There were six games last night and the losing teams combined for a total of four goals as three of them were shutout... so it was a night for the goalies...
The nightly shutouts went to Jimmy Howard, Jaroslav Halak & Chris Mason. Halak only had to stop 22 for his blanking and his fifth straight win. In fact, Halak hasn't lost in regulation since Nov 22nd, he's 9-0-3, 1.62 & .938 over his last 12 games. Oh yeah and St.Louis is now first in the West. How ya like that!
Tuukka Rask stopped 38 of 40 to beat FLA and run his win streak to seven straight. He's been as close to unbeatable as you can get with a 0.93 gaa & .970 sv% during the streak.
On a night for the goalies, Ryan Miller wasn't celebrating as he gave up five goals on 14 shots and was pulled in the 2nd period. This was his first implosion in a while, so he's settled his play down lately but hasn't been able to string together back-to-back wins since October(!)... yikes. I wouldn't drop him but I'd look for an alternative for the rest of this season and then expect a bounceback from him next year.
Mike Smith wasn't in the shutout club last night but he was pretty f'ing good stopping 38 of 39 and is now 2-0-3, 1.16 & .965 over his last five games.
Alex Pietrangelo with an assist to extend his point streak to seven games where he has racked up 2+8=10 & 31 shots... that's pretty heavy for a dman.
Hat-Trick of helpers for Pavel Datsyuk yesterday to give him 1+10=11 during a seven game streak. He has at least a point in 16 of his last 18 games and is a plus-20 during that span.
Patrice Bergeron with two goals last night and rather quietly this guy has been producing like an elite player over the past month or so... in 15 games since Dec 10th he has 9+11=20, only Malkin, Datsyuk & H.Sedin have more points since then. He was traded in an expert league Jay & I are in yesterday and I can guarantee that the guy that traded him didn't realize that Bergeron is like the hottest thing going right now.
John Tavares with a late goal to keep his point streak alive at nine games (5+11=16).
Let's check in with our old friend Josh Bailey... oh dear, just 2A over his last 15 games, I'd say somebody reached when they picked him.
Back-to-back big games for Todd Bertuzzi with 1+2=3 last night to chase his two goals on Saturday. Those two games make up 22% of his production for the season, so I don't expect it to last.
Gilbert Brule rifled one home on the PP last night and then added an assist later on but I wouldn't get too excited.
up, Up, UP: Jake Gardiner, Trevor Smith, Andre Petersson & TJ Brennan.
DOWN, Down, down: Matt Hackett, Kevin Poulin & Nick Palmieri.


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