A Day in the NHL: Flyers and Lightning Play to a Standstill

The Night that Was:

The Philadelphia Flyers and Tampa Bay Lightning went to overtime last night, but it wasn’t the finish that got people’s attention in this one. The first period was scoreless before Scott Hartnell opened things up in the second with his sixth on the power play. Marc-Andre Bergeron’s third tied things up and sent it to overtime where Brett Connolly scored the winner, his third of the season and first game-winning goal of his career. What got all the attention in this one though, was the fact that three times in the first period alone, the 1-3-1 system that Tampa plays led to Philadelphia defensemen holding the puck, uncontested in their own end for anywhere from 20 to 40 seconds, sometimes longer. Tampa eventually began to pressure Philadelphia after the Flyers tried it a fourth time, but the whole ordeal was frustrating and ridiculous to watch. Lost in this was Chris Pronger’s return to game action after a scary eye injury.

Fortunately the Ottawa Senators hosted the New York Rangers in a far more exciting game, While the Sens outshot the Rangers 11-4 in the first, things remained scoreless heading in to period two. After eight scoreless minutes, Milan Michalek broke things open with his tenth before Marian Gaborik scored under a minute later and Derek Stepan added one two minutes later. Gaborik would tack on his second of the game eight and a half minutes into the third and even after Nick Foligno scored a minute later, the Rangers would hold on for a 3-2 win. Stepan got in on all three goals for the Rangers while Artem Anisimov added a pair of assists. Henrik Lundqvist made 29 saves in the win, while Craig Anderson stopped just 16 of 19 shots.

Between the Anaheim Ducks and Nashville Predators, one team would leave with their second loss in a row, and another would be hoping for their first win in a long list of them to move them up the standings. Rookie Craig Smith opened the scoring with his sixth 1:20 into the game, and Nashville made it 2-0 just over three minutes later when Colin Wilson scored. Devante Smith-Pelley’s first NHL goal drew Anaheim within one with just 40 seconds left in the first when he tipped home Cam Fowler’s point shot. Martin Erat put the Preds up 3-2 in the second before Francois Beauchemin cut the lead to one. At the start of the third it was another case of the Preds jumping on the Ducks early as Smith’s second of the game came at 1:36 and that was all. Nashville rolled to a 4-2 win as Pekka Rinne made 31 saves and Patric Hornqvist (3 assists) and Smith each finished with three points. Jonas Hiller stopped 28 of 32 shots in the loss.

What’s on Tonight?

A pretty busy night all over the map: the Edmonton Oilers (Taylor) take on the Boston Bruins (Tyler)…put it together? Taylor vs. Tyler (Why not re-hash the draft?)! Chicago visits the Columbus Blue Jackets and Toronto heads to St. Louis with the Leafs’ situation between the pipes completely up in the air. Florida flies to Winnipeg to take on the Jets, the Islanders make their way to Colorado, and Montreal travels to Phoenix. Vancouver drop in on the Los Angeles Kings while San Jose hosts Minnesota.

The Injury Bug:

-Mike Rupp finally had surgery on his injured knee yesterday. He went under the knife to repair a torn meniscus and is expected to miss four to six weeks.

-It was Game Six of the Stanley Cup Final when Mason Raymond suffered a broken vertabra last year. Things came full circle for the winger yesterday when he returned to practice for the first time since June. He had been skating alone a couple of weeks prior to rejoining the team.

-Tampa Bay was without both Ryan Malone and Victor Hedman last night due to undisclosed upper body injuries.

News and Rumours Around the League:

-Prior to last night’s game, Braydon Coburn and the Philadelphia Flyers came to an agreement on a four-year deal worth $18-million yesterday.

The Overlooked Fantasy Line(s) of the Night:

Artem Anisimov made it three-straight two-assist games last night. Both of his helpers came even-strength, while Anisimov added a plus-three rating and a shot in 18:44 of ice time. Craig Smith of Nashville had a great game as well, finishing with two goals on six shots, an assist, and a plus-two rating (along with two penalty minutes).

You can follow Bryan on Twitter at BryanThiel_88.