Hype for December 30, 2009

Steve Ott has failed to cash in several breakaways for the Dallas Stars this season.

This time, Ott didn't miss. Ott had two goals, including a tiebreaking power-play tally off a solo rush early in the third period, and the Stars beat Chicago 5-4 on Tuesday night to end the Blackhawks' three-game winning streak. Ott skated up the middle, found open ice after splitting two defenders, and fired a wrist shot past Antti Niemi to make it 5-4 at 4:07 of the final period.

From spectator to contributor, Sabres forward Drew Stafford quickly put his benching behind him with an impressive response.

Two days after he was banished to watch in the press box as a healthy scratch, Stafford rebounded by scoring twice, including once on a penalty shot, and added an assist to help Buffalo overcome a three-goal deficit in a 4-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday night.

Bobby Ryan substantially improved his chances of making the U.S. Olympic team with a solid offensive performance against the Minnesota Wild. More importantly, he helped the Anaheim Ducks grab a critical two points in their bid to get back into playoff contention.

Ryan scored two goals and set up another by red-hot rookie Dan Sexton, leading the Ducks to a 4-2 victory on Tuesday night and helping put them within eight points of the eighth and final Western Conference seed.

Former NHL superstar Jaromir Jagr has been included on the Czech Republic's Olympic squad for February's Vancouver Games.

The 37-year-old right winger is joined by forwards Patrik Elias of the New Jersey Devils and Tomas Plekanec of the Montreal Canadians. Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman Tomas Kaberle also was selected for the 23-man squad announced by coach Vladimir Ruzicka.

Taylor Hall was a little put out that his teammates were piling up goals while he was shooting blanks at the world junior hockey championship.

So the Windsor Spitfires phenom, who is expected to go first overall in the NHL draft, took matters into his own soft hands, scoring three times as Canada blitzed Slovakia 8-2 in Saskatoon on Tuesday night for its third straight one-sided win of the tournament.

Lauri Korpikoski scored the only goal in the shootout as the Phoenix Coyotes defeated the Vancouver Canucks 3-2 on Tuesday at Jobing.com Arena.

The Coyotes forward beat Luongo with a wrist shot inside the left post for the eventual game-winning-goal

Calgary Flames goalie Miikka Kiprusoff was among 23 players named to Finland's Olympic hockey roster on Tuesday.

Kiprusoff, 33, who missed the 2006 Games due to an injury, had said earlier this season that he didn't want to participate at the 2010 Vancouver Games unless he was the No. 1 netminder for Finland. He has since retreated a bit from that stance.