Zach Parise scored twice and added an assist as the Minnesota Wild scored a season-best seven goals as they defeated Dallas 7-4. Mikko Koivu, Pierre-Marc Bouchard and Kyle Brodziak each had a goal and an assist in the win.
SPIN: Lost in all the offense is that Minnesota goaltender Niklas Backstrom is 14-3-1 in his last 18 starts. Jaromir Jagr scored for Dallas while Alex Goligoski had a goal and an assist in the losing effort. Kari Lehtonen had a rough night in goal for Dallas but he’s still going to get the bulk of the starts down the stretch so his value is still there. Eight different players had two points for Minnesota in this one as the Wild has picked up a sixth straight win.
Detroit knocked off Phoenix 3-2 as Pavel Datsyuk had the game-winning goal on a third-period power-play.
SPIN: The high of the wins over Anaheim hasn’t ended yet and the Coyotes found that out the hard way. Jason LaBarbera got the start in goal for Phoenix while Chad Johnson was the backup. Mike Smith is out with an upper-body injury after getting charged by Alex Edler of Vancouver. Phoenix needs to find a way to stop the bleeding quickly as they are 0-5-1- in their last six games and have been stuck on 30 points far too long. Johan Franzen scored again for Detroit and should be in your lineup to take advantage of his recent strong play.
Boston bumped off Toronto 3-2 in the shootout. Joffrey Lupul scored again for Toronto and now has four goals since his return from injury.
SPIN: Milan Lucic scored for the first time in 14 games for Boston so it’s nice to see him finally get back on the board. The game was everything we’d expect out of the Northeast Division as they beat up on each other and jockey for position over the final month of the season.
Ottawa knocked off New Jersey 3-2 in a shootout. Ben Bishop made 32 saves for the Senators.
SPIN: New Jersey outshot Ottawa 34-14 in this one but Bishop was able to keep the Devils at bay long enough to force overtime and take the two points. Martin Brodeur made the start for New Jersey but didn’t see much action. I’m still waiting to see him take 30 or more shots in a game before I’d pronounce him fully back.
Nashville knocked off Edmonton, yeah, you guessed it, 3-2; it was the fourth 3-2 game of the night. Kevin Klein and Chris Mueller each scored second-period goals to put the Predators up 3-1.
SPIN: Taylor Hall had another goal for Edmonton but the Oilers couldn’t get much done offensively, again. Edmonton is 3-6-3 in its last 12 games and has fallen off the pace in the playoff chase. Nashville is still in the bottom quarter of the league so there isn’t much out there that can be recommended for skaters.
San Jose dealt Anaheim a third regulation loss in a row as the Sharks won 5-3. Brent Burns had a goal and an assist for the Sharks while Corey Perry had the same for the Ducks.
SPIN: It’s not a big concern that Anaheim dropped three in a row after having such an impressive start. Chicago did the same thing after its record-setting start but they leveled off and are still one of the teams to beat. The big question for Anaheim is between the pipes as Viktor Fasth allowed 4 goals on 38 shots in this game. Fasth also gave up the five-spot to Detroit and three the last time he faced the Sharks. It makes you wonder if this is just a slump or if that upper-body injury is causing more problems.
Los Angeles escaped Chicago with a 5-4 win in a back-and-forth affair. Duncan Keith had three assists for Chicago while Michael Frolik scored twice in the loss.
SPIN: Five different Kings scored in this one and the game wasn’t decided until Dustin Brown scored his 12th of the season with 1:27 left in regulation. Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews each scored for Chicago so they continue to get solid production all over the roster.
Multiple Goal Scorers
Parise-MIN, Frolik-CHI
Stat of the Night
Minnesota has scored 43 goals in its last 12 games. They scored the same number in their first 19 games.
Three Stars of the Night
1 Bishop
2 Parise
3 Lupul
Tuesday’s Games (all times ET)
Florida at Toronto 7pm Leafs look to right the ship against lowly Florida.
Montreal at Pittsburgh 7pm Easily the game of the night.
NY Islanders at Washington 7pm Winner of this one will be a .500 team. Caps go for their fourth in a row.
Winnipeg at Carolina 7pm These two teams meet twice this week with the Southeast Divison up for grabs.
NY Rangers at Philadelphia 730pm The Flyers are one of three Eastern teams with fewer than 30 points.
Buffalo at Tampa Bay 730pm Mediocre teams collide.
Edmonton at St. Louis 8pm The time for the Blues to make a run is now.
Calgary at Chicago 830pm Hawks look to run the Flames to a 10-game road winless streak.
Columbus at Vancouver 10pm Will the Blue Jackets get it done on the road?
