The Minnesota Wild's starting goalie Tuesday, Niklas Backstrom, found himself riding the pine for the last four games as Josh Harding authored a four-game winning streak. Backstrom responded to his 60 minutes of action in a big way against Calgary.
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Niklas Backstrom, Minnesota Wild – If there wasn’t a goalie controversy in Minnesota before Tuesday night’s game with the Flames, there is now. Backstrom responded to Josh Harding’s four-game winning streak with a 41-save shutout of the Calgary Flames. Backstrom was spectacular all game long, starting with a first period that saw the Wild outshot 15-5, and led Minnesota to its fifth straight win. Scoring for the Wild were Darroll Powe, Dany Heatley and Guillaume Latendresse.
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Jason Pominville, Buffalo Sabres – Pomminville tallied a short-handed goal in a six-goal first period between the Sabres and Jets. He assisted on Derek Roy’s game-tying goal in the third period and on Thomas Vanek’s winner in Buffalo’s 6-5 overtime win. Roy and Vanek each added another goal and Corey Tropp rounded out the scoring for Buffalo, while Ryan Miller stopped 26 of 31 shots for the win.
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Jamie Benn, Dallas Stars – Benn tallied a goal and two assists in the Stars’ 5-2 win over the Washington Capitals to push his point streak to six games, which includes eight points in his last three games. Michael Ryder scored twice and Adam Burish and Eric Nystrom each scored once to round out the scoring for Dallas. Kari Lehtonen stopped 30 of 32 shots for Dallas, which has a league-best 13 wins.
Play of the Night Number One
You don’t see many passing plays much prettier than the one that set up Dany Heatley’s power-play goal:
Play of the Night Number Two
Nystrom tallies this beautiful goal while flying through the air:
In Memoriam
The St. Louis Blues paid tribute to Pavol Demitra and Igor Korolev on Tuesday:
You Decide
Finally, Nick Johnson allegedly head butted Jarome Iginla tonight during the Wild/Flames tilt (check the 1:40 mark). What do you say?
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