Gameday 45 (Mon, 04 Mar) - Results

New Jersey v Toronto 2-4 - A three-goal outburst in the first 10 minutes of the third period propelled the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 4-2 victory against the New Jersey Devils on Monday at Air Canada Centre. Nazem Kadri and Clarke MacArthur each had a goal and an assist to pace Toronto (14-9-0). MacArthur scored the eventual game-winning goal on the power play, shoveling the puck under Devils goaltender Johan Hedberg at 7:25 of the final period to give the Maple Leafs a 3-2 lead. It was his sixth goal of the season. Fans had barely finished returning to their seats for the start of the third when Jay McClement tied the game at 2 just 39 seconds in. McClement had a clear path to the net and made a move to his backhand, chipping the puck between Hedberg's right pad and blocker after intercepting Patrik Elias' errant pass in the Devils' zone. It was McClement's third goal of the season; he now has four points in his past five games. Phil Kessel capped the scoring barrage with his fifth goal of the season to put the Maple Leafs up 4-2 at 9:52, finishing off a 2-on-1 with James van Riemsdyk. After MacArthur put the Leafs ahead, James Reimer made a sensational right pad save on Elias that left the Devils' all-time leading scorer shaking his head. Elias was set up on the edge of the crease by Travis Zajac, but Reimer denied him by getting his right pad on the shot. In his second start since returning from a knee injury, Reimer looked more comfortable between the pipes than he did in his previous start against the New York Islanders. He had to be alert throughout the game, contending with plenty of point shots through traffic as well as when his team struggled to get anything going in the second period. Reimer now has an 8-3-0 record with a .923 save percentage and 2.43 goals-against average. After two periods, the Devils (10-7-5) looked to be in good position to pull out of a recent rough patch in which they earned only one point in four games leading up to their first of three meetings with the Maple Leafs. They had out-chanced Toronto, and out-shot the Leafs by a margin of 18 –10 Marek Zidlicky scored his second and third goals of the season just over five minutes apart to give the Devils a 2-1 heading into the second intermission. Both goals were set up by Ryan Carter. The Devils defenseman evened the game at 5:43, zipping a screen shot from the left faceoff circle, far-side, behind Reimer. Zidlicky got the puck after Carter beat David Steckel cleanly on a draw in the Leafs' zone. The pair would connect again on a give-and-go at 11:18. Pouncing on a turnover at the Devils' blue line, Zidlicky skated in to Toronto's zone and drew Maple Leafs defenseman Cody Franson before dropping a pass to Carter. He in turn fed the puck back to Zidlicky for the go-ahead goal. Prior to his second-period outburst, Zidlicky had only recorded one goal this season. His last multi-goal performance was Jan. 19, 2009 as a member of the Minnesota Wild. With his team down a goal early in the second, Hedberg made a nice stick save on Kessel, who kept on a 2-on-1 with Tyler Bozak. It was one of only five saves he had to make in the period. Hedberg has struggled in the starting role since Martin Brodeur was lost to injury on Feb. 23. Since then, Hedberg has gone 0-4-1 with an .849 save percentage and 3.62 GAA. The Maple Leafs opened the scoring at 10:34 of the first period, generating offense by effectively using the cycle. From the boards, MacArthur spotted Kadri at the left faceoff circle. Kadri's centering attempt for linemate Leo Komoraov caught the heel of Hedberg's stick and trickled over the goal line. Kadri now has nine goals this season and he leads the Maple Leafs in scoring with 23 points. New Jersey went 0-for-4 with the man-advantage.

