Gameday 50 (Sat, 09 Mar) - Results

Philadelphia v Boston 0-3 - The Boston Bruins spread the wealth Saturday afternoon, but they're generosity didn't extend to the Philadelphia Flyers. Boston got a goal from their power play and two from different even-strength lines during a 2:18 span of the first period and Tuukka Rask made 23 saves as the Bruins won their first meeting of the season with the Flyers 3-0 at TD Garden. Tyler Seguin, Chris Kelly and Daniel Paille scored Boston's goals. Rask recorded his second shutout of the season. The Bruins have now won two in a row after losing two in a row. They've also allowed just two goals in those two games after surrendering eight goals the previous two games. Boston's trademark team defense seems to have returned to form. The Flyers are trending in the opposite direction. After losing a three-goal lead and dropping a decision to Pittsburgh on Thursday, the Flyers extended their losing streak to three games. After the game, the Flyers held a team meeting several minutes longer than the locker room is expected to stay closed once a contest ends. Seguin electrified a game that started slow with a power-play goal 11:53 into the opening period to kick off the day's scoring. Milan Lucic made a spinning backhand pass across the top of the blue paint to Seguin at the bottom of the left circle, where he fired the puck past Ilya Bryzgalov. That started the Bruins' 2:18 of domination. The Bruins doubled their lead 81 seconds later. Jordan Caron, making his season debut with Boston, fed Kelly at the left hash mark. The Boston center settled the puck and then slapped it into the back of the net. Forty-three seconds later, the Bruins had claimed a 3-0 lead. Shawn Thornton stole the puck at the Philadelphia blue line and dumped it in while taking a big hit from Luke Schenn. Gregory Campbell won the race to the loose puck and fed a streaking Paille, who lit the lamp with a backhand shot. The next two periods featured one fruitless Philadelphia power play and 18 shots that failed to get by Rask. Just a week ago the Flyers won their second in a row to reach the .500 mark. Now they're sinking again.

Washington v NY Islanders 2-5 - Now that the New York Islanders finally figured out how to win at home, they are ready to hit the road. John Tavares scored two power-play goals 30 seconds apart in the third period as the Islanders closed a seven-game homestand by defeating the Washington Capitals 5-2 Saturday at Nassau Coliseum. The Islanders finished the homestand 3-2-2 but went 3-0-2 in the last five games. They are 5-8-2 at home as they prepare to begin a three-game road trip against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday. New York is 6-3-1 away from the Coliseum but had won twice in their first 12 games at home. Tavares broke a 2-2 tie with 7:47 remaining when he fired a rebound past rookie goaltender Philipp Grubauer, who was making his first NHL start. Tavares then rocketed a wrister past Grubauer 30 seconds later on a shot that originally was ruled no goal. Play went on for more than two minutes until Matt Moulson scored, only to have his goal taken away. The second goal was the 100th of Tavares' NHL career. Frans Nielsen added a shorthanded breakaway goal with 3:01 to play. Josh Bailey and Casey Cizikas also scored for New York (11-11-3). The Capitals got goals from Mathieu Perreault and Nicklas Backstrom but had a three-game winning streak snapped and lost for the second time in their past nine visits to the Coliseum. The Islanders held Alex Ovechkin off the scoresheet, meaning he'll need at least one more day to reach 700 points in his career. Washington's improved play in recent weeks has been partly due to the Capitals' success in staying out of the penalty box. But they gave the Islanders six power plays, four in the final period. Grubauer finished with 40 saves. Evgeni Nabokov, who at 37 is 16 years older than his Washington counterpart, made 22. For a moment, it looked like the Islanders might fritter away another third-period lead. They led 2-1 after two periods, but the Capitals tied it at 7:09 when Backstrom took a pass from Eric Fehr and one-timed a rocket past Nabokov for this third of the season. Whatever momentum the Capitals gained from Backstrom's equalizer was lost moments later when Mike Ribeiro was called for high-sticking