Gameday 65 (Sun, 24 Mar) - Results

Florida v NY Islanders 0-3 - After Friday's 4-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins, New York Islanders goaltender Evgeni Nabokov told reporters he needed to be better if the Isles were ever going to snap out of their funk on home ice. On Sunday, he was much better. Nabokov made 26 saves, Andrew MacDonald scored a power-play goal and the Islanders defeated the Florida Panthers 3-0 on Sunday at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum to salvage the finale of a four-game homestand. It was Nabokov's third shutout this season for the Islanders, who moved within two points of eighth place in the Eastern Conference despite having won only six of 19 home games this season. New York went 1-3-0 on its homestand. After losing their three previous home games by faltering in the third period, the Islanders shut down the Panthers, who have the NHL's worst record at 9-18-6. MacDonald scored his second goal of the season at 6:05 of the first period on the power play. With Filip Kuba in the box for tripping, MacDonald took a pass from Frans Nielsen and rifled a shot from just inside the point past Panthers goalie Jacob Markstrom. It was fifth straight game in which an Islander defensemen has scored and MacDonald's second of the season. John Tavares scored his team-leading 19th goal, an empty-netter with 31 seconds left. Casey Cizikas added another empty-netter with 13 seconds remaining. Nabokov, who has been in net for 27 of the Islanders' 32 games this season has 326 career wins, ranking him fourth among active goalies behind Martin Brodeur, Roberto Luongo and Nikolai Khabibulin. Nabokov's 55 shutouts move him ahead Bernie Parent and Ed Giacomin to 18th all-time. The Islanders have been ahead or tied in the third period in 26 of 32 games this season. They are 14-9-3 in those games. New York dominated the first period, outshooting the Panthers 13-4. Florida held a 12-11 shots advantage in a scoreless second period. Nabokov stopped another 10 shots in the third for his 55th career shutout. Markstrom made two sharp saves in the second on Tavares and another point-blank on Colin McDonald in the slot. The Islanders, who are 6-11-2 at home, play 11 of their final 16 games on the road, beginning Tuesday night in Washington. The Panthers are on a season-high five-game road trip. They won the first two then lost to New Jersey last night. Florida will conclude its trip in Toronto on Tuesday.

Washington v NY Rangers 3-2 - The Washington Capitals are slowly transforming themselves into a confident bunch, and it's happening just in the nick of time. After squandering an early two-goal lead against the New York Rangers on Sunday at Madison Square Garden, the Capitals steadied themselves over the final two periods and squeaked out a 3-2 shootout victory for their third straight win and fourth triumph in five games. The Capitals put an exclamation point on a four-game road trip that began with a 2-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins. It was a game in which the Capitals left Consol Energy Center without a point, but it was a game players said Sunday that made them start to believe. By picking up a point, the Rangers were able to jump in front of the Carolina Hurricanes for eighth place in the Eastern Conference with 33 points. The Capitals have climbed to 10th place with 31 points and are five points behind the Winnipeg Jets for first place in the Southeast Division with 16 games remaining. Starting with the Islanders at home Tuesday, the Capitals' next seven games will come against teams currently outside the top eight in the East. Versatile forward Brooks Laich said he can feel a shift in the mood of the team of late, but it won't mean anything if they let up after this successful road trip. It appeared as though the Capitals were primed to run the Rangers out of the building during the first 10 minutes, when they controlled every aspect of the game and took a 2-0 lead. Backstrom scored the Capitals' fifth power-play goal in five games when a deflected shot by Alex Ovechkin bounced off his chest while in the crease and landed in the net behind Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist. The goal marked the 20th time in 31 games the Rangers fell into a 1-0 hole. The deficit doubled 2:11 later when an unmolested Ovechkin was allowed to stand just above the crease and deflect a shot by defenseman Steve Oleksy that made it 2-0. It appeared the Rangers were in for a long night, but their newly formed fourth line of Darroll Powe, Kris Newbury and Arron Asham cut the lead in half with 5:48 remaining in the period. A Capitals turnover near the blue line sprung Asham, who was playing his first game in more than a month due to lower-back issues, and Newbury on a 2-on-1 break. Asham elected not to pass and fired a shot from the left wing that beat Capitals goaltender Braden Holtby high to the glove side to make it 2-1. The goal gave the Rangers life, and the fourth line again came through as Capitals forward Jason Chimera was whistled for interference when he took down Powe. Twenty-four seconds later, defenseman Karl Alzner slashed Rick Nash on a breakaway, giving the Rangers a 5-on-3 power play. It didn't take long for the Rangers to cash in, as Derek Stepan's quick shot bounced through Holtby's legs to make it 2-2 with 1:57 left in the first period. Over the final 47 minutes, the Capitals were outshot 27-10, but Holtby made several key saves. Rangers forward Marian Gaborik had a breakaway chance in the second period, but Holtby remained patient and stopped his backhander after a hard deke. Holtby was called upon to make five saves in overtime and stopped three of four shots in the shootout. The Capitals had a chance to let down early in the second period after an extended 5-on-3 power play came up empty and registered just one shot. Ovechkin had two attempts that never made it on net as a sellout crowd that was booing in the first period was whipped into a frenzy after watching their team kill the penalty. Holtby, who has allowed eight goals in his past five starts, said this was the type of game Capitals were losing during their ghastly first month of the season. The struggles on offense continued for the Rangers, who have now scored two goals or fewer in six of their last seven games. They begin a three-game road trip that starts in Philadelphia on Tuesday and continues in Ottawa on Thursday and Montreal on Saturday.

