A Day in the NHL: Tuesday March 29

Light night in NHL with just two games, but they certainly had their exciting moments.

The Night that Was:

Johan Franzen, Pavel Datsyuk, and Todd Bertuzzi returned to the Detroit lineup against Chicago last night, but Bertuzzi’s return was short-lived. Five minutes in to the second-period Bertuzzi took a five-minute major for a headshot/elbow, and took a seat for the game. In terms of scoring, Chicago was up 2-1 after one period of play, but two minutes into the third Henrik Zetterberg’s 23rd of the season tied the game. The game went to overtime, but the second session didn’t last long. 57 seconds in Marian Hossa potted the winner, his 23rd of the season. Hossa and Patrick Kane finished with two-point nights and Corey Crawford made 33 points in the 3-2 win. The victory moved Chicago up three points on Calgary for eighth in the West while Detroit is one point ahead of San Jose for second in the conference.

Here’s pretty much all you need to know about last night’s game between the Anaheim Ducks and Colorado Avalanche: The Ducks scored five goals, and Teemu Selanne had a hat-trick and two assists. Colorado opened the scoring with a 2-0 lead after one, but by the end of two periods it was tied 3-3 before Anaheim cemented things for the 5-4 win. Cam Fowler and Saku Koivu added two point nights each to go along with Selanne’s five-point extravaganza as Ray Emery earned the win with 31 saves. Anaheim is now one point up on eighth and one point out of sixth in the West.

What’s on Tonight?

The Buffalo Sabres visit Toronto to take on the Leafs, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, Carolina and Washington, and Dallas and Phoenix all meet in divisional matchups. Florida heads to Ohio to take on Columbus, Chicago takes on Boston in what looks to be the game to watch, and Atlanta heads to Montreal. Ottawa and Tampa Bay meet up and Minnesota heads to Nashville. Vancouver and Nashville go head-to-head and Los Angeles plays Edmonton.

The Injury Bug:

-Manny Malhotra undergoes eye surgery today, whose importance far exceeds that of just resuming his NHL career, but saving his eye and his vision according to brother-in-law Steve Nash.

-Brendan Morrison may need the Flames to make the playoffs in order for him to return to the lineup this season.

-Mike Green is skating again, but there’s still no word on whether he’ll be back for the end of the regular season or not.

–There’s an outside chance that Zach Parise returns on Wednesday, but he should get in a couple of games out of New Jersey’s last seven to finish the season.

-Round out the injury news, Anze Kopitar is out indefinitely with surgery to repair his broken ankle, while Daniel Alfredsson and Alex Ovechkin have returned to practice for their teams.

New and Rumours Around the League:

-Word is that TJ Oshie was a no-show at practice for the Blues on Monday. No word on disciplinary action from the team.

The Overlooked Fantasy Line of the Night:

Joey MacDonald made 38 saves for the Detroit Red Wings in their OT loss to the Blackhawks last night. The injury-replacement for Chris Osgood and Jimmy Howard kept his team in the game after allowing two goals in the first period, stopping 26 shots between the second and third periods.

You can e-mail Bryan at bryanthiel74@hotmail.com, and you can also follow him on Twitter at BryanThiel_88.