Sunday game scores

[Cheese]

Day 84
781 CANUCKS 2 SABRES 5
782 SHARKS 1 SENATORS 0
783 KINGS 4 LEAFS 3 (OT)
784 JETS 5 PANTHERS 4
785 DUCKS 2 WINGS 1
786 RANGERS 6 WILD 3
787 NORDIQUE 3 COYOTES 6
788 THRASHERS 4 JACKETS 2
789 BRUINS 4 PREDATORS 5
790 LIGHTNING 5 STARS 2
791 CAPITALS 1 HAWKS 1 (OT)
792 DEVILS 3 AVALANCHE 3 (OT)
793 PENGUINS 5 FLAMES 2

[JiriHrdina]

New Look...Same Result

The Minnesota Wild lost their 3rd game in a row on Sunday afternoon against the New York Rangers. For the 2nd consecutive game Dominik Hasek was yanked after giving up 5 goals.

The new players for the Wild generally were strong as Robert Lang had 2 goals, and Brad Richards 2 assists. Alex Frolov and Mike Rathje were held off the score sheet.

After the game the Wild announced that Alexei Zhamnov will be lost to the club for an extended period of time after breaking his ankle. He joins Eric Lindros on IR. In positive news, Jason Spezza will be activated from the IR.

GM Grant Farhall commented on the team's struggles

"Defensively we are giving up way too many chances right now and we are going to have to evaluate why that is. We need to break out of this bad spell as soon as possible."

[Sylvanfan]

DEVILS TIE ONE ON IN DENVER
New look uber cheap Devils don't lose

After a flurry of freak trades the Devils roster was pretty much left with nothing. But somehow the team found a way to scrap out a 3-3 tie in Denver against the Avalanche today. Still suffering injuries to 2 of their 3 top defensive players the Devils got another good effort in the nets from Mike Morrison. The Devils attack was pretty effective too in generating 37 shots. In fact if not for the heroics of Manny Legace the Devils might very well have took this one quite easily.

Arron Asham opened the scoring 1:57 into the first period with his 15th of the season. The Avs rallied to go up 2-1 before the frame ended on goals by Steve Rucchin, and Shawn Bates. The Devils came out attacking in the second, frustrating the Avs to the point that Pavel Trnka head butted Devils forward Nick Dimitrakos. The Devils took advantage as Danius Zubrus knocked down a clearing attempt and fired a slap shot through Legace's legs to tie the game up. Zubrus than put the Devils up a goal after Ashams slap shot missed the net, careemed off the end boards, than hit Wade Brookbanks skate, and deflected into the slot where Zubrus was able to fire it top shelf for his second of the game.

The Avs showed a little bit of life left in the third, and with the goalie out of the net Mike Sillinger was able to deflect Pavel "You should have been tossed from the fricken game for head butting" Trnka into the Devils net with only 31 seconds left in the game to tie it up. How bad are the Devils you ask? Only 19 people could be bothered to show up to watch todays game. Whats worse is that it's not like the Bronco's were playing either. In fact there really was nothing else "major" happening in the mile high city today. Yet people chose not to go to the hockey game!!

[Young Guns]

Wings lose yet again. After winning 7 of 8 games going into the Christmas break and moving all the way up the standings into 5th spot in the conference the fans and players started to gain confidence. For the first time it felt like we were on a roll and going into each game there was a sense of pride, like we could win any game. That was then and this is now. The team has lost now five games in a row and have been averaging less than 2 goals a game. Dropping several spots in the standings and back to the same old story of looking up wondering if they can catch the 8th seed. "There is no confidence in the dressing room right now, every game we go out expecting to lose. It gets very frustrating as we seem to find a way to lose every game. Captain Simon Gagne has not recorded a single point during this losing streak and Sean Burke has been brutal stopping about 70% of the shots he faces."

[droopydrew19]

BOLTS STAY OUT OF THE BASEMENT

In a battle for respect Tampa topped fellow basement dweller Dallas 5-2.

The 3 stars were the new top line in Tampa

1 - Corey Perry (LIG)
2 - Oleg Kvasha (LIG)
3 - Pierre Turgeon (LIG)

All 3 notched 3 points with Oleg Kvasha leading the way with 2 Goals.

Mathieu Garon evened his season record at 3 wins and 3 losses notching his first win since being named the starter.

[nyrcrisfer]

Leafs lose again, but gain a point.

The Leafs lost for the 6th straight time on Sunday afternoon, but at least this time they gained a point. Raffi Torres scored twice, breaking a goal scoring draught. Manny Fernandez played alright and has definately been a little more consistent than Cechmanek was with the Leafs.