Tampa Bay v Pittsburgh 3-4 - About the only people who weren't surprised to see Evgeni Malkin shake off nine days of rust and any lingering effects from a concussion were his Pittsburgh Penguins teammates. Playing for the first time in five games after a scary collision into the boards, Malkin had a highlight-reel, game-tying third-period goal, added an assist and was generally his National Hockey League reigning MVP self in leading Pittsburgh to a 4-3 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday night. Malkin had just been cleared for contact in practice Sunday, after which the two-time NHL scoring champion opined that he might need more time to return to game action following an injury that led to temporary short-term memory loss. Based on his strength and performance during the practice, his teammates didn't think he required any more fine-tuning. It was the same old "Geno." Sidney Crosby added a pretty goal of his own to give the Penguins the lead 1:51 after Malkin tied it 5:38 into the third. Chris Kunitz had given Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead off a feed from Crosby in the first period, and James Neal added an empty-net goal with 51.5 left. The Penguins improved to 21-2-1 in their past 24 home games against Southeast Division teams and 37-6-3 in March games since 2007. Marc-Andre Fleury, who made 25 saves, has 31 of those March home victories. He has won six straight home starts. Steven Stamkos scored twice to give him a League-leading 17 goals and Tom Pyatt scored a peculiar off-his-face goal for Tampa Bay, which lost its fifth consecutive contest. Malkin showed no visible ill effects from his concussion, firing a team-high five shots on goal and attempted three others that didn't make it to the net. He also won seven of 12 faceoffs in 15:29 of ice time, adding an assist on Neal's empty-netter. Especially when he's given the puck at the opponent's blue line. Malkin corralled a Lightning turnover, skated hard down the right wing, briefly left his skates to split defensemen Eric Brewer and Matt Carle and deposited the puck behind Tampa Bay goalie Anders Lindback. Soon after, Crosby gave the Penguins the lead with his NHL-leading 36th point. Kris Letang circled behind the net to find an open Crosby in the right slot, and Crosby one-timed it in for his 19th point in his past nine games. Letang added another assist to give him 21 points to lead all NHL defensemen, and Crosby has 11 points in a five-game point streak to maintain his two-point lead over Stamkos in the scoring race. It took all of three shifts for Crosby to give Stamkos a firsthand example. Crosby took the puck along the left-wing boards and fought off, among others, Stamkos in holding it until he fed a wide-open Kunitz in the high slot. Kunitz beat Tampa Bay goalie Mathieu Garon for his 12th goal of the season, establishing new career highs for a point streak (six games) and goal streak (four games). After Garon denied several quality Penguins power-play chances during the first two minutes of the second period, he left the game with a lower-body injury. Tampa Bay is expected to promote Cedrick Desjardins from the Syracuse Crunch of the American Hockey League prior to Tuesday night’s game against the New Jersey Devils. Twenty seconds later, Stamkos tied the game at 1 with his ninth goal in a 10-game point streak. Victor Hedman slid a pass to Stamkos, who was alone to the left of Fleury. Tampa Bay took a 2-1 lead on a bizarre goal 12 minutes into the second when Brandon Sutter's stick met Nate Thompson's stick as he attempted to shoot from the slot. The puck fluttered through traffic in the air toward the net, deflecting off of Pyatt's face before settling into the net behind an unsuspecting Fleury. Ondrej Palat, who was making his NHL debut, earned the second assist on the goal, which was Pyatt's fifth of the season. Stamkos scored at 19:52 of the third after Tampa Bay had pulled its goalie for an extra attacker, his 10th in his past 10 games. But the Lightning could not get the equalizer. The Penguins have a six-game home winning streak at home against the Lightning, who have never won at Consol Energy Center. Tampa Bay is 3-11-1 since a 6-1 start.

Anaheim v Phoenix 4-5 - The calendar read March 4. But, it was Groundhog Day at Jobing.com Arena. Two nights after the Phoenix Coyotes cooled off the red-hot Anaheim Ducks with a 5-4 shootout victory on home ice, the same two teams returned for the rematch, and played almost the exact same game with the exact same result. Again, nine goals were scored, in the exact same sequence as Saturday. Again, the Ducks blew leads of 1-0, 3-2 and 4-3 and wound up in a shootout. And again, the Coyotes overcame Anaheim's stacked deck of individual skill to prevail in the shootout, this time on Oliver Ekman-Larsson's goal in the fifth round to post another 5-4 win. The win jumped the Coyotes from ninth place all the way to fourth in the skin-tight Western Conference playoff race with 25 points. They are still eight points behind the Ducks, but the last three days have been a confidence boost. Mike Smith made 27 saves during play and stopped Teemu Selanne, Corey Perry, Nick Bonino in the shootout, allowing one to Ryan Getzlaf. Jonas Hiller made 36 saves for Anaheim during regulation and overtime and stopped Mikkel Boedker, Vermette and Shane Doan in the shootout, but Steve Sullivan scored in the second round before Ekman-Larsson tallied the clincher off the right post. One thing did change Monday. Anaheim's big guns, Getzlaf, Perry, Ryan and Selanne, who were a combined minus-9 with one point in the loss here Saturday, were much more active in the rematch. Getzlaf