Gameday 41 (Thu, 28 Feb) - Results

Ottawa v Boston 1-2 - The Boston Bruins' top-ranked penalty kill showed it could bounce back, and that paid off in a big home win after a successful stretch of road games. Although the Ottawa Senators snapped the Bruins' streak of 27 straight penalty kills by scoring the tying goal in the second period Thursday night, Boston killed off its next penalty and kept the game alive long enough for Patrice Bergeron to get the game-winning goal in overtime of a 2-1 win at TD Garden. Bergeron tipped Dennis Seidenberg's shot through Ottawa goaltender Robin Lehner's 5-hole at 3:38 of the extra session. The Bruins have won five in a row after they won their previous four games away from Boston. Ottawa's winning streak ended at five. Jim O'Brien pulled the Senators even at 14:38 of the second period when he ended a goalmouth scramble with his fifth goal of the season. The Bruins' penalty kill had been riding a streak of perfection dating to Feb. 6, and it didn't allow the failure to snowball. With 32 seconds left in regulation, Boston forward Milan Lucic was caught closing his hand on the puck behind the Ottawa net after a rush down ice. With Lucic in the box, the Bruins killed off the final ticks, then the rest of the penalty in the always-dangerous 4-on-3 in overtime. Lehner made his first NHL start of the 2013 season after Ben Bishop had won his past four starts for the Senators. Lehner shut out the Bruins with 32 saves on the exact date, in the same building, exactly one year ago. Lehner continued his dominance and ran his shutout streak against Boston dating to 2011 to 89:45. Nathan Horton finally solved Lehner at 5:48 of the second period on what the wing called a "muffed" shot. He drove down the slot on a give-and-go with Dougie Hamilton. Horton didn't get much stick on the puck, but it found its way under Lehner and into the goal. With a 13-2-2 record, the Bruins have 28 points in the standings and are off to their best 17-game start since they accumulated 30 points in the 1929-30 season.

Toronto v NY Islanders 5-4 - The Toronto Maple Leafs had just enough gas left in the tank Thursday night. Toronto came to Long Island for the second half of a back-to-back and its third game in four nights, and it looked like the Maple Leafs were gassed when the New York Islanders forced overtime with a pair of third-period goals. But Dion Phaneuf scored 1:11 into overtime to give the weary Maple Leafs a 5-4 victory heading into a three-day break in their schedule. Toronto doesn't play until the New Jersey Devils come to Air Canada Centre on Monday. Nazem Kadri's first career hat trick helped the Maple Leafs take a 4-2 lead. But Kyle Okposo led the Islanders' third-period comeback by setting up Andrew MacDonald's first of the season at 5:31 before tying the game at 10:08. Okposo blocked a shot at his own blue line, raced down the right wing and ripped a shot from inside the right circle into the far top corner past James Reimer. Islanders forward Michael Grabner hit the post on the first shift of overtime, but Phaneuf won it less than a minute later when he stepped around Okposo and wristed a 15-footer from the slot that Evgeni Nabokov got a piece of but couldn't stop. Kadri, the Maple Leafs' first pick in the 2009 NHL Draft, has been unable to keep a full-time NHL job until this season. He now has 21 points, more than the combined total of his three previous stints with Toronto. Kadri scored once in the first period and twice in the second for the first hat trick by Toronto player since Joffrey Lupul had one on Nov. 2, 2011. Kadri is the first Toronto player to score three goals in a game at Nassau Coliseum since Paul Henderson did it exactly 39 years ago: Feb. 28, 1974. The Islanders fell to 2-8-1 at Nassau Coliseum this season and are 0-2-1 on a seven-game homestand that continues Sunday against the Ottawa Senators. For most of the night, New York showed less energy than a Toronto team that lost 5-2 to the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday and was playing its third game in 72 hours. There were no penalties called by referees Mark Joannette and Ian Walsh; it was the first penalty-free game in the NHL since the Edmonton Oilers and Toronto played one Feb. 6, 2012. Reimer, playing for the first time since injuring his knee Feb. 11, made 23 saves as the Maple Leafs improved to 9-4-0 away from Air Canada Centre. Toronto succeeded in keeping New York star John Tavares off the scoresheet; the Islanders are 0-7-1 this season when Tavares doesn't get a point. Nabokov finished with 23 saves. Toronto had the better of the play in the early minutes, taking five of the game's first six shots, but New York put its one opportunity into the net. Okposo carried down the left side deep into the Toronto zone and backhanded a pass to Bailey in the slot. His one-timer found the back of the net at 3:34 for his first of the season. Bailey barely missed a second goal three minutes later when he beat Reimer cleanly on a 2-on-1 break only to ring the post. Kadri got the Maple Leafs even at 8:31 on an