It was the first Monday of 2011, which means someone somewhere might have made a “case of the Mondays” quip for the first time this year. Let’s hope our culture progressed beyond that point, though.
For a recap of the Chicago Blackhawks-Los Angeles Kings game, click here. Now let’s take a look at the night’s other four games.
Maybe the Maple Leafs should stop trading with the Bruins altogether. After all, Tuukka Rask keeps coming back to haunt them (36 out of 37 saves) while the Phil Kessel trade keeps looking less lucrative for the Leafs. It’s a godsend that they didn’t end up trading for Marc Savard, considering the fact that he is struggling greatly coming back from concussion issues.
Then again, he scored Monday’s game winner, so maybe Toronto just can’t catch a break.
The Panthers have been toothless in Carolina (now 6-25-2) in their history and it looked like that trend would continue when they coughed up a 3-1 lead. Yet a Bryan Allen slap shot beat Cam Ward in overtime won them the game, giving the team a rare bit of optimism.
It wasn’t a great night in every way for the Islanders, as they saw Rick DiPietro leave the game with an “abductor strain.” Yet in the short term, the Isles at least had one good night. John Tavares scored two goals and one assist and his partner in crime Matt Moulson scored two goals to beat the Flames pretty handily. David Moss scored two goals for Calgary.
After DiPietro left the game a few minutes into the second period, Nathan Lawson stopped 28 out of 29 shots. This might be a bad night in the big picture, but things looked solid on Monday.
Much like the Panthers’ struggles in Carolina, the Canucks haven’t had much luck in San Jose. They earned their first win in the California city since April 7, 2007. They overcame a nice performance from Antti Niemi (43 saves) while earning a win for Cory Schneider, who made 32 out of 35 saves.
Alexander Burrows scored the game winner and also set a beautiful Sedin twins goal in motion in the first. They came back from a 3-2 deficit to finally win in San Jose.
