What makes this game interesting is Detroit is 1st in the NHL with 67 points, having won 7 straight and their last 17 home games! Montreal on the other hand is 10 points back of a play off spot with 47 points in 23rd place.
Only a few penalties where handed out in the whole game. Carey Price played the entire game for Montreal while Detroit pulled All Star Goalie Jimmy Howard after letting in 4 goals on 12 shots in the 1st period and was replaced by backup Ty Conklin, who's stats weren't much better letting in 3 goals on 13 shots through 2 periods.
The scoring went like this: Rene Bourque scored first 5 minutes into the 1st period. It was his 2nd goal since being traded to Montreal by Calgary for Mike Cammalleri last week. Alexei Emelin scored next for Montreal, with 11 minutes gone. Then in a minute and a half both David Desharnais and Tomas Plekanec scored for Montreal to make the score 4-0 end of the 1st period. The 2nd period didn't see as much action with only 2 goals by Max Pacioretty and David Desharnais scored his 2nd of the game to make the score at the end of the 2nd period 6-0 Montreal. Detroit made a kind of comeback in the early minutes of the 3d period with a goal by Jiri Hudler 21 seconds in and again by Hurler 6 minutes later. That was that with lucky number 7 scored by Erik Cole for Montreal. Final score 7-2. It was the second time Montreal has scored 7 goals this month and Detroit had a 7 game win streak snapped.
The All Star Fantasy Draft is today. Captains for the 2 team are Boston Captain Zdeno Chara and Ottawa Captain Daniel Alfredsson.
There are 12 defensemen these 2 can pick from:
Dustin Byfuglien of the Winnipeg Jets
Brain Campbell of the Florida Panthers
Alexander Edler of the Vancouver Canucks
Dan Girardi of the New York Rangers
Erik Karlsson of the Ottawa Senators
Kris Letang of the Pittsburgh Penguins
Dion Phaneuf of the Toronto Maple Leafs
Ryan Suter of the Nashville Predators
Kimmo Timonen of the Philadelphia Flyers
Shea Weber of the Nashville Predators
Dennis Wideman of the Washington Capitals
and finally, Keith Yandle of the Phoenix Coyotes.
Dion Phaneuf was chosen by fans with 614,933 votes and Erik Karlsson as well with 939,591 votes.
There are 15 Rookies heading to Ottawa. A rookie is a player in their 1st full year with a permanent spot on an NHL roster with no chance of being sent to the affiliate AHL team. These Rookies don't play in the actual game but their amazing skills are showcased in the Skills Competition. The 15 Rookies are:
Luke Adam of the Buffalo Sabers
Sean Couturier of the Philadelphia Flyers
Raphael Diaz of the Montreal Canadiens
Justin Faulk of the Carolina Hurricane
Colin Greening of the Ottawa Senators
Carl Hagelin of the New York Rangers
Adam Henrique of the New Jersey Devils
Cody Hodgson of the Vancouver Canucks
Ryan Johansen of the Columbus Blue Jackets
Nick Johnson of the Minnesota Wild
Gabriel Landeskog of the Colorado Avalanche
Adam Larsson of the New Jersey Devils
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins of the Edmonton Oilers
Matt Read of the Philadelphia Flyers
and finally, Craig Smith of the Nashville Predators.
The Fantasy Draft happens tonight at 5:00 pm PST, the Skills Competition happens Saturday at 4:00 pm PST, and finally the big game happens at 1:00 pm PST! You will see teammates play against each other (possibly even brothers), enemies play on the same team (perhaps even the same line) and the best players in the league on two teams battling it out. Enjoy X