Gameday 43 (Sat, 02 Mar) - Results

Ottawa v Philadelphia 1-2 - After beating the Washington Capitals on Wednesday, Philadelphia Flyers coach Peter Laviolette talked about how much he liked his team's effort and that it could serve as something to build on going forward. However, the Washington team they beat 4-1 was playing for the second time in as many nights. It looked, and played, exhausted. Saturday's opponent, the Ottawa Senators, last played Thursday, but the Flyers' effort stayed at the same high level in a 2-1 victory. Jakub Voracek and Wayne Simmonds scored in the second period and Ilya Bryzgalov made 33 saves for his 200th NHL victory. But the biggest effort might have come from the team's penalty killers, who neutralized five Ottawa power plays, including one with 45.6 seconds left in regulation. The Flyers' penalty killers held the Senators to eight shots on their five advantages, with Nicklas Grossmann and Braydon Coburn each blocking shots on a game-ending man-advantage. They also had to kill off a five-minute charging major in the first period assessed to forward Harry Zolnierczyk. Marc Methot scored the Senators' lone goal, and goalie Ben Bishop stopped 39 of 41 shots. Ottawa played the final 7:31 of the game without captain Daniel Alfredsson, who was given a major penalty for cross checking and a game misconduct for an incident with Zac Rinaldo. Rinaldo put a hard hit on Ottawa's Chris Phillips near the Senators' bench, and Alfredsson came directly after Rinaldo with a hard hit of his own. It was the second major penalty and misconduct of Alfredsson's 17-season career; the other came April 9, 2002, against the Montreal Canadiens. After a scoreless first period, the Flyers took the lead at 7:24 of the second on an outstanding individual effort by Voracek. Luke Schenn chipped the puck into the Ottawa zone along the right wall with Voracek outracing Ottawa's Eric Gryba to the puck. He cut into the right circle to elude a backchecking Zack Smith and beat Bishop low to the glove side for his ninth of the season. It was Voracek's third goal in five games, and gave him 15 points in his past eight. Philadelphia made it 2-0 at 11:23 on Simmonds' ninth of the season. Brayden Schenn spotted Simmonds on the rush with a cross-ice pass through the Ottawa zone. Simmonds skated to the net, made a nice forehand-to-backhand move and slid the puck between Bishop's pads. Ottawa chipped into the lead at 14:11 of the second on Methot's first goal of the season. Colin Greening jumped out of the penalty box to corral a Senators clearing pass and broke in alone on Bryzgalov, but the netminder made the save. The puck popped over the net, where Greening retrieved it, skated into the right circle and found Methot joining the play at the right point. Methot's long, low shot beat Bryzgalov to the glove side. Ottawa had chances after the goal to tie the game, but the final-minute power play, when Kimmo Timonen was whistled for holding Chris Neil's stick, was one of three they failed to take advantage of. Their best chance to score came at 9:13 of the first period, when Zolnierczyk was assessed a charging major and a game misconduct for a hit on defenseman Mike Lundin just inside the Philadelphia blue line. Zolnierczyk appeared to hit Lundin in the head, and the blueliner remained down on the ice for about a minute before skating off the ice with assistance. He did not return to the game, and afterward MacLean said Lundin had sustained a concussion on the hit. It was his first game back in the lineup after missing five games with the flu. It's the second straight game in which Zolnierczyk has been given a game misconduct. Late in the third period against the Washington Capitals on Wednesday, Zolnierczyk was penalized for kneeing and ejected for a hit on Mathieu Perreault. The next day the NHL rescinded the game misconduct and Zolnierczyk was not subject to supplemental discipline. In this case, Zolnierczyk faces a Sunday afternoon hearing with the Department of Player Safety. Just 1:12 into the advantage, however, the Senators were whistled for having too many men on the ice. They had 1:48 left in their advantage when that penalty ended, but in total the Senators had five shots on what became two power plays.

