Tuesday night was the first night back from the All-Star break and the beginning of the second half of regulation. This traditionally means the time when the playoff battle begins for the last 4 seeds, while the top 4 teams battle for home ice advantage. And you could tell by the play of teams on Tuesday that they were thinking of nothing but the playoffs.
First and foremost, the San Jose Sharks continued to dominate with a shutout over Colorado. They looked shaky at times, but great special teams, defense, and goaltending pretty much secured a sure victory over the Avalanche, who are still battling injuries with their superstar Joe Sakic out and their future star Paul Stastny gone for a couple more weeks as well. If this continues, it doesn't look like the Avs will make the playoffs, which would be the first time in a long time in recent memory.
The game of the night, in terms of hype, was the Washington Capitals vs. the Boston Bruins. The #2 team in the Eastern Conference visiting at the #1 East team's (tied with San Jose for most points in the NHL, although the Sharks have played 2 less games than Boston) house. Although a win for Washington wouldn't mean taking over the lead in the East, they would have started raising questions as to who is the better team in the East. Boston won it in overtime off a very ugly bounce on the power play, and what was an epic game ended in a very disgusting way. The highlights of this game was unbelievable goaltending on both ends. Tim Thomas (who won the game for the Eastern Conference in the All-Star game with several amazing saves as well) was pretty much a brick wall after the first period, giving up some huge rebounds to Washington only to deny the second attempt as well (he wanted more saves on his resume). Theodore thought he let in one he shouldn't have, but he can't really be faulted for it and he stopped about 10 cross-ice one-timers in the third and overtime periods. It is fitting to have it end in overtime, as both teams at least get a point out of it. But the ending was so... not.
The game of the night (in my opinion) was the Detroit Red Wings vs. Columbus Blue Jackets. I really shouldn't say it was Columbus vs Detroit. It was really more like Rick Nash vs. Detroit. The captain of the Blue Jackets netted a hat trick, his third goal coming in overtime to pull a stunning upset off a short-handed Detroit team (they were without the services of Nicklas Lidstrom and Pavel Datsyuk, who were suspended by the league for not showing up to the All-Star game after being voted in. More on this later). Rick Nash even got his hat trick in style, scoring in every possible way (on the power play, shorthanded, and even strength, a 4 on 4 even strength OT goal no less). The Jackets are still contenders for a playoff spot in the Western Conference and a win over the second best team in the West and the defending Stanley Cup Champions doesn't hurt their cause either. If their rookie goaltender Steve Mason continues his stellar play, and Rick Nash gets more support from his other lines, then this team could make a deep playoff run. If anyone deserves a shot at the Cup it is Rick Nash. He's been on Columbus's roster his entire career, and let's just say the Blue Jackets were never a team other teams would be looking out for on their schedules. He is probably the most underrated player in the NHL (or second most behind Patrick Marleau) simply because he never had a good team to play on. But look at his career and there is a reason why he is in the All-Star game every year, and why his goal against Phoenix last year is considered by some (including me) as the greatest goal of all time.
The other storyline coming out of this win (or loss from the Detroit perspective) would be the impact the suspension had on the outcome of this game. Obviously, Detroit feels that they were treated unfairly, and put to a higher standard than other teams in terms of participating in the All-Star Game. Lidstrom was reportedly battling injuries (although he still played in the last game before the break) and felt that he should have been allowed to take a medical leave from the weekend. Sidney Crosby did it, and he was the #1 vote-getter in the All-Star ballot. Heck, even Columbus's goaltender Steve Mason opted out of the Youngstar's game because of back issues, and he wasn't suspended for the Detroit v Columbus game. Detroit fans feel that if they somehow don't make it into the playoffs, it'll be because of this one game and whoever wins the Stanley Cup won't fully deserve the trophy (the fact that Detroit fans even doubt their team making it into the playoffs boggles my mind, let alone their logic). Should Lidstrom and Datsyuk have been suspended? I don't think so. No player in their right mind would prioritize the All-Star game over their health, especially since the All-Star game means... absolutely nothing to the players, coaches, organizations... well pretty much everyone except the commissioner Gary Bettman. Should Detroit feel like they were cheated? Sure, but not to the extent that they are feeling right now. I mean, if you're the #2 team in the Western Conference and the defending champs, you should be able to stop Rick Nash from scoring 3 goals in a game even without you're #1 defender in Lidstrom. It's not like the Red Wings are the Phoenix Coyotes. (Yes, that goal is so good it was worth linking twice).
Less interesting, but equally important stories would be the 7-3 shelling and 10-2 massacre that the Anaheim Ducks and Buffalo Sabres handed the Phoenix Coyotes and Edmonton Oilers, respectively. Anaheim and Buffalo were two teams heading into the break with huge question marks about their ability to perform and possibly even make the playoffs this year, and they came out of the gates strong. Make no mistake that both their opponents have a history of poor goaltending, but Edmonton isn't exactly a soft team and the Coyotes are favorites in making the playoffs next year (and some experts even predicted them having a playoff run this postseason).
Marty Turco and the Dallas Stars shutout the Atlanta Thrashers. Not exactly headline news, as the Thrashers were, at one point earlier this season, the worst team in the NHL (the title is now proudly owned by the New York Islanders). But Turco, the biggest goaltending question mark this season with his inconsistant play, made several huge saves, including two great chances in front by the Thrashers captain Ilya Kovalchuk, their top scorer. It was his second shutout this season (both came this month), and after a huge loss against Detroit earlier in the season, Turco has been lights out in his save percentage and goals against average. If he continues to do this and Dallas gets a slight boost to their offense, they could make a late season run for one of the last playoff spots in the West. Although the Thrashers are pretty much not going to make the playoffs this year, if Turco didn't get a shutout, then Atlanta's goaltender Kari Lehtonen would've been the best goalie of the night. Atlanta could be a team to be feared in a couple of years, but it just matters how fast their young guys like Todd White and Bryan Little mature in comparison to the aging Slava Kozlov and Kovalchuk.
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