another receiver for a touchdown, this time being Rashied Davis for 9 yards, with Gould adding the extra point to make it 34-14. Gould added a third and fourth quarter field goal, from 34 and 20 yards. The final had the Bears up 40-14, improving to 10-4, and dropping the Vikings to 5-9.

Fantasy Football All-Stars will follow this post directly.

Fantasy Hockey All-Stars week 10

Another week down, another group of players leading the pack for their Fantasy Managers, hoping to give them a midseason push. Here's who got work done this week

Center: Matt Duchene, 4 goals, 3 assists, +1, 0 penalty minutes, 3 power play points, 10 shots on goal
Left Wing: Tomas Fleischmann, 4 goals, 3 assists, +2, 4 penalty minutes, 2 power play points, 9 shots on goal
Right Wing: Loui Eriksson, 2 goals, 4 assists, +1, 2 penalty minutes, 3 power play points, 10 shots on goal
Defenseman: Jack Johnson, 1 goal, 2 assists, +2, 14 penalty minutes, 3 power play points, 10 shots on goal
Goaltender: Anders Lindback: 3 wins, 1.89 goals against average, 74 saves, .925 save percentage, 1 shutout

These were the best players by position for the week. Here's to the midseason push.

Song of the Week IV

This week, we have our first repeat artist on here, with James Blunt earning the honors with 1973. The song is the lead track off of his second album, All the Lost Souls, and it went on to be a single for him. The song has a rhythmic beat and a good piano, notorious of his work and setting the soft, strong tone the rest of the album carries. A perfect example of what a first track should sound like. Check this series again next week for the next song.