Gameday 16 (Sun, 03 Feb) - Results

Pittsburgh v Washington 6-3 - For the second time Sunday afternoon the Pittsburgh Penguins had let a lead slip away, and the momentum along with it, after John Carlson's wild goal tied the game at 4:03 of the second period. Chris Kunitz and the Penguins wasted little time in responding though, as moments later Kris Letang and Kunitz scored just 37 seconds apart, sending Kunitz on the way to a four-goal game and putting Pittsburgh ahead for good in an eventual 6-3 win against the Washington Capitals at the Verizon Center. The win puts Pittsburgh just one point behind the Boston Bruins for the top spot in the Eastern Conference. Carlson's goal had seemingly turned the game on its head early in the second, when his clear from the neutral zone took a sharp bounce off glass and trickled into the net. Penguins goalie Tomas Vokoun had already left the crease to play the puck behind the goal, but instead watched the Capitals celebrate a game-tying score. Carlson, skating to the bench for a change, had his back to the net when the puck went in. The Penguins initially took the lead just 3:37 into the game when Paul Martin took the puck off a clean faceoff win by Sidney Crosby and wristed a shot from the blue line that Kunitz deflected past Washington goalie Braden Holtby. Holtby would make amends 56 seconds later by stoning Zach Boychuk twice on a breakaway. Just over half a minute later, the Capitals' Mike Green tied the game on a rising one-timer from the edge of the right faceoff circle. Pittsburgh took a 2-1 lead into the locker room after the first period courtesy of a one-timer by Deryk Engelland that slipped through a screen put on by Matt Cooke, but the Penguins wouldn't take control of the game until Letang and Kunitz scored in the second period. Kunitz scored again at 13:59 of the second to put the game out of reach and capped the victory with his fourth goal of the afternoon with just eight seconds to go in the third. During the game, the Penguins' first goal had been switched from Kunitz to Martin, leaving Kunitz with a run-of-the-mill hat trick. However, it was later changed back, giving him the first four-goal game on the road by a Penguin since Mario Lemieux did it in Montreal on Jan. 26, 1997. Mike Ribeiro scored his second goal of the season for Washington 3:33 into the final period. Vokoun finished with 21 saves on 24 shots to get the win for Pittsburgh. Holtby made 20 saves on 26 shots for the Capitals, who have lost seven of nine and remain seven points out of first place in the Southeast Division.

Ottawa v Montreal 1-2 - Carey Price was subdued in the Montreal Canadiens dressing room Sunday in spite of just having won his sixth straight start and being the backbone of a team that is arguably the biggest surprise in the NHL through the first two weeks of the season. And perhaps his attitude is a prime example of what this team learned while spiraling down towards a last place finish in the Eastern Conference last season. Goals by David Desharnais and Erik Cole in the first stood up for the Canadiens to give them sweep of their traditional pair of Super Bowl weekend matinees for the first time since 2006. Price's performance allowed him to climb to fourth in the NHL in both goals against average (1.70) and save percentage (.938). Jakob Silfverberg scored the lone goal for the Senators (5-3-1), who lost their third straight road game. The Canadiens (6-2-0) welcomed forward Max Pacioretty back to the lineup just eight days after he underwent an emergency appendectomy, a procedure that was supposed to keep him sidelined a minimum of three weeks. He made an immediate impact, picking up an assist on his first shift of the game when his shot was deflected in by Desharnais to tie the game 1-1. The Senators, already missing top center Jason Spezza, were without defenseman Sergei Gonchar for the second time in three games, with both his absences coming against the Canadiens. He sat out a 5-1 win at home against Montreal on Wednesday with an undisclosed injury, and on Sunday the Senators announced he was out with the flu. Senators goaltender Craig Anderson allowed as many as two goals for just the second time this season, and he still has not allowed a single goal after the first intermission in any of his eight games played. Price, meanwhile, had an outstanding Super Bowl weekend, starting both games and allowing just