The return of Broad and Sidebottom presaged a curious period of play with batsmen flailing desperately at bouncers of varying speed.
American Mickelson looked to be heading for the third-round lead outright after an inspired period of play on the back nine.
And Dyer forced a parried save from Barnsley stopper Luke Steele during a period of play in which they enjoyed six corners in five minutes.
But either side of tea, the spectators were treated to a dour period of play, with Amla and Ashwell Prince unwilling to up the scoring, putting on 72 in 28.2 overs before the declaration came.
As the break loomed, neither side had put together a sustained period of flowing play, and the level scoreline was a fair reflection of the game so far.
After a period of scrappy play, the Scarlets suddenly found themselves back in the game thanks to a move started by Jonathan Davies' surge into the Leinster half.
Rangers once again survived the onslaught and started to impose themselves on the Greeks but, despite a period of tidy possession play, failed to threaten Galinovic's goal.
Vanek and rookie Brian Flynn staked Buffalo to a 2-0 lead, with Vanek tallying his team-high 13th goal of the season on a second-period power play, and Flynn getting the first of his career midway through the third period.
Kunitz pushed the lead to 3-0 by the end of the period after a pair of power-play goals within a span of 3 minutes.
The home side continued to dictate things in the second period with most of the play orchestrated by the outstanding Etherington.
And in the general election itself it is by no means certain that Mr Hague's promise to rule out British membership for an arbitrary period of two parliaments will play better than Mr Blair's promise of a referendum as soon as the time is right.
For the start of the second half manager Rafael Benitez introduced Djibril Cisse and Harry Kewell, a change that saw a more ambitious approach, but the poverty of their play in the opening period gave them too much of a mountain to climb.
Having won the Volvo Masters and reached the final of the World Match Play since the qualifying period began, McGinley has every chance of becoming one of the first names to book an automatic spot.
Florida grabbed the lead during its only power play of the period.
Marian Gaborik had perhaps the Rangers' best scoring chance during Washington's lone power play of the period, but he was stuffed twice in front, and New York couldn't put in the rebound.
The momentary momentum swing, however, also left Pittsburgh without one of its key performers for a crucial power play at the start of the third period.
New Jersey had about five good chances to tie it but Lundqvist stoned them, making a great stop on David Clarkson from between the circles in the second period and stopping a couple of slap shots by Kovalchuk on a third-period power play.
David Clarkson had put New Jersey ahead with his fourth goal of the season on a power play at 8:30 of the second period.
Byfuglien's goal on the power play at 12:59 of the third period marked the first time this season the Islanders had allowed a power-play goal in 17 shorthanded situations.
Clarkson gave the Devils a 3-2 lead at 10:45 of the second period on a similar play.
MacDonald scored his second goal of the season at 6:05 of the first period on the power play.
Both candidates made an obvious play for women voters, with recent polls suggesting that group is increasingly in play after a long period of Mr. Obama had an edge.
"They aren't just going to lay down and give it to us, " said Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist, who made 23 saves in the game, including 13 in a first period that saw Washington dominate the flow of play.
Louis extended the lead to 2-0 at 8:15 of the second period with a power-play goal off a sharp pass from Teddy Purcell.
From the early minutes of the second period onward, the Rangers dominated play.
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After Leddy put the Blackhawks ahead on his 22nd birthday during a power play midway through the second period, Chicago appeared to extend its lead when Brandon Bollig scored in front of Hiller with 14:03 to play.
He then gingerly made his way to the bench and didn't play the final 11:18 of the period.
No-one should play down four incidents in such a short period of time.
Daniel Ciampini completed the rout with a power-play goal at 5:19 of the third period.
But the Bruins came out swinging early in the second period, with Patrice Bergeron collecting his own rebound after 32 seconds of play.
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