Gameday 5 Results - Wed, 23 Jan

Toronto v Pittsburgh 5-2 - A day after having a talking to from Carlyle following a sluggish start to the season, van Riemsdyk had two goals and an assist Wednesday night as the Leafs ruined the Penguins' home opener, 5-2 at Consol Energy Center. Acquired in a June trade from Philadelphia, van Riemsdyk, drafted second overall by the Flyers in 2007, was held pointless over his first two games with Toronto. But Carlyle moved him onto a line with Mikhail Grabovski and Nikolai Kulemin for Wednesday's game, and the trio combined for eight points. Offensively, things turned around for him 6:48 into the second period Wednesday, when his initial shot off a pass from Kulemin bounced off of Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury's pad. Van Riemsdyk got enough of his own rebound to get the puck to trickle past the goal line. Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby picked up his first goal of the season just 29 seconds later, but van Riemsdyk gave the Leafs the lead for good with 5:26 to play in the second when he took advantage of a bad giveaway by Penguins star Evgeni Malkin, intercepting a pass from the two-time scoring champion above the left circle and wristing it high and to the glove side past Fleury. Van Riemsdyk and Kulemin assisted on Grabovski's first goal of the season 5:18 into the third. That was Toronto's fourth even-strength goal of the game; the Leafs entered the contest as the only NHL team without one yet this season. Clarke MacArthur had the Leafs' first goal, while Tyler Bozak added a power-play tally with 1:01 left. James Reimer made 28 saves for the win in what was his first start of the season. The Leafs left Pittsburgh with a quality road win against a previously undefeated team, but they also left with town with their top-line left winger injured. Joffrey Lupul sustained a broken forearm midway through the second period after being struck by a Dion Phaneuf slap shot. Malkin and Crosby each scored their first goals of the season for the Penguins, who had not trailed yet this season after winning games over the weekend at Atlantic Division rivals Philadelphia and the New York Rangers. The Penguins' power play entered the game with a 50 percent (4-for-8) conversion rate, and reigning Hart and Art Ross trophy winner Malkin scored from just above the goal line on the right wing side during Pittsburgh's second opportunity with 1:09 left in the first. Crosby's goal came on a partial breakaway off a pass by Pascal Dupuis, and the Penguins killed off three penalties over an ensuing stretch of five minutes, including 57 seconds of 5-on-3 time. It was Toronto's much-maligned 5-on-5 play that would make the difference. That, and the play of Reimer, who was beat out by Ben Scrivens as the No. 1 goalie to begin the season. But Reimer improved to 3-0-1 in his career against the high-octane Penguins. About five minutes into the second, Reimer made a handful of saves on quality chances by a makeshift line of Pittsburgh snipers Crosby, Malkin and James Neal. Ninety seconds into the third, Reimer preserved Toronto's lead when he made one of his better saves of the night, stopping Chris Kunitz from just outside the crease on the left-wing side.

