Gameday 86 (Sun, 14 Apr) - Results

Chicago v St Louis 2-0 - The Chicago Blackhawks are making life rough for those Western Conference teams fighting to stay in the playoff race. Count the St. Louis Blues among those in survival mode and trying to beat the team with the best record in the National Hockey League proved too tough a task Sunday afternoon. Bryan Bickell scored his ninth of the season, Marian Hossa added a shorthanded goal and Corey Crawford earned his third shutout in the Blackhawks' 2-0 win over the Blues at Scottrade Center. In a game that the Blues wanted to offset Chicago's speed and skill with physicality and punishment, the Blackhawks' speed was opportunistic on the first goal, and some skill off a faceoff accounted for the insurance tally. Chicago improved to a League-best 17-2-2 away from home and continues to strengthen its hold on the top spot in the League at 32-5-4, good for 68 points. Crawford was able to keep the Blues off the board, stopping 30 shots for his eighth career shutout. The Blues (23-16-2), who have dropped two straight after winning a season-best six in a row, got 24 stops from Brian Elliott. The Blues were blanked on home ice for the third time this season, including the second time by the Blackhawks, who won 3-0 here Feb. 28. Despite winning six of eight in the month of April, the Blues have now scored five goals in five games. The first period was scoreless but certainly spirited. Both teams played physical and the skirmishes after whistles were certainly indicative that this had a playoff feel to it. Elliott made the two best stops of the game early, the first on Patrick Kane from the right circle on a one-timer, then on Dave Bolland alone in front after a rebound. St. Louis' Kevin Shattenkirk had the biggest hit of the game with 1:56 left in the opening period, catching Andrew Shaw with a shoulder check that sent the Blackhawks' wing spiraling to the ice. It was that kind of beginning, but the Blues had nothing to show for an inspired opening 20 minutes. The game was more under control in the second period, and Chicago got the lone goal when Bickell netted his third in five games. Blues forward Vladimir Tarasenko missed on a chance to shoot the puck in the offensive zone and lost both an edge and the puck. It allowed the Blackhawks to take off on an odd-man rush. Elliott made the initial stop, but Bickell was on the backside post and stuffed the puck in 4:31 into the second period for a 1-0 advantage. The goal broke Elliott's shutout streak at 214 minutes. He has the franchise record for most consecutive shutout minutes at 241:33, set last season from March 15-April 4. Elliott came into the game with three consecutive shutouts, all on the road. The Blues, mired in a deep power-play funk, made things worse when Hossa snapped a shorthanded goal through Elliott's pads 6:34 into the third period after Jonathan Toews won an offensive zone faceoff from Andy McDonald to make it 2-0. It was the Blues' third power-play of the game, and they are now 6-for-72 in the past 27 games.

Tampa Bay v Buffalo 1-3 - After one of their most disappointing losses of the season, the Buffalo Sabres have come back with two wins and stellar play from both their defense and backup goaltender. Interim coach Ron Rolston said the team talked about its lack of effort after losing 5-1 to the Montreal Canadiens at home on Thursday and has since then reeled off consecutive victories. Jhonas Enroth stopped 32 shots in his second straight start Sunday as Buffalo defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-1 at First Niagara Center. With the win, Buffalo jumped ahead of the New Jersey Devils in the standings. The Sabres are now 10th in the Eastern Conference with 42 points, four behind the eighth-place New York Rangers with five games remaining. The Sabres are 5-2-0 in their past seven games. Buffalo has had its troubles against the Southeast Division this season. Heading into the game, the club was 2-9-2 in head-to-head matchups against teams from Tampa Bay's division. Tyler Ennis, Jochen Hecht and Kevin Porter scored for Buffalo. Benoit Pouliot had Tampa Bay's lone tally. Mathieu Garon made 19 saves for the Lightning. Enroth, coming off a 29-save shutout of the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday, earned the start again for Buffalo. It's the first time he's started consecutive games since he started nine straight from Nov. 14-Dec. 2, 2011. Ryan Miller was out with a concussion during that time. Enroth has now appeared in three straight games since relieving Miller after two periods Thursday against the Canadiens. It's the first time Enroth has appeared in three consecutive games since Jan. 14-18, 2012. Enroth has been playing very well of late, allowing two or fewer goals in six of his past seven appearances. His shutout streak lasted 96:11 over three games. He said he was expecting to play again Sunday, but he's not sure if he's earned the opportunity to be back between the pipes for a third straight game on the road Wednesday against the Boston Bruins. The last time Miller sat back-to-back games while healthy was Nov. 4-5, 2011, following a stretch in which he had lost four straight games. The Lightning remained at 37 points, nine points behind the Rangers and teetering closer to being eliminated from playoff contention. Tampa Bay is 1-4-1 in its past six games. However, the Lightning are resigned to that fact that making the playoffs is pretty much a pipedream at this point. Buffalo has allowed one goal in the past two games with a defensive corps that looks very different from the one that started the season. Jordan Leopold and Robyn Regehr, who were in the opening-day lineup, have been traded away for draft picks, as has TJ Brennan. Tyler Myers is out for the season with a broken bone in his leg and Alexander Sulzer is on injured reserve with a knee injury. Buffalo's current top six looks somewhat like a patchwork quilt of defensemen. Christian Ehrhoff, who played a game-high 26 minutes against the Lightning, has been the Sabres' only real constant on the blue line. Andrej Sekera has battled injuries but is now playing top-pair minutes with Ehrhoff. Mike Weber started the season as a healthy scratch for the first five games. Chad Ruhwedel is a college free agent who signed with the Sabres hours before the team's game on Saturday. Adam Pardy and rookie Mark Pysyk both started the season in Rochester of the American Hockey League. Weber played 20:54 and had two blocked shots Sunday and said that the members of the defense see a great opportunity in being able to be big contributors down the stretch. The Sabres got off to an early start with a power-play goal by Ennis at 4:09 of the first period. Buffalo's leading scorer Thomas Vanek sent a no-look, backhand pass to the front of the net for Ennis to slide in on Garon's stick side. The goal was Ennis' first in 12 games and his first point in seven. He now has 10 goals on the season. It was also Buffalo's first power-play goal in seven games, having gone 0-for-20 during that span. The Sabres' power play is ranked last in the NHL. Hecht scored exactly eight minutes into the second period, skating in on the right wing and beating Garon with a wrist shot from the faceoff circle. Garon managed to get a piece of it, but the shot squeaked in between his body and left arm. With 7:23 left in the second period, Porter recovered a broken 2-on-1 rush to put Buffalo ahead 3-0. Skating in with wing Brian Flynn, Porter's pass was too hard and bounced off the right wing boards. Drawing defenseman Victor Hedman to him, Flynn threw the puck on goal and Porter tipped it in for his fourth goal this season. Pouliot scored with 6:30 remaining in the second to put the Lightning on the board. Standing at the top of the faceoff circle, he deflected Eric Brewer's wrist shot from the point in. Pouliot now has eight goals. Tampa Bay came into the matchup second in the League with 3.20 goals per game. The Lightning have scored at least three goals in each of their past three games, including five on Saturday in an overtime loss to the Washington Capitals. The last time they failed to score at least two goals in a game was on March 14, when they were blanked by the New York Islanders.

