National Hockey League news: February 15, 2008

February 15, 2008

There were 8 games played in the National Hockey League on February 14, 2008, including the #2 Dallas Stars taking on the Phoenix Coyotes, and the Minnesota Wild and Vancouver Canucks fighting for playoff contention in the Northwest division.

Tampa Bay Lightning @ Philadelphia Flyers
The Lightning scored most, and first. A Vaclav Prospal goal in the first, assisted by Martin St. Louis started it off. The Flyers would tie the score with a Joffrey Lupul goal, and eventually took their only lead of the game with a Steve Downie short-handed goal with 36 seconds left in the first period. The Lightning would answer back with a Dan Boyle power-play goal, also assisted by St. Louis, just two minutes into the second period; Jan Hlavac would score another. St. Louis then earned his third point of the game, scoring a goal to give the Lightning a 2 goal lead after 40 minutes. Tampa Bay's Jason Ward scored an un-assisted goal at 2:18 in the 3rd period, and Jeff Carter would add one for the Flyers a few minutes later, but it was too little too late.

Pittsburgh Penguins @ Carolina Hurricanes
Carolina special-teams played a huge part in their home victory against the Sidney Crosby-less Penguins. Erik Cole scored Carolina's first power-play goal 3:13 into the game. Pittsburgh's Brooks Orpik scored to tie it up by the end of 1 period. The second period started with Evgeni Malkin extending his scoring streak to 7 games on a power-play goal. Carolina's all-star MVP Eric Staal would tie the game on a short-handed goal to tie the score going into the second intermission. The third period was all Carolina; Ray Whitney scoring on the power play, his third point of the game. Ryan Bayda would add one more, assisted by Scott Walker and Glen Wesley.

Hurricanes captain and team scoring leader Rod Brind'Amour left the game early after a collision with Penguins Nathan Smith and Georges Laraque. He is reported as having a torn ACL in his left knee, and may not be able to take to the ice for 4-6 months.

New York Islanders @ Toronto Maple Leafs
The Islanders picked up their second straight victory against the struggling Leafs. The Islanders scored first on a Bryan Berard power-play goal late in the first period. Toronto would tie the score in the second period on a Darcy Tucker goal. Leafs captain Mats Sundin would also score to give Toronto their only lead of the game. Ruslan Fedotenko scored for the Islanders, his first of two power-play goals, followed by a Mike Comrie power-play goal. In the third period, Fedotenko scored his second power-play goal at 4:29. Toronto would score a power-play goal of their own, but the Islanders would score late in the game with a Freddy Meyer goal, eventually the game-winning goal. A Leafs goal by Alexei Ponikarovsky would cut New York's lead by half, but with only 19 seconds left in the game, they couldn't put another puck past Islander goalie Rick DiPietro, who stopped 16 of Toronto's 18 3rd period shots.

Chicago Blackhawks @ Nashville Predators
Chicago's offense has been coming up with goals everywhere lately, scoring 13 in their last two games while only allowing 3. Duncan Keith scored first just over a minute into the first period. Jonathan Toews would score a pair of goals later in the period, his 16th and 17th of the season. This would lead Nashville to replace their goaltender Chris Mason, who gave up 3 goals on 7 shots, with Dan Ellis, but he wouldn't do much better. Rene Bourque and Cameron Barker would add to the Blackhawk's lead with a pair of goals in the second period less than a minute apart. Patrick Sharp would also score in the third, his 27th of the season, which Towes assisted in, to put the Blackhawks up by 6. Nashville captain Jason Arnott would stop Chicago goaltender Patrick Lalime's shutout attempt, scoring on the power-play at 6:12 in the third period, but that would be the only goal Nashville would score.

St. Louis Blues @ Colorado Avalanche
Paul Kariya and Jay McClement scored a goal each in the first period for the Blues. Ryan Johnson added to St. Louis' lead with a short-handed goal early in the second period. Ben Guite would put the Avalanche on the board at 3:03 in the third period. David Backes scored on an empty net to salt the victory for the Blues. Manny Legace made 39 saves, improving his record for the season to 21-15-5.

Dallas Stars @ Phoenix Coyotes
Steven Reinprecht, Radim Vrbata and Shane Doan each had a three night as the Phoenix Coyotes picked up their first victory in five games, and their first since the reinstatement of associate coach Rick Tocchet, who had taken a two-year leave of absence from the team following an involvement in an illegal gambling operation. Doan would score first for Phoenix on the power-play, with Reinprecht and Vrbata picking up the assists. Dallas would answer back with an unassisted goal by Jussi Jokinen just minutes later. Phoenix would again take the lead before the period was over on a Daniel Carcillo goal, which was also assisted by Reinprecht and Vrbata. Niko Kapanen would increase Phoenix's lead late in the second period. Vrbata would score a short-handed goal, his third point of the night, which Doan assisted in. Matt Niskanen would cut the Coyotes' lead by 1 less than halfway through the final period. An empty net goal by Nick Boynton would put the icing on the cake, which was assisted by Reinprecht and Doan.

Minnesota Wild @ Vancouver Canucks
Stephane Veilleux had his first career two-goal game, scoring in both the first and second periods for the Wild. Alex Burrows would cut the Minnesota lead in half before the second period ended. The Canucks would gain the lead early in the third, with two goals by Ryan Kesler and Alexander Edler, which were scored just 16 seconds apart. The Wild would retake the lead about ten minutes later, after Kurtis Foster and Marian Gaborik each scored, Gaborik's being his 30th of the season. Vancouver would tie the score late in the third period when Edler scored his second goal of the game right off a face-off to send the game into overtime, and after a scoreless 5 minutes, a shootout. Minnesota goalie Nicklas Backstrom stopped Vancouver's first two attempts by Edler and Ryan Shannon, but allowed the third goal to Trevor Linden. Canuck goaltender Roberto Luongo stopped Gaborik's attempt, but allowed goals from both Brent Burns and Mikko Koivu to give Minnesota the extra point in the standings.

Edmonton Oilers @ San Jose Sharks
After a scoreless first, Ales Hemsky scored a power-play goal early in the second period for Edmonton. Kyle Brodziak would increase their lead later in the period. Joe Pavelski would put the Sharks on the board later in the period to cut the Oilers' lead in half. The Oilers would get the two goal lead back at 3:33 in the third period on a Fernando Pisani, but Mike Grier would answer back for the Sharks with a short-handed goals 5 minutes later. The Oilers' one goal lead would hold, giving Edmonton their 4th win in 5 games.

Other news
The Columbus Blue Jackets activated left winger Fredrik Modin from injured reserve. Modin has already missed 47 games this season after suffering numerous broken bones in his back and a muscle tear in his leg.

Richard Zednik is expected to be released from Buffalo General Hospital Saturday, after having his cartoid artery severed with a skate during a game on February 10.

The Washington Capitals signed left winger Tomas Fleischmann to a two-year contract extension. Fleischmann has scored 6 goals and 15 assists this season.