Gameday 20 (Thu, 07 Feb) - Results

Montreal v Buffalo 4-5 - Thomas Vanek continues to carry the Buffalo Sabres on his shoulders. The NHL's leading scorer jammed home his second goal of the game with 1.9 seconds remaining in regulation to tie the game, and the Sabres beat the Montreal Canadiens 5-4 in a shootout at First Niagara Center on Thursday night. Vanek has 21 points in the 10 games he's played and has a point in all but one game this season. His 10 goals also lead the NHL. With teammates Marcus Foligno, Tyler Ennis and Steve Ott all crashing the net, Vanek broke free from Canadiens center Tomas Plekanec and, as he fell to his knees, put the puck past a swarm of bodies and behind Montreal goaltender Peter Budaj. Captain Jason Pominville's goal in the top of the third round of the shootout gave the Sabres the extra point. Until Vanek's goal, it looked like the Canadiens were going to leave Buffalo with two points. Montreal took a 3-2 lead with 1:08 to play in the second period on a 5-on-3 power-play goal by defenseman P.K. Subban. The Canadiens power play deftly moved the puck around the Buffalo zone to set up Subban's go-ahead goal. Max Pacioretty fed defenseman Andrei Markov near the top of the faceoff circle, and Markov who then one-touched it over to Subban, whose one-timer knocked the water bottle off the top of the net. Subban has points in each of the four games he has played this season after re-signing with the Canadiens. The Canadiens made it 4-2 after center Tomas Plekanec beat Sabres defensemen Mike Weber and Tyler Myers to the puck and put a shot past goaltender Ryan Miller 45 seconds into the third period. Buffalo failed to convert on four power-play opportunities in the second period, including a 46-second 5-on-3 chance. The Sabres finished 1-for-7 in 11:14 of power-play time. Budaj made two big saves on Vanek in the second to help kill off that 5-on-3 shorthanded situation. Plekanec finished with two goals. Rene Bourque had two assists and Budaj made 36 saves in his second start of the season. Ennis (a goal and two assists), Foligno (two assists) and Ott (a goal and an assist) all had multi-point nights for the Sabres. Miller finished with 28 saves. Vanek also scored in the first round of the shootout. The Sabres avoided their longest regulation-losing streak since they went 0-5-0 during a stretch in January 2012. The Canadiens struck first 4:11 into the game on a goal from Plekanec. Bourque won a battle at the blue line and tapped the puck up to Plekanec, who took one stride and ripped a shot into the top corner over Miller's right shoulder. The Sabres tied the game 15 seconds on Ott's second of the season. Jochen Hecht spun around with the puck in the corner to Budaj's left and swung a pass in front to Ott, whose 20-footer trickled past Budaj and into the net. Miller stopped Bourque on a breakaway with just under 14 minutes to play in the second period to keep the score tied 1-1. Bourque, streaking out of the penalty box, failed to convert on a wrist shot from 15 feet out as Miller kicked out his right pad. Forward Brendan Gallagher gave Montreal a 2-1 lead with 7:29 to play in the second period with his fourth goal of the season. In the corner to Miller's left, forward Brandon Prust found Gallagher, who leaned into a wrist shot that beat Miller. The Sabres again tied the game on the next shift. Foligno muscled the puck through the neutral zone along the boards by the penalty boxes and hit Ennis in stride. Ennis raced in and chipped the puck past Budaj only 35 seconds after Montreal's go-ahead goal. Vanek scored 25 seconds into a four-minute power play at 7:57 of the third period to make it a 4-3 game. With teammates crashing the net, Vanek put a backhander into a virtually empty net to bring Buffalo within one goal. Montreal's Ryan White took a four-minute roughing penalty that gave the Sabres the long power play. At that point, Buffalo's power play had been 0-for-5 on the night. Ott drew White into the penalty at the end of their shift. Sabres defenseman Christian Ehrhoff returned to the lineup after missing Buffalo's previous game with a muscle strain. Defensemen Andrej Sekera (foot), Adam Pardy (healthy) and forward Matt Ellis (healthy) were scratched for Buffalo. Defensemen Tomas Kaberle (healthy) and Yannick Weber (healthy) and forward Travis Moen (lower body) were scratched for Montreal.

