National Hockey League news: February 24, 2008

February 24, 2008

There were 11 games played in the National Hockey League on February 23, 2008.

New York Islanders @ New Jersey Devils
Josef Vasicek scored first to give the Islanders a 1-0 lead 7:55 into the game. New Jersey answered with back to back goals 1:20 apart, first a power play goal by Patrick Elias, then a short handed goal by John Madden. Ruslan Fedotenko retied the score for the Islanders early in the second period. The Devils retook the lead in the third period with two unanswered goals, Zach Parise scored at 2:30, and Brian Gionta scored at 4:43. Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur made 19 saves, picking up his 4th straight win. Islanders goalie Rick DiPietro made 38 saves, but allowed more goals, his first loss in his last 7 decisions.

Ottawa Senators @ Pittsburgh Penguins
The Penguins have their 3 game winning streak snapped when the Senators came back from 3-0 to win it in overtime. Petr Sykora gave the Penguins an early 1-0 lead. Colby Armstrong added a goal for Pittsburgh at 4:09 into the second period to make it 2-0. Jeff Taffe put the Penguins up by three goals just past the halfway point of the second period. The Senators would comeback though. Cory Stillman put the Senators on the board 12:47 into the second period. A pair of back-to-back goals by Dany Heatley would tie the score and send it to overtime. Daniel Alfredsson scored with 3.2 seconds left in overtime to complete the comeback victory for the Senators. Ray Emery made 32 saves for the Senators, and picked up his 13th win of the season.

Chicago Blackhawks @ Los Angeles Kings
Peter Harrold put Los Angeles on the board first 5:23 into the game. Patrick Sharp tied the game 1-1 with a power play goal. In the second period, Chicago went up by four, after goals by Martin Havlat, Andrei Zyuzin, Jonathan Toews, and Jason Williams, in a span of 4:06. In the third period, Los Angeles would tie the score, after goals by Mike Cammalleri, Tom Preissing, Patrick O'Sullivan, and Anze Kopitar, in the last 11 minutes of regulation. Sharp re-took the lead for the Blackhawks 1:48 into overtime, giving them their 5th win in 6 games. Sharp had three points for Chicago, scoring two goals and assisting on Williams' goal.

Washington Capitals @ Carolina Hurricanes
Mike Green scored first for Washington to give them the first lead of the game. Carolina tied the score when Matt Cullen scored on Carolina's first power play. Washington's Alexander Semin scored on his team's first power play. Cullen scored his second of the night early in the second period to tie the score. Erik Cole gave Carolina their first lead of the game moments later. Brooks Laich tied the score 3-3 8:47 into the second period. Eric Staal retook the lead for the Hurricanes before the period was done, a goal that ended up being the game winner. Andrew Ladd and Joe Corvo padded the Hurricanes lead by 3 goals in the third period, but they weren't needed for the victory, as Carolina wins their second in a row, and Washington takes their 4th loss in 5 games. Carolina was 4/7 on power plays, Washington was 2/4. Alexander Ovechkin had three points, assisting on all three Washington goals.

New York Rangers @ Buffalo Sabres
Jaromir Jagr scored his 16th goal of the season to put the Rangers up first. Buffalo tied the score when Ales Kotalik scored moments later. The Rangers retook the lead 1:01 later when Nigel Dawes scored his 9th goal of the season. In the second period, the Sabres took their first lead of the game, after Jason Pominville scored his 17th goal of the season, then Kotalik scored his second goal of the night. Brandon Dubinsky would make it a new hockey game 34 seconds later. Sean Avery put the Rangers back on top in the third period, which was the game winner. The Rangers win their third game in the four game series, which they can have a chance to sweep when they return to Buffalo March 10. Buffalo goalie Ryan Miller made 31 saves; Henrik Lundqvist made 26 for New York.

Atlanta Thrashers @ Toronto Maple Leafs
Mark Recchi scored Atlanta's only goal to give the Thrashers the first lead of the game. Toronto tied the score when captain Mats Sundin, who could have been playing in his last game as a Leaf after being asked to waive a no-trade clause, beat Atlanta goaltender Kari Lehtonen. Alexander Steen gave Toronto their first lead of the game 2:53 into the third period. Nik Antropov made it a 2 goal Toronto lead with 7:26 left, and the Thrashers lose their third straight.

