Hype for February 11, 2010

Luckily for the Pittsburgh Penguins on a night they were outplayed by the New York Islanders for some lengthy stretches, Evgeni Malkin knows what to do when the puck finds his stick.

Malkin took advantage of a couple of favourable bounces to score a goal and set up one of Chris Kunitz's two goals and the Penguins bounced back from a pair of road losses to beat the slumping Islanders 3-1 on Wednesday night.

There was a time earlier this season when the Philadelphia Flyers knew a two-goal deficit was tantamount to a loss.

Not anymore, and certainly not against the New Jersey Devils. Simon Gagne scored at 3:27 of overtime and the Flyers rallied from a two-goal deficit against New Jersey for the second time in three days for a 3-2 victory Wednesday night.

It may be too late to get the Columbus Blue Jackets back in the playoff chase, but Steve Mason has suddenly solved his problems.

Mason made 40 saves for his second shutout in three games since a coaching change and the Blue Jackets beat San Jose 3-0 on Wednesday night, ending the Sharks' road winning streak at nine games.

After blowing a three-goal lead in the third period against the NHL's hottest team, it would have been easy for the Montreal Canadiens to fold.

Instead, they did the exact opposite.

Washington tied the game with 19 seconds left in regulation, but Tomas Plekanec scored his second of the night at 4:52 of overtime as the Canadiens halted the Capitals' 14-game winning streak with a 6-5 victory Wednesday.

Rangers leading scorer Marian Gaborik missed New York's game against Nashville on Wednesday night because of a cut on his right leg caused by the skate of teammate Henrik Lundqvist one day earlier in practice.

Gaborik, who has a team-high 35 goals and 69 points, was ruled out by Rangers coach John Tortorella about two hours before game time. Gaborik was injured Tuesday during a breakaway drill when he tried to jump over Lundqvist, but collided with the goalie.

The Anaheim Ducks won't play at home for the next three weeks, which makes the Olympic break a terrible inconvenience for a team that hasn't lost at Honda Center since the first week in December.

Todd Marchant scored the go-ahead goal with 11:39 left, and the Ducks beat Edmonton 3-2 on Wednesday night to set a franchise record with their 11th straight home victory and extend the Oilers' club-record road winless streak to 11 games.

Wayne Gretzky made an appearance on the eve of the Vancouver Games and added to the growing speculation he might be given a significant role in the opening ceremonies.

The Great One avoided a swarm of reporters after speaking briefly at a promotional event for one of his sponsors Wednesday, twice slipping out side exits rather than facing questions ahead of the Olympics. There are rumours he could be involved in Friday's opening ceremonies at B.C. Place perhaps as the final torchbearer and Gretzky did little to squelch that talk by aggressively ducking the media.

Sweden's Peter Forsberg is ready to begin his pursuit of his third Olympic gold medal.

According to the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet, the two-time Stanley Cup champion will be on the plane Thursday for Vancouver and will play for Sweden.