Saturday Night Hockey

Going into Saturday night, there were 6 teams looking to grab 3 playoff spots in the Eastern Conference. The standings in that Conference drastically changed last night.

In the 1st game, the Toronto Maple Leafs were facing the Pittsburgh Penguins . The Leafs were at home were they had won 6 straight.

Early in the game, Chad Kilger potted one to give the Leafs an early lead. But that lead was squandered by Gary Roberts only 2 minutes after Kilger's goal. It looked like it would be a tie going into the break, but Alexei Ponikarovsky scored from the circle to get the lead back 2-1. In the 2nd, the Leafs scored another early one as Tomas Kaberle scored his 1st goal since receiving a concussion from Cam Janssen in early March. Then, on the powerplay Bryan McCabe potted in his 13th to get the lead 4-1. Before the period could end though, Maxime Talbot scored to get the Pens within 2 goals. In the 3rd the Penguins kept the pressure on until they finally got one past Raycroft with 5 minutes left in the game. Then, with the net empty Ryan Whitney scored to tie up the game with just 4 second left in the game. The Leafs went to the dressing room hearing the boos of the ACC. But Toronto did give the fans something to cheer about as Kaberle scored again in O.T for the Leafs to win it 5-4. The Leafs are now 9th in the Eastern Conference, 1 point behind 8th Montreal and have a game at hand on the Habs. Pittsburgh is 2nd in the Conference with 101 points.

In the Canadiens game, the Habs were playing the Buffalo Sabres. Montreal needed to win as they already lost yesterday to the Sens.

The 1st goal of the game was scored by Buffalo's Daniel Briere 9:20 into the game. But the Habs came back as Micheal Ryder scored his 27th to tie up the game. In the 2nd the Canadiens scored 1st as Radek Bonk scored to give the Habs the lead. Just 2 minutes after that, Maxim Lapierre scored to give Montreal a 2 goal lead! But before the period could end, Thomas Vanek scored to bring the Sabres within 1. But that's the closest Buffalo would get as Saku Koivu regained the 2 goal lead for the Habs in the 3rd. Zubrus did scored late in the game but it didn't matter as the Habs won a huge game. Montreal is now 8th in the Eastern Conference standings while Buffalo is the best team in the league.

In the last Eastern Canadian game of the night, the Ottawa Senators faced off against the New York Islanders. The Islanders 2 top goalies were hurt, so rookie Wade Dubielewics had to make the start.

The game started out slow as the 1st period almost went scoreless, but Christoph Schubert made sure that would not happen as he gave the Sens the lead with just 20 seconds left in the period. In the 3rd, the Isles' Viktor Kozlov scored to tie it up 1-1. From then on it was all Senators. 1st, Mike Comrie scored a beauty to get the lead back. In the 3rd Comrie scored again to give the Senators a 2 goal lead. Then Dean Mcammond scored to clinch the win. The teams exchanged goals at the end, but didn't matter as the Sens took this one 5-2. The Isles now sit in 11th place in the Eastern Conference and are 4 points behind Montreal for 8th while the Sens are 4th in the Conference and have clinched a playoff spot.

In the final Canadian game of the night, the Vancouver Canucks faced the Calgary Flames.

The Flames started out good as they scored 4:07 into the game from Daymond Langkow. They game then shifted to the 2nd, where Craig Conroy scored short-handed to give the Flames the 2 goal lead. The final goal of the period was scored by Kristian Huselius to give the Flames a commanding 3 goal lead. In the 3rd though, the Canucks came back as Morrison and Naslund both scored to get Vancouver within 2. But that's all they could muster as the Flames took this one 3-2. Calgary is now 8th in the Western Conference a while the Canucks are 3rd in that Conference .