Sunday Morning Three-Peat

Here are the top three headlines from around the NHL yesterday:

1.  Gagner continues his run –  What a 60 minute period of time for the Edmonton Oilers‘ Sam Gagner.  In the final two periods on  Thurdsay against the Chicago Blackhawks he netted 8 points, and he continued his run on Saturday by adding two goals and an assist in the first period against the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday in Edmonton’s 5-4 shootout win.  Gagner also scored in the shootout to help his team earn the win.

2. Kovy nets a Gordie – Ilya Kovalchuck doesn’t scrap very often, but he showed on Saturday that he can chuck the knuckles when needed, and Brayden Schenn  found that out the hard way.  The fight, in which the Russian scored a TKO, marked Kovalchuk’s first career Gordie Howe Hat-trick, as he had already notched a goal and an assist earlier in the game to pace the New Jersey Devils to a 6-0 lead.  They eventually had to hang on to win 6-4, as the Philadelphia Flyers mounted a desperate comeback.

3.  Miller Time – Buffalo Sabres much maligned netminder Ryan Miller surrendered 3 first period goals, but he was perfect the rest of the way, and his mates came back to get a 4-3 shootout victory over the New York Islanders.  The win was Millers 235th career victory, putting him past Dominik Hasek into sole possession of first place on Buffalo’s all-time wins list.  Miller has struggled this season, but is only 29 years old and still has a ton of  great hockey ahead of him.