one goal in both games. But the Senators may argue that Price in fact allowed two goals on Sunday. With the Canadiens ahead 2-1 early in the third period, Senators defenseman Andre Benoit appeared to beat Price with a wrist shot from the point for his first career goal thanks to a screen by Silfverberg. But referee Brian Pochmara immediately waved the goal off, determining Silfverberg's screen was a little too good and sending him to the box for goaltender interference. Replays appeared to suggest, however, that Silfverberg made minimal contact with Price, who was outside his crease at the time. Silfverberg had opened the scoring for the Senators with his second of the season just 98 seconds into the game off a power play breakaway, only the second time in nine games this season Ottawa scored the first goal. But the Canadiens tied it up 35 seconds later on Desharnais' third goal in two games after going without one in his first six games of the season. Montreal took the lead 2-1 at 11:29 of the first period just three seconds after a power play expired. Francis Bouillon found Cole in front of the net, and the Canadiens forward had to time to wait for Anderson to go down before lifting a shot above him for his second of the season. Both teams traded chances in a second period that remained scoreless thanks to the work of the two goaltenders. Anderson's nicest stop came just before the 11-minute mark when he got across to deny Canadiens rookie Alex Galchenyuk off a rebound, and Price matched it about three minutes later when he sprawled out to get a pad on a Daniel Alfredsson chance from in tight. After the apparent Benoit goal was denied early in the third, Anderson made another incredible save on a Galchenyuk one-timer on the ensuing power play, and he got some help when Rene Bourque's slap shot just past the midway point of the third rang off the inside of the far post.

Florida v Buffalo 4-3 - The boos rained down on Brian Campbell as the Florida Panthers defenseman scored a power-play goal to give his team a 4-3 lead against the Buffalo Sabres in the third period Sunday afternoon. The Panthers hung onto the lead and came away with their first road win of the season at First Niagara Center. Florida rallied from a 3-1 deficit in the second period to pick up its first points on the road this season. Panthers forward Peter Mueller scored a goal in his fourth straight game and wing Tomas Kopecky picked up a pair of assists. Campbell spent parts of eight seasons in Buffalo and was well known for quarterbacking the Sabres' power play. He earned his fourth goal of the 2012-13 season when he crept in from the left point to wrist a shot over Sabres goaltender Ryan Miller with 10:33 left in the third period for the game winner. Kopecky slid a pass across the goal crease to Campbell, who then put it past Miller and diving defenseman Alexander Sulzer. Then came the boos. Florida scored four unanswered goals in the third period of their win over the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday. Panthers coach Kevin Dineen said that he'd like to see some more stability from his team moving forward. The Panthers opened up a four-game road trip while Sabres looked to shake off a 6-1 loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday. Florida straddled Buffalo with its fifth loss in seven games. The Sabres have earned three points during that stretch and sit at the bottom of the Northeast Division standings. Buffalo also played its third game in four days. Forwards Thomas Vanek and Cody Hodgson each scored a goal and recorded two assists for the Sabres. Vanek has eight goals and a League-leading 19 points in eight games played this season. The game was also Vanek's fourth multi-point game of the season. In his 100th NHL game, Hodgson registered his 12th career multi-point game and he matched a career-high with three points. Panthers goaltender Jose Theodore made 17 saves and Miller stopped 29 of 33 shots. Vanek opened the scoring 2:46 into the game. Pominville collected a rebound in front of the net and, with his back to Vanek, fed his linemate a no-look pass from between his legs. Vanek made no mistake as he beat Theodore with a one-timer. Pominville's assist on the goal tied him with Mike Foligno for 10th-most assists (264) in Sabres history (264) and with Alexander Mogilny for 12th-most points (444) in franchise history. The Sabres have relied