Hype for January 24, 2010

Anaheim defenceman James Wisniewski has been waiting his entire five-year NHL career for an opportunity to show off his shootout skills.

That chance finally came Saturday night. Wisniewski scored in the seventh round of the tiebreaker to help the Ducks rally past the St. Louis Blues 4-3 for their eighth victory in 11 games.

Evgeni Nabokov kept the San Jose Sharks in the game long enough for his teammates to find their legs against the speedy Buffalo Sabres.

Joe Pavelski's second goal of the game broke a tie midway through the third period and Nabokov made 38 saves to lead the San Jose Sharks to their fifth straight victory, 5-2 over the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday night.

Jason Spezza pulled a Daniel Alfredsson on Saturday, and the end result was a sixth straight victory for the Ottawa Senators.

In his first game back in the lineup since mid-December, Spezza scored the game-winning goal as the Sens won 2-1, beating the Bruins in Boston for the second time in two weeks.

Montreal Canadiens part-owner Geoff Molson and former head coach Guy Carbonneau support general manager Bob Gainey's decision to release tough guy Georges Laraque.

Carbonneau, who coached Laraque before being fired last March 9, toldHockey Night in Canada host Ron MacLean on Saturday night it was time for the NHL team to part ways with Laraque.

"It's a tough way to go out for Georges but I think this situation needed to be dealt with," said Carbonneau, who joined HNIC in September.

It wasn't pretty but the Florida Panthers came away with a 2-0 victory over the lowly Maple Leafs on Saturday night.

Red-hot Tomas Vokoun recorded the shutout, turning away 39 shots.

Vokoun has six shutouts this season and 37 in his career. His last came Monday night against Atlanta, when he stopped 27 shots in a 1-0 win.

A week ago, it looked like the Montreal Canadiens' season was coming apart after losses on consecutive nights to close rivals in the NHL Eastern Conference playoff race.

But after their 6-0 thrashing of the New York Rangers on Saturday night, thanks to four points from Michael Cammalleri and 32 saves from Jaroslav Halak, it may not be time to write off the Canadiens just yet.

Roberto Luongo is making Canadian Olympic hockey coach Mike Babcock's job tougher by the day.

A superlative effort against the NHL's second-best team certainly will garner attention from Team Canada brass with the Winter Games kicking off in Vancouver in three weeks.

Luongo made 43 saves and was the beneficiary of a hot start by his Canucks teammates, who scored three times in the first period on the way to a 5-1 handling of the visiting Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday night.