Friday night had 8 games that were played across the league and turned into a night full of firsts for a multitude of players.

Boston Bruins vs. Buffalo Sabres

The Bruins suffered only their second regulation loss Friday night, with both of those losses coming at the hands of the Buffalo Sabres. The Bruins had a 2-1 lead in the game until the 3rd period when Buffalo came back to score 3 goals and take the game 4-3. Tyler Myers, who was a healthy scratch in the last meeting between the two teams, scored a goal and had 2 assists in the win over the B’s. Ryan Miller also made a big contribution earning the #1 star with some huge saves throughout the game, but none bigger than the point blank stop of Tyler Seguin in the 2nd period. A big bright spot for the Bruins though was rookie defensemen Dougie Hamilton grabbing his first career NHL goal, as well as adding an assist on the night.

 

Philadelphia Flyers vs. New Jersey Devils

The Flyers were able to take control early on Friday night when they got out to a 3-1 lead in the first period. The Devils fought back scoring 4 straight goals and earning the 5-3 victory. Claude Giroux had 2 assists in his 300th career game but just wasn’t able to come away with the 2 points. David Clarkson netted his team leading 10th goal that went down as the game winner. New Jersey continues to be the top team in the Eastern Conference now with 21 points on the season.

 

Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Winnipeg Jets

Craig Adams put in his first 2 goals of the year to lead the Penguins past the Jets and to their 7th road victory this season. James Neal put a one timer past Ondrej Pavelec in the 3rd period for the game winner and putting him now tied for the league lead in goals with 11. Marc Andre Fleury was less than 2 minutes away from his 1st shutout of the season when Andrew Ladd played spoiler and was able to put one past “Flower” late in the 3rd period. Winnipeg took another hit, aside from the loss, when just two and half minutes into the game Tobias Enstrom went down with an upper body injury after taking a hit from Pascal Dupuis.

 

Anaheim Ducks vs. Detroit Red Wings

The Red Wings made some key turnovers in the game that lead to the Ducks capitalizing on them and getting their 7th win in the last 8 games. Viktor Fasth made 26 saves in the win, and has now won the first 7 starts of his career. Andrew Cogliano netted 2 goals for Anaheim in the 3rd period, one of them being the game winner. Aside from the list of players that were already sidelined, Detroit was without two of their key players in Pavel Datsyuk (upper body injury) and Johan Franzen (lower body injury) for the game.

 

San Jose Sharks vs. Chicago Blackhawks

The Blackhawks continued their undefeated in regulation streak with a win over the Sharks on Friday night. The Hawks got contributions from all across the board including Marcus Kruger, Andrew Shaw and Niklas Hjalmarsson. A rare event took place in the first period when captains Jonathan Toews and Joe Thornton dropped the gloves, not something you see either captain doing often. Ray Emery got the start for Chicago as it was reported that Corey Crawford was day to day with an upper body injury. The Hawks recalled Henrik Karlsson to serve as the backup. The only bright spot for San Jose was Tim Kennedy getting his 1st goal since October of 2011. San Jose has now lost 7 straight games.

 

St Louis Blues vs. Calgary Flames

The Blues were able to erupt for 4 goals in the first period and proved to be too much for the Flames to get the win Friday. The biggest highlight for the Blues, aside from the win, came in the 1st period when goaltender Jake Allen made a jaw dropping save on TJ Brodie. St Louis got 2 goals from David Perron in the 5-2 win, as well as rookie Jaden Schwartz getting his 1st goal of the season. Calgary’s captain Jarome Iginla played in his 1200th career game Friday, but the team has now suffered 4 losses in the last 7 games.

 

Dallas Stars vs. Vancouver Canucks

Vancouver got a big lift to start the game with Ryan Kesler making his season debut after having off season surgery. The Canucks had a big 2nd period getting 3 goals to take the 3-1 lead. With an assist on the 3rd goal of the game, captain Henrik Sedin became the clubs all-time scoring leader. The Stars fought back in the third period though and got the go ahead goal from rookie Brenden Dillon and went on to win the game 4-3. One downfall for the Stars in the game was goalie Kari Lehtonen going down with an injury and having to be replaced by Richard Bachman.

 

Columbus Blue Jackets vs. Los Angeles Kings

In the late game of Friday night, LA earned their first home regulation win against the Blue Jackets. Mike Richards notched his 400th career point with the eventual game winning goal early in the 3rd period. Goaltender Jonathan Bernier got his 2nd consecutive start for the Kings, even getting an assist on Richards’ goal. Blue Jackets Nick Foligno played spoiler scoring a goal with just over 2 minutes left in the game to end Bernier’s shutout bid. Columbus has now lost 4 of their last 6 games.

 

Tonight I leave you with a picture of the man who played in his 1200th career game Friday. Mr. Iginla you are a class act and congratulations on your monumental accomplishment!