excellent individual effort. He took a pass from Mark Fraser in his own zone and raced up the left side, weaved from the left circle into the slot to avoid a sliding MacDonald and snapped a shot past Nabokov. Grabner earned a penalty shot when he was hooked by Phil Kessel on a breakaway with 4:04 remaining in the period, but fired high and wide. Casey Cizikas' perseverance helped put the Islanders back in front 6:22 into the second period. Cizikas had his pass blocked on a 2-on-1 break, but followed the puck into the corner and slid a pass to an onrushing Lubomir Visnovsky, who took one step before blasting a shot over Reimer's blocker for his first goal since joining the Islanders earlier this month. Kadri tied the game at 8:55 on a shot that Nabokov missed. The Toronto forward came in 1-on-2 and fired a long wrister that hit Nabokov's glove and trickled into the net. The Maple Leafs took their first lead 1:30 later after a bad line change by the Islanders led to a 3-on-2 rush for Toronto. Nabokov denied James van Riemsdyk's first shot but was helpless to stop the rebound. The goal was van Riemsdyk's 12th, one more than he had all last season with the Philadelphia Flyers. Kadri completed his hat trick at 14:12 with another superb individual effort, racing through the neutral zone and down the right wing before stepping around Visnovsky and snapping a wrist shot from the lower right circle past Nabokov for his eighth goal of the season. Okposo, the best Islanders player on the ice, fueled a third-period comeback as his team finally played with some desperation. It earned New York one point on a night when it could have had two.

Tampa Bay v NY Rangers 1-4 - It doesn't take a doctor to see that whatever was ailing Rick Nash over the past four games wasn't hindering him in his return to the New York Rangers' lineup Thursday night. Nash was a force of nature, registering a goal, an assist and 12 shots as the Rangers steamrolled the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-1 for their first win since he was sidelined with what was likely a concussion, although the team never disclosed the injury. The Rangers were about as healthy as they've have been since the start of the season. In addition to Nash, they also welcomed back defensemen Ryan McDonagh and Michael Del Zotto after the former missed one game with a head injury and the latter was absent for the past two with a lower-body affliction. McDonagh contributed two assists while Del Zotto was a plus-1 in 20:53 of ice time. This game was as one-sided as it gets for the first two periods, and only a stellar effort from Lightning goaltender Mathieu Garon, who made 38 saves in defeat and faced 20 shots in the first period alone, kept the score respectable. Carl Hagelin put the Rangers ahead 1-0 with his seventh goal of the season after the Lightning couldn't get out of their own way. Defenseman Keith Aulie had position on Hagelin just inside the blue line but wiped out on his own and slid into the boards. That allowed Hagelin to move unfettered to the left faceoff dot and blister a shot that beat Garon to his blocker side. Garon had little chance to make the save, as the other defenseman, Brian Lee, backed directly into his line of vision. The Lightning once again were lost in their own zone when Derek Stepan's fourth goal of the season 1:17 later made it 2-0. Rangers captain Ryan Callahan had the puck on his stick behind the net with no defender getting in his way or blocking the passing lane. Callahan calmly backhanded a pass beyond the reach of Eric Brewer and Cory Conacher for Stepan's easy dunk from near the left post. The second period wasn't as lopsided as the first, but the Rangers again were by far the better team, outshooting the Lightning 15-8. Defenseman Marc Staal extended the lead to 3-1 by scoring a power-play goal with 3:52 remaining after a netmouth scramble and a bad break in the neutral zone for the Lightning. St. Louis fired the puck out of his own zone, but it bounced off the boards and into a linesman. The puck came to rest in the neutral zone, and Brad Richards wasted no time in carrying it back into the Lightning end, preventing Tampa Bay from making a change. Nash moved the puck toward the net, and Staal was the beneficiary. Staal's goal was his second of the season and gives him 11 points in 19 games. He missed the first half of last season with a concussion and finished with just two goals and three assists in 46 games. But on Thursday he again found himself on the top defense pairing with Dan Girardi, a duo that was a staple of the Rangers before his injury and the emergence of McDonagh. The victory gives the Rangers 20 points in 19 games, leaving them one point behind the eighth-place Flyers, who have 21 points in 22 games. The Lightning, who are 3-9-1 since a 6-1-0 start, have 19 points in 20 games but are just two points back of the leaders in the Southeast Division. When healthy, the Rangers look like a Stanley Cup contender. Tortorella, however, isn't ready to project what his team can do down the road with everyone in the lineup.

