TOP STORY
PENGUIN PAYBACK
(Photo Credit: Paul Sancya - AP)Jordan Staal celebrates the first of his three 3rd period goals in the comeback win
NHL AP Link: http://www.nhl.com/ice/recap.htm?id=2008020216
Pittsburgh Penguins (9-4-2) over the Detroit Red Wings (9-2-3) 7-6 (OT)
Seeing another team win the Stanley Cup on your home ice is always tough. It does provide good motivation for the next time the teams meet, and Jordan Staal was certainly motivated to rally the Penguins back to victory. Staal had a hat trick in the 3rd period (including the tying goal with 23 seconds remaining) and set up Ruslan Fedotenko's game-winning goal in OT with just 1:11 remaining.
Sidney Crosby would open the scoring, but the Red Wings would score 3 straight goals after that (McCarty, Holmstrom-PP, Franzen-PP). Maxime Talbot would narrow the lead to a goal, but Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg (PPG) would answer right back to give the Red Wings a commanding 5-2 lead early in the 3rd period. Evgeni Malkin (PPG - extending his point streak to 11 games) and Staal's first goal would narrow the lead back to one goal again, but Jiri Hudler would give Detroit a 6-4 lead with just under 10 minutes to go in the game. Jordan Staal would carry the Penguins the rest of the way with his clutch performance. "We have a lot of talent on this team and we have good heart," Staal said about the big road come back.
The lone brightspot in the loss for Detroit was Nicklas Lidstrom's two assists, giving him 949 career points to move past injured teammate Chris Chelios for ninth place among the highest scoring blue-liners in NHL history. Johan Franzen played after missing five games with a sprained left knee. He has 34 goals in his last 41 games, including the playoffs. Detroit forward Dan Cleary (eye infection) was scratched for the first time this season. The Red Wings will try to rebound with a two-game road trip through Florida, starting at Tampa on Thursday night.
Pittsburgh defenseman Rob Scuderi barely got off the ice in the first period after Lidstrom's slap shot hit him on the left ankle. He returned to play four-plus minutes later but finished with just under seven minutes of ice time. "We don't know anything yet," coach Michel Therrien said. The Penguins will try to extend their four game winning steak tomorrow night when they host the Flyers.
RUMOR MILL
-Brendan Shanahan is VERY close to signing a deal with somone (like within the week close). Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, NJ, Montreal, and Boston are the rumored teams.
LAST NIGHT'S RECAP
Philadelphia Flyers (5-6-3) over the New York Islanders (4-9-2) 3-1
-The Flyers snapped their three game losing streak thanks to goals from Daniel Briere and Mike Richards (shorthanded). Kimmo Timonen would add an empty net goal and Marty Biron made 35 saves int the win. Trent Hunter scored the lone Islanders goal and Joey MacDonald made 29 saves in the loss. C Josh Bailey made his NHL debut for New York and took 2 penalties. The big story here is Flyers Daniel Briere leaving the game midway through the 2nd period with a lower-body injury. This was Briere's second game back since returning from abdominal surgery. "I am playing it on the cautious side," Briere said. "It's a lower body injury and at this point I'd rather not say more. It has nothing to do with the surgery. It's just another thing that popped up." Montreal Canadiens (9-2-2) over the Ottawa Senators (6-7-2) 4-0
-It was a night of firsts for the Canadiens. Christopher Higgins scored his first career hat trick (1 of the goals was SH) and Carey Price posted his first shutout of the season. Price would make 28 saves in the win and Guillaume Latendresse scored the other Montreal goal. Alex Auld returned to the net for Ottawa after sitting out a game and made 27 saves in the loss. Montreal's Tom Kostopoulos began serving a three-game suspension handed down by the league Monday for his hit from behind on Toronto's Mike Van Ryn on Saturday.
Calgary Flames (9-7-1) over the Toronto Maple Leafs (6-6-4) 4-3
-Dustin Boyd took advantage of moving up to the top line to replace Mike Cammalleri (out w/ the flu) and scored two goals in the Flames fourth straight home win over Toronto. Jarome Iginla (PPG) and Dion Phanuef would score the other Flames goals to help them jump out to a 4-1 lead early in the 3rd period. Alexei Ponikarovsky (PPG), Nik Antropov and Matt Stajan potted the three Maple Leaf goals. Flames G Miikka Kiprusoff made 29 saves and improved to 6-2-1 at home this season. Toronto is now 1-3-1 in its last five games. Flames rookie D Adam Pardy took the spot of D Jim Vandermeer, who broke a bone in his ankle Sunday and will be sidelined for six to eight weeks. Calgary RW Rene Bourque played in his 200th game. Toronto LW Jason Blake was a healthy scratch (he's unhappy and could be on the move) with LW Ryan Hollweg inserted in his spot.
