Thursday, 14 February 2013

Gameday 26 (Wed, 13 Feb) - Results

Ottawa v Pittsburgh 2-4 - Matt Cooke had an assist while fitting in nicely during his first extended action of the season as Evgeni Malkin's left wing. But the Senators weren't impressed, not after losing star defenseman Erik Karlsson long-term as the result of a collision with Cooke. James Neal scored twice, and Sidney Crosby had a goal and two assists for the Penguins, who defeated the Senators for the second time this season. Karlsson, the Senators' 22-year-old reigning Norris Trophy winner, sustained a laceration to his left Achilles. It will require surgery to repair, leaving him out indefinitely, perhaps for the season. Karlsson was killing a penalty when Cooke came from behind to pin him against the left-wing boards. Cooke's left skate made contact with the back of Karlsson's lower left leg, leaving Karlsson in sharp pain. He immediately headed to the locker room. There was no penalty called on the play on Cooke, who has a history of supplemental discipline from the NHL. Karlsson isn't the only high-profile injury for the Senators, who lost for the fifth time in their past seven games. The team learned shortly before faceoff they would be without top-line wing Milan Michalek, who sustained a lower-body injury during warm-ups. The Senators already were without center Jason Spezza, who had back surgery this month. Pascal Dupuis scored, Paul Martin had two assists, and Neal added an assist to give him his first three-point game of the season for the Penguins, who were coming off a being swept in a home-and-home by the New Jersey Devils. Stephane Da Costa and Jim O'Brien scored for the Senators. Neal's first of the game was his NHL-best sixth of the season on the power play, tying the game 2-2 at 6:23 of the second period off a feed from Crosby. The Penguins have a power-play goal in six consecutive games. Neal gave the Penguins the lead, 3-2, 1:52 into the third when he pounced on a rebound of a Deryk Engelland shot from the point that had been deflected by Cooke. Neal has 10 goals this season. Only Buffalo Sabres forward Thomas Vanek, with 12, has more. The Penguins scored first for the 11th time in 14 games this season when Dupuis finished a set-up from Crosby 16:23 into the contest. Pittsburgh closed the scoring when Crosby got his goal seconds after a holding penalty to Chris Phillips had expired 11:42 into the third. It was Crosby's sixth of the season, the second in his past six games. Ottawa scored twice in a 24-second span midway through the second, each a soft one against Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury. Da Costa scored the instant a Senators' power play expired and 40 seconds after Pittsburgh had killed 1:20 of Ottawa's 5-on-3 time. Da Costa was against the boards and over Fleury's right shoulder behind the net when he flipped the puck toward him that somehow found its way through Fleury's equipment and bounced in for Da Costa's first of the season and fourth career goal in 31 games. Shortly thereafter and on the next shot of the game, O'Brien beat Fleury with a wrist shot from the left wing for his seventh career goal in 47 games, his fourth of the season. A day after Ottawa goalie Craig Anderson registered his second shutout of the season, he allowed a season-high four goals on 30 shots. He was the NHL leader in goals-against average and save percentage entering the game. Fleury made 27 saves to win for the fourth time in his past five starts. He did it against a depleted Senators lineup. Pittsburgh, conversely, welcomed back defensemen Kris Letang and Matt Niskanen. Each had missed time due to a lower-body injury.

