Before The All-Star Break

Hey, folks! Sorry about the missing days lately. I've been busy with this stupid little thing called "Real Life". I've asked that the owner of Real Life no longer concern me with his issues, but he keeps dragging me into them. I'm trying to break off all contact with this Real Life thing, but so far my attempts have been futile. Anyway, on to hockey news where there were 13 games on last night as the NHL prepares for its All-Star Extravaganza based in Atlanta this year, and I'll run down the highlights.

About Last Night: 13 games last night meant a lot of action in the NHL. Because of the games, there were changes as to leaders in categories as well.

The Boston Bruins rebounded from the beating taken at the hands of the Montreal Canadiens by defeating the Long Island Broncos 4-1. Dennis Wideman, Milan Lucic, Chuck Kobasew, and Phil Kessel scored for the Bruins. Mike Sillinger scored the loan Islanders goal. Tim Thomas picked up the win by stopping 28 shots, while Rick DiPietro suffered the loss.

The Montreal Canadiens continued their hot streak of late by defeating the New Jersey Devils 4-3 for only their second win in the last 20 games versus the Devils. Montreal scored three third-period goals to secure the win after being down 3-1 through two periods. Patrik Elias had two goals for the Devils while Jamie Langenbrunner had one in a losing cause. Bryan Smolinski had two for the Canadiens while Saku Koivu and Chris Higgins chipped in singles. Cristobal Huet recorded the win, while Martin Brodeur suffered the loss.

The Philadelphia Flyers jumped ahead of the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Atlantic Division standings, and are tied for first with the New Jersey Devils, after defeating the Penguins 4-3 last night. RJ Umberger opened the scoring for the Flyers, and the teams traded goals the rest of the way. Randy Jones, Jim Vandermeer, and Mike Knuble also scored for the Flyers. Pittsburgh got goals from Evgeni Malkin, Petr Sykora, and Ryan Whitney. Martin Biron earned the victory, while Ty Conklin suffered the loss.

Washington rebounded to win the second half of the home-and-home series with Toronto by a 2-1 margin. The Capitals' Brooks Laich and Viktor Kozlov scored, while Boyd Devereaux responded for the Maple Leafs. Brent Johnson recorded the win, while Vesa Toskala took the loss. Alexander Ovechkin had two assists to sit third in NHL scoring with 65 points.

The Ottawa Senators hammered their expansion brothers from Tampa Bay by an 8-4 score. Daniel Alfredsson recorded the hat-trick, Jason Spezza had two goals, and Antoine Vermette, Randy Robitaille, and Dean McAmmond all had singles. Dan Boyle scored his first two goals of the season for the Lightning, while Nick Tarnasky and Craig McDonald scored a goal apiece. Alfredsson also assisted on four of the five goals scored by the other Senators, giving him seven points on the night. He took the scoring lead in the NHL after Vincent Lecavalier was held pointless, and leads the Lightning centerman by a point in the race for the Art Ross Trophy. Martin Gerber picked up the win, while Karri Ramo was given the loss.

Edmonton increased their shootout record to an impressive 12-3 after defeating the Florida Panthers 4-3 in the shooutout. Greg Campbell, Brett McLean, and Olli Jokinen scored in regulation for the Panthers. The Oilers got regulation-time goals from Ethan Moreau and a pair from Jarrett Stoll late in the game. The only shootout goal was scored by Edmonton's Shawn Horcoff. Mathieu Garon recorded the win, and Tomas Vokoun suffered the loss.

The New York Rangers defeated the Atlanta Thrashers in the shootout by a 2-1 score on a night where the Rangers honoured former standout defenceman Brian Leetch. The Rangers retired #2, and sent it to the rafters between Mark Messier's #11 and Mike Richter's #35. It was also announced that Adam Graves' #9 will be retired next season. Scoring for the Rangers was Michal Rozsival while the Thrashers got a goal from Marian Hossa. Brendan Shanahan was the only player to score in the shootout. Henrik Lundqvist picked up the win, while Johan Herberg took the loss. With the win, the Rangers moved into 8th-place in the Eastern Conference.

The Columbus Blue Jackets keep climbing the Central Division standings. They defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 1-0 last night. The lone goal was scored by Jared Boll, and Pascal Leclaire recorded his league-leading eighth shutout of the season. Nikolai Khabibulin suffered the loss, and is currently mired in an 0-7-1 streak. The highest-paid player on the Blackhawks hasn't won since December 26, 2007.

The Barney Rubble Hairpieces won for only the second time in 14 games after defeating the Dallas Stars 2-1 last night. Two goals by Derek Roy paced the Sabres to the win, while Dallas' lone goal was scored by Stu Barnes. Ryan Miller picked up the win while Marty Turco took the loss.

The Minnesota Wild played shutdown hockey again last night, defeating the Colorado Avalanche 3-2. Goals by Todd Fedoruk, Brian Rolston, and Pavol Demitra paced the Wild to the win. Colorado saw Andrew Brunette and Wojtek Wolski respond. Niklas Backstrom was awarded the win for Minnesota while Jose Theodore suffered the loss. Minnesota improved to 20-0-0 when leading after two periods this season, and Backstrom improved to 25-0 in his career when the Wild go into the third period with the lead. The Wild regained first-place in the Northwest Division.

The Phoenix Coyotes defeated the Nashville Predators 4-3 in overtime last night. The Coyotes improved to 18-0-0 this season when they score four goals or more. Phoenix goal-scorers were Radim Vrbata with the hat-trick in regulation time, and Zbynek Michalek scored the overtime winner. Alexander Radulov, Rich Peverley, and Martin Erat responded for the Predators. Vrbata also assisted on Michalek's OT winner, giving him four points on the night. Ilya Bryzgalov picked up the win for the streaking Coyotes, while Chris Mason was tagged with the loss.

The Los Angeles Kings, playing some better hockey of late, knocked off the recently-hot in-state rivals in the Anaheim Ducks by a 3-1 score. Anze Kopitar, Derek Armstrong, and Alex Frolov has the Los Angeles tallies, while Rob Niedermayer scored for the Ducks. Jason LaBarbera was awarded the win. Jean-Sebastien Giguere took the loss. Surprisingly, the Anaheim Ducks received a two-minute team penalty for abusive language last night. It's rare to see that kind of penalty awarded to a team. Naughty Ducks!

And in the last game from last night, the San Jose Sharks thumped the St. Louis Blues by a 4-1 margin. The Sharks saw Jonathan Cheechoo score twice while Milan Michalek and Steve Bernier scored singles. Brad Boyes was the lone St. Louis goal-scorer. Evgeni Nabokov picked up his league-leading 27th win of the season, and Manny Legace recorded the loss.

Ok, so those are all the highlights from last night's NHL games. The All-Star Weekend gears up today, and the Skills Competition goes tomorrow from Atlanta. The 56th NHL All-Star Game goes Sunday afternoon, and can be seen and heard on Versus, CBC, RDS, and NHL radio.

I'll talk a little about some of the former NHL All-Star Skills Competitions, and the great performaces from each tomorrow.

Until then, keep your sticks on the ice!