Gameday 38 (Mon, 25 Feb) - Results

Toronto v Philadelphia 4-2 - Toronto Maple Leafs coach Randy Carlyle was hoping his team could heal from the "scar" of losing to the Ottawa Senators in the game's final minute Saturday. His team's effort Monday against the Philadelphia Flyers provided the perfect salve in a 4-2 victory at Wells Fargo Center. Phil Kessel, Nikolai Kulemin, Mikhail Grabovski and Jay McClement all had goals, and Nazem Kadri and Carl Gunnarsson each had a pair of assists. And after a late power-play goal allowed the Flyers to get within a goal, the team's penalty killers led the effort to earn the Leafs two points in the standings. The effort came through all three periods, but came on especially strong midway through the third period. The Leafs already had killed four Flyers power plays when James van Riemsdyk was called for a pair of minor penalties at 11:18, giving Philadelphia a four-minute advantage. Jakub Voracek, who earlier Monday had been named the NHL's First Star of the Week, scored 24 seconds into the advantage when his shot from the right faceoff circle went through a Brayden Schenn screen and past Leafs goalie Ben Scrivens. The goal extended Voracek's point-scoring streak to six games, but the Leafs allowed the Flyers just one other shot on goal. The Leafs had killed off 35 straight opposing power plays prior to Voracek's goal. And the effort from the Leafs' penalty killers certainly frustrated the Flyers, who totaled one shot on goal on their first four advantages, and were credited with just three shots on the man-advantage. Kessel gave the Maple Leafs a 1-0 lead with 2:40 left in the first period. Tyler Bozak banked a pass from the neutral zone off the wall in the Philadelphia end that Kessel grabbed ahead of Flyers defenseman Kimmo Timonen. Kessel stayed wide and beat Flyers goalie Ilya Bryzgalov with a wrist shot from the bottom of the right circle that went just inside the far post for Kessel's fourth of the season. It marked the fourth straight game and 12th time in 20 games this season they had allowed the game's first goal. Kulemin made it 2-0 with his first goal in 12 games. Gunnarsson made a long pass that Kadri one-touched across to Kulemin, who the Flyers missed coming down the right side into the Flyers' zone on a line change. Danny Briere and Brayden Schenn recovered to trip up Kulemin, but as he was falling to the ice he poked the puck over Bryzgalov's blocker at 15:02. The Flyers got on the board with 2:04 left on Hartnell's first goal of the season. Voracek made a nice backhand centering pass off the rush to Hartnell, who was driving to the net and got his stick on the puck to redirect it high over Scrivens' right shoulder and into the net. Philadelphia nearly tied the game when Flyers captain Claude Giroux got loose and beat Scrivens with a backhand shot that went behind the goaltender's head but grazed the crossbar and went wide of the net. Second later, Grabovski's sixth of the season at 7:52 put the Leafs ahead 3-1. Kadri got the puck behind the Philadelphia net and made a nice backhand pass that bounced off Grabovski and went to Clarke MacArthur in front. Bryzgalov stopped his attempt, but kicked the puck back to Grabovski, who lifted a backhander from the slot over the fallen Philadelphia netminder. The Flyers got a bit of life when van Riemsdyk was sent off for holding Braydon Coburn, then hooking Giroux. McClement closed the scoring with an empty-net goal with 12.3 seconds left, and the healing process was well underway for the Leafs.

