Saturday Scores

[JiriHrdina]

Day 66
509 CANUCKS 2 KINGS 5
510 FLAMES 5 DUCKS 3
511 OILERS 3 JETS 4 (OT)
512 SHARKS 1 NORDIQUE 2 (OT)
513 LIGHTNING 2 THRASHERS 6
514 CAPITALS 4 RANGERS 5
515 SABRES 4 ISLANDERS 5
516 PANTHERS 7 DEVILS 3
517 COYOTES 5 FLYERS 1
518 SENATORS 4 PENGUINS 1
519 JACKETS 3 BRUINS 1
520 HURRICANES 2 CANADIENS 1
521 STARS 4 LEAFS 4 (OT)
522 WINGS 3 BLUES 7
523 PREDATORS 3 HAWKS 2

[Goffie]

Pens continue to slide

It is becoming evident that the Pittsburgh Penguins are not the same team without Sergei Gonchar. With the #1 defenseman out of the lineup the Pens are a miserable 1-4-1. The only good thing to come out of this game is Jason Spezza scored his elague leading 23rd goal. The negatives were the play of the top line, and the goaltending of Olaf Kolzig. Look for some new line combos Monday against Tampa Bay.

[OILFAN #81]

THRASHERS OFFENSE CONTINUES TO SIZZLE IN RENAMED ARENA

(Atlanta - AP)

In a newly named arena, the Atlanta Thrashers offense continued to sizzle Saturday Afternoon with a 6-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning. The old Phillips Arena was renamed the Chantelle Barnes Memorial Arena in honor of the girlfriend of Thrashers GM Sutaria who was killed by a drunk driver last week. The Thrashers played a video tribute prior to the game for her and won the game in her honor. The entire season is now being dedicated in her honor and the Thrashers wore a patch "CB" on their jerseys which will be worn for the rest of the year.

"It was something we wanted to do and tonight's game and the season is now being dedicated to her. She was a huge part of the Thrashers family. We are lucky to have a close group in Atlanta and Chantelle will be with us this entire season." - Captain Forsberg

The offense continued to dominate as it has been lately for 6 goals. Steve Sullivan and Patrik Elias led the way with a combined 7 points. Elias was injured in the 2nd period and is day to day. The Thrashers played without forwards Shawn Horcoff and Shawn Bates who were out with injuries. The Thrashers have tomorrow off before they meet the Predators on Monday.

[HelloHockeyFans]

WELCOME TO LONG ISLAND!



Newest Islander Bret Hedican celebrates with teammates Saturday.

UNIONDALE, NY - Bret Hedican scored what would turn out to be the game-winner in the second period to help his new team to a 5-4 victory over the Buffalo Sabres.

In his first game as an Islander since being acquired from the Winnipeg Jets for forward Nik Antropov, Bret Hedican let his experience shine through showing poise and leadership in Saturday's victory at home against the struggling Buffalo Sabres.

Hedican saw 16 minutes of icetime Saturday, finishing the game with a +2 rating to go along with his goal.

"It was nice to score at home in my first game," Hedican commented afterwards. "Now that that's out of the way, hopefully I can continue to help the team any way I can."

After leaving the opening period with a 1-0 lead courtesy Mike Zigomanis' 3rd of the season, the Islanders and Sabres erupted for 7 goals in total in the middle frame with the Islanders scoring four more times.

After Vinny Prospal's goal to even the score at 2-2, the Islanders regained the lead thanks to a pair of quick goals from Marek Svatos on the powerplay and Ryan Getzlaf a minute later.

Hedican's goal later would put the Isles up by a 5-2 margin before the Sabres began a valiant attempt to steal a point from the home team.

Trevor Letowski's goal on the powerplay in the dying seconds of the second period brought the Sabres within two and Jan Hrdina's 8th in the opening minute of the third on the same powerplay set the scene for a dramatic finish.

The Sabres carried the play in the final period outshooting the Islanders by a 10-8 margin, but backed by solid goaltending from Steve Shields the Islanders hung on to rebound from the 6-0 beating they received yesterday from the Atlanta Thrashers.

The Islanders will take to the ice again on Monday in Colorado against the Avalanche.

[sasketoon66]

Blues beat up on the Red Wings

Finally the streak has stopped at 6, that's the losing streak the Blues have been on as of late that saw them drop out of a playoff spot. The Blues finally played some hockey today as they beat the Wings 7-3. The power play was the story of this game as it was 4 for 5.

Crosby and Daigle led the way with 2 goals each and Mason was in net for his 4th win of the year facing 27 shots and putting aside 23. Look for the same lineup to show up tomorrow night.

[Flickered Flame]

NIEMINEN SLIDES PAST OIL!!!

The Jets upset the Edmonton Oilers Saturday afternoon thanks to Ville Nieminen's shorthanded goal in overtime. Nieminen was sent in all alone on Ray Emery when Andrew Cassels made a beautiful pass from inside the Jets zone to a cherry pickin Nieminen!

Ty Conklin made 32 saves in a surprise start, and Denis Arkhipov chipped in with 2 goals. Its a mini 2 game unbeaten streak for the Jets who have tied the Kings and beat the Oilers in their past 2 games.

[MJK]

Panthers Cruise to Victory

The Panthers once again destroyed the AHL Lowell Devils...errr....ummm....ya pretty much.

4 for 7 on the PP. The 2nd line was the real story of the night as they put on quite a show. Max Afinagenov had 3 assists and is loving playing on the 2nd line with Shanahan. With a minor and a game misconduct today, Shanahan is now 6th in the CPHL in PIM's and looks forward to killing anyone who gets in his way.

