The Vancouver Canucks managed to sweep the home and home series against the Calgary Flames....but the second game was almost thrown away.

The Canucks twice handed away two goal leads to the Flames, once in the second, and again early in the third. Miika Kipprusoff and Roberto Luongo were uncharacteristically soft in this one, as they allowed a combined 11 goals in the match. After Calgary drew even at 4, Jarome Iginla setup a Daymond Langkow for the go ahead goal on the powerplay and appeared to have the game in hand. Minutes later, Captain Markus Naslund responded in kind to setup of Ryan Kesler for the game tying score and force the game to overtime.

Daniel and Henrik Sedin who were the heroes of the game a night ago in Calgary had been kept shotless for most of the game following their opening tallies in the first did the Flames in again last night. Daniel Sedin helped set up the play for Sami Salo to pot the game winner from the point in extra time.

The Vancouver victory gave the Canucks 39 points to take first place in the Northwest Division and vault them into third place overall in the Western Conference. The point the Flames got for reaching overtime brought them into a 4 way second place tie with Edmonton, Colorado, and Minnesota, all with 38 points. The San Jose Sharks, and Detroit Red Wings sit 4th and 5th in the West with 50, and 49 points respectively. The playoffs are still 3+months away, and we have ourselves a pretty tight race already.

Quick Shave:
The Montreal Canadiens pounded the Washington Capitals 4-1 last night. Cristobal Huet fell just shy of another shutout as Caps forward Alexander Semin scored with less than 3 minutes to play in the game. Huet made 30 saves on the night for the win. The Atlanta Thrashers keep on winning and the Pittsburgh Penguins keep on losing. Thus is the ebb and flow of the NHL. Next week these roles could be reversed. However for now, the Atlanta Thrashers took their fifth straight by defeating the Penguins 4-2 last night. The New York Islanders 'Ranger hangover' has to be for real. Every time the Islanders hand it to the Rangers, the following game, they hand a victory to their opponents. Last night, (a night removed from shutting out the Rangers), the Islanders were held scoreless by the Ottawa Senators, as they took the game 2-0, on an 18 save performance by Ray Emery. Rick DiPietro shutout streak at home ended at 156 minutes and 30 seconds. The injury bug has begun to rain in Dallas, but that hasn't seemed to slow them too much. The Dallas Stars already without Mike Modano, and Eric Lindros recently added new captain Brendan Morrow to the unable to play list. The Stars still managed to outscore the Colorado Avalanche last night for the 5-4 victory. Avs keeper Jose Theodore was yanked again, after allowing 5 goals on 22 shots....has he fallen from grace or what? The Philadelphia Flyers have now lost 10 straight games. If the Eagles don't make the playoffs this season, there will most likely be mass suicides by way of cheese steaks. The Flyers were felled last night by the Florida Panthers 3-1 on the back of a 23 save performance by Ed Belfour. Peter Forsberg returned to action for the Flyers last night, but did little to spark his team to the win column. Reports are saying that Todd Bertuzzi could be back in the lineup for the Panthers by February. He has missed most of the season following back surgery complications. The Detroit Red Wings look good. Real good. Now is the time to start resting Hasek, and looking ahead to the playoffs. Yes he is playing incredible, as last night he made 32 saves to lift the Wings to a 3-1 win over the Minnesota Wild, however.....this teams hopes rest on the fragile groin of this 41 year old (who will be 42 in a month). Start rotating in MacDonald, or Osgood, or just leave the net empty some games. And if he get's elected to the All Star game, hide his passport or lock him in his house so he can't play.

Game of the Night:
Carolina at Buffalo 7:00 PM

YEEAAAH! Can the Canes do it? Stillman's back! Ward's playing great! I think they can! Look for Patty Marleau to pot three against the Yotes tonight. Enjoy the games.

Your friend on ice,
Captain Bosh