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Stars power play gets back on track against the Blues

Since January 1st, the Dallas Stars power play has been pathetic. I could’ve scored more goals than them. They’re power play has gone 9-78 in that time frame but you wouldn’t have known it the way they played last night against the Blues.

Brenden Morrow, Mike Ribeiro and Jere Lehtinen all scored power-play goals. It probably helped though that St. Louis’ goaltending was very suspect. Either way, those goals powered the Stars to a 6-2 win over the blues and extended their winning streak to six games.

The Stars have the best penalty kill in the league and for once their offense backed them up. Thats why they were able to take this victory.

In the NHL, even the refs are tough

This was an interesting game between the Rangers in the Flyers. Steve Valiquette made 31 saves to shutout the flyers. Nigel Dawes and Scott Gomez scored power-play goals to account for the Rangers goals as they won 2-0 in Philly.

Now enough about that. The real story of the game was what happened to linesman Pat Dapuzzo. Dapuzzo was badly injured when Steve Downie’s skate inadvertently caught him in the face after Downie was upended by the boards.

Afterwards a huge fight broke out with nearly everyone on the ice. Despite the fact that he was bleeding all over the place Dapuzzo did his best to help. All the other refs were just concerned with whether he was OK. The players brawled it out in classic fashion, and the Flyers’ and Rangers’ trainers came to the aid of Dapuzzo, who ended up with a broken jaw and 60 stitches.

Around the league

• Evgeni Malkin scored two goals and set up another and the Pittsburgh Penguins won successive games for the first time since captain Sidney Crosby’s injury by beating the Los Angeles Kings 4-2.
• Nik Antropov deflected in Anton Stralman’s slap shot 62 seconds into overtime to give the Toronto Maple Leafs a 3-2 victory over the Detroit Red Wings.
• Brent Burns scored 2:34 into overtime to lift the Minnesota Wild to a 4-3 victory over the Islanders, who lost their seventh straight game.
• Olli Jokinen and David Booth scored 14 seconds apart in the second period, Richard Zednik had two goals, and the Florida Panthers beat the Boston Bruins 6-3.
• Alexei Zhitnik had only one goal in his first 56 games this season, but the Atlanta Thrashers defenseman knew what to do with the puck when he saw Tampa Bay’s Flip Kuba without a stick. Zhitnik easily maneuvered past Kuba with a fake and beat goaltender Johan Holmqvist with a shot 1:26 into overtime to give the Thrashers a 2-1 win over the Lightning.
• Owen Nolan scored two goals to lead the Calgary Flames to a 4-1 victory over the Edmonton Oilers.
• Marek Svatos had two goals and an assist, and linemate Tyler Arnason added a goal and two assists, leading the Colorado Avalanche to a 6-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks.
• Jonathan Cheechoo scored three goals, including the game-winner with 4:55 left, to help the San Jose Sharks win their third straight over Nashville, beating the Predators 4-3.
• Jason Spezza scored three goals and a career-high six points, and the Ottawa Senators’ top line combined for 15 points in a 6-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens.
• The Devils wasted no time in blitzing the Hurricanes, scoring four times in the first period on their way to a 6-1 rout before a crowd of 16,257 at the Rock in Newark.

Jarome Iginla saves the day

Calgary Flames star Jarome Iginla had been in a bit of a slump lately. He hadn’t scored a goal in 11 games but last night was a nice way to break out of that slump. In the Flames match-up with the Coyotes last night, Iginla scored the game tying goal with just 9 seconds left to put them into OT. Phew.

Later he scored the game winner in a shootout to complete the comeback for the Flames. They came back from being down 3 goals in the third period to take the win.

“I was sure happy to see it go in for a number of reasons,” Iginla said.

“I was just trying to turn around and shoot it and that’s the way it goes sometimes,” Iginla said. “You’re just trying to put it to the net. The ones you don’t expect to, they go in sometimes. That sure felt good to see that go in.”

Dion Phaneuf also came up big for the Flames. Phaneuf was responsible for the other two goals that helped the Flames come back in the third.

Alexander Ovechkin’s OT goal lifts caps

The Washington Capitals also completed a good comeback last night with a 4-3 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets. Alexander is fastly developing in the games best young player. Sidney who?

