Sunday was a special day for the hockey world with it being Hockey Day in America. A variety of cities across the country took part in various activities to celebrate the day. A total of 7 games would be played on the day with 3 of them being featured on NBC.

Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Buffalo Sabres

The Penguins got out to a 2-0 lead early in the first period but the Sabres came back getting the tying goal from Thomas Vanek on his league leading 12th goal of the year. The Pens did come back and get 2 goals in the third period to tie it then go ahead for good on Paul Martin’s 2nd of the year. Both Pascal Dupuis (1G, 2A) and Sidney Crosby (1G, 2A) had 3 points each in the win with Dupuis earning the games #1 star. Pittsburgh has now won 3 straight games and have taken over the top spot in the Eastern Conference. One of the highlights of the game, and day for that matter, came late in the third period when Ryan Miller absolutely robbed James Neal of the go ahead goal. Save of the year material.

Los Angeles Kings vs. Chicago Blackhawks

Chicago got out to the early leading getting 2 goals in the first period from Brent Seabrook and Jonathan Toews. Patrick Sharp had the eventual game winning goal and snapped a 10 game scoring drought. The two goals from Mike Richards in the third period got the momentum in the favor of the Kings, but even after a mad scramble at the end the end of the game just wasn’t enough to pull out a win. The Blackhawks extended their record to 12-0-3 and have points in each of the first 15 games this season. The loss by the Kings snapped a mini two game winning streak.

Boston Bruins vs. Winnipeg Jets

The struggling Boston power play went 1 for 1 and produced the game winning goal by Brad Marchand in the third period Sunday night. The Bruins snapped a 2 game skid with the win, while Winnipeg has now lost 3 in a row. Tyler Seguin played his best game of the season netting a goal as well as making a huge defensive play with an outstanding back checking effort that broke up a good scoring chance for the Jets. It’s now eight straight games the Bruins have won when Seguin scores at least 1 goal. The Jets made one last push at the end of the game and almost tied it up but the puck danced right along the goal line before popping out of the crease just as the clock expired.

Calgary Flames vs. Dallas Stars

Dallas gave up 3 third period goals to Calgary for the Flames to pull out the win. All the goals scored by the Flames in the third period were firsts for Roman Horak, Matt Stajan and Steve Begin. Calgary’s Mike Cammalleri got the scoring started in the first, continuing his success against the Stars after just having a hat trick against them on Wednesday. This is the second victory for the Flames against the Stars in the last five days. The Stars had been hot until going up against Calgary having won 5 of their last 7 games with the 2 losses coming at the hands of the Flames.

Detroit Red Wings vs. Minnesota Wild

The Wild rallied to get three goals in the 2nd period to beat the Red Wings. The three unanswered goals were within a span of 4 minutes. This was Minnesota’s first regulation win in 9 games. Danny Heatley got Minnesota on the board first snapping a nine-game scoring drought. Detroit’s Pavel Datsyuk returned after missing 1 game with a shoulder injury and added a goal in the 2nd period. A big positive for Minnesota was Jason Zucker. He was called up to the big show on Saturday and earned the games #1 star with his first career goal, and it was a beauty.

Washington Capitals vs. New York Rangers

Washington had their three game winning streak snapped in a 2-1 loss against the Rangers. The Caps were able to get on the board first when John Carlson let go a bomb of a shot that Henrik Lundqvist had no chance on. In the second period though Carl Hagelin was able to tip Ryan McDonagh’s shot past Braden Holtby to tie it up. Derek Stepan got the game winning goal in the third period on a nice cross ice pass from Michael Del Zotto. The Rangers have now won 5 of their last 7 games and improved their home record to 6-2-1.

St Louis Blues vs. Vancouver Canucks

Ryan Kesler got the scoring started getting his 1st goal of the season less than five minutes into the game. The Blues held a 3-2 lead with less than 2 minutes in the game when Mason Raymond put in a power play goal to tie it up and force OT. Neither team scored in overtime and in the shootout St Louis got goals from TJ Oshie and Andy McDonald to win the game 4-3. Blues goaltender Jake Allen has filled in nicely for injured Jaroslav Halak, winning his two starts so far this year. Even with the loss the Canucks are still first in the Northwest Division.

During Hockey Day in America Sunday, NBC aired a segment on Jack Jablonski. Jack is a high school junior from Minnesota who was injured in a hockey game and suffered a severed spinal cord. Already Jack has come so far and is determined to one day skate again. You’re an inspiration Jack, and we here at BDB salute you! Here’s Jack (who you can find on twitter @Jabs_13) with his favorite player Pavel Datsyuk after the Red Wings/Wild game on Sunday.