TOP STORY
CARDIAC CAPS
(Photo Credit: Washington Times)
Semin Hurts The 'Canes Late
Washingon Capitals (6-4-2) over the Carolina Hurricanes (7-4-2) 3-2
-The Capitals and Hurricanes will meet five more times this season. If you're a hockey fan that lives outside of the Carolina or DC markets and you have NHL Center Ice, make it your business to watch when these two meet. I said it in previous blogs that these two teams will provide an exciting race for the Southeast Division title. Last night's game provided a good opening salvo.
Scott Walker opened the scoring for Carolina in the first period. C Sergei Fedorov would tie things up for Washington in the 2nd, but Tuomo Ruutu (who has a five game scoring streak) would give the Hurricanes back the lead heading in to the 3rd period. It would remain that way until just under 3 minutes remained when Alexander Semin would knot things up at 2. With 10 seconds left, Semin would score the game winner to complete the late come from behind victory. Alexander Ovechkin snapped out of his slump with three assists in the win. Brent Johnson made 32 saves in the win while Cam Ward stopped 30 in the loss.
Alexander Semin's longest goal-scoring drought thus far this season is two games. He had five of four or more games last season. The three goals were Washington's fewest this season in a win. Playing in his 300th NHL game, Washington's Shaone Morrisonn left after the first period with a groin injury. The Caps continue their three-game homestand on Saturday night when they host the East-leading New York Rangers. The Hurricanes host the Senators tonight (scroll down to see my Game of the Night)
OTHER HEADLINES
-New Jersey Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur had surgery yesterday to repair his torn left biceps near the elbow. "According to the doctors, his surgery was 100 percent successful," Devils president and general manager Lou Lamoriello said in a statement. "The timetable for his return remains three to four months." Brodeur was injured Saturday against Atlanta making a second-period glove save on a shot that was going wide of the net.
RUMOR MILL
-The Florida Panthers may be dealing D Jay Bouwmeester soon. There's not a team in the league that couldn't use a quality rearguard like Bouwmeester. The teams that look like like they are in the running for him are Montreal (it seems like they are in the running for everyone), Toronto, Buffalo, Boston, and Philly. Philly would have the most options for Florida, as the Panthers need a Center and the Flyers are deep at that position. It'd be interesting to see him in Boston just on the chance that he'd get some shifts alongside Zdeno Chara.
LAST NIGHT'S RECAP
Boston Bruins (7-3-3) over the Toronto Maple Leafs (5-5-4) 5-2
-Sometimes, changing a team's logo or jersey sparks them to a better season. In rookie Blake Wheeler's case, changing his number from 42 to 26 meant his first career hat trick. Dennis Wideman and Zdeno Chara, playing his 700th NHL game, added goals for the Bruins in their fifth win in six games. Mikhail Grabovski and Alex Steen scored for Toronto, which has now lost three straight. Bruins G Tim Thomas made 34 saves in the win. Toronto center Nik Antropov left the game in the first period after injuring his foot blocking a shot, but it doesn't appear to be something that will keep Antropov out of the lineup. Toronto center John Mitchell injured his shoulder and spoke about it possibly being separated after the game. Boston scored a power-play goal for the ninth time in 13 games while Toronto has allowed two or more power-play goals in five games.
-Sometimes, changing a team's logo or jersey sparks them to a better season. In rookie Blake Wheeler's case, changing his number from 42 to 26 meant his first career hat trick. Dennis Wideman and Zdeno Chara, playing his 700th NHL game, added goals for the Bruins in their fifth win in six games. Mikhail Grabovski and Alex Steen scored for Toronto, which has now lost three straight. Bruins G Tim Thomas made 34 saves in the win. Toronto center Nik Antropov left the game in the first period after injuring his foot blocking a shot, but it doesn't appear to be something that will keep Antropov out of the lineup. Toronto center John Mitchell injured his shoulder and spoke about it possibly being separated after the game. Boston scored a power-play goal for the ninth time in 13 games while Toronto has allowed two or more power-play goals in five games.
New York Rangers (11-4-1) over the Tampa Bay Lightning (4-4-3) 5-2
-The bio on Chris Drury is that he always comes up with the timely play or big goal. The Rangers were on a two game losing streak heading in to last night's game and Drury stepped it up with a hat trick (2 PPG, 1 SHG) to help the Rangers to their 11th win of the season. Ryan Callahan and Marc Staal scored the other two Ranger goals while Henrik Lundqvist pitched in with 36 saves. Ryan Malone (PPG) & Martin St. Louis scored the two Tampa goals. The game was chippy from beginning to end and included a fight between Rangers winger Aaron Voros and Tampa Bay goalie Mike Smith. The Lightning lost in regulation for just the second time since their season-opening trip to Prague.