Tavares at 8:48 and received an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for complaining about the call. The Capitals killed the first penalty, but Tavares cashed in on the second by hammering home a rebound for his 15th goal of the season. Just 22 seconds later, the Islanders received another four-minute advantage when Jeff Schultz was sent off for high-sticking Andrew MacDonald. Eight seconds after that, Tavares scored from the right circle to give the Islanders a two-goal lead. After a quiet first 10 minutes, Bailey gave the Islanders the lead at 10:46 when he tapped in a perfect pass from Nielsen to finish a textbook 2-on-1 rush. Capitals defenseman John Carlson coughed up the puck at the Islanders blue line, and Nielsen stepped around Karl Alzner in the neutral zone before racing in to set up Bailey's second goal of the season. Nabokov made the best of his eight stops in the opening 20 minutes when he kicked out his right pad to deny Jay Beagle's snap shot from the lower right circle with 36 seconds remaining before intermission. The Capitals got even 1:26 into the second period with some help from a fortunate bounce. With Radek Martinek off for holding Fehr's stick, Nabokov stopped Carlson's blast from the right point, but Perreault's rebound try clipped the skate of defenseman Travis Hamonic and slid past Nabokov for his seventh goal of the season. The goal was originally credited to Joel Ward but was changed after the game. Washington carried the play after the goal and nearly went ahead 6:05 into the period when Perreault picked up a rebound in the slot, turned and beat Nabokov cleanly only to hit the crossbar. It was the Islanders who took the lead midway through the period after a neutral zone turnover by Ovechkin. Matt Martin led a 2-on-1 break before dishing to Cizikas, who moved into the right circle and snapped a high wrist shot past Grubauer's blocker at 10:03 for his third of the season. Capitals defenseman John Erskine left early in the first period with an upper-body injury and did not return.

Detroit v Columbus 0-3 - The Columbus Blue Jackets are making a midseason push in the Western Conference, and it continued Saturday afternoon against the Detroit Red Wings. Cam Atkinson had a goal early, then Jack Johnson and Nick Foligno scored 1:23 apart in the second period as the Blue Jackets cruised to a 3-0 victory at Nationwide Arena in Columbus. The Blue Jackets clinched the season series against the Red Wings for the first time in franchise history. The win extended the Blue Jackets' points streak to six games (4-0-2) and pulled them out of the Western Conference basement, a place they had occupied since Feb. 15. The Blue Jackets are within four points of eighth place in the West, although they have played more games than the teams they are chasing. Sergei Bobrovsky made 30 saves for the Blue Jackets for his and the team's fourth straight victory. Columbus are now 3-0-1 this season against Detroit. Jonas Gustavsson stopped 21 shots for the Red Wings, who absorbed their second regulation loss in their past eight games (5-2-1). The teams will conclude a home-and-home series in Detroit on Sunday. Detroit went 0-for-3 on the power play and is 0-for-36 on the road with a man advantage. According to STATS, the Red Wings' streak of futility on the road power play is the fourth-worst to start a season since 1987-88. The Minnesota Wild, in their inaugural season in 2000-2001, failed to score on their first 47 power plays. The Atlanta Thrashers were 0-for-42 in 2001-12 and the New York Rangers were 0-for-39 in 1999-2000. Atkinson's third goal of the season was the result of a great defensive play behind the Red Wings net by Matt Calvert. Detroit defenseman Niklas Kronwall attempted to make a pass, but Calvert intercepted it, brought it to the front and fed Atkinson for the goal at 13:46 of the first period. Datsyuk was whistled for a delay of game penalty at 4:20 of the second period, and it took Johnson 52 seconds to make him pay. Brassard dashed through the slot and dropped a pass to Johnson, who ripped a shot past Gustavsson to make it 2-0. Columbus made it 3-0 after Detroit again had trouble behind its net. A pass to Kyle Quincey deflected off his skate and right to Ryan Johansen, who quickly fed Foligno in front of the net for the quick shot and goal.