Tampa Bay v New Jersey 2-4 - New Jersey Devils captain Bryce Salvador is a staunch advocate of paying the price for team success. That recipe was displayed again Thursday when the Devils received goals from four different players and goalie Martin Brodeur made 17 saves in a 4-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning at Prudential Center. Perhaps most impressive was the fact New Jersey denied the League's second-best power-play unit on four chances, limiting the Lighting to two shots during those opportunities. The Devils haven't allowed a power-play goal in the past 19 times short, spanning four games. The Devils received goals from Adam Henrique, Ilya Kovalchuk, Andy Greene and Patrik Elias on the way to their third straight victory. The club will now look to take over sole possession of first place in the Atlantic Division with consecutive games against the division-leading Pittsburgh Penguins. The Devils (7-1-3, 15 points) play host to the Penguins (8-3-0, 16 points) on Saturday before traveling to Pittsburgh on Sunday. The Devils led 2-1 before putting the game away with a pair of late power-play goals. With Martin St. Louis (tripping) and Adam Hall (high-sticking) in the box, the Devils extended the lead to 3-1 when Greene used a screen by David Clarkson to wrist a shot past goalie Anders Lindback at 15:02. The goal was the second of the season for Greene, who scored once in 56 games in 2011-12. The Devils scored again during a two-man advantage, Tampa Bay coach Guy Boucher was called for abuse of an official at 13:48, when Elias flipped home his third of the season to Lindback's left at 15:16 to give New Jersey a 4-1 lead. The Lightning pulled within 4-2 at 17:45 when defenseman Matt Carle ripped a shot past Brodeur from the left circle, but New Jersey's defense closed it out in dominant fashion. The Devils equaled a season-low by yielding 19 shots to a Lightning team that averages 27.4 per game and a League-leading 4.20 goals. New Jersey snapped a 1-1 tie on Kovalchuk's second shorthanded goal of the season 17:34 into the second period. With the Lightning on their fourth power play, Kovalchuk broke in 2-on-1 with Travis Zajac against defender Sami Salo before skating into the left circle and lining a wrist shot into the far corner. The goal was Kovalchuk's third of the season and his first in seven games dating to Jan. 25. Steven Stamkos, who was celebrating his 23rd birthday on Thursday, just missed tying the game four minutes into the third when he controlled a rebound at the left post and attempted to tuck the puck past Brodeur, but his shot skittered through the crease into the far corner. The Devils, who led the League with 15 shorthanded goals and an .896 penalty-killing percentage in 2011-12, are certainly picking up where they left off this season and frustrating the opposition to no end. Tampa Bay pulled into a 1-1 tie when Nate Thompson beat Brodeur on a 20-foot wrist shot from between the circles after taking a pass from St. Louis 13:19 into the second. The Devils jumped to a 1-0 lead 3:28 into the second when Adam Henrique connected for his third of the season off a rebound. After winning a faceoff in the left circle, Henrique fed Elias, who dished to defenseman Anton Volchenkov at the left point. Volchenkov unleashed a high shot that Lindback stopped but couldn't control and Henrique was there to cash in. Both goalies were kept busy during a scoreless first period, when the Devils held an 11-8 advantage in shots. Brodeur's best save came at 7:47 when St. Louis spun away from defenders Mark Fayne and Salvador behind the Devils cage before dishing to Stamkos at the right post. Stamkos fired a quick wrist shot that Brodeur smothered with his pads. Lindback's best save came with 18 seconds remaining when rookie Stefan Matteau skated into the Lightning zone before dropping to Kovalchuk in the right circle. Kovalchuk returned the favor on a pass right back to Matteau crashing the crease, but the 6-foot-6, 210-pound Swede stood his ground. Lindback, who finished with 27 saves, was making his second straight start and the sixth in seven games. The Lightning, who have dropped three straight, travel to TD Garden to face the Boston Bruins on Saturday.

NY Islanders v NY Rangers 1-4 - J.T. Miller is solving all of the problems that have plagued the New York Rangers so far this season. OK, so that may be a bit of a stretch, but the rookie center playing in just his second career NHL game and his first at Madison Square Garden on Thursday did contribute two goals, including one on the power play, to lift the Rangers to a 4-1 victory over the New York Islanders, with his mom, grandmother and girlfriend among the 17,200 in attendance. Miller, who was called up earlier in the week and debuted on Tuesday to positive reviews from coach John Tortorella in a 3-1 loss at New Jersey, jump-started the Rangers with his first career NHL goal 89 seconds into the game and then brought life to a reeling power play with his breakaway goal late in the second period. The Rangers also got a first-period goal from Marian Gaborik, an empty-net goal from Ryan McDonagh and a pair of assists from Marc Staal. They held the Islanders to 0-for-5 on the power play and Henrik Lundqvist made 27 saves. Even with all of their struggles, including a power play that is now 4-for-37, the Rangers have won four of their last six games after a 1-3-0 start. They are 3-0-0 when scoring first. The Islanders, meanwhile, dropped their third straight since winning back-to-back games over the New Jersey Devils and Pittsburgh Penguins. They have scored only three goals in the three losses, and their power play is 0-for-19 over the span. Evgeni Nabokov, who has been in net for all