2/25/12 – Studs & Duds

[Michael Amato]

Bizarre Stat of the Night
After winning 23 straight at Joe Louis Arena, Detroit has now lost two straight at home after losing to the Avalanche on Saturday.

STUDS

Just give him the Hart Trophy and be done with it
I think I should write a standard Evgeni Malkin Stud paragraph and just reuse it every Saturday to save time. Malkin had three goals and an assist in the Penguins 8-1 pounding of the Lightning. Not only did he put up four points, but he probably had the goal of the year as well. He also had a little help from his friends as Jordan Staal and Steve Sullivan chipped in with three points each.

Please don’t trade me!
Dustin Brown must really like the beach. After his name has been the subject of trade speculation he notched a hat trick and added an assist for the normally goal starved Kings. He scored twice on the power play and once shorthanded as Los Angeles gained some ground in the West beating the Blackhawks 4-0. Jarret Stoll also chipped in with three assists.

The Wheel Deal
Blake Wheeler had both Jets goals and scored in the shootout in Winnipeg's loss to the Blues last night. Wheeler also had six shots and looked like he was playing at a different speed then everyone else on the ice. He now has 13 points in his last six games.

Honourable Mention

Patrice Bergeron
The Boston center had three points and nine shots in the Bruins 5-3 victory over the Senators.

Justin Peters
The Carolina backup made 42 saves helping the Hurricanes earn a point.

The Avalanche
Nice effort by the Av's youngsters as Ryan Wilson, Gabriel Landeskog, Steve Downie, and Ryan O’Reilly (not of OZ fame) were all plus-3. Landeskog added two goals, while Downie and O’Reilly each had three points.

Red Wings
Henrik Zetterberg and Jiri Hudler each had three points in a 4-3 loss to Colorado.

Milestones
Ryan Callahan’s overtime winner was his 100th career goal.

DUDS

No Lightning Strike
Dwayne Roloson gave up eight goals and every skater from the Lightning was a minus on the night. Tampa Bay also had six power plays compared to Pittsburgh’s one and still managed to get outscored 8-1. Malkin may have had a thing or two to do with Tampa’s performance as well.

Antti Save
The Sharks couldn't get a save from Niemi against the Predators. Ok well he made four on seven shots. San Jose is going to have to address their goaltending sooner or later and Thomas Greiss is seeing his stock rise by just sitting on the bench. Niemi has just two wins in his last nine games.

What the Hawk is going on in Chicago?
It looks like all the Kings needed to get their scoring going was to shoot on Corey Crawford. He gave up four goals on just ten shots and the Blackhawks net minder hasn't been able to re-capture his excellent form from the playoffs last season. Chicago has lost 11 of its last 15 games.


Dishonourable Mention

Patrick Kaleta
Kaleta was a minus-3 and held pointless in the Sabres loss to the Rangers. The normally pesky Sabre recorded just one hit.

Ilya Bryzgalov
His team-mates bailed him out, but those first two goals he gave up to start the game were awful.

[tgraveline]

I'm getting really worried about Niemi for playoffs. He was fine last year...