Saturday Night Hockey

Yesterday, 4 out of 6 Canadian teams played as part of Hockey Night In Canada.

In the 1st, game, the Toronto Maple Leafs faced the Buffalo Sabres.

The Leafs had an extra boost going into this game as Darcy Tucker was coming back from an injury that kept him out of the lineup for a couple of months. After a scoreless 1st, the Sabres came out flying in the 2nd. Buffalo scored 2 in that period courtesy of Toni Lydman and Drew Stafford. In the 3rd, the Leafs were pressing for the tie, but the Sabres put the nail in the coffin with just over 3 minutes left in the game with a goal by Nathan Paetsch. The Leafs added 1 near the end, but the Sabres took this one 3-1. The Sabres are now 1st in the league in points and the Leafs are 10th in the Eastern Conference 2 points behind 8th place Carolina and the Leafs have a game at hand.

In an original 6 match up, the Boston Bruins faced the Montreal Canadiens.

After a scoreless 1st period, the Bruins came out strong scoring 03:30 into the period courtesy of Petr Tenkrat. Then, with the period close to it's end, the Brandon Bochenski scored for the Bruins to give Boston a 2-0 lead going into the 3rd. It the 3rd, it looked like the Habs were going to come back as Sheldon Souray scored just 03:02 into the 3rd. But then, all hopes of a comeback were squandered as Glen Murray scored his 28 to seal the game with just 4 minutes left. The Bruins are now in 12th place in the conference and 6 points behind 8th Carolina and the Habs are 9th in the conference and 1 point away from Carolina.

In the last Canadian game of the day, the Edmonton Oilers faced the Calgary Flames.

The Oilers are now playing the role of spoiler as their playoff hopes are all but gone by now. The game started with David Moss of the Flames scoring 07:07 into the game. After the teams exchanged goals, the 2nd period started with the Flames up 2-1. In the 2nd, the Oilers got the only goal of the period from Fernando Pisani. But then, early in the 3rd, the Flames ran away with it with goals coming at 01:56 and 04:29. The Flames are now 6th in the Western Conference and tied with division leader Vancouver and the Oilers are in 11th place and a full 12 points away from a playoff birth.

Here are the rest of the scores and standings.

FINAL SO		1	2	3	OT	SO	T
	St Louis	2	0	0	0	0 (2-4)	2
	NY Rangers	0	0	2	0	1 (3-4)	3

FINAL		1	2	3	T
	Nashville	1	1	4	6
	Los Angeles	0	2	1	3

FINAL		1	2	3	T
	NY Islanders	2	2	2	6
	Washington	0	0	2	2

FINAL		1	2	3	T
	Tampa Bay	0	1	1	2
	Florida	2	2	2	6

FINAL		1	2	3	T
	Columbus	1	1	2	4
	Phoenix	1	1	1	3

Eastern Conference
RK		GP	W	L		OT	PTS	GF	GA	HOME	AWAY	L10
1	BUFFALO*	65	44	16		5	93	251	189	23-7-3	21-9-2	8-1-1
2	NEW JERSEY*	65	40	18		7	87	174	153	22-7-5	18-11-2	6-3-1
3	TAMPA BAY*	67	37	26		4	78	214	208	18-14-1	19-12-3	6-2-2
4	OTTAWA	65	38	23		4	80	223	177	21-11-2	17-12-2	8-1-1
5	PITTSBURGH	64	34	21		9	77	217	200	18-9-4	16-12-5	6-4-0
6	ATLANTA	66	33	23		10	76	200	208	15-10-6	18-13-4	4-5-1
7	NY ISLANDERS	65	33	23		9	75	197	184	18-10-5	15-13-4	7-1-2
8	CAROLINA	67	33	27		7	73	198	206	17-13-4	16-14-3	5-5-0
9	MONTREAL	68	33	29		6	72	197	211	19-12-3	14-17-3	4-6-0
10	TORONTO	66	31	26		9	71	208	217	12-15-5	19-11-4	4-4-2
11	NY RANGERS	65	31	27		7	69	190	184	14-14-5	17-13-2	5-3-2
12	BOSTON	64	31	28		5	67	186	229	17-13-3	14-15-2	6-3-1
13	FLORIDA	66	27	26		13	67	194	210	19-10-4	8-16-9	7-1-2
14	WASHINGTON	66	24	30		12	60	199	236	14-14-7	10-16-5	1-5-4
15	PHILADELPHIA	64	17	37		10	44	170	244	5-18-7	12-19-3	4-4-2
Western Conference
RK		GP	W	L		OT	PTS	GF	GA	HOME	AWAY	L10
1	NASHVILLE*	66	44	18		4	92	229	170	23-5-4	21-13-0	6-3-1
2	ANAHEIM*	66	38	17		11	87	210	172	20-5-7	18-12-4	5-2-3
3	VANCOUVER*	64	37	22		5	79	169	162	20-9-2	17-13-3	7-2-1
4	DETROIT	65	41	16		8	90	205	158	23-3-4	18-13-4	6-2-2
5	DALLAS	64	38	21		5	81	170	152	21-9-2	17-12-3	6-1-3
6	CALGARY	65	35	21		9	79	211	174	27-6-1	8-15-8	6-3-1
7	SAN JOSE	65	38	25		2	78	193	169	18-12-2	20-13-0	3-6-1
8	MINNESOTA	65	36	23		6	78	187	163	22-5-4	14-18-2	7-1-2
9	COLORADO	65	31	29		5	67	214	208	18-14-3	13-15-2	5-4-1
10	ST LOUIS	65	28	27		10	66	169	196	16-15-3	12-12-7	6-2-2
11	EDMONTON	66	30	30		6	66	174	194	18-14-2	12-16-4	2-6-2
12	COLUMBUS	66	26	33		7	59	165	205	14-15-4	12-18-3	4-4-2
13	PHOENIX	65	27	35		3	57	174	222	14-14-2	13-21-1	2-7-1
14	CHICAGO	65	23	33		9	55	158	202	12-16-4	11-17-5	2-6-2
15	LOS ANGELES	65	22	33		10	54	185	228	13-14-8	9-19-2	4-3-3

x - clinched playoff spot	y - clinched division	z - clinched conference
p - clinched Presidents' Trophy (best record in NHL)

GP - Games Played	W - Wins
L - Losses	OT - OT/Shootout losses (worth one point)
PTS - Points
GF - Goals For	GA - Goals Against
HOME - Home Record	AWAY - Road Record
L10 - Record in last ten games