FTS - 11/22/08

TOP STORY

BLACK HOLE

Brendan Morrow's season is over

The Dallas Stars announced today that the left wing Brenden Morrow is out indefinitely with a torn ACL in his right knee that will require surgery. He is expected to miss up to six months. The club also recalled right wing Landon Wilson from Grand Rapids (AHL). “We are obviously very disappointed to hear the news about Brenden’s knee,” said Co-General Manager Les Jackson. “As our captain, he will obviously be missed, but we have every assurance that he can and will come back from this injury at 100 percent. There is a lot of hockey left to be played this season, and we are confident our team will rally together and keep pushing.”

Morrow has skated in all 18 of the Stars’ games to date, recording five goals and 10 assists for 15 points with 49 penalty minutes. He placed tied for second on the club in assists and points, second in penalty minutes and tied for fourth in goals.

Just when you thought things couldn't get worse in Dallas, they lose their captain. I know we aren't even in December yet, but the way the Stars are playing this year, factoring in that they play in a competitive division in a tough conference, their season is probably over at this point. That's not to say that a turnaround is impossible, but everything has been going wrong for the Stars this season. It will be interesting to see if Mike Modano becomes the captain again and to see how Dallas responds without their leader.

LAST NIGHT'S RECAP

Boston Bruins (13-3-4) over the Florida Panthers (7-11-1) 4-2

TOP PERFORMER = Bruins G Tim Thomas - 30 saves
-Marc Savard (PPG) and Patrice Bergeron each had a goal and an assist for the Bruins. Phil Kessel scored his 10th goal of the season and David Krejci scored the game winner. David Booth and Ville Peltonen scored the two Florida goals. Panthers G Tomas Vokoun made 35 saves in the loss. Bruins left wing Marco Sturm missed his second straight game because of an upper-body injury and is day-to-day. Friday night marked the Bruins' first Friday night home game since Dec. 23, 1977.

Carolina Hurricanes (11-7-2) over the Phoenix Coyotes (8-9-1) 5-2

TOP PERFORMER = Hurricanes C Eric Staal - 3 goals

-The Coyotes would strike first thanks to a PPG from Kevin Porter. Staal would get the first of his 3 goals to tie things up. Shane Doan would score with just under three minutes remaining in the 1st period to give Phoenix the lead heading in to the intermission. Staal would score the next two goals to put the Hurricanes ahead for good. Ray Whitney would add two goals in the 3rd period (one of them an empty-netter) and Joni Pitkanen would chip in with three assists. Cam Ward made 26 saves in the win while Ilya Bryzgalov made 28 saves in the loss. A comforting stat for the Hurricanes is that they are 7-3-1 when their opponent scores first.

New Jersey Devils (10-7-2) over the New York Islanders (7-10-2) 5-2
TOP PERFORMER = Devils LW Zach Parise - 3 assists

-The Devils controlled this game from the beginning despite two short Islanders threats. David Clarkson (PPG), Travis Zajac, Bryce Salvador, Brian Gionta (SHG) and Paul Martin (PPG) would score the Devils goals while Andy Hilbert and Sean Bergenheim scored the 2 Islanders goals. Devils G Kevin Weekes made 25 saves to earn career victory #100. Brendan Witt returned for the Islanders after missing four weeks because of a sprained knee.Barry Tallackson made his season debut for the Devils following surgery to correct an irregular heartbeat, while John Madden sat out with a foot injury

Philadelphia Flyers (8-6-4) over the Buffalo Sabres (9-7-3) 3-0
TOP PERFORMER = Flyers G Martin Biron - 40 saves (shutout)

-Scott Hartnell, Jeff Carter (2 goals - 1 empty netter) would do the offensive damage for the Flyers in the win. Biron's shutout was his first of the season and his 24th in his career. The Flyers are 3-0-1 in their last four road games. After starting the season 6-0-2, the slumping Sabres (9-7-3) dropped their fourth straight to fall to 1-5-1 in their last seven games.