Pittsburgh v Calgary 1-4 - For some players, the feel of NHL hockey comes through a steady build. For others, excelling at the game is a lengthy process. Count Carolina forward Jiri Tlusty as a member of the second group. The 24-year-old is already six seasons into his NHL career, a reflection of his potential more than his previous offensive contribution. But that is changing. Tlusty delivered two goals and an assist in the Hurricanes' 4-1 win over Pittsburgh on Thursday night. After scoring 10 goals in 58 games as a Maple Leafs rookie in 2007-08, Tlusty returned to the minors before being traded to Carolina. Now in his fourth season with the Hurricanes, he is cashing in on the offensive potential that made him a first-round pick (No. 13) in 2006. It helps that he has spent most of the season skating with Eric Staal and Alex Semin, who combined for five points in the win over Pittsburgh. With the score tied 1-1 after 20 minutes, Staal was stymied on a wraparound attempt by Pittsburgh goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, but the Hurricanes captain poked the puck free to Tlusty, who pumped in the go-ahead goal from the left doorstep. After Jeff Skinner extended the lead to 3-1 less than two minutes later, it was Semin's turn to set up Tlusty. Staal won a puck battle behind the net and fed Semin, who put the puck on Tlusty's tape in the slot. It was the first game against his old team for Jordan Staal, who was traded by the Penguins to the Hurricanes last June. The Hurricanes had the better of play all night, due to some lackluster play by the Penguins in their defensive zone. All three of Carolina's second-period goals came from a player who was left uncovered. Pittsburgh's loss comes on the heels of a 6-4 defeat at Florida, where the Penguins gave up four power-play goals. The consecutive road losses left the Penguins coach doing some soul searching, particularly after starting the season 8-2-0 on the road. After Chris Kunitz opened the scoring in the first period off of a beautiful pass from Sidney Crosby, the Penguins offense went flat. The power play, which had hit the scoresheet in 12 straight games, was scoreless in 8:31 of ice time. Staal was a factor throughout the game, beginning with his game-tying goal with 25 seconds remaining in the first period. He got a stick on Semin's wrister from the top of the slot - the first of three points on the night for Staal. Not the least of whom was Tlusty. At the start of the season, the Hurricanes felt that Staal and Semin were two-thirds of a potentially dominant scoring line. Now it's clear that Tlusty is capable of playing at the same level.

Buffalo v Florida 4-3 - Maybe the Buffalo Sabres are starting to play better under interim coach Ron Rolston. Or maybe it was simply the presence of the 19 parents or mentors who accompanied the team on its two-game Florida swing this week. Whatever the reason, the Sabres have won back-to-back games for the first time in almost three weeks. Thomas Vanek and Jason Pominville scored in the shootout Thursday night, and the Sabres defeated the Florida Panthers 4-3 at BB&T Center. It came two nights after a 2-1 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Pominville clinched the victory in the second round of the shootout after Buffalo goalie Ryan Miller stopped Jonathan Huberdeau and Peter Mueller. Vanek and Pominville scored almost the exact same way, with a wrist shot above the pad to the stick side against left-handed Jose Theodore. The Sabres improved to 2-0 in shootouts this season, with Pominville and Vanek each 2-for-2. Florida won its first shootout of the season against the Philadelphia Flyers on Feb. 7 when Huberdeau and Mueller scored. Nathan Gerbe scored his first two goals of the season for the Sabres, who squandered leads of 2-0 and 3-2. Gerbe, at 5-foot-5 the shortest player in the NHL, had been held to two assists in 16 games this season. Tyler Ennis had a goal and an assist for the Sabres, who evened their record at 2-2-0 under Rolston and won consecutive games for the first time since Feb. 7 and 9. Ennis' goal came on the power play, snapping Buffalo's 0-for-13 drought with the man advantage. Steve Ott had two assists for the 11th time in his career, the first since a March 26, 2012 game at the Calgary Flames while playing for the Dallas Stars. The Sabres' three first-period goals surpassed their scoring output of each of their past four games. Miller made 40 saves in regulation and overtime, including 33 after the first period when the Sabres were outshot 34-14. Marcel Goc and Brian Campbell each had a goal and an assist for the Panthers, who have lost eight of 10. Florida, coming off a 6-4 victory against the Pittsburgh Penguins, missed a chance for its first winning streak since