Thursday Morning Three-peat

Here are the top three stories from the NHL on Wednesday:

1.  Elliot Extended – After his fall from grace in Ottawa and his struggles in Colorado, Brian Elliott was forced to accept a 1 year, 2 way contract over the summer to stay in the league, with the St. Louis Blues.  Well, four months after the season started, Elliott’ s numbers are among the best in the NHL, he will be returning to Ottawa as an All-Star, and yesterday he was rewarded with a 2 year contract extension worth a total of $3.6 million.  Not bad for a goalie who had been written off by many, including myself.

2. Bourque Bashing – After knocking their leading scorer Nicklas Backstrom out of action a couple of weeks ago, the Washington Capitals were not sure when they would be able to get some measure of revenge on Calgary Flames‘ forward Rene Bourque.  Well, they were given a late Christmas present when Bourque was traded to the Montreal Canadiens late last week,  setting up last night’s festivities.  It didn’t take long, as 1:15 into the game, Matt Hendricks held Bourque accountable for his actions, and they two squared off.   Credit to Bourque for standing up and accepting the challenge and faring OK in the tilt.  He didn’t hide, and he also stated that they will be facing off again multiple times this season.  I don’t think this drama is completely over.

3.  Streaking Shaw – Winger Andrew Shaw, who was undrafted until he was 20 years old, is currently making a splash early in his rookie season.  A recent call-up from the AHL to fill in for a number of injured Chicago Blackhawks players, Shaw has 5 goals and an assist in 8 games. This comes as a bit of a shock as Shaw scored 41 goals in 3 seasons in the OHL with Niagara and Owen Sound.