Another positive is the Leafs killing a 4 minute 5 on 3 early in the 3rd period. That kept us in the game and Gionta tied it with 2 minutes left. But, the team needs to start winning more often.

[Stars GM Shane]

Clash of the Titans in Dallas! The last place Stars hosted the second-to-last-place Lightning last night, and allowed the 'Ning to walk out of the AAC with a 5-2 victory. Ryan Miller was a sieve once again in net, and the Stars offered little resistance in getting away a whopping 23 SOG. Ridiculous.

[Cheese]

Thrashers keep up strong pace!

The Atlanta Thrashers continued their torrid pace today with a 4-2 win over a determined Blue Jackets squad.
Jamie Langenbrunner with two goals, with Brendan Shanahan and Scott Niedermayer contributing one each. Kim Johnsson and Martin St Louis each had a two assist night.


Next up are the ancient Flames from Calgary tomorrow night.

[Goffie]

New Look Pens Beat up on Axel's oldies

The Pittsburgh Penguins looked to get back on track tonight against the Flames who are the oldest team in the Howe Conference. The Pens found themselves down by 1 6:40 into the second period when newcomer Ilya Kovalchuk took the puck from his own end and weaved around 4 Flames before he deposited the puck into the top shelf over a helpless Kipper to tie the game at 2. The Pens added another to take a 3-2 lead into the 3rd where they outlasted the old legs of the Flames and and scored 2 goals before the halfway mark of the 2nd. The Pens then played keep away from the tired oldies and cruised to a 5-2 victory.

[Flickered Flame]

JETS HOLD OFF PANTHERS!

JETS 5 KITTENS 4!

Jets Record:
22-22(2)-5=51 pts—T9th in the conference. 1 point from a playoff spot.

Jet Goals:

THERIEN 5 (RECCHI, CAJANEK)
BARNES 9 (RECCHI, CAJANEK)
RECCHI 15 (BRUNETTE, GRATTON) (PP)
BRUNETTE 13 (THERIEN)
WALZ 10 (MAYERS, COOKE)

Positives:

Another game, another night with a balance attack. The top 3 lines all chipped in tonight. The Jets showed some heart tonight as they came back from a 3-1 Panther lead. The new comers fit in well tonight. Wes Walz scored his 10th goal of the season which turned out to be the game winning goal. Matt Cooke played 16 solid minutes and added an assist.

Negatives:

Not much to complain about. Can’t really complain when you beat one of the elite teams in the league.

Player of the Game:

Tonight tender Archie Irbe is the POW. DiPi made 22 saves, and improved his record to 4-2-1. Irbe started in an attempt by the Jets to keep DiPietro fresh for the stretch drive.

Turning Point:

With 8:38 remaining in the 3rd period, Wes Walz turned along the boards and centered a pass which was intended for Jamal Mayers, however the puck bounced in off Jason Doig’s skate to give the Jets a 5-4 lead.

Up Next:

Tomorrow vs. the Rangers!

[Angelino]

Kings Win OT Thriller in Toronto

Toronto, Canada - The Los Angeles Kings defeated the Toronto Mapleleafs 4-3 in overtime in a thrilling matinee affair. The game was the first with some of the new additions recently acquired during the past week. Jarret Stoll, one of the key pickups during last weeks trade activity, potted the winning goal in overtime.

"It was a great feeling to see the puck go in. It was a hard fought game with chances on both sides but it seemed like we just had the legs tonight to outlast Toronto." said Stoll during the postgame press conference. "I feel like we have a great young team and we just need some time to gell together."

GM Sra had this to say regarding the victory. "We had a good game tonight and I definately liked what I saw out of some of the younger players. It is going to take some time to get everyone on the same page but we looked positioned to make some noise next year. I am proud of the performance being put in by Prusek, he has performed as best as one can hope for during Cloutier's injury".

Goalie Statistics Martin Prusek (KIN), 23 saves out of 26 shots, W, 12-10-2
Manny Fernandez (LEA), 25 saves out of 29 shots, L, 8-28-4

Power Play Conversions
KINGS 2 for 7
LEAFS 1 for 4

Game Stars
1 - Scott Hartnell (KIN)
2 - Michael Ryder (KIN)
3 - Raffi Torres (LEA)


Noteable Notes - Making their Kings debut tonight were Thomas Vanek, Jarret Stoll and Karlis Skrastins. The Los Angeles Kings will go head to head with the St. Louis Blues in a home and home this week.