Jan. 31 and Feb. 3. Drew Shore had the other Florida goal. Campbell scored with 1:36 left in regulation to tie the game. It was his sixth goal of the season but his first at even strength. Campbell, who played 391 games with the Sabres from 1999-2008, scored the game-winner when Florida won at Buffalo on Super Bowl Sunday. Scott Clemmensen started in net for Florida, but was pulled after Gerbe's second goal at 16:46 of the first period gave Buffalo a 3-2 lead. Clemmensen gave up three goals on 10 shots. It was the second consecutive game the Panthers' starting goalie was pulled. Clemmensen replaced Theodore to start the third period Tuesday against Pittsburgh and stopped all 15 shots he faced to earn the victory. Ironically, the two poor starts by the Panthers' veteran goalies came right after top prospect Jacob Markstrom was reassigned to San Antonio of the American Hockey League after Markstrom had two solid outings for Florida. Center Stephen Weiss was back in the Florida lineup after missing Tuesday's game to attend his grandmother's funeral. The Panthers lost defenseman Mike Weaver to a lower-body injury midway through the first period. Gerbe, who had six goals in 62 games last season, opened the scoring at 6:30 when his seemingly harmless wrist shot from the right dot caught Clemmensen off guard and beat him to the stick side. Clemmensen also was shaky on Gerbe's second goal, a close-range flick to the short side from a sharp angle after Gerbe had gotten by defenseman Erik Gudbranson. Buffalo led 2-0 after Ennis' power-play goal at 11:00 before the Panthers scored twice in a span of 1:22 to tie the game. Shore scored on the power play at 14:24 on a backhand off a rebound after Dmitry Kulikov's slap shot from the point bounced off the end boards. Goc followed at 16:46 with his second goal in two games with a strong individual effort behind the Buffalo net. After Tomas Fleischmann dumped the puck, Goc outfought Robyn Regehr and Cody Hodgson, and when the puck slid to the front of the net, he swept it between Miller's legs.

New Jersey v Winnipeg 1-3 - Andrew Ladd's scorching production has allowed the Winnipeg Jets to survive their power play spending February in hibernation. Ladd continued his hot scoring in February, firing home two more goals against the New Jersey Devils on Thursday night to lead the Jets to a 3-1 win before 15,015 at MTS Centre. Ladd's second of the game with 8:01 to go in the third period snapped a 1-1 tie and helped the Jets break their four-game home losing streak. Ladd began his evening with a goal eight seconds into the contest and finished the month with 10 goals in 13 games. Winnipeg's captain acknowledged the Jets had to grind out the win, but added "at the end of the day, you take the win, you take the two points and the good feeling and move on." Ladd also had an assist on Blake Wheeler's empty-net goal with 35.8 seconds remaining. Ladd, whose 12 goals lead the Jets and tie him for third overall in the League, owns a pair of two-goal games and two three-point outings this season. Goaltender Ondrej Pavelec assumed the franchise goaltending lead in games, making his 205th appearance and stopping 22 shots for the Jets, who have a win in five of their past six contests to slide them into eighth place in the Eastern Conference. Winnipeg moved above .500 for the first time since Jan. 31. The win continued the momentum the Jets had built during a 4-1-0 road trip that included a win at New Jersey on Sunday. Though the Jets may have rectified the road woes that torpedoed their Stanley Cup Playoff hopes last season, home life has frustrated Noel for much of the club's first 19 games, Winnipeg had won three of its first eight home dates. Andrei Loktionov supplied the only goal for the Devils, who have lost three in a row. Johan Hedberg made his third consecutive start in place of injured Martin Brodeur and made 18 saves. Now the Devils will make the long trip eastward to Buffalo, where they will face the Sabres on Saturday afternoon in the middle game of a three-game trip. The Devils have one win over their past six games, and the three-game skid is their longest since they lost three games Nov. 30-Dec. 3, 2011. Coincidental minors after a skirmish between New Jersey's Steve Bernier and Winnipeg veteran Nik Antropov with 8:21 left in regulation set up 4-on-4 play. Jets defenseman Dustin Byfuglien lugged the puck from deep inside the Winnipeg zone all the way behind the goal line before moving a pass into Hedberg's crease that Ladd crammed inside the post. Ladd sandwiched his heroics between a long stretch of quiet play. Both clubs staged a cautious first 40 minutes and headed into the second intermission with 13 shots apiece, but the game had an explosive start. A boisterous crowd