National Hockey League Thursday night match roundup -NHL Feature
There were nine contests going down on Thursday night, December 29, 2011, around the National Hockey League (NHL), out which some had surprising results where some teams had their winning streaks snapped like the Calgary Flames and where others emerged successful
to stay hot.
Jaromir Jagr helps Philadelphia Flyers snap two-game losing streak against Pittsburgh Penguins in return
Having lost their All-Star captain, Sidney Crosby, the Pittsburgh Penguins were full of confidence with the realisation of having to perform in order to fill in the gap and were on a four-game winning streak that is until Jaromir Jagr made his comeback on
the Philadelphia Flyers.
Philadelphia had lost two in a row, but managed to snap their two-game slump as the Flyers stayed consistent in their shooting throughout the 60-minute contest to take down their state rivals, the Penguins, 4-2, at the sold-out CONSOL Energy Center in Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania, United States.
"Certainly I'm sure [Jagr] was happy to come in and be a factor the way he was", Flyers coach, Peter Laviolette, said. "Max had a great game too, so for both of them to contribute that way was nice to see".
Jordan Staal opened the scoring only 44 seconds into the first period for his 15th of the 2011-2012 NHL regular season off a quick assist by Tyler Kennedy, while Philadelphia came right back midway through with Kimmo Timonen potting his first
on a power play opportunity as James Neal was booked for tripping with a minor penalty.
Jaromir Jagr made the tie-breaker 6:03 into the second and Matt Read extended the lead with less than four minutes to go until they were to be headed into the third period.
Tyler Kennedy attempted at getting Pittsburgh back into the game with his late goal at the 13:31 mark of the third but Maxime Talbot’s empty netter with less than 30 seconds to go secured the match for the Flyers.
Philadelphia is to host New York Rangers on Monday while Pittsburgh will be facing the New Jersey Devils on Saturday.
Carolina Hurricanes rally to beat Toronto Maple Leafs 4-3 in Overtime
Brandon Sutter gave Carolina the momentum they needed by giving them an early lead with his eighth goal of the season 4:15 into the opening period, at the RBC Center in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States.
Nazem Kadri answered back for the Toronto Maple Leafs in the opening two minutes of the second while Nikolai Kulemin and Joffrey Lupul attempted at securing the contest with two straight to put Toronto at 3-1 midway through the third period, but as Carolina’s
Eric Staal and Zac Dalpe answered in the next two minutes, the Hurricanes forced an uncertain overtime extension.
Captain Staal came out and scored the game-winner on an overtime power play opportunity as Toronto’s Tim Connolly was called for tripping.
"He was the first one last night to say, `Just start shooting, start shooting from everywhere. Make it ugly", Eric Staal said, talking about younger brother, Jordan Staal. "I talked to him on the way to the rink, and said, `I'll be firing it from all angles,
and we'll see what happens".
Carolina will be going on to face Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday while Toronto Maple Leafs has the last game of their four-game road trip against Winnipeg Jets the same day.
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