Tampa Bay v Boston 2-3 - For the third time this season the Boston Bruins erased a multigoal deficit. Saturday, however, Brad Marchand made sure the comeback wasn't in vain, he scored the game-winning goal on a 2-on-1 with Patrice Bergeron with 2:16 left in the third period to give the Bruins a 3-2 victory against the Tampa Bay Lightning at TD Garden. The Bruins had lost the previous two games in which they rallied to tie the score after trailing by more than one. Boston has won six in a row, and Marchand leads the team with 11 goals, including four game-winners. Marchand was in the right place at the right time partly because he was arguing a non-call against Tampa Bay's Eric Brewer, who had stolen the puck from Marchand moments before the goal. Brewer's outlet pass sent off Steven Stamkos on a partial 3-on-2. The Lightning sniper missed with a shot to the far side, and the bounce off the glass sent Bergeron and Marchand down the ice the other way. The Lightning are 3-10-1 in their past 14. Stamkos helped get Tampa Bay out to an early 2-0 lead with a power play goal 5:32 into the game. The Lightning unit, struggling at a 4-for-44 clip, doubled the lead later in the first period. Alex Killorn skated behind the Boston defense and beat goaltender Anton Khudobin (20 saves) with a backhand shot at 8:38. In a game with 13 power plays, the Bruins used theirs to get back into the game after falling behind 2-0. Tyler Seguin put them on the board with a wrist shot from a stride off the goal line to the top shelf of the net 3:22 into the second period. Boston tied the game on a Rich Peverley one-timer from near the same place as Seguin's and Stamkos' goals. Adam McQuaid made a cross-ice pass and Peverley buried the puck with 4:39 elapsed.

New Jersey v Buffalo 3-4 - With the Buffalo Sabres' leading scorer out of the lineup on Saturday, they would need contributions from up and down the lineup to find success. The Sabres defeated the New Jersey Devils 4-3 in a shootout at First Niagara Center, thanks in part to two goals from captain Jason Pominville and 28 saves from goaltender Ryan Miller. Buffalo, playing without leading scorer Thomas Vanek, who missed the game with an upper-body injury, won its third game in a row for the first time this season. New Jersey has lost four-straight games and has earned points in four of its past nine (2-5-2). Pominville and Tyler Ennis scored in the shootout. Pominville began the shootout by firing a wrister past Johan Hedberg, then Ilya Kovalchuk ripped one over top of the net. Ennis snapped a shot past Johan Hedberg before Miller ended the game by stopping Adam Henrique. The Sabres are 3-0 in the shootout this season; the Devils are 0-3. Hedberg, playing in place of injured starter Martin Brodeur, made 20 saves. Pominville was on the ice for five of the game's six goals. Jochen Hecht added a third-period goal for Buffalo. Cody Hodgson assisted on each of Pominville's goals. Henrique scored shorthanded, and Steve Bernier added his sixth goal of the season. Andrei Loktionov tied the game at 3-3 by scoring with 8:38 left in regulation. Hecht scored his first goal of the season 9:47 into the third period to give the Sabres a 3-2 lead. He skated down the right wing with the puck and started to go behind the net. The puck ended up on the stick of rookie Mikhail Grigorenko, who passed the puck back to Hecht around the back of the net. Hecht took the puck from the right of Hedberg and banked it in from the side of the net. New Jersey tied it at 11:22 when Loktionov scored his third of the season. Kovalchuk passed the puck from the left point to Stefan Matteau, who fed a backhand pass into the slot. Loktionov took the pass, pushed his way into the front of the net and, with Miller down, slid the puck past his right pad. Pominville's shorthanded goal opened the scoring at 7:17 of the second period. Hodgson beat Kovalchuk to the puck in the right-wing corner and dished it in front to Pominville, who one-timed it past Hedberg. The goal was Pominville's eighth of the season and the 10th shorthanded goal of his career. It was Buffalo's second shorthanded goal of the season. The Devils tied it 2:07 later when a shot from Mark Fayne went off Bernier's midsection over the goal line. Steve Ott and David Clarkson dropped the gloves 27 seconds into the game to set the tone for what would be a scrappy, physical afternoon. Patrick Kaleta and Kovalchuk played their own physical game against each other for most of the first period. Following a shift when both players were sent to the box for roughing, Kaleta coaxed Kovalchuk into a high-sticking penalty. The Sabres' power play, 28th in the NHL entering the game, went 0-for-6. Buffalo squandered two first-period advantages by taking penalties; the Sabres also failed on two power plays in overtime. Henrique scored shorthanded to put the Devils ahead 1:21 into the third period. Buffalo opened the period on the power play after Carter cross-checked Kaleta into the boards in the Sabres zone as the second period expired. Henrique skated down left wing and avoided the reaches of Ott and Pominville as he went in alone on Miller. Henrique moved the puck back to his forehand and wristed a shot over Miller's blocker for his fifth goal of the season. Henrique snapped a nine-game goalless drought with the fifth shorthanded goal of his NHL career. Pominville answered with his second goal of the game at 3:10. Hodgson found him across the ice and sent a perfect pass that Pominville shot in from one knee. Buffalo improved to 4-6-1 at home and avoided its first four-game home winless streak since Feb. 13 to Feb. 20, 2011. The Sabres haven't lost four consecutive home games in regulation since Oct. 15 to Nov. 5, 2010. Forward Brian Flynn was recalled from the Rochester Americans of the American Hockey League to make his NHL debut. Flynn will remain with the team when they travel to play the New York Rangers on Sunday. The Sabres placed defenseman Jordan Leopold on injured reserve.