three losses, stopped 21 of 24 shots Thursday. At least the Islanders may get reinforcements for Saturday's home game against Buffalo with defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky expected to join the team for practice Friday and center Josh Bailey (knee) likely to make his season debut. Miller's second of the game gave the Rangers a 3-1 lead going into the second intermission and took some pressure off their power play, which only seconds earlier gave up a shorthanded breakaway chance to Islanders forward Michael Grabner. Lundqvist stopped Grabner with a right pad save at 17:59. Miller then won the defensive zone draw, got free up the ice and received a headman pass in stride from defenseman Ryan McDonagh. He got behind Matt Martin, Marty Reasoner and Andrew MacDonald to get in alone on Nabokov, who had the puck squirt through his legs with 1:49 to play in the period. Roughly seven minutes earlier, John Tavares picked the right corner of the net with a hard shot from the right circle to get the Islanders within 2-1. However, not only did the Islanders give up the power-play goal to Miller, they were held to only five shots on goal in their five power-play chances, three of which came over the final 20:23 of the game. The return of Rangers captain Ryan Callahan certainly had something to do with the Islanders' struggles on the power play. Callahan, who missed the last three games with a shoulder injury, led all forwards and was second to Staal in shorthanded ice time with 6:28. He played more than 19 minutes and had two shots on goal plus four hits and two blocked shots. The Rangers had a 2-0 lead after the first period on goals by Miller 1:29 into the game and Gaborik with 5:56 left in the period. Miller scored his first career goal on a stick-side shot from the left circle. Islanders captain Mark Streit was too high in the zone and got caught behind Miller, who got into the zone after fellow rookie Chris Kreider chipped the puck up to him from the wall in front of the penalty boxes. Miller kicked the puck to himself to get around Islanders defenseman Brian Strait and then froze Nabokov before firing the stick-side shot past him. Constant pressure by the Rangers resulted in their second goal of the night roughly 12 1/2 minutes later. A blue-line blast from Staal popped out to Gaborik between the hash marks. Taylor Pyatt was in front of the net and Gaborik used the screen to blast a wrist shot past Nabokov's glove for a 2-0 lead.

Florida v Philadelphia 3-2 - It was only 13 days ago that the Philadelphia Flyers routed the Florida Panthers 7-1. However, that Panthers team was missing a slew of regulars, among them top-line forwards Stephen Weiss and Kris Versteeg. Now that they have a mostly healthy lineup, the difference was obvious as the Panthers skated out of Philadelphia on Thursday with a 3-2 shootout win. Jonathan Huberdeau and Peter Mueller scored in the shootout, and Jose Theodore, who made 25 saves in regulation and five more in overtime, denied Matt Read and Claude Giroux in the shootout. Jakub Voracek and Read scored in regulation for the Flyers, who saw their two-game winning streak end. After a 1-5-0 start, the Panthers have gained points in four straight games, with wins in three of the four. Weiss also came through, scoring the tying goal at 8:35 of the third period. On their fourth power play of the game, defenseman Dmitry Kulikov held a Flyers clearing attempt in the Philadelphia zone and fed the puck to Weiss. He worked a give-and-go with Tomas Fleischmann, with Weiss getting the puck back in the right faceoff circle. His quick wrist shot went under Ilya Bryzgalov's glove for Weiss' first goal of the season. Weiss also logged big ice time on a pair of third-period penalty kills that helped keep the game tied. And that's what the Panthers were missing when these teams played in Florida. Though it was almost two weeks ago, the wound still was raw. Weiss' goal came after Read put the Flyers ahead 2-1 early in the second period. Mike Knuble got the puck behind the Florida net and bulled his way out front. He jammed the puck against the post to the left of Theodore, taking three whacks at it, including one after he lifted Theodore's blocker. Read swept in and grabbed the puck and shot high over a fallen Theodore at 2:42. The goal was Read's fourth of the season, all against the Panthers. He had a hat trick in the first meeting and has six goals in six career games against Florida. The Flyers had chances before and after Weiss' goal to extend their lead, but a power play that had scored on four of its previous six chances was shut down on one chance late in the second and back-to-back opportunities in the third. Despite Bryzgalov's shootout issues he's now 3-6 in two seasons with the Flyers he had another solid game with 22 saves. His best came with 3:56 left in the period when Shawn Matthias hit the post to Bryzgalov's right. Bryzgalov knocked the puck behind his net, and Matthias grabbed it for an attempted wraparound on the far post, but the goalie was able to dive across to deny the attempt with his stick. The teams traded goals in the first period, with Florida opening the scoring on Jack Skille's first goal of the season. A healthy scratch the prior two games, Skille took a pass from Kulikov, skated into the high slot and fired a shot on net that went off Bryzgalov's stick and into the net at 10:52. The Flyers tied the game 52 seconds later on their first power play of the game. Voracek skated with the puck on the right side of the Panthers zone, carried it into the right faceoff circle and fired a shot that went off Panthers defenseman Brian Campbell. With Flyers forward Tye McGinn screening Theodore, he couldn't make the save.