Tampa Bay Lightning (6-7-6) over the Nashville Predators (9-9-1) 4-1
TOP PERFORMER = Lightning C Vinny Lecavalier (2 goals - 1PPG)
-Lecavalier would score the first two goals for Tampa within a 2:30 span in the first period and that would be all the Lightning would need. Mark Recchi and Vinny Prospal would score the other goals for Tampa and Ryan Malone contributed three assists. G Mike Smith made 34 saves to earn the win. Jordin Tootoo scored the only Predators goal and Dan Ellis made 20 saves in the loss. Rick Tocchet got his first career victory in three tries as a head coach for the Lightning. Tampa Bay C Chris Gratton (lower body) and LW Gary Roberts (upper body) didn't play. D Lukas Krajicek left the game with a lower body injury

St. Louis Blues (7-8-2) over the Anaheim Ducks (10-8-3) 3-2 OT
TOP PERFORMER = Blues RW Lee Stempniak - 1 goal (GW)
-Blues RW David Backes would get St. Louis on the board with a PPG in the 1st period. Ducks winger Chris Kunitz would tie things up in the 3rd period, but Steve Regier would give St. Louis back the lead on the power play. Devils D Scott Niedermayer would scored on the power play with just :01 remaining to force OT. In the OT, Lee Stempniak broke in on Jean-Sebastian Giguere and used Ducks D Chris Pronger as a screen to light the lamp. Manny Legace made 26 saves in the win. Ducks D Bret Hedican became the 14th U.S.-born player to reach 1,000 games. Kariya missed his sixth game with a hip flexor injury and is also not expected to play Saturday at Minnesota.

RUMOR MILL

-We could be getting very close to Michael Nylander heading to Chicago. The Capitals would probably get back D Brent Sopel as well as some others. This could happen this weekend, so stay tuned.

AROUND THE BOARDS

- Mike Komisarek will be out for another four to five weeks. The blue-liner was injured during a fierce fight with the Bruins’ Milan Lucic on Nov. 13 in Boston. The injury is an "upper-body injury" according to the team

-After foot surgery in the summer, three months of rehab and a month of skating, Penguins D Ryan Whitney rejoined his teammates for practice for the first time since the Stanley Cup Final yesterday. He skated on his own and with strength and conditioning coach Mike Kadar for the past month, but is still only in the early stages of a complete return. his return to the lineup is still unknown.

-The Atlanta Thrashers on Friday placed goaltender Kari Lehtonen on the IR, retroactive to October 31. Lehtonen has been sidelined since a 3-2 setback to the Rangers on October 30, first because of illness, and then because of a back ailment. He has struggled this season, going 2-5-2 with a 3.44 goals-against average and .903 save percentage. Atlanta recalled forward Joey Crabb from Chicago (AHL) to take the roster spot.

GAME OF THE NIGHT
Boston Bruins (13-3-4) @ Montreal Canadiens (11-5-2) - 7:30PM

Talk about loads of storylines. First off, legendary goalie Patrick Roy will get his #33 raised to the rafters in Montreal before the game. Secondly, this will be a chance for the Canadiens to gain some ground in the Northeast Division on the Bruins, who currently have a 6 point edge. The Canadiens defeated Boston (13-3-4) for the 12th straight time in the regular season with a 4-3 shootout win on Oct. 15. The Bruins, though, snapped that skid on Nov. 13 by getting two goals each from Marco Sturm and Stephane Yelle in a 6-1 victory. The Bruins are coming off a 4-2 home win over the Panthers while the Canadiens are coming off a 3-2 SO win over Ottawa on Thursday night.

Other Action:
Vancouver (12-6-2) @ Pittsburgh (12-4-3) - 2PM

NY Rangers (14-6-2) @ Ottawa (6-9-4) - 3PM

NY Islanders (7-10-2) @ Buffalo (9-7-3) - 7PM

Phoenix (8-9-1) @ Philadelphia (8-6-4) - 7PM

Chicago (9-4-5) @ Toronto (7-8-4) - 7PM

Columbus (8-8-3) @ Atlanta (7-9-2) - 7PM

Anaheim (10-8-3) @ Dallas (6-9-3) - 8PM

St. Louis (7-8-2) @ Minnesota (11-5-1) - 8PM

Detroit (13-2-3) @ Calgary (11-8-1) - 10PM

Colorado (8-10-0) @ Los Angeles (8-8-2) - 10:30PM

Washington (11-5-3) @ San Jose (16-3-1) - 10:30PM (This is the other Game of the Night)

^ALL TIMES EASTERN

*My weekly power rankings, "PLUS/MINUS", comes out Monday evenings

~Dropping the Gloves with Andrew Bogusch comes our on Wednesday evenings

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