Thursday Scores

[JiriHrdina]

Day 57
407 CAPITALS 3 HURRICANES 4
408 PENGUINS 6 PANTHERS 2
409 BRUINS 4 WINGS 3
410 COYOTES 2 BLUES 4
411 STARS 2 WILD 4
412 CANUCKS 3 JACKETS 2
413 PREDATORS 1 HAWKS 5
414 AVALANCHE 3 OILERS 1
415 FLAMES 1 KINGS 5
416 SHARKS 0 DUCKS 4
417 SABRES 3 JETS 2
418 CANADIENS 3 NORDIQUE 1
419 THRASHERS 7 ISLANDERS 3
420 SENATORS 1 DEVILS 2
421 LEAFS 4 FLYERS 4 (OT)

[Antithesis]

The Devils, behind the goaltending of backup Mikael Tellqvist, win an ugly, penalty-filled slugfest against the Sens.

The Good: Win with the backup in net
The Bad: Only scored 2 goals
The Ugly: Power play went 0-10

[HelloHockeyFans]

THRASHED AT HOME



Patrik Elias celebrates with teammates after scoring his second of the game.

UNIONDALE, NY - After dropping a close game to the Islanders the night before, the Thrashers returned the favour Thursday night blasting the Islanders to the tune of 7-2.

It wasn't pretty Thursday night in Long Island as fans of the Islanders watched as the visiting Atlanta Thrashers out-hit, out-skated and out-scored the Islanders to even the home-and-home series at one game apiece.

Steve Shields made his his third consecutive start after a strong performance in Atlanta the night before but was pulled in favour of AHL call-up Chris Beckford-Tseu in the 2nd period after surrendering his 5th goal of the game on his 26th shot faced.

"We have to take a lot of blame for this one," captain Chris Phillips said afterwards regarding the defense corps. "We gave Steve no help at all tonight. It's not easy to come out on top when you allow 35+ shots on your goalie."

The Thrashers, obviously motivated after dropping Wednesday's game to the Islanders stormed out in the first period taking a 2-0 lead thanks to goals from Brian Smolinski and Shawn Horcoff.

Patrik Elias would score in the second period before the Islanders would score twice -- Tom Preissing and David Vyborny -- bringing the hometeam within one in the game despite being outplayed.

The Thrashers continued their dominance however, four more times to seal the deal and even the series at one game apiece.

Beckford-Tseu fared no better allowing a pair of goals on the 11 shots he faced when taking over in the second period.

The Isles won't have much time to reflect on the loss as the Nordiques fly in tomorrow morning to face off against the Islanders on Friday night.

[Knut]

Caps continue slide....

With 4 losses in the last 6 games the capitals continued their slide. Howveer GM Hesla is not worried as all the games have been tight one goal games. IT is too early to panic as of yet.

[OILFAN #81]

THRASHERS WIN 7-3 TO SPLIT HOME AND HOME

(AP - Long Island)

The Atlanta Thrashers had something to prove after they lost the night before to the New York Islanders and it showed Thursday Night. Led by the first line of Patrik Elias, Peter Forsberg and Steve Sullivan, the Thrashers dominated the Islanders and won the game 7-3. Elias and Forsberg each had 3 points and the Thrashers won handily outshooting the Islanders 37-22 in the game.

"We played a very solid game tonight and we needed it after our loss to them last night. The difference both nights was our first line. If you look at last night they were -7 or -8 combined but if you look at tonight they absolutely dominated the game. With our conference being so tight, 2 pts could determine you getting home ice to being out of the playoffs. Every game is important and we need to continue to get wins. These next 2 games vs the Rangers will be very important."

The Thrashers just completed their home and home with the Islanders and now have a home and home with New York's other team(the Rangers), which starts tomorrow in Atlanta.

[Sylvanfan]

JACKETS DROP THIRD STRAIGHT 3-2 DESCISION


Canucks goalie Martin Biron keeps this one and 22 others out of the net in the Canucks 3-2 win

Well the Columbus Blue Jackets certainly believe in playing closely matched games. For the 3rd straight game the Blue Jackets dropped a 3-2 descision. This also marked the 12th consecutive game in which a game involving the Blue Jackets ended in a tie or one goal game. Tonight the Jackets were forced to play the game without top scorer Eric Cole as well as Peter Cajanek and Kirk Maltby could only put on his uniform and watch.

