FanHouse Dany Sabourin

Here's the good news for Detroit Red Wings backup goalie (and soon-to-be free agent) Ty Conklin: You've been a part of three of the past four Stanley Cup Finals, two of which have gone to seven games, while the other was about three inches and a tenth of a second from also seeing a winner-take-all game. And that fourth year? Eastern Conference final with the Buffalo Sabres. Not many players can say they've been a part of such history.

The bad news? He's been on the short end of the stick each and every time.

With his team mired in a two-month skid -- and crippled with injuries -- it's not a surprise that Penguins general manager Ray Shero would make a move to strengthen his squad. It's just kind of surprising that backup goalie is the position he would decide to upgrade.

That's exactly what he did on Saturday morning when the Penguins sent backup goaltender Dany Sabourin, along with prospect Ryan Stone and a fourth-round pick in 2011 to Edmonton in exchange for Mathieu Garon.

Garon, 31, has struggled this season, but is coming off a strong 2007-08 campaign where he posted a .913 save percentage for the Oilers. Both players have nearly identical numbers this season, while Garon has a stronger resume over the course of his entire career. For the Penguins, it should prove to be a solid upgrade behind Marc-Andre Fleury.

Thanks to a pair of goals from Matt Ellis, the Buffalo Sabres ended Boston's 10-game winning streak with a 4-2 victory at TD Banknorth Garden on Saturday afternoon. The loss not only snaps Boston's 10-game winning streak, it also ended a 14-game home winning streak, while also giving the Bruins their sixth regulation loss of the season.

Ellis opened the scoring for the Sabres just three minutes into regulation, while Thomas Vanek added his 26th goal of the season just two minutes later.

After Phil Kessel cut the deficit in half with his 24th goal of the season, Ellis added his second goal of the game early in the second period to score what proved to be the game-winner. Paul Gaustad added his fourth goal of the year for the Sabres, while Ryan Miller turned aside 29 shots in net.

The win for Buffalo, combined with Pittsburgh's loss to Florida, moved the Sabres into the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

The game of the night -- or so we thought -- was that monster matchup in Detroit, between the defending Stanley Cup champions, and the team that, thus far, has been the best team in the NHL this season. On paper, it looked like it was going to be an epic tilt. Possible Western Conference Finals preview, Mike Babcock vs. Todd Mclellan, teacher vs. student, etc. etc. etc. Of course, it was the second time they faced off this year, but, hey, it still looked like it was going to be awesome.

This, of course, is why the games aren't played on paper, as the Red Wings disposed of San Jose quite easily in a 6-0 romp at Joe Louis Arena. It's the Sharks' second straight loss, and the first game they've dropped in regulation in over a month.

Every week there are minor moves and stories around the National Hockey League that tend to fall through the cracks. Consider this our weekly roundup of those stories from the previous week, all wrapped up in one neat little package.

A quick look at the top goaltenders in the NHL in terms of goals against average and save percentage offers a wide variety of established No. 1's, and, surprisingly, quite a few lesser-known backups. Among the backups currently showing up among the league leaders are Florida's Craig Anderson, San Jose's Brian Boucher, Anaheim's Jonas Hiller, Pittsburgh's Dany Sabourin, and New Jersey's Scott Clemmensen. Not exactly a who's who list of the league's top netminders, yet, here they are.

Boucher, for example, is currently pacing the league with a 1.88 goals against average, and has posted a 7-1-1 record in nine starts with the Sharks, most of which came when he filled in for injured starter Evgeni Nabokov.

Down in Florida, Anderson (who may no longer be a "backup") has been taking starts away from Tomas Vokoun, and has been sensational for the Panthers, posting a 7-2-3 record in net, and a league-best .941 save percentage.

Tonight, in Newark, when the Devils take the ice against Atlantic Division rival Pittsburgh, the goaltending matchup will be Sabourin vs. Clemmensen, thanks to injuries to starters Marc-Andre Fleury and Martin Broduer.

For the first time in ten games, Petr Prucha was an active member of the New York Rangers. After being a healthy scratch in every game since early November, the Rangers decided to activate Prucha for their game against Pittsburgh, and the 26-year old forward not only skated, but scored a game-tying goal late in the third period of New York's 3-2 shootout win.