Boston v NY Rangers 3-4 - John Tortorella didn't pull any punches when he came to his winless, pointless team in the days leading up to a battle with the undefeated Boston Bruins. The New York Rangers, a Stanley Cup favorite in the eyes of many, were lacking mental toughness, their coach said. The resiliency that had grown into a hallmark of a once-downtrodden franchise was absent in a pair of losses to the Bruins and Pittsburgh Penguins to open the season. On Wednesday, Marian Gaborik's third goal of the night, 27 seconds into overtime, gave the Rangers a stirring 4-3 victory against the previously unbeaten Bruins, but the brilliant breakaway tally was the product of his team's resolve in the face of adversity. Before Gaborik dashed down the ice as if he were propelled by a rocket and used an incredible display of hand-eye coordination to tap home the winner after Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask made the initial save, the Rangers had an opportunity to fold after a late lead was erased by Nathan Horton's first goal since suffering a concussion 367 days ago. The Rangers also could have deflated when their early 2-0 lead was erased by second-period goals by Brad Marchand and Milan Lucic, but Taylor Pyatt responded with a goal on the Rangers' next shift to restore the lead. When hardship struck the Rangers, for the first time this season, they answered every time. When a team is a Stanley Cup favorite like the Rangers are in most people's minds this season, an 0-3-0 start could be a reflection of a team's inability to handle those expectations. In a 82-game season, an 0-3-0 hole isn't anywhere close to the end of the world, but in a 48-game season, a stumble out of the blocks is more magnified. Rangers defenseman Marc Staal, who played his best game of the early season with an assist and three blocked shots in 23:22 of ice time, said an 0-3 start wouldn't have sounded the alarms because they were already going off before Wednesday's game. Tortorella wanted to get a spark Wednesday by uniting his three most-talented offensive players on one line, Gaborik, Brad Richards and Nash. It took 4:36 for the move to pay dividends. The play started with defenseman Michael Del Zotto making a pass from his goal line out to center ice. Richards one-touched the puck to Nash, who sped past a flat-footed Horton in the neutral zone to create a 2-on-1 with Gaborik. Nash fed the puck to Gaborik, who waited for Rask to drop down before roofing a shot that sent the water bottle into the air. Less than four minutes later, Gaborik scored a more workmanlike goal from the crease. He stashed home the rebound of a Del Zotto shot to put the Rangers ahead 2-0 in what was a dominant opening period. The Bruins turned the tables from the drop of the puck in the second period. Lucic drew a slashing penalty against Staal 18 seconds after the opening faceoff, which led to the Bruins' first power-play goal of the season. Marchand parked himself at the top of the crease and tipped a point shot from Dougie Hamilton, a 19-year-old defenseman who coach Claude Julien said was "great" in his third NHL game. Lucic made it 2-2 at 12:24 when he finished a 4-on-2 rush by digging the puck out from Henrik Lundqvist's pads and depositing a backhander into an open net. Staring at a collapse and a potential three-game losing streak on the horizon, Pyatt stepped up. Rangers center Derek Stepan corralled the puck about 50 feet from the net and snapped a wrist shot that Rask stopped. The rebound fell right to Pyatt, who chipped it past Rask to put the Rangers back on top and stem the tide of what had been a Bruins onslaught up until that point. The Rangers had a chance to ice the game early in the third period when they had a 5-on-3 power play for 1:13, but the Bruins didn't allow a shot on goal. They continued to press until Horton's shot with 4:23 remaining in regulation tested the Rangers' mettle once again. After some sustained pressure from the Bruins to start overtime, Gaborik knifed through the defense in the neutral zone and used his speed and hands to give the Rangers their first win of the season when it could've gone the other way for a third straight game.