Philadelphia v Pittsburgh 1-2 - About the only way the Philadelphia Flyers had tortured their bitter rivals more regularly than by ending their long winning streaks was by winning in their building. Tyler Kennedy exorcized a couple of demons for the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday, and he kept them perfect in March in the process. Kennedy scored 2:33 into overtime after Sidney Crosby had tied it with a 5-on-3 goal late in regulation and Pittsburgh extended its winning streak to an NHL season-high 12 games with a 2-1 victory against the Flyers. Even against a team they hadn't beaten in a meaningful regular-season game at their three-year-old home. Even against one that had snapped their winning streaks of 10 or more games during each of the prior two seasons. Philadelphia came in 6-1 at Consol Energy Center, its only loss coming in a meaningless regular-season finale last April. The Flyers also won two of three first-round Stanley Cup Playoff games here. Sunday's low-scoring affair was in stark contrast to the myriad shootouts the teams played in that wild series (56 goals in six games) and at other times over the past calendar year (10 goals apiece in splitting their two most recent meetings). But Bryzgalov (33 saves) and Marc-Andre Fleury (27 saves) were sharp Sunday. Bryzgalov was on his way to his second shutout of the season until Crosby scored for the 14th time this season with 6:14 left. After Wayne Simmonds and Kimmo Timonen were penalized 23 seconds apart beginning with 7:08 left in regulation, it took 31 seconds for Crosby to strike. Claude Giroux scored a second-period power-play goal for Philadelphia, which is 2-5-1 in its past eight games and remained five points out of the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Fleury has allowed one goal or fewer for four consecutive games, extending his personal winning streak to seven games. The Penguins, who acquired Brenden Morrow in a trade with the Dallas Stars earlier Sunday, have won nine in row at home. For the third time over the past seven games of their streak, the Penguins were held without a goal for more than 50 minutes to begin the game. They came back to beat the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs in regulation two days apart less than two weeks ago by scoring three goals over the final eight minutes of each game. Sunday, it took until 13:46 of the third for Pittsburgh to get on the board, and it took a two-man advantage to do it. The teams played scoreless hockey for 35 minutes and 51 seconds until Giroux scored for the second consecutive game. While on Philadelphia's only power play of the game, Giroux gained the zone and had an attempt at a pass blocked and deflected right back to him. With Fleury leaning to his left, Giroux fired a wrist shot from not too far inside the blue line that beat him short side, just inside the left post. It was Giroux's 10th goal of the season and 17th in 35 career games (counting the Stanley Cup Playoffs) against the Penguins. Pittsburgh was again without Evgeni Malkin (shoulder) and Kris Letang (lower body) for the eighth and third straight games, respectively. The Flyers also were without one of their top forwards and one of their top defensemen, Daniel Briere and Nicklas Grossmann sustained upper-body injuries during separate practices over the 36 hours prior to game time.The game was the first in six days for the Flyers, who fell to 4-12-1 on the road and are in danger of missing the playoffs for just the second time in 18 seasons. The Penguins came from behind to win for the ninth time and won by one goal for the eighth time during their winning streak, which before Sunday was tied with the Chicago Blackhawks for the longest in the League this season. Only two NHL streaks in the past 13 years went longer, and Pittsburgh holds the League record with a 17-game streak in 1993.

