Luongo was in net and Brian Elliott was between the pipes for St. Louis. It was a pretty evenly matched game. If St. Louis won in regulation then they would have tied Vancouver with 57 points for 1st in the west (having played fewer games though). With the victory Vancouver had it now puts them at 59 points and 1st overall. St. Louis is an amazing 19-5-5 since head coach Ken Hitchcock took over in November. St. Louis has gone from 13th in the west to 2nd? Wild.
Last night's game started with a goal by Alex Burrows, assisted by the Sedins early in the 1st. Jason Arnott went and tied it up 1 minute and 2 seconds later. End of the 1st 1-1 tie. Jason Arnott in the 2nd period made it a 2-1 lead for St. Louis when a puck got caught in Lou's pads and trickled into the net? It was a weird goal and one I am sure Lou beat himself up about but a goal is a goal in hockey. Alex Burrows then tied it up late in the 2nd. No scoring in the 3rd. Lou did stop 2 breakaways when Vancouver had the man advantage and Dale Weise dropped the gloves yet again. Weise had a great road trip. Lapierre stood up for his team again when Manny Malhorta took a questionable hit from a St. Louis player.
Forty seconds into OT and St. Louis player T.J. Oshie heads back to the bench to get a new stick with Vancouver on the power play, and with Oshie not there it was a 4 on 2 for Vancouver. It took the Canucks 5 seconds to make the play but a second later Daniel Sedin scored to end the game. Vancouver wins. It was Daniel Sedin's 9th OT winner and he is now tied with former Canuck Brendan Morrison for most OT winners. Check out Daniel Sedin's winning goal last night in "If You Need a Visual." Lou on the other hand is now tied with former Canuck goalie Kirk McLean for wins at 211. The Canucks flew home post game and have a 2 day break between games and host the Anaheim Ducks Sunday at Rogers Arena.
The Canucks had 4 players selected for the All Stars including Henrik and Daniel Sedin, 3rd team Swede Alex Elder and Rookie Cody Hodgson. Brain Elliott will represent St. Louis at the All Star game in Ottawa.
The other 10 games last night had some highlights, here is a quick break down:
The Ottawa Senators beat the New York Rangers last night in a 3-0 shutout. Jason Spezza who was chosen by fans to join the NHL All Star Game this year scored twice last night! Henrik Lundqvist was in net for the NYRs and he will also be at the NHL All Stars game. NYRs have 58 points in 41 games, Ottawa is 8th with 54 points in 45 games.
Philadelphia Flyers beat the New York Islanders 3-2. Philly sits 5th with 56 points in the standings after 42 games and Islanders are 27th, with 36 points after 41 games. Philly's Kimmo Timonen will represent the team at the All Stars and John Tavares will represent the Islanders.
The Boston Bruins won again last night. They beat the Montreal Canadiens 2-1. The most interesting part of this game might be the trade that happened with Mike Cammalleri. It was finalized right in the middle of the game?! Cammalleri is headed back to Calgary in a trade for Rene Bourque. Cammalleri played the 1st period and was on the bench for the 2nd but by the 3rd period he was in a cab back to the team's hotel to pack and fly out to Calgary to join his new but old team. Cammalleri came from Calgary after playing 81 games scoring 39 goals, 43 assists, for a total of 82 points in the 2008-09 season. Tim Thomas and Tyler Seguin will be at the All Stars game for Boston and Carey Price will be there for Montreal.
Carolina Hurricanes beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-2. Carolina scored 4 of their goals in the 1st period alone. Tampa scored 1 goal in the 1st one in the 2nd. Carolina got their 5th in the 3rd. Steven Stamkos is off the the All Stars for Tampa Bay and the only Hurricane heading to the All Stars is Rookie Justin Faulk! Tampa sits 25th in the standings and Carolina 26th.
The Detroit Red Wings beat the Phoenix Coyotes 3-2 in a shootout. Each team scored once in the 1st and once in the 3rd. It wasn't until Henrik Zetterberg went up as the 4th shooter for Detroit and he potted the winner. Pavel Datsyuk and Jimmy Howard will be representing Detroit at the All Stars and Keith Yandle will show off his defense skills at All Stars for Phoenix. Detroit sits 5th in the league and Phoenix is 18th.
The Nashville Predators beat the Colorado Avalanche 3-2 in OT. Colorado took an early lead 2-0 by the end of the 1st. Nashville came back to score in the 2nd and 3rd to tie it. Then 34 seconds into the OT David legwand scored the winner assisted by Shea Weber. Weber and Ryan Suter have been selected to represent the Preds at the All Stars and Rookie Gabriel Landeskog will rep the Avalanche. Nashville is 10th in the standings and Colorado is 17th.
The 2010 Stanley Cup champs the Chicago Blackhawks beat the Minnesota Wild 5-2. The 1st period ended in a tie, Chichago scored 3 goals in the 2nd and both teams scored once in the 3rd. Patrick Kane, Marian Hossa, and Jonathan Toews will all be at the All Stars game for Chicago and Mikko Koivu will be there for Minnesota. Chicago is 4th in the league and Minnesota is 14th.
San Jose Sharks shutout the Winnipeg Jets. No scoring in the 1st, and San Jose scored once in the 2nd and once in the 3rd. San Jose's Logan Couture will be at the All Stars for San Jose and Winnipeg's Dustin Byfuglien is representing his team. San Jose is 9th in the league and Winnipeg is 22nd.
Calgary Flames shutout the Anaheim Ducks 1-0. The only goal being scored in OT by Blair Jones. Calgary's Captain Jarome Iginla is off to the All Stars and Anaheim's Corey Perry will be appearing for his team. Calgary is 19th in the standings and Anaheim is 29th.
The Dallas Stars beat the Los Angeles Kings 5-4 in a shootout. Loui Eriksson scored the only goal in the shootout. Victoria player and Dallas standout player Jamie Benn is off to the All Stars and the Kings have goalie Jonathan Quick representing them. The Kings are 13th in the league and Dallas is 15th.