Articles by Doug Stolhand

CALGARY – Stephen Weiss scored the game winner in a shootout to lead the Florida Panthers to a 3-2 win over the Calgary Flames on Friday night.

DENVER – Dustin Byfuglien assured a happy homecoming for coach Joel Quenneville when his second goal gave the Chicago Blackhawks a 4-3 victory over the Colorado Avalanche on Friday night.

DALLAS – Marty Turco made 37 saves, rookies Tom Wandell and Fabian Brunnstrom scored goals and the Dallas Stars beat the Detroit Red Wings 3-1 on Friday night in their first meeting since last season’s Western Conference finals.

ATLANTA – Phil Kessel had a goal and two assists to extend his NHL-best points streak to 14 games, and the Boston Bruins scored four times on their first five shots in a 7-3 victory over the Atlanta Thrashers on Friday night.

BUFFALO, N.Y. – Ian White broke a tie with 7:56 left in the third period, and Vesa Toskala made 24 saves in the Toronto Maple Leafs’ 2-1 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Friday night.

NEWARK, N.J. – Patrik Elias scored with 8:31 left to rescue the New Jersey Devils, who squandered a four-goal lead yet managed to finally beat the New York Rangers, 8-5 on Friday night.

TORONTO – Mark McCutcheon and Darcy Campbell scored second-period goals to lead the Lake Erie Monsters to a 3-1 win over the Toronto Marlies in American Hockey League action Friday night.

WASHINGTON – Inspired by the return of Sergei Fedorov and Mike Green – or perhaps by the presence of a six-foot-seven website producer sitting on the bench as an emergency backup goalie – the Washington Capitals maintained their home-ice dominance Friday night with a 5-1 victory over the Ottawa Senators.

VANCOUVER, B.C. – Vancouver Canuck goaltender Roberto Luongo has experienced soreness in his injured groin and did not join his teammates on a trip to Edmonton for Saturday night’s NHL game against the Oilers.

The first couple months of the NHL season has given goalies everywhere a reason to dream.While they may still face the longest odds at reaching hockey’s highest level, a number of less-established goalies have already made an impact in the NHL this year.

WASHINGTON – A six-foot-seven website producer for the Washington Capitals prepared to dress as the team’s backup goalie for Friday night’s game against the Ottawa Senators because of an injury to Jose Theodore.

BROSSARD, Que. – Injuries are starting to pile up for the Montreal Canadiens.Captain Saku Koivu was the latest to go down with a “lower-body” injury, believed to be either a foot or an ankle problem, in the second period of a 3-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday night.

OTTAWA – Walter Gretzky, Canada’s most famous hockey dad, has been named to the Order of Canada, the country’s highest civilian honour.The father of superstar Wayne Gretzky was presented with a medal by the Governor General during a ceremony at Rideau Hall on Friday.

PITTSBURGH – Goalie Marc-Andre Fleury will be in uniform when the Pittsburgh Penguins face the Flyers on Philadelphia on Saturday afternoon after missing 12 games with a groin injury.

The Edmonton Oilers assigned centre Gilbert Brule to the AHL’s Springfield Falcons on Friday.Brule had no points in two games with Edmonton after being recalled from the Falcons on Dec.

BROSSARD, Que. – Six players were missing at practice Friday as injuries mount on the Montreal Canadiens.Goaltender Carey Price (flu), captain Saku Koivu (lower body), defencemen Mathieu Dandenault (broken arm) and Mike Komisarek (shoulder) and wingers Christopher Higgins (shoulder) and Georges Laraque (lower body) are all sidelined.

TAMPA, Fla. – Steve Downie is headed back to the American Hockey League.The Tampa Bay Lightning assigned the winger to Norfolk on Friday. He appeared in eight games for Tampa after getting recalled on Nov.

ST. LOUIS – St. Louis Blues goaltender Manny Legace has been placed on injured reserve with what the NHL team describes as a mild concussion.

PRAGUE, Czech Republic – Radim Vrbata is set to move from Tampa Bay Lightning to former club BK Mlada Boleslav in the Czech league for the rest of the season.

Scoring summaries from Thursday’s NHL games:Lightning 3 at Canadiens 1First Period1. Montreal, Brisebois 2 (Kovalev, Markov) 5:34 (pp)2. Tampa Bay, St.