I'm in one of those moods again - no, not the R-rated ones, just the Awards of the night type of mood.
The "Triumphant return from swine flu" of the night
Kyle Okposo scored with 14 seconds left in overtime to give the Islanders a 4-3 win over Carolina, giving the Hurricanes their 14th straight loss. Okposo missed Wednesday's game and was questionable Friday with the swine flu. John Tavares scored twice for Long Island. Shouldn't we call them Long Island instead of New York? Or is that just crazy talk?
The "Restoring some of his trade value" of the night
Josh Harding made 38 saves and was the No. 1 star despite Minnesota losing to Washington, 3-1.
The "What the f--- did he just do?" of the night
Did you see that shootout goal by Rick Nash? Check it out on NHL.com. No one seems to have put it on YouTube yet. Anyway, he lifted his leg, either like a dog about to conduct some business on a tree or a reverse-Captain Morgan pose. It must've worked, because he scored and Columbus won the game, 3-2 over Anaheim. He also scored in regulation and Kristian Huselius had a goal, assist and shootout goal.
From reading the recap, Nash's move apparently was because he lost his balance, it wasn't intentional. Doesn't matter though. Still awesome.
The "U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!" of the night
Ryan Miller, of East Lansing, Mich., out-dueled fellow, um, netminder Miikka Kiprusoff, making 25 saves to lead Buffalo to a 2-1 shootout win over Calgary. Derek Roy continues his "it's about time" fantasy hockey relevance with a power play goal, and also had one in the shootout, and Jason Pominville's shootout tally gave the Sabres the win.
I sense a new feature to the recap. Best American of the night. On a side note, Dustin Byfuglien is American? Seriously? A spelling like that and it's pronounced "Buff-lin" and he's American? No freaking way. I want to see a birth certificate. This is totally a Guy Hebert situation.
The "Didn't we beat Pittsburgh a few days ago and were supposed to be really good?" of the night
Los Angeles conceded a touchdown and extra point in getting walloped by Atlanta, 7-0. Ilya Kovalchuk torched the Kings for four points, including two goals, as did Maxim Afinogenov, and rookie Evander Kane netted a pair of goals. Ondrej Pavelec made 38 saves for the shutout.
The Kings are 1-3 since beating the Penguins, and the one win came over Carolina. In the three losses, they've scored two goals total.
That title's not entirely fair, but I still need to vent somehow. Tough times lately in southwestern PA. Kovalchuk's surge is saving some of my fantasy teams though, so keep scoring!
The "At least we have Phil Kessel" of the night
Phil Kessel scored twice, but too bad his Toronto teammates didn't score, and also gave up three goals in Chicago's 3-2 victory over the Maple Leafs. Duncan Keith and Patrick Kane had first-period goals and Troy Brouwer scored on the power play for the game-winner in the second.
The Non-3 Stars Selection of the night
Nash? Didn't get a star for his two-point, shootout-clincher night. Ryan Getzlaf (2 assists) was third, Antoine Vermette (2 assists) was second and Huselius was first.
Quote of the night
"It's still going to take me time to heal all the way."
Kovalchuk. So wait a minute: He has three goals and seven points in his last two games, and he's not fully healthy yet? Ye gods.
Marquee matchup
Saturday, Nov. 14 (12 games)
Washington (12-3-4) at New Jersey (13-4-0), 7 p.m. ET. CBC gets the heavy slate of games started with a 2 p.m. showing of the Rangers at Ottawa.
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