Month: December 2008

DETROIT – Marian Hossa scored the tiebreaking goal early in the third period and the Detroit Red Wings held on to beat the Anaheim Ducks 2-1 Monday night.

BUFFALO, N.Y. – Pekka Rinne made 30 saves for his first career shutout, Jason Arnott snapped a tie in the third period and the Nashville Predators beat the Buffalo Sabres 2-0 Monday night.

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Rick Nash made the play of the game. The rest was up to Steve Mason and the defence.Kristian Huselius scored off Nash’s blue-collar assist with 4:44 left and Columbus beat the Vancouver Canucks 3-2 on Monday night, giving the Blue Jackets their first win this season after allowing the first goal.

The Boston Bruins have recalled Johnny Boychuk and Matt Lashoff from their American League affiliate in Providence.
Boychuk, a 6-foot-2, 225 pound 24-year-old with a booming slapshot, leads all AHL defensemen with 23 points in 22 games.

BUFFALO, N.Y. – Buffalo Sabres captain Craig Rivet was held out of Monday’s game against Nashville because of an upper-body injury.The defenceman was on the ice when the Sabres skated Monday morning, then scratched later in the afternoon.

Sidney Crosby might be approaching an identity crisis.While the Pittsburgh Penguins captain is certainly used to being the hottest player in the NHL, his most recent surge has come in an unfamiliar way.

MONTREAL – Alex Kovalev is in a slump, but he has plenty of company on the Montreal Canadiens these days.The veteran right-winger, who led the team with 35 goals in 2007-08, has only five goals in Montreal’s first 23 games this season.

TORONTO – A hockey stick autographed by Sidney Crosby and jerseys signed by Nicklas Lidstrom and Saku Koivu are among the items being auctioned off in support of the Luc Bourdon Memorial Fund, the National Hockey League Players’ Association said Monday.

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. – Rockford IceHogs left-winger Pascal Pelletier was named American Hockey League player of the week Monday.Pelletier had seven points (6-1) in three games as Rockford earned five of a possible six points in the standings.

Washington Capitals left winger Alex Ovechkin, who led the NHL with 25 points in November, has been named the league’s first star of the month, the NHL announced today.

NEW YORK – Sidney Crosby’s recent surge has earned him the NHL’s first star of the week.The Pittsburgh Penguins captain scored six goals in three games.

MONTREAL – Quebec provincial police say Hubert (Pit) Martin, a four-time NHL all-star in the 1960s and ’70s, is feared dead after his snowmobile plunged into an icy lake.

Michael Maniago, a 20-year-old former goalie for Lethbridge and Kamloops had his life tragically cut short. – By Gregg Drinnan – Kamloops Daily News
Michael Maniago, who split four Western League seasons between the Lethbridge Hurricanes and Kamloops Blazers, was killed in an automobile accident in Calgary early Saturday morning.

HELSINKI, Finland – A Finnish court fined former NHL player Jere Karalahti 1,490 euros (C$2,338) on Monday for using cocaine last year.The Helsinki City Court found Karalahti guilty of using cocaine in March 2007, based on a photograph found on a laptop of a friend.