National Hockey League news: February 28, 2008

February 28, 2008

There were 6 games played in the National Hockey League on February 27, 2008. Colorado finishes their three-game road trip in eastern Canada against the Canucks, Minnesota tries to break a 4 game losing streak in an out-of-conference game against the Lightning, and the Maple Leafs try to pick up their fifth win in 6 games.

Nashville Predators @ Buffalo Sabres
Steve Bernier made his debut for the Sabres, scoring the first two goals of the game in the first period. In the second period, Daniel Paille put Buffalo ahead by 3. Jan Hlavac put Nashville on the board 45 seconds later. Nashville came within one goal 34 seconds later when Jason Arnott scored his 23rd goal of the year. Andrew Peters got that one back for Buffalo, when he scored his first goal of the season. Arnott made it a 1 goal game again with his second goal of the game on a Predators power play. Jason Pominville scored his 19th goal of the season at 14:50 in the second period. Derek Roy put the Sabres up by 3 going into the second intermission. In the third period, David Legwand scored Nashville's second power play goal. Tim Connelly and Ales Kotalik each scored for Buffalo in the third period, giving the Sabres their first win in three games. Ryan Miller left the game in the second period after a puck hit his mask and bent the guard, giving him a bloody nose. He returned 8 minutes later. Miller made 24 saves.

San Jose Sharks @ Columbus Blue Jackets
Jonathan Cheechoo scored on the Sharks' first power play to give them the first lead of the game. Columbus tied the game before the end of the first period when David Vyborny scored his 4th goal of the season. In the second period, Vyborny scored his second goal of the night to give Columbus their first lead of the game. It wouldn't last though, as San Jose put three goals past the Blue Jackets goaltender Pascal Leclaire. First, Torrey Mitchell tied the score at 10:51. Jeremy Roenick put the Sharks back in the lead with a power play goal. Joe Pavelski put San Jose up by two goals before the second period ended. Evgeni Nabokov stopped all but two of Columbus's 19 shots on the night, picking up his 35th win of the season.

Minnesota Wild @ Tampa Bay Lightning
After a scoreless first period, Todd Fedoruk put the Wild up by 1 early in the second period with a short handed goal. That was closely followed by Pavol Demitra's 13th goal of the season. Michel Ouellet put the Lightning on the scoreboard 12:22 into the second period. Brian Rolston scored his 22nd goal of the season on a Minnesota power play to put Minnesota up by 2 in the third period. Jeff Halpern would put the Lightning within 1 goal, but despite a late third period power play, plus the extra skater on for the pulled goaltender, they couldn't tie the score. Minnesota breaks a 4 game losing streak. The Lightning have now lost 5 straight. Niklas Backstrom made 31 saves for Minnesota, earning his 25th win of the season.

Toronto Maple Leafs @ Florida Panthers
Jassen Cullimore scored first for the Panthers at 9:27 in the first period. Brett McLean would give Florida a 2 goal lead going into the first intermission. Jeremy Williams, who had a goal in each of his other two NHL appearances, scored his first goal of this season 6:56 into the second period to put Toronto within one goal. In the third period, Toronto captain Mats Sundin scored to tie the game at 2-2. Rostislav Olesz would retake the lead for Florida 11:45 into the third, but Sundin scored his second of the night with 1:08 left in regulation to send the game to a shootout. Tomas Kaberle scored the only shootout goal, when his wrist shot beat Tomas Vokoun through the five-hole. Vesa Toskala made 37 saves for the Leafs.

Phoenix Coyotes @ Chicago Blackhawks
Chicago's Jason Williams scored the only goal of the game, a shot that deflected off of Coyotes center Joel Perrault's skate, 7:58 into the first period. Patrick Lalime stopped all of Phoenix's 32 shots, earning his first shutout since February 7, 2007. Ilya Bryzgalov only allowed 1 of Chicago's 24 shots, but the one allowed turned out to be the game winner.

Colorado Avalanche @ Vancouver Canucks
Mason Raymond put Vancouver on the board after a scoreless 1st period. Later in the second period, Andrew Brunette scored his 13th goal of the season to tie the score 1-1. In the third period, Alex Burrows scored on a goal with 1:45 left in regulation, a goal that was allowed after a video review was done to verify that the puck completely crossed the goal line. Joe Sakic tied the score with 15 seconds left to send the game into a shootout. Sakic and Marek Svatos each scored on the shootout, giving Colorado their second consecutive win. Jose Theodore stopped 29 of Vancouver's 31 shots. Roberto Luongo stopped 24 of Colorado's 26 shots.

Wikinews Player of the Day
Today's Wikinews Player of the Day is Joe Sakic, captain of the Colorado Avalanche, who returned to the Avs roster on February 24 after missing 36 games due to a hernia. Sakic scored the tying goal to force overtime, and the decisive shootout goal, in the Avalanche's 3-2 shootout win against the Vancouver Canucks.

Other news
The General Manager of the Ottawa Senators, Bryan Murray, fired head coach John Paddock, and assistant coach Ron Low, for "performance issues". Paddock, who had been head coach of the Senators for less than a season, lead the team to a 13-1-0 start, but has since gone 11-12-2 since the beginning of 2008. Murray, who was head coach of the Senators from 2005-2007, will take over the responsibilities of head coach.