Hurricanes 4 – Penguins 2

The Canes came into this game with a question. How do you stop one of the NHL’s top offenses without three of your top defensemen.

The answer they came up with was a fairly simple one. The best defense is to turn it up on offense and thats exactly what they did in this one to top the Pens 4-2. Ray Whitney stepped up big for the Canes in this one. Whitney had a goal and two assists. This production helped the quick-shooting and gunslinging Canes score three power-play goals in this one.

Erik Cole and Eric Staal also had goals in this one. That snapped long scoring droughts for them. Ryan Bayda added his first goal for the depleted Hurricanes as well. This teamwork helped make up for the loss of captain and leading scorer Rod Brind’Amour. Brind’Amour left in the game’s opening moments with a torn ligament in his left knee. That sounds painful.

Coyotes 5 – Stars 2

Radim Vrbata is going to have to be the catalyst for the Coyotes if they are going to do anything this year. Right now he is leading the team in scoring and second in points and just as they showed last night, he will need to come up big if they want to make the playoffs.

Vrbata scored a short-handed goal and dished out two assists in last nights game against the Stars. He helped the Coyotes snap their four-game losing streak with a 5-2 victory over the Dallas Stars. Vrbata’s goal was the 25th of the season and his 100th of his career.

The win over the Stars also snapped their seven game winning streak and brought them back down to earth. The Stars had been one of the NHL’s hottest teams lately and if they had won it would’ve been a franchise record for consecutive wins. Oh well, better luck next time.

Around the league

• Martin St. Louis had a goal and two assists to lead the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 5-3 win over Philadelphia, the Flyers’ fifth straight loss.
• Ruslan Fedotenko scored two of the Islanders’ four power-play goals and New York beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-4 for its second straight victory.
• Jonathan Toews scored a pair of goals and assisted on another and the Chicago Blackhawks beat the Nashville Predators 6-1.
• Ryan Johnson scored St. Louis’ second short-handed goal of the season and Manny Legace stopped 39 shots, lifting the Blues to a 4-1 win over the Colorado Avalanche.
• Mikko Koivu scored the winning goal in a shootout and the Minnesota Wild recovered from a pair of rare blown leads in the third period to beat the Vancouver Canucks 5-4.
• Alex Hemsky, Kyle Brodziak and Fernando Pisani each scored a goal and the Edmonton Oilers defeated the San Jose Sharks 3-2.