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Riding the Zamboni - Friday, February 25th

John Madden

Minnesota Wild center John Madden , left, is congratulated after scoring a goal against the Anaheim Ducks in the first period of an NHL hockey game in Anaheim, Calif., Friday, Feb. 25, 2011. (AP Photo/Lori Shepler)

AP

For recaps of Friday’s first six games, click here. Let’s take a look at the remaining three games from a busy night of NHL action.

San Jose 4, Calgary 3 (SO)

Now that the Devils lost to the Lightning, the Sharks now hold the NHL’s longest winning streak at six games. They beat the previously-hot Flames in a shootout tonight thanks to a Ryan Clowe winner. The Sharks must feel good about themselves going into a six-game homestand, while Calgary improved their playoff chances with the charity point. Miikka Kiprusoff (30 save) & Co. are in seventh place with 71 points now.

St. Louis 5, Edmonton 0

Ben Bishop stood taller (literally and figuratively) in a match between towering netminders as he earned his first career shutout (39 saves) while Devan Dubnyk allowed five goals on 22 shots. Chris Stewart continues his scorching hot run to being his stay in St. Louis, notching two goals (including the game-winner) to improve to six goals in five games with the Blues. This moves the Blues to a reasonable-but-still-daunting five points behind the eighth place Dallas Stars, which would be fine except that four other teams are still ahead of them for that eighth spot.

Minnesota 3, Anaheim 2 (OT)

At this point, just about every game is important for the Western Conference playoff bubble teams. These two teams showed just how intense this race could end up being, as they played a hard-fought game won thanks to an overtime breakaway game-winner by Pierre-Marc Bouchard.

It’s tough to beat up the Ducks too much considering the fact that they sent 48 shots at Minnesota’s sturdy backup Jose Theodore, but the bottom line is that the streaky Ducks have lost five straight games. Two of those defeats came at the hands of the Wild, who find themselves in a virtual fifth-place tie with the Los Angeles Kings (the Kings are technically in fifth because they’ve played one less game and hold an extra win).

Dan Ellis lost his first start as the Ducks’ (temporary) go-to goalie, although he was solid (28 out of 31 saves).