Stop us if you’ve heard this one before. The San Jose Sharks have won seven games in a row and look poised to be strong contenders for the playoffs. We all said that at the end of January when San Jose was 7-0-0 to open the season.
With their 2-1 win over woeful Calgary, the Sharks again have a seven-game winning streak. Joe Pavelski got the game winner in the final two minutes of regulation for the Sharks while Dan Boyle had the other San Jose goal. Mikael Backlund lit the lamp for Calgary and Miikka Kiprusoff made 39 saves in the losing effort.
SPIN: Calgary has now lost 11 in a row on the road and should be avoided as they play out the string in the season’s final three weeks. The Sharks will not extend their win streak any farther than their next game which is also at home against Dallas. That game will wrap up six in a row at home coming off a road game at Anaheim. With longer trips to Columbus, Detroit, Dallas and Phoenix coming up look for the Sharks to go 2-2 at best on that trip. Remember that San Jose is a wimpy 6-10-2 outside of the Shark Tank this season.
Buffalo doubled up Ottawa 4-2 behind a 35-save night from Ryan Miller.
SPIN: The Sabres have won two in a row and sit just four points out of the last playoff spot despite missing Thomas Vanek for the fifth game in a row with an upper-body injury. Vanek is still day-to-day. The goals came from players that aren’t fantasy relevant. Cory Conacher made his debut with the Senators and is on an all-rookie line with Jakob Silfverberg and Mika Zibanejad for Ottawa.
Pittsburgh slipped past the Islanders 2-1 in the shootout. Jussi Jokinen scored for Pittsburgh while Rick Nash had the lone Ranger goal in 65 minutes of action.With the point, the Islanders slipped into the 7th spot in the East.
SPIN: Marc-Andre Fleury made 34 saves in a nice rebound game after the Rangers trashed him two nights ago and restored confidence in being a top netminder for the fantasy playoffs or the stretch run of a total season points (TSP) league.
St. Louis knocked off Columbus 3-1. David Backes scored for the first time in 15 games and Jake Allen made 26 saves in the win.
SPIN: Marian Gaborik is fitting in nicely with Columbus. He had an assist on the lone Columbus goal and has three points in his first two games since being traded to the Blue Jackets. Chris Stewart scored for the Blues and he has been on a tear with nine goals and 16 points in his last 15 games. The Blues are 15-2-1 when Stewart has a point this season and tonight was no exception.
Pavel Datsyuk scored twice including the game-winner in overtime to lift Detroit to a 3-2 win over Colorado.
SPIN: If the name on the back of the jersey isn’t Datsyuk, Zetterberg or Howard it’s safe to leave the rest of the Red Wings on the brown pine known as the bench. PA Parenteau scored his 15th of the season in the loss and is one of the few bright spots for Colorado this season.
Dallas scored a surprising 3-1 win over Anaheim. Kari Lehtonen made 27 saves in the win and Eric Nystrom’s shorthanded goal was the eventual game-winner.
SPIN: Andrew Cogliano had the lone goal for Anaheim who is 4-5-1 in its last 10 games. The Ducks’ power play just isn’t clicking with six goals scored in 44 chances since the first of March and that could be a key reason why they are spending more time in the loss column. Keep in mind they went 2-of-7 in their last three games (all against Dallas) so it was a 3-for-37 March that drove the Ducks to madness on the power play.
Multiple Goal Scorers
Datsyuk-DET
Stat of the Night-Buffalo’s Best Blocker
Ryan Miller passed Dominik Hasek in the Sabres’ win for the all-time lead in saves for a Buffalo goaltender. Miller now has 13,332 saves for the Sabres, passing Hasek’s total of 13,308.
Three Stars of the Night
1 Datsyuk
2 Miller
3 Kiprusoff
Saturday’s Games (all times ET)
Winnipeg at Philadelphia 3pm
Chicago at Nashville 3pm
Edmonton at Los Angeles 4pm
Boston at Montreal 7pm
Toronto at New Jersey 7pm
Tampa Bay at NY Islanders 7pm
NY Rangers at Carolina 7pm
Washington at Florida 730pm
Colorado at Phoenix 9pm
Calgary at Vancouver 10pm
(Editor’s note: We do apologize about the missing recaps of Thursday’s action. Our ever-reliable laptop had some issues with its power cord and wouldn’t stay plugged in. Thankfully we have it fixed and we appreciate you coming to our site.)
