Gameday 91 (Fri, 19 Apr) - Results

Pittsburgh v Boston - Postponed due to City lockdown

NY Rangers v Buffalo 8-4 - The New York Rangers took a big step toward securing a berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs while Buffalo Sabres had their slim postseason hopes dashed by the time the first period ended Friday night. Three late goals in the first period gave the Rangers a 3-0 lead. New York added four more in the second period and another in the third en route to an 8-4 victory at First Niagara Center. Brad Richards recorded his first career hat trick in his 896th regular-season game, and five of his teammates found the back of the net as well. Thirteen Rangers, including goaltender Henrik Lundqvist, recorded points. Carl Hagelin, Ryane Clowe, Anton Stralman, Rick Nash and Ryan Callahan also had goals. Richards, Derek Stepan, Clowe and Nash each had multi-point games. Richards, a 12-year NHL veteran, had 22 two-goal game but had never found the back of the net three times in one night until Friday. Richards has 10 goals this season and four goals and an assist in his past two games. The Rangers hold the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference with 50 points. They have a two-point lead over the Winnipeg Jets and are one point behind the seventh-place New York Islanders. All three teams have four games remaining; the Islanders visit Winnipeg on Saturday. The Rangers' first three goals, by Hagelin, Richards and Clowe, were scored in the final 1:18 of the first period. New York then added goals by Stralman and Richards on its first two shots of the second period. The Rangers' first five goals happened in a span of 2:58 over two periods, the fastest five goals in team history. The previous franchise record was 3:22 in an 8-7 win against Edmonton at Madison Square Garden on Feb. 15, 1985. The Sabres kept it interesting as Cody Hodgson and Nathan Gerbe scored six seconds apart in the second period to make it a 6-2 game. However, Callahan scored on a breakaway 1:02 after Gerbe's goal to give the Rangers a 7-2 lead. Drew Stafford then scored Buffalo's third goal with 3:41 remaining in the second. Seven goals in all were scored in the second period. The Rangers are 14-0-0 when leading after two periods this season. Ryan Miller made 10 saves on 14 shots before being lifted in favor of Jhonas Enroth after New York's fourth goal. Enroth was beaten by the first shot he saw and ended up with 11 saves on 15 shots. Lundqvist stopped 24 shots for New York. Heading into the game, the Sabres knew that their slim playoff chances would disappear if they lost to the Rangers in regulation. With the loss, the Sabres now max out at 50 points with three games to play. Because the Rangers hold the tiebreaker, Buffalo will find itself watching the playoffs on TV for the second straight season. The Rangers had played the night before, defeating the Florida Panthers 6-1 on Thursday, and put up big offensive numbers for the second game in a row. With 1:18 remaining in the period, Hagelin avoided the reach of defenseman Mark Pysyk as he raced around the back of the net and threw the puck out in front. It deflected off the skate of Sabres defenseman Adam Pardy and through Miller. Richards put up the Rangers' second goal with 20.1 seconds left. Holding the puck along the boards at the left circle in the Sabres zone, Richards waited for linemate Taylor Pyatt to tie up defenseman Christian Ehrhoff in front of the net. Richards put a low wrist shot on goal that deflected off of the heel of Ehrhoff's skate and beat Miller through the five-hole. With time winding down in the period, Clowe shot the puck on net from center ice and then skated in as Miller attempted to play it to defenseman Andrej Sekera. But when Miller fanned on the pass, Clowe picked it up and quickly went forehand to backhand to score with 3.2 seconds remaining. The Sabres faithful in attendance booed their team off the ice as the horn ended the first period. New York came out for the second period and picked up right where it left off. On the Rangers' first shot of the period, Stralman scored on a wrister that beat Miller over his left shoulder. Ehrhoff may have been screening Miller as the shot left Stralman's stick. Richards scored his second of the night 27 seconds later, knocking in a loose puck that found its way through Enroth's legs. Taylor Pyatt deflected a shot from the point by John Moore to get it past Enroth and Richards was down near the goal line to put it in and make it 5-0. Nash scored with 12:55 left in the second on a give-and-go with Stepan as they came in over the Sabres' blue line. Nash has 19 goals this season and three points in his past two games. Richards' third goal and the Rangers' eighth came with 7:28 remaining in the third period on a wrist shot from 43 feet out that deflected off Enroth's glove and in. Callahan and Stepan each extended their point streaks to three games. They both have a goal and three assists in that span. Pysyk scored Buffalo's fourth goal and the first of his career on a slap shot from the point with 39.8 seconds remaining in regulation. The Sabres were supposed to head to Pittsburgh after the game for a matchup against the Penguins on Saturday, but that game has been rescheduled to Tuesday night at Consol Energy Center due to the police investigation in Boston. The Penguins were scheduled to play the Bruins on Friday, but that game at TD Garden has been moved to Saturday afternoon.

Dallas v St Louis 1-2 - When the St. Louis Blues can get offensive contributions from guys they rely on to be heavy checkers and provide the grit and energy on a nightly basis, good things typically happen. Ryan Reaves doesn't score often, but when he does, he makes them count. The Blues' fourth-line enforcer scored his seventh career goal and third game-winner as the Blues made it nine wins in 11 games with a 2-1 victory against the Dallas Stars at Scottrade Center on Friday night. Reaves' goal 7:52 into the second period provided the winning margin for a Blues team that has no intention of merely settling for a playoff berth. They