Thursday Morning Three-peat

Here are the top 3 stories from around the NHL last night:

1.  Southeast Shuffle continues – The Florida Panthers‘ 4-2 win over the Washington Capitals vaulted them over the Caps for first place in the Southeast Division, as the two clubs continue to switch places on almost a nightly basis.  Winning this division is vital as the second place finisher will be in danger of missing the playoffs.  Washington has been an underachieving team this season while Florida has been a surprising one.  With about 30 something games to go, one of these teams will go on a run, but which will it be?

2.  Shutout Cities  –  Southern Ontario/Northwest New York area was not a place to be if you like offensive hockey.  Henrik Lundqvist, Ryan Miller and James Reimer recorded shutouts as the New York Rangers beat the Buffalo Sabres and the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Pittsburgh Penguins in Wednesday night action.  Lundqvist and Miller both recorded shutouts in the Rangers’ 1-0 shootout win, a rarity in the NHL.  In 130 minutes of action in the two cities that are about an hour apart, there was 1 goal scored.

3. Last Second Heroics – The Los Angeles Kings eeked out a victory over the lowly Columbus Blue Jackets on Drew Doughty’s winning goal with 0.4 seconds left to give the Kings a much needed 2 points as they continue to shuffle for playoff positioning in the very  tight Western Conference.  The Kings trail the San Jose Sharks by 2 points for first in the Pacific, but more importantly it kept them 6 points ahead of the 9th place Dallas Stars for the last  couple of playoff spots.