Florida (7) vs New York Islanders (5)
The Panters and Isles engaged in an offensive display forgetting about the defense on Saturday. Matt Stajan had what has to be his best offensive performance to date of his career in the WCHL. Stajan scored five times.......... YES FIVE TIMES people !! To lead his Panthers to victory, oh ya he added an assist for a season high 6 points. If the Isles hadn't scored two late markers to make the final 7-5, this game would have looked ugly. Andrej Meszaros, Phil Kessel and Ruslan Fedotenko all collected three assists nights for Florda. Roman Hamrlik (2-1-3), Brad Richards (1-2-3) and Corey Perry (0-3-3) all played a large part in New York's scoring. With the win Florida moves withing 6 points of 8th place Tampa in the East.

Anaheim (4) vs Minnesota (2)
Two goals in thirty seconds had Minnesota leading 2-1 after 40 minutes, and carrying the play out shooting Anaheim 20-13. However a three goal third period on seventeen shots by the Ducks (two on the powerplay) and Anaheim left Minnesota with the two points. Defenseman Johnny Oduya (1-2-3), and Brad Stuart (2-0-2), and forward Ryan Malone (1-2-3) lead the Ducks. Raffi Torres and Aaron Miller both scored for Minnesota. Tuukka Rask stopped 23 shots for his 21st win. Anaheim was 3 for 6 on powerplay and with the win have now won three straight.

Atlanta (1) vs Detroit (4)
Peter Olvecky had two goals to lead the home town Wings past the high potent offense of Atlanta. Lubomir Vinovsky's goal at 7:46 of the second period broke a 1-1 tie and Steve Reinprecht scored late in the third for Detroit to squash any chance of a Thrasher comeback. Jan Hejda scored the lone marker for Atlanta who lost for the first time in three contests. Evgeni Nabokov stopped 22 shots for his 26th win of the season.

NJ (9) vs Phoenix (0)
This really wasn't a contest at all. New Jersey completely and utterly embarrassed the Coyotes on their home ice (but at least the fans still went home happy on Snuggie night at the arena). A four goal first period was more than enough, the Coyotes should have been euthenized after 20 minutes as they refused to put up any resistance, being out-shot 41-10 by the Devils through the game. Tyler Bozak (2-2-4) lead the offense for New Jersey, seven Devils had two point nights, with David Perron and Niklas Hagman each chipping in a pair of goals. Dwayne Roloson had his easiest game in awhile as he turned aside all 10 shots he faced for his 3rd WCHL shut-out of the season.

St. Louis (3) vs Colorado (8)
Loui Eriksson scored a hat-trick and two assists to lead the Avalanche to a 8-3 dismantling of the Blues. Matt Cooke had a pair of goals during a five goal first period, and a host of other Avalanche players had two point nights. Ilya Bryzgalov stopped 20 shots for his 29th win. Alex Svitov had two goals and rookie Blake Evans had the other for the Blues who have dropped three of their last five games.

Edmonton (2) vs Chicago (5)
Bryce Salvadore scored a hat-trick while teammates Nick Boynton and Ryan Potulny each contributed three assists as the Blackhawks beat the Oilers 5-2. Two goals in twenty seconds in the second period was all Chicago needed to bury the Oil. Tim Thomas turned aside 17 saves for his 14th victory of the season. Ryan Clowe with a goal and Yannick Riendeau with a goal and an assist were the offense for Edmonton.

Ottawa (5) vs Toronto (4)
This edition of the Battle of Ontario was played in "The Big Smoke" otherwise known as Toronto. The Leafs started out great as they notched three in the first period on ten shots, then it was Ottawa's turn as they scored three in the second to take a 4-3 lead. Toronto tied it in the third but a very late goal by Sen's Jarkko Ruutuu with 1:21 remaining in regulation would be the winner and the Ottawa fans that had travelled down for the game errupted in celebration. Jarkko Ruutuu had (1-2-3) and Antti Miettinen (2-0-2) lead the Sens, Manny Legace came in in relief for Ottawa and was credited with the win saving 10 of the 11 shots he faced.
For the Leafs it was defenseman Wade Redden with (1-2-3) and forward Tim Jackman (1-1-2) that led the way.

Calgary (2) vs New York Rangers (1)
This tightly contested game played by two of the league's better teams was not disappointing. After a scoreless first Mike Richards scored his 19th to put the Flames on top at 7:28, but the Rangers replied just 1:05 later on a goal by Anze Kopitar, his 20th. David Clarkson would score the winner for the Flames with Ranger's Shane Doan serving a penalty for holding at 4:18 of the third and Jonas Hiller would do the rest shutting down New York, he stopped 26 shots for his 16th victory of the season. The win was somewhat bittersweet as the Flames lost both Nick Foligno (a slight sprained left ankle) for about a week and Jamie McBain (bruised left foot) is listed day-to-day afte blocking a shot.

Dallas (5) vs Washington (2)
The Stars jumped all over Washington, after surrendering the first marker, by scoring three straight to end the first 3-1 and added two more in second to blow game wide open. T.J. Oshie scored his 14th of the season on the powerplay early in third period but the game was out of reach by then. Mike Lundin had a trio of assists for the Stars while Brian Pothier, Jakub Voracek and Tore Vikingstad all had (1-1-2). Roberto Luongo won for his 23rd time this season as he stopped 24 shots. Jose Theodore surrendered 4 goals on 14 shots before being replaced by Marty Turco in the Capitals net. Oshie had an assist to go along with his goal and Anton Volchenkov had a pair of assists for the Caps.

LA (2) vs Nashville (0)
Evgeny Dadonov and Jay Bouwmeester (on powerplay) scored goals for LA while Ryan Miller stopped 27 shots to register his 18th victory and his 4th shut-out of the season. LA has won 3 straight and is now within 5 points of the eighth and final playff spot in the West. Nashville lost their third straight and is 3-7 in last ten games and are starting to see the possibility of missing the playoffs become a reality. Ondrej Pavelec stopped 26 shots in the loss.

Pittsburgh (2) vs San Jose (5)
The Sharks feasted on Penguin on Saturday night, winning easily 5-2. San Jose scored three in the first and another two in the third. The Pens had 15 extra man chances and scored on just two of them. The Sharks were 3 for 6 with the extra man. Dany Heatley scored a goal and two assists while Eric Staal added a pair of helpers for San Jose. Alex Semin and Jarret Stoll found the back of the net for Pittsburgh. Cam Ward stopped 33 shots for the win, his 34th. Pittsburgh failed to make up any ground on Conference leading Philly but San Jose seems to have gotten back on the track now with their second win in a row and are 5-5 in last ten.

Philly (2) vs Boston (5)
Philly went into Boston and took on the leagues hottest team as the Bruins had a 11 game streak going into Saturday's match. Boston evened up the season series with a 5-2 victory. Actually if not for Chris Mason's play on the night (stopping 38 shots) the game could have easily hit double digits. The Flyers were only able to fire 10 shots in the game (not period) at Craig Anderson who had an easy night for his 30th win on the season. Jeremy Williams had a pair of goals for Boston while Brendan Morrison, Chris Pronger and Colby Armstrong all had two assists for Pittsburgh. Mike Green and Scott Hartnell scored for Philly. The Flyers lead in the East shrunk to just three points with the Bruins victory.

Reporting for The WCHL Network...............
Peter Pucker