greeted the Jets' return, and the home club responded immediately. Winnipeg defenseman Zach Bogosian slid a pass through the neutral zone that skittered to the New Jersey blue line, where Ladd took the puck, broke in and pushed a backhanded shot behind Hedberg at the eight-second mark. Ladd's goal tied a franchise mark for a quickest goal to begin a game, and it was the fastest ever allowed by the Devils off the opening faceoff. But after Ladd's goal, the Devils settled down the game, frustrating the Jets with strong play along the boards and closing off Winnipeg's passing options inside the neutral zone. A pair of newly acquired New Jersey forwards evened the game 1-1 on the Devils' opening shot of the second period. Alexei Ponikarovsky, making his return to Winnipeg after a 12-game stint with the Jets, fed a pass to Loktionov, whom the Devils acquired from Los Angeles on Feb. 6. The 22-year-old snuck a snap shot behind Pavelec 3:05 into the period. Loktionov's goal nudged his point streak to four games. One area that continues to plague the Jets is the power play. New Jersey began the evening ranked 25th in the NHL on the penalty kill, but the Devils easily shut down a unit that is buried in a 1-for-29 slump stretching over 11 games. Winnipeg had an opportunity to go ahead after consecutive minors 1:04 apart put the Devils down 5-on-3 for 56 seconds late in the second period. But New Jersey did not surrender a shot during the two-man advantage and burned off both minors, including a late stretch after play returned to 5-on-4 in which two broken sticks left the Jets with a brief three-man advantage. The Jets also needed the first 9:21 of the final period to register a shot on Hedberg.

Chicago v St Louis 3-0 - The Chicago Blackhawks' historic run will live to see another day, and they didn't need a sixth straight one-goal decision to make it happen. Jonathan Toews scored twice, including a goal 12 seconds into the game, and the Hawks made it 17 wins in 20 tries by downing the St. Louis Blues 3-0 at Scottrade Center on Thursday night. The Blackhawks now have at least one point in each of their first 20 games this season and 26 in a row dating back to last March. They'll try to extend those streaks when they host Columbus on Friday night. The Blackhawks (17-0-3) also made it 17 straight games earning at least a point on the road dating back to last season (13-0-4). Andrew Shaw also scored for the Blackhawks, and Marian Hossa collected a pair of assists, Crawford stopped six shots before departing after one period. Emery stopped 15 more to complete the shutout. Jaroslav Halak kicked out 20 shots, but it wasn't enough as the Blues (10-7-2) were blanked on home ice for the first time since a 6-0 loss to Calgary on March 1, 2011. The Blues have scored only three goals in the last four games, covering 12 periods and one overtime. It didn't take Chicago long to break out on top, as Toews redirected Brandon Saad's centering feed past Halak 12 seconds after the opening faceoff for a 1-0 lead. It's the fastest goal to start a game in for the Blackhawks since Dave Bolland [10 seconds] scored on March 16, 2012. Brent Sutter [eight seconds] has the franchise record when he scored on Feb. 5, 1995. Hossa's long cross-ice pass to Saad allowed the play to develop, and Toews finished. The play was reviewed as the puck went in off Toews' skate, but without an intentional kicking motion. Blues captain David Backes, who left the game for a stretch in the second period but returned after taking the standard protocol concussion testing following a collision with Saad. The Blues pushed for the equalizer and nearly got it, but the Hawks were rescued once by a post and another time by Emery's glove. Kevin Shattenkirk's wrister from the point on the Blues' third power play midway through the second period had eyes and found its way through traffic but hit the inside of the left post but stayed out. Patrik Berglund fed Chris Stewart all alone in the slot moments later, but instead of redirecting the puck from the crease, Stewart tried to flip a wrister from the right of the goal; Emery and his mitt were up to the task and preserved the 1-0 lead. Shaw's fifth of the season came after Bryan Bickell won a puck battle with the Blues' Kris Russell behind the net, fed Shaw for a one-timer from the slot 2:11 into the third period for a 2-0 lead. Toews got his second of the night off a rebound in front. Nick Leddy's shot from the top of the left circle was initially stopped by Halak, but Toews got inside position on defenseman Ian Cole to swat the rebound into the net at 6:56. Quenneville said Crawford would return home with the team tonight as the Blackhawks host the Blue Jackets for the second time in six days. They beat Columbus 1-0 on Sunday.