Ovechkin and his team of youngsters are maturing. Ovechkin added two goals to his league leading total which is now at 45. One of those goals was the overtime game winner 2:28 minutes into overtime. The Final

“It doesn’t matter what the score is — 2-0, 4-0 — you’ve just got to play,” the Russian superstar said. “We just have to believe in ourselves. We know we can win the game. It doesn’t matter what happens. This was a big game for the young guys. We’re just growing up.”

Around the league

• Daniel Paille scored twice, and Ryan Miller stopped 30 shots to lead the Buffalo Sabres to a 4-2 victory over the Boston Bruins.
• Antero Nittymaki and the Philadelphia Flyers own the Thrashers, especially in Atlanta. Nittymaki stopped 23 shots to stay perfect in eight decisions against Atlanta and Steve Downie scored with 4:29 left in the third period to give the Flyers a 3-2 victory. Philadelphia has won nine straight against the Thrashers.
• So much for Bridgeport reinforcements aiding the Islanders’ sorry attack, as the Ducks landed on Long Island and sent the collapsing Isles to their fifth straight regulation loss with a 3-0 victory at Nassau Coliseum.
• Alexander Frolov and Anze Kopitar each had a goal and an assist to lead the Los Angeles Kings to 4-2 win over the New York Rangers.
• Richard Zednik scored three goals and Tomas Vokoun stopped all 23 shots he faced as the Florida Panthers routed the Toronto Maple Leafs 8-0.
• Tomas Plekanec had two goals and an assist, and Andrei Kostitsyn had a goal and two assists in the Montreal Canadiens’ 4-3 victory over the Ottawa Senators.
• Chris Mason made 31 saves for his fourth shutout this season, leading the Nashville Predators to a 1-0 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes.
• Dan Cleary ties the game with 1:20 to play in regulation and Brett Lebda scores 1:37 into overtime to lift the Red Wings to their eighth straight victory, a 3-2 win over the Wild.
• Brenden Morrow scored in the sixth round of the shootout as the Dallas Stars extended their winning streak to four games with a 3-2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks.
• The Tampa Bay Lightning have figured out how to win on the road. Paul Ranger scored twice, Martin St. Louis had a goal and two assists and the Lightning won their fifth consecutive road game, 5-4 over the St. Louis Blues.

Devils late charge wins the game for them

The Devils did nothing in the first two quarters to indicate to their hometown fans that they had any intention on winning the game. This was the lowest attended game for the Devils in their new arena this entire season and the few fans that did show up didn’t have much to cheer for.

That all changed in the third when Patrik Elias and David Clarkson scored less than two minutes apart to tie it and Zach Parise tipped in the winner 37 seconds into overtime to lift the Devils to a 4-3 victory. This win gives them a partial lead in the Atlantic division. There is a currently a threeway tie between them, the Flyers and the Pens. It certainly a tight one in the Atlantic.

Around the league

• Mathieu Garon made 24 saves, and the Edmonton Oilers ended a two-game losing streak with a 5-0 win over the Calgary Flames. Fernando Pisani, Dustin Penner, Ales Hemsky, Steve Staios and Sam Gagner scored for Edmonton in Garon’s fourth shutout of the season. The Oilers’ second win in five games moved them within six points of the eighth playoff spot in the Western Conference.
• Shane Doan was on his knees when he poked the puck between Peter Budaj’s pads with 1:37 left in overtime to give the Phoenix Coyotes’ a 4-3 come-from-behind win over the Colorado Avalanche. The Coyotes forced the extra period when Radim Vrbata scored into a wide open net with 3:11 left in the third period.

In the only hockey game of the day, the Rangers got an great win over the Canadiens in Montreal. Chris Drury led the way for them, hustling the whole game, scoring two points including the game winning goal. The final score was 5-3 and it puts the Rangers in 7th place in the eastern conference.

It was a total team effort in this one.  Henrik Lundqvist made some huge stops to keep the game from getting out of reach for the Blueshirts.  Brian Dubinsky and Scott Gomez also played as well as anyone on the club.  Marty Straka took 15 stitches and came back and played like nothing happened.  The Rangers defense also played great after their sad first period.  They looked like they were half-sleep or thinking about the Super Bowl but either way they got their heads straight and took home the victory.  GG Rangers.