Calgary v Vancouver 2-3 - Kassian scored with the top-line twins on Sunday to earn a regular shift there against the Flames, and responded with his best game as a Canuck. He opened the scoring with a strong individual effort 6:20 into the second period, and ended it with an even more dominant move in the shootout, getting Miikka Kiprusoff sliding to his left with a hard fake before quickly pulling the puck back the other way and tucking a backhand into the empty net. Cory Schneider, back in goal after being pulled from the season opener Saturday and watching Roberto Luongo start Sunday, then sealed Vancouver's first win by stopping Curtis Glencross. Mason Raymond also scored, while Schneider, who gave up five goals on 14 shots in his debut as the new No.1 goaltender on Saturday, finished with 34 saves through the end of overtime. Unlike Sunday's 3-2 shootout loss to Edmonton, the Canucks finished this one off, with Alex Burrows scoring in the first round and Schneider stopping four of five to preserve Vancouver's first win of the season. After dominating the first half of the second period and scoring twice while outshooting the Flames 13-1, the Canucks allowed Calgary to tie it back up before the period ended. Alex Tanguay started the comeback on a 2-on-1, and Mikael Backlund scored at the tail end of three straight power plays that included two lengthy 5-on-3s. Kiprusoff finished with 34 saves for the Flames, who remain winless under new coach Bob Hartley, but picked up their first point. There wasn't as much to like about the start. After falling behind 3-0 early in a 5-4 loss to Anaheim on Monday, Calgary made it through a slow first period between two winless division rivals with a combined eight new forward lines, but was dominated to start the second. Kassian followed up his failed wraparound with help from Calgary defenseman Mark Giordano. The Flames' defender threw the loose puck fro the wrap back to Kassian inside the right faceoff circle, the sprawled out to block his first shot, only to have the puck bounce right back to Kassian, who quickly fired it high over a stranded Kiprusoff. Raymond made it 2-0 two minutes and two shots later, beating a screened Kiprusoff over the blocker from the top off the circles. But Hartley switched up his lines soon after, reuniting Alex Tanguay and Jarome Iginla, and Tanguay sparked the comeback by looking off the Calgary captain on a 2-on-1 and firing a shot in off the far post. After failing to convert two 5-on-3 advantages, Backlund scored on the last of three-straight Canucks penalties, to Alexander Edler for concealing the puck with his glove, with a shot from between the circles off a rush feed from Iginla that beat Schneider low. It was almost enough for the Flames first win. But Schneider made a sprawled left pad save to rob Tanguay midway through overtime, his second fully extended goal-line stand of the game, with the early splits requiring a video review, and was only beaten by Tanguay in the shootout, making three game-saving stops after that.

Columbus v Phoenix 1-5 - The Blue Jackets came to Arizona at just the right time for Steve Sullivan, a free-agent signing last summer, to endear himself to his new teammates. Sullivan scored three times during a run of five unanswered goals as the Phoenix Coyotes overcame the loss of star goalie Mike Smith with a 5-1 victory, their first after two disappointing losses to start the season. It was the eighth career hat trick for Sullivan, who now has 19 goals and 48 points in 48 career games against the Blue Jackets. His last hat trick came with Nashville on Dec. 14, 2009, also against the Blue Jackets. Smith, who allowed 10 goals in the first two games, suffered a minor lower-body injury in warmups and lasted only nine minutes before giving way to backup Jason LaBarbera. LaBarbera made 21 saves, including two big ones on Vinny Prospal and Ryan Johansen in his first minute of action. It was the first win for LaBarbera, 3-9-3 last season, in 11 in decisions dating back to a victory at Carolina on Dec. 21, 2011. Defenseman Oliver-Ekman Larsson added two goals and a career-high three points for Phoenix, which won without center Martin Hanzal and defenseman Rostislav Klesla. Both sat out with lower-body injuries suffered in Sunday's loss to Chicago and are day-to-day. Defenseman Fedor Tyutin scored his first goal of the season for Columbus (1-1-1) but Phoenix outshot Columbus 42-26, forcing Steve Mason to make 37 saves in his first start of the season. LaBarbera was screened by Derek Dorsett on the only goal he allowed as Tyutin let a shot go from the point. It was the first goal of the season for Tyutin and the first time Columbus has scored the opening goal in a game this season. But the Coyotes needed just 1:57 to respond. Sullivan held the puck in the Columbus zone, chased down an Antoine Vermette pass and shoveled a backhander by Mason at 7:27 for his first goal as a Coyote. Phoenix took the lead for good less than eight minutes later. Ekman-Larsson trailed the rush, retrieved a pass that caromed off the stick of Matthew Lombardi and whipped a wrist shot past Mason to put the Coyotes ahead at 15:22. Sullivan made it 3-1 on a 5-on-3 power play, putting home a Mikkel Boedker feed from the slot with both Dorsett and Derick Brassard in the box serving tripping penalties. Sullivan closed out his big night at 10:01, deflecting a Derek Morris shot from the slot through Mason's legs to send hats flying. Ekman-Larsson added his second of the night with 4:58 to play.