Saturday Night's Alright For Recapping (With Music!)

Saturday Night's Alright For Recapping (With Music!)

By Zak Griffin

You know the tune:

It's Saturday, Saturday

Gotta get down on Saturday

Everybody's looking forward to Zak's writing, writing

Recappin', recappin' (Yeah)

Recappin', recappin' (Yeah)

Fun, fun, fun, fun

Looking forward to Saturday Night

Where did she go?!

Welcome to the Saturday Night Wrap-Up Musical Edition (COMPLETE WITH WAY MORE EXCLAMATION POINTS THAN EVER BEFORE!!!)! If Rebecca Black doesn't get you pumped up for some good ol' fashioned hockey recapping, than I just don't know what will. I don't want to waste anymore time, so, in the words of Li Shang from the hit Disney film Mulan right before he unleashes one of the greatest training montages in the history of cinema (Fun Fact: While the character of Li Shang was voiced by B.D. Wong, his singing vocals were performed by DONNY OSMOND in the English version, and JACKIE CHAN in the Mandarin one!!! Yeah, you read that right!). Ok. So let's get down to business!!

He trains an entire army in 3 and a half minutes!! Take that Patton!!!

Philadelphia Flyers 4 vs. Edmonton Oilers 2

CLAUDE GIROUX SCORED A GOAL!!! Sorry to all those people who made "Claude Giroux hasn't scored" websites and Twitter pages, but, let's be honest, it was a stupid idea to begin with. After 21 games (going back to last season) of scorelessness, Giroux finally buried one as the struggling Flyers defeated the even struggling...er Edmonton Oilers. I was unable to reach Claude Giroux for comment, but I'm pretty sure if I were to ask him what's next after getting that gorilla off his back he would say something like this: "Well Zak, there's always gonna be another mountain, I'm always gonna wanna make it move. Always gonna be an uphill battle and sometimes I'm gonna have to lose. And it ain't about how fast I get there, and it damn sure ain't about what's waitin' on the other side... It's The Climb."

Ottawa Senators 3 vs. Florida Panthers 2

After saying Hit the Road Jack to Kevin Dineen and his entire coaching staff on Friday, the Florida Panthers were unable to get a win in Peter Horachek's debut. While the Panthers did battle hard, they were unable to overcome a sloppy first period that saw them give up two goals 19 seconds apart. And studies have shown that giving up goals is very detrimental to winning hockey games, especially when you don't score as many. That's just good science.

Tampa Bay Lightning 3 vs. Detroit Red Wings 2 (OT)

Do you remember where you were January 12, 1994? The world was a much simpler place. I was but a tiny tot of 3 years old. The internet had not yet changed everything. Wayne Gretzky was doing his thing with the L.A. Kings, and Mariah Carey's "Hero" was number 1 on the charts. And it was this day, almost 20 years ago, that the Tampa Bay Lightning last beat the Detroit Red Wings at the Joe Louis Arena... until today! And then Teddy Purcell came along, with the strength to carry on and scored the OT winner. 

Don't lie, you're listening to it right now

Minnesota Wild 3 vs. Carolina Hurricanes 2 (SO)

As the Wild got set to go go into a shootout in North Carolina, a voice from above gave the players a nice piece of advice. The voice was goaltending coach Bob Mason, who instructed the players that Carolina goalie Justin Peters bites on fakes shots. Mikko Koivu, Zach Parise and Jason Pominville took this information and all three shooters scored as the Wild move to 10-4-4 on the year. Looks like the Minnesota Wild got by With a Little Help From Their Friends.

Columbus Blue Jackets 5 vs. New York Islanders 2

As the philosopher Eminem once said, "Should I just give up or try to live up to these expectations?" It looks like Columbus is playing up to the expectations they have of themselves. Ryan Johansen (former Portland Winterhawk) had a goal and two assists and Sergei Bobrovsky had 24 saves as the Jackets knocked off the Islanders in Columbus. Looks like Shady knows what he's talking about after all. But he did also say, "I'm the butt police and I'm looking at your rear, rear, rear" so let's not get ahead of ourselves. 

Boston Bruins 3 vs. Toronto Maple Leafs 1

We come to it at last... the great battle of our time. Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating slightly here, but this was a game most people had circled on their list of games to watch this season. Last year we saw the Leafs season come to a disastrous halt during game 7 of their series with the Bruins, and deep down we all laughed (or at least I did). Finally the Leafs got their another crack at the team that abruptly sent them home last year. What could have been a fairy-tale game ended with the Leafs to fall as falling at the hands of  Patrice Bergeron and his two third period goals. Okay, I can't think of a song that really works, so here...

St. Louis Blues 2 vs. Pittsburgh Penguins 1

The St. Louis Blues are on Fire, Fire, Fire right now. Kevin Shattenkirk's first goal of the season alongside a goal from Ryan "Don't Call Me Big Country" Reaves was enough to hold off the mighty Penguins, allowing the Blues to equal their best start in their team's history after 15 games (11-2-2). Jaroslav Halak only had to make 19 saves on the evening while his teammates did a great job shutting down Sidney Crosby and his squad of slightly less good looking men. 

Chicago Blackhawks 5 vs. Dallas Stars 2

Patrick Sharp had four assists, Corey Crawford made 31 saves and the Chicago Blackhawks were all business as usual as they casually dispatched of the not-so-feisty Dallas Stars. And Patrick Kane scored, so Nothing Else Matters.

Phoenix Coyotes 4 vs. Washington Capitals 3 (SO)

"Don't call it a comeback! We've been here for years!" I'd like to think that Dave Tippett used this as a rallying cry for the Coyotes as they channeled their inner LL Cool J en route to defeating Ovi and his band of drastically better looking men. Down 3-1 to start the third period, the Coyotes came back late, scoring two goals a minute and 40 seconds apart to even things up and send the game to overtime and an eventual shootout, where it only took two shooters to dispatch the disappointed Caps. 

Los Angeles Kings 5 vs. Vancouver Canucks 1

Hockey Poem #3 (A Limerick) By Zak Griffin

John Tortorella was mad at his players

As their measly effort did them no favours

They got beat really bad

Which made them all sad

But at least they're not the Buffalo Sabres

Well, if there are no more games then that must mean that we are done another fantastic edition of the Saturday Night Wrap-Up. I really had a fun time, and I know you did too, so we should do this again sometime. How does next Saturday sound? Yeah? It's a date. 

See y'all next Saturday and until then, keep your stick on the ice.

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Zak Griffin is a Sagittarius and an amazing dancer. Follow him on the Twitter machine at @ZakGriffin13