A Day in the NHL: Muller and Hunter Debut; Smith and Schneider Keep Rolling
By Editorial Staff
The Night that Was:
Kirk Muller made his debut behind the Carolina Hurricanes bench last night, but it didn’t go as well as they had hoped. After a scoreless first period where the Hurricanes outshot Florida 9-2, the Panthers opened the scoring in the second when Tomas Fleischmann scored his 11th on the power play. A minute later Jeff Skinner would tie the game with his tenth, assisted by Eric Staal for his second point in as many games (He had three scoreless games before that). The third would roll along tied at one until the 16:41 mark when Shawn Matthias’ fourth put Florida ahead, and he would seal the game three minutes later with an empty-netter. Matthias’ two goals gave him the only multi-point effort of the game as Cam Ward made 18 saves in the loss while Jose Theodore made 26 stops for the win.
Dale Hunter also made his debut behind the Washington Capitals bench last night, hoping for better results than Muller got. It was a good start anyways as halfway through the first Nicklas Backstrom scored to put the Caps up 1-0. T.J. Oshie would return the favour with his seventh five minutes later, knotting things up at one. Nine minutes into the second, Matt D’Agostini would put the Blues up with his sixth, as the Blues would go on to outshoot Washington 30-19 and win 2-1. Alex Ovechkin played just 16:46 in Hunter’s first game, recording an assist, while oddly enough, former London Knights’ defensemen John Carlson (23:30) and Dennis Wideman (21:29) were first and third in ice time for the Caps. Jaroslav Halak made 18 saves in the victory.
The Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Rangers locked up in an exciting game last night. The Pens opened thngs up with James Neal’s 14th of the season, set up by Sidney Crosby and Paul Martin on the power play. In the second though, it was all Rangers. Ryan Callahan, John Mitchell, Brad Richards, and Marian Gaborik all scored within the same ten-minute span to make it 4-1 Rangers, as Evgeni Malkin scored his ninth with just seven seconds left in the second. The only goal of the third came three minutes in when Pascal Dupuis scored his seventh, but 4-3 is as close as Pittsburgh would make it. Brad Richards had a three point night (1g/2a), to go along with one goal/one assist nights for Gaborik and Callahan. Neal finished with a goal and assist as well, while Sidney Crosby, not surprisingly, had two assists.
If you liked high-scoring days, you liked the All-Canadian matchup of Ottawa vs Washington. Milan Michalek gave the Sens a 1-0 led late in the first before Blake Wheeler and Alex Burmistrov gave the Jets a 2-1 lead by the 15-minute mark of the second. The Sens weren’t going to go scoreless in the frame though as in the last four minutes Zack Smith and Michalek scored to give Ottawa the lead again. Like in the second, the Jets opened the scoring in the third with two early ones from Evander Kane, but Jason Spezza would tie the game, and Smith and Nick Foligno would score the last two goals of a 6-4 win. Kane and Bryan Little would finish with multi-point evenings for the Jets, while Michalek, Smith, Foligno, Chris Phillips, and Erik Condra all had two points for Ottawa. Craig Anderson ended up with a pretty busy night, making 39 saves for the win.
The Rest of the Story
Mike Smith made 24 saves for a 4-1 Phoenix win over Chicago. Ray Whitney had a goal and two assists, while Shane Doan, Radim Vrbata, and Daymond Langkow all had a goal and an assist.
All it took was the first NHL goal from Derek Smith for Calgary to score a win last night. The Flames won 1-0 on the strength of 26 saves from Miikka Kiprusoff.
Cory Schneider’s roll continued for Vancouver last night, as he made 47 saves in a 4-1 win over Columbus. Daniel Sedin, Ryan Kesler, and Alex Burrows all had a goal and an assist.
What’s on Tonight?
The Toronto Maple Leafs host the Boston Bruins tonight, and look for a better result than their previous meetings. Tampa Bay heads to Detroit to take on the Red Wings, and New Jersey and Colorado meet up in the Mile high City. Minnesota stops by in Edmonton while the Montreal Canadiens swing by the pond to tangle with the Anaheim Ducks.
The Injury Bug:
-The Leafs’ James Reimer is nearing a return from his ‘concussion-like symptoms’. Reimer has hinted he’s a couple of practices away from being ready for a game.
-Patrick Kaleta missed his fourth game for Buffalo last night with an upper-body injury. Staying with the Sabres, Ryan Miller is preparing to return to practice Wednesday for the first time since he was hit by Milan Lucic.
-Jay Pandolfo broke his foot Saturday against the Devils and missed his first game of action last night.
News and Rumours Around the League:
-Bruce Boudreau spoke yesterday for the first time since he was fired on Monday, and denied that Alexander Ovechkin “was ever a problem” for him in Washington.
-Derek Joslin is set to have a hearing with Brendan Shanahan over a hit Joslin delivered to Kris Versteeg last night that left the Panthers’ forward bloodied. The hit happened in the first period, and while Versteeg left the game, he did return.
The Overlooked Fantasy Line(s) of the Night:
Chris Phillips had a huge night for the Sens in their high-scoring win. Along with two assists (both even strength), Phillips finished as a plus-four in 24 minutes of ice time. The always-underrated Ray Whitney had a good night too with one goal and two assists and a plus-three rating.
You can follow Bryan on Twitter at BryanThiel_88.