Philadelphia Flyers 3 Atlanta Thrashers 4 (SO)
If you were betting on what would come first the goal or the unsportsmanlike conduct calls I hope you had your money on the latter. Just over five minutes into the game both Philadelphia’s Daniel Carcillo and Atlanta’s Chris Thorburn were assessed the 2 minute penalty.
The first goal came shortly after when Thrashers Tim Stapleton scored giving the home team the early lead. The Thrashers did not hold on to the lead for long as minutes later Claude Giroux put a wrist shot past Ondrej Pavelec to tie the game heading into the first intermission.
Atlanta reclaimed their lead early in the second period with a backhanded shot from Bryan Little. It was a rare wrap-around goal that saw Flyers Danny Briere re tie the game at two; but Thrashers Nik Antropov would have nothing to do with a tie game at home as he scored late in the second to send the teams to intermission with a 3-2 lead by the home team.
The Thrashers held the lead until the final minutes when Briere would come up big with a backhanded shot assisted by Ville Leino and Kimmo Timonen to tie the game and force extra time.
Shootout Results:
Bryan Little – Save
Mike Richards – Save
Rob Schremp – Goal
Danny Briere – Save
Blake Wheeler – Goal
Detroit Red Wings 2 Columbus Blue Jackets 0
The Blue Jackets can not catch a break as the fall to the Red Wings; as the Red Wings leave the game with an injured Brian Rafalski and Pavel Datsyuk.
It was Miller Time in Columbus as Red Wings Dew Miller mad e return to the line up after being a healthy scratch and puts Detroit on the board 32 seconds into the game. Minutes later Miller received five for fighting as he and Blue Jackets Derek MacKenzie dropped the gloves.
It was Valtteri Filppula who took advantage of the man advantage and put the Red Wings up 2-0 over the Blue Jackets before heading into the first intermission.
Not only did Detroit leave Columbus with the two points needed to keep them atop the central division but head coach Mike Babcock earned his 300th win as head coach of the Red Wings.
Tampa Bay Lightning 2 Montreal Canadiens 3 (SO)
Canadiens get under the Lightnings skin and take two points.
No goals had been scored but it was the final nine seconds of the first when P.K. Subban was called for slashing (2 minutes) as was Lightnings Vincent Lecavalier; however his was a five minute major that was served by Mattias Ritola as Lecavalier was also called for a game misconduct.
The second period saw the Lightning now without their captain but that did not stop Teddy Purcell from putting them on the board first with a power play goal less than a minute into the period. Not wanting to be out done by the visiting Lightning it was Andrei Kistitsyn that tipped in a shot from David Desharnais to tie the game.
The third period saw the Canadiens take the early lead as Brian Gionta scored a backhander while the team was short handed due to a hooking penalty called on Subban. Nearing the halfway point in the third the Lightning connected on the power play and Simon Gagne tipped in a shot from Martin St. Louis to tie the game and force the extra time.
Shootout Results:
Nigel Dawes – Goal
Steven Stamkos – Miss
Brian Gionta – Save
Matrin St. Louis – Save
David Desharnais – Save
Simon Gagne – Goal
Michael Cammalleri – Goal
Teddy Purcell – Save
New Jersey Devils 1 Ottawa Senators 3
The free falling Senators take the Devils down a notch.
An early power play goal from Ottawa’s Ryan Shannon in the final minute of the first period saw the Senators take the lead that they held onto and rode to the end. There would not be another goal until 55 seconds into the third when Chris Neil would tip in a shot from Swedish defenseman Erik Karlsson for the 2-0 lead.
The Devils did not make it onto the scoreboard until after five minutes into the third when Brian Rolston scored on the power play. Late in the game the Devils were only down by a goal so they pulled Martain Brodeur for the extra skater and saw Chris Neil score and empty net goal putting the Senators up by two with just over 30 seconds left in the game.
Toronto Maple Leafs 0 Florida Panthers 4
What could be more frustrating for Toronto than to see their playoff hopes take a beating the way that they did in Florida.
The first period saw a fight between Panthers Mike Duco and Maple Leafs Mike Brown; but no scoring. The first goal was less than a minute into the second period from Panthers Sergei Samsonov. The Panthers went on to score two power play goals (Stephen Weiss and Mike Santorelli) in the second before the second fight of the game broke out. Just over twelve minutes into the second Toronto’s Keith Aulie and Florida’s Ryan Carter were given five minute fighting majors.
At the 16:36 mark the Panthers scored an empty net goal to make the goals scored even with the fight majors given out in the game and trump the Maple Leafs.
Boston Bruins 3 Nashville Predators 4 (OT)
It may have taken the luck of the Irish and some extra time but the Predators walked away with the extra point.
Boston’s second overall draft pick in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft Tyler Seguin scored the first goal of the game less than two minutes after the puck drop. Nashville’s Sergei Kostitsyn managed to tie the game before heading into the first intermission.
It was the Predators who took the next lead as Colin Wilson who put a wrist shot past Bruins Tuukka Rask just shy of eleven minutes into the second. Less than three minutes later Boston’s David Krejci scored on Pekka Rinne to send the game into the second intermission tied at two.
The third period saw Partice Bergeron take the early lead for the Bruins again but David Legwand gave the Predators the tie game again just over halfway though the period.
It was a penalty to Boston’s Steven Kamfer that lead to the Shea Weber power play goal in overtime to determine the winner.
Chicago Blackhawks 0 Dallas Stars 5
It was a big night for Stars goaltender Kari Lehtonen; shutting out the currently Stanley Cup champions turning aside all 23 shots Chicago threw at him.
