Florida v Pittsburgh 1-3 - The Pittsburgh
Penguins earned a victory Friday night. They're hoping they
didn't suffer a devastating loss in the process. Matt
Niskanen and Dustin
Jeffrey had third-period goals as the Penguins beat the Florida
Panthers 3-1. But Pittsburgh star Evgeni
Malkin wasn't around to celebrate the win, he left the ice after
crashing into the boards early in the third period. There was no
immediate update on his condition, although he did skate off the ice
under his own power after lying on the ice for more than a minute.
Niskanen broke a 1-1 tie about three minutes after Malkin left the
game with a goal at 7:49. Niskanen one-timed a pass from Kris
Letang while he stood just to the left of the center point not
long after a Penguins power play had expired. His slap shot beat
Panthers rookie goalie Jacob
Markstrom high to the glove side for his second goal in as many
games. Jeffrey, a healthy scratch for nine of the previous 10 games,
added an insurance goal with 4:45 left when he finished a nifty setup
from Matt
Cooke for his first of the season. Chris
Kunitz scored earlier in the game and Marc-Andre
Fleury made 22 saves for Pittsburgh, which rebounded from a home
loss to the rival Philadelphia Flyers two days earlier to win for the
fourth time in five games. Mike
Weaver scored for the first time in more than two years and
Markstrom was sharp in making his first NHL start of the season for
Florida, which was outshot 40-23 in losing its eighth consecutive
visit to Pittsburgh. The Panthers' 5-2 win at Philadelphia on
Thursday remains their only victory in their past seven games, but
the loss to the Penguins was only Florida's second in regulation in
its past six. The game was scoreless until Weaver scored his first
goal since Jan. 25, 2011. The veteran defenseman recorded his fifth
point in the past four games when his shot from the point made it
through Fleury at 8:25 of the second period. Rookie Jonathan
Huberdeau provided a screen, and the 19-year-old initially was
credited with getting a piece of Weaver's shot. What would have been
his NHL rookie-best ninth goal, and third in a 24-hour span, was
changed to Weaver during the second intermission. The Panthers came
in having lost only once in regulation all season after scoring
first, but Kunitz tied the game 2:16 after Weaver's goal. Kunitz, who
has 16 points in 11 February games, was rewarded after repeatedly
poking at a loose puck while he stood among a scrum in the slot,
taking an elbow from Weaver after the puck crossed the goal line. The
tally extended Pittsburgh's streak of consecutive games with a
power-play goal to 10. Fleury won his fourth consecutive start to
move into a tie for the League lead in victories with nine. The
Penguins (12-6-0) tied the New Jersey Devils and Montreal Canadiens
atop the Eastern Conference standings with 24 points. Markstrom, one
of the Panthers' top prospects, was recalled from the organization's
American Hockey League affiliate earlier this week. The 23-year-old
was under siege for much of the game, the Penguins held a heavy
advantage in attack-zone time and puck possession, and had a
season-high for shots, but he kept Florida in the game. Among
Markstrom's better saves were a glove stop on Brandon
Sutter's backhander during a power play midway through the first
period and denying a Kunitz rebound attempt during a 3-on-2 with
about 3 1/2 minutes to play in the second. The Penguins, who improved
to 19-2-1 at home against Southeast Division teams over the past
three seasons, have won 16 of their past 21 against the Panthers.
Malkin and Letang each extended point streaks to four games, but
Crosby was held scoreless for only the fifth time this season.
Pittsburgh improved to 11-1-0 when scoring three or more goals and
9-0-0 when allowing two or fewer. The Penguins also lead the NHL with
42 points from their defensemen and are tops in the Eastern
Conference with 60 goals; Malkin has had a hand in more than
one-third of those.
Vancouver v Nashville 1-0 - The Vancouver
Canucks beat the Nashville
Predators at their own game. The Canucks out-defended the NHL's
stingiest defense in their own building on Friday night, limiting the
Predators to just 10 shots after the first period. Fourth-liner Dale
Weise scored midway through the third period and Roberto
Luongo finished with 23 saves as the Canucks left Bridgestone
Arena with a 1-0 victory. The Predators win by playing shutdown
defense in front of All-Star goaltender Pekka
Rinne. Neither team scored until Maxim
Lapierre circled the net, came out into the lower right circle
and fired a shot that hit Rinne's pads. The rebound came right to
Weise, who ripped it into the open left side at 9:14 of the final
period for his first goal of the season and just the fifth of his NHL
career. Luongo stopped 13 shots in the opening period, but spent
large chunks of the last two periods without a lot to do as the
Canucks stifled the Predators at every opportunity to win for the
second time in as many nights. Cory
Schneider was in goal for Thursday's 4-3 win at Dallas, which
ended Vancouver's three-game losing streak. The shutout was the
second of the season for Luongo and the 62nd of his career, second
among active goaltenders to New Jersey's Martin Brodeur, who has 120.