-Dustin Boyd took advantage of moving up to the top line to replace Mike Cammalleri (out w/ the flu) and scored two goals in the Flames fourth straight home win over Toronto. Jarome Iginla (PPG) and Dion Phanuef would score the other Flames goals to help them jump out to a 4-1 lead early in the 3rd period. Alexei Ponikarovsky (PPG), Nik Antropov and Matt Stajan potted the three Maple Leaf goals. Flames G Miikka Kiprusoff made 29 saves and improved to 6-2-1 at home this season. Toronto is now 1-3-1 in its last five games. Flames rookie D Adam Pardy took the spot of D Jim Vandermeer, who broke a bone in his ankle Sunday and will be sidelined for six to eight weeks. Calgary RW Rene Bourque played in his 200th game. Toronto LW Jason Blake was a healthy scratch (he's unhappy and could be on the move) with LW Ryan Hollweg inserted in his spot.
Los Angeles Kings (6-6-2) over the Dallas Stars (5-7-3) 3-2 (SO)
-Alexander Frolov's goal in the 5th round of the shootout got the Kings back to .500 in the first game of this home and home. Jarett Stoll scored a PPG in his 300th career NHL game and Anze Kopitar had two assists (Dustin Brown scored the other goal) in the LA victory. Jere Lehtinen and Mike Modano (career goal #533) scored both of Dallas' goals. Kings backup G Erik Ersberg made 19 saves to improve to 3-1-1 on the season (he may not be a backup too much longer at this rate) and Marty Turco made 24 saves to drop to 4-6-3. The Stars finished their five-game road trip with just one win. Dustin Brown and Brendan Morrow would both receive game misconducts (Brown for boarding, Morrow for instigating a fight with Brown after the boarding). NashvillePredators (7-7-1) over the San Jose Sharks (13-3-1) 4-3 (OT)
-The big game of the night was the Pens-Wings Stanley Cup rematch, but Sharks-Preds has been a heated playoff match-up the past two seasons. Like Pittsburgh, Nashville got a bit of revenge by handing the Sharks their first home loss of the season last night. San Jose took a franchise-record 57 SOG, but Dan Ellis stood tall and turned away 54 of them. Devin Setoguchi scored twice and Rob Blake added a PP goal for San Jose while Jason Arnott, Vernon Fiddler and Ryan Suter would score the regulation goals for Nashville. Ville Koistinen scored the game winner 2:28 in to OT. RW Jonathan Cheechoo missed his third straight game with an upper body injury from a hard check in last week's win over St. Louis. D Dan Boyle missed the game because his wife, Amber, gave birth to daughter Eastin Sky Boyle on Tuesday morning (congrats to the Boyle's).
-The big game of the night was the Pens-Wings Stanley Cup rematch, but Sharks-Preds has been a heated playoff match-up the past two seasons. Like Pittsburgh, Nashville got a bit of revenge by handing the Sharks their first home loss of the season last night. San Jose took a franchise-record 57 SOG, but Dan Ellis stood tall and turned away 54 of them. Devin Setoguchi scored twice and Rob Blake added a PP goal for San Jose while Jason Arnott, Vernon Fiddler and Ryan Suter would score the regulation goals for Nashville. Ville Koistinen scored the game winner 2:28 in to OT. RW Jonathan Cheechoo missed his third straight game with an upper body injury from a hard check in last week's win over St. Louis. D Dan Boyle missed the game because his wife, Amber, gave birth to daughter Eastin Sky Boyle on Tuesday morning (congrats to the Boyle's).
AROUND THE BOARDS
-The Edmonton Oilers have claimed forward Jesse Boulerice off waivers from the Colorado Avalanche. They have also placed LW Steve MacIntyre on the IR. Boulerice has 4 points (2G, 2A) with 46 penalty minutes in 12 games this season with the Lake Erie Monsters (AHL).
GAME OF THE NIGHT
Boston Bruins (8-3-3) @ Chicago Blackhawks (7-3-3) - 8:30PM
Washington-Carolina might be a more important game, but I'm a sucker for Original 6 match-ups. Tonight's game happens to match two of the hottest teams in the NHL. Chicago is 6-0-2 at home and they are averaging the highest home attendance in the league (if I had said that about the United Center 3 years ago, I would have been committed). The Blackhawks have won four in a row and are seeking their longest winning streak in nearly seven years. Boston is getting stellar goaltending regardless of who is in net, having allowed seven goals over the last six games. Tim Thomas has made at least 30 saves in each of his last four starts and owns a .944 save percentage on the season. Manny Fernandez got the start Saturday and stopped 32 shots as the Bruins beat Buffalo 3-1 to complete a perfect three-game homestand. The Bruins have won the last two meetings with the Blackhawks, including a 5-3 victory Dec. 29, 2006 in their last visit to Chicago.Other Action:
St. Louis (5-7-1) @ Buffalo (8-3-3) - 7PM
Washington (8-4-2) @ Carolina (8-5-2) - 7PMNY Rangers (11-5-2) @ New Jersey (7-5-2) - 7PM
Phoenix(7-6-0) @ Columbus (7-6-2) - 7PMTampa Bay (5-5-4) @ Florida (5-8-1) - 7:30PM
Colorado (6-8-0) @ Vancouver (9-6-0) - 10PM^ALL TIMES EASTERN
*My weekly power rankings, "PLUS/MINUS", comes out on Monday evenings
~Dropping the Gloves with Andrew Bogusch comes out Wednesday eveningsFEEL FREE TO COMMENT OR EMAIL ANYTIME HERE OR AT FROMTHESLOT@GMAIL.COM
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