National Hockey League news: March 22, 2008

March 22, 2008

There were 6 games played in the National Hockey League on March 21, 2008.

New York Islanders @ New Jersey Devils
scored at 4:46 in the first period to put the Islanders in the lead. tied the score later in the period with a power play goal. scored his first NHL career goal against on a power play late in the third period to break the 1-1 tie. scored an empty net goal with 19 seconds remaining, securing the Islanders' victory. New York snaps a 6 game winless streak, against a team they've beaten 6 out of 7 times this season. made 34 saves for the Islanders.

New York Rangers @ Philadelphia Flyers
scored a first period goal to put the Flyers ahead early in the game. scored his 27th of the season over halfway through the third period. 's goal 1:11 later brought the Rangers within 1, then a couple minutes after that, tied the score with his 12th goal of the season. Briere scored his second of the night with 3:37 left in regulation. tied the score with 1:51 remaining to force overtime. Richards and each scored in the shootout for the Flyers;  stopped the attempts by Dawes and  to give the Flyers their second win in a row.

Toronto Maple Leafs @ Buffalo Sabres
scored first for the Maple Leafs. That was followed by a power play goal a few minutes later, which put Toronto ahead by 2. scored his 32nd of the season for Buffalo to bring them within a goal 31 seconds into the second period, but scored at 8:27 to put Toronto back in a 2 goal lead. also scored for Toronto late in the third period. made 35 saves on 36 shots for Toronto, and earned his 31st win of the season.

Washington Capitals @ Atlanta Thrashers
broke the scoreless tie with less than 5 minutes to go in the first period. scored Atlanta's first goal of the game on a power play, which tied the score. gave the Thrashers the lead with a short handed goal. Slater also scored with less than 4 minutes remaining in the second period, putting Atlanta up by 2. Ovechkin scored his second of the night, his 60th of the season, over halfway through the third period. A pair of goals 32 seconds apart by, which retook the lead for Washington. scored an empty net goal for the Capitals with 8 seconds left. Ovechkin had 4 points, assisting on Backstrom's second goal, and the empty netter. Backstrom had three points, the assist being his 50th of the season.

Minnesota Wild @ Vancouver Canucks
broke a scoreless tie about 5 minutes into the second period, a shot which deflected in off the hip of Vancouver defenseman, giving the Wild the lead. gave Minnesota a 2 goal lead against their Northwest division rivals. The Canucks got on the scoreboard 4:20 into the third period; 's 6th goal of the season made it a one goal game. The Canucks outshot the Wild 22-10 in the second and third periods. stopped 30 of Vancouver's 31 shots, improving his record to 29-13-8. allowed two goals on 21 shots for Vancouver.

Anaheim Ducks @ San Jose Sharks
scored 40 seconds into the first period, giving the Sharks an early 1 goal lead. tied the score for Anaheim 5:35 into the second period. scored his 508th career goal on a Sharks power play 1:12 into the third, a goal that would turn out to be the game winner. Roenick is now ahead of for 36th place in NHL goal scoring history. only faced 13 shots throughout the game, none at all in the third period. He allowed just the one goal early in the second period.

Player of the Day
Today's Player of the Day is of the Washington Capitals. He had 2 goals and 2 assists in Washington's 5-3 win over the Atlanta Thrashers. Ovechkin's first assist of the night was on the game-winning goal by rookie ; his second goal of the night was his 60th of the season, becoming the first player to score 60 or more goals in a season since 1995-96, when and  each reached that milestone.

For information on the selection process of the Player of the Day, see this page.