Gameday 42 (Fri, 01 Mar) - Results

Edmonton v St Louis 2-4 - Jaden Schwartz was given a golden opportunity Friday night for the St. Louis Blues. The 14th pick of the 2010 NHL Draft was given a role to play on the Blues' top line against the run-and-gun Edmonton Oilers, and he didn't disappoint. After a slow start, Schwartz and the Blues staged a rousing finish, one they desperately needed after some recent lackluster performances at home. Vladimir Sobotka scored the game-winner and added an assist, Schwartz and David Backes also had a goal and an assist each, and the Blues broke out of a 1-5-1 home-ice slide with four unanswered goals in a 4-2 victory over the Oilers Friday night at Scottrade Center. Playing on a line with Backes and T.J. Oshie, Schwartz, who for most of the season has been relegated to a third- or fourth-line role, was a buzzsaw all night. His play resonated throughout the lineup as the Blues (11-7-2), who hit the road for five games beginning Sunday afternoon in Dallas, also got a goal from Kevin Shattenkirk. Jaroslav Halak stopped 15 shots. Blues coach Ken Hitchcock, who's dealing with injuries to Andy McDonald, Alex Steen and rookie Vladimir Tarasenko [who was picked two slots behind Schwartz in that 2010 draft], removed David Perron from the top line and inserted Schwartz in his place. Hitchcock played Perron with Patrik Berglund and Chris Stewart and was happy to see the results Schwartz provided. After the Blues had knotted the game 2-2 in the second period, Sobotka put the Blues ahead 3-2 at 4:28 of the third when he curled around the Oilers' goal and fired a shot through Devan Dubnyk after grinding work by Adam Cracknell and Chris Porter made the play happen. Backes added an insurance goal with 5:23 remaining when he hammered Oshie's one-handed pass to the slot past Dubnyk. The Oilers (8-8-4), playing third game of their nine-game trip, got first-period goals from Taylor Hall and Ryan Whitney to take a 2-0 lead-- but managed only 10 shots on goal in the final two periods. Dubnyk, who fell to 0-7-0 in his career against the Blues, stopped 26 shots. The Blues carried much of the play for most of the first period, but the speedy Oilers struck for a pair of late goals 23 seconds apart. Hall's fourth of the season came off a crowded scrum in front of Halak. Hall's initial shot was stopped by the Blues' goaltender, but Hall crashed the net and popped home his fourth of the season at 17:30. Whitney and Ryan Smyth then caught the Blues on a 2-on-1 rush, and Smyth's cross-ice feed found Whitney for a one-timer over an outstretched Halak at 17:53 for his first of the season and a 2-0 lead. The Blues came out angry in the second and got the necessary push they needed and got the equalizing goals from Schwartz and Shattenkirk. Schwartz scored his second of the season when Nick Schultz blocked an Oshie shot and the puck came down in the slot. Schwartz ripped a shot past Dubnyk 3:38 into the period to cut Edmonton's lead to 2-1. Shattenkirk helped the Blues tie the game and snap an 0-for-14 slump on the power play when his slapper from the blue line grazed the leg of Oilers defenseman Jeff Petry and beat Dubnyk at 10:30.

