Twitter: @Nichols_NHLPool/ Email: chris.nichols@sportsnet.rogers.com
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TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING 1 @ NEW JERSEY DEVILS 2
Goaltending match-up: Dwayne Roloson (25/27, .926 SV%) vs. Martin Brodeur (15/16, .938 SV%)
Combos: Steve Downie - Steven Stamkos - Martin St. Louis/ Teddy Purcell - Vincent Lecavalier - Simon Gagne/ Sean Bergenheim - Dominic Moore - Adam Hall/ Dana Tyrell - Nate Thompson/ Brett Clark - Victor Hedman/ - Eric Brewer/ Matt Smaby - Pavel Kubina/ Randy Jones
Scratches: MAB (back spasms)
Top PP times: Lecavalier (2:45), St. Louis (2:30), Gagne (2:22), Stamkos (2:22), Clark (1:59)
Trending: Victor Hedman (1A, 1:10 PP, 2 SOG) had just three points in February and four points dating back to Jan. 20.
Combos: Ilya Kovalchuk - Travis Zajac - Nick Palmieri/ Brian Rolston - Patrik Elias - Dainius Zubrus/ Vladimir Zharkov - Dave Steckel - David Clarkson/ Rod Pelley - Jacob Josefson - Mattias Tedenby/ Colin White - Anton Volchenkov/ Henrik Tallinder - Mark Fayne/ Anssi Salmela - Andy Greene
Scratches: Fraser, Mair
Top PP times: Kovalchuk (3:14), Rolston (2:27), Tedenby (1:59), Josefson (1:59), Palmieri (1:59)
Trending: Ilya Kovalchuk (1G, 1A, +2, 8 SOG) had 56 points in 52 GP vs. TB coming in and has points in 13 of his last 14 overall. His game has really just come alive and it’s been fun to watch the turnaround after the rough start. Travis Zajac (1A, +1, 1:28 PP, 3 SOG) had nine points in 13 GP last month.
MINNESOTA WILD 1 @ NEW YORK ISLANDERS 4
Goaltending match-up: Niklas Backstrom (16/19, .842 SV%) & Jose Theosore (21/22, .955 SV%) vs. Al Montoya (33/34, .971 SV%)
Combos: Andrew Brunette - Matt Cullen - Antti Miettinen/ Pierre-Marc Bouchard - Kyle Brodziak - Martin Havlat/ Cal Clutterbuck - John Madden - Eric Nystrom/ Brad Staubitz -Warren Peters - Jed Ortmeyer/ Greg Zanon - Clayton Stoner/ Nick Schultz - Brent Burns/ Marek Zidlicky - Jared Spurgeon
Scratches: Kobasew, Barker
Top PP times: Zidlicky (4:11), Havlat (3:51), PMB (3:51), Spurgeon (3:41), Brunette (2:35)
Trending: John Madden (1G, 1:22 PP, 1 SOG) has goals in two of three with points in four of seven. Pierre-Marc Bouchard (1A, 2 SOG) had eight points in his 14 starts last month. Martin Havlat (1A, 2 SOG) had 54 points last season, which is the total with which he entered this game.
Combos: Matt Moulson - John Tavares - P.A. Parenteau/ Michael Grabner - Frans Nielsen - Kyle Okposo/ Matt Martin - Josh Bailey - Blake Comeau/ Justin DiBenedetto - Zenon Konopka - Trevor Gillies/ Andrew MacDonald - Travis Hamonic/ Ty Wishart - Jack Hillen/ Bruno Gervais - Mark Katic
Scratches: Martinek, Jurcina, Haley
Top PP times: MacDonald (2:21), Okposo (2:21), Tavares (1:57), Parenteau (1:29), Moulson (2:29)
Trending: Andrew MacDonald (1G, 3 SOG) has picked up points in five of six now after being cold for a few weeks. Frans Nielsen (3A, +1, 0:52 PP, 2 SOG) had tallied 11 points in his past 15 GP before tonight. Kyle Okposo (1G, 1A, +1, 2 PIM, 2 SOG) has potted goals in two of three, but hadn’t scored since the start of February before that. Josh Bailey (1A, 0:52 PP, 1 SOG) had one point in six tries before tonight. Michael Grabner (1A, +1, 0:13 PP, 2 SOG) had just two helpers in seven outings coming in. Blake Comeau (2G, 1:20 PP, 6 SOG) had 21 points in 28 home starts coming in here. Trevor Gillies (15 PIM) was back in the line-up tonight after serving his suspension and he wasted zero time in racking up huge PIM on a bad check from behind. Zenon Konopka (15 PIM) scored big PIM too.