had a goal and two assists, Perry had a goal and an assist and Ryan gave the Ducks their second lead of the third period with a goal. Matt Belesky also scored for the Ducks, who came to town 15-3-1, but suffered two setbacks in 48 hours. Vermette, Yandle, Doan and Michael Stone scored for Phoenix. Stone's goal, the fifth in a span of 7:57 between the second and third period, tied it 4-4 with 12:11 left in regulation and forced another overtime. The Ducks started fast with eight of the first nine shots and the first goal. Beleskey, playing with Getzlaf and Perry for the injured Kyle Palmieri, took a Getzlaf pass in the slot and used a Perry screen to beat Smith at 10:12. The Coyotes uncharacteristically lost 16 of 27 faceoffs in the first period, but won a big one early in the second. Vermette won an attacking zone faceoff and went to the net as Ekman-Larsson let a shot go from the point. Hiller stopped it, but the rebound was waiting for Vermette to pound home at the 59-second mark. It was Vermette's sixth goal of the season and the 150th of his career. A few minutes later, Hiller air-mailed a puck over the glass for a delay of game penalty and the Coyotes cashed in. Yandle's shot from the point deflected off an Anaheim skater and dipped under Hiller for a power-play goal at 6:34. For Yandle, who has four goals and 13 points in his past 14 games against the Ducks, the goal was his 200th NHL point. The Coyotes got another late power-play chance, but an opportunity turned into late-period disaster. Perry broke up a Yandle pass and the bouncing puck sent Getzlaf down the ice alone. Getzlaf picked out the far corner from the left circle and put it past Smith with 7.8 seconds left in the period. It was the first shorthanded goals scored by Anaheim and the first allowed by Phoenix all year. Even at 2-2, the game was just getting started. Anaheim took its first lead 1:55 into the third period on the power play, when Getzlaf wristed a shot toward the net that Perry deflected in the slot past a helpless Smith at 1:55. The 3-2 lead lasted 12 seconds. Ex-Duck Kyle Chipchura corralled a puck in the neutral zone and fed Doan, who pinged the post behind Hiller for a huge milestone goal. Doan not only collected his 800th career point, he passed Keith Tkachuk for second place on the all-time franchise goals list with the 324th goal as a Coyote. But the see-saw affair continued. At 6:31, Rostislav Klesla coughed up a puck in his own corner, and Bonino found Ryan all alone in front of the crease for a point-blank goal. The Ducks had their second lead of the period, but it didn't last much longer than the first. Just 1:18 later, Chipchura smothered an Anaheim clearing attempt in the Phoenix zone and pushed it to Stone at the point. His low shot found its way past Hiller to ensure it would again take a shootout to decide the match.

Nashville v Los Angeles 1-5 - Earlier this season, Los Angeles Kings coach Darryl Sutter declared Jeff Carter his best player since the start of training camp. While his teammates were slow out of the gate, Carter has been on a steady gallop in his first full go-around with L.A., and his latest footprints were a natural hat trick in a 5-1 win Monday night against the Nashville Predators. Carter scored twice in 19 seconds in the third period, capping his fifth career hat trick with a strip of Roman Josi and a breakaway backhand past Pekka Rinne to give him 14 goals in 20 games. Carter had three goals on five shots and appears to be in a good place, literally and figuratively, starting his first full season with the Kings. The Kings added goals by Mike Richards and Dwight King to equal their highest scoring game this season. Jonathan Bernier stopped 18 shots to improve to 7-1 against Nashville, which completed its California trip 0-3 with persisting questions about offense and special teams. A late goal by Gabriel Bourque avoided what would have been a League-leading sixth shutout this season. Nashville has dropped five of six and scored three goals in those five losses. Captain Shea Weber didn't have many answers in a hushed locker room that was closed for an extended time afterward. Coach Barry Trotz eventually emerged and said, "It's sort of been a trip from hell." Carter took a pass from a falling Colin Fraser and deked past Rinne for a 2-0 lead at 4:39, and the breakaway at 4:58 effectively sealed a win. Los Angeles has allowed two third-period goals, one an empty-netter, in the past eight games. Carter's backhand swipe of a fluttering puck from the left side slipped through the pads of Rinne at 5:28 of the second, with Craig Smith in the penalty box for high sticking. Rinne had to back up to the goal line once the puck got free to Carter, who has 10 goals in 14 career games against Nashville. L.A. scored four times on its first nine shots. Its five goals came on a season-low 16 shots. Penalty killing is a major issue faulty for Nashville, which has allowed nine goals in 17 power-play opportunities the past four games. It has allowed a power play goal in 10 straight road games. The teams exchanged long stretches of sustained pressure in the second and harvested nothing out of it. The Kings spent a lot of time in Nashville's zone yet put a season-low three shots on goal in the period. The Predators came alive at the end of the period but nothing materialized. L.A. also put a three shots on goal in the first period. Its first came at the 4:34 mark, on a backhand by King to draw sarcastic cheers. Nashville was predictably not much better and put five shots on goal despite having 90 seconds of power-play time. Alec Martinez returned to the lineup from an upper-body injury for L.A.