Goose eggs on the menu

Wow. Anyone like shutouts? Four out of six games featured a team that didn't score.

Turns out they didn't
I queried at the end of my previous post whether both New York teams had any goals left in them after playing in a 6-5 game the night before. The answer? No, they didn't.

In a game that had only 38 combined shots, Marc Staal's power play goal was the only one that got past a goalie in the Rangers' 2-0 victory over the Islanders. Brian Boyle scored into an empty net in the final seconds. Brandon Dubinsky assisted on both goals and Henrik Lundqvist made all of 17 saves.

Another not very busy night
I dunno, were the Blue Jackets looking ahead to Saturday's game against Pittsburgh? If you want to be taken seriously in this league, you better not get out-shot 37-19 by a team that's nearly in the cellar.

That's what happened to Columbus as Buffalo routed the Central Division playoff hopefuls 5-0 behind three points (one goal) by rookie Tyler Ennis. Ryan Miller saw just 19 shots and stopped them all. Thomas Vanek also had a goal and two assists, Drew Stafford had one of each and Jochen Hecht and Jason Pominville both scored. Derek Roy had two assists.

Plenty of work done for these shutouts
--Roberto Luongo made 32 saves as Vancouver exorcised at least a couple demons with a 3-0 victory in Chicago. Tanner Glass, Christian Ehrhoff and Henrik Sedin all scored. Daniel Sedin had two assists.
--Jimmy Howard stopped all 41 shots he saw as Detroit continues to roll along, 4-0 over Anaheim. Johan Franzen and Valtteri Filppula had a goal and assist each and Dan Cleary and Tomas Holmstrom also scored.

Working late
--Brandon Sutter slipped a shot past Craig Anderson 1:15 into overtime and Carolina came away a 2-1 winner over Colorado. Cam Ward made 34 saves.
--Martin Havlat scored in the final half of the third period to force overtime but Calgary won anyway, 3-2 in a shootout over Minnesota. Rene Bourque had the shootout winner and Henrik Karlsson made 20 saves. Havlat had two points.

Thoughts
--At least in Brandon Sutter, there's one Sutter who's good in the NHL these days.

--What an awful display by the Blue Jackets. I blame it on whatever those uniforms were that they were wearing. I thought I was watching a black-and-white program. Hideous.

--Seriously, someone name something that Detroit fans should be concerned about.

--Marty Turco isn't really getting it done in Chicago, is he? Who saw that coming? No one, right?