Nightly Scrap: Flyers dominate Canes, Cam Ward
After winning their last game 7-1, the Carolina Hurricanes got a taste of their own medicine, losing to the Philadelphia Flyers 8-1. Cam Ward let in more than three goals for the third time this season as the Canes remain one of the streakiest teams in the League.
For the Flyers, this win marked a new beginning. After losing their last game and effectively breaking a six game winning streak, the team needed to get back on the right foot. Jeff Carter led the team with three goals while Daniel Briere added two markers and an assist. Claude Giroux also had two assists as the team showed some balanced scoring and Sergei Bobrovsky won his ninth game of the season.
This game was not the only game to be won by a higher margin.
The Washington Capitals handed a loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning, who are now missing three top-six forwards. With his 10th win of the season, Michal Neuvirth maintains the League lead in wins while Alexander Semin added five points. In fact, that entire line lit starting goalie Dan Ellis up as Alex Ovechkin put up three points and Nicklas Backstrom added four assists.
On the other side Steven Stamkos still found a way to score a goal and assist on another and linemate Martin St. Louis added two assists of his own.
In Ottawa, the experiment to start Pascal Leclaire failed miserably. When Tanner Glass puts up two points against you, there is likely a problem. The rusty Leclaire let in six goals as four different players– Ryan Kesler, Alex Burrows, Daniel Sedin and Glass– all put up multi-point games. Clearly the Sens will be eager to put Brian Elliott back between the pipes should his “minor injury” allow him back in.
Similarly, one has to wonder why Nikolai Khabibulin has started 13 of the rebuilding Edmonton Oilers’ 14 games. Last night was no exception as he allowed six goals and let in over four for the second consecutive game. The streaking Dan Cleary continues his tear with two goals and now has points in six straight games, totaling five goals and four assists over that span. Tomas Holmstrom also added two goals of his own while Todd Bertuzzi and Henrik Zetterberg finished the night with two assists.
The Minnesota Wild came in to last night’s game with a modest three game winning streak and a rare four days of rest. Apparently that made the team rusty as Niklas Backstrom and the team fell to the Atlanta Thrashers 5-1. Tobias Enstrom, Dustin Byfuglien, Andrew Ladd and Fredrik Modin all put up multi-point efforts while Ondrej Pavelec won his first start of the season.
In other games around the League, Montreal handed Tuukka Rask and the Bruins their third loss in four games… Martin Biron and the New York Rangers defeated a tired Buffalo Sabres team that is still missing Ryan Miller… The Preds snapped a five game losing streak by defeating the suddenly beatable St. Louis Blues… The Los Angeles Kings beat the Dallas Stars 3-1 and the New York Islanders lost to the San Jose Sharks 2-1.
That just about wraps up a packed night of hockey. Be sure to check us all day as we bring you the most relevant fantasy hockey news possible. You can follow us on twitter @dailyfaceoff as we continue to bring you information on starting goalies, team lineups and major injury updates as well as provide in-depth injury updates and player rankings in the future.