Close games and penalty shootouts were the order of the day in the NHL on Thursday night, with all but one matchup decided by a goal or less. Two games went the distance, as well, ending in a shootout to break the tie. It was a night full of fast and furious action that went down to the wire.
With a little help for our network of blogs, here's a rundown of the action to supplement our more in-depth Scores & More analysis.
In Dallas, the Stars came back to put away the Ottawa Senators, 3-2, thanks to a third period rally. It was a team effort, Defending Big D says.
Spreading out the shots - Every Dallas Star except for one player (sorry Krys Barch) registered a shot on goal tonight with 10 players having two more more but only 2 Stars had more than 3 (Jamie Benn had 5 and Toby Petersen fired off 4)
The Columbus Blue Jackets needed a shootout to down the Calgary Flames in a game Jackets Cannon thought was a wee bit boring, at least until the end.
I'll be blunt- this game was a total bore until the last few minutes of regulation. Just when I thought the Jackets were out of it, Nikita Nikitin blasted a shot from the point to pull within a goal. Seconds later, Rick Nash tied it up on a feed from Nikitin. Overtime solved nothing, and Curtis Sanford shut the door in the shootout to steal two points from the Calgary Flames.
The Winnipeg Jets hung on for a 1-0 win, and Arctic Ice Hockey came away impressed with the little things.
To be honest, the entire team looked like it had gone to a stickhandling clinic over the last couple of weeks. Tim Stapleton had some good dangles, Evander Kane did, Blake Wheeler had his moments, hell even Mark Stuart had a dangle. Have to like it when your team looks like it's taking the opponent to school.
The Los Angeles Kings hung on for a hard-fought 2-1 win over the Florida Panthers, as well. Eric Stephen has the notes.
The Panthers on Thursday night were without leading scorer Kris Versteeg, who suffered a broken nose Tuesday night against the Carolina Hurricanes....Willie Mitchell left the game in the first period with a lower body injury, and did not return....There was a brief stoppage at 6:43 of the second period as a rounded pane of glass was broken in front of the Kings' bench. The glass had to be replaced before the game began.
Finally, the Montreal Canadiens were able to claim victory over the San Jose Shark in a shootout. The notes come from Habs Eyes On The Prize.
There were only two penalties all game and for a change the officials seemed to run a solid 65 minutes of hockey.
Anyone notice that the first four shootout attempts on Carey Price went blocker side?
Travis Moen as your fifth man in the shootout?