on the Vanek-Hodgson-Pominville line for virtually all of its scoring this season and Ruff said that other lines need to start contributing. Florida tied the game at the 8:36 mark of the first period. Panthers center Jerred Smithson won a face off against Sabres center Tyler Ennis to the right of Miller. The puck went straight back to forward Shawn Matthias and in the blink of eye, Matthias cashed in on a slap shot from 41 feet away. The goal was the first of the season for Matthias. Heading into the game, the Sabres ranked last in the League in face-off win percentage (42.5 percent). The Panthers were fourth. On Sunday, Florida won 35 of 61 draws (57 percent). Hodgson gave Buffalo a 2-1 lead with 6:19 left in the first period. Vanek stole the puck away from Panthers defenseman Mike Weaver to the right of Theodore. Vanek stickhandled his way to the goal line and threaded a pass to the front of the net. Hodgson beat Kopecky to the pass and tapped the puck in for his fifth goal of the season. The Sabres gained a two-goal edge 3:49 into the second period. Sulzer ripped a one-time shot from the blue line past Theodore. Vanek and Hodgson picked up the assists. Sulzer has two goals in his last three games. Florida came back within one goal midway through the second period on a goal by Parros to begin the rally. Sulzer turned the puck over to forward Tyson Strachan at the blue line and it was gathered up by Florida center Stephen Weiss. Sulzer chased Weiss down the right wing and Weiss carried the puck into the Buffalo zone. Weiss then dropped a pass back to a trailing Parros. From between the face off circles, Parros took the puck to his forehand and put it behind Miller. Parros hadn't scored since Feb. 10, 2012 against the Detroit Red Wings when he was with the Anaheim Ducks. He also hadn't registered a point since that game. He described his feelings after scoring the goal as "elation." Panthers forward Peter Mueller tied the game, 4-4, with 54 seconds left in the second period. On a dump in, the puck came straight in off the end boards and right out to Panthers forward Drew Shore. On the forecheck, Shore put a shot on net that Miller kicked right to Mueller. Sunday marked Panthers defenseman Filip Kuba's 800th career NHL game. Weiss returned to the Florida lineup after missing the team's last four games with a lower-body injury. The Panthers scratched forward Jack Skille. Buffalo defenseman Andrej Sekera (lower body) and forwards Patrick Kaleta (neck) and Matt Ellis (healthy) were scratched for Buffalo.

New Jersey v NY Islanders 3-0 - The real New Jersey Devils, the ones with the tight checking, smothering defense and excellent goaltending, showed up Sunday at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. After surrendering five goals in back-to-back losses to the Islanders and Pittsburgh Penguins, the Devils shut down New York in the rematch. Johan Hedberg stopped all 22 shots he faced and Steve Bernier broke a scoreless tie with 3:54 remaining as the Devils beat the Islanders 3-0. The Devils struggled to kill penalties in Thursday's 5-4 overtime loss to the Islanders and were beaten soundly in a 5-1 loss at Pittsburgh on Saturday. Coach Peter DeBoer was happy to see his team play more like itself. The game was scoreless when Islanders defenseman Brian Strait was called for charging with 5:43 left in regulation. The Isles, the NHL's top penalty-killing team, allowed only their second man-advantage goal of the season when Bernier picked up a deflected shot to the right of Evgeni Nabokov and rifled the puck into the net with 3:54 to play. Bernier, who came into the game with one goal this season, made it 2-0 just 70 seconds later when he poked the puck into the net off Nabokov. David Clarkson added an empty-netter. The biggest change from Thursday night's game was the Devils' success on the penalty kill. The Islanders were 3-for-4 and got the overtime winner with the extra man in Newark; on Sunday, the Devils killed all seven Islanders power plays, allowing only five shots. Hedberg made his biggest stop of the game early in the third period when Islanders forward Michael Grabner stole the puck at his own blue line and raced in for a shorthanded breakaway. Grabner deked and went to his forehand, but Hedberg got his pad down to make the save. Hedberg has allowed just one goal on 50 shots in his two starts this season while backing up Martin Brodeur.