The Canucks blitzed the Jackets early on as they took the play to the hosts and finally cracked Manny Legace late in the period when Patrik Stefan scored his 6th goal of the season on a nice pass from Justin Williams at the 18:49 mark. The Canucks held a 12-2 edge in play on the shot clock at the end of one.

But the Jackets rebounded with a good second frame taking advantage of a souple early power plays the combination of Cory Stillman, Jeff "I like fat girls and I'm going" Hoggan and Fedor "Damn" Tyutin found a way to put up two powerplay goals on the board 46 seconds apart to give the Jackets a 3-2 lead. But unable to make hay on three more powerplays afforded to them including Glen Wesleys high sticking major proved costly.

In the third period the Canucks got the timely powerplay goals from Antti "Smooth as Exlax" Laaksonen and Peter Prucha with the winner. The Jackets had a late chance to tie it up but Martin Biron kept the door shut and the Jackets losing streak alive.

After the game hounds asked GM Sylvanfan if it was panic time and time to sell. "Not yet, we're not out of this by any means. We've had to battle through some injuries and our key contributors all seem to be snakebitten right now. But we feel the season is still young and that we can get things going in the right direction. It wasn't that long ago that we had points in 4 straight games. These games are all close and we just need a nudge from somewhere to get us on the right side of these results."

After the game the Jackets did make a deal sending veteran winger Kirk Maltby and cash considerations to the St.Louis Blues for Matt Bradley and prospect Zach Stortini. Maltby is a good veteran player, but he is getting up there in age. Bradley is a similar style of player just a bit younger, and still learning the trades that Maltby has mastered. We'll save a bit of money for next year and we do get a prospect in our system who has a shot at making the CPHL one day.

Interesting fact non relevant fact...Hunter was essentially swapped for Maltby, who has been swapped for Bradley. One would think Bradley is a huge down grade. But of the three players Bradley is having the best NHL season thus far. Although the NHL season is still pretty young and I think Hunter is still the best player.

[JiriHrdina]

Hats Off to Returning Gagne

So much for any risk rust.

Returning after a 1 game absence, Simon Gagne continued his red-hot play of late scoring a hat trick as the Wild doubled up the Stars 4-2.

Indeed it was the entire first line for the Wild that carried the load, as the combination of Gagne-Gomez-Zetterberg accounted for all 4 goals and a combined 9 points.

GM Farhall said the top line came through.

"When your best players are playing at their top level, you win a lot of games. Tonight we didn't have all our lines clicking but our #1 line was on fire and Nabby gave us yet another solid outing"

Game Notes
- Turner Stevenson dressed for his 2nd consecutive game but was dealt post game to the Boston Bruins for a 4th rounder. GM Farhall said it was simply a matter of economics and wanted to give Stevenson a chance to play somewhere rather than return to the AHL
- Fred Meyer will return to the lineup on Friday, and just in time too, as Brian Rafalaski is now listed as day to day after suffering an injury on Thrusday
- With the Stevenson deal it is expected that Petteri Nokelainen will be recalled from the Aeros.

[Angelino]

Flames Extinguished

Los Angeles, Ca - In what has been a house of horrors of late, the Los Angeles Kings were able to pull out a victory on home ice. This time the win came over the visiting Calgary Flames by a score of 5-1. The win also capped a home and home sweep over the divisional foes. "I like the direction the club is heading in right now." said a hurried Coach Keenan as he boarded the private jet to Vancouver. "Whoop-dee-do, we won a damn game, we have another one to worry about tomorrow". Winger Brian Gionta came through with a first star performance on the night with two goals.

"Hey I just picked my shots tonight, it wasn't a big deal but with the players I have around me it is not too hard to find space sometimes." said Gionta on his night's performance. The game also marked the return of sniper Martin Havlat who was solid in dishing out multiple hits on the night. "I didn't score, but I am trying to help the team in any way possible" said Havlat after the game. The game sees the Kings move one home win away from the .500 level on home ice, a mark the club hopes to improve on in upcoming games.

