Stars of the night
--Raffi Torres, 2 goals; Columbus edges Atlanta, 4-3.
--Ilya Bryzgalov, 31 saves; Phoenix downs Chicago, 3-1.
--Ales Kotalik 1 goal, 2 assists; the Rangers double up Edmonton, 4-2.
--Teemu Selanne 2 goals; Jonas Hiller 40 saves in Anaheim's 4-0 blanking of Nashville.
--Anze Kopitar, 2 goals; Los Angeles thumps Pittsburgh, 5-2. That's the Penguins' first loss in regulation when leading after two periods under coach Dan Bylsma. Evgeni Malkin's injury goes far beyond just not having Malkin. More on that at a later time.
Good God, that's Jason Spezza's music!
Anyone? Anyway. After a report early in the week suggested Ottawa center Jason Spezza, who was out for two games, would miss another two games, he returned to action Thursday, assisted on the Sens' first two goals, then scored the winner in overtime on the power play, blasting a slapper past Tampa Bay goalie Antero Niittymaki for his first goal of the season in Ottawa's 3-2 victory.
Spezza was only the third star of the game. Ha.
Gimmicks of the night
--Carey Price made 42 saves - that's four-two - and stopped all three Bruins in the shootout to lead Montreal to a 2-1 win. Mike "Squid" Cammalleri had the only goal necessary for the Habs in the gimmick round.
--A duel between goalies was won by Detroit's Chris Osgood, whose 33 saves and two in the shootout lifted the Red Wings past San Jose, 2-1, after Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg beat Evgeni Nabokov (35 saves) in the shootout. Hank Z also had Detroit's goal in regulation.
St. Louis, don't take me home
The Blues lost yet another game at their home arena, this one 2-1 to Calgary, on Dion Phaneuf's winner. St. Louis is now 2-5-1 at home. Jarome Iginla scored his seventh goal of the season and with four goals in his last five games, is starting to, ahem, heat up for the Flames. Is that not the lamest pun ever? I apologize.
Non-Three Stars Selection of the night
Andrew Raycroft, 28 saves, including 15 in the third, for Vancouver in its 5-2 win over the Wild. Third star was Christian Ehrhoff (1 assist), second star was Alexander Edler (two assists), and Kyle Brodziak (2 goals) was the No. 1 star.
Quote of the night
"In my head there was a moment where you go, 'That figures.' But then the other voice in my head rebounded right away and said, 'No. We're not going to say, "Here we go again." We've got to do something.' I was trying to send some positive mental energy to the team to do something."
Boston goalie Tim Thomas after a Bruins goal was disallowed. God bless goalies and the weirdness that accompanies them.
Marquee matchup
Friday, Nov. 6 (6 games)
Philadelphia (7-4-1) at Buffalo (9-2-1), 7:30 p.m. ET. Let's give the Sabres some love. Much has been made of the starts by Ilya Bryzgalov and Craig Anderson, but Ryan Miller's been better than both. He has a league-best .941 save percentage and is second - behind Andrew Raycroft, who has played four fewer games and six fewer starts - with a 1.69 goals against average. He'll face a potent attack led by Mike Richards, Jeff Carter and James van Riemsdyk.
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