NHL Prospect Tournament Recap – Day 3
Game 1 – Dallas vs. Columbus
Early this game was a tight checking defensive game, not unlike the NHL counterparts of the respective teams. Dallas struck early with a goal from Sergei Korostin. Both teams traded goals in the 2nd with Dallas having the 2-1 lead heading into the 3rd. I was able to watch most of this period and a few things were very clear, first that Matt Calvert is a man on a mission as he was flying all over the rink with numerous scoring opportunities capitalizing on one. Columbus made there push but the Stars closed out the game with a garbage goal on a nice rebound put back by Mathieu Tousignant. All in all the 3rd period of this game was very entertaining with a lot checking and hard hits.
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final | |
| Columbus | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Dallas | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Goal Scores: | Columbus | Dallas | ||
| Matt Calvert – 2nd | Sergei Korostin – 1st | |||
| Matt Calvert – 3rd | Scott McColluch – 2nd | |||
| Hubert Labrie – 3rd | Sergei Korostin – 3rd | |||
| Mathieu Tousignant – 3rd | ||||
| Winning Goaltender – Dallas Stars – Richard Bachman ( 38 shots, 35 Saves) | ||||
| Losing Goaltender – Information not available |
Game 2 – Atlanta vs. Carolina
I was able to watch most of this game with the exception of the early 1st period, this was hands down the most entertaining game of the day, with a lot of end to end action. Atlanta did not play like a team that was (0-2) heading into this game, they came out flying and were relentless on the Carolina goalies. Mike Murphy stood on his head the first two periods for the Hurricane’s stopping 30 of 32 shots, his glove hand looking to be his weapon of choice. At the start of the the 3rd period Carolina looked like they could get back in the game with a couple of great shifts from Sutter, Bowman, and Boychuk but Atlanta’s Josh Unice was equal to the task. Unice’s big saves were just the momentum shift that Atlanta needed as they exploded for 5 goals against the helpless Valiquette of the Hurricane’s.
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final | |
| Atlanta | 2 | 0 | 5 | 7 |
| Carolina | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| Goal Scores: | Atlanta | Carolina | ||
| Andrew Kozak – 1st | Matt Kennedy – 1st | |||
| Mike Forney – 1st | Zack Boychuk – 3rd | |||
| Andrew Kozak – 3rd | Harrison Reed – 3rd | |||
| Paul Postma – 3rd | ||||
| Eric O’dell – 3rd | ||||
| Evander Kane – 3rd | ||||
| Eric O’dell – 3rd | ||||
| Winning Goaltender – Atlanta Thrashers – Josh Unice (36 shots, 33 saves) | ||||
| Losing Goaltender – Andrew Valiquette (9 shots – 4 saves) |
Game 3 – St. Louis vs. Minnesota
I did not see any of this game and will write more this evening when I have time.
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final | |
| Minnesota | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| St. Louis | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Goal Scores: | Minnesota | St. Louis | ||
| Carson McMilan – 3rd | Philip McRae – 1st | |||
| Matt MacKay – 3rd | Anthony Nigro – 2nd | |||
| Zack Torquato – 3rd | Anthony Nigro – 3rd | |||
| Winning Goaltender – St. Louis Blues – Jake Allen (34 shots, 31 saves) | ||||
| Losing Goaltender – Minnesota Wild – Matthew Hackett (21 shots, 18 saves) |
Game 4 – Detroit vs. New York Rangers
This game was all Rangers from the start, scoring 2 goals in each of the first 2 periods, in a dominating performance and complete team effort. Both of the 1st period goals by the Rangers were on bad giveaway’s in the Wings own zone and left the Wings goalie Chris Whitley pretty much a sitting duck. The Rangers played a solid two way game in the 1st and 2nd led by the teams star defenseman Michael Del Zotto, who should see some considerable playing time in the NHL this year. During the 3rd the Wings mounted a comeback with three 3rd period goals but in the end came up short. There were not alot of bright spots for the Wings in this game, the strongest player for the Red Wings was once again Tomas Tatar who carried the play at times and was able to set up a few strong play’s, including the Wings 3rd goal in the 3rd period which was scored bye the Wings ever improving Brian Lashoff.
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Final | |
| Detroit | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
| New York Rangers | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| Goal Scores: | Detroit | Rangers | ||
| Jan Mursak – 3rd | Luke Walker – 1st | |||
| Brett Raedeke – 3rd | Daniel Bartek – 1st | |||
| Brian Lashoff – 3rd | Ethan Werek – 2nd | |||
| Luke Walker – 2nd | ||||
| Winning Goaltender – New York Rangers – Chad Johnson (35 shots, 32 saves) | ||||
| Losing Goaltender – Detroit Red Wings – Chris Whitley (28 shots, 24 saves) |
I will be tweeting live from the Tournament today for the Wings game against the Dallas Stars which starts at 3pm EST
My name is David Swartzlander check me out on Twitter @octopusthrower
Don’t forget to check out “RealTime Pro Football ’09” – rated “One of our favorite sports apps of all time” by Touchtip.com