Month: October 2009

NASHVILLE – Pekka Rinne and the Nashville Predators put it all together – at the Chicago Blackhawks’ expense.”Guys went to the net hard and battled,” Predators coach Barry Trotz said

ST. LOUIS – Ilya Bryzgalov and the resurgent Phoenix Coyotes pushed aside the St. Louis Blues for their sixth victory in eight games.Bryzgalov made 32 saves for his NHL-leading third shutout of the season, and Daniel Winnik and Taylor Pyatt scored in Phoenix’s 2-0 victory Thursday night

TAMPA, Fla. – Steven Stamkos is fast becoming an elite NHL player.Stamkos had two power-play goals and an assist to help the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Ottawa Senators 5-2 on Thursday night

BOSTON – Yann Danis gave Martin Brodeur a rare night off – and the New Jersey Devils two more points on the road.Danis made 31 saves in his first appearance of the season, and Dainius Zubrus scored with 1:26 left to lead the Devils to their sixth consecutive road victory, 2-1 over the Boston Bruins on Thursday night

ATLANTA – Alex Ovechkin got Washington off to a good start. Semyon Varlamov bailed out the Capitals the rest of the way.Ovechkin scored twice to add to his NHL-leading total, Varlamov turned away 38 shots – including a penalty shot – and the first-place Capitals survived a wild finish for their sixth straight win, 4-3 over the Atlanta Thrashers on Thursday night

ST. LOUIS – St. Louis captain Eric Brewer made a surprise return to the Blues’ lineup Thursday night against the Phoenix Coyotes.The defenceman had not played since Dec

Sabres rookie Tyler Myers is staying in Buffalo after an impressive nine-game stint.Under NHL rules, Myers’ three-year rookie contract will kick in after his 10th game, and he’ll also be able to test free agency a year earlier than most players in his draft class

ARLINGTON, Va. – It’s 11 a.m. in suburban Virginia on a rainy mid-week morning, yet the arena perched atop a sprawling shopping mall soon fills up with hockey fans hoping to catch a glimpse of the NHL superstar known as Ovie

PITTSBURGH – NHL scoring champion Evgeni Malkin will be lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins for two to three weeks because of a strained right shoulder

SAN JOSE, Calif. – Ryane Clowe got something more important than his first official goal of the season. He scored shootout winner.Clowe overcame a rough start to the season by scoring in the sixth round of a shootout, and Evgeni Nabokov stopped Jarret Stoll moments later to give the San Jose Sharks a 2-1 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday night

CALGARY – The miserable season a year ago for Wojtek Wolski and the Colorado Avalanche has become a distant memory.Wolski’s team-leading eighth goal of the season was the game-winner Wednesday night as the Colorado Avalanche came back from an early 2-0 deficit to win 3-2 over the Calgary Flames

MILWAUKEE – Leland Irving turned aside 25 shots for his first shutout of the season as the Abbotsford Heat downed the Milwaukee Admirals 2-0 in AHL action Wednesday

UNIONDALE, N.Y. – Doug Weight’s nagging cough reminds him of his bout with swine flu. His creativity on the power play reminds the New York Islanders why they brought back the veteran centre for another NHL season

DALLAS – James Neal’s net-crashing habit paid off for the Dallas Stars.Neal’s goal off a rebound 2:57 into overtime gave the Stars a 4-3 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Wednesday night

ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Minnesota Wild know they’re letting the young season slip away.Already last in the Western Conference, Minnesota fell behind by a pair of goals early and gave up a short-handed goal late in the third period in a 4-3 loss to the Nashville Predators on Tuesday night

PITTSBURGH – Superstitious Sidney Crosby didn’t want to jinx his shot at a hat trick after his first two goals. Perhaps for the same reason, he isn’t willing to acknowledge he’s morphing into a top pure goal-scorer

SUNRISE, Fla. – The Florida Panthers can’t get much to go their way these days. Even pucks off their own players’ skates.Nick Foligno’s pass hit a Florida player’s skate and ricocheted into the net in the second period and Jarkko Ruutu scored 38 seconds later to help the Ottawa Senators beat the Panthers 4-3 on Wednesday night

St. Louis Blues coach Andy Murray says there’s no secret to his team’s road success early this season.”The bottom line is we just haven’t been very good at home,” Murray said Wednesday night after the Blues improved to 3-1-1 on the road with a 5-2 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes

Islanders captain Doug Weight, in his first game back following a bout with swine flu, earned an assist on Kyle Okposo’s tiebreaking, power-play goal in the second period that lifted New York to a 3-1 victory over the New York Rangers on Wednesday night

NEWARK, N.J. – The New Jersey Devils didn’t show up for the first period and that’s all the Buffalo Sabres needed to remain unbeaten on the road