Columbus v Chicago 3-4 - Their historic season-opening run will end at some point, but the Chicago Blackhawks were determined not to let it happen on Friday night against the injury-riddled Columbus Blue Jackets. Despite trailing by a goal twice and coughing up a one-goal lead midway through the third period, the Blackhawks found another way to force overtime and then win 4-3 in OT at United Center. This time, they prevailed against the scrappy Blue Jackets (5-13-3) thanks to a game-winning goal by defenseman Brent Seabrook with 1:37 left in the extra period. Seabrook knocked home a perfect feed from captain Jonathan Toews. Seabrook said he never called for the puck during the play, which started in the neutral zone when Toews made a nifty move to get past Columbus defenseman Adrian Aucoin and carry the puck into the offensive zone for the pass from the left circle through traffic. It was yet another example of a Blackhawks team that refuses to lose. The Blackhawks (18-0-3) won their eighth straight game and extended their season-opening streak of consecutive games with at least a point to 21, the longest in NHL history. Ray Emery made 19 saves to improve his record to 9-0-0 for Chicago, which got regulation goals from Viktor Stalberg, Patrick Sharp and Bryan Bickell. Steve Mason stopped 31 shots for the Blue Jackets, who got goals from Vinny Prospal, Artem Anisimov and Ryan Johansen, whose first of the season at 12:23 of the third tied it 3-3. Columbus had already lost a pair of one-goal games to Chicago this season and held a 2-6-2 record in one-goal games overall. At several points, it looked like Columbus might finally find that answer on Friday – despite being without injured regulars Jack Johnson, James Wisniewski, John Moore, Brandon Dubinsky and Derick Brassard. Columbus came out flying to start the game. A day after the Blackhawks got on the board just 12 seconds into a 3-0 victory on Thursday against the St. Louis Blues, the Blue Jackets turned the tables with Prospal's sixth goal of the season to open the scoring only 31 seconds into this game, firing in the rebound of Derek Dorsett's shot. It was the beginning of a strong start for Columbus, which lost Moore to a freak injury in the morning skate. Columbus had to recall rookie defenseman Dalton Prout from Springfield of the American Hockey League, but Prout's plane didn't arrive in Chicago until early evening and rush-hour traffic between there and the arena delayed his arrival. Prout also spent some time warming up while riding an exercise bike before joining his new teammates on the bench late in the first, where Aucoin promptly gave him a "Pleased to meet you" handshake. Out on the ice, it took most of the first 20 minutes for the Blackhawks to work themselves into the game. After Marcus Kruger forced Mason to make a save 4:25 into the game, Chicago went without another shot for nearly 12 minutes. The next shot by the Blackhawks came off Patrick Kane's stick at the tail end of a power play late in the period, and it led to Stalberg's sixth goal of the season off a rebound to knot it 1-1 with 3:51 left before intermission. It was Stalberg's 11th goal and 13th point in 15 games he's played against Columbus; he had eight goals and two assists against the Blue Jackets last season. Columbus retook the lead an Anisimov's goal 12:42 into the second, a shot from the right-half-wall that hit Hawks forward Daniel Carcillo and sailed past Emery. Anisimov scored in his first game back after a three-game absence because of a scary upper-body injury. The Blackhawks bounced back, scoring two quick goals by Sharp and Bickell late in the period take a 3-2 lead into the third. Sharp scored his fifth goal of the season to tie it 2-2 at 17:20 simply by throwing a backhander from a few feet above the goal line toward Mason. It slipped between Mason's left arm and hip and trickled into the net. Bickell then intercepted a pass at his own blue line, came in and fired from the left circle. The shot beat Mason through the same spot 59 seconds after Sharp's goal. Johansen tied it when he took a slick feed through the slot from Nick Foligno and beat Emery with a forehand-backhand deke that earned the Blue Jackets a point.

Minnesota v Anaheim 2-3 - Leave it up to Teemu Selanne to state what was on everybody's mind. After teammates Ryan Getzlaf and Matt Beleskey downplayed the best start in Anaheim history, Selanne greeted a small group of reporters in an empty Ducks locker room and drew a comparison to the previous record-holding 2006-07 Stanley Cup championship team. The Ducks are 15-3-1 for 31 points, surpassing the 13-2-4 mark by that '06-07 team. Selanne's 669th career goal – which broke a tie with Luc Robitaille for 11th on the all-time list, was a beauty, and Getzlaf continued to reinvent himself with his seventh goal as Anaheim won its eighth straight at home. This wasn't quite how the '07 team would have done it, though, as Anaheim needed Matt Beleskey's goal on a fluky bounce for the game winner after a charged-up Wild got third-period tallies by Kyle Brodziak and Devin Setoguchi. Jonas Hiller made some crucial late saves, including a shot off the mask by Matt Cullen, on a penalty kill. He stopped 31 of 33 shots. On a night when the puck was bouncing like a tennis ball, Beleskey punched a shot under Darcy Kuemper's left pad at 11:26 of the second after Daniel Winnik's pass glanced off Ryan Suter's skate, giving the Ducks a 3-0 lead. Kuemper didn't have it easy in his third NHL start, with his weary-legged teammates playing the second of a back-to-back game. Niklas Backstrom played in Minnesota's 4-3 win at Phoenix on Thursday. Selanne made a classic cut across the right circle and used Tom Gilbert and Nate Prosser as a screen to flick a backhand from the slot past Kuemper for a 2-0 lead. Bobby Ryan made a center line drive on the play to draw the defenders in. Anaheim felt good roaming in Minnesota's zone early, as an untouched Getzlaf tapped in Perry's centering pass at 4:45. Getzlaf skated the puck up the right side and fed to Kyle Palmieri, who passed it off the boards to Perry. Getzlaf, who had 11 goals last season, has 18 points in 22 games. His team used to have an issue starting games but closing was the issue this time. Minnesota outshot Anaheim 15-6 in the second period but faced a 3-0 hole after 40 minutes against a defense that sat a banged up Sheldon Souray.