Washington v Pittsburgh 2-5 - After some harsh early-season struggles during the middle 20 minutes of games, the Pittsburgh Penguins are now second to none. Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin each had a goal and two assists during Pittsburgh's five-goal second period, and the Penguins moved into the top spot in the Eastern Conference with a 5-2 win against the Washington Capitals on Thursday night. The victory was the first at home in regulation against the Capitals in almost six years for the Penguins (8-3-0), who extended the longest active winning streak in the NHL to five games. Scoreless for the first 26:59 of the game, Malkin tied it at 1-1 with a power-play tally. Less than six minutes later, Dupuis gave the Penguins the lead with the first of four Pittsburgh goals in a span of 6:49. James Neal and Matt Cooke scored 11 seconds apart during that stretch, one that continued a startling reversal of fortune for the Penguins during second periods this season. Pittsburgh was outscored 11-2 in the middle period of its first six games. In its next five, the Penguins have outscored opponents in the second by that same 11-2 margin. Washington has been outscored 19-6 in the second this season. Alex Ovechkin and Mike Ribeiro each had a goal and an assist for the Capitals, who have lost three in a row and five of six. Veteran defenseman Tom Poti did not play due to an upper-body injury for Washington, which lost in regulation in Pittsburgh for the first time since Feb. 18, 2007. The Caps had been 9-0-1 in their last 10 visits. After the game, Ovechkin was visibly agitated. Although the captain and two-time scoring champion appears to be breaking out of his personal slump, he has five points in his past five games after having only one in his first six, the losing appears to be taking its toll. The big second period was Pittsburgh's first five-goal period since the first 20 minutes of a Jan. 5, 2011, win against Tampa Bay. Incidentally, that was the final game that season that Crosby would play due to his head and neck injuries. A week prior to that, Crosby had a 25-game scoring streak snapped. He currently has at least a point in each of his past six games, his longest such streak since the 25-game run in late 2010. Crosby's goal Thursday, his fifth of the season, displayed his remarkable hand-eye coordination, he batted a puck out of mid-air into a virtually empty net at 19:38. Crosby's was the third power-play goal of the period for the Penguins. He also assisted on Malkin's tally with the extra man when he fed him a cross-ice pass 10 seconds after Karl Alzner was called for interference. Malkin was wide-open as he walked in from the left circle and fired a wrist shot that beat Michal Neuvirth high and just inside the far corner for his third of the season. Crosby added another assist 5:50 later when Dupuis finished a strong transition play for his fourth of the season. Four Pittsburgh players touched the puck in a matter of seconds as play moved from the Penguins' end all the way down to Dupuis sliding a bouncing puck through Neuvirth, causing Capitals coach Adam Oates to pull his 24-year-old goalie. First, it was a Neal power-play goal, the reigning 40-goal man's first home tally of the season, at 16:33. Cooke quickly made it 4-1 with his second, a shot immediately after Brandon Sutter cleanly won a faceoff in the left circle to him. Cooke's low wrist shot was in the net inside the right post before Holtby ever saw it. The Penguins' big period came without power-play quarterback Kris Letang. The defenseman was scratched for the first time this season due to a lower-body injury. About the only thing that went wrong for the Penguins was allowing the opponent to open the scoring for only the second time in 11 games this season. Ribeiro scored 4:12 into the contest when he beat a helmet-less Marc-Andre Fleury. Ovechkin earned an assist on the play, and he completed his first multiple-point game of the season by scoring a power-play goal with 11:26 left. But it wasn't nearly enough to avoid the Capitals dropping to an NHL-worst 2-8-1.

Calgary v Columbus 4-3 - The Calgary Flames found success in their first night without Miikka Kiprusoff. Alex Tanguay scored 1:07 into overtime, and the Flames defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets, 4-3, Thursday night at Nationwide Arena behind backup goalie Leland Irving. Tanguay converted a pass from Jarome Iginla on an odd-man rush after Columbus nearly scored moments before. Irving made 26 saves as the starter in place of Kiprusoff, who suffered a lower-body injury during the second period of a 4-1 win at Detroit on Tuesday. Irving, a 24-year-old who was the Flames' first-round pick (No. 28) in the 2006 NHL Draft, won for the second time in his nine NHL appearances. Kiprusoff has played in at least 70 games for seven straight seasons. Calgary won its second straight road game after starting the season 1-3-2, with five home games among those first six. Columbus tied the game 3-3 when Vaclav Prospal scored with 11 minutes remaining in the third period. The Blue Jackets ended regulation and started overtime on a power play but could not come through. They have lost eight of 10 since winning the opener. Lee Stempniak's power-play goal, with an assist from Irving, put the Flames ahead 3-2 at 8:33 of the third. Stempniak raced up the right-wing boards and fired a slap shot past Columbus goalie Sergei Bobrovsky. The Flames tied the game 2-2 when Mikael Backlund sent a wrist shot past Bobrovsky at 13:06 of the second period. Flames rookie Roman Cervenka scored his first NHL goal when he deflected Dennis Wideman's point shot at 4:19 of the first. The Blue Jackets responded 25 seconds after Cervenka's goal when Matt Calvert sped into the left wing circle and put a wrist shot past Irving's glove side. Columbus grabbed a 2-1 lead after some nifty triangular passing on a power play. Derrick Brassard sent a pass from right wing to Jack Johnson at the blue line. Johnson sent it back to Brassard, who hurried it to Mark Letestu on the left wing. Letestu's one-timer found a near-empty net at 9:37.

