-So the second period of this Canes-Devils tilt was pretty good. Each team traded a PPG a few minutes apart. The Devils grabbed the lead thanks to some hard work from Jamie Langenbrunner, Zach Parise and Travis Zajac. Langenbrunner found an on-rushing Parise for a redirect which Ward stopped but Zajac came in and backhanded it home for his fourth. The North Dakota combo of Parise and Zajac have been terrific. They have been their team’s most consistent forwards lately. So it was not surprising they’d factor in for what otherwise is a lifeless New Jersey power play. The Canes were able to tie it thanks to back-to-back Delay of Game penalties to which Eric Staal rocketed a one-timer from the point past Martin Brodeur and popping the Gatorade bottle. What a laser beam. He sure is a fun player to watch. Versus color analyst Ed Olczyk was remarking that he’d never seen two Delay of Game calls so close together. Guess he missed last night’s Stars-Canucks game where Dallas took two straight five seconds apart. In any event, the action after the two goals in this game was fast and furious. Both teams traded solid chances generated off the cycle, forcing both Canadian netminders to be good. While the play was dogged at times due to the diligent backchecking and hustle of these two teams, it was fun to watch from an intensity standpoint. These guys are really battling which should setup an intriguing third. It’s heating up!

-Oilers-Habs update: Montreal ties it on a Craig Rivet right circle blast on the power play, beating Dwayne Roloson with a perfect slapper inside the crossbar. A few minutes earlier, there was an entertaining scrap between the Edmonton goalscorer Winchester and New York native Mike Komisarek. Winchester got the better of the Montreal defenseman but kudos to Komisarek for continuing to throw’em with his jersey over his head.