Tonights Recap: Great Goaltending Goes Unrewarded

Tonight’s games were headlined by goaltenders who had to stop a high number of shots but still managed to lose due to their team’s inability to generate offense. The Hurricanes doubled the Sabres in shots; Cam Ward stopped 19 of 21 and Ryan Miller stopped 37 of 43, with four of the goals being scored in the third period. Flyers‘ netminder Martin Biron stopped 38 of 42, while his counterpart Thomas Vokoun needed to stop only 20 of 23. In Detroit, Roberto Luongo stopped 36 of 39 shots, while at the other end of the ice Dominik Hasek only had to face 15 shots in the entire game (he stopped 13).

Vancouver scored two goals tonight, Buffalo two and Philadelphia three. All of those teams have All-Star caliber goaltenders, but if they continue to allow an abundance of shots, and are not able to generate any offense, it is likely that they wont win many games having to rely so heavily on their goaltenders.

On to the Recap:

• Cam Ward continued his stellar play and improved his record to 6-0 for the ‘Canes as they defeated the Sabres 6 – 2. Bret Hedican and Eric Staal had 3 points each for Carolina and Justin Williams continued his hot start with two more points. This season Carolina has earned points in 9 of 10 games and has only one loss in regulation play. They are looking very good early on in this young season. Ryan Miller made 37 saves for Buffalo in the loss.
• Washington 5, Tampa Bay 3. After losing 4 in a row, Captain Chris Clark was moved back up to the first line with Alexander Ovechkin. He responded with four goals to snap the Caps’ losing streak.
• Olli Jokinen became the career leader in goals and points for the Panthers organization tonight, passing long-time Panther Scott Mellanby. The big Finnish center scored two goals leading Florida to a 4-3 victory over Philadelphia. Flyers‘ goaltender Martin Biron continued his excellent play, stopping 38 shots, in a losing.
• Dominik Hasek stopped 13 of only 15 shots faced as the Detroit Red Wings were victorious over the Vancouver Canucks 3 – 2. Long-time Red Wings’ winger Tomas Holmstrom scored two goals for the Wings. Canucks‘ netminder Roberto Luongo was bombarded with 39 shots, turning aside 36 of them, in a losing cause.
• Flames 5, Wild 3. Jarome Iginla and Alex Tanguay continue to produce offensively as they both recorded 3 points apiece.

Tomorrow’s Games (all times Eastern)
7:00pm CHI@BOS, NJ@NYR, STL@CLB,
7:30pm TOR@PIT, PHI@TB,
8:00pm ATL@NSH,
9:00pm MIN@EDM
10:00pm PHX@ANA
10:30pm DAL@LA