Carolina v Ottawa 3-2 - Jay Harrison helped the Carolina Hurricanes turn Cam Ward's brilliance in goal into two points. Ward made 45 saves before Harrison scored 2:19 into overtime as the Hurricanes beat the Ottawa Senators 3-2 on Thursday night at Scotiabank Place. Chad LaRose and Alexander Semin also scored for the Hurricanes, who've won five of their last seven. Erik Karlsson and Daniel Alfredsson scored for Ottawa, which has lost four in a row to the Hurricanes. Harrison crashed the net and lifted the rebound of Jordan Staal's shot past Craig Anderson to give Carolina its second win in three tries on a six-game road trip. It was the defenseman's second game-winning goal this season. Anderson was much less busy than Ward, facing only 26 shots. He appeared crestfallen as he described Harrison's winning goal. Games between these teams typically been tight. Thursday marked the seventh in a row that was decided by one goal, including the Hurricanes' 1-0 win in Raleigh last week. Carolina tied the game 2-2 with 7:34 remaining in regulation after Daniel Alfredsson was called for delay of game at 11:18. A tic-tac-toe play along the blue line saw Eric Staal pass the puck to Semin in the slot for a shot past Anderson. It was only the second power-play goal that Ottawa has given up at home this season. With the assist, Staal now has 11 points in seven games. Carolina had several quality chances in the first period, but couldn't beat Anderson. At 8:37, Eric Staal drove through the slot and fired on Anderson, who blocked the first shot. When the puck bobbled to the ice, Staal managed to get off a quick shot right in front of the net. Anderson, caught out of position, made a spectacular dive across the goalmouth and swatted the puck away with his stick. Ottawa also got some help from the crossbar on the penalty kill halfway through the period. Kyle Turris turned over the puck to Semin, and the Hurricanes' forward rang a point shot off the iron. The Senators opened the scoring late in the period. Erik Karlsson tipped home a loose puck at 18:02 after Ward denied Jakob Silfverberg but couldn't control the rebound. Ward was also busy in the second period, when Ottawa outshot Carolina 17-3. His best sequence came midway through the period when he denied Silfverberg twice with quick pad saves. Carolina tied the 1-1 at 12:59 when Drayson Bowman's long lead pass landed on the stick of LaRose, who sent a wrist shot from the top of the right circle past Anderson for his first goal of the season. Alfredsson put Ottawa back on top at 16:04. A falling Turris at the blue line managed to get the puck to the Senators' captain, who skated up the right wing and went top shelf on Ward. The Senators had been 4-0-1 at Scotiabank Place before Thursday.

