ITPV » of position behind his goal. Tyler Bertuzzi had a shot

Western Canadian teams are getting their lone chance to see how they stack up on their home ice against the NHL’s top team this weekend.On Thursday Authentic Nick Bjugstad Jersey , it’s the Calgary Flames‘ turn to test the Tampa Bay Lightning. For the Lightning, it’s a chance to face one of the Western Conference’s top squads.The Lightning had an eight-point advantage over four teams including the Flames entering play Wednesday night. Tampa Bay is coming off a 5-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks in a testy affair on Tuesday while the Flames were blanked 2-0 by the Stars in Dallas the same night.Article continues below ...The Lightning dropped the opener of their Western road trip 6-5 in overtime Winnipeg on X and wrap it up Saturday night in Edmonton against the Oilers in a game that will be shown nationally in Canada. They are 9-0-1 in their past 10 games.The player to watch for Tampa Bay in Calgary surprisingly is fourth-line winger Danick Martel, who replaced Ryan Callahan in the lineup in Vancouver after Callahan was scratched following warmups. Martel picked up an assist for his first point in six NHL games, but his second period hit that injured Canucks defenseman Troy Stecher made him a target for the remainder of the night.I think pretty much everyone thought I would have a bad game and just play two, three minutes, maybe one, two shifts and just feel it around and cover some shifts,” Martel told reports.“But I wanted to make a difference. I don’t have a lot of opportunities at the start of the year, so when I have some Vincent Trocheck Jersey , I have to get ready. I said the same thing the first game. I’m playing my role. I played a decent game again today for the warmup I had, so I’m proud of it.”The Lightning were tight-lipped on Callahan’s injury other than to say it was in the upper body area and that he wasn’t sure when exactly it occurred.“We hope (it’s minor),” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said.Calgary’s vaunted offence will give the Lightning a test as well. Tampa gave up 40 shots in Winnipeg and 38 in Vancouver. Tampa goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy will be trying to stop a Flames offence that has four players with 17-plus goals each – Sean Monahan (20), Elias Lindholm (17) and Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk 15 each after 35 games of the regular season.The Flames went 2-1 on their road trip but were left to bemoan an off night in Dallas that they know they can’t repeat on Thursday.“It’s a good test,” Flames captain Mark Giordano said.“We haven’t seen them yet but we know what they’ve been doing – pretty much winning every game. They are up top by five or six points. They’re a team that is one of the best if not the best in the league right now so it’s a real test. We’ve got to clean some stuff up.”David Rittich is expected to get the start in goal for Calgary. He drew praise for his efforts in Dallas. ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) Rookie defenseman Nick Seeler picked up Minnesota’s offense with a timely fight.Eric Staal and Zach Parise scored in the second period after Seeler fought Luke Witkowski, and Jason Zucker added two late goals in the Wild’s 4-1 victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday night.Devan Dubnyk made 28 saves to help Minnesota rebound from losses at Arizona and Colorado.Staal and Parise scored in a 2:57 span to erase a 1-0 deficit. The goals came not long after Seeler traded punches with Witkowski on a delayed penalty, with Seeler protecting Parise after Witkowski attempted to check the star forward.”I just thought, you know what Adrian Kempe Jersey , good time to step up,” Seeler said. ”We were down 1-0. I thought it was the right time.”Sunday was just Seeler’s 12th career NHL game. The 6-foot-2, 200-pound defenseman has just two assists thus far but has added grit to a Wild team that has needed some toughness as it jockeys for playoff positioning.Seeler’s opponent, the 6-foot-2, 210-pound Witkowski, is no stranger to NHL fights.”I think I owe him a steak dinner after that scrap,” Parise said. ”Standing up for teammates, you always appreciate that.”Seeler emerged bloodied after the brawl, which included rapid-fire punches from both players. Seeler’s teammates appreciated the effort – and responded by scoring two goals with Seeler in the penalty box.”The guys were on the bench and they’re saying http://www.officialislanders.com/authentic-adidas-mathew-barzal-jersey , `We got to go now. If we can’t get motivated for this, then we’re in trouble,”’ Wild coach Bruce Boudreau. ”It was a real opportunistic time when I think we were really flat.”Staal tied it on a power play with his team-leading 34th goal. The forward redirected Jared Spurgeon’s shot past goalie Jimmy Howard with 12:38 to play in the second.Less than three minutes later, Parise completed a tic-tac-toe passing sequence with Nino Niederreiter and Charlie Coyle to put the Wild up 2-1. Minnesota showed plenty of life in the second period after managing just four shots on goal in the first.”I think that’s a big goal in the game, especially in that one, but we can’t look back on the result,” said Detroit captain Henrik Zetterberg. ”At the beginning of the game we played well. I thought we had a good start, good first period, got the first goal and then they score two quick ones.”Zucker added a pair of goals less than a minute apart http://www.officialislanders.com/authentic-adidas-nick-leddy-jersey , including an empty-net goal with 3:38 to play. He also redirected a pass to give Minnesota some breathing room with a 3-1 lead with 4:18 remaining.Justin Abdelkader scored for Detroit off a rebound at 3:58 of the first period to open the scoring.The Red Wings had a good look at an open net and a potential tying goal midway through the third after Dubnyk was caught out of position behind his goal. Tyler Bertuzzi had a shot, but Spurgeon managed to get in front of the puck to keep it a one-goal game.”It’s an easy time for frustration to build, and there’s nothing wrong with being frustrated now and we should be,” Red Wings coach Jeff Blashill said. ”If you’re not, you probably shouldn’t be a competitor.”NOTES: Detroit has lost three in a row. … Wild F Nino Niederreiter had his 100th career assist and 200th career point on the same play Sunday. He had the second assist on Parise’s goal. … Howard is 14-4-3 against Minnesota. … Staal’s 34 goals are his most in a season since he had 40 in 2008-09 with Carolina.UP NEXTRed Wings: At Boston on Tuesday night.Wild: Host Carolina on Tuesday night.