[jam26]

Avs 3, Devils 3

The Colorado Avalanche had a dismal second period and the Devils took advantage to earn a 3-3 tie.
Newcomer Scott Walker got two assists and Shawn Bates got a goal and an assist for the Avs. Steve Rucchin netted the other Colorado goal.
Legace had another strong performance, saving 34 of 37 shots and earning second star honours.
Pavel Trnka was charged with a head-butting penalty but replays clearly show it was unintentional. He got an assist in the final minute of play to force overtime and salvage a point.

[flambers]

Rangers 6 - Wild 3

Wow, Rangers won two in a row. That is something new. Today Todd White and Mike York had a great game each had 4 points.

Game Stars

1 - Todd White (RAN)
2 - Mike York (RAN)
3 - Ray Whitney (RAN)

Game Highlights

Goals - Todd White - 3
Assists - Mike York - 4
Points - Todd White & Mike York - 4
Shots - Todd White - 9

Next vs Jets

[TaejeonGuy]

Sharks Stun Sens
The Sharks upset the Senators 1-0 before an enthusiastic home crowd (of 18!). The story of the game was goaltending as both keepers played strong games; Bierk was good stooping 20 of21 shots but Cechmaniac was better stopping all 29 shots he faced!

Sens special teams played especially well as the Sharks power-play continued to be woeful, going 0-6 on the night; Sens powrplay was 0-2.

This shutout was the 1st if the Sharks season and is indicative of the relatively solid defensive play the team has shown over the last 10-15 games. Now if only the powerplay would wake up and smell the Absorbine Jr!

As for the minor leagues....Cleveland trounced Binghamton 9-0. The entire Sens organization was shut out as even GM Radically Red went home red-faced and empty handed after striking out numerous times (the last time with SJ Sharkie,our mascot!).

In the game Klepis continued to be on fire with 3 G, Stafford also had 3 G and the doughnut king, Medvedev, put a doughnut on the scoreboard (last seen he was trying to figure out how to dunk it in his coffee!).

All in all a good effort by the Sharks and their farm team...

[pallykins]

Osgood gets his first win for the Ducks.

In a hard fought game newly acquired Chris Osgood playing in only his second game for the Ducks pulled of a strong perfornance edging out a win of 2-1 against the Wings.

Osgood was happy with the way the defence cleared out the front of the net so he could see most of the shots headed his way. He has promised many more wins for his new team in the days to come.

[cannon7]

Bourque-Fata-Johnson combine for 10pts to defeat Nordiques

The Coyotes haven't seen this kind of chemistry from a line all season, and it was from the unlikeliest combination of players. In a 6-3 drubbing of the Quebec Nordiques by the Phoenix Coyotes, the line of Rene Bouruqe, Rico Fata and Mike Johnson combined for 10pts (3g, 7a).

The points explosion for this bluecollar line occurred 6:47 into the second period, where the line combined for nine of the ten points on the night in the course of seven minutes.

Andres Johansson also had a strong effort, posting 3pts (1g, 2a). The top line also combined for 6pts (2g, 4a).

"Rene Bourque pretty much had the game of his career -- thus far," Phoenix Coyotes' GM was quoted as saying.

Game Stars
1 - Rene Bourque (COY)
2 - Rico Fata (COY)
3 - Mike Johnson (COY)

[notoepik]

The Hawks and Ed Belfour had a quiet night.

Not much action from either team. The goalies were the story of the game as they were named 1st (Belfour) Star and 2nd (Grahame) Star.

[looooob]

SABRES IDENTITY CRISIS CONTINUES
Win big, lose big, win big. Sabres 5 Canucks 2

The Sabres are in the middle of a 5 game in 5 night stretch. So far they have won by scores of 6-2 and 5-2 sandwhiching a 6-0 loss. Looooob is confused. Is his team good, or is it bad?


Totally new line combinations went to work against Vancouver with curious results. the socalled stacked line of Morrow-Gomez-Palffy did not do too much, but the third line continued their hot ways, Robert Nilsson scored twice.

Both goalies Gerber and Giguere currently sit in the 'who's not' bin in who's hot/who's not...which is not great news

Tomorrow Sabres long time rivals the Ottawa Senators

[Preds GM - CPHL]

Kariya, Vokoun, Tyutin Play Big in their last games for Preds


The wins are finally coming for the Predators. Preds got goals from Kariya, Mclaren, Kotalik, Sedin.

Tyutin played well in his short stint with the Preds picking up 2 assits in his last game.

Vokoun stopped 28 of 32 shots in his final appreance in the mustard jersey.

[Mango]

Canucks lose a stinker...injuries are playing havoc with the team. Now that GM Mango is back, things may be shuffled.

Game story soon (I hope!)