Washington v Winnipeg 3-0 - The Washington Capitals need to establish a road presence if they are to have any presence in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and they got an early start for March against the Winnipeg Jets. Starting the day in last place in the Eastern Conference, the Capitals scored a 3-0 win against the Jets Saturday afternoon at MTS Centre. Washington's Matt Hendricks scored midway through the second period to establish a 1-0 lead that the Capitals (8-11-1) nursed into the intermission before Troy Brouwer and Mike Ribeiro posted insurance goals in the opening 4:16 of the third period. The Capitals' busy month began with them badly needing to remedy their road problems. Washington plays 16 games, eight of them away from Verizon Center, in 31 days in March, and the Capitals began the afternoon having won only two of their first nine road games. Washington's brief two-game road journey began earlier this week with a lethargic 4-1 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers that brought down heavy criticism upon a team scuffling to establish any semblance of confidence this season. Washington's best route to the postseason may be via taking the Southeast Division, so a strong effort against a divisional opponent was crucial. Braden Holtby made his ninth consecutive start and stopped all 35 shots he faced, rebounding from the loss to the Flyers in which he was pulled after surrendering four goals. Hendricks earned a spot on the Capitals' top line with Ribeiro and Alexander Ovechkin, and a Hendricks-Ribeiro connection helped Washington scored first for the 12th time in the team's first 20 games. Ribeiro directed a pass from the bottom of the right circle toward Ondrej Pavelec that Hendricks tipped for his fourth goal of the season high over the goaltender's left shoulder at 10:56. Brouwer built upon Washington's lead early in the final period. Nicklas Backstrom worked the puck back off an offensive-zone right-circle draw to Brouwer, who snapped his ninth goal through slot traffic. Ribeiro followed up 1:12 later, scooping up Ovechkin's rebound and flicking his seventh goal over Pavelec. Winnipeg outshot the Capitals 15-5 in the first period and 16-3 in the final period, but Holtby attributed that to his club adhering to its defensive system. Washington's passive system surrendered the perimeter and forced long-range shooting options on the Jets, who struggled all afternoon to break into high-percentage areas of the ice. Washington's win stopped some of Winnipeg's recent momentum and halted its bid to establish a stronger home-ice presence. The Jets' 5-1-0 run entering the game set up the club for a four-game road trip that begins Tuesday evening against the Florida Panthers. Winnipeg (10-10-1) is now just 4-6-0 at home this season and has dropped five of its past six home dates. Pavelec started his ninth straight game for the Jets and stopped 18 shots. Pavelec, who struggled earlier in the season, continued to round his game into form. Washington tested Pavelec several times during a second period in which they outshot the Jets 13-4. The 25-year-old netminder made a big stop on a long shot from former Jet Eric Fehr, and followed up that save by gloving Jason Chimera's in-close bid set up by a Winnipeg defensive breakdown. However, the Jets' special-teams play continues to hamper their hopes at building sustained momentum. Despite 11 shots on the man-advantage, an 0-for-3 afternoon left Winnipeg in a 1-for-32 drought that has stretched 12 games. Winnipeg's penalty kill remains buried 30th in the National Hockey League as well. Winnipeg's injury problems also persist. Anthony Peluso departed the game after a first-period fight with Washington's Aaron Volpatti, an addition to Washington's lineup via waivers Thursday from the Vancouver Canucks. Peluso's return is not imminent, according to Noel. In the second period, John Erskine's hard point shot struck Blake Wheeler's right foot and left him crumpled on the ice moments before Hendricks scored. Wheeler missed a shift, but did return to action. Afterward, Noel reported that Wheeler may have suffered a bone contusion.

