NHL Recap 11-23-09

Stars of the night
--Marian Gaborik, two goals and two assists in the Rangers 7-4 stomping of Columbus.
--Dwayne Roloson, 58 - that's FIVE-EIGHT - saves and Josh Bailey scored the winning goal in the Islanders' 4-3 overtime win over Toronto. Seriously. Fifty-eight. 58. Five-eight. 5-8. This is becoming a sort of a trend for the Leafs; they can dominate games in the shot department but can't light the lamp enough.
--Pekka Rinne, 30 saves, and Martin Erat two goals in Nashville's 3-1 win over Detroit, the Predators' sixth-straight win. Hopefully no one silly gave up on Rinne in any keeper leagues. Not that I have Buddha anyone in mind.
--Patrice Bergeron, four assists in Boston's 4-2 win over St. Louis.
--Jean-Sebastien Giguere made 41 saves to lead Anaheim over Calgary, 3-2 in a shootout. Teemu Selanne had the shootout winner. Corey Perry extended his league-best 15-game scoring streak with an assist.

Clean sheets
--Marty Turco halted Carolina's modest winning streak by stopping all 22 shots, and Dallas defeated the Hurricanes, 2-0. Jamie Benn and Brad Richards had the goals.
--In relief of Nikolai Khabibulin, Jeff Deslauriers blanked Phoenix on 36 saves, and the Oilers won 4-0. Sheldon Souray and Shawn Horcoff had a goal and assist each for Edmonton. Souray and Ales Hemsky scored seven seconds apart in the first period. It was Hemsky's 100th career goal.

Start the play, help finish the play
Ottawa blue liner Chris Phillips is known for his stout defensive play, not his offense. Monday he made a nice play to strip Alex Ovechkin of the puck, then, just seconds later, was part of a 2-on-1 in overtime and set up Mike Fisher's winner as the Senators knocked off the Caps, 4-3.

Deja vu all over again
A month ago to the day - Oct. 23 - the Penguins erased a 2-0, third-period deficit and defeated Florida, 3-2 in a shootout. Monday, Pittsburgh trailed the Panthers 2-0 after 40 minutes before rallying for two goals to force overtime, then Sidney Crosby scored the winner on the power play for a 3-2 win. In the previous game, Crosby had both third-period goals and the shootout winner.

The tying goal, by Michael Rupp, came on a shift when the Penguins controlled the puck in the Florida zone for 88 seconds at even-strength.

Tomas Vokoun made 42 saves in the loss, and has faced over 40 shots in five straight games against the Penguins, but has just a 1-1-3 record in that span.

Hanging on
After limiting Philadelphia to 15 shots through two periods and leading 5-2, Colorado conceded 19 shots and two goals in the third period but hung on for a 5-4 win, despite several close calls from the Flyers in the waning minutes. Paul Stastny had three points, including a goal, and David Jones scored twice for the Avalanche. Danny Briere had two goals and two assists in the loss.

Non-3 Stars Selection of the night
Filip Kuba, three assists for Ottawa, including the lead pass that helped set up Fisher's game-winner. The third star was Mike Green (one assist, four shots, and incidentally his "ole!" play allowed Phillips to get past him at center ice in the 2-on-1 break), second star was Peter Regin (one goal for Ottawa), and Fisher was No. 1.

Quote of the night
"We didn't tell Dwayne, but we figured as long as they didn't hit 70 shots, we'd be all right."
Islanders coach Scott Gordon, on Roloson. New York was out-shot 61-21.

Bonus quote of the night
"Our forwards were available and wanted the puck. That made for a good early performance until we got fat and happy. I don't know why this team would ever have that happen to them because we haven't accomplished squat yet."
Oilers coach Pat Quinn

Marquee Matchup of the night
There's only one game Tuesday. Columbus (12-7-3) at Montreal (11-11-1), 7:30 p.m. on TSN. The Blue Jackets are fresh off giving up seven straight goals to the Rangers after taking a 2-0 lead in what became a 7-4 loss. In the Canadiens' last game, they lost to Detroit, 3-2 in a shootout.