Kings Korner - Dion Phaneuf remains on the mend. Indications are he may be ready for action in Vancouver.

Goalie Statistics
Mika Noronen (FLA), 6 saves out of 6 shots
Miikka Kiprusoff (FLA), 14 saves out of 19 shots, L, 10-10-1
Dan Cloutier (KIN), 25 saves out of 26 shots, W, 15-6-1

Power Play Conversions
FLAMES 1 for 6
KINGS 0 for 1

Game Stars
1 - Brian Gionta (KIN)
2 - Dan Cloutier (KIN)
3 - Daniel Briere (KIN)


First star Brian Gionta is congratulated by the LA faithful

[Goffie]

Let's make it 8!!

The Pittsburgh Penguins won the battle of Newfoundland in deciding fashion. Lead by Jason Spezza the Pens came out to start the 3rd in a 2-2 tie and scored 4 unanswered goals in a huge win over the 1st polace Panthers. Spezza scored 2 goals to give him an amazing 10 goals in 4 games. Jussi Jokinen had a huge game for the Pens as him and linemate Richard Park each added 3 points. Olaf Kolzig now has 5 straight wins in a Penguins jersey as he stopped 31 saves in the win, his only flaw was allowing 2 powerplay goals to the CPHL leading goal scorer Glen Murray.

Next up the Pens put thier 8 game streak on the line against the Hurricanes 6 game streak in a key divisional matchup.

[Flickered Flame]

Crap, forgot to send in the lines not that it would have made a difference. Jets drop another close game.

[Mango]

Canucks GM is trying to manage a major fight with the stomach flu, so I'm sorry if I haven't had any MSN time or time to reply to email offers. I can't keep anything down right now.

Anyhoo, it is nice to get a win.

[sasketoon66]

Blues double up the Coyotes

Blues win 4-2 over the Coyotes. Ovechkin and Sid both had a goal and an assist. Key injuries to defensemen Kaspi, and Teppo and forward Hemsky. More to come as they are to be reevaluated before tomorrow nite's game. Hasek once again plays well.

Goalie Statistics

Curtis Joseph (COY), 22 saves out of 26 shots, L, 7-6-2
Dominic Hasek (BLU), 26 saves out of 28 shots, W, 11-8-0

Power Play Conversions
COYOTES 2 for 6
BLUES 1 for 9

Game Stars
1 - Sidney Crosby (BLU)
2 - Alexander Ovechkin (BLU)
3 - Alexandre Daigle (BLU)

[jam26]

Avs get back on winning track but where is the production from the team's leaders? Maurice expected to juggle the lines and try some new combinations but no major changes expected as as result of the mini-slump.

[looooob]

SABRES 3 JETS 2
Hrdina scores to best former team

A close win for the Sabres, giving them two straight victories. The scoring for Buffalo all came in the 2nd period, and a key goal was by Jan Hrdina who arrived from Winnipeg about 10 days ago in a deal that saw Jeff O'Neill go the other way. Hrdina is fitting in well in Buffalo, with more than a PPG since his arrival, something Oneill couldn't do for us. Matt Lombardi scored a rare goal that proved to be huge, redeeming himself for the 12 minutes in penalties he took in the first period.

Sabres play again tonight, finding themselves 'only' 6 points out of a playoff spot. Rumors continue to circulate that Looooob may consider some offers that set the team back in the short term in a look to move forward next season, however Looooob is known for not giving up on a playoff chance even to his team's detriment.

[notoepik]

Johnny Oduya opens the scoring! Oduya (who moonlights as a defenseman for the New Jersey Devils of the NHL) drew into the lineup as a replacement for Shaone Morrisonn who was feeling slighty under the weather. We hope Oduya continues to develop into a steady and relaiable d man for the Hawks

Game Stars
1 - Olli Jokinen (HAW)
2 - Ales Kotalik (HAW)
3 - Ryan Miller (HAW)