Toronto v Winnipeg 3-2 - Phil Kessel finally knows what it's like to score a goal again. The four-time 30-goal scorer first of the season came with 4:08 remaining, breaking a tie and giving the Toronto Maple Leafs a 3-2 victory against the Winnipeg Jets. Alexei Ponikarovsky's holding penalty 26 seconds after Toronto had tied the game forced Winnipeg's last-place penalty kill back to work. Tyler Bozak left a drop pass just inside the Winnipeg blue line for Kessel, who moved to the top of the right circle and ripped his 100th goal as a Maple Leaf past Jets goaltender Ondrej Pavelec. Kessel's goal came 54 seconds after Toronto had tied the game at 2-2. Kessel, who scored 37 times last season, had been scoreless on a League-leading 42 shots before Thursday. Toronto improved to 6-5-0 and boosted its road record to 5-1-0. Before setting up Kessel's game-winning goal, Bozak contributed a second-period shorthanded goal to tie the game at 1-1. Matt Frattin's third-period goal erased a second Winnipeg lead. James Reimer returned to the net after a one-game break and stopped 23 shots. Reimer, a Manitoba native, won his first NHL game in his home province. The Jets (4-5-1) couldn't hold 1-0 and 2-1 leads. Andrew Ladd's goal 3:46 into the third period gave them a 2-1 edge, but Toronto tied it with 5:02 remaining when Cody Franson blasted a shot from the top of the right circle that Frattin tipped past Pavelec. An inability to hold late-game leads has plagued Winnipeg this season. Noel's frustration extended beyond his team's third-period struggles. Winnipeg's Zach Redmond also scored his first NHL goal while Tobias Enstrom extended his scoring streak to eight games with an assist on the goal. Pavelec started for the ninth time in the Jets' first 10 games and made 15 saves. Winnipeg's top line of Evander Kane, Olli Jokinen and Blake Wheeler is a collective minus-20 this season, and the power play went scoreless on four advantages. Noel indicated that changes are coming up front. The teams staged a quiet opening period in which the Jets held a 10-7 advantage in shots. Kessel had three of Toronto's shots in the opening 20 minutes, but the Maple Leafs struggled to establish any sort of sustained offensive presence. Both clubs lugged struggling penalty-killing units into MTS Centre, but both generated some offense of their own for a change. The Jets' penalty kill ranked last in the League at 62.1 percent; the Maple Leafs were 27th at 71.9 percent. After Nik Antropov's early second-period penalty put the Maple Leafs on their second power play, Bryan Little jumped on a Toronto offensive-zone turnover and started a 2-on-1 rush. Little fed a cross-ice pass from the right circle to Redmond, who snapped a high shot past Reimer at 3:32. Two nights prior, the pair had also connected when Redmond's pass set up Little's overtime goal against the Florida Panthers. Redmond also became the first player to record his first NHL goal shorthanded since Edmonton's Anton Lander did so Nov. 17, 2011. But Toronto used its own penalty kill to wipe out the Winnipeg lead at 6:21. Bozak stripped defenseman Paul Postma of the puck, broke in alone and popped a shot over Pavelec's glove. Winnipeg went ahead early in the third on Ladd's goal. Alexander Burmistrov pressured Korbinian Holzer deep inside the visitors' zone and forced a bad clear from the Toronto defenseman. The Jets worked the puck out to the left point, where Grant Clitsome pumped a hard shot that appeared to hit Toronto captain Dion Phaneuf and Ladd before ricocheting past Reimer's glove.

Detroit v St Louis 5-1 - Leave it to the guys who don't grab the headlines to help the Detroit Red Wings snap a modest losing streak, and send the suddenly slumping St. Louis Blues into a deeper hole. Two teams looking to break bad trends clashed Thursday night at Scottrade Center. Something had to give. It was the Red Wings who put a halt to a two-game slide, getting first goals of the season from Daniel Cleary, Jakub Kindl and Cory Emmerton in a 5-1 victory. Petr Mrazek, recalled earlier in the week from Grand Rapids of the American Hockey League, picked up his first win in his NHL debut by stopping 26 shots. Damien Brunner and Valtteri Filppula also scored for Detroit, with assists from Drew Miller and Jordin Tootoo, their first points of the season as well. Cleary, Emmerton, Miller and Tootoo are part of the Red Wings' third and fourth lines, respectively. For one night, the Wings' foot soldiers took the headlines away from stars Henrik Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk. The Red Wings sure made it an easy night for Mrazek, who made quite the debut after going 16-7-1 with a 2.26 goals-against average and a .916 save percentage to earn a berth on the AHL Western Conference All-Star team. The Blues, who have lost consecutive regulation home games for the first time since Feb. 22-March 1, 2011, have lost three straight regulation games for the first time under coach Ken Hitchcock, who was forthcoming with his team's recent shortcomings. Alex Pietrangelo had his second goal in as many games and has accounted for all of the Blues' scoring in the past 135:30. Brian Elliott stopped 24 shots in the loss, which came three days after the Blues were smoked 6-1 by Nashville. Cleary scored his first of the season, and the first goal by a Red Wings third- or fourth-line player this season, when he followed up his own miss, got around defenseman Kris Russell and popped home a rebound 5:14 into the game for a 1-0 lead. Kindl got his first goal and point of the season when his seemingly harmless wrister near the blue line got through a maze of bodies and past Elliott, who had no clue where the puck was, at 11:50. Pietrangelo fired into an empty side off a feed from Steen at 15:45 of the second period to cut Detroit's lead to 2-1. But the Red Wings got goals late in the period from Emmerton at 17:33 and Brunner with 56 seconds left to go up 4-1. Emmerton collected Miller's shot-pass into the slot and curled it around Elliott off a rebound. Brunner took a puck into the slot after Jonathan Ericsson's shot hit a Blues body. Filppula's breakaway goal on a 4-on-4 sequence came after Johan Franzen was booted from the game for spearing David Perron. Franzen got a five-minute major and a game misconduct; Perron received two minutes for initially boarding Franzen, who retaliated. In the ensuing sequence, with both teams down a player, the Blues lost the puck in the Red Wings zone and Filppula was off to the races, beating Elliott with 6:25 to play. As they skated off the ice, the Blues, who have been nearly unbeatable on home ice since the start of the 2011-12 season, were booed by whatever fans were left in the building.