Goalie Statistics
Manny Fernandez (PAN), 19 saves out of 22 shots, W, 13-4-1
Nikolai Khabibulin (DEV), 10 saves out of 15 shots, L, 12-14-2
Mikael Tellqvist (DEV), 19 saves out of 21 shots

Power Play Conversions
PANTHERS 4 for 6
DEVILS 0 for 1

Game Stars
1 - Nicklas Lidstrom (PAN)
2 - Maxim Afinogenov (PAN)
3 - Jeff Tambellini (DEV)


Game Notes
Brooks Laich injured at 15:31 of the 1st Period
Mikael Tellqvist enters game at 19:53 of 2nd period

[notoepik]

A game the Hawks should have won.

Alas the Preds have our number. The Hawks are getting some bodies healed up, so perhaps the day of rest tomorrow will see at least one more player return to good health. The to Boston to face the Bruins.

[looooob]

congrats to the isles. Sabres goalies and dmen are playing on fumes right now. all 3 goalies are exhausted and suck and our top 2 d are also tired

Wade Belak gets in a rare game, and is 3rd star. lone bright spot

[HalifaxDrunk]

HOWL!

The Yotes respond with Mats out of the lineup with a strong 5-1 win. Rucinsky and Ponikarovsky had 2 goals each while Curtis Joseph stopped 25 shots for his 11th win.

The Dogs get the day off tomorrow and host the Jets on Monday.

Nice Phoenix sweep of the stars.
Game Stars
1 - Martin Rucinsky (COY)
2 - Alexei Ponikarovsky (COY)
3 - Curtis Joseph (COY)

[Sylvanfan]

Depleted D corp does the Deed

With three regular defenceman injured Adrian Aucoins arrival to Columbus couldn't come fast enough. Even with the addition of Aucoin the Jackets had to make the descision to dip into the farm system and bring up another guy who'd been acquired earlier in the week in Christian LaFlamme just so they could dress 5 defencman. The new guys made contributions as the Jackets slid past the rebuilding Bruins 3-1.

Things got off to a quick start as Sheldon Souray blasted the Bruins first shot of the game past Manny Legace to put the Bruins up 19 seconds into the contest. But the Jackets equalled that only 11 seconds later as Peter Cajanek tipped Scott Niedermayers shot past Jose Theodore to nod the score at 1 only 30 seconds into the game. With the game on pace for 240 goals one had to figure the pace would eventually slow down and it did. Adrian Aucoin made a nice first impression blasting home his 7th goal on the season from Niedermayer and Matt Bradley. For Bradley it marked the 7th consecutive game in which he's tallied a point for the Jackets since coming over in the Kirk Maltby deal. After that things were pretty quiet until the Jackets got a goal late in the game from Cajanek for his 2nd on the night and sixth of the season.

The Jackets concluded a 5 game in 5 night stretch with a 3-2 record in which they dropped one goal descisions to two of the leagues hottest teams in the Caps and Hurricanes. Still every one else and his dog seems to be on a 44 game win streak around us and even when we win we seem to fall off in the standings. Nashville suddenly has the midas touch and has won 5 in a row, Phoenix I don't think has lost in about 2 months. Team needs to get something going or the year end result is going to be the same old same old in Columbus.

Still despite a rather indifferent record there are some positive trends in Columbus. Only 4 weeks ago we ranked 28th in the CPHL in goals against. Slowly we've been able to make the climb up to 13th, and have been very solid in that regard lately. Traditionally in the CPHL, teams who rank in the top 16 defensively tend to be the teams who make the playoffs. Hopefully things will come together and the team will be able to string together some wins while everyone else goes on long losing streaks around us.

[nyrcrisfer]

Leafs blow 4-1 lead heading into the 3rd period.

Well we were up 2-0 after the first 2 minutes and kept that lead until the 3rd period. In the 3rd the Stars scored 3 unanswered goals and the game ended in a tie. Sean Avery had 2 goals. Hopefully he can keep it up and stay out of the box because he's going to have to fill in Neiuwendyk's ice time. Turco saved 30 of 34 which isn't bad against that many shots but he was outplayed by Kevin Weekes.

The Leafs aren't playing well at all right now.

[the_only_turek_fan]

Stars mount late comeback to salvage point!



The Dallas Stars with 3 third period tallies courtesy of Brendan Morrison, Brandon Bochenski, and Mike Leclerc came back to earn a point vs the Toronto Maple Leafs in CPHL action Saturday night.

Marc Crawford had a mixted reaction after the game. "We showed great character tonight. However going down 3-0 and then 4-1 against any team in this league is a recipe for disaster. We were lucky tonight."

Game Stars

1 - Brendan Morrison (STA)
2 - Brandon Bochenski (STA)
3 - Wade Redden (LEA)

[Beerfund]

Canadiens battle hard, but depleted troops fall short in the first regular season match-up against the Hurricanes. The Habs has a very difficult time handling the Hurricanes in the pre-season. The battle continued against the 'Canes, Beerfunds former team. Once again, the Habs came up short. Once again Danny Heatley, comes through to hand the Canadiens a loss. The win leap-frogged the Canes into 2nd place in the league, one point ahead of the Habs. The Habs are 7-2-1, in their last 10 games, but the 9-1-0 'Canes have closed the gap and overcome the Habs. The Panther won versus the Devils to maintain their hold on 1st place.