St Louis v San Jose 4-3 - St. Louis Blues forward Vladimir Sobotka entered Saturday's game against the San Jose Sharks on a hot streak, having scored a goal in three of his past four games, including back-to-back contests. But that was just a warm-up act: Sobotka scored St. Louis' first three goals for his first career NHL hat trick before Patrik Berglund's goal 1:12 into overtime gave the Blues a 4-3 victory. Sobotka scored a first-period goal and two more in the third when the Blues dug their way out of a 3-1 hole. After Sobotka's hat trick got the Blues to overtime, defenseman Barret Jackman fired a shot from the left circle and Berglund redirected the puck past Sharks backup goaltender Alex Stalock, who had replaced starter Antti Niemi midway through the third after the Blues had pulled even at 3-3. The Sharks were outshot 35-25, but they had goals from Logan Couture, Scott Gomez and Matt Irwin. For the Sharks, scoring three goals in regulation qualified as an offensive explosion. They hadn't scored more than two goals in regulation since a 5-3 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on Feb. 5, a streak of 12 games. In their previous 17 games they had scored just 24 goals in regulation, after scoring 23 in their first five. Yet even with three goals and a two-goal lead in the third, the Sharks had to settle for one point heading into a road game Sunday against the Colorado Avalanche. After the first period ended 1-1, the Sharks got goals by Gomez and Irwin in the second to take a 3-1 lead. But Sobotka scored two quick goals in the third, and the Blues made it 3-3 with 14:22 left to play. Sobotka, who had scored the Blues' first-period goal, scored from the right circle at 4:18 of the third, threading a shot past Sharks defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic that got past Niemi and went just inside the left post. Just 80 seconds later, Sobotka completed his hat trick and tied the game when he scored a power-play goal with Sharks defenseman Dan Boyle in the penalty box for interference. With Chris Stewart planted in front of Niemi, Sobotka wristed an innocent-looking shot. The puck snuck over Niemi's left pad and trickled into the net. The Blues have won back-to-back games for the first time since a three-game streak Feb. 13-17. They improved to 2-2-0 on their road trip with one game left, Sunday against the Anaheim Ducks. After Sobotka tied the game, Sharks coach Todd McLellan pulled Niemi and replaced him with Stalock, who was called up Saturday from Worcester of the American Hockey League. Stalock suited up in place of backup goaltender Thomas Greiss, who suffered a neck injury Wednesday against the Calgary Flames. The Sharks had grabbed a 2-1 lead at 7:45 of the second when Gomez banged a rebound past rookie goaltender Jake Allen. James Sheppard ripped a shot from the high slot that went in and out of Allen's glove then bounced off Ryane Clowe, directly to Gomez in front of the net. Gomez did the rest, scoring his second goal of the season. Irwin made it 3-1 at 16:31, ripping a slap shot from the point through four Blues and past Allen. It was Irwin's second goal of the season; both have come on long-range lasers. The Blues, who outshot San Jose 12-7 in the first period, took a 1-0 lead 4:51 into the game on Sobotka's fifth goal of the season. Kevin Shattenkirk fired a long blast from near the blue line along the right boards. Niemi made the save but couldn't control the rebound and it came to Sobotka, who had position inside of Sharks defenseman Justin Braun, just right of the crease. Sobotka beat Niemi from point-blank range. The Sharks pulled even at 15:19 on Couture's ninth goal of the season, as he knocked a rebound past Allen. Forward Tommy Wingels earned the primary assist after coming off injured reserve and returning to the lineup for the first time since Feb. 23, when he was sent headfirst into the boards at Dallas. Wingels drove hard to the net from the right side around Jackman and sent the puck toward the net. Allen made the save, but the puck pinballed off him and Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo's right skate to a hard-charging Couture, who was wide-open in front of the crease. Wingels skated on a new-look first line with center Joe Thornton and Couture for the Sharks, who placed Martin Havlat on injured reserve Saturday with a lower-body injury.

