National Hockey League news: March 23, 2008

March 23, 2008

There were 10 games played in the National Hockey League on March 22, 2008.

Colorado Avalanche @ Edmonton Oilers
Dustin Penner scored 50 seconds into the first period, giving Edmonton an early lead. Sam Gagner increased their lead to 2 later in the second. Fernando Pisani's 12th goal of the season gave the Oilers a three goal lead going into the first intermission. Tyler Arnason put the Avalanche on the board just under 5 minutes into the second period. Kyle Brodziak scored to put Edmonton back back in a 3 goal lead. Colorado scored three times early in the third. Ruslan Salei scored 1:43 into the period. Wojtek Wolski and Milan Hejduk scored 35 seconds apart, which tied the score at 4-4. Marc-Antoine Pouliot scored 18 seconds after that to retake the lead for the Oilers. Edmonton went ahead by 2 when Gagner scored his second goal of the night. John-Michael Liles scored an unassisted goal to bring Colorado within 1 again, but Marty Reasoner's empty net goal with 10 seconds left secured Edmonton's victory with a two goal lead.

Chicago Blackhawks @ Nashville Predators
Jason Arnott scored his 27th goal of the season 5:24 into the first period, giving Nashville the first lead of the game. Andrew Ladd tied the score with 5:18 left in the first period. The score remained tied through the rest of regulation, so overtime was required. In the shootout, Alexander Radulov scored the deciding goal in the second round, giving the Predators the victory. Nikolai Khabibulin made 33 saves in regulation for the Blackhawks. Dan Ellis stopped 37 of Chicago's 38 shots, picking up his 20th win of the season.

Los Angeles Kings @ Dallas Stars
Brenden Morrow scored a power play goal in the first period to break the scoreless tie for Dallas. In the second period, Rob Blake scored a power play goal to tie the score, but Stu Barnes retook the lead for Dallas a few minutes later. Michal Handzus scored for Los Angeles to tie the score late in the third period. Lubomir Visnovsky gave LA the lead less than a minute later. Handzus scored his second of the night less than a minute after that, which put LA ahead by 2 with 1:19 left. Erik Ersberg improved his record to 4-3-2 by stopping all but two of Dallas's 27 shots.

Boston Bruins @ Montreal Canadiens
Andrei Markov scored the first goal of the game for the Canadiens. Marc Savard tied the score for the Bruins 8:36 into the first period, then just over a minute later Andrei Kostitsyn retook the lead for Montreal. Petteri Nokelainen tied the score at two goals apiece under halfway through the second. The score remained tied through regulation to force an overtime. Saku Koivu scored the only shootout goal, which gave Montreal the extra point in the standings. Carey Price made 33 saves, plus stopped all three Boston shootout attempts, and earned his 19th win in his rookie season. With this victory, the Montreal Canadiens won the 8 games against Boston in regular season this year. This was also the 11th consecutive victory of Montreal against the Bruins since March 2007.

Toronto Maple Leafs @ Ottawa Senators
Daniel Alfredsson scored the only first period goal for the Senators to give them the first lead of the game. Kyle Wellwood and Alexander Steen each scored a power play goal in the second period, giving Toronto a 2-1 lead. Cory Stillman scored a power play goal for Ottawa to tie the score with under 5 minutes left in the second. Under a minute later, Martin Lapointe scored to retake the lead for Ottawa. Dany Heatley scored a power play goal, his 37th goal of the season, with 2:29 left in the second period. Darcy Tucker scored for Toronto to bring them a minute before the second intermission. Jiri Tlusty and Matt Stajan each scored in the first couple minutes of the third period, which retook the lead for Toronto. They held on to their one goal lead thanks to Vesa Toskala. He made 8 saves in that period and 24 in the first couple periods, to pick up the win.

Tampa Bay Lightning @ Florida Panthers
Jay Bouwmeester scored an unassisted goal when he caught Lightning goalie Mike Smith out of his net early in the first period. Junior Lessard scored his first goal of the season to tie it up 6:13 into the second period. Nathan Horton scored just over a minute later to retake the lead for Florida. Olli Jokinen scored his 33rd goal of the season to put the Panthers ahead by two goals 10 minutes into the third. Horton scored his second of the night to give Florida a three goal lead. Mathieu Darche scored to bring the Lightning within 2 with 1:11 left in regulation. Tomas Vokoun made 35 saves, earning his 30th win of the season.

Detroit Red Wings @ Columbus Blue Jackets
Nicklas Lidstrom and Henrik Zetterberg each scored a power play goal for Detroit in the first period. Rick Nash scored early in the third period to bring Columbus within 1. Johan Franzen scored to give the Red Wings their two goal lead back, and Pavel Datsyuk scored a short handed goal with 5:03 left in the game. Zetterberg's goal was his 40th of the season, which sets a personal record. Datsyuk also assisted on both of the first period goals. Dominik Hasek stopped 11 of Columbus's 12 shots to earn his 24th win of the season.

New Jersey Devils @ Pittsburgh Penguins
Jarkko Ruutu scored the first goal for the Penguins 1:30 into the first period. Brian Gionta tied the score with a short handed goal 9:04 into the first. Ryan Malone scored a shorthanded goal of his own with 3:46 left in the second period to retake the lead for Pittsburgh. Malone also scored three minutes into the third period, which started a 5 goal third period by the Penguins. Pascal Dupuis scored a couple minutes later, Evgeni Malkin scored a pair a few minutes apart, and Petr Sykora scored with 1:42 left in regulation. Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 24 of the Devils' 25 shots on goal, earning his fourth straight win.

Anaheim Ducks @ Phoenix Coyotes
Teemu Selanne scored first, his 9th of the season, to give the Ducks the lead 6:11 into the first period. Ed Jovanovski scored a power play goal for the Coyotes to tie the score early in the third period. Selanne scored his second of the night on an Anaheim power play to retake the lead for the Ducks, and give them the victory. Todd Bertuzzi assisted in both of the Anaheim goals. Jonas Hiller made 30 saves and earned his 8th win of the season.

Minnesota Wild @ Calgary Flames
Dion Phaneuf broke a scoreless tie three minutes into the second period with a shorthanded goal for Calgary. Benoit Pouliot scored a pair of goals, the first two of his NHL career, to give Minnesota the lead later in the second. Jarome Iginla tied the score with 23 seconds left in the second period. Iginla also scored a pair of goals in the third, a natural hat trick, to put the Flames ahead by 2. Kim Johnsson scored for Minnesota to bring them within a goal. Matthew Lombardi scored with under two minutes remaining, but Johnsson kept Minnesota close by scoring with 55 seconds left in regulation. Minnesota wouldn't find the back of the net again, and the Flames come within a point of Minnesota for the lead in the Northwest division. Miikka Kiprusoff made 29 saves for the Flames; Josh Harding stopped 26 of Calgary's 31 shots.

Player of the Day
Today's Player of the Day is Jarome Iginla of the Calgary Flames. Iginla had a natural hat trick in the second and third periods of Calgary's 5-4 win over the Minnesota Wild.

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

Related news
Yesterday's NHL news: