Game recaps, updated injury report and more in this morning’s collection of notable NHL headlines.
Game Recaps.
Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo (left) celebrates his overtime goal against the Stars.
STLTODAY.COM: Alex Pietrangelo’s overtime goal lifted the St. Louis Blues to a 5-4 victory over the Dallas Stars, putting the two clubs into a tie for first overall in the Western Conference with 91 points. Kevin Shattenkirk also scored twice for the Blues, while the Stars Jason Spezza scored in his sixth straight game.
SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS: Joe Pavelski tallied the game winner and Martin Jones made 23 saves to give the San Jose Sharks a 5-2 win over the league-leading Washington Capitals.
THE BOSTON GLOBE: David Pastrnak scored twice to lead the Boston Bruins to a 3-1 win over the New York Islanders. John Tavares, the Isles captain, scored his club’s only goal, which was also the 200th of his NHL career.
THE DETROIT NEWS: Darren Helm scored twice and Brad Richards netted the OT winner as the Detroit Red Wings edged the New York Rangers 3-2.
MIAMI HERALD: Aleksander Barkov’s shootout goal lifted the Florida Panthers to a 5-4 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers.
AZCENTRAL.COM: After missing 40 games to injury, Arizona Coyotes goaltender Mike Smith returned to action and posted a 4-0 shutout of the Edmonton Oilers.
For more recaps and highlights, go to NHL.com.
NHL Headlines.
TRIBLIVE.COM: Pittsburgh Penguins center Evgeni Malkin (upper-body injury, believed to be his left arm) will miss the next 6-8 weeks.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: That could be a serious blow to the Penguins playoff hopes, as they’re clinging to one of the wild-card berths in the Eastern Conference.
NBC SPORTS: Detroit Red Wings defenseman Niklas Kronwall suffered a knee sprain during Saturday’s game against the New York Rangers. The Wings are hopeful Kronwall will return before the end of the regular season.
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH: After missing the last three games to an undisclosed upper-body injury, .Blue Jackets winger Brandon Saad will return to action on Tuesday
TSN: NHL linesman Don Henderson will miss the rest of this season due to concussion symptoms suffered when he was hit by Calgary Flames defenseman Dennis Wideman during a game last month.
NHL.com: League commissioner Gary Bettman addressed expansion and analytics among several topics at yesterday’s Sloan Sports Analytics Conference. Bettman assured fans of the Detroit Red Wings and Columbus Blue Jackets their clubs will not return to the Western Conference under expansion. Bettman also claimed he was “perfectly comfortable” with Dennis Wideman’s appeal process even though it dragged on for several weeks. He believes the increased competition level in the NHL is behind the ongoing decline in fighting.
Any expansion has to involve two cities in the mid-west/west region to correct the current imbalance which makes it just a bit harder to make the top 8 in the east with their 16 teams compared to 14 in the west.
This is the main reason I could see only 1 team (Vegas or Seattle likely Vegas) getting approved for expansion, and places such as Quebec or Oklahoma city or Seattle, being relegated to waiting for re-location. Ballance will be key to the decision in my view.
Bettman is alot 8f things but he is no dummy he will need an ace or 2 up his sleeve to leverage markets to ise tax money to fund arena projects.