Month: October 2009

STRATHMORE, Alta. – George Merik made 34 saves as the UFA Bisons of the Alberta Midget Hockey League downed Canada’s national women’s hockey team 6-0 Thursday

GLENDALE, Ariz. – Adrian Aucoin is fitting in quite nicely in his first season with the resurgent Phoenix Coyotes.Aucoin scored at 1:57 of overtime to give the Coyotes a 3-2 comeback victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday night for their best start in eight years

EDMONTON – The Edmonton Oilers have to be glad they didn’t let Dustin Penner get away.Penner had two goals and three assists as the Oilers came from behind to win their third straight, defeating the Columbus Blue Jackets 6-4 on Thursday night

OTTAWA – The Ottawa Senators didn’t find losing to the Nashville Predators all that hard to take Thursday night.After all, they’d rallied from a three-goal deficit in the third period to at least salvage a point

TAMPA, Fla. – Mike Smith won for the first time in nine months, James Wright scored his first NHL goal and the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the San Jose Sharks 5-2 on Thursday night

PHILADELPHIA – Claude Giroux scored on a backhand-to-forehand move in a shootout, then Michael Ryder’s wrist shot hit the post on Boston’s final attempt, giving the Philadelphia Flyers a 4-3 victory over the Bruins on Thursday night

ATLANTA – Jeff Schultz, Matt Bradley and Chris Clark scored in an 88-second span of the second period, Semyon Varlamov stopped 22 shots and the Washington Capitals beat the Atlanta Thrashers 5-4 on Thursday night for their third straight win

MONTREAL – Scott Gomez and Marc-Andre Bergeron scored in the first period as the Montreal Canadiens skated to their first regulation time victory of the NHL season by 5-1 over the listless New York Islanders on Thursday night

NEW YORK – Dainius Zubrus tipped in Zach Parise’s soft shot 7:51 into the third period and the New Jersey Devils remained undefeated on the road with a 4-2 victory over the New York Rangers on Thursday night

TORONTO – The NHL suspended Anaheim Ducks forward Evgeny Artyukhin for three games Thursday after a slew-footing incident during a game against the Dallas Stars

A casual observer would never have guessed the Toronto Maple Leafs were the last winless team in the NHL.There were smiles all around as players exchanged barbs and finished packing up their equipment for the start of a five-game road trip on Thursday

MONTREAL – Any question of whether John Tavares would live up to the hype that came with being drafted first overall may have been answered by the 19-year-old’s fine play in his first few weeks with the New York Islanders

CHICAGO – Chicago Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews did not practice Thursday, one day after being knocked out of the game by a hard hit.Coach Joel Quenneville said Toews had progressed overnight and it was still possible he could play Saturday night against Nashville

ANAHEIM, Calif. – Defenceman Trevor Daley scored his first goal of the season on a power play and James Neal set up goals by Loui Eriksson and Brenden Morrow, leading the Dallas Stars to a 4-2 victory over the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday night

CHICAGO – Five months after he sat sobbing following one of his biggest personal failures, Roberto Luongo wore a winning, ear-to-ear smile.His Vancouver Canucks hadn’t won on the road since beating Chicago in Game 3 of the teams’ second-round playoff series last May

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Mikko Koivu tied the game in regulation and scored on Minnesota’s first shot in the shootout, sending the Wild to a 3-2 victory over the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday night

UNIONDALE, N.Y. – John Tavares scored in the shootout to give the New York Islanders their first victory of the season, 4-3 over the Carolina Hurricanes on Wednesday night

SUNRISE, Fla. – Mike Grier, Jason Pominville and Matt Ellis each scored in the first five minutes of a wild opening period to lift the Buffalo Sabres to a 5-2 win over the Florida Panthers on Wednesday night

BOSTON – Steve Begin scored his first goal with Boston, getting the tiebreaker at 8:33 of the third period Wednesday night to lift the short-handed Bruins to a 3-2 victory over the Nashville Predators

NEW YORK – Fifteen years after Mark Messier and Mike Richter led the New York Rangers to an elusive Stanley Cup title, they are still being feted for their efforts