St.Louis Blues vs Anaheim Ducks March 10, 2013

Tweet

The San Jose Sharks look to rebound from their defeat on Saturday when they travel to Colorado to take on the Avalanche. It wasn't easy for the Sharks against the St. Louis Blues on Saturday afternoon and in the end they just didn't have enough to pull out the win. Logan Couture's ninth goal of the season tied the game at 1-1 in the opening period and the Sharks then seemingly took control in the second. Scott Gomez added his second goal of the year and Matt Irwin added a power play goal as San Jose led 3-1 going into the final 20 minutes. They watched the Blues tie it during a stretch of a little over a minute and ultimately take the game to overtime. In the extra frame the Blues snuck another one past Antti Niemi as St. Louis handed the Sharks a 4-3 defeat. Niemi was pulled after allowing St. Louis to tie the game and he watched Alex Stalock come in and stop his first six shots before surrendering the game winner in overtime. They'll look to get back on track in this one as they'll travel to Colorado to take on an Avalanche club that they've already defeated twice this season. Colorado comes into this one after Friday night's impressive performance that saw them hand the Chicago Blackhawks their first regulation loss of the season. Matt Duchene had a goal and three assists, P.A. Parenteau added a goal and two assists, and the Avalanche used a four goal second period to rout the Blackhawks by a final of 6-2. Semyon Varlamov was strong in goal again for Colorado and he made 31 saves to pick up his seventh win of the season. The home team is 17-5 the last 22 meetings in this series. San Jose is 20-7 the last 27 overall. The Over is 4-1 the last five meetings.

St Louis Blues vs Anaheim Ducks March 10, 2013

Tweet

Jonas Hiller hasn't played a whole bunch this season, but when he has played, he has played very well. He's won four of his last five, his last start was a shutout, and has a 7-2-2 record. It's interesting that his record is so good, because his stats have seen better days. He has a 2.93 GAA and a .896 save percentage. His team's overcome the occasional clunker of a game from their goaltender, which is why they're leading the Pacific and the Blues are just trying to keep pace in the playoff hunt.

A clunker of a game from whatever goaltender is in the Blues' net usually starts a trickle-down effect of a defensive breakdown followed by a lack of scoring. The last game the Blues played against the Ducks broke that trend, at least as far as the offense goes. They lit up newcomer Viktor Fasth for five goals, but still managed to lose 6-5 in the shootout because the defense was unobservant and Brian Elliott couldn't stop a Mack truck if he wanted to.

Jaroslav Halak is back in net tonight, and despite a clunker in Los Angeles against the Kings, he gives the Blues a chance to win every night. The Blues just need to continue focusing their offense and they can break the Ducks' winning streak at home.

Also helpful would be some tightening at defense, but one thing at a time, people.

Ottawa Senators vs New York Rangers March 8 2013

Tweet

Ottawa Senators vs New York Rangers Ottawa Senators vs New York Rangers will play at home after winning this fight. This Friday evening match, the first match played between Senators vs Rangers.

7:00 am Match starts at.


Rangers center Brad Richards is back in the New York lineup Friday night against the Ottawa Senators after missing two games following a hard hit into the boards five days earlier.

Richards, who sat out a pair of Rangers wins, skated on his own Friday as his teammates had the morning off, and felt well enough to return. No specific injury was announced, but New York coach John Tortorella had said that Richards was "banged up."

Richards was shoved from behind into the boards by Buffalo's Patrick Kaleta on Sunday in the third period of New York's 3-2 victory, but returned to the ice that night. Neck and back soreness are believed to be what kept him out since then.
Kaleta was ejected from the game and then received a five-game suspension from the NHL.