Tampa Bay v Winnipeg 2-3 - The Tampa Bay Lightning made headlines Sunday by dismissing coach Guy Boucher, but it was an addition to the Winnipeg Jets’ lineup that helped make a difference when the clubs met later in the evening at MTS Centre. Tobias Enstrom’s return from a shoulder injury made an immediate difference against the Lightning, as the Jets took a 3-2 decision. The mobile defenseman, who had missed 19 games to injury, paired with Dustin Byfuglien, chipped in the game-winning goal and clocked 23:40 of ice time on the Jets’ top defensive pairing. Enstrom’s work helped the Jets end a two-game skid in which the Washington Capitals had outscored them 10-1. The Jets (17-14-2) fought off a stubborn Lightning club playing its first game under interim coaches Daniel Lacroix, Martin Raymond and Steve Thomas. Tampa Bay (13-18-1) has now lost three straight games and faded to six points out of an Eastern Conference playoff spot. Winnipeg increased its Southeast Division to four points over the idle Carolina Hurricanes, whom they will meet Tuesday at PNC Arena. Carolina owns three games in hand on Winnipeg, however. Meanwhile up front, center Bryan Little, whom Noel termed “outstanding,” helped the Jets overcome a slow start with a first-period goal before he chipped in two assists. Byfuglien provided Winnipeg’s 28th-ranked power play, tangled in a 4-for-57 slide, with a goal on the man advantage. Stamkos sliced the Winnipeg lead to 2-1 with his League-leading 22nd goal, but the Jets held their lead two nights after a 6-1 loss to the Capitals. Enstrom delivered midway through the second period. Tampa Bay had sliced the Jets’ lead to 2-1 and began administering heavy pressure on Winnipeg when Zach Bogosian’s high-sticking double-minor sent the Lightning on a power play. But Martin St. Louis followed Bogosian to the penalty box eight seconds later with a high-sticking minor in the offensive zone. Fourteen seconds later with the clubs playing 4-on-4, Ladd’s pass from the right corner reached Enstrom, who slipped away from Steven Stamkos in the slot, where he beat Tampa Bay goaltender Cedrick Desjardins high over the right shoulder for another two-goal lead. Tampa Bay again cut into the Winnipeg lead on Cory Conacher’s third-period tally, a tip of Eric Brewer’s floating shot with 14:59 to play. The Lightning continued to test the Jets until the game’s final minute, and Stamkos found positives in the effort for a team dealing with a coaching change amid a frustrating season. Enstrom’s return accompanied Ondrej Pavelec’s 10th consecutive start that saw him rebound from a loss Friday against the Capitals in which he exited the game after allowing three goals on nine shots. Pavelec finished with 23 saves against the Lightning, the League’s third-highest scoring team. Desjardins made his second start of the season and stopped 21 of 24 Winnipeg shots. Tampa Bay dominated early, and Stamkos could have added a pair to his total early in the first period. Stamkos missed the net on a 2-on-1 rush before missing another opportunity at the edge of Pavelec’s crease. Tampa Bay controlled the game’s opening 10 minutes and took a 6-1 shots lead. Stamkos factored into the Jets’ first goal, however, as the Jets broke a five-game streak of allowing the first goal of a game and took a lead for the first time in 134:02. Stamkos intercepted a Winnipeg pass between the circles in the Tampa Bay zone, but Blake Wheeler stripped him of the puck and moved the puck to Little, who fired a high shot that beat Desjardins at 14:02. Winnipeg went up 2-0 early in the second period after going on the power play for the first time. Byfuglien directed a left-circle shot on net that trickled through Desjardins’ pads at 2:35. But Stamkos and the Lightning’s power play, which began the evening 16th in the League, went to work three minutes later and converted a one-timer for a 2-1 game at 6:20. Enstrom’s goal followed 3:35 later for the Jets, who have now outscored opponents 6-1 in 4-on-4 situations. The Jets will face the Hurricanes twice this week, with a visit to Pittsburgh to meet the Penguins sandwiched in between. Defeating a wounded Tampa Bay club to stop their skid at two games and set themselves up for a challenging week improved Noel’s mood. But Pavelec and his teammates also knew the stakes for the Jets.