Montreal v Ottawa 1-2 - Ben Bishop was a savior for the Ottawa Senators on Monday night. The backup goaltender made 44 saves as the Senators (12-6-2) beat the Montreal Canadiens 2-1 in a shootout at Scotiabank Place. Peter Regin scored in the fifth round of the shootout, going high on Carey Price and giving the Senators their fifth straight victory. Jakob Silfverberg and David Desharnais also scored in the shootout. Bishop, who was named the NHL's "Third Star" for the week ending on Feb. 24, is now tied with Patrick Lalime and Brian Elliott for the most saves made during a home win by the Senators. Bishop remained focused in goal throughout the night, but he also received some assistance from the iron, as the Canadiens hit three posts in the game. Dave Dziurzynski scored for the Senators in regulation, while Andrei Markov had the lone goal for the Canadiens (12-4-3), who had their three-game road streak snapped. Montreal's best chance in the first came halfway through the period. Brandon Prust shot the puck from behind the Ottawa net to Tomas Plekanec, who was parked in front of Bishop. Plekanec made a point-blank shot on Bishop, but the Senators' goaltender made the pad save. Ottawa missed a quality opportunity of its own two minutes later. Kyle Turris was going to the net when he was hauled down. Plekanec gained control of the puck and tried to make a drop pass, but it landed on Silfverberg's stick. The Swede took a wrist shot, but it was stopped by Price. Ottawa struck first in the second period, when Chris Neil's long cross-ice pass found Dziurzynski. The left winger sent a slap shot from the top of the faceoff circle, and the puck flew past Price's glove at 6:49, making the score 1-0. It was Dziurzynski's second goal of the season. Montreal would get a tremendous chance at the eight minute mark, off a 3-on-2 play from Prust, Plekanec and Brian Gionta. The trio pulled off a tic-tac-toe pass in the Senators' zone, but Bishop stood tall against Gionta's shot, making the pad save. The Canadiens finally capitalized on a late power play, after Neil was called for roughing at 18:32. Markov capitalized as he fired a rocket shot from the blue line, beating Bishop at 19:56. Max Pacioretty had an assist on the goal, giving the winger four goals and four assists in the past six games, and he leads the Canadiens with 14 points this season. After both teams went scoreless in the third period, overtime was required. Bishop was called upon again, after Turris was called for hooking 52 seconds into the extra session. Pacioretty, Markov and Desharnais peppered Bishop with shots, but the Ottawa goaltender stymied the trio. In the dying seconds, Regin flew into the Canadiens' zone and fired a shot on Price, only to hit the post. Regin was a last-minute addition to the Ottawa lineup Monday night. MacLean did not intend to play him, the Denmark native had missed the past seven games with a chest injury.

Dallas v Nashville 4-5 - Not even a four-goal second period by the opposition could stop Roman Josi on Monday night. The Nashville Predators' defenseman scored twice, including the game-winner 28 seconds into overtime, and added two assists to lead his club to a thrilling 5-4 win against the Dallas Stars at Bridgestone Arena. Josi, 22, had three points through his first 19 appearances this season. His only multi-point game of the 2011-12 season came exactly 365 days ago, when he had two assists against the San Jose Sharks on Feb. 25, 2012. Mike Fisher, Craig Smith and Patric Hornqvist also scored goals for Nashville, which snapped a two-game skid and had dropped four of its past five. The last two losses had been shutouts, and the Predators ended a scoring drought at 133:43 after threatening the franchise-worst drought that reached 176:18 on Feb. 13 in an overtime win against the Sharks. Matt Fraser and Reilly Smith scored 25 seconds apart within the first two minutes of the second, and Vernon Fiddler and Loui Eriksson added a power-play goal apiece for the Stars, who have lost three of their past four games. Michael Ryder had three assists. Fisher tied it at 8:22 of the third when he got the puck as he skated into the Nashville zone, split a pair of Stars and beat Cristopher Nilstorp with a backhander. Nashville wound up outshooting the Stars 31-24, including 11-4 in the third. Smith ended Nashville's scoring drought when he snapped a shot from in front in a relatively quiet first period. Dallas had scored at least three goals the previous nine straight games, and the Stars took a 2-1 lead as the rookie Fraser scored the first career goal on a slap shot from the left circle at 1:20. Then Smith tipped the puck over goalie Pekka Rinne's left leg at 1:45 for a 2-1 lead. Trotz immediately took his timeout, and the Predators responded when Josi tied it 2-2 with his slap shot near the blue line at 3:05. The Predators were trying to kill a holding penalty on Martin Erat when the Stars drew a delayed penalty off a high-sticking by Fisher, and Fiddler, coming on as the extra attacker, scored on a slap shot at 7:29. With Fisher drawing a double minor, the Stars' man advantage continued, and Erikkson scored with the puck redirected past Rinne by Josi at 9:21. The Predators trimmed the lead when they got 1:21 of a 5-on-3 after Eric Nystrom went to the box for fighting with a penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct. Then Fiddler got his own double minor for unsportsmanlike conduct and roughing. Nashville had only two seconds left when Hornqivst lifted a backhander over Nilstorp at 13:43 to pull the Predators within 4-3.

