Hype for February 04, 2010

With all the moves Calgary has made to shake up its offence, it was a player who has been there all year that ignited the Flames on Wednesday.

Curtis Glencross broke out of a seven-game goalless drought with his first career hat trick to lead the Flames to a 4-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes on Wednesday night. "It's something I'll never forget," said Glencross, who upped his goal total to 14 on the season. "It's nice to get that feeling again."

Usually when a team scores in the final minute it has meant a loss for the Edmonton Oilers this season.

Not this time. Ryan Potulny scored the only goal of the game with just 17 seconds left on the clock as the Oilers won their second in a row, defeating the Philadelphia Flyers 1-0 Wednesday night. With Philadelphia's Darroll Powe in the penalty box, Sam Gagner sent a backhand pass to a hard-driving Potulny, who shovelled his 12th goal of the season past Flyers goaltender Leighton.

Jonas Hiller is making it easy for the Anaheim Ducks to quickly forget about traded goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere.

Hiller made a season-high 46 saves on Wednesday night in a 3-1 victory over Detroit, which extended the Ducks' home winning streak to nine games. It was Anaheim's second game since signing the 27-year-old netminder to an US$18-million, four-year contract extension and trading Giguere to Toronto the following day.

On Monday night, Hiller stopped 33 shots in a 3-0 victory at Florida. He is 11-3 with a 2.12 goals-against average and a .935 save percentage in his last 14 games, leading a surge that has put the Ducks into playoff contention after a miserable start.

The St. Louis Blues played like a much different team than the one the Chicago Blackhawks saw a month ago on the night Davis Payne took over as interim coach.

Catching the Blackhawks in their first home game since a two-week, eight-game road trip, the Blues got two goals from David Backes and scored three times in the second period to beat Chicago 3-2 Wednesday night.

Make that a perfect 10 for the Ottawa Senators.

Daniel Alfredsson scored twice in the final minute - including an empty-netter - and the Senators extended a franchise-best winning streak to 10 with a 4-2 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday night.

Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman Mike Komisarek will undergo season-ending shoulder surgery, ending his plans to represent the United States at the Vancouver Olympics.

"Our team doctors have recommended this after a determined effort to rehab the injury without surgery," Komisarek said in a statement Wednesday.

"Having this done immediately is the right thing to do for the Leafs. I am truly sorry that I will not be able to represent my country at the Olympics."

According to a report on TSN.ca, Thrashers GM Don Waddell has told Ilya Kovalchuk to expect a trade within hours to days during a meeting Wednesday.

The report suggests the Chicago Blackhawks, Boston Bruins, Philadelphia Flyers, Calgary Flames, New Jersey Devils, Los Angeles Kings and New York Rangers are among the teams interested in acquiring the Russian sniper.

The Columbus Blue Jackets have fired coach Ken Hitchcock less than two weeks before he'll step behind the bench as an assistant with Team Canada.

The NHL team made the move Wednesday, promoting assistant Claude Noel on an interim basis.