NHL Minute: 1/31/13

A battle in Canada's capital, an upset over an undefeated team, a youthful rising and Roberto Luongo. All this and more in Thursday's NHL Minute.

WEDNESDAY'S RESULTS

• Montreal Canadiens 1, Ottawa Senators 5  - The Senators dominated an unproven Canadiens team that was resting starting netminder Carey Price, so this win is no big deal. Ottawa scored three goals in a span of 3:35 to blow the game open in the second period, while the curiously unbeatable Sens goaltender Craig Anderson stopped 31 of 32 shots.
• Chicago Blackhawks 2, Minnesota Wild 3 (S/O) - In the upset of the night, Minnesota handed Chicago its first loss of the season. After allowing two goals in the first seven minutes, the Wild pulled goalie Josh Harding for normal starter Niklas Backstrom, who came in and stopped all 28 shots he faced.  Backstrom really had to win the game for his Wild teammates, who also played on Tuesday night and were severely dominated by a fresher Blackhawks team in this game's later stretches. 
• Edmonton Oilers 2, Phoenix Coyotes 1 (S/O) - After the Oilers blew Devan Dubnyk's shutout bid with just 19 seconds remaining, young stud Neil Yakupov (4) scored the game-winner on a rare power-play opportunity in overtime to give Edmonton the victory. As suggested in Wednesday's NHL Minute, the Oilers will beat you if you fall into penalty trouble, and they proved that once again in the desert. Edmonton is going to be sore after this tough game; they were outhit by a physical Coyotes team 44-24.
• Colorado Avalanche 0, Vancouver Canucks 3 - Colorado has had a tough time finding goals since Gabriel Landeskog went down, and it didn't help that they had to face a goaltender with something to prove on Wednesday night. Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo, the focal point of daily trade rumors, earned a shutout with a decent performance. Luongo made a big save when he had to (go to 3:27 in YouTube clip), and Vancouver head coach Alain Vigneault must now decide if he wants to stick with the momentum-gaining Luongo or go back to Corey Schneider for Friday night's tilt against Chicago. Both goalies have been playing okay, but a strong showing by Luongo against a top-tier team like Chicago would dramatically increase his trade value and could be worth the risk.

THURSDAY'S SCHEDULE

• Buffalo Sabres (2-3-1) at Boston Bruins (5-0-1) - (4 PT) - The Bruins, still undefeated in regulation, host a Sabres team that can't rely on anyone to score on a consistent basis.
• Washington Capitals (1-4-1) at Toronto Maple Leafs (3-3) - (4 PT) - In part two of Toronto's quest for playoff-contention legitimacy this week, the Maple Leafs have to hold Ovechkin scoreless to win. It's a simple gameplan but it works.
• New York Islanders (3-2-1) at New Jersey Devils (3-0-2) - (4 PT) - After the Islanders surprisingly took care of Pittsburgh Tuesday night, they have a chance to prove they're the real deal if they play well against the Devils. New York will have to once again play fast, turnover-free hockey to beat a balanced and fairly disciplined Devils team.
• Pittsburgh Penguins (3-3) at New York Rangers (3-3) - (4 PT) - After the Penguins were shut down by said Islanders team, they get a chance to redeem themselves against an up-and-down Rangers team that has lacked scoring from Rick Nash and Brad Richards and are now without Ryan Callahan for two weeks (shoulder).
• St. Louis Blues (5-1) at Columbus Blue Jackets (2-4-1) - (4 PT) - St. Louis better win this game.
• Winnipeg Jets (3-2-1) at Florida Panthers (1-5) - (4:30 PT) - This is Florida's best chance to win a game in a while, but Winnipeg would really have to have some defensive lapses for the Panthers to emerge victorious.
• Colorado Avalanche (2-4) at Calgary Flames (1-2-1) - (6 PT) - If Calgary goalie Miikka Kiprusoff has even a "just okay" kind of game the Flames should win. Colorado is missing three of their top six forwards to injury and is going to have trouble on offense against Calgary's defense-first play style.
• Nashville Predators (1-2-3) at Los Angeles Kings (2-2-1) - (7:30 PT) - The Predators have been a boring team to watch and the Kings have been hurting for wins. Don't bother.
• Edmonton Oilers (4-2) at San Jose Sharks (6-0) - (7:30 PT) - The Sharks have a perfect rebound situation following Tuesday's disaster victory over Anaheim. Unless Edmonton's youthful legs can power through another game after last nights bruiser in Phoenix, the Sharks should have more energy than an Edmonton team that allowed six first-period goals the last time these two met. Sharks defenseman Dan Boyle (flu) might not be ready to go, but puck mover Jason Demers (wrist) declared himself eligible for his first game of the season.