Los Angeles v Nashville 0-3 - The Nashville Predators continue to produce a lot of points without a lot of shots. The Predators, who entered Thursday night last in the NHL with an average of 21.8 shots per game, managed only 14 against Los Angeles. But Gabriel Bourque scored in the first period and Colin Wilson had a pair of goals in the second as Nashville beat Los Angeles 3-0. Pekka Rinne stopped all 32 shots by the Kings for his first shutout of the season as Nashville (5-2-3) won its fourth in a row, a span in which they've allowed just three goals. Jonathan Quick made 11 saves for the Kings, who've lost two of three on their five-game road trip. It was the first game back at Bridgestone Arena for the Predators after a six-game road trip that included a 2-1 shootout victory at Los Angeles a week earlier. It was also the ninth time in 10 games that Nashville has been outshot. Bourque gave Rinne all the support he needed when he scored his second goal of the season, beating Quick just 2:54 into the game. He converted a feed from David Legwand to put the Kings in a quick hole and make the defending Stanley Cup champs play catch-up. After outshooting the Predators 8-7 in the opening 20 minutes, the Kings poured it on in the second period, outshooting Nashville 20-5 -- but two of the Predators' shots found the back of the net. Wilson made it 2-0 at 7:01, tapping in a feed from Kevin Klein, then added a power-play goal at 13:02 by knocking home the rebound of Shea Weber's shot. Weber, who signed a 14-year contract with the Predators during the summer, earned his first point in 11 games this season. After facing 20 shots in the second period, Rinne saw just four in the third. The Predators had great success making the Kings shoot from the perimeter and letting Rinne see the puck.

Vancouver v Minnesota 4-1 - For the better part of a week, Minnesota Wild coach Mike Yeo has sent a variety of messages to a struggling team expected to be one of the most exciting and competitive in the NHL. But after another slow start on home ice, and a rather one-sided 4-1 loss Thursday to the Vancouver Canucks, the second-year coach has to be left wondering what to do next. Prior to Monday's game at the Phoenix Coyotes, Yeo demoted struggling Devin Setoguchi and Mikael Granlund to the Wild's fourth line. Granlund was benched Thursday. In the past five days, the Wild also have called up top prospect Charlie Coyle and looked to beef up their fourth line by making a trade with the New York Rangers for bruiser Mike Rupp. Despite the messages and roster moves, the Wild played one of their flattest games of the season against the rival Canucks, who now lead them by five points in the Northwest Division. Vancouver dominated play in the opening 20 minutes, scoring a pair of goals and outshooting Minnesota 9-3, which earned the home team a trip to the dressing room with boos from the stands. The boos rained again following a quirky second period which saw the Wild play almost flawless hockey for a 10-minute stretch before a colossal meltdown in the final three minutes put the game out of reach. The Wild dominated a large portion of the frame, they erased a six-shot deficit, threatened on a pair of power plays, and had grade-A chance after grade-A chance to get on the board. Each time, Minnesota was stymied by Vancouver's Cory Schneider. The Wild finally unraveled after those power plays yielded no goals. With a faceoff in the offensive zone, the Wild's Torrey Mitchell took an interference penalty, putting the Canucks on their third power play. With 18 seconds left on the man advantage, a Vancouver scramble in front got Niklas Backstrom out of position before a bungled clearing attempt by Clayton Stoner from his knees landed the puck on Mason Raymond's stick at the left circle. His wrister labeled for the corner beat Backstrom for his fourth of the season, extending the Vancouver lead to 3-0. The goal took the life out of a Wild team that had climbed back into the game from a momentum standpoint. Less than two minutes later, Raymond hit streaking Jannik Hansen behind the Wild defense; he beat Backstrom with a snap shot, putting the lead at 4-0. Backstrom finished the final 1:08 of the second period before being pulled for Josh Harding to start the third. Vancouver jumped ahead 1-0 at the 9:18 mark as a rebound off Backstrom off a shot by Alex Burrows landed right on the stick of Daniel Sedin for his third goal of the season. Burrows' shot from the bottom of the right circle was steered away by Backstrom, but Sedin was crashing through the slot and beat Parise to the top of the crease, slamming home the second chance. Three minutes later, Parise committed a roughing penalty to put the Canucks on the power play. As the man advantage expired, a shot from the left half wall by Maxim Lapierre was tipped on the doorstep by Chris Higgins and past Backstrom at 14:31. The goal was Higgins' first of the season. The lone bright spot for Minnesota was a power-play goal by defenseman Tom Gilbert at 7:25 of the third. The tally was his third of the season, matching his 67-game total from last season in 10 contests so far in this one. Schneider was rock solid in goal, stopping 22 of 23 shots in his third victory of the season and first game action since a Jan. 27 loss to the San Jose Sharks. Minnesota, which started the season 2-0, has lost three straight and six of eight. Vancouver, which has won four games in a row, returns home to face the Calgary Flames on Saturday night. The Canucks are 6-2-2. The Wild play host to the Nashville Predators on Saturday and play at Calgary on Monday before these two teams face off again Tuesday night in Vancouver.

