Jamie Benn took over the game last night in the third period, scoring a goal and assisting on the game tying goal near the end of the game. He also had three hits and six shots on goal.

Both Ekman-Larsson and Yandle had a goal and an assist each. Phoenix had a ton of power play opportunities (1-for-8).

Cory Schneider was great for the Canucks, earning his second career shutout. He wasn’t busy through the first period and a half, but the Avalanche got a few power plays in the third and tested him often.

Kesler finally got an even strength goal (his first of the season) into the empty net.

Cody Hodgson had a great assist on the Malhotra goal and had another strong game. He seems to be producing or at least creating offense regardless of where he is put in the lineup.

David Booth continues to struggle. Seems to be trying to do too much right now. The Canucks will be patient with him (track record and he makes lots of money), but he needs to start putting up points if he wants to stay on the second line, especially with Mason Raymond nearing a return.

Erik Johnson missed the game with a minor groin injury. Colorado’s defensive group is thin with him in the lineup (Shane O’Brien was seeing some power play time by the end of the game…).

Niemi stopped all 34 shots he faced against his former team for the shutout.

Jason Garrison now has eight goals – he had seven in the past two combined seasons.

Kris Versteeg now has 12 goals for the Panthers – one of the comeback players of the year? He wasn't good at all last year – a short summer after winning the cup combined with hernia surgery were the major culprits.

Watched the Calgary/Detroit game – Flames played a pretty good road game before a couple of stupid penalties late.

TJ Brodie was really impressive on the power play for the Flames. Moves the puck with authority and has much better offensive instincts than Bouwmeester.

Datsyuk was dangling all game long and had three points. Zetterberg looked good, too.

Holmstrom had two goals from his usual spot of right in the crease. His hand eye coordination is ridiculous – must be pretty good at swatting flies.

Lars Eller had only 12 minutes of ice time last night, but he made it count. A great game with a goal and a helper.

Montreal really balances their defensive ice time – Diaz, Gorges, Weber, and Subban all played about 18-20 minutes and had an assist each.

Jagr re-aggravated his groin injury by returning too early (his words). He'll miss at least the next two games.

Kyle Wellwood had two points for the Jets last night. Surprised it took him so long to get a contract this summer. Very serviceable depth forward.

For those of you in multi-category leagues, Ron Hainsey blocked seven shots.

A Caps left winger had two goals and seven shots on goal last night. No, not Ovechkin, but Jason Chimera.

Blake Wheeler has four points in his last three games.

Pietrangelo scored a beauty for the Blues last night, and led the team in ice time by a significant margin.

Crosby was pointless and took three minor penalties (including a pseudo fight with David Backes). Malkin had a great game with two helpers – created a ton of offense.

Three points and two goals for Okposo – his first two goals of the season. Kudos to those of you with extreme patience…

DiPietro got the start for the Isles – he let in a few softies.

Sanford was once again rock solid for the Jackets. 23 saves on 24 shots in the shootout lost.

Zach Parise led all players in shots on goal in that game with seven. It was one of his better games of the season.

David Krejci is struggling a bit lately, but the B's continue to roll.

Tomas Fleischmann, he of concussion problems in the past, was drilled in the head by a very dirty hit from Rangers winger Andre Deveaux. Deveaux should be looking at a 10+ game suspension for this one.

Fleischmann left the game but was able to return. He did report headaches after the contest. Stay tuned….

Matthew Stajan was a healthy scratch last night. Not the best way to spend $3.5 million… Calgary's centers were Jokinen, Backlund, Horak, and Morrison.

Elliotte Friedman made the point in his weekly 30 thoughts that it looks like the Calgary Flames are struggling to find the "fun" in hockey. At the end of the day, if you don't enjoy what you are doing, you won't do a great job at it consistently. Sutter and Iginla are not seeing eye to eye either, according to this report.

Thomas Drance takes a look at what happens to Vancouver's lineup when Mason Raymond returns.

"In practice on Monday, the Canucks lines looked a bit different. Burrows was skating with the twins again, meaning the Hansen-Sedin-Sedin experiment may well be over, and Vigneault had Higgins skating with Kesler and Booth, while Hodgson centered Malhotra and Hansen (Raymond alternated), and he kept the usual fourth line in tact. Based on these line combos, we can safely assume that it will take a while ye fort Raymond to make it back into the lineup, but that when he does he will likely join the second line (probably on the right side). My reasoning? Monday’s practice lines were about planning of the medium term, where as today’s lines were more concerned with tomorrow night’s game.

We all know that Vigneault operates in pairs, with the right-wingers playing a rover role and moving up and down the lineup. I’ll be curious to see which one of Raymond or Booth is paired with Kesler more permanently, and which one is used as the rover. Based on the fact that Raymond has played the right side more frequently in his career than Booth has, I suspect that Raymond will be the “swing man” on this line."

I would love to play for a coach like Dan Bylsma. Also shows how hockey is a lot more than "working harder" than the other team – lots of strategy discussed:

Gaustad didn't fare well against Lucic, but kudos to him for stepping up. I guarantee his teammates appreciated it. Don't have to win the fights (especially against tougher players) to stand up for each other.