Vancouver v Colorado 3-2 - Despite a rash of injuries to their stable of forwards, the Vancouver Canucks have managed to stay in the hunt for a fifth consecutive Northwest Division title. The Canucks moved back into the top spot Sunday with a 3-2 win against the Colorado Avalanche at the Pepsi Center, giving them 40 points, two more than the second-place Minnesota Wild, who have played two fewer games. Dale Weise became the latest Canucks forward sidelined by injury when he hurt his shoulder Saturday in a 1-0 win in Los Angeles, but Vancouver still had enough offense to knock off the Avalanche for the ninth time in a row since Jan. 18, 2011. Jason Garrison, Mason Raymond and Alex Burrows scored goals to support Schneider, who owns a 5-0-1 record against the Avalanche in his NHL career. Raymond and Burrows scored in the second period when the Canucks grabbed a 3-1 lead. Raymond beat Avalanche goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere at 3:13 to break a 1-1 tie with a shot from just outside the left circle. Burrows skated down the right circle to convert Andrew Ebbett's pass at 14:29 for what proved to be the winning goal. The Avalanche went on a 5-on-3 power play for 1:11 with 3:42 remaining in the third period when Canucks forward Chris Higgins (hooking) joined defenseman Andrew Alberts (slashing) in the penalty box. Avalanche right wing PA Parenteau, who turned 30 Sunday, scored a power-play goal with 2:31 to go, officially one second after Alberts' original penalty expired, to pull the Avalanche within 3-2. The Avalanche felt there was still time remaining on Alberts' penalty when Parenteau scored, that they should have still had 5-on-4 advantage with Higgins remaining in the box. Garrison opened the scoring for the Canucks with a power-play goal at 5:18 of the first period, but Jamie McGinn answered for the Avalanche at 9:18 off a cross-ice pass from Parenteau on a 2-on-1 rush. The Avalanche have lost six of their past seven games, four of the defeats have come at home, and they are in last place in the Western Conference. Colorado lost two players to injury Sunday, center Paul Stastny left in the first period with a foot injury after blocking a shot and defenseman Ryan Wilson departed in the second period when he aggravated an ankle injury.

St Louis v Calgary 2-3 - The Calgary Flames shook off one streak to extend another.

 Miikka Kiprusoff stopped 36 shots, while Jarome Iginla's goal with seven minutes remaining in the third period broke a tie as the Calgary Flames upended the St. Louis Blues 3-2 at Scotiabank Saddledome on Sunday. The victory extended the Flames' winning streak on home ice to seven games after a dreadful road trip last week ran their losing streak on the road to nine games, a franchise worst. Flames forward Roman Cervenka had the first multi-goal game of his career, while T.J. Oshie and Vladimir Sobotka answered for the Blues, who shut out the Edmonton Oilers 24 hours prior. Sprung on a partial breakaway by Alex Tanguay that was broken up by Wade Redden, Iginla stuck with the puck beside the net and forced it through Blues goaltender Jaroslav Halak at 12:58 for the eventual winner. Iginla's goal was needed after Sobotka tied the game early in the third.
 Hauling the puck into the Flames’ zone, McDonald peeled towards the boards before coming out to the top of the circle and fired a shot that Kiprusoff knocked down. With the puck laying between the pads of the Flames netminder, Sobotka poked it over the goal line 4:48 into the third period to tie the game 2-2. The Flames managed just 17 shots on Halak and didn't record their first until midway through the first period.

