Stars of the night
--Hank Zetterberg, hat trick and two assists as Detroit wins the race with Anaheim, 7-4. Ryan Getzlaf four points (one goal) in the loss. One wild game, this one. It was 2-1 after two and the teams erupted for eight third-period goals. All of Zetterberg's came in the third period.
--Ryan Miller, 29 saves to lead Buffalo over Philadelphia, 3-2.
--Miikka Kiprusoff, 38 saves, and Jarome Iginla 2 goals in Calgary's 5-2 win over Toronto. The Maple Leafs seem to hold some kind of ceremony before every single home game. I guess it's to distract the fans from how bad their team is. Seems counterproductive to me though. Ceremonies keep them at the arena longer. What's next, the five best Toronto players who wore #14?
--Evgeni Nabokov, 38 saves as San Jose defeats St. Louis, 3-1. For some, it was a bad night to be a goalie. For others, it was not.
--Robert Lang, 1 goal and assist as Phoenix gets back on the winning track, 3-2 over Dallas.
--Carey Price, 53 saves, tying the Montreal record set in 1974. The kid LOST, but made 53 freaking saves in a 60-minute game. Yowza. Where's the defense, Montreal? Against Nashville, the Canadiens were out-shot 55-20, and Steve Sullivan's two goals gave the Predators a 2-0 win. Pekka Rinne made 20 saves. Price was only the third star of the game. Sheesh.
--Henrik Sedin, hat trick as Vancouver poured it on against Colorado, 8-2.
Working late
--Henrik Lundqvist stopped 35 shots in regulation and six more in the shootout period as the Rangers won a seven-round battle with Ottawa, 2-1, getting the winner from P.A. Parenteau.
--Florida fell behind 2-0, then coughed up a two-goal lead in the third period but rebounded for a 5-4 shootout win over the Islanders when Nathan Horton scored against Dwayne Roloson and Tomas Vokoun stopped Sean Bergenheim.
--Anze Kopitar's shootout goal was the only one to get past a goaltender and Los Angeles downed Tampa Bay, 2-1. Drew Doughty (Kings) and Ryan Malone (Lightning) had the goals in regulation and Jonathan Quick made 28 saves for the win.
Balanced attack
New Jersey got goals from five different players and defeated the still-Ovechkin-less Capitals, 5-2. Zach Parise, Jamie Langenbrunner, Cory Murphy, Matt Halischuk and Colin freaking White scored for the Devils.
Wild, wild East
That third period between Detroit and Anaheim was a bit crazy. The whole game between Pittsburgh and Boston might have been crazier, and the Penguins got a much-needed win, 6-5 in overtime, as Evgeni Malkin returned to the lineup.
Despite the 11 goals - including a highlight-reel type goal by defensive defenseman Jay McKee - neither team ever held a two-goal lead. They traded goals one-for-one until Pittsburgh led 4-3, then Boston scored twice in a row, once on a 5-on-3 man advantage and again with 2:29 left in the third period. The Penguins, at the tail end of one of the worst extra-attacker situations you'll ever see, tied the game on a Bill Guerin howitzer of a wrist shot with :00.4 remaining.
Jordan Staal's pressure of Tim Thomas off a Martin Skoula dump-in caught Thomas out of the net and Staal threw the puck into the slot where Pascal Dupuis slid the puck into the empty net for his second goal of the night, 100th of his career, and the game-winner. Malkin had three assists - including the 200th of his career - and Sidney Crosby scored once with two helpers.
Non-3 Stars Selection of the night
I'm still boggled by Price being No. 3. Shouldn't he have been at least the second star? You could make a case for first. His team was clearly out-played and he was the only reason why it wasn't a 10-0 score. Rinne was second and Sullivan was first. I didn't see the game, but I find it hard to believe Price wasn't the best player out there. That many saves deserves some kind of props.
Quote of the night
"Yeah, I'm [upset]. I wasn't pleased at all tonight. The positives here tonight is that we got two points, our goaltender played very well, the captain scored two goals and we got a goal on our power play. Other than that, it wasn't a great game on our behalf. We were fortunate to get a win."
Flames coach Brent Sutter, a tough man to please after a 5-2 win. Though he sort of has a point; Toronto put 40 shots on Calgary and allowed just 22 to the Flames. Also, I don't think "upset" is the word he actually used. Silly AP editing.
Marquee matchup
Sunday, Nov. 15 (3 games)
San Jose (14-4-3) at Chicago (11-5-2), 7 p.m. ET. Should be a good one. Afternoon hockey at 1:30 with Minnesota-Carolina and Edmonton-Atlanta at 2.
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