Pittsburgh v Toronto 5-4 - For the second Saturday night in a row, the Pittsburgh Penguins came to Canada, went past regulation and won a high-scoring game. James Neal and Sidney Crosby scored in the shootout as the Penguins beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-4 for their fourth consecutive victory. Prior to the shootout, the capacity crowd, many of whom had come to see Crosby play his first game in Toronto since Jan. 9, 2010, were treated to 65 minutes of thrilling, up-and-down action. One week earlier, the Penguins played an even more wide-open game in Montreal that ended up in a 7-6 overtime victory. This time, the Penguins led 4-2 late in the second period, but Clarke MacArthur scored before intermission and Phil Kessel tied it with 4:20 left in regulation. After a scoreless overtime, Neal snapped a shot between the pads of goaltender James Reimer in the first round of the tiebreaker before Crosby ended the game with a high wrister that went just under the crossbar. While Neal, a Toronto-area native, was happy to be the hero, he echoed the comments of his captain in saying that he would have liked to have gotten the victory in regulation. Marc-Andre Fleury, who made 22 saves through 65 minutes, stopped Tyler Bozak and Nazem Kadri for the win. After allowing four goals on 18 shots in his last start against the Philadelphia Flyers, Fleury saw both positives and negatives in his performance. The win may have come at a price. Penguins star Evgeni Malkin left in the third period due to an upper-body injury sustained when he was hit by Toronto's James van Riemsdyk. The team said it's not a head injury and that Malkin was kept out for precautionary reasons. Dion Phaneuf and Kessel had three points for the Maple Leafs, and Reimer had a solid game with 37 saves. While none of Reimer's saves were particularly dazzling, he played well technically which was best demonstrated when he was in position to deny Crosby's one-timer near the end of overtime. Until Kessel's goal got them even, the Maple Leafs had spent most of the night playing catch-up. Defenseman Cody Franson took advantage of van Riemsdyk screening Fleury and hit the top corner on the stick side at 10:12 of the middle period for a power-play goal to cut Pittsburgh's lead to 3-2. It was Franson's second goal of the season and the second power-play goal of the night for the Maple Leafs. Pascal Dupuis restored the Penguins' two-goal lead at 13:01, but the Maple Leafs made it a one-goal game again exactly a minute later when MacArthur skated over the Pittsburgh blue line with a burst of speed and ripped a shot past Fleury as Kris Letang and Matt Niskanen backed in on Fleury. In his first game back since recovering from knee surgery, Matt Frattin recorded an assist on the play. He now has 11 points in 11 games this season; he last played on Feb. 11 against the Philadelphia. The fact the Maple Leafs were able to get a point against one of the NHL's perennial powerhouses seemed to be something they felt they could be proud of. The first period was a wide-open 20 minutes in which the Penguins scored three of the four goals. Neal scored on the Penguins' first shot on goal, whipping the puck from the high slot past Reimer just 36 seconds after the opening faceoff. It was his 16th of the season, tying him for second in the goal-scoring race. Toronto tied it at 7:14 with a power-play goal as Van Riemsdyk parked himself at the top of the crease and was able to tip Kessel's shot from the left circle behind Fleury. But Pittsburgh took command, at least for a while, on goals by Crosby and Paul Martin. Crosby buried Letang's rebound off the post to put his team up 2-1 at 14:31. Crosby's 12th goal of the season extended his points streak to seven games, during which he has five goals and 10 assists. He leads the scoring race with 40 points. In 11 games in Toronto, Crosby has nine goals and six assists. The Penguins kept pressing and made it 3-1 just 50 seconds later when Martin took a spectacular behind-the-back pass from Malkin and scored his fifth of the season. Pittsburgh has taken both meetings against the Maple Leafs this season. The Penguins will be back at Air Canada Centre on Thursday.