Florida Panthers @ Philadelphia Flyers
Daniel Briere scored a power play goal 16:20 into the second period to give them the first lead of the game. It would stay that way until Jay Bouwmeester scored with 3.7 left in regulation to send it into overtime. Olli Jokinen scored on a power play 3:44 into overtime to break the Panthers' losing streak of 3 games, and give the Flyers their 10th straight loss, tied for their longest losing streak in franchise history. Craig Anderson made his first start since February 10 for the Florida Panthers, and made 40 saves.

Columbus Blue Jackets @ Montreal Canadiens
Rick Nash scored the first goal of the game, 6:24 into the first period. Andrew Murray gave the Jackets a two goal lead halfway through the first period. Manny Malhotra also scored for Columbus. The Canadiens lose their second straight, and the Jackets win their second straight. Pascal Leclaire made his 9th shutout of the season, stopping all of Montreal's 31 shots. Carey Price stopped 19 of Columbus' 22 shots.

Boston Bruins @ Tampa Bay Lightning
Mathieu Darche scored a short handed goal to give Tampa Bay the first lead of the game. Milan Lucic tied the score for Boston on their second power play. Mark Stuart gave Boston their first lead of the game 5:08 into the second period. Michel Ouellet retied the score 2-2. Glen Murray scored back-to-back goals, first a power play goal in the second period, then an early third period goal, which gave Boston a two goal lead. Vaclav Prospal scored a power play goal to cut Boston's lead in half, but Boston got it back when Per Johan Axelsson scored short handed with 1:04 left in regulation to secure the Bruins victory, their third straight. Alexander Auld made the start for Boston, and made 25 saves. Johan Holmqvist made 23 saves for Tampa Bay in their fourth straight loss.

Dallas Stars @ Nashville Predators
Brenden Morrow and Mike Ribeiro each had 4 points in the Stars' 6-2 win, their 4th victory in 5 games. Loui Eriksson gave Dallas a 1-0 lead 11:29 into the game. Ville Koistinen tied the score moments later. Ribeiro put Dallas back on top 5:59 into the second period. Eriksson scored his second of the game with less than three minutes remaining in the period, and Ribeiro would give Dallas a 3 goal lead with 3.9 seconds left in the second period. Jean-Pierre Dumont scored for the Predators early in the third period. Two Stars goals 29 seconds apart would make it a 4 goal Dallas lead. Ryan Suter gave Nashville one last goal as time ran out in regulation. Mike Smith made 24 saves for Dallas. Chris Mason replaced Dan Ellis as Nashville's goaltender in the third period. Ellis allowed 4 of 18 shots, and Mason made 9 saves in 11 shots.

Detroit Red Wings @ Vancouver Canucks
Alexander Edler scored his 7th goal of the season to give Vancouver the first lead of the game 14:26 into the game. Pavel Datsyuk scored his 22nd goal of the season to tie the score before the first period ended. Canuck defenseman Sami Salo scored his fourth goal of the season to retake the lead 30 seconds within Vancouver's second power play. Ryan Kessler scored back to back break away goals to increase Vancouver's lead to 3 at 3:31 and 17:00 in the third period. Roberto Luongo made 28 saves for the Canucks. Jimmy Howard started for Detroit, stopping 31 of Vancouver's 35 shots. Vancouver wins their fourth straight, a season high, and now are tied with the Calgary Flames in 2nd place in the Northwest Division. Detroit now has lost 8 of their last 9 games.

Other news
The Minnesota Wild are holding onto their defenseman Nick Schultz for quite a while longer. Schultz signed a US$21 million contract extension for six years. Schultz, playing in his 6th season with Minnesota, has 1 goal and 10 assists this season.

The Maple Leafs re-signed forward Alexander Steen to a $3.4 million contract for two years. Steen, playing in his 3rd season with Toronto, has 10 goals and 16 assists this season.

Montreal retired jersey #23 in honor of the general manager of the Canadiens, Bob Gainey, in a pre-game ceremony. Gainey, who played all 16 seasons of his NHL career with Montreal, helped the Canadiens to five Stanley Cup championships, and was awarded the Frank J. Selke Trophy four consecutive times as the league's best defensive forward. He had 575 points in the regular season and in playoff games.