Pittsburgh v Montreal 7-6 - Defense took a holiday Saturday night in Montreal, where the Canadiens and Pittsburgh Penguins played the kind of game that was not uncommon in 1983, but almost unheard-of in 2013. Happily for the Penguins, the last goal belonged to them. Brandon Sutter's goal 52 seconds into overtime gave Pittsburgh a 7-6 victory at the Bell Centre in the highest-scoring game in the National Hockey League this season. The Penguins couldn't hold leads of 4-2 and 6-5, but snapped a two-game slide when Sutter took a pass from Simon Despres, stepped around a sliding Max Pacioretty and ripped a shot past Carey Price from the slot for his second of the game. Sutter's sixth goal of the season gave the Penguins a win in the kind of game they used to play often in the Mario Lemieux era, but not so much in today's Sidney Crosby era. The combined total of 13 goals is the most scored in any game so far this season, the previous high was 11. Sutter, Matt Cooke and Chris Kunitz all scored twice for Pittsburgh, while Crosby had a goal and two assists and Kris Letang set up four of the seven goals. The winning goal started when Despres and James Neal broke out of their own zone. Despres saw Sutter coming late, hit him with a pass and Sutter beat Price cleanly. Pittsburgh's win spoiled the night for Therrien, who was facing the franchise he led to the 2008 Stanley Cup Final for the first time since being fired in February 2009. Pittsburgh got a pair of second-period goals by Cooke to take a 4-2 lead before the Canadiens tied the score in the final 2:23 before intermission on tallies by Brian Gionta and P.K. Subban, setting the stage for a wild third period. David Desharnais put the Canadiens ahead 5-4 at 5:25 by knocking home the rebound of Alexei Emelin's shot. But Pittsburgh tied it at 8:33 when Kunitz raced into the high slot and one-timed Crosby's pass from behind the net behind Price. Crosby put the Penguins back in front at 10:24 by slamming home the rebound of Letang's stuff attempt. But the lead lasted just 30 seconds before Gionta blasted a slap shot from beyond the top of the right circle past Tomas Vokoun for his second of the night. Vokoun had no one but himself to blame for the game's first goal. Montreal defenseman Tomas Kaberle took a harmless-looking wrist shot from the left boards that Vokoun easily stopped, but he left a rebound that Brandon Prust slammed into the net at 5:41 for his third goal of the season. Crosby earned the game's first power play when Montreal's Tomas Plekanec had to hold him with 2:40 left to stop a scoring chance. The Penguins capitalized with 52.5 seconds left when Letang's slap shot from above the right circle hit the skate of Emelin and deflected onto the stick of Sutter, who snapped it into a wide-open side of the net. Montreal went back in front at 4:14 of the second when Pacioretty lifted the rebound of rookie Brendan Gallagher's stuff try over Vokoun for his seventh of the season. That lead lasted less than four minutes, Price stopped Crosby from the lower left circle, but Crosby controlled the rebound behind the net and fed Kunitz, who banked the puck off Price and into the net at 8:29 for his 10th of the season. The Penguins grabbed the lead 31 seconds later when Cooke's long shot sailed past a screened Price. Cooke put his team up by two at 13:05 when his straightaway 40-foot wrister got through defenseman Josh Gorges attempt at a block and zipped past Price's glove. Montreal made it a one-goal game at 17:37 when Gionta, skating between the circles, artfully deflected Francois Boullion's long shot past Vokoun. Subban snuck down from the blue line and fired home Gallagher's passout with :00.7 remaining to tie it. A video review confirmed that the puck crossed the goal line an instant before time ran out. The Penguins didn't let the Canadiens' late blitz deflate them.