 With Roman Polak in the penalty box for roughing, Dennis Wideman's outlet pass sprung Cervenka on a 2-on-1. Opting to keep, Cervenka fired the puck over Halak's glove for his fourth of the season to give Calgary a 1-0 lead at 11:13. 

 Tanguay had a glorious opportunity to put the Flames up by two less than a minute later.

 Cutting through the slot towards the net, Tanguay took a centering feed from Iginla in the corner and redirected it on Halak, who closed his legs in time to deny the Flames’ forward. Not to be outdone, Kiprusoff robbed a streaking David Backes with his glove with 7:24 remaining in the opening period, one of seven saves for the Calgary keeper in the first 20 minutes.

 Despite outshooting the Flames 19-4 in the second period, the Blues couldn't draw any closer. 

In fact, Cervenka gave Calgary a two-goal lead, at least temporarily.

 He added his second of the night, beating Halak in tight with a deke after Jiri Hudler forced a turnover from Oshie and sprung his fellow Czech in alone for the 2-0 lead at 9:40.

 The Blues pushed to cut the lead, but were continually turned away by Kiprusoff, who stopped David Perron on the doorstep with nine minutes remaining in the period before stretching out his pad to stop a redirected point shot from Alex Pietrangelo a dozen seconds later.

 St. Louis found a way to break through Kiprusoff with 3:20 remaining in the middle period.

 Oshie atoned for his earlier miscue, stripping Wideman of the puck at the Flames’ blue line, sneaking in on a partial break and firing a shot through Kiprusoff to cut the lead to 2-1. It was just one of two blemishes on the night for Kiprusoff.

Detroit v Anaheim 2-1 - The Detroit Red Wings painted this town red nearly all weekend. Their considerable Southern California fan base translated to lots of red-clad fans in the seats, and with 3:44 remaining Sunday, an octopus was thrown on the Honda Center ice. Detroit did its part with a 2-1 win against the Anaheim Ducks to sweep the two-game set and hand Anaheim its first consecutive losses in regulation this season. Jimmy Howard made 33 saves to anchor a white-knuckle finish and make Drew Miller's first-period goal stand as the game-winner. Detroit survived a big push in the third period and won four straight on the road for the first time since Nov. 19-Dec. 2, 2011. They held the fifth-highest scoring team in the NHL to two goals in two games. Anaheim had good looks. Corey Perry shot just wide from the slot in the second period. Emerson Etem hit the post and Ryan Getzlaf skated in on Howard only to have the Wings' goaltender glove it in the third. Howard also snared a Sheldon Souray slap shot on a late power play and got a piece of a great shot by Cam Fowler before the buzzer. Getzlaf needed time to cool off after he was given a game misconduct for arguing a tripping call in the blown-fuse final minute. He shouted his displeasure as he exited and held back when he met with reporters. Getzlaf breathed life into Anaheim with a power-play goal with 46 seconds left in the second period to pull the Ducks to 2-1. Getzlaf took a pass from Saku Koivu, skated to the right side and snapped it far side for his 12th goal, one more than his total last season. Anaheim's defensive issues from Friday carried over in the early going and resulted in a 2-0 Detroit lead, which marked seven unanswered goals by Detroit against Anaheim. Miller got free from a fallen Luca Sbisa to swipe in Ian White's rebound under Jonas Hiller's leg at 8:46, which prompted Anaheim coach Bruce Boudreau to call timeout. Cleary deflected Jakub Kindl's shot near the boards at 4:14 to continue Detroit's resurgent road power play with five straight games with a power-play goal and seven consecutive games overall. Since its epic win against the Chicago Blackhawks, Anaheim has been outscored 7-2 in two games against Detroit. But it's premature to call it adversity. Teemu Selanne matched Teppo Numminen for the most games played by a Finnish-born player at 1,372. Henrik Zetterberg played in his 700th game. Detroit scratched Damien Brunner, scoreless in 12 games, and put in Jordin Tootoo, who got into the requisite fight when Matt Beleskey tried to ignite the Ducks in the first. After the game, Anaheim officially announced that it signed veteran wing Radek Dvorak. The veteran must first clear waivers.