STUDS

Home Alone 21: Lost in Detroit

The Detroit Red Wings set an NHL record with their 21st consecutive home victory. The fact that they keep winning without their ace goaltender is simply remarkable. Journeyman Joey MacDonald stopped 20 of 21 in the 3-1 victory over Dallas. Jiri Hudler, Brad Stuart and Henrik Zetterberg scored in the balanced team effort.

Hat Tricks

Jason Spezza and Ilya Kovalchuk each had special nights. Both contributed three goals and an assist, and both of their respective teams scored four goals. By doing basic math, you can see that both contributed on 100% of the scoring for their team.

Shutting the door

There were two shutouts last night. Most impressive was Henrik Lundqvist shutting out Boston 3-0 making 42 saves. The win gives New York a nine-point advantage over the Bruins in the Eastern Conference standings. For Lundqvist, this is shutout #7 and win #27 in 42 appearances.

Also, Craig Anderson achieved a 4-0 shutout win over Tampa Bay. Anderson made 28 saves in the Sens' second win in three games following an ugly slump that had the team in danger of falling out of a playoff position.

Honourable mentions

Best of the rest

Miikka Kiprusoff made 41 saves on 42 shots to beat the Maple Leafs 5-1.
Evgeni Nabokov stopped 37 of 38 in a 3-1 win over Winnipeg.
Steve Mason stopped 31 of 32 to beat St. Louis 3-1.
Martin Brodeur stopped 30 of 31 to beat Buffalo 4-1.

Alex Tanguay had a goal and two assists and finished plus-2.


DUDS

Tim Thomas

Compared to his overall stats (2.20, .929), last night's 17/20 (.850) effort was awful. The loss also widens the gap between the Bruins and the top-seeded Rangers.

Derek Roy

The notorious second-half monster is still waiting to come out of his shell. We're well past the 50-game mark and Roy has two points in his last 12. Last night in particular he was held off the score sheet and finished minus-2.

Ryan Malone

Malone was held off the score sheet and finished minus-2. He also did nothing to help roto leaguers as he did not have any penalties and only dished out one hit.

Dis-honourable mentions

Jonas Gustavsson stopped 29 of 34 (.853) in a 5-1 defeat.

John-Michael Liles finished minus-2 and contributed zeros across the board.