Nightly Recap - Leaf Nation Needs to Go Away

Montreal 4 - Toronto 3 (SO) - Toronto loses for the fourth consecutive game and are now at the bottom of the Eastern conference. Fans and media have been calling for the head of John Ferguson Jr. Why now? Could they not have seen this coming before the season? It was clear that his team was not going to make the playoffs? Illegal Curve's Richard Pollock predicted that it would be a difficult road to the playoffs in the preseason. Leaf fans have finally come to the realization that the product on the ice is awful and that something needs to be done. I am sick and tired of hearing about it every time the Leafs lose. TSN, I don't need to see seven hours of coverage on what should be done to the Toronto Maple Leafs organization. Leaf Nation needs to go away.

Anyways, to the game. Jason Blake had two assists for the Leafs and Alex Kovalev had two goals for the Canadiens. Andrei Kostitsyn scored the shootout winner for the Habs. Super rookie Carey Price stopped 43 of 46 to improve his record to 6-2-1. I don't have any numbers on hand, but it seems to me more often than not a Leafs Habs game will go into a shootout.

Detroit 5 - Calgary 3 - Pavel Datsuyk scored two goals and added an assist for the Red Wings. Tomas Holmstrom scored his 13th of the year with a helper. Niklas Lidstrom posted two assists and Chris Osgood made 19 saves in the win. After allowing 3 goals on 15 shots, Flames goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff was pulled in favor of Curtis McElhinney who stopped 18 of 20. Jarome Iginla's three assists was not enough for the Flames who have four wins and nine losses in the month of November.

Vancouver 4 - Anaheim 0 - In the much overhyped return of Todd Bertuzzi to GM Place the Ducks lay a goose egg. After an abysmal season last year, Markus Naslund is returning to form scoring his 11th goal of the year and adding an assist. Ryan Kessler, Henrik Sedin, Mattias Ohlund and Matt Cooke all had two points for the Canucks. Roberto Luongo stopped 26 for his second straight shutout.

Tomorrow's Games
7:00pm STL@BUF, PHI@CAR, DAL@NJ, OTT@NYI, FLA@WSH
8:00pm PHX@MIN
8:30pm TB@CHI
9:30pm EDM@COL
10:30pm LA@SJ

Nightly Recap - Flyers deliver another punishing blow

Boston 6 - Philadelphia 3 - In the first game between the two teams since the Randy Jones incident there was a bit of deja vu as midway through the second Scott Hartnell gave Andrew Alberts an "unspecified head injury". In actual game news, Boston wins for their fifth time in seven games, Marc Savard lead the way with a goal and three assists. Glen Murray scored two goals and Tukka Rask made 20 saves for his second win in his second NHL start. Someone has lit a spark under Glen Murray, he now has eight points in his past seven games.
Here is a video of the Hartnell on Alberts hit. (hat tip to james mirtle).
At first it was a coincidence that a few illegal hits have come from Flyers players (Boulerice, Jones, Downie), but at four players it's becoming a correlation. Is a team fine in order? Ridiculous.


Dallas 3 - NY Islanders 2 (OT) - Dallas is now 6-0-2 in their past eight, Marty Turco got the call in net tonight making 23 saves in the win. It was only his second start in the past six games. Mike Modano scored his 7th and 8th goals of the season, the 8th being the overtime winner.

Buffalo 3 - Washington 1 - Buffalo...so hot right now, they have a five game win streak under their belt, albeit three wins came vs Montreal, but a win streak is a win streak. Jochen Hecht recorded a goal and two assists and Ryan Miller stopped 30 in the win. Alex Ovechkin scored a highlight reel goal tonight (video up later) and is now riding a 9 game point streak.

Edmonton 3 - Columbus 1 - Dwayne Roloson was big tonight making 30 saves for the Oil. Rookie Andrew Cogliano scored the go ahead goal for Edmonton in the third period, his 5th of the campaign. Ales Hemsky put his 8th goal of the season into the empty net to ice the game for the Oilers. Edmonton has gone 3 - 3 on their season long six game home stand.

Tomorrow's Games (all times Eastern)
7:00pm CGY@DET (VS)
7:30pm MTL@TOR (TSN)
10:00pm ANA@VAN (TSN)

Nightly Recap

Montreal 4 - NY Islanders 1: Chris Higgins, a native of Long Island had a goal and an assist and Steve Begin had 2 goals. Cris Huet stopped 44 of 45 shots in the win. (Wow!)

Philadelphia 6 - Carolina 3: Danny Briere had three goals and one assist, and Mike Knuble had one goal and two assists. Marty Biron stopped 32 of 35 in the win. Matt Cullen had 3 points for the Hurricanes, who now have lost three of their past four.

Florida 5 - Columbus 2 - Rosti Olesz had two goals and an assist, Nathan Horton and Stephen Weiss each had two assists for the Panthers. Tomas Vokoun made 34 saves in the win. The Blue Jackets have now won one in their last eight games.

Atlanta 5 - Washington 1 - Ilya Kovalchuk continues to be a monster for the Thrashers, he put up two goals and two assists tonight, he has 11 points in his past four games. Rookie Tobias Endstrom had three assists and Marian Hossa had two. Washington has now lost five consecutive games.