Chicago v Phoenix 6-2 - The pregame talk on Thursday was all about Raffi Torres and Marian Hossa. But after the opening 20 minutes between Chicago and Phoenix, the conversation had shifted to the Blackhawks' razor-sharp skill players and how Chicago is carving up the West. Patrick Kane continued to pile up points with two goals and an assist, and Patrick Sharp added three assists during Chicago's four-goal first period. They were two of five Blackhawks with multi-point games in a 6-2 rout of the Coyotes at Jobing.com Arena. Despite playing only two of their first 11 games on home ice, the Blackhawks are an NHL-best 9-0-2 and only getting stronger as they approach some of the best starts in NHL history. The 2006-07 Anaheim Mighty Ducks opened the season 12-0-4 and the 1984-85 Edmonton Oilers started 12-0-3 in the days of ties. Both teams went on to win the Stanley Cup. But neither of those starts came in a shortened season, or by a team playing more than 80 percent of its games on the road. The Blackhawks visit Nashville on Sunday before heading back to the United Center for their next seven games. Kane now has 18 points in 11 games, three behind Buffalo's Tomas Vanek for the League lead. Sharp whiffed on some scoring chances but now has nine assists, one behind Kane for the team lead. Viktor Stalberg, Dave Bolland, Jonathan Toews and Brian Bickell also scored for Chicago, which has scored 12 of its 38 goals in a pair of road wins against the Coyotes, the team that ousted the Blackhawks from the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs last spring. Martin Hanzal had his fifth goal of the season for Phoenix, and Torres added his first of the year with 1:25 left – but it was meaningless. The Coyotes came into the game with a 3-0-2 record in their last five games, a span in which they allowed just six non-shootout goals. Chicago had six in the first 35:08 of play. Ray Emery stopped 22 shots for the win. Phoenix goalie Mike Smith was pulled after Bickell made it 6-1, but he didn't get much help from his teammates. The Coyotes had four shots in the first period, racked up 25 penalty minutes, 12 by defenseman Keith Yandle, and gave the talent-rich Blackhawks a pair of 5-on-3 power plays to feast on, with Kane punching home goals each time. There was little question that the Blackhawks would seek out retribution against Torres for the hit that ended Hossa's season in Game 3 of the last year's Western Conference quarterfinal and earned him a 21-game suspension, only how long it would take. The answer was 2:35 into the game, about 20 seconds into Torres' first shift.Torres delivered a check near the Chicago bench and was called out by veteran Jamal Mayers as came over the boards for his first shift. Torres quickly obliged and the pair traded some good shots before tumbling to the ice. From there, the Blackhawks ramped up their play, while Coyotes lost their system, their discipline and their composure. Stalberg started the scoring at 8:17, taking a pretty Andrew Shaw feed up the slot and beating Smith to the short side under the crossbar for his third goal of the season. Then Phoenix began its parade to the penalty box. Just 39 seconds after Oliver-Ekman Larsson was sent off for interference, Derek Morris joined him for cross-checking. Smith was able to stop a point-blank bid from Sharp, but Toews slid the puck to the other post where Kane was waiting, and he extended his goal-scoring streak to four games at 14:52. Just 2:32 later, Sharp caught Kane flying into the Phoenix zone, and Kane patiently waited for a trailing Bolland steaming up the slot. Kane set up the one-timer and Bolland blew the puck past Smith to make it 3-0. Yandle drew an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty immediately after Bolland's goal and Zbynek Michalek headed to the box 34 seconds later for tripping Bolland. Sharp needed just 27 seconds of the 5-on-3 power play to find Kane across the crease for another slam dunk, giving Chicago a 4-0 lead. The Coyotes showed a bit of life when Hanzal tipped home Radim Vrbata's power-play shot 5:19 into the second period, but Chicago chased Smith with two more goals 2:16 apart to seal it. Toews made a pretty end-to-end rush, leaving both Torres and Ekman-Larsson twisted in his wake, before he beat Smith with a wrister at 12:42. Stalberg swiped the puck from an exasperated Yandle behind the Phoenix net and set up Bickell on the doorstep at 15:08 to make it 6-1.

Fri, 08 Feb - Fixtures
Anaheim @ Dallas 8.30pm ET