The Canucks played their annual game against the Tampa Bay Lightning. The night after a 2-1 loss to the Florida Panthers would make for an interesting game. Cory Schneider got the start for Vancouver, which has become the norm on back to back nights for the Canucks. Luongo gets one, Schneider gets the other. It all started early in the 1st period. The 3rd swede scoring this time. Alex Edler scored lucky #7 goal, assisted by German Alex Sulzer, his 1st assist of the season and Henrik Sedin grabbing his 39th assist! Jannik Hansen scored 2nd to get his 13th goal of the season, shorthanded at that. The 1st period ended with a 2-0 lead for Vancouver. Tampa's Steven Stamkos got his 29th goal of the season to make it 2-1. Manny Malhorta reestablished the 2 goal lead for the Canucks with the 3rd goal for Vancouver of the evening. Tampa Bay answered back at the end of the 2nd period with a goal by team Captain Vincent Lecavalier, only to have Ryan Kesler score with 2 seconds left in the 2nd to end it 4-2. Start of the 3rd and Steve Downie scored to bring the Lightning within one. With 1 minute and 1 second left in the 3rd Tampa had pulled their goalie and had the 6th attacker on the ice and Ryan Malone scored to tie up the game. Into overtime and nothing was solved so into the shoot out it was. Ryan Malone shot 1st for Tampa and was denied by the Schneid. Kevin Bieksa shot for the Canucks and was denied by Roloson. Next up was Dominic Moore for Tampa and he was denied. Mason Raymond shot 2nd for the Canucks and with his Spin-O-Rama got it past Roloson. Then it was all on Steven Stamkos, if he got one past Schneider to keep the shootout going or if he was denied, game over Canucks win. Stamkos was denied and Vancouver took the victory. Up next for Vancouver is the St. Louis Blues thursday in St. Louis.
Here is a brief recap of the other 12 games last night:
The New York Islanders ranked 26th in the league beat the Detroit Red Wings ranked 7th. Final score 5-1. Former Canuck Michael Grabner scored the 4th goal for the New York Islanders, making his total 11 goals this season.
The Boston Bruins played their 1st game since losing to the Vancouver Canucks Saturday. They played the Winnipeg Jets with the final 5-3 Boston. Winnipeg's Andrew Ladd scored 1st and the Jets kept the Bruins running 'til the 3rd period when Boston scored 3 goals to win. Boston is ranked 3rd in the NHL, Winnipeg 20th. GO JETS GO!
The Toronto Maple Leafs shut out the Buffalo Sabers in a 2-0 victory. Both goals scored in the 1st period. Toronto currently sits lucky #13 in the NHL and Buffalo is 23rd.
The Ottawa Senators beat the Pittsburgh Penguins in a 5-1 victory. Evgeni Malkin scored the lone goal for Pittsburgh in the 2nd. Milan Michalek scored two goals for Ottawa. Ottawa is 8th in the standings, Pittsburgh is 18th.
The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Carolina Hurricane by a score of 2-1. Philly scored in the 2nd after a scoreless 1st period only to have Carolina tie it up by the end of the 2nd. The 3rd period saw one goal by Sean Couturier for Philly in the 3rd and that was the game winner. Philly is 6th in the league and Carolina is 28th.
The league leading New York Rangers beat the Phoenix Coyotes 2-1. Both regulation goals were scored in the 3rd period and the winner was decided by a shootout. The game went to a 6th round shootout eventually settled by Derek Stepan's goal. The New York Rangers sit 1st in the league with 58 points. Phoenix has 46 points and is 19th.
The San Jose Sharks and Minnesota Wild ended a 4-4 tie in a shootout as well. Matt Cullen shot 1st for Minnesota and it was the winner after San Jose's Ryane Clowe shot 2nd for the Sharks and missed. San Jose sits at 9th in the standings and Minnesota is 12th.
The St. Louis Blues shutout the Montreal Canadiens. It was a back to back shutouts for St. Louis. Brian Elliott blanked Colorado on Saturday, then Jaroslav Halak did the same to the Canadiens. St. Louis is 4th in the league and Montreal is 24th. St. Louis takes on Vancouver thursday and it is anyone's guess who will be their starting goalie? Montreal did give their formally adored goalie Halak a standing ovation after the game. I to have a soft spot for this goaltender as well. Check out Halak's standing ovation by Montreal in "If You Need a Visual."
The Chicago Blackhawks beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 5-2. The 1st period had no scoring, the 2nd saw Chicago lead 2-1 and the 3rd ended 5-2 chicago. Chicago is 5th in the standings and Columbus is sadly last at # 30.
The Nashville Predators beat the Colorado Avalanche 4-1. Nashville scored 3 goals in the 1st and one in the 3rd. Colorado scored one in the 2nd. These 2 teams meet up again thursday. Nashville is 10th currently and Colorado is 17th.
The Calgary Flames beat the New Jersey Devils in their annual meeting. Calgary scored 4 goals in the 1st period. New Jersey got 2 goals in the 2nd but Calgary got one. Both teams scored in the 3rd period and Jarome Iginla scored for Calgary. Jerome Iginla scored his 501th goal of his career. After his 500th goal on saturday we can see Iggy is on his way to 1000. Calgary is 21st in standings and New Jersey is 15th.
The last game to end yesterday was between the Dallas Stars and the Anaheim Ducks. With Anaheim scoring one goal in the 1st and one in the 2nd, the 3rd period was very eventful. Dallas came back to score 2 goals 1 minute and 2 seconds apart to tie the game, but then Anaheim answered back with 3 goals to end it 5-2. Anaheim is 29th in the league with 32 points, Dallas is 16th.