New York Rangers 0; New Jersey Devils 1
The Rangers have hit a midseason slump and the now surging Devils are taking advantage. It only took one goal for the game to give the Newark team the much needed two points.
St. Louis Blues 3; Buffalo Sabres 0
Might be hard to remember the Blues shut out the Sabres 3-0 last night when all the news this morning is on the late-night trade (see below) the Blues were involved in.
TJ Oshie opened up the scoring (and got the game winner) early in the second period then assisted on David Backes power play goal late in the period. When the Sabres made a late push in the third and pulled their goaltender Blues’ Vladimir Sobotka made an empty net goal from a feed from the now Colorado Avalanche player Erik Johnson.
Boston Bruins 4; Ottawa Senators 2
After a busy day of trading the recharged Bruins faced the Senators. Senators took the first four penalties in the game yet managed to keep the Bruins from scoring, until the third period when they took another.
Early yesterday morning Senators had traded goaltender Brian Elliott to the Colorado Avalanche in return for goaltender Craig Anderson. For the game last night Ottawa started Robin Lehner who had 29 saves versus Boston’s Tuukka Rask with 32 saves on the night.
Detroit Red Wings 4; Florida Panthers 3
Two for two. The Red Wings won both games in Florida and saw octopus hit the ice in both arenas. Do you doubt the power of the octopi?
Red Wings say the return of Ruslan Salei to the line up. For a team that has been hit and miss with injuries the return of Brad Stuart in the game against the Lightning the night before allowed Salei to spend an extra day in California with his pregnant wife. You read that right mid season the Detroit Red Wings gave one of their defenseman a game off just because so he can fly across the country to be with his wife who still resides in California.
Todd Bertuzzi is back. Not that he went anywhere but with another two goal game Bertuzzi got the game winner after the Red Wings gave up a 3-1 lead to the Panthers.
Scary moments of the game:
1. Puck hits fan.
2. Detroit’s Darren Helm receives a knee-on-knee from Florida’s Bryan Allen.
3. A collision in the crease sends Detroit goaltender Joey MacDonald down to the ice. Jimmy Howard grabbed his gear and awaited his call to the ice; however, MacDonald literally got up and skated it off. Howard was sent back to the bench to record stats.
Philadelphia Flyers 2; Carolina Hurricanes 3
In a night that saw Rod Brind’Amour’s 17 raised to the rafters at the RBC Center both the home team Hurricanes and the visiting team Flyers came out for the warm-up skate in Brind’Amour sweaters.
Chad LaRose and Jeff Skinner wasted no time once the puck dropped to put the Hurricanes up 2-0 over the Flyers early in the first. Philadelpiha’s Blair Betts scored the only goal in the second – less than three minutes in and short handed. Braydon Coburn tied the game just shy of 15 minutes though the third period only to see Erik Cole regain the Hurricanes lead just over two minutes later.
Anaheim Ducks 1; Minnesota Wild 5
Good News for the Wild: The got the much needed two points to keep them in the play off race.
Bad News for the Wild: Top scorer and Captain Mikko Koivu left the game after a first period hand injury. He is to be re-evaluated some time today.
This was only the 9th time in their history that the Koivu bothers faced one another. The elder Koivu, Saku, and Ducks fell to Mikko Koivu and the Wild. Younger brother Mikko now holds the advantage in that stat along with being the only Koivu on the scoreboard.
Corey Perry scored an early goal to put the Ducks ahead early in the first – too bad it was the only goal the Ducks scored all night. The Wild went on to have two power play goals, a short handed goal and two even strength goals. The Ducks were even given 10 minutes of the man advantage though out the game as Brent Burns could not stay out of the box (a four-minute hi-sticking in the first and an interference in the third).
Columbus Blue Jackets 4; Chicago Blackhawks 3
Central Division show down sees the Columbus Blue Jackets top the current Stanley Cup champs for the much needed two points in the heated Western play off race.
Both teams are sitting outside of the top eight: Chicago is in 11th place with 64 points in 58 games while Columbus is in 12th place with 64 points in 58 games (Chicago has 183 goals to Columbus 159 for the tie breaker).
The Western Conference play off race has the Canucks sitting in first with 83 point and the Red Wings in second with 78. The third place Coyotes have 71 points while the 13th place St. Louis Blues have 61 points. Fourth place Predators have 70 points while 9th place and currently out of playoffs Calgary Flames have 68 points. Keep an eye out west – things are only going to become more heated.
Up into the Netting
In celebration of Hockey Weekend Across America the Today Show did a segment on hockey moms.
On Feburary 22nd the Minnesota Wild will wear camouflage jerseys for their warm-up skate and then have them donated to the Minnesota charity Defending the Blue Line. Each jersey will be autographed before it will be auctioned off online (auction starts the following day and ends March 16th).
Is the CHL closer to becoming a reality? To those that pay attention to North American junior hockey you may be thinking – ‘the CHL is already a reality’ – yes it is. I know. I’m credentialed. I am talking about the Champions Hockey League. The International Ice Hockey Federation does not have a clear answer as of yet.
New York maybe the city that never sleeps (never been there don’t know – have been to Las Vegas and I know that city does not sleep) but th hockey world is not sleeping right now either. A
late-night trade sends the Colorado Avalanche’s Stewart and Shattenkirk to the Blues.
Monica, you’re my witness. I predict the New Jersey Devils will make the playoffs.