New Jersey v Carolina 3-6 - The Carolina Hurricanes had just completed a satisfying team win, 6-3 against the New Jersey Devils, their fifth in the past six games. Afterward, in the midst of it all was Chris Terry, quietly reminding everyone there are moments within a season that last a lifetime. After 235 games in the American Hockey League, the 23-year-old forward not only earned his first NHL callup, but he found the back of the net for Carolina's fourth goal. Exciting not only for Terry, but for the crowd at PNC Arena. When defenseman Bobby Sanguinetti's shot was deflected, the puck squirted free to Terry in front of the New Jersey net. He drew the puck from his forehand to the backhand and slipped it under goaltender Johan Hedberg. The crowd erupted at the announcement of his first NHL goal. If that first goal feels especially sweet for Terry, it's understandable. Over the past three-and-a-half seasons, the Hurricanes have auditioned an endless procession of forwards from the AHL, leaving Terry to pile up 88 goals for Hurricanes affiliates in Albany then Charlotte. A fifth-round draft pick in 2007, he waited his turn. Making matters better, he enjoyed his moment in the midst of a big win. Eleven players hit the score sheet, including Jiri Tlusty and Alex Semin, each with three points. Semin started the scoring in the first period when Joe Corvo found him alone in front of the net at 12:16. Defenseman Jay Harrison swept into the slot to pop in a rebound 28 seconds later, giving the Hurricanes an early cushion. New Jersey forward Ilya Kovalchuk sprang free for a shorthanded breakaway goal before the end of the first period, but Carolina owned the second. The Hurricanes pushed the lead back to two when goaltender Dan Ellis made a long pass to the Devils blue line, where Semin quickly found Tlusty for a goal at the far post. Ellis was sharp, stopping 31 shots for his fourth win of the season. He needed IV fluids between periods, the after-effects of an illness that kept him out of the lineup for the past week. He was a thorn in the side of Ryan Carter all night, stopping the Devils forward on three tough shots, including a third-period save when Ellis sprawled to get a glove on a would-be tap-in. The Devils managed a pair of goals early in the third period to cut Carolina's lead to 5-3, one from Kovalchuk that deflected off the skate of Carolina defenseman Justin Faulk, the other on a deft redirect by Patrik Elias.

Montreal v Tampa Bay 4-3 - The Montreal Canadiens roared back from a two-goal deficit in the third period with three unanswered goals to defeat the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-3 Saturday night at the Tampa Bay Times Forum. Brendan Gallagher scored the go-ahead goal for Montreal, his seventh of the season, at 12:03 of the third period. The score capped a comeback which saw the Canadiens fire 13 shots on net. Tampa Bay, meanwhile, had several long periods in the game without a shot on goal. The Lightning went 18:16 of the third period without a shot and finished with only two in the final 20 minutes. Montreal cut the Lightning lead to one goal just 3:40 into the third, when Brian Gionta was credited with his eighth goal of the season via the power play as the puck trickled into the net just one second before Victor Hedman's tripping penalty was set to expire. Lightning goaltender Cedrick Desjardins, making his first start since Jan 1, 2011 when he defeated the New York Rangers 2-1, had made the initial save, but he lost track of the puck as it caromed around several sets of legs in the crease before slipping behind him. That score opened the flood gates as the Canadiens surged in the final period. The Canadiens knotted the score 3-3 at 7:33 when Alexei Emelin's shot from the left point beat Desjardins cleanly. The goal was Emelin's second of the season and was assisted by Gionta and Michael Ryder. The Lightning took their time getting under way in the second period, but once they got started, they were effective, pounding Montreal goaltender Carey Price with 11 shots and scoring three times. Tampa Bay went without a shot on net until 5:30 into the second period, but it made the first one count as Steven Stamkos, alone in the high slot, unwound on Martin St. Louis' centering pass and beat Price high to the glove side. It was the 19th goal of the season for Stamkos, tops in the National Hockey League. That lead held up for only 2:08 as Tomas Plekanec evened the game with a mirror-image goal of Stamkos' as he finished a centering pass from Andrei Markov for his 11th tally of the season. The Lightning grabbed the lead back just 37 seconds later on Sami Salo's second goal of the season, a shot from just above the faceoff circle to left of Price. It is unlikely Price saw it, but the puck made it through the crowd in front and into the Montreal net. The combined three-goal barrage came within 2:45 on the clock, but Tampa Bay wasn't finished yet. With Plekanac in the penalty box for tripping, St. Louis sent a shot on net from just inside the blue line that deflected off Ryan Malone's foot and into the Montreal net to make it 3-1. The power-play goal at 12:20 was Malone's fifth of the season and was the second assist in the game for St. Louis. Stamkos also picked up his second point with the additional assist. With two points in the contest, St. Louis extended his point streak to six games. Price finished with 20 saves for his 13th win of the season.

