NHL Hockey News

“Life is so fragile, and you don't own it”

Florida Panthers forward Richard Zednik has left the hospital and returned to Florida less than a week after he was slashed in the throat by a teammate's skate.

Zednik went home Friday after being released Thursday evening, officials at Buffalo General Hospital said. Zednik lost five pints of blood after he was accidentally sliced by the skate of teammate Olli Jokinen in a game against the Sabres.

The 32-year-old forward said he barely felt the skate slice into his carotid artery, but with blood gushing from his neck he knew he was in trouble. 'I was like, Whoa. I knew I had to get to the bench.' Read more

Martin St. Louis had a goal and two assists to lead the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 5-3 win over Philadelphia on Thursday night, the Flyers' fifth straight loss.

Steve Downie, Joffrey Lupul and Jeff Carter each scored for the Flyers, who are on their longest losing streak since a six-game skid in late December.

Vaclav Prospal scored his 26th goal and Dan Boyle, Jan Hlavac and Jason Ward also scored for the Lightning, who had to look good to their new management.

The Lightning, owned by Michigan-based Palace Sports & Entertainment since 1999, announced Wednesday that it has been sold to OK Hockey LLC, a group controlled by Los Angeles TV and movie producer Oren Koules. The NHL still has to approve the deal, which is expected to be completed in 3 1/2 months. Read more

Dustin Byfuglien scored two goals and the Chicago Blackhawks rolled to a big early lead to beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 7-2 on Wednesday night.

Robert Lang, Brent Seabrook, James Wisniewski and Martin Havlat each had a goal and an assist and Brent Sopel had two assists for the Blackhawks, who scored on three of their first four shots. Patrick Kane also scored.

Fredrik Modin, activated off the injured list earlier in the day, and Dick Tarnstrom had the goals for Columbus, which has lost seven of eight. Read more

Andrew Ladd scored twice in the first 6:33, and the Carolina Hurricanes held on after Shawn Thornton had two goals in a 27-second span late in the third period to beat the Boston Bruins 3-2 on Tuesday night.

Former Bruins first-round draft choice Sergei Samsonov had a goal and an assist to help the Hurricanes open a 3-0 lead with 1:31 left in the second.

Cam Ward protected the shutout until Thornton's shot from the right side went off the top of his glove and into the net with 5:10 left in the game. Read more

Evgeni Malkin scored a goal and set up three others, giving him seven points in two days, and the Pittsburgh Penguins finally figured out how to beat cross-state Philadelphia in a 4-3 victory Sunday.

The Flyers, swept in eight games by Pittsburgh last season, never trailed them in their four previous victories against Pittsburgh this season with Martin Biron in goal only to fall behind 3-1 in the second period as Malkin played a role in every goal.

Malkin assisted on goals by Petr Sykora, Sergei Gonchar and Kristopher Letang and scored himself to extend a scoring surge that began when star Sidney Crosby injured his right ankle Jan. 18. Read more

Darcy Tucker scored two goals and the Toronto Maple Leafs rebounded from their worst loss of the season with a 4-2 victory over the rival Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night.

Clarke prefers dynasties over cap The dynasty that beat his team twice in the Stanley Cup final in the 1980s or the now-you-see-them, now-you-don't Cup finalists of today's NHL? Former Philadelphia Flyers ...

“I was seeing the puck well and the guys were letting me see it”

First came a hockey team named the Hurricanes. Then the Nashville Predators had to deal with some very real tornadoes as violent weather hit central Tennessee.

A tornado warning was issued late in the third period of Nashville's 1-0 victory over Carolina on Tuesday night, forcing the 13,949 fans in the Sommet Center to stay inside the arena after the game.

'One of the referees came over with nine minutes to go and said we might have to evacuate because of the weather,' Predators coach Barry Trotz said. 'At that time, it was still 0-0 and some of the guys on the bench thought maybe each team would be given a point and we would go right to the shootout.' Read more

“We played better at the end of the second”

In the closing minute of the second period, Jamie Langenbrunner finally gave the sluggish New Jersey Devils a long-awaited jolt.

His goal cut the Devils' deficit in half with a period to go. The New Jersey captain felt that the tide was turning, but his coach still wasn't happy.

And rightfully so. There was still some angst to come before a stirring rally lifted the Devils to an important 4-3 overtime victory against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Monday night.

'I didn't like the way we were playing in the second period, at all,' said Devils coach Brent Sutter, who delivered a pointed message to his team before the third. 'They responded the way you would like a team to respond and expect a team to respond.' Read more

Chris Drury had the go-ahead goal midway through the third period, and the New York Rangers scored five unanswered goals in a 5-3 win over the Montreal Canadiens on Sunday.

Drury redirected Nigel Dawes' shot past Montreal goalie Cristobal Huet at the right edge of the crease as New York overcame a 3-0 deficit early in the second period to extend its winning streak to three.

Martin Straka capped the five-goal rally at 18:30 of the third with the Rangers' second goal of the period.

After Montreal rookie Sergei Kostitsyn beat Henrik Lundqvist on a penalty shot 5:40 into the second to put the Canadiens up by three, New York scored three times to close out the period. Michal Rozsival and Brandon Dubinsky scored 24 seconds apart to draw the Rangers to 3-2. Scott Gomez scored at 15:40 to tie it at 3. Read more

NASHVILLE - Alexander Radulov scored at 4:10 of overtime to give the Nashville Predators a 3-2 victory over the Phoenix Coyotes on Saturday night. via The Leaf-Chronicle

“After that first period you would have thought that it would be a struggle for us to get points but we found a way”

The New York Rangers beat the New Jersey Devils again, and the Dallas Stars extended their winning streak in Edmonton.

Chris Drury scored two goals and Henrik Lundqvist made 33 saves as the Rangers beat the Devils for the fifth straight time, 3-1 on Friday night.

The Rangers have won all five meetings this season between the metropolitan-area rivals and Lundqvist has been in net for all five wins, allowing only five goals.

'We have three more games against these guys and they have been good games,' said Lundqvist, who has shut out the Devils twice. 'They are a good team but, so far this year, we have really played our best every time we play them.' Read more

Roberto Luongo will return to his former home tonight, as the star goaltender leads the Vancouver Canucks into BankAtlantic Center to battle the Florida Panthers. via TSN.ca

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- J.P. Dumont extended the longest current points streak in the NHL to 16 games with two assists and the Nashville Predators beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-2 on Thursday night. via The Advocate

Steve Valiquette made 20 saves in his first career shutout to help the Rangers beat the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday night, New York's first road win in more than a month.

Nigel Dawes, Petr Prucha, Chris Drury and Brendan Shanahan scored for the Rangers, squashing the momentum of a Flyers team that was on a 12-2-1 streak.

Valiquette was hardly tested after the first period but still blanked a Flyers team that hadn't scored fewer than three goals in a game since Jan. 4. He picked up only his third win of the season and first shutout in 21 career games. Read more

“Jordin is a physical player that can not only get under opponents' skin and draw penalties, but has proven he can score at this level as well”

NASHVILLE, Tenn. : The Nashville Predators signed forward Jordin Tootoo, the first Inuit to play in the NHL, to a two-year contract extension. via International Herald Tribune

Marek Svatos scored twice and the scoring-challenged Colorado Avalanche broke through against Nikolai Khabibulin for a 6-3 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday night. via CANOE