Edmonton v Dallas 5-1 - The Edmonton Oilers won in regulation for the first time in 11 games at American Airlines Center, and they did it emphatically. Alex Hemsky had a goal and two assists and Devan Dubnyk stopped 33 of the 34 shots he faced in his first start since Feb. 21 as the Oilers beat the Stars 5-1 on Thursday night for their first regulation win in Dallas since Dec. 8, 2006. The Oilers also got a goal and an assist from Jeff Petry and a two-assist game from Jordan Eberle. Overall, Dallas had won six in a row against the Oilers, including a pair of visits to Edmonton earlier in the season. For the 17,004 fans who turned out, it was a nightmare from the start. The Oilers took a quick lead when Sam Gagner beat Stars goaltender Kari Lehtonen, making his first start after missing the last five games due to a groin injury, with a wrist shot just 1:13 into the game. Petry slipped the puck from the corner to Gagner, who was on the right edge of the crease; Gagner’s shot deflected off Lehtonen’s midsection before going into the net for his sixth of the season. The Oilers made it 2-0 at 13:52 when rookie defenseman Justin Schultz fired home a wrister from nearly the same spot that Gagner scored from. Eberle threaded the needle with a pass between Dallas rookies Brenden Dillon and Reilly Smith from the left circle and Schultz’s wrister landed in the right side of the Dallas net for his fifth of the season. A boarding call on Dallas’ Eric Nystrom at 18:50 of the first period put the visitors on the power play for the second time in the game. Dillon joined Nystrom in the box at 19:46, giving the Oilers a two-man advantage after he too was guilty of boarding after shoving Eberle into the end boards behind the Dallas net. However, Edmonton was unable to convert on either chance which extended into the second period. Nystrom boarded Edmonton defenseman Corey Potter on his penalty, and Potter did not return the rest of the night with a head injury. The Oilers also lost Ladislav Smid for part of the game and were down to just four healthy defensemen, but Smid did return for the final half of the third period. Dallas went on the power play three times and Edmonton twice in a penalty-filled second period, including a late 5-on-3 advantage for the Oilers. Included was a fight between Dillon and Gagner at 19:05. After Dallas' Loui Eriksson hit the right post, Petry made it 3-0 with his second of the season just 14 seconds before the second intermission. The Oilers defenseman fired a backhander that bounced off Lehtonen’s stick, then deflected off defenseman Trevor Daley before going in on Lehtonen’s glove side to make it 3-0. Stephane Robidas' hooking penalty 12 seconds into the third period cost the Stars when Hemsky beat Lehtonen top shelf with a wrister from the high slot at the 50-second mark to give the visitors a four-goal cushion. Ben Eager scored his first of the season at 11:37, beating Lehtonen with a snap from the right circle. The Stars avoided the shutout when Jaromir Jagr scored his sixth of the season with 5:55 remaining. Dallas center Jamie Benn earned a major penalty and a game misconduct for a cross-check from behind on the Oilers’ Ryan Jones with 4:00 remaining. Lehtonen stopped 33 shots in his first start since Feb. 15 at Vancouver. The good news for the Stars was that he came through the game in good health. Edmonton continues its nine-game road trip on Friday night at St. Louis while Dallas will host the Blues on Sunday afternoon to conclude a two-game homestand.

