Penguins 5, Canadiens 4: The Montreal Canadiens had an opportunity to put a nine-point cushion between themselves and the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday night. Instead, they picked up their 12th loss in their past 15 games falling to the Penguins, 5-4Sergei Gonchar scored his first goal of the season for the Penguins, blasting a slap shot from the blue line behind Carey Price midway through the third period. It capped off a seven-minute stretch where the two teams combined for five goals in what was an absolutely frantic third period.
It's a huge win for the Penguins, not only because it was the first for interim head coach Dan Bylsma, but because the Penguins are desperate for points, especially when they come against teams they're chasing in the standings.
Pittsburgh also received some help on the night as Buffalo fell in Philadelphia, 6-3, and Florida was blanked by Chicago, 4-0.
Carolina managed to keep pace by crushing the Islanders, 6-2, thanks to a pair of goals from Eric Staal.
Blue Jackets 4, Maple Leafs 3: Columbus has now won six of its past seven games as the Blue Jackets picked up a 4-3 shootout win in Toronto. Rick Nash scored for the second straight game after picking up only one goal over his previous nine. The Blue Jackets are now tied with Vancouver for the No. 5 spot in the Western Conference with 66 points.
The rest of Thursday's action
Fast start leads Vancouver over Ottawa
Calgary picks up overtime win in Minnesota
New Jersey beats Tampa Bay in shootout
Phoenix tops Atlanta
Edmonton drops key game in Dallas
Flames knock off Wild
Sharks and Kings
Blues Beat Predators
Daily rebounds
-- One of the worst defensive teams in the league losses its top two defenseman as Paul Ranger and Andrej Meszaros are out for the remainder of the season in Tampa Bay.
-- Kris Letang being a healthy scratch in Thursday's game led to some ridiculous trade rumors in Montreal. Letang for Alexei Kovalev? That makes those Nik Antropov to Pittsburgh rumors look believable. Hurry up and get here, trade deadline.
-- Bruce Ciskie picked his team USA squad on Thursday, and just for comparison's sake, here's who John Tortorella picks.
This weekend's key games
-- Carolina has an opportunity to gain some ground on the No. 8 spot when it hosts Tampa Bay on Friday night
-- Pittsburgh has a brutal two-game road trip on Saturday and Sunday when it has to travel to Philadelphia and Washington. While it would be great for the Penguins to somehow win both, a split is a must.
-- Mats Sundin makes his return to Toronto on Saturday night. Will he get booed? Should he? Do you even care?
-- Rangers and Sabres faceoff in Buffalo for a classic "four point game" on Saturday.
-- The battle of Alberta has some importance on Saturday as the Oilers look to keep pace in the Western Conference.