Florida v Carolina 2-6 - Sometimes it's little more than a footnote when a rookie scores his first goal in the middle of a season, particularly a call-up player. But for one night, Carolina Hurricanes rookie Riley Nash had his moment. More accurately, he had several. Nash, playing his 12th NHL game in his third professional season, had a point on three of the Hurricanes' first four goals, and Carolina buried the Florida Panthers, 6-2, Saturday night at PNC Arena. The forward twice fed Jussi Jokinen for first-period goals during a three-minute flurry that gave the Hurricanes a 3-0 lead. Early in the second period, Nash finished a give-and-go with Patrick Dwyer to put Carolina ahead 4-1. For Nash, who has scored no more than 14 goals in any of his three American Hockey League seasons, it was the kind of game that makes a rookie imagine the possibilities. The former Edmonton Oilers first-round draft pick (2007, No. 21), thought he had his first goal in the bank a couple of shifts earlier, but he drilled one off the post from the slot. The mood was far more tense in the Florida locker room afterward. The Panthers, with an Eastern Conference-low six wins, lost goaltender Jose Theodore on the first shot of the game. After making a right-pad save on Jokinen, Theodore immediately fell face down in the crease. He was helped from the ice, unable to put any weight on his right leg. He was replaced by Scott Clemmensen. The Panthers also lost defenseman Dmitry Kulikov in the second period. He appeared to catch a rut in the ice in his own zone and fell backward into the boards. He left the ice holding his right wrist. For one night, the Hurricanes were able to shake some negative tendencies. The win marked their first in the Southeast Division after five losses. They also were the slowest-starting team in the NHL; in 19 games, they had scored eight first-period goals. The three-goal outburst gave Carolina a rare bit of breathing room and might have allowed them to play a more inspired game. Sandwiched between Jokinen's two first-period goals was a score from Jiri Tlusty. Without a goal in his first nine games, Tlusty has scored in 10 of his past 11. Jokinen's two goals helped him shake a season-long scoring slump. The former 30-goal scorer doubled his season total. Eric Staal, also historically a slow starter, cashed in with a pair of goals. The Hurricanes captain has 12 goals and 24 points through 20 games, and has been held off the score sheet five times. The Panthers' goals each came late in the first two periods, the first on a nice individual effort from Shawn Matthias, then on a slap shot from Filip Kuba in the left circle. On the heels of a convincing 4-1 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday, the Hurricanes are playing with confidence, not to mention plenty of scoring touch. They will try to build on the momentum Sunday in the second of this back-to-back at Florida.

Anaheim v Phoenix 4-5 - Anaheim Ducks forward Andrew Cogliano continues to make himself at home at Jobing.com Arena, but the Phoenix Coyotes found a way scratch and claw just enough to protect home ice against one of the National Hockey League's hottest teams Saturday. Cogliano, who scored a natural hat trick here last Jan. 31 in a span of 6:51, did it again with a goal 16 seconds into play and two more in the second period. But the Coyotes rallied three times to force overtime, the last when Steve Sullivan scored with 6:29 left in regulation, and Sullivan scored the only goal of the shootout in a wild and entertaining 5-4 win against the Ducks. The two Pacific Division foes play three straight games against each other, back here Monday night and Wednesday in Anaheim, but they will be hard-pressed to put on a better show. Phoenix goalie Mike Smith made 31 saves and stopped Nick Bonino, Corey Perry and Saku Koivu in the shootout. Viktor Fasth stopped 33 shots for Anaheim and denied Mikkel Boedker and Lauri Korpikoski in the shootout. But Sullivan, who snapped a 14-game scoreless draught with his game-tying goal, beat Fasth between the pads for the extra point. It was Fasth's first loss in five shootouts this season. The Ducks were playing for the second time in as many night and the fifth in seven days and it showed it the third period. With Martin Hanzal and Radim Vrbata on injured reserve and the offense slumping, Phoenix coach Dave Tippett challenged his remaining skilled scorers to shoulder more of the load and have a bigger impact on the game. Sullivan and Korpikoski, who snapped a 10-game slump with two goals, answered the call. Korpikoski's second goal tied the game, 3-3, 16 seconds into the third period. Matthew Lombardi also scored for Phoenix. The Ducks lost center Kyle Palmieri to an upper-body injury in the first period and reunited the Perry-Ryan Getzlaf-Bobby Ryan line much of the night. But it was Cogliano, who has six goals and eight points in his past three games here, who did most of the damage. Cogliano started early. Just 21 seconds into the game, Phoenix couldn't clear its zone and Koivu found him all alone on the doorstep for an easy tap-in goal. The Coyotes also allowed a goal on Minnesota's first shot in a 4-3 loss on Thursday just 1:45 into play. The Ducks made a serious bid to double their lead on the