Calgary v Colorado 4-5 - Colorado Avalanche coach Joe Sacco apparently had plenty to say during the first intermission Thursday night after watching his team fall into a three-goal hole against the Calgary Flames at Pepsi Center. Avalanche players took his remarks to heart and rallied for a 5-4 victory with two goals in the second period and three in the third. The Avalanche, who moved back to .500 with an 8-8-3 record, rallied from 3-0 and 4-2 down shortly after announcing they had matched the two-year, $10 million offer sheet to restricted free agent Ryan O'Reilly that was tendered by the Flames earlier in the day. So it turned out to be a difficult night all the way around for the Flames. Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog started the rally when he scored 23 seconds into the third period, skating by defenseman TJ Brodie on his way to the net before sliding the puck past goalie Joey MacDonald. Paul Stastny was credited with the tying goal at 6:34 after Landeskog fired a shot that MacDonald stopped. Stastny was driving to the net at the time and the puck went in off his right skate. The goal was allowed to stand following a video review. Duchene scored in more conventional fashion to give the Avalanche a 5-4 lead. PA Parenteau set up McGinn for a shot on goal and Duchene banged in the rebound. Four Avalanche goals came from players driving to the net. The Avalanche had to kill off back-to-back penalties, both by defenseman Shane O'Brien, after taking the lead, and goalie Semyon Varlamov stopped Matt Stajan's open shot from between the circles with 53.8 seconds remaining with MacDonald off the ice for a sixth attacker. The Flames broke out to a 3-0 lead in the first period on goals by Jay Bouwmeester, Mike Cammalleri and Iginla. Bouwmeester and Cammalleri scored 33 seconds apart. Bouwmeester was in the slot when he accepted a centering pass from Sven Baertschi and whipped the puck behind Varlamov at 4:28. Cammalleri followed by knocking in the rebound of Lee Stempniak's shot at 5:01. Iginla made it 3-0 with a tap-in from just outside the crease with 53.6 seconds remaining. The Avalanche drew within 3-2 in the second period when Ryan O'Byrne scored from the right point at 5:11 and David Jones converted Stastny's pass from behind the net at 9:54. Calgary regained the momentum 38 seconds after Colorado's Patrick Bordeleau went off for charging. Iginla knocked in his own rebound at 13:16 during the ensuing power play for a 4-2 advantage.

Minnesota v Phoenix 4-3 - The Minnesota Wild hadn't been scoring many goals. Dany Heatley hadn't been scoring any. All that changed Thursday night, and it turned out every goal was needed. Heatley, who had scored just one goal in his past 13 games, broke out of the slump with a pair in the first two periods while Matt Cullen and Devin Setoguchi each had two assists as the surging Wild held off a late Phoenix charge to beat the Coyotes 4-3 at Jobing.com Arena. The Wild have scored a season-high four goals three times, and Heatley has five of his seven goals in those games. But Minnesota hadn't scored four since Jan. 27, when Heatley connected in a 5-4 overtime loss to St Louis. He'd had only one since, but followed a Jason Zucker goal on the Wild's first shot with a pair to give his team a 3-0 lead. Jared Spurgeon added his first of the year season for Minnesota, while goalie Niklas Backstrom made 22 saves. After a disappointing 4-5-1 start, the Wild are 6-2-1 in their last nine games and up to 22 points. Backstrom is 5-1-1 in his last seven starts. Rostislav Klesla scored in the second for Phoenix and Keith Yandle and Shane Doan added goals during the final five minutes to make things interesting. But after regaining their defensive form during a 7-2-2 spurt, Phoenix is 1-2-1 in its last four and has allowed at least one goal in 10 of the 12 periods. Mike Smith allowed four goals on 19 shots before being pulled after two periods for backup Jason LaBarbera. Playing without top-six forwards Martin Hanzal and Radim Vrbata, the Coyotes again struggled to muster much offense; their fourth line, Nick Johnson, Kyle Chipchura and Paul Bissonnette, was their best. After a huge performance in Tuesday's 4-2 win in Vancouver, the same effort wasn't there. The Coyotes, who had won nine of the last 13 meetings with Minnesota, put 11 shots on Backstrom in the first, but the Wild did all the scoring. Backstrom made an early save on a Lauri Korpikoski wraparound bid, and the Wild capitalized when Cullen found Zucker cruising up the slot unattended and Zucker deflected the puck over Smith at 1:45. It was the third goal in five games for the former University of Denver star since being called by from Houston of the American Hockey League. Minnesota made it 2-0 at 14:01 when Pierre-Marc sent Heatley in 2-on-1 with a head of steam. Heatley took the shot himself and beat Smith to the short side off the post. The second period was more of the same. Just after a Phoenix penalty expired, Cullen gobbled up a puck lost by Mikkel Boedker in the corner and found Heatley in the left circle for a one-timer at 6:03. It was Heatley's 12th goal and 21st point in 25 games against Phoenix and gave the Wild a commanding 3-0 lead. The Coyotes finally got on the board 4:53 later when Klesla's backhander caught the stick of Minnesota defenseman Tom Gilbert and fluttered by Backstrom. It was Klesla's first goal of the season and first in 22 games dating back to last March 14 at Vancouver. But Phoenix couldn't build on the momentum. The Coyotes had one shot the rest of the period, and Raffi Torres' second careless penalty of the night cost them. Spurgeon was parked in the crease at the right posted and slapped a Mikko Koivu power-play rebound by Smith with the backhand at 16:02 to restore the three-goal lead. Yandle scored a wild bad-bounce goal when his dump in deflected off the side glass and behind Backstrom with 4:39 left to play, while Doan scored his 100th at Jobing.com Arena with 58 seconds left and LaBarbera on the bench for an extra attacker.

