Two Calgary players are suspended for incident

Calgary defenseman Mark Giordano was suspended for two games by the NHL Friday night for kneeing.

Flames forward Ryan Lomberg was suspended for one game as well, and head coach Bill Peters fined $10,000 in relation to the incident.

Giordano, the Flames’ captain, was assessed a minor tripping penalty after kneeing Minnesota’s Mikko Koivu Thursday night in the third period of the Flames’ 2-0 home victory.

Late in the game, Lomberg went after Matt Dumba after the Wild defenseman steamrolled Flames center Mikael Backlund.

Instigating in the final five minutes resulted in Lomberg’s automatic suspension and Peters’ fine.

Blues

Alexander Steen’s seventh goal of the season came on a powerplay at 4:56 of the second period Friday night and lifted the visiting St. Louis Blues to a 1-0 win against Winnipeg. Jake Allen shut down the high-scoring, speedy Jets with a 26save performance. Connor Hellebuyck made 25 saves in a losing effort for the Jets.

Stars

Brett Ritchie’s second goal of the season, scored at 6:26 of the third period, proved to be the winner as host Dallas beat San Jose, 3-2, Friday night. Ben Bishop was spectacular in goal for the Stars, notching 41 saves on 43 shots. Mattias Janmark and Miro Heiskanen also scored for Dallas. It was Janmark’s second goal and Heiskanen’s fifth. Evander Kane and Logan Couture scored for San Jose.

Canucks

Vancouver is already touting its rivalry with the NHL’s newest and 32nd franchise in Seattle. Of course, the teams won’t play until 2021, and the infant Seattle team still has no nickname. But the Canucks front office apparently figures it is never too early to trumpet a new rivalry.