Rinne finished with 23 saves in a game that saw few scoring
opportunities for either team. Luongo was a lot busier than Rinne in
the first 20 minutes as the Predators outshot Vancouver 13-3. He made
an excellent save on a right-point blast through traffic by Shea
Weber midway through the period and stopped four shots during a
late power play, including a jam try by Patric
Hornqvist after a save on Martin
Erat's close-in opportunity. But the Canucks got their legs under
them in the second period and began to get the better of the play,
though they outshot the Predators just 9-5. Rinne was tested for the
first time 6:13 into the middle period when he moved out to the top
of the crease to take Jannik
Hansen's 30-foot blast in the midsection after Hansen took the
puck away from Colin
Wilson in the Nashville zone. Rinne also denied the Sedin twins
in quick succession with 8:40 left in the period, denying Daniel's
short backhander and stopping Henrik on the rebound. After Weise's
goal put Vancouver ahead, Wilson had the Predators' best chance with
6:49 remaining when he was left alone in the slot, but he fired over
the net. Nashville also had a late power play when Alexandre
Burrows was called for slashing with 2:13 left but didn't get a
shot on goal despite pulling Rinne to get a 6-on-4 skating advantage.
Mike Fisher
had a chance in the slot with just under a minute left but fired
high. Vancouver defenseman Kevin
Bieksa left the game in the second period with a lower-body
injury and did not return. He played 9:31 and had two shots on goal.
San Jose v Chicago 1-2 - Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville didn't have to
sense that his team was in the moment late in the third period Friday
night. He could see it and he could hear it. No team is feeling
better than the Blackhawks these days. They are the best team in the
National Hockey League through the first one-third of the season, and
they have a shiny new mark to show for it. Chicago's come-from-behind
2-1 win against the San
Jose Sharks at United Center means they are the first team in the
history of the NHL to start the season with at least one point in 17
consecutive games. Rookie left wing Brandon
Saad, the youngest player on the Blackhawks at 20 years old,
scored his first career shorthanded goal early in the third period to
provide the difference. Viktor
Stalberg scored late in the second period on a bad-angle shot
that went in off of Sharks goalie Antti
Niemi and Ray
Emery made 26 saves for his fourth win in as many games and
seventh win in as many starts this season. The Blackhawks are 14-0-3
and haven't lost a regular-season game in regulation since March 25,
2012, a streak of 23 games. The longest previous streak to start a
season with a point was 16 by the 2006-07 Anaheim Ducks, who were
12-0-4 before losing to Calgary. They went on to win the Stanley Cup.
Chicago equaled Anaheim's mark earlier this week by beating Vancouver
4-3 in a shootout. The Hawks, who have won four in a row, came back
from a 1-0 deficit Friday to make the mark their own. They have an
opportunity to build on it Sunday against the Columbus Blue Jackets,
a team they beat 3-2 earlier this season. The Blackhawks have won 10
games in regulation, including three against the Sharks by a combined
score of 11-5. They have also won twice in overtime and twice in the
shootout. The only three blemishes on their record so far this season
have come in the shootout with losses to Minnesota, Vancouver and
Anaheim. San Jose, which was 7-0-1 through its first eight games, was
hoping to be the team that stopped history. Instead, the Sharks
failed to build on their 2-1 win Tuesday in St. Louis, their lone
victory this month, and lost in regulation to the Blackhawks for the
third time in the past 17 days. Patrick
Marleau gave San Jose a 1-0 lead with 14.2 seconds left the first
period, but they went 0-for-4 on the power play and gave up the
shorthanded winner to Saad. San Jose defenseman Brent
Burns gave Saad space to carry the puck into the zone and
eventually into the left circle. Burns then backed off even more,
giving the rookie forward a shooting lane that he used to beat goalie
Antti Niemi
on the glove side 2:24 into the third period. There were still three
seconds left in Brent
Seabrook's tripping penalty. The Blackhawks are taking advantage
of just about every inch they're being given this season. They're
fourth in the League in offense (3.24 goals for per game), second in
defense (1.88 goals against per game) and third in penalty kill (87.7
percent). Their goaltending duo of Emery and Crawford, once
considered to be the team's greatest area of concern, has emerged as
one of its greatest areas of strength. Chicago's star offensive
players, Patrick
Kane, Jonathan
Toews, Marian
Hossa and Patrick
Sharp, are all contributing on the scoresheet. The Blackhawks'
defensive depth has arguably never been better and Duncan
Keith and Seabrook are again looking like one of, if not the
most, dominant pairs in the NHL.
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