Detroit v San Jose 2-1 - The long wait for his first start as a Detroit Red Wing turned out to be well worth it for backup goaltender Jonas Gustavsson. Gustavsson made 25 saves in regulation and overtime and stopped all three shots he faced in the shootout, leading the Red Wings to a 2-1 victory against the San Jose Sharks on Thursday night at HP Pavilion. The Red Wings were coming off a 2-1 road loss at Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday, a game in which Jimmy Howard made his 18th straight start. Coach Mike Babcock rested Howard and gave Gustavsson, a free-agent signee who has battled a groin injury throughout much of the season, his initial start. Damien Brunner scored the only goal in the tiebreaker, beating Antti Niemi in the second round and lifting the Red Wings to their third win in four games. Gustavsson stopped Michal Handzus, Patrick Marleau and Ryane Clowe. Logan Couture scored San Jose's lone goal in regulation, beating Gustavsson early in the third period. Patrick Eaves responded quickly with his first goal of the season, the only one of Detroit's 34 shots to beat Niemi. The Sharks were coming off a 3-2 shootout win at home Tuesday night over the Colorado Avalanche and hoping to win back-to-back games for the first time since Jan. 29-31. The Sharks going to a shootout at home was hardly a surprise. It happened Thursday for the sixth time in their past seven home games. They're 3-3 in those shootouts. Brunner, who leads Detroit with 10 goals, improved to 2-for-2 in shootouts with two game-deciders. After two scoreless periods, Couture finally broke through at 4:49 of the third, giving the Sharks a 1-0 lead. The goal was Couture's eighth of the season and his second in two games. Joe Thornton forced a turnover by Detroit's Justin Abdelkader in the neutral zone, quickly moved to the high slot and zipped a pass to a wide-open Couture in the right circle. Couture ripped a one-timer past Gustavsson, but that was the Sharks only goal of the night. Eaves answered just 92 seconds later to get the Red Wings even. Defenseman Niklas Kronwall unloaded a blast from the blue line that got past three Sharks, deflected off Eaves and went past Niemi. Kronwall, who entered the game with 16 points, the most by any NHL defenseman, earned his 15th assist of the season. The Red Wings turned up the pressure in the third period, outshooting the Sharks 17-9. Jordin Tootoo and Jonathan Ericsson each had a great chance to put Detroit ahead late in regulation, but Niemi stopped Tootoo's shot from the low slot and Ericsson shot high from close range. The Red Wings had 11 shots and the Sharks nine in a fast-pace first period, but neither team scored a goal. Clowe, who returned to the lineup after serving his two-game suspension stemming from an altercation against the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday, had one of the best scoring chances. After a turnover in the neutral zone, Clowe got the puck on a breakaway, but Gustavsson deflected his backhander with less than six minutes left in the period. Marleau, Couture and Joe Pavelski fired two shots apiece at Gustavsson, but he handled every one. Defenseman Jakub Kindl led the Wings with three first-period shots, while forward Tomas Tatar had two. Typically a top-six forward, Clowe opened the game on the third line with Tim Kennedy and Handzus. After being out for two games and dropped to the third line, Clowe had plenty of energy and motivation. Through the first two periods he had two hits and two shots and blocked a shot. Early in a scoreless second period, Clowe made a perfect pass to Handzus in the low slot, but Gustavsson rejected his shot. Neither team had as many scoring chances in the second as the defense tightened up. San Jose had seven shots to six for Detroit. Sharks defenseman Brad Stuart, who played the past four-plus season with Detroit, faced his former teammates for the first time since returning to San Jose in an offseason trade. He ripped a long blast in the first period, but Gustavsson made the save. In the second period, Stuart laid out to block a shot by Tatar.