National Hockey League news: February 20, 2008

February 20, 2008

There were 9 games played in the National Hockey League on February 20, 2008.

Boston Bruins @ Carolina Hurricanes
The Bruins would take advantage of two of their power plays in the first two periods. Zdeno Chara scored his 11th goal of the year in the first, and Marc Savard his 14th of the season. Two late third period goals would tie the score, one by Ray Whitney and another by Erik Cole 20 seconds later. After a scoreless 5 minutes of 4-on-4 overtime, the game went to a shootout. Tim Thomas stopped both of Carolina's shooters. Phil Kessel and David Krejci each scored for Boston, to give them the extra point in the standings. Thomas made 45 saves for the Bruins.

Columbus Blue Jackets @ Toronto Maple Leafs
Toronto's Carlo Colaiacovo scored his second goal of the season to put the Leafs up first at 5:41 in the first period. A Nik Antropov power play goal would give Toronto a two goal advantage over the Blue Jackets later in the period. Columbus would answer 30 seconds later when Nikolai Zherdev beat Leaf goaltender Vesa Toskala to cut Toronto's lead in half. Chad Kilger scored his 10th of the season before the first period was over to give Toronto a 3-1 lead, and the score stayed that way through the end of the game. Dominic Moore earned two points, assisting on both the Colaiacovo and Kilger goals.

New York Rangers @ Montreal Canadiens
Montreal came back after being down 5-0 in the 2nd period to give the Canadiens their fourth straight victory. Brandon Dubinsky would put New York up 8:50 into the game. Sean Avery added to the Rangers lead 14 seconds later. Brendan Shanahan scored back to back power play goals, first at 13:56 in the first period, then at 4:35 in the second period. Chris Drury would give the Rangers a 5 goal advantage less than a minute later. After that, the Canadiens got to work. Michael Ryder scored back-to-back goals of his own to cut the lead by two by the end of the second period. Alexei Kovalev and Mark Streit would each put a puck past Henrik Lundqvist 9 seconds apart. Then Kovalev would score his second of the night to even the score on a Montreal power play. Saku Koivu scored the only shootout goal for the Canadiens.

Philadelphia Flyers @ Ottawa Senators
The Senators broke a three game winless streak, while giving the Flyers their eighth straight loss. Chris Kelly would score a short handed goal early in the game to give the Senators the early lead. Then Antoine Vermette would score his 14th goal of the season to give Ottawa a 2-0 lead. Philadelphia would get on the board in the closing minute of the 2nd period with a Kimmo Timonen short handed goal. Scottie Upshall would tie the game at 3:09 in the third period. In the shootout, Jason Spezza scored in the third round to give Ottawa a 2-1 advantage. Ray Emery made the save on Daniel Briere's attempt to win it for the Senators. Emery made 23 saves; Philadelphia's Martin Biron stopped 33.

Florida Panthers @ Pittsburgh Penguins
Pittsburgh, facing a 2 goal deficit in the third period, scored three straight to take their third win against the Panthers this season. David Booth scored at 16:24 in the first; Brett McLean scored his 9th of the season on a short handed goal in the second. Pittsburgh would get on the board in the third period when Colby Armstrong beat Tomas Vokoun to score his 8th goal of the season. Ryan Malone would score with 3:20 left, then again on a power play with 23 seconds left, to give the Penguins the lead and the win. Penguins goalie Ty Conklin made 27 saves and assisted in the game winning goal. Evgeni Malkin picked up two assists.

Edmonton Oilers @ Nashville Predators
Scott Nichol scored for the predators at 9:27 in the first period. About 5 minutes later, he would assist Alexander Radulov in scoring his 24th goal of the season. Fernando Pisani would put the Oilers on the scoreboard with 1:11 left in the first period. Jordin Tootoo put the Predators back up by two goals 5:58 in the second period. Edmonton would take the lead on three goals within 2:18: a power play goal by Denis Grebeshkov, Sam Gagner's sixth goal of the season, and a Marty Reasoner goal 23 seconds later. Nashville captain Jason Arnott tied the score at 4 a side 23 seconds after Reasoner's goal. J.P. Dumont scored the game winner for Nashville short handed in the closing minutes of the game. Dan Ellis made 32 saves for the Predators and increased his record to 16-5-2.

Vancouver Canucks @ Minnesota Wild
Marian Gaborik scored his 33rd goal of the season on a first period power play to give Minnesota their first lead of the game. Matt Cooke would put Vancouver on the board 15:48 into the second period to tie the score at 1-1. Eric Belanger broke a 14 game scoreless stretch to retake the lead for the Wild at 4:41 in the third period on another power play. Markus Naslund tied the score again 10 minutes later to send the game into overtime. Daniel Sedin, assisted by brother Henrik and Mattias Ohlund, scored the game winner 3:18 into the 4-on-4 overtime to tie the season series at three games each. Vancouver outshot Minnesota 24-8 in the first two periods. Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo made 22 saves and won his 27th game of the season.

Chicago Blackhawks @ St. Louis Blues
A Martin Havlat goal gave Chicago an early 1-0 lead. Barret Jackman scored his second goal of the season on a power play for St. Louis, tying the score just over halfway through the opening period. Brad Boyes scored 8:03 into the second period to give the Blues their first lead of the game. Lee Stempniak and Keith Tkachuk would each pick up power play goals 1:22 apart in the third period to increase St. Louis' lead to 3. Jay McClement would add one for St. Louis with 2:32 remaining. The Blues won their 4th of 5 games, and ended the Blackhawks' three game winning streak. St. Louis outshot Chicago 37-20. Manny Legace, who was named the NHL star for last week, won his 23rd game.

Calgary Flames @ Phoenix Coyotes
Jarome Iginla broke a scoreless tie 3:52 into the second period to put the Flames up by 1. Derek Morris would tie the score on a Coyotes power play at 6:51. Dion Phaneuf scored his first of back to back goals 30 seconds later to retake the lead for the Flames; Phaneuf scored again 2:32 into the third period. Iginla would pick up his third point of the night scoring on an empty net in the closing minute of the game. Calgary picks up their first win in three games; Phoenix gets their first loss in three. Craig Conroy assisted on the second Phaneuf and Iginla goals, ending an 8 game pointless streak. Iginla now sits third in the league with 37 goals scored this season.

Other news
The Flyers acquired defenseman Jaroslav Modry from the Los Angeles Kings Tuesday in exchange for a third-round pick in the 2008 entry draft. Modry has six points and is +2 for the season. On Monday, the Senators exchanged defenseman Joe Corvo and right winger Patrick Eaves for Carolina center Cory Stillman and defenseman Mike Commodore.