-The bio on Chris Drury is that he always comes up with the timely play or big goal. The Rangers were on a two game losing streak heading in to last night's game and Drury stepped it up with a hat trick (2 PPG, 1 SHG) to help the Rangers to their 11th win of the season. Ryan Callahan and Marc Staal scored the other two Ranger goals while Henrik Lundqvist pitched in with 36 saves. Ryan Malone (PPG) & Martin St. Louis scored the two Tampa goals. The game was chippy from beginning to end and included a fight between Rangers winger Aaron Voros and Tampa Bay goalie Mike Smith. The Lightning lost in regulation for just the second time since their season-opening trip to Prague.
Pittsburgh Penguins (7-4-2) over the Edmonton Oilers (6-6-1) 5-4
-Sometimes a big lead early in the game can hurt you. The Penguins had a 5-0 lead midway through the 2nd period thanks to goals from Miroslav Satan (2 goals - one of them a ridiculous shot through his leg), Petr Sykora (2 goals - 1PPG), and Maxime Talbot (SHG). Edmonton would fight back with four goals (Pisani, Gilbert, Hemsky, Souray-PPG), but that's as close as they would get. Evgeni Malkin has a nine-game point streak and has scored in all but one game this season (he had 3 assists last night).
Ottawa Senators (6-5-2) over the Philadelphia Flyers (4-5-3) 4-1
-LW Dany Heatley (PPG) scored for the fifth straight game and Jesse Winchester had his first NHL goal in the Ottawa win. Anton Volchenkov and Chris Neil (Empty Net) potted the other two goals for the Senators. Aaron Asham scored the lone goal for Philly. Alex Auld made 17 saves and has been a backbone for Ottawa in their 5 game points streak (4-0-1). The Flyers have just three wins in their last 18 trips to Ottawa.
Atlanta Thrashers (4-7-2) over the New York Islanders (4-8-1) 4-3
-The Islanders certainly have a knack for blowing leads lately. Their two game winning streak was snapped after losing a 3-1 2nd period lead. Jon Sim, Frans Nielsen and Trent Hunter would score the three goals for the Isles, but their defense would break down again. This is the 3rd time in 4 games the Islanders have blown a lead, but they managed to escape with the win against Columbus. The Thrashers goals were scored by Slava Kozlov (2), Jason Williams (PPG) and Tobias Enstrom. Atlanta has scored 19 goals in four wins this season, including four Thursday, but have scored only 16 goals in nine losses (seven in regulation, two in OT). Islanders forward Doug Weight got an assist, leaving him 20 points shy of 1,000 for his career. He has a point in six of the last eight games.
Minnesota Wild (8-3-1) over the Colorado Avalanche (5-8-0) 3-1
-The Wild are on a three game winning streak thanks to goals from Andrew Brunette (who played in his 800th career game and his 465th straight game), Pierre-Marc Bouchard and Benoit Pouliot. Marek Zidlicky chipped in with two assists and NIcklas Backstrom made 35 saves. Backstrom has only lost once this season when he's made more than 30 saves. Darcy Tucker scored the lone Avs goal. Minnesota won despite Colorado winning the faceoff battle 37 to 15. The Avalanche have been a roller-coaster team this season, losing three in a row to open the year, then winning five straight, and have now lost five in a row (going 0 for 6 on the PP won't help you snap that streak).
Calgary Flames (8-5-1) over the Nashville Predators (6-6-1) 7-6
-The Flames were lucky that there wasn't a few extra minutes in the game last night. After jumping out to a 5-0 lead and then a 7-3 lead, the Preds almost crept back in to the game. Todd Bertuzzi had 3 assists, Craig Conroy had two goals and an assist, and Jarome Iginla had 2 goals (both PP) and 2 assists for Calgary. On the Nashville box score, Shea Weber had 2 goals and Martin Erat and David Legwand each had a goal and an assist. After allowing two or fewer goals in five of six games, Miika Kiprusoff has allowed 13 in his last three starts for the Flames.
Vancouver Canucks (8-6-0) over the Phoenix Coyotes (5-6-0) 1-0
-Kevin Bieksa would score for Vancouver about 12 minutes in to the 1st period (assisted by Ryan Kesler and Aleandre Burrows) and that would be all the Canucks would need. Roberto Luongo made 28 saves for his second straight shutout, his third shutout in five games and NHL-leading fourth overall. His biggest save came on an Ed Jovanovki's blast with 25.2 seconds left and the Phoenix net empty for an extra attacker. In between, the star goalie got a lot of help from a stingy defense that kept the Coyotes to the outside most of the night.
Los Angeles Kings (4-6-2) over the Florida Panthers (4-7-1) 3-2
-Brian Boyle, Tom Preissing (PPG) and Dustin Brown scored the three Kings goals in last night's win over the Panthers. G Erik Ersberg made his second straight start in goal for the Kings and made 13 saves after sitting behind Jason LaBarbera for the first 10 contests. Anthony Stewart had a goal and Nathan Horton added a short-handed tally for the Panthers in their fifth straight loss. Panthers D Bryan McCabe was back in the lineup after missing the previous 10 games because of a lower back strain. C Gregory Campbell was back in action for Florida after sitting out five games with an injured hip. Panthers LW Cory Stillman, who has five of Florida's 27 goals through their first 12 games, did not make the trip because of a concussion and a broken nose he sustained during Sunday's 5-3 loss in Atlanta.
San Jose Sharks (12-2-0) over the St. Louis Blues (5-6-1) 5-4 (SO)
-Ryane Clowe already had saved the San Jose Sharks twice with tying goals in the game, but would score the most important goal in the 4th round of the shootout to extend the Sharks winnning streak to six games. Clowe has 8 goals in 8 games and had to leave the game for a bit due to some cuts on his face. San Jose remains unbeaten at home at 8-0-0. Evgeni Nabokov made 25 saves and stopped three consecutive Blues to end the shootout, but the goalie left the ice gingerly after stretching to stop Patrik Berglund on the final shootout attempt. Rob Blake scored his first goal of the season for San Jose, and Joe Thornton also scored before Clowe took over. Lee Stempniak had a goal and two assists for the Blues, who lost for the sixth time in seven games despite never trailing in regulation. Keith Tkachuk got his ninth goal of the season and Blaine Bishop made 38 saves. LW Paul Kariya was out of the lineup with a lower-body injury.
AROUND THE BOARDS
-Minnesota Wild D Brent Burns is returning home early from the team's road trip due to an unspecified upper-body injury that has kept him out of action for the past week. Burns was hurt in pre-game warmups on Saturday at Phoenix and didn't dress for Tuesday's game at San Jose.
He'll miss games at Colorado Thursday and Vancouver Saturday. He has three goals and one assist in nine games this season.
-Atlanta D Mathieu Schneider missed last night's game against the New York Islanders on because of a hip flexor injury. GM Don Waddell said Schneider was injured in a light morning practice and isn't expected to join the team on a two-game road trip to Buffalo and Carolina. Also, Goalie Kari Lehtonen missed his third straight game because of a stiff back and flu symptoms, but is expected to return tonight against the Sabres.
-The Edmonton Oilers on Thursday placed D Denis Grebeshkov on injured reserve, retroactive to November 1. The fourth-year pro has missed the Oilers' last two games, in Philadelphia and Columbus, after suffering an undisclosed upper-body injury last Saturday against Carolina.He has one goal and five points in 10 games this season. Edmonton recalled D Theo Peckham from Springfield (AHL) to fill the spot.
-The Colorado Avalanche recalled T.J. Hensick from the Lake Erie Monsters (AHL). It’s Hensick’s first call-up of the season. He leads the Monsters in scoring (6G 7A) and is tied for fifth among all AHL scorers.
GAME OF THE NIGHT
Ottawa Senators (6-5-2) Carolina Hurricanes (7-4-2) - 7PM
-The Carolina Hurricanes open up a stretch of 8 of 10 at home tonight. Only Edmonton (3) has played fewer home games than Carolina (4) which has played eight of its last 10 on the road. The Hurricanes are coming off a disappointing 3-2 loss to the Caps last night. On the flip side, Dany Heatley has goals in five straight games, helping Ottawa to a 4-0-1 record during that span.They are above .500 for the first time this season. The Senators' power play, meanwhile, is among the best in the league with a 23.7 conversion rate, scoring on 14 of 59 chances. They have scored a power-play goal in all but two games this season. Carolina's power play hasn't been nearly as effective, going 6 for 47 in the last 11 games. The Hurricanes have also allowed a power-play goal in six of their last nine contests. Ottawa is 7-3-0 in its last 10 meetings with the Hurricanes, scoring at least four goals in six of those wins.
Other Action:
Montreal (8-1-1) @ Columbus (5-6-2) - 7PM
Atlanta (4-7-2) @ Buffalo (8-2-2) - 7:30PM
Dallas (4-6-2) @ Anaheim (9-5-1) - 10PM
Atlanta (4-7-2) @ Buffalo (8-2-2) - 7:30PM
Dallas (4-6-2) @ Anaheim (9-5-1) - 10PM
^ALL TIMES EASTERN
*My weekly power rankings, "PLUS/MINUS", comes out on Monday evenings
~Dropping the Gloves with Andrew Bogusch comes out Wednesday evenings
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