Around the League

• Nikolai Zherdev scored twice in the last 6 minutes - one on a highlight-reel move that provided the go-ahead goal - and the Columbus Blue Jackets earned some payback for a bad loss three days earlier, beating the St. Louis Blues 6-4.
• Josh Harding makes 41 saves, Marian Gaborik scores two goals and the Wild hand the Blackhawks their eighth straight loss, 5-2.
• A veritable deluge of goals from a host of Islanders stuck in long scoring droughts produced a 5-4 shootout victory over Calgary at the Pengrowth Saddledome and ended a four-game losing streak.
• Keith Yandle and Ed Jovanovski scored 16 seconds apart on two-man advantages in the second period as the Phoenix Coyotes beat Vancouver 4-3. That’s the Canucks’ first home loss in regulation since Nov. 1st.

Devils skate past the Canes

Patrick Elias has been finding his offensive touch as of late and it continued in this game. Elias had the go ahead goal in the second period and the Devils never looked back. They on to win the game 4-1 in Raleigh, NC against the Carolina Hurricanes.

Elias got off to a slow start this season, only scoring 6 goals in their first 32 games. Since then he has scored 4 goals in the last 7 games. Not too shabby.

For once the Devils offense looked as good as their prolific defense does. Their D was as good as it always is led by their amazing goalie Martin Brodeur.

Brodeur had another stellar game in this one stopping 20 shots by the Canes and continuing his great play. He has has allowed two goals or less in seven of his last eight games.

“It was one of our good games,” Brodeur said. “We just did the right things out there. We got the first goal again.”

Around the League

• The Atlanta star scored his league-leading 36th goal but fired wide in the shootout, allowing Olli Jokinen to give the Florida Panthers a 3-2 win over the Thrashers.
• Alex Kovalev and Tomas Plekanec each had a goal and an assist to lift the Canadiens to a 5-2 victory over the Bruins.
• Scott Hartnell scores three consecutive goals and Antero Niittymaki wins his fourth straight start for the Philadelphia Flyers, who rally to a 6-2 victory over the New York Rangers.
• Ty Conklin made 35 saves, Jordan Staal had two goals and an assist, and the Pittsburgh Penguins extended their winning streak to eight games with a 4-1 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning.
• Dean McAmmond scored on Ottawa’s sixth shootout attempt and the Senators handed the Buffalo Sabres their eighth straight loss, 3-2.
• Gaborik scored on the final attempt in a shootout and Harding made 26 saves in relief, lifting the Minnesota Wild to a 6-5 win over Detroit.
• Brad Boyes scored twice, Paul Kariya had a goal and two assists, and the St. Louis Blues extended their points streak to six games with a 4-2 victory over the Dallas Stars.
• Robert Nilsson and Kyle Brodziak each had a goal and an assist, and the Edmonton Oilers won their third straight game, 5-2 over the Phoenix Coyotes.
• Dustin Brown scored twice as the Los Angeles Kings defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-2.
• Jeremy Roenick and Milan Michalek scored power play goals, and the San Jose Sharks beat Vancouver 3-1.

Ducks rout the Maple Leafs

Ok so now I guess I see why the Leafs never play in Anaheim. The Ducks did anything but make them feel welcome in their game last night jumping all over them for a 5-0 ass kicking. This was the Leaf’s first time in Anaheim since Nov. 13, 2003 — and only their second since March 11, 1998. Something tells me they will tell the schedulers not to send them there anytime soon.

Todd Bertuzzi and Corey Perry each had a goal and two assists and helped them to their season-high fifth straight home victory.

Jean-Sebastien Giguere made 28 saves and earned his 27th career shutout to tie Guy Hebert’s franchise record.

“You prepare pretty much the same way you would against any other team,” Giguere said. “You try to focus on your game and make sure that your part of the game is as good as it can be. And tonight we did that.”

Around the league

• Stu Barnes scores a short-handed goal in the third period, and the Dallas Stars defeat the Chicago Blackhawks, 3-1.
• Donald Brashear and David Steckel each scored in the third period, and Olaf Kolzig made 18 saves in the Capitals’ 2-1 victory over the Colorado Avalanche.