power play, holding the puck in the Phoenix zone for the entire two minutes and forcing Smith to make eight saves, including big ones on Francois Beauchemin and Bonino. That flipped the momentum, and Phoenix capitalized. A blocked shot by Zbynek Michalek sent the play the other way, and Raffi Torres missed the net on a shot from the left wing. But the puck smacked off the boards behind the net and trickled near the far post, where Lombardi banked a shot off Fasth's shoulder, setting a seesaw night into motion. Korpikoski snapped his slump and made it 2-1 Phoenix 12:32 into the second, finding the top corner of the net when Fasth stabbed and missed at his drive. But the Phoenix lead lasted just 27 seconds as Cogliano went back to work. He gobbled up a turnover in the neutral zone, used Rostislav Klesla as a screen, and his shot deflected off Klesla's stick to beat Smith to the short side at 12:59 to make it 2-2. Less than five minutes later, Cogliano took Daniel Winnik pass in the left circle and completing the hat trick at 17:26 to put the Ducks back in front. Korpikoski and the Coyotes needed 16 seconds of the third period to answer. Antoine Vermette won a battle for a popped-up puck behind the Anaheim net and pushed it to Korpikoski at the top of the slot. He beat Fasth to notch the seventh two-goal game of his career. Phoenix kept pressuring but lost its momentum when Kyle Chipchura was called for goaltender interference. Anaheim again dominated the power play, and four seconds before Chipchura left the box, Ryan found Koivu in the slot for a shot that trickled through Smith's pads at 6:25 to give Anaheim their third lead. But the Ducks began to tire and the Coyotes turned up the heat. Boedker set up Oliver Ekman-Larsson for a blast that Fasth stopped, but the rebound slid up the slot where Sullivan was waiting to tie the game for the fourth time. Smith made three saves on an Anaheim 4-on-3 power play in overtime to give his team a chance in the shootout.

Los Angeles v Vancouver 2-5 - The sellout crowd at Rogers Arena was already buzzing after Vancouver Canucks captain Henrik Sedin had slipped the puck between the legs of one Los Angeles Kings defender in the third period. Then he did it again to Anze Kopitar. On a night when the Canucks' top line created two goals, including the go-ahead tally by Daniel Sedin with 4:52 left in the second period, the momentum they generated with long, dominant shifts in the Los Angeles end was just as important to snapping the Kings' five-game winning streak with a 5-2 victory. The Sedins and Alexandre Burrows, who also had two assists, generated several chances that left the crowd buzzing and lifted their bench, helping snap their first two-game losing streak of the season against the team that knocked them out in the first round of last year's Stanley Cup Playoffs. Raymond, playing his first game at center in more than a year, created a couple big momentum shifts of his own. With the Kings gaining traction after Justin Williams tied it on a power play 6:12 into the second period, Raymond scored off a rush just over four minutes later. Playing in the middle with Ryan Kesler out with a fractured foot, Raymond skated onto Hansen's chip pass in the neutral zone, backing up the defense and firing a shot over Jonathan Quick's glove from top of the faceoff circles. His drop-pass assist to Hansen later in the period was also off the rush. Chris Higgins added an empty-net goal with 23 seconds left and Cory Schneider overcame a costly puckhandling gaffe to finish with 28 saves, including several of his best with the Kings pressing in the third period. The Kings had won seven of eight after a sluggish start to their first season as the defending Stanley Cup champions. Quick was the MVP of the Cup run, but has split the last eight starts with Jonathan Bernier and was beaten four times on the first 16 shots against Vancouver, finishing with 19 saves. Quick didn't have chance when Hamhuis opened the scoring 3:43 into the game after a long, dominating shift by the Sedins, aided by a Kings' turnover. That left Henrik alone to the goalie's right, and he fed Burrows at the side of the net for a backhand pass through the crease that left Hamhuis, cutting in from the point, with an empty net. After Williams and Raymond traded goals, Nolan, who was knocked out of the game briefly after taking a couple of big punches from Sestito, tied it 2-2 when Schneider turned the puck over behind his own net. That left Nolan with an empty net to wrap in his first goal since opening night. The Canucks retook the lead with two goals before the period ended. First it was Burrows making a smart play out of his own zone to set up a 2-on-1 for the Sedins. Henrik passed cross-ice to Daniel, who held it for a second as Quick moved left, then beat him over the blocker on the right. Hansen doubled the lead with 2:08 left, taking a drop pass from Raymond at and cutting into the middle for a shot over Quick's glove from the high slot. The Kings kept their winning lineup intact despite having defenseman Alec Martinez ready to return from an upper-body injury. Kevin Bieksa returned to the Canucks' lineup after missing two games with a groin injury, but fellow defenseman Keith Ballard was a surprise healthy scratch.