PITTSBURGH PENGUINS 2 @ TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS 3 (OT)
Goaltending match-up: Marc-Andre Fleury (17/20, .850 SV%) vs. James Reimer (27/29, .931 SV%)
Combos: James Neal - Mark Letestu - Alex Kovalev/ Matt Cooke - Jordan Staal - Tyler Kennedy/ Dustin Jeffrey - Max Talbot - Pascal Dupuis/ Michael Rupp - Craig Adams - Chris Conner/ Zbynek Michalek - Paul Martin/ Kris Letang - Deryk Engelland/ Matt Niskanen - Ben Lovejoy
Scratches: Kunitz, Godard
Top PP times: Letang (3:33), Martin (3:01), Staal (2:24), Kovalev (2:16), Neal (1:58)
Trending: Pascal Dupuis (1A, -1, no PP, 1 SOG) has points in each of his past three games and had six points last month. Nice night for Matt Niskanen (1G, 1A, +1, no PP, 1 SOG), but he had no points in three tries with PIT before tonight and had just six points all season.
Combos: Clarke MacArthur - Mikhail Grabovski - Nikolai Kulemin/ Joffrey Lupul - Tyler Bozak - Phil Kessel/ Colby Armstrong - Darryl Boyce - Mike Brown/ Jay Rosehill - Tim Brent - Fredrik Sjostrom/ Dion Phaneuf - Keith Aulie/ Luke Schenn - Carl Gunnarsson/ Mike Komisarek - Brett Lebda
Scratches: Rosehill, Gustavsson
Top PP times: Phaneuf (5:25), Bozak (4:29), Lupul (4:09), Kessel (4:07), Lebda (3:31)
Trending: Great to see Phil Kessel (1G, 1A, +1, 4 SOG) on a tear of late and he came into tonight just three points shy of 50 points for the season. Nikolai Kulemin (1G, 2:48 PP, 2 SOG) has goals in B2B games and of course his linemates Mikhail Grabovski (1G, 1A, +1, 2:39 PP, 4 SOG) and Clarke MacArthur (1A, 2:40 PP, no SOG), who have helped form a deadly trio for the Leafs, were in on the action. Grabovksi converted the OT GWG made possible thanks to an end-to-end rush from Dion Phaneuf (+1, 2 PIM, 2 SOG), where he didn’t even get a point on the play. It’s night and day how much his game has improved of late.
CALGARY FLAMES 4 @ CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS 6
Goaltending match-up: Miikka Kiprusoff (15/19, .789 SV%) & Henrik Karlsson (9/10, .900 SV%) vs. Corey Crawford (21/25, .840 SV%)
Combos: Alex Tanguay - Brendan Morrison - Jarome Iginla/ Tim Jackman - Matt Stajan - Rene Bourque/ Curtis Glencross - Olli Jokinen - David Moss/ Niklas Hagman - Mikael Backlund - Tom Kostopoulos/ Robyn Regehr - Jay Bouwmeester/ Mark Giordano - Cory Sarich/ Steve Staios - Anton Babchuk
Scratches: Carson, Modin, Mikkelson
Top PP times: Iginla (3:55), Tanguay (3:27), Morrison (3:00), Giordano (2:20), Bouwmeester (2:12)
Trending: Rene Bourque (2G, -1, 0:44 PP, 5 SOG) hadn't scored in four games, since his last two-goal outing. Make that B2B three-pointers for Jarome Iginla (1G, 2A, 3 SOG). Alex Tanguay (1G, 1A, 1 SOG) pushed his point streak to six games and he's been piling up points for his poolies. Mark Giordano (1A, -2, 5 PIM, no SOG) has points in two straight with 30 overall. He only had three points all of last month.
