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Early ride on the Zamboni - Thursday, December 16th

wardstopsbuff

James O’Brien

Let’s take a look at some of Thursday’s earlier games. We’ll recap the latest couple contests later tonight.

NY Rangers 4, Phoenix 3 (SO)

It’s been a nice couple days for Erik Christensen, who earned Wednesday’s goal of the night and won the game for the Rangers with the only shootout goal in the contest. If the Coyotes end up missing the playoffs by a narrow margin, this will be one of those games they’ll remember with regret. They had a 3-1 lead but Jason LaBarbera couldn’t off the Rangers in this one.

NY Islanders 3, Anaheim 2

The Islanders almost lost their 3-0 lead in this one, but Rick DiPietro (30 saves) and company were able to hold on to end a six-game losing streak. Curtis McElhinney couldn’t make it through the first period, as he allowed three goals before giving way to Jonas Hiller. Maybe the Ducks are the ones who should consider signing Evgeni Nabokov to spell Hiller and spite the Sharks?

Montreal 4, Boston 3

The Canadiens widened their division lead over the Bruins to four points in the best way: by beating them. This ended a three-game winning streak for Montreal and extended Boston’s losing streak to three. Michael Cammalleri scored a gorgeous shootout goal, Max Pacorietty had a goal and an assist and P.K. Subban nailed Brad Marchand with a wicked check as the Habs were too much for the Bruins tonight.

Carolina 3, Atlanta 2 (SO)

Speaking of three-game winning streaks, the Hurricanes extended their run to that level with a shootout win over the Thrashers, who are starting to struggle just a bit after a scorching-hot November. Ondrej Pavelec has been the best goalie in the Southeast lately, but Cam Ward - normally the Southeast’s best - topped him with 45 saves.

St. Louis 6, Los Angeles 4

The banged-up Blues really needed this one. They’ve been struggling on the ice (3-5-2 in their last 10, including tonight’s win) and keep losing valuable players to amend that situation. St. Louis beat Los Angeles to tie the two teams at 35 points thanks to a game winning goal by Alex Steen and a one goal, two assist performance by Vladimir Sobotka.

David Backes - one of the few top Blues forwards who is healthy - scored one goal and two assists to contribute to the win.

Ottawa 3, Minnesota 1

For a second, it seemed like Wild forward Tyler Bozak would be the hero of this one. He scored a goal and looked like he had his second, but that one was called off because of a too many men on the ice penalty. Nine seconds later, Senators forward Nick Foligno scored what would be the game winner on the power play as Pascal Leclaire won in his return from yet another injury.

San Jose 4, Dallas 3 (OT)

Don’t sleep on Logan Couture when you fill out your imaginary (or real) Calder Trophy ballot. The talented rookie scored the game winner in during a power play in overtime, as Mike Ribeiro gave the Sharks a four minute man advantage late in the third (and into OT) by drawing Dany Heatley’s blood with a high stick. Devin Setoguchi (two goals) and Joe Pavelski (two assists) also stood out in this one.

On the bright side, Brenden Morrow scored a goal and had 10 hits while wearing a shield for his broken nose, Kari Lehtonen returned to keep them in the game (39 out of 43 saves) and the Stars are still hot at home, going 9-0-2 in their last 11 in Dallas.