Nashville v San Jose 1-2 - San Jose Sharks coach Todd McLellan has been preaching the importance to his slumping team of taking more shots and putting more pressure on opposing goaltenders. The Sharks unleashed 39 shots, 16 in the first period alone, in a 2-1 victory Saturday night against the Nashville Predators at HP Pavilion. Dan Boyle and Joe Pavelski scored power-play goals for the Sharks, and goaltender Antti Niemi made 18 saves as San Jose beat Nashville for the first time in three tries this season. The Sharks took a 2-0 lead into the final period, but Nashville's Gabriel Bourque scored a shorthanded goal at 14:30 in the third, cutting San Jose's lead in half. The puck got past Sharks rookie defenseman Matt Irwin in the neutral zone along the left boards, and Bourque jumped on it. He streaked toward Niemi on a breakaway, faked right then beat Niemi the other way. The Sharks withstood a furious push in the final minutes to secure the win and jump from eighth to fifth place in the Western Conference with 24 points, one more than Nashville, which dropped from sixth to eighth. Before facing Nashville, the Sharks had just three power-play goals in their previous 59 chances over 14 games. They came up empty on their first power play Saturday before Boyle put the puck in the net for his third goal of the season, all on power plays. The Sharks scored multiple power-play goals for the first time since scoring two on Jan. 27 in a 4-1 win against the Vancouver Canucks. The Predators had defeated the Sharks twice this season before Saturday night's game, 2-1 in a shootout on Feb. 2 at HP Pavilion and 1-0 on Feb. 12 in overtime at Nashville. Predators goaltender Pekka Rinne stopped 51 of 52 shots in those two wins, as well as all three shots he faced in the shootout. This time, the Sharks put two shots past Rinne and sent Nashville to its fourth loss in its past five games. The Sharks outshot the Predators 16-6 in the first period and built a 1-0 lead on Boyle's power-play goal with 2:32 left in the first with Kevin Klein in the box for slashing Couture. Boyle took a pass near the blue line from Thornton and ripped a shot that got through traffic and past Rinne. The fact that Predators penalty killer Paul Gaustad had lost his stick improved Boyle's odds of scoring, so did that fact that Pavelski had planted himself in front of Rinne. Nashville nearly scored a shorthanded goal on San Jose's first power play. Martin Erat had the puck on a breakaway, but Niemi made a pad save of his shot that stayed low. In the second period, the Sharks kept the pressure on, outshooting Nashville 14-6. Pavelski gave San Jose a 2-0 lead with a power-play goal at 9:12 of the second with Ryan Ellis in the penalty box for tripping Andrew Desjardins. From behind the net, Couture reached out and poked the puck toward Pavelski, who got position inside of Klein near the crease. Pavelski ripped a shot past Rinne, inside the left post, for his seventh goal of the season. Both teams entered the game mired in offensive slumps. The Predators ranked last in the League at 2.05 goals per game, while the Sharks were 26th at 2.21. San Jose had scored 15 goals in its previous 12 games, going 2-6-4 during that span. The Predators were coming off a 5-1 loss Wednesday to the Anaheim Ducks and had been shut out in two of their three games before that, although they did score five goals in an overtime win against the Dallas Stars. The Predators really need to address their current slump, if they are to make the playoffs, and also to keep a smile on Caitlyn's face.