More donuts and slim pickings

Fans of NHL goalies continue to bask in glory. In each of the six games Thursday, at least one team scored just one goal or none.

Keepin' 'em off the scoreboard
--The most surprising of the shutouts belongs to Mathieu Garon. The Columbus backup is making a bid for more playing time after posting his second straight clean sheet, stopping 25 shots to lead the Blue Jackets over Atlanta, 3-0. Derick Brassard had a goal and assist. Most importantly, our long national nightmare is over: Rick Nash had an assist, wresting away the team lead in points from Chris Clark.

And there was much rejoicing.

Ondrej Pavelec stopped 39 shots in the loss.

--The least surprising shutout of the night - because if I can predict it, then it was obvious - came from Jaroslav Halak, who made 25 saves as St. Louis downed San Jose, 2-0. Matt D'Agostini and David Perron scored and Alex Pietrangelo had two assists. Don't look now, but the Blues are at the top of the Western Conference. W, T, F.

OK, actually that's not quite true. Because...

--A turnover in the defensive zone helped lead to a fancy-pants move by Justin Williams, who scored the only goal of the game in support of Jonathan Quick's 25 saves as Los Angeles edged Tampa Bay, 1-0. The Kings moved past the Blues for the top spot in the West, but St. Louis has two games in hand.

Also good
--Sergei Bobrovsky had a quiet night, stopping 20 shots as Philadelphia took it to the Rangers, 4-1. Claude Giroux had two assists. Four different Flyers scored: Mike Richards, Blair Betts, Nikolay Zherdev and Chris Pronger.

--Jason Spezza recorded four points - a goal and three helpers - and Brian Elliott stopped 28 shots as Ottawa heaped more misery on Long Island, claiming a 4-1 victory over the Islanders. New York has now lost six straight games, all in regulation.

--Cory Schneider's 33 saves and goals from Ryan Kesler, Henrik Sedin and Raffi Torres lifted Vancouver over Colorado, 3-1.