FanHouse JamieHeward

Sabres 5, Canadiens 1: Patrick Lalime faced 39 shots on Wednesday night and turned aside all but one in Buffalo's 5-1 thrashing of Montreal. Derek Roy and Paul Gausted each scored a pair of goals for the Sabres, as they raced out to a commanding 5-0 lead.

Lalime weathered the storm in the first period, turning aside 18 Montreal shots, until Roy started the party for Buffalo netting a power play goal at the 17:53 mark of the period.

During this morning's recap, I made mention of Tampa Bay defenseman Jamie Heward being taken off the ice on a stretcher after he was hit by Washington's Alex Ovechkin during the Capitals' 7-4 win on Thursday night. Heward suffered a concussion on the hit, and was apparently unconcious for 90 seconds as he was face-first on the ice.

As the NHL tends to do whenever there is a hit that leads to a player being knocked out cold, the league reviewed the play (shown above) and determined that no disciplinary action would be necessary. From Damian Cristodero of the Tampa Tribune:

Lightning GM Brian Lawton said Ovechkin will draw no discipline from the league. Lawton said he spoke to NHL disciplinarian Colin Campbell Friday morning, who told him the play had been reviewed and Ovechkin will not face league discipline. No penalty was called on the play. "I was told by the league it was not a targeted hit to the head," Lawton said. "In their assessment, Ovechkin never left his feet." Lawton said the league decided Heward's crouching on the play also contributed somewhat to the hit to the head. "I didn't see it that way," Lawton said, though he added, "under the explanation I was given, that was acceptable."

The NHL is, supposedly, trying to crack down on hits that target the head, and they tend to base their suspensions and/or punishments on whether or not the player on the receiving end was hurt, as was the case in this situation.

I tend to agree with the NHL's assessment in this case, as there didn't seem to be any malicious intent on the part of Ovechkin. Just an unfortunate injury on a hockey play.

What do you think, hockey fans? Should Ovechkin have been disciplined?

Pavel Datsyuk's goal (shown above) was perhaps the highlight of a great day of hockey in Chicago, and we have to give a well-deserved tip of the cap to Eric McErlain for giving us all a front row seat for the festivities and excitement around Wrigley Field.

Chicago jumped out to an early 3-1 lead after the first period, looking like it was out to send a message after Tuesday night's loss in Detroit, only to have the Red Wings roar back with five consecutive goals -- including a pair from Jiri Hudler -- to take the Winter Classic, 6-4. The Wings are now 4-0 against their original six rivals this season, while improving their record to 25-7-5.

This year's version of the classic, I thought, was far better than last season's game in Buffalo, mainly because this game wasn't played in blizzard conditions. Sure, that was exciting and awesome to look at, but it definitely hurt the on-ice play, while the ice itself was in horrible condition, resulting in multiple stoppages in play to fix massive holes. No such problems this year, just exciting hockey in a historic stadium between two classic teams wearing some awesome, awesome uniforms. Not a huge fan of the rendition of take me out to the ballgame, however. The hockey song would have been a nice touch, but, really, if that's the only negative throughout the event, well, that's a great, great thing for the sport.

Ty Conklin, playing in his third outdoor game in the NHL, stopped 33 shots in the win, while Chicago's Cristobal Huet had to be lifted early in the third period after giving up six goals on 30 shots.