Minnesota v Nashville 2-1 - Ryan Suter said he was just trying to get through it. Taken aback by some of the venom he faced at the rink he called home for his first seven seasons in the National Hockey League, Suter had his ups and downs on Saturday but came away with an assist and a victory as the Minnesota Wild defeated the Nashville Predators 2-1 in a shootout at Bridgestone Arena. Matt Cullen won the shootout in the third round with a wrist shot to Nashville goalie Pekka Rinne's blocker side. In the second round, Mikko Koivu scored by opening up Rinne and then sliding the puck between his legs with a backhander, but Craig Smith equalized it with some slick faking of his own past Niklas Backstrom. Minnesota won when David Legwand hit the post with his try in the third round. The Wild entered with wins in five of their previous eight. Nashville, which was 2-5 in its previous seven, embarks on a five-game road trip over seven days starting Tuesday. The Preds earned three of four points on the two-game homestand and coach Barry Trotz said earning the point showed good character, especially as Nashville played on Friday, defeating Edmonton 6-0. Suter, who was selected seventh overall in 2003 when the draft was held in this same arena, was booed virtually every time he stepped on the ice. He chose to sign with Minnesota as an unrestricted free agent last July, inking a deal worth $98 million over 13 years. On the same day as Suter agreed to a contract with Minnesota last July 4, Zach Parise agreed to a deal on the same terms. Together, the pair combined for the game's first goal. Minnesota took advantage of Nashville's second penalty in the first 8:07 of the second period finally to break the ice. Bobby Butler, playing his second game for Nashville after being claimed on waivers from New Jersey, went off for hooking and during the kill, Nashville's Kevin Klein gained full control of the puck behind his net. He sent it to the right wall where it hit off teammate Mike Fisher's skate and remained in the zone. That eventually allowed Suter, straight out from the goal just inside the blue line, to find a shooting lane for a wrist shot that Parise deflected in front at 9:01. It was the first goal that Rinne allowed in 99:01. Suter went from hero to goat in the third period, as he was in the penalty box when Legwand evened the game at 1-1. At 5:53, Suter earned a roughing call during a scrum in front of his net. Thirty-five seconds later, Legwand took Sergei Kostitsyn's cross-ice pass on the right side and beat Backstrom high to the glove side with a wrist shot. Suter played in the All-Star Game last season for the first time and currently leads the League in time on ice per game at 27:31. He played 28:59 on Saturday, including what seemed like the entire overtime, as Minnesota gained a power play. Rinne was whistled for playing the puck outside of the trapezoid and received a delay of game call with 3:26 left, but Nashville killed it. Rinne (28 saves) stopped a blistering slap shot by Devin Setoguchi with his glove hand, with the puck rattling off the post but staying out. It was obvious that the Wild players badly wanted to win the game for Suter. Before the media was allowed in the locker room after the game, loud cheers could be heard emanating from its direction. Nashville, the League's lowest-scoring team, played most of the game without one of its key forwards. Colin Wilson, who leads the team in goals with seven, suffered an upper-body injury at 1:48 of the second period. Wilson did not return. That came on top of losing wing Patric Hornqvist on Friday, also to an upper-body injury, on Friday. Hornqvist has led the team in goals in two of the previous three seasons.

Dallas v Phoenix 1-2 - Rob Klinkhammer was so wide open, with so much gaping net with which to deposit his first National Hockey League goal Saturday night, that when the red light went on he looked a lot like the late Jim Valvano at the 1983 NCAA Basketball Championships. He was stunned. He was elated. And when he looked around, he was eerily alone, with no Phoenix Coyotes anywhere near him. Arms open and mouth agape, all he wanted was someone to embrace. But when Klinkhammer's goal turned out to be the game-winner in a huge 2-1 win against the Dallas Stars at Jobing.com Arena, there was plenty of time for embraces afterward. Shane Doan scored his fourth goal in the last six games to give the Coyotes a 1-0 lead in the first. It was only the third time in the past 16 games that the Coyotes managed to score first, dating back to a 2-0 shutout against the Stars here on Feb. 2, but it's a key for them. They are now 7-1-1 this season and 107-13-6 when taking a 1-0 lead since coach Dave Tippett came to Arizona in 2009. Mike Smith, who had allowed 18 goals in his past four games, returned to form