Buffalo 4 - Ottawa 1 - Buffalo got three first period goals from Michael Ryan, Ales Kotalik and Derek Roy, and that was it . Roy and Thomas Vanek each had two points on the night for the Sabres. It was Ottawa's fourth loss on the season.

NY Rangers 2 - Tampa Bay 1 - Henrik Lundqvist was 16 seconds away from his fifth shutout but it was spoiled by Michel Ouellet. Vinny Lecavaliers eight game streak of multi point games was snapped tonight. Fedor Tyutin and Colton Orr scored for the Rangers.

New Jersey 2 - Pittsburgh 1 - Zach Parise scored two powerplay goals for the Devils, while Martin Brodeur earned his 501st career win . Pittsburgh has now lost six of their past seven. New Jersey leads the season series against Pittsburgh 3 - 1.

Detroit 3 - St Louis 0 - Chris Osgood made a whopping 12 saves to earn his 44th career shutout. Henrik Zetterberg scored his 15th of the year. The Blues snapped their 4 game win streak.

Vancouver 4 - Minnesota 2 - Markus Naslund was in top form tonight, netting a hat-trick. The Sedin Twins had two assists each. Marian Gaborik scored both goals for the Wild, fantasy owners rejoiced.

Dallas 2 - Anaheim 1 - Mike Smith stopped 17 of 18 for the Stars in the win. Mike Modano was honoured in pre-game ceremonies for passing Phil Housley for most points by a US born player. He responded by scoring his 513th career goal, also a record for American born players.

Phoenix 4 - Los Angeles 1 - Mike York scored two goals for the 'Yoters. Ilya Bryzgalov won his second game in a Phoenix uniform, defeating the Kings for the second time.

Tomorrow's Games (all times Eastern)
7:30pm PIT@OTT
8:00pm DET@NSH
9:00pm CHI@CGY, COL@EDM

Happy Thanksgiving to all of our American readers.

Nightly Recap: Detroit Snaps Losing Skid

Detroit 5 - Columbus 4 (SO) - Johan Franzen scored the shootout winner in the 5th round of the shootout. Detroit snapped a three game losing streak, and is now 1-4 in shootouts. Columbus is 0-4 in shootouts. Rick Nash and Nicky Zherdev had three points each for the Jackets, Nicholas Lidstrom had three for the Wings.

Minnesota 4 - Colorado 1 - Minnesota received goals from four unlikely heroes, Matt Foy, Aaron Voros, Brent Burns and Stephane Veilleux. It was Brent Burns' fifth goal of the year, his second in two games.

Vancouver 4 - Calgary 1 - Markus Naslund and Henrik Sedin each had a goal and an assist. The Canucks are now 5-0-1 since losing top defenseman Kevin Bieksa and Sami Salo. The Canucks are now 8-0-1 vs the Northwest Division.

Tomorrow's Games (all times Eastern)
7:00pm NYI@NYR, FLA@WSH, TB@ATL (VS),
7:30pm OTT@MTL
8:30pm LA@DAL, NSH@STL

Nightly Recap: Kovalchuk Carries the Thrashers to Victory

Atlanta 3 - Florida 2 (OT) - Ilya Kovalchuk continues to rake, he had three points tonight, including the overtime winner 25 seconds into the period. Marian Hossa and Todd White each collected a goal and an assist. Kovalchuk is on fire with 16 points in his last 6 games, and after a slow start Marian Hossa is heating up with 9 points in his last six.

St Louis 4 - Detroit 3 : After losing to Chicago on Sunday, this was Detroit's second straight loss to a division rival. The Blues scored all four goals in the second period, including two by David Perron. Former Winnipeg Jet Keith Tkachuk had two points for St. Louis. Henrik Zetterberg went pointless for the first time this year, snapping his 17 game point streak.

Montreal 4 - Toronto 3 (OT) - Rookie phenom Carey Price stopped 37 shots and Mike Komisarek scored the overtime winner, his second goal of the year. Alex Kovalev had three points for the Habs, and Kyle Wellwood and Ian White put in two points each for the Leafs.

Calgary 3 - Minnesota 2 - Calgary defeats their division rivals, snapping a five game losing skid. Kristian Huselius scored the winning goal with 53 seconds remaining, it was his second point of the night. Mikko Koivu scored both goals for the Wild, Daymond Langkow had an assist for the Flames in his first game back after missing one game from a concussion.

Anaheim 4 - Los Angeles 3 (SO) - Andy MacDonald scored the shootout winner for the Ducks, while Ryan Getzlaf chipped in with two points in regulation. Alex Frolov had three assists for the Kings and Mike Cammalleri scored his 12th of the year. It was the Kings second game since November 3rd, they had a week off playing no games between November 4 and November 9. Who were the ad wizards who came up with that one?

Tomorrow's Games (all times Eastern)
7:00pm NYR@NJ, CHI@CLB,
7:30pm CAR@TB,
8:30pm SJ@DAL
10:00pm EDM@VAN (TSN)