Lehtonen had the secondary assist on the first goal of the game. Late in the first period Lehtonen passed the puck to Brad Richards who then fed the puck to Steve Ott. Ott scored with a wrist shot past Blackhawks rookie goalie Corey Crawford.
Stars Brandon Segal and Blackhawks Jake Dowell each were given five for fighting late in the period.
It took 1:01 into the second for the Stars to score again. This time it was Jamie Benn from Mike Ribeiro and Brenden Morrow. The same line would turn around and score again just minutes later. The third Dallas goal saw Crawford pulled from net and former Stars goaltender Marty Turco go in.
It took nearly three minute into the third before the Starts put one past Turco; but Jason Williams did just that with an unassisted wrist shot.
Chicago’s Marian Hossa was called for tripping near the midway point in the third while at the same time teammate John Scott was given a 10 minute misconduct. Just seconds after the penalty kill was over for Chicago it was Brandon Segal that scored to make it a 5-0 win over the Blackhawks.
Colorado Avalanche 2 Calgary Flames 5
Flames earn two point versus the Avalanche and claim the 8th spot in the Western Conference.
Any early Flames power play lead to an early lead as captain Jarome Iginla put a slap shot past Peter Budaj just shy of the four minute mark in the game. When the Avalanche took a second penalty just 11 seconds after the Iginla goal it was Flames Mark Giordano with a wrist shot to put the Flames up 2-0 before five minutes had been played.
Nearing the midway point in the period Mark Olver cut the Flames lead in half as he scored a backhander past Miikka Kiprusoff. Yet Rene Bourque would not allow the Flames to go to the intermission with only a one goal lead. With seconds left in the first Bourque made it 3-1 Flames.
It was not until the 4:36 mark of the third that the next goal was scored. Ales Kotalik made it 4-1 Flames and then saw Iginla make it 5-1 less than two minutes later. It was a late game goal from Colorado’s Cody McLeod that saw the Avalanche score their second goal and fall 5-2 to the Flames.
Phoenix Coyotes 3 Edmonton Oilers 1
The first period saw a lot of penalties as there was a call at least once for tripping, elbowing, slashing, and holding; yet neither team was able to take advantage of the power play. It was Coyotes Lee Stempniak whom scored first and he got his shot past Oilers Nikolai Khabibulin in the last minute of the first.
The second period saw three penalties called on Phoenix, none of which Edmonton took advantage of. It was a goal from Ray Whitney just after the midway point in the game that put the Coyotes up 2-0 over the Oilers before heading into the second intermission.
The third period saw six penalties called before the halfway point in the period. Just over a minute into the period Oilers Andrew Cogliano and Coyotes Eric Belanger were called for slashing and a cross check; only to see Oilers Liam Reddox called for slashing less than a minute later.
It was a a holding penalty on Belanger that saw the Oilers get a power play goal as rookie Magnus Paajarvi got a wrist shot past Ilya Bryzgalov with the man advantage.
What goes around comes around as it was a power play goal that saw Radim Vrbata put the Coyotes up 3-1 after the Oilers Linus Omark was called for diving.
St. Louis Blues 4 LA Kings 0
The Blues headed to LA and dominated over the Kings with 39 shots on goal (compared to the Kings 17).
The game got off to an early fight as St. Louis tough guy Cam Janssen dropped the gloves against Los Angeles Kevin Westgarth just over two minutes into the game. The Blues would see Matt D’Agostini score after 16:30 of play and then see a fight break out at 16:54 between Kyle Clifford (LAK) and Ryan Reaves (STL).
It would be D’Agostini that would score the next goal – in the final seconds of the second period.
Blues Alex Pietrangelo put a slap shot past Jonathan Quick early in the third to make its 3-0 Blues and then TJ Oshie make it 4-0 shortly after the halfway point in the third.
Minnesota Wild 2 San Jose Sharks 3
The Sharks took the lead late in the first with a backhanded goal from Jamal Mayers. Minutes later the Sharks were given a man advantage while Wild’s Clayton Stoner was called for holding the stick. Rather than using the advantage the Sharks allowed John Madden to score for the Wild to tie the game late in the first.
Again in the second it took until after the 11 minute mark for a goal to be scored; and once again it was in the Sharks favor as Logan Couture backhanded one past Niklas Backstrom. Less than two minutes later Kyle Brodziak answered to tie the Wild back up with the Sharks before heading into the second intermission.
It was another penalty to Clayton Stoner that lead to another goal, only this time for the Sharks – and the game winner. Stoner was called for holding less than five minutes into the third which saw Sharks Patrick Marleau send a slap shot past Backstrom.
Minutes later Minnesota’s Brad Staubitz was called for tripping and given a 10 minute misconduct so the tripping call was served out by Andrew Brunette. Late in the game cross checking minors were given to both Martin Havlat (Wild) and Torrey Mitchell (Sharks).
Though the Wild lost the game Niklas Backstrom was given second star honors as he stopped 47 of the 50 shots he faced for a 0.940 save percentage. Sharks goaltender Antti Niemi made 28 saves on the 30 shots he faced.
If the Play Offs started today…
Eastern Conference:
Philadalphia Flyers vs. Buffalo Sabres
Washington Capitals vs. New York Rangers
Boston Bruins vs.. Montreal Canadiens
Pittsburgh Pengiuns vs. Tampa Bay Lightning
Western Conference:
Vancouver Canucks vs. Calgary Flames
Detroit Red Wings vs. Chicago Blackhawks
San Jose Sharks vs. Dallas Stars
Phoenix Coyotes vs. Los Angeles Kings