with 21 saves to help the Coyotes avoid their first three-game losing streak of the season and jump over Dallas and back into a Western Conference playoff spot. The Coyotes blocked a season-high 29 shots in the game, eight of them by defenseman Zbynek Michalek and four during a 5-on-3 Dallas power play midway through the third period. Kari Lehtonen made 21 saves for Dallas but the Stars, who had scored three or more goals in 13 of 14 games since being blanked here, struggled in the desert. Jaromir Jagr scored career goal No. 675 in the second period for Dallas to make it a 2-1 game, but Smith shut the door there and continued his mastery over his old team. Smith is now 7-1-5 in 13 games against the Stars, who drafted him in the fifth round in 2001. The Coyotes took the coveted 1-0 lead on another great play by their budding star on the blue line. Oliver Ekman-Larsson jumped off the bench and raced to the blue line to snag a Steve Sullivan drop-pass before it went offside. He did pirouette around Dallas' Eric Nystrom before finding Antoine Vermette behind the goal line. Vermette punched a pass to Doan at the lip of the crease and he pushed it by Lehtonen at 16:59. Ekman-Larsson leads the Coyotes in assists (14) and points (17) and continues to do so with flair. Then at 10:38 of the second it was time for Klinkhammer, who didn't get to Arizona from Portland of the AHL until after 3 a.m. due to weather and flight delays, to savor his moment to remember. The Coyotes had all the momentum, but lost the handle when Klinkhammer was sent to the box for interference and Moss popped a puck into the stands 24 seconds later. With a 5-on-3 power play, Jagr beat Smith with a wrist shot over the shoulder at 18:19 for his team-leading 10th goal. Amazingly, the Stars got another extended 5-on-3 under almost the same circumstances in the third period. With Kyle Chipchura already in the box, Vermette's diving clear attempt went over the glass and the Stars had another extended 5-on-3 for 1:29. But the Phoenix penalty kill smothered Dallas, allowing only one shot.

Calgary v Los Angeles 2-6 - The marquee for this two-game set says it's the Los Angeles Kings against the Calgary Flames, but it's really Jonathan Quick and Miikka Kiprusoff in the spotlight. Both teams need their goalies to get back to speed, and Quick took a step forward Saturday in a 6-2 win that had the sold-out Staples Center crowd at full roar again. Quick didn't get a ton of work with 17 saves, but he had no chance on the two goals allowed and improved to 8-7-2 on a night when the Kings honored former goalie Kelly Hrudey, second in franchise history in wins. Kiprusoff? He nearly gave up a goal on a shot from center ice by Mike Richards in the opening minute and was eventually pulled for Joey MacDonald after he allowed six goals in 22 shots in his third game back from a knee injury. It was the first time he allowed six goals since Dec.6, 2011. A lot of them were more his defense's fault, although Anze Kopitar's wrist shot short side for the sixth goal was hard to excuse. Calgary has been outscored 10-2 on its trip through Southern California that ends Monday with a rematch here. Quick was backed by the usual offensive source as Jeff Carter showed no signs of cooling off with a first period goal that gave him 13 goals in 13 games. His 17th this season, behind only Steven Stamkos of the Tampa Bay Lightning, was an open-net conversion of Dustin Brown's pass on the power play. Jake Muzzin continued to grow offensively in his role as Drew Doughty's partner as his fifth goal, five more than Doughty, was a wrist shot through traffic. Justin Williams broke loose with only his second goal since Feb.2, a deflection of Slava Voynov's pass for a 4-2 lead in the second period. Los Angeles took a 3-2 lead from a truly mixed-bag first period but a late defensive breakdown ruined what had been a big swing. The Kings held the Flames to one goal on two minutes' worth of a 5-on-3 advantage and pulled to 3-1 when Voynov laid out a perfect pass into open space for Trevor Lewis to wrist high off Kiprusoff's left shoulder. Lewis recorded his career-high fourth goal after he totaled three in 72 regular season games last season. Calgary got it back in the final minute as Mark Giordano and Alex Tanguay slipped behind the defense for a tap-in goal by Tanguay. That capped first 20 minutes that saw five goals and five penalties, including an unsportsmanlike conduct bench minor on Calgary and a delay of game faceoff violation on Jarret Stoll. Mike Richards briefly left the game in the second period on a hit by Tim Jackman, but returned. Curtis Glencross did not play because of an upper-body injury and returned to Calgary to be re-evaluated, according to the team. Mikael Backlund was activated after a knee injury kept him out since Feb.7.