Detroit v Nashville 3-0 - Shootouts can mess with the heads of even the NHL's best goalies. After losing two straight, Jimmy Howard proved no exception Sunday. In all, the Detroit Red Wings had lost three games in a row, causing them to fall out of the top eight in the Stanley Cup Playoff race in the Western Conference with only seven games remaining in the season entering their match with the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena. To solve his woes, Howard sought the counsel of his goaltending coach Jim Bedard and long-time Red Wings goalie Chris Osgood, who now works in the team's front office, helping in the development of the organization's young netminders. The result was a 22-save shutout in Detroit's 3-0 victory in which Howard's best and most important save came on a shorthanded breakaway that helped to preserve a one-goal lead in the second period. The shutout was Howard's third of the season, tying him for sixth in the League, and second against Nashville. His most recent shutout came against the Edmonton Oilers 3-0 on March 7. The win moved Detroit, which has made 21 straight postseason appearances, back into eighth place in the West with 47 points, two more than the Dallas Stars. Dallas holds two games in hand on Detroit, which has six games remaining. That counseling from Bedard and Osgood paid off when Howard stopped Matt Halischuk on a shorthanded breakaway with 3:33 left in the second period to keep Detroit up 1-0. Halischuk tried a wrist shot between Howard's legs, but Howard closed off the hole. One of the best saves that Howard made was one he did not have to make. Nashville's Bobby Butler was awarded a penalty shot when Jakub Kindl tripped him from behind. But the puck slipped off Butler's stick as he approached the goal on his attempt and he never got off a shot. Babcock said he was thinking of different ways to interpret the final stretch run. He said if the Red Wings could break the final nine games into three-game segments and earn four of a possible six points in each, he thinks they will qualify for the playoffs. With the win, the Red Wings earned four points in the first three-game segment. They continue their four-game road trip on Wednesday against the Calgary Flames before facing the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday. The Red Wings' 47 points tie them with the seventh-place Minnesota Wild, who have a game in hand on Detroit, and puts the Red Wings one point behind the sixth-place St. Louis Blues, who hold two games in hand on Detroit. For Nashville, the offensive woes continued. Since accommodating a trade request from long-time right wing Martin Erat, their co-leader in points at the time, the Predators have scored six goals in six games and been shut out three times. Nashville has lost six straight in regulation and is 1-7-2 in its past 10. The loss spoiled the NHL debut of 18-year-old Nashville forward Filip Forsberg, the 11th pick at the 2012 NHL Draft, whom the Predators received from the Washington Capitals in exchange for Erat. Pekka Rinne was outstanding in goal with 29 saves. In three losses, on April 6, on April 9 and on Sunday, he has allowed a total of four goals. Along with Forsberg, the Predators are playing five other rookies because of a slew of injuries. Forsberg played 18:37 and was minus-2 (one was for an empty-net goal), but showed a lively shot with two on goal. Detroit took control in the second period, outshooting Nashville 16-4 and picking up the game's first goal. On numerous occasions, Detroit seemed to purposely shoot the puck wide, hoping for the carom off the backboards. That play worked to perfection at 6:23 of the second period. Danny DeKeyser shot the puck from the point, but it eluded Rinne's glove wide to the left. The puck bounced out the opposite side and Henrik Zetterberg beat a Predators defender to tap it into an open net. The assist was the first point of DeKeyser's career. Coming off a bad loss on Friday, Nashville took it to the Red Wings in the first period. The Predators earned two power plays to none for Detroit in the first 20 minutes and outshot the Red Wings 13-9. Howard came up big. His best save of that period came on the second of those power plays when Nashville defenseman Roman Josi skated in from the point and labeled a slap shot for the far corner, but Howard flashed his glove to stop it with 4:50 left in the period. Johan Franzen made it 2-0 with 2:59 left in regulation with a backhander high to the glove side after Detroit won a faceoff in Nashville's zone. Justin Abdelkader added an empty-net goal with 1:19 left.