Kyle Turris

It took a dramatic finish, but the New York Islanders finally won a game on home ice during a Sunday matinee game, defeating the Ottawa Senators 3-2 in the shootout.

The Islanders got on the board early in the game when Brad Boyes scored his fifth of the year, beating Robin Lehner glove side under the crossbar. The play started when Matt Moulson received a pass from Mark Streit at the Senators blue line and fed Boyes the puck as he was flying up the slot.

Not long after Boyes' goal, Matt Martin was found banging bodies all over the ice. In fact Martin had 6 hits in just over 3 minutes of play during the first period. Senators enforcer Chris Neil took exception to Martin's physical play and challenged him to a fight, but Martin ignored his request and continued to take out Senators along the wall.

He finished with 11 hits on the night. Coming into the game, Martin was just one shy of tying Buffalo Sabres forward Steve Ott for the league lead of 94 hits.

When it rains, it pours; that has been the mantra of the New York Islanders this weekend. Yesterday the Isles let up six goals in a loss to the Boston Bruins that mathematically eliminated themselves from playoff contention. Today, they continued their struggling ways in a 5-1 loss to the Ottawa Senators, who were without both Jason Spezza and Daniel Alfredsson.

"It was pretty horrible on our part. They were missing two of their top players and we couldn't take advantage of it. The way we played, we didn't deserve to win, that's for sure," said Islanders captain Mark Streit after the game. He would be the only Islander to be credited with a goal tonight with a John Tavares pass going off of his skate and behind Senators net-minder Craig Anderson.

Last night the Phoenix Coyotes almost let one slip away, going up 3-0 on the Chicago Blackhawks before being forced into a shootout situation that saw Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Radim Vrbata and Mike Smith step up and seal the deal for a 4-3 win. Tonight, they face the Nashville Predators for the last time until March 12th, 2012, and despite their 14-9-3 record, are at least in some part conscious of the last not-too-distant time they faced off against them--a Pekka Rinne lights out night that handed them a 3-0 loss.

This is the third game in four nights for the Coyotes, and they have a date with the Detroit Red Wings to look forward to on Thursday.  The Predators have had a to...

The contract saga between Kyle Turris and the Phoenix Coyotes concluded yesterday in a two-year, $2.8M deal that will see Turris earn $1.2M this season and $1.6M the next.  Both sides spoke amicably of one another to the point where it's unclear if at some point later on this season, after enough on-ice exposure, Don Maloney will eventually grant Turris' wish of a trade. According to TSN, there are at least three teams currently interested (Ottawa, Calgary, Toronto).

Nevertheless, there is a game tonight.  The Anaheim Ducks roll into town after having won just one game out of their last ten, and the Coyotes dropped their last game against Washington.  Bot...