St Louis v Detroit 4-3 - They might not be all the way there yet, but Wednesday's overtime win in a building that's been difficult on them certainly lifted the spirits of the St. Louis Blues. Alex Steen's goal 52 seconds into overtime helped the Blues break a five-game losing streak with a 4-3 win against the Detroit Red Wings at Joe Louis Arena. Steen banked a shot in off Jimmy Howard when Barret Jackman threw a puck at Howard that caromed into the low slot. Steen was on the doorstep and popped in his third goal in as many games helping the Blues snap an 0-4-1 slide. Chris Stewart tallied a goal and an assist, Patrik Berglund and Vladimir Tarasenko added goals and Jake Allen, making his first NHL start, stopped 15 shots, and it was Allen's clutch left pad stop on Detroit's Damien Brunner in overtime seconds before the Blues rushed to the other end to get the winner after falling behind 2-0 early in the game. Detroit, which had its three-game winning streak snapped, got goals from Tomas Tatar, Drew Miller and Pavel Datsyuk. Howard, after stopping 45 shots in a 3-2 win against Los Angeles on Sunday afternoon, stopped 21 shots Wednesday. Tatar added his first goal of the season and second of his career, winning a battle near Allen, then going forehand-backhand and roofing the puck in just 2:17 into the game. Miller scored his first of the season, the 19th time the Blues have allowed a player to score their first goals of the season, on a give-and-go with Jordin Tootoo and slipping a puck through Allen 7:54 into the opening period. But the Blues, who have fallen behind in five of the last six games, got a huge goal when Berglund notched his team-leading sixth of the season with a shorthanded tally after T.J. Oshie beat Brunner and Justin Abdelkader before feeding Berglund for a one-timer with 4:42 left in the period. And the Blues thrived off the big goal, coming out firing and tilting the ice in their favor. They grabbed a lead by scoring twice in 1:45 when Tarasenko and Stewart both caught Berglund with their sixth goals of the season for a 3-2 lead. Tarasenko took Stewart's saucer feed and beat a screened Howard at 7:12 on the power play, giving the Blues an 8-for-14 conversion rating against Detroit this season, and Stewart took a stretch pass from Alex Pietrangelo and beat Howard on a backhand breakaway attempt at 8:57. Datsyuk tied the game with 7:21 left in the second when he caught Allen peeling off the left post and banked one in from behind the net after the Wings had sustained some good pressure. It's the 15th straight period the Blues have allowed a goal dating back to the second period of their 5-3 loss here in Detroit on Feb. 1. Neither team scored in the third and the Blues had their team game going so well, they held Detroit to one third-period shot, and 24 blocked shots in the game attributed to a lot of that.

Dallas v Calgary 4-7 - Still seeking his first goal of the season, Michael Cammalleri felt he was rounding into form before suffering a slightly torn hip flexor that forced him out of the Calgary Flames' lineup for three games. Cammalleri had a hat trick, including the 200th goal of his career, as part of a four-point night as the Flames earned a 7-4 victory against the Dallas Stars at Scotiabank Saddledome on Wednesday night. The loss snaps Dallas' four-game winning streak, while ending Calgary's two-game skid. Scoring just two goals in back-to-back losses, the Flames wasted little time igniting their offense against Richard Bachman and the Stars. After Bachman kicked out Cammalleri's initial shot, Jay Bouwmeester jumped on a loose puck in the rebound scramble and put it in the back of the net just 3:11 into the game. After an incredible save by Calgary starter Leland Irving, the Flames added another. Turning the puck over in their end while with the man-advantage, Irving was forced to make a diving paddle save. Heading up ice, Jiri Hudler finished a tic-tac-toe setup by Alex Tanguay and Dennis Wideman for the power-play marker at 6:44. Cammalleri, with his first of the year, and former Flames' first-round pick Eric Nystrom exchanged goals before Calgary added its fourth before the period was out. Keeping the puck in at the point, TJ Brodie worked the puck down to Tanguay, who found Roman Cervenka in the slot for his second career NHL goal with 2:42 remaining to give Calgary a 4-1 lead heading into the first intermission. The teams traded three goals in the opening four minutes of the second period. On the power play 45 seconds in, Jaromir Jagr fed Brenden Morrow on the doorstep, where he slipped the puck between Irving's legs to cut the lead to two. Jarome Iginla, igniting his teammates, was involved in his first fight of the season as he dropped the gloves with Stars forward Antoine Roussel at 2:13 of the second period. It sparked Cammalleri and the Flames. Cammalleri, with his second of the night, restored the three-goal lead at 3:23. After a miscue in front of the Flames' net, Morrow poked his second under the glove and behind Irving to make it 5-3 just 24 seconds later. Jamie Oleksiak, the tallest player in Stars' history (6-foot-7), recorded an assist on the play for his first career NHL point. Curtis Glencross added Calgary's sixth at 12:01. Caught on a line change, Blair Jones upped the puck to Iginla, who fed Glencross for his fifth goal of the year. The Stars tried to claw their way back into the game early in the third. Circling behind the net, Michael Ryder fed Cody Eakin in the slot, who snapped a one-timer over the shoulder of Irving just 1:05 into the period to close the gap to 6-4. Dallas had ample opportunity to climb to within one with eight minutes remaining. After stopping Jamie Benn's original shot from the slot, Irving managed to deny Jagr on the doorstep to preserve the two-goal lead. Eakin, looking for his second of the night, saw his shot with just under six minutes remaining blockered away by the Flames' goaltender. Cammalleri hit the back of an empty net with 1:26 remaining in the game to complete the hat trick.

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