STUDS


Who Are You Calling A Newbie

3 of the top 5 rookie scorers finished the night with 2 points apiece. Cory Conacher the undrafted phenom moved into first place with with a goal and an assist on the night and 9 points on the season. While linemates Alex Galchenyuk and Brendan Gallagher had 2 assists and a goal and an assist respectively on the night and 5 and 4 points respectively on the season. Both Tampa Bay and Montreal are sitting in playoff spots currently in no small part to the contributions of these players.

The Best Defense Is A Good Offense

Michael Del Zotto, Raphael Diaz and Andrei Markov all had a pair of points apiece, Del Zotto a goal and an assist and the Montreal pair with two assists apiece. Add in 2 blocked shots and 3 hits for Del Zotto and 3 blocked shots and 1 hit for Diaz for some extended cat love. Markov and Diaz are now tied for second in points among defensemen with 7 and Del Zotto is tied for seventh with 6.

The Faceoff DOtt

Steve Ott won a whopping 84.2% of his faceoffs going 16-3. A nice little addition if your league counts them especially since he didn't get you any PIMs tonight.


DUDS


It Takes Two To Make A Thing Go Wrong

Marc-Andre Fleury was pulled after 2 periods after giving up 4 goals on 17 shots for a .765 SV% and a 6.00 GAA. While Tomas Vokoun was flawless in relief the Penguins still lost 4-1. In Detroit Dallas Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen was pulled with less than 5 min to go in the game after surrendering 4 goals finishing with an .840 SV% and 4.34 GAA. Richard Bachman was also unbeaten in relief with the same 4-1 result we saw in the Penguins game.

Drawing A Blank

Well not quite a blank but Mike Ribeiro went 1 for 10 in the faceoff circle. Coupled with a -1 and 0 points he likely did you as much harm as he did good.

No Man Is An Island(er)

John Tavares did get a goal tonight, however he managed to be a -1 while his team won 4-1. His 4 out of 14 faceoff wins weren't much help for those of you counting on faceoffs either.


Odds & Ends


O Captain! My Captain!

Ryan Callahan got all of his owners excited tonight with his powerplay goal, which also happened to be his 200th point. Unfortunately a poorly decided attempt to tussle with Max Talbot led to an unknown injury which forced him to leave the game early. Hopefully it is nothing serious and he will be back soon.

In Soviet Russia Goal Scores You

Pavel Datsyuk became the 10th player in the post-Soviet era to score 1000 total points in Russia and the NHL.

It Still Isn't Safe To Go Back In The Water

Another point apiece again for the Sharks trio tonight. No goal for Marleau though only a measly assist. Sell him quick the end is near.