Combos: Patrick Sharp - Jonathan Toews - Patrick Kane/ Bryan Bickell - Dave Bolland - Marian Hossa/ Troy Brouwer - Jake Dowell - Michael Frolik/ Viktor Stalberg - Ryan Johnson - Tomas Kopecky/ Duncan Keith - Nick Leddy/ Niklas Hjalmarsson - Brent Seabrook/ Chris Campoli - Brian Campbell
Scratches: Hendry, Pisani, Scott
Top PP times: Kane (3:51), Campbell (3:46), Sharp (3:39), Saebrook (3:33), Keith (3:20), Toews (3:20)
Trending: Not to go all Chandler Bing on you, but could Jonathan Toews (2G, +1, 2 PIM, 2 SOG) BE any hotter right now? Scorching. Michael Frolik (1G, 2A, +3, 0:25 PP, 1 SOG) hadn't scored a single point in nine tries with the Hawks since the trade before this effort. Marian Hossa (1G, 1A, 3:10 PP, 4 SOG) has goals in five straight games. Duncan Keith (1A, +1, 3 SOG) has 35 points on the season with points in six of nine. Brent Seabrook (1A, +1, 1 SOG) is also at 35 now. Patrick Sharp (1A, 3 SOG) is only one shy of 60 at this point and has 10 in his past seven.
DETROIT RED WINGS 1 @ ANAHEIM DUCKS 2 (OT)
Goaltending match-up: Jimmy Howard (26/28, .929 SV%) vs. Dan Ellis (28/29, .966 SV%)
Combos: Johan Franzen - Henrik Zetterberg - Todd Bertuzzi/ Jiri Hudler - Pavel Datsyuk - Danny Cleary/ Valtteri Filppula - Mike Modano - Tomas Holmstrom/ Justin Abdelkader - Darren Helm - Drew Miller/ Nicklas Lidstrom - Brad Stuart/ Jonathan Ericsson - Niklas Kronwall/ Jakub Kindl - Ruslan Salei
Scratches: Eaves, Rafalski, Draper
Top PP times: Kronwall (10:15), Lidstrom (9:49), Datsyuk (7:23), Holmstrom (7:14), Zetterberg (7:08)
Trending: Pavel Datsyuk (1G, 2 SOG) opened the scoring here and has goals in three straight. He has been a point-per-game against the Ducks over 33 games now. Nicklas Lidstrom (1A, no SOG) on his own actually had 51 points in 66 GP vs. ANH before tonight, while Tomas Holmstrom (1A, 1 SOG) has points in three of five overall. He had five points in February.
Combos: Bobby Ryan - Ryan Getzlaf - Corey Perry/ Jason Blake - Brandon McMillan - Teemu Selanne/ Jarkko Ruutu - Todd Marchant - Dan Sexton/ Brad Winchester - Kyle Chipchura/ Lubomir Visnovsky - Toni Lydman/ Francois Beauchemin - Cam Fowler/ Luca Sbisa - Andreas Lilja/ Sheldon Brookbank
Scratches: Parros, Sutton
Top PP times: Fowler (4:53), Visnovsky (3:57), Perry (3:39), Getzlaf (3:38), Selanne (3:12)
Trending: Bobby Ryan (1G, +1, 2:20 PP, 4 SOG) won the game on a penalty shot in a terrific finish to this game. Detroit had been on B2B power plays late in this one and into OT. No matter how you slice the splits for Teemu Selanne (1A, +1, 2 SOG), he's a monstrous force of goodness for poolies. Plus, he's still just flat-out fun to watch out there. Lubomir Visnovsky (1A, +1, 2 SOG) had a slow February with only three points. Jason Blake (1G, +1, 0:29 PP, 2 SOG) had seven points in nine outings before this start.