Edmonton v Chicago 2-3 - Not even the Edmonton Oilers and their "Bulin Wall" could keep the Chicago Blackhawks from extending their National Hockey League record points streak to start this season. The Blackhawks also got a measure of revenge against a nemesis from last season on Monday night at United Center, when Marian Hossa put home his own rebound at 1:44 of overtime to give Chicago a thrilling 3-2 victory. Despite twice blowing out the Blackhawks (16-0-3) at Rexall Place last year and getting a strong performance out of former Chicago goalie Nikolai Khabibulin (31 saves), the Oilers (7-7-4) just couldn't keep the NHL's hottest team from extending its unprecedented streak to 19 straight games of starting a season with at least a point earned in each. After rookie Brandon Saad picked up his second penalty of the game in the second, Oilers rookie Nail Yakupov put Edmonton up 2-1 with 5:33 left before the second intermission on the subsequent power play. He one-timed a pass from Sam Gagner past Ray Emery, and the goal put the Blackhawks in unfamiliar territory starting the third. Prior to this game, Chicago had only trailed after two periods in two games, going 1-0-1 in those matches. Viktor Stalberg made sure it happened just 2:24 into the third, when he tied it 2-2 by swatting home a puck thrown toward the crease by Michal Rozsival from below the goal line. It took an official video review in Toronto to confirm the puck actually slid across the goal line underneath Khabibulin, but it stood nonetheless and again brought the home crowd back to life. Kane did the same thing 5:30 into the first when he quickly tied it 1-1 by scoring his 10th goal at the tail end of the same Blackhawks power play that saw Edmonton's Jeff Petry score shorthanded at 4:28 to open the scoring. Just as they've done all season, the Blackhawks responded each time they fell behind and then found a way to get the second point in the end. That's probably the biggest key to Chicago's amazing start – the relentless way the Blackhawks seek the puck seemingly all game long. That kind of desire wasn't always there with this kind of consistency in the two seasons that followed the Blackhawks' 2010 Stanley Cup championship, but it's there now. It's also proving to be a real headache for Western Conference teams to match shift for shift. They're getting it from just about every position, including goaltenders Emery and Corey Crawford, who are both red hot behind a stingy defensive effort by the teammates in front of them. A night after Crawford shutout the Columbus Blue Jackets 1-0 in his return from an upper-body injury, Emery (8-0-0) stopped 17 of 19 shots and helped kill off three of the Oilers' four man-advantages, including one in the third with the game still deadlocked in a 2-2 tie. The win concluded an impressive seven-game homestand for Chicago, which went 6-0-1 on it after coming back from long six-game road trip that finished with a 4-0-2 mark. Next up for the Blackhawks is a tough Central Division road matchup on Thursday against the rival St. Louis Blues, who will try to get even for a 3-2 loss on Jan. 22 in Chicago.

Anaheim v Los Angeles 2-5 - In an impressive conjuring of the aggressive and methodical style from last season's Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Los Angeles Kings put on a third period that finally stunted their Southern California rivals. Not even Swedish sensation Viktor Fasth could stop the Kings from pouring in two goals in a two-minute span for a 5-2 victory Monday night in a game that lived up to every bit of its hype. Slava Voynov one timed Anze Kopitar's pass for the go-ahead goal at 4:36, and Jake Muzzin wristed a shot glove side on Fasth on the power play at 6:23 to send the Staples Center crowd into a frenzy as if it were last spring. L.A. ended Anaheim's bid at a franchise-record tying seventh straight win and handed Fasth (8-1) his first career loss. Fasth made was attempting to tie Ray Emery for the longest winning streak to start a National Hockey League career. Jonathan Quick stopped 24 shots to outduel him in the pun-happy Quick-Fasth matchup. Fasth couldn't be faulted much. He gave his team a 2-2 score going into the third and stopped Dustin Brown on a penalty shot in the third. But the hard-charging defending champs eventually busted down the door. Captains Ryan Getzlaf and Dustin Brown lived up to their titles in an equally entertaining second period. Getzlaf wheeled around both corners and sent a loose puck to the crease that Andrew Cogliano whacked home just 13 seconds in. Brown took a pass from Kopitar and ripped a wrist shot from high between the circles that hit the crossbar and skidded across the goal line for a 2-2 score going into the third period. Anaheim's six previous wins had all been comeback victories, but this might have been too much to ask against the defending champions, who have Brown and Kopitar back in form. They combined for a goal and four assists and a plus-four rating and have four goals and six assists the past three games. Brown redeemed his tripping penalty that led to Saku Koivu's power-play goal. Koivu put in a loose puck after Rob Scuderi just missed clearing it from the goal mouth. Dustin Penner added his first goal since his overtime tally in Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals, on a backhand re-direct of Jarret Stoll's pass. In between there was the expected bad blood, manifested in Jordan Nolan's fight with Sheldon Souray, Quick's healthy push in the back of Kyle Palmieri and Doughty's pancake of Beauchemin. The teams were credited for 32 total hits in the scoreless opening period, the polar opposite of their 11-goal meeting on Feb.2. Luca Sbisa was a healthy scratch for the first time since Oct.15, 2010.