FTS - 12/8/08

TOP STORY

VANEK CHILLS PENGUINS LATE

(Photo Credit: AP)

Vanek scores his league-leading 20th goal for the win in Pittsburgh

Buffalo Sabres (13-11-3) over the Pittsburgh Penguins (15-8-4) 4-3
TOP PERFORMER = Penguins LW Ruslan Fedotkeno - 2 Goals

If there are two teams that would make for a perfect match-up in a playoff series, these two teams would easily go seven games. No matter how good (Pittsburgh) one team is or if the other is slumping (Buffalo), they always put on a good show on the ice. Last night was no different.

Ruslan Fedotenko (who now has 250 career points) opened up the scoring midway through the 1st period on a feed from Evgeni Malkin and Petr Sykora (both would end the game with two assists). Derek Roy evened things up 90 seconds later, but Fedotenko would score his 2nd goal of the game four minutes after that. In the 2nd period, Kris Letang scored his first goal of the season on the power play to give the Penguins a 3-1 lead. Buffalo would battle back with goals from Ales Kotalik and Daniel Paille to close out the 2nd period. In the 3rd period, Thomas Vanek potted his 20th goal of the season to give the Sabres the lead for good. Ryan Miller made 29 saves in the win while Dany Sabourin made 25 saves in the loss. "At 3-1, we started to play horribly," Penguins coach Michel Therrien said. "It was a horrible performance. That's the truth."

The Sabres ended a three-game losing streak at Pittsburgh and have now won two in a row. Last season, Vanek did not score his 10th until his 31st game and did not tally his 20th until his 56th contest. He is on pace for 60 goals this season. The Penguins were only 1-for-8 on the power play, and the one goal came during a five-on-three. "I thought our penalty killers did a good job," Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. "We put ourselves in a pretty tight spot, let them have some five-on-threes. There was some real good desperation."

Next up for the Sabres is a home game against the lowly Lightning on Wednesday while the Penguins travel to Newark to take on the Devils on Wednesday as well.

OTHER HEADLINES

-A report that the Buffalo Sabres are discussing a sale of the team was denied Monday by a Sabres minority owner. "We are not in negotiations to sell the team and as we have stated in the past, we will never entertain discussions to move the team out of Buffalo," said Larry Quinn in an e-mailed statement. Tom Golisano is the majority owner of the Sabres. He bought the team out of bankruptcy in 2003. Quinn was responding a report in Western New York Hockey magazine which claimed that talks about selling the team are ongoing, though in an exploratory stage. The report, which cited unnamed sources, said that Canadian businessman Jim Balsillie, the founder of Research in Motion, has been approached. It also said that the team, if sold, would play part of its season in Hamilton, Ontario. The report comes on the first day of the NHL Board of Governors meetings in West Palm Beach, Fla. A number of NHL owners are reportedly unhappy with rising costs throughout the league. Richard Rodier, Balsillie's lawyer, issued an e-mail statement which said: "From time to time reports surface quoting anonymous sources claiming a club is for sale, or that Jim is doing this or that with respect to a particular club. These reports have generally been inaccurate.

LAST NIGHT'S RECAP

Boston Bruins (19-4-4) over the Tampa Bay Lightning (6-13-8) 5-3
TOP PERFORMER = Bruins C Phil Kessel - 1 Goal, 1 Assist
-Milan Lucic, Phil Kessel and Michael Ryder scored in the opening 10:46 and the Boston Bruins coasted to their 14th win in 16 games, 5-3 over the struggling Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday night. Zdeno Chara had a power-play goal in the second period and P.J. Axelsson added an empty-netter to help the Bruins win their fifth straight. The Bruins have won 10 straight home games, their longest home winning streak since 1982-83, when they won 11 consecutive games. The NHL's new rules have not helped them extend the streak: All 10 wins have been achieved without going to overtime or a shootout, making the Bruins the first NHL team to win nine or more consecutive home games in regulation time since the Red Wings in 2006-07. The Bruins have outscored their opponents 51-21 during the streak despite having one less shot on goal (308) than their opponents (309).

Florida Panthers (12-12-3) over the Ottawa Senators (10-10-5) 4-3 OT
TOP PERFORMER = Panthers D Jay Bouwmeester - 1 Goal (PPG, GTG), 30:54 of ice time
-Chris Kelly opened up the scoring for Ottawa 7:31 in to the 1st period. About four minutes later, Nick Boynton would tie the game for Florida. In the 2nd period, Dany Heatley, Michal Repik (1st of the season), Jason Spezza and Jay Bouwmeester (PPG) would alternate goals in a seven minute span. The team's would remain scoreless in the 3rd, but Stephen Weiss would end the game with 9.1 seconds remaining in OT on a hard shot from the blueline over Alex Auld's shoulder. Auld made 36 saves in the loss while Craig Anderson made 35 saves to go to 7-2-3 on the season.

Toronto Maple Leafs (10-12-6) over the New York Islanders (10-15-2) 4-2
TOP PERFORMER = Maple Leafs LW Jason Blake - 1 Goal, 2 Assists
-The Maple Leafs and Islanders would be even at 1 after the 1st period thanks to goals from Nikolai Kulemin and Bill Guerin (his 11th of the season). In the 2nd period, Ian White and Mike Sillinger (first goal of the season for Sillinger) traded power play goals before Jason Blake would score the eventual game-winner right before the intermission. In the 3rd period, Jeremy Williams scored his first goal of the season to seal the win. Vesa Toskala made 26 saves in the win while Joey MacDonald made 33 saves in the loss. The Maple Leafs are 7-1-1 in their last eight home games against the Islanders.

