Do You Be-Leaf?

Following a 7-game scoreless drought, Sidney Crosby exploded onto the ice and helped lead the Pittsburgh Penguins to a win against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday March 28th.
The Penguins had lost 3 of their last 4 games, and despite some good effort made by the team, what they needed was a win to hold on to their 4th place rank in the eastern conference.
The Toronto Maple Leafs, on the other hand, have been on a hot streak of late. Though still sitting in last place in the east, the infusion of energy by youngsters like Phil Kessel and Dion Phaneuf, the Leafs have won 4 out of their last 5 games.
The showdown in Toronto was not short of excitement, with no period idle. In the first, Colton Orr delivered a wristshot into the net, less than 5 minutes into play. Tyler Kennedy tallied up the score for the Pens halfway through the period.
Phil Kessel responded early in the second, but Toronto's lead was short lived. Within the span of 5 minutes, Pens captain Sidney Crosby scored back-to-back goals, assisted by Brooks Orpik. The goals couldn't have come at a better time, as Crosby hadn't scored in 7 previous games.
However, Toronto did not give up and pushed on to score another goal late in the second.
The third period saw goals by the Leafs' Tyler Bozak and the Pens' Matt Cooke. By the end of regulation, the scoreboard was sitting at 4-4, and it remained that way through overtime.
Leave it to the Kid to come through during a shootout.
Sid, along with Ruslan Fedotenko, snuck the pucks past J.S. Giguerre, while Marc-Andre Fleury stopped all of Toronto's shootout attempts.
Brooks Orpik, who expressed his frustration after losing two straight games to Washington and Detroit, was able to calm himself after his two assists, and Crosby's 3-goal night pushed him past Alexander Ovechkin for leading scorer in the league.
Crosby now holds 47 goals under his belt, to Ovechkin's 45, making him the current top contender for the Rocket Richard trophy.

Pittsburgh Penguins vs Toronto Maple Leafs, March 28 2010

Whoa, Canada!

All across Canada, hockey fans were glued to their TV screens watching as their teams did battle on the ice. Today, all 5 Canadian teams played, and it was a good day for Canadian hockey indeed.

The only losers of the Canadian NHL clubs were the Edmonton Oilers, who can't seem to get out of their downward spiral. The Oilers, who currently sit very last in the league, faced off against the Ottowa Senators on home ice. Perhaps it was no surprise that the Sens swept the game 4-1, given their outstanding season, and the Oilers' disappointing one.
The solitary goal for Edmonton was scored by Fernando Pisani, his third of the season. Goals scored by the Sens were made by Cullen, Fisher, Michalek and Kelly, respectively.

While the Sens continued their hot streak in a win against the Oilers, the Vancouver Canucks were busy jumping over their northwest rivals the Colorado Avalanche to claim the top spot in the division. It was an exciting game that boasted several goals during each period. Though the first period was owned by the Avs (3 goals, 2 of them by Matt Duchene and the other by Chris Stewart), the second period saw the Canucks answer back with 3 goals of their own. But by the third period the Canucks managed to come back from a 1 goal deficit and bring the final score up to 6-4. Daniel Sedin played a major part in the comeback, scoring the first hat trick of his career.

The Montreal Canadiens took to the ice against the Tampa Bay Lightning and came out victorious, with the final score at 5-3 in favour of the Habs. The first goal was shot in a power play, by Glenn Metropolit, less than 3 minutes into the first period. Scott Gomez followed it up 10 minutes later, giving the Habs a 2-0 lead going into the second. Though the Lightning did their best to tie up the score in the second by scoring twice, those goals did not go unanswered, as Benoit Pouliot and Mathieu Darche made sure the Habs maintained their 2-goal lead.
In the end, despite the Lightning's best efforts, the Canadiens did manage to keep that 2-goal lead and skate off with the win.

Luca Caputi played his first game as a Maple Leaf tonight against the Boston Bruins, and it was a good one. Caputi scored one of the goals that put the Leafs ahead, and led them to a 4-3 victory over the Bruins. Primeau and Gunnarsson also contributed to the regulation time goals but it was Nikolai Kulemin who scored the winning goal in overtime.
A little over 19, 000 fans packed the stadium to watch their team win, and it was a much-needed win for the Leafs, who have lost 3 of their last 5 games.
Maybe homegrown Caputi, who is from Maple, Ontario, could be the good luck charm for the struggling team?

And it was a great day for Calgary Flames fans, who anticipated the big game against the Red Wings in Detroit today. The Red Wings sat in 8th in the western conference, just ahead of the Flames, denying them that spot into the playoffs. But the Flames and their fans waxed optimistic, given the Flames' stellar performance in their past 2 games.
The entire first period went by with neither team making it onto the scoreboard, but shortly into the second the Flames gained the lead courtesy of Daymond Langkow. As the period progressed however, the Red Wings rallied not only to tie the Flames, but take the lead, with Holmstrom and Datsyuk each claiming a goal. Coming into the third, Jarome Iginla stepped up and reminded the NHL once again why he remains one of Canada's current hockey heroes with a powerful backhand. Iginla followed that up with an assist for Rene Bourque, and in the last 2 minutes of the game, Christopher Higgins earned his name as a new Flame in the recent trade, by delivering a slapshot and taking the final score to 4-2, Calgary.

It was the third straight win for the Calgary Flames, who, prior to the Olympic break, were sliding down a slope of back-to-back losses. The Flames had not had a 3-game winning streak since early December of last year.

The Vancouver Canucks lead their Canadian counterparts in league standings, sitting pretty at #4, while the Calgary Flames have moved up one spot to cinch 13th. They are followed closely by the Montreal Canadiens, who are at #16, while the Toronto Maple leafs (#29) and the Edmonton Oilers (#30) are expected to watch the playoffs from a distance, holding the last 2 places in the NHL.

Flames vs Red Wings, March 9th 2010