Early on, I was thinking that -- and this is all just speculation on my part, it's probably 110% opposite of the reality -- maybe the Rangers decided to dress Prucha for this game to possibly showcase him to the Penguins, who are in need of young wingers. Prucha is in desperate need of a change of scenery, and as the folks over at Penguins blog, The Confluence, pointed out this week, wingers for Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin have been a revolving door of, well -- it's been a revolving door. Let's just leave it at that. Not that Prucha, an enigma if there ever was one, would instantly solve that, but, hey, I'm just speculating here.

Anyway, Prucha jammed home a rebound off the boards behind the net with five minutes to play in the third period, while the Rangers smoked Penguins goalie Dany Sabourin on all three shootout attempts to pick up the extra point.

It's official: Sidney Crosby is on a roll. The Penguins captain netted his second career hat trick on Saturday night, helping lead Pittsburgh to a 4-1 win over New Jersey. Crosby now has 13 goals on the season, and six in his past three games.

Crosby opened the scoring just over a minute into the game, when he spun around and slipped a blind backhander behind New Jersey goalie Scott Clemmensen. He also added goals in the second and third periods, and picked up an assist on Petr Sykora's power play goal.

Crosby is now second in the NHL's scoring race with 34 points, just five behind teammate Evgeni Malkin, who picked up two assists in the win. The duo has been white-hot the past three games, combining for 17 points and dominating just about every time they've been on the ice. Right now, these two guys are from another planet.

Mike Rupp scored New Jersey's only goal of the game early in the third period, and nearly found himself in a fight with Crosby. Instead of actually dropping the gloves and taking a few swings on one another, the two just sort of wrestled along the boards and picked up coincidental minors for roughing.

What an incredible night of hockey. Let's get right to it.

The last time the Lightning and Rangers met, way back on November 6, Tampa Bay goalie Mike Smith went crazy on Rangers forward Aaron Voros, giving him a few subtle hacks to the leg, shots to the head, and various other random acts of violence. As a result, the two had a "fight" that led to Voros trying to punch Smith through his mask, and Rangers coach Tom Renney calling for the Tampa goalie to face some sort of suspension.

This time around, there was another fight involving two unlikely participants, as Rangers forward Nikolai Zherdev squared off against No. 1 overall pick, Steve Stamkos. And it was actually a pretty good showing.

Every week there are minor moves and stories around the National Hockey League that tend to fall through the cracks. Consider this our weekly roundup of those stories from the previous week, all wrapped up in one neat little package.

It didn't take Steve Downie long to leave his mark on his new team, as the feisty forward earned his first suspension as a member of the Tampa Bay Lightning organization. It probably won't be his last suspension, either.

Downie, a former first-round pick of the Flyers, was sent to Tampa Bay a couple of weeks ago, along with Steve Eminger, in exchange for Matt Carle. After playing in just six games in Norfolk, Downie was suspended for three games this past week by the American Hockey League for checking Kyle McLaren from behind.

New team. Same player.

Downie could be a useful asset to some team if he would simply use his head a little more often, and avoid taking dirty runs at players. As long as he's good for two suspensions a year (especially if they happen to be 20-game suspensions) and is a 5-minute major waiting to happen every time he steps on the ice, he's not going to be of any real use to any team, regardless of how talented he may be.

Since I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon, I'd say the Flyers made themselves a fantastic trade, regardless of whether or not Carle fulfills expectations.

While the Penguins offense was still shaking off some early season rust, goalie Marc-Andre Fleury was, essentially, carrying the team on his back, continuing to establish himself as one of the premier young netminders in the National Hockey League.

During Pittsburgh's 5-2 win over Buffalo on Saturday night, the 23-year old Fleury suffered some sort of "lower body injury" and did not start in the teams 2-1 shootout loss against Minnesota on Tuesday. And he's not with the team in Atlanta for tonight's game against the Thrashers, as reported by Shelly Anderson of the Post-Gazette. The Penguins maintain that the injury is not serious, but there's a chance he could miss Saturday's game against Vancouver, as well.

In his place, the Penguins will be turning to backup goalie Dany Sabourin, with John Curry backing him up.

Fleury missed an extended period of time last season with the dreaded high-ankle sprain, which the Penguins were able to survive thanks to an unexpected emergence by then-backup Ty Conklin, who proceeded to stand on his head seemingly every night. It's doubtful Sabourin could duplicate such a feat, so it's crucial that Fleury remain healthy this season for the Penguins to make any sort of serious run for the Stanley Cup.