St. Louis Blues (12-11-3) over the Nashville Predators (14-11-2) 6-3
TOP PERFORMER = Blues RW BJ Crombeen - 3 Goals, 1 Assist

-Antti Pihlstrom scored his first career goal on the power play to open the scoring for Nashville. BJ Crombeen scored with :41 seconds remaining in the first to knot the game at 1. In the 2nd period, Kevin Klein put the Predators ahead for a bit, b ut Alexander Steen and Patrik Berglund would both score 5 on 3 goals to give St. Louis the lead. :35 seconds later, JP Dumont tied the game back up at 3. In the 3rd period, Crombeen would give St. Louis the lead for good. Brad Boyes (100th career goal) and Crombeen would again score to cushion the lead and the win. Manny Legace made 18 saves in the win while Preds backup goalie Pekka Rinne made 20 saves in his first NHL loss. St. Louis is 5-1-1 in its last seven home games vs. Nashville. Nashville F Scott Nichol played in his 400th career game.

RUMOR MILL

-More Jay Bouwmeester news. It looks like the Avalanche are showing some interest in him now. With their goalie tandem of Budaj and Raycroft, having a 30-minute man like Bouwmeester patroling the blueline would help to keep goals down for a team that likes to outscore the other team.

AROUND THE BOARDS

-The NHL named it's 3 Stars of the Week:
http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=396857

-Radim Vrbata's season with the Tampa Bay Lightning is over. The free-agent winger, who was signed to a three-year, $9 million free-agent contract in the off-season is apparently heading home to the Czech Republic to finish the season there. The Lightning will apparently not be responsible for paying him for the balance of this season but the contract will remain in force for the second and third years should he choose to return to the NHL. "Radim is a great guy and he came into our office on Sunday morning and just told us his confidence is low and he would like to head home to the Czech Republic to finish the season,” Lightning owner Oren Koules told TSN. “He just wants to take the rest of the year off (from the NHL) and try to get his game back over there. If he wants to come back next season, great. That's his call. This is all very amicable. He's a great guy who's really struggling right now.” Vrbata scored 27 goals last season but has only three this year. Vrbata was put on waivers Monday and it's expected he will clear Tuesday. That would free Vrbata up for assignment to a Czech team if he chooses to play there, but in any case, his salary for this season will go off the Lightning books and they will not be responsible for paying him or having his salary count against the salary cap. The Lightning also placed forward Chris Gratton on waivers. Gratton played most of his 14-year career with the Lightning after being drafted third overall by the club in 1993. The Lightning re-signed him to a one-year contract in July. Gratton, 33, has two assists in 18 games with the Lightning this season and has 214 goals and 567 points in 1,086 career games.
-Pittsburgh Penguins forward Tyler Kennedy, fourth on the team in scoring, was placed on the IR and will miss four to six weeks because of a sprained knee. Kennedy was injured Wednesday in the Penguins' game against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. Kennedy has six goals and nine assists in 24 games.

-The KHL announced Thursday its first ever All-Star Game will be held outdoors Jan. 10 at Red Square. Team Yashin, featuring Russian-born players and led by former New York Islanders center Alexei Yashin, will take on Team Jagr, made up of players from the rest of the world and captained by former New York Rangers star winger Jaromir Jagr. Fans can vote online for the starting lineup at http://www.khl.ru/media/votes.php. Voting ends Dec. 22 at noon Moscow time. Sergei Mikhalev, head coach of defending Russian league champion Salavat Yulaeva, will be head coach of Team Yashin. Team Jagr will be coached by former Detroit Red Wings assistant coach Barry Smith, the current coach of SKA St. Petersburg.

GAME OF THE NIGHT
Calgary Flames (16-10-1) @ Montreal Canadiens (15-6-5) - 7:30PM

The Flames, tied with Vancouver for first place in the Northwest Division, have won five of their last six and seven of nine and are coming off a 3-0 victory over the Rangers on Sunday. Flames RW David Moss has scored in four straight games. G Miikka Kiprusoff has started 12 consecutive games and 26 of Calgary's 27 contests this season. He 5-1-0 with a 1.83 goals-against average in his last six games overall, but 0-2-0 with a 4.06 GAA in two career starts at Montreal. The Canadiens are looking to bounce back after their three-game winning streak was snapped Saturday in a 2-1 overtime loss to visiting New Jersey. Rookie Matt D'Agostini scored for the third straight game, but the Devils scored a power-play goal 31 seconds into overtime. Montreal went 0-for-5 on the power play, and is 1-for-19 in the last five games. Its opponents, meanwhile, are 4-for-17 during that stretch. This will be the first game for Montreal's Alex Tanguay against his former team. Tanguay, acquired from Calgary on June 20 for two draft picks, has nine goals and nine assists this season after spending the past two years with the Flames. Montreal has won three straight over Calgary at home since a 3-1 loss on Dec. 13, 2000.

Other Action:
NY Islanders (10-15-2) @ Philadelphia (13-7-6) - 7PM
Vancouver (15-10-3) @ Nashville (14-11-2) - 8PM
Los Angeles (15-10-3) @ Colorado (13-13-1) - 9:30PM

^ALL TIMES EASTERN

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

~Dropping the Gloves with Andrew Bogusch comes out Wednesday evenings

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