NHL Recap 11-2-09

Stars of the night
--Jeff Carter and Mike Richards, 2 goals, 1 assist each; Philadelphia wallops Tampa Bay, 6-2.
--Brendan Witt, 2 goals; Islanders defeat Edmonton, 3-1. Perfect example here of just get the puck to the net and hope for the best. Witt tossed a couple wrist-shots on goal from the point and scored both times. I think he was as surprised as anyone they went in.
--Anze Kopitar, 1 goal, 2 assists; Los Angeles beats Phoenix, 5-3. Good bounceback game after two scoreless outings once he took the NHL scoring lead.

Non-Three Stars Selection of the night
Ryan Smyth, 2 goals (one empty net), 2 assists for the Kings. No. 3 was Kopitar, No. 2 was Phoenix's Martin Hanzal (one goal) and No. 1 was Drew Doughty, who had the game-winning goal and an assist.

Don't look now
But the Islanders have won four straight games and have more points right now than six 2009 playoff teams: Montreal, Boston, Carolina, Detroit, St. Louis and Anaheim.

Fun facts on Witt's two-goal game: He had gone scoreless in 92 straight games. It is his first career two-goal game. He'd scored only three goals total in his Islanders career, spanning 218 games before Monday. He now has 25 career goals in 852 games and this is his fourth two-point game of his career.

Trending in the wrong direction
I'm not mentioning this to poke fun or criticize, I'm just sharing; but the Coyotes have set a franchise-low mark in attendance two straight games now. Monday's announced attendance was 5,855.

Quote of the night
"We sure shoot ourselves in the foot. We are a team that beats themselves right now. In the second period, we abandoned again any principles of defense in the defensive zone. If you check like that, you lose hockey games. That's all there is to it. They played like the Harlem Globetrotters for a couple of shifts there, and they're not even a physical team."

Edmonton coach Pat Quinn. Take out the recent shootout win over Detroit and the Oilers have scored three goals over their last, um, five games. Ouch. They were out-shot Monday 37-23.

Marquee matchup
Tuesday, Nov. 3 (5 games)
Rangers (9-5-1) at Canucks (8-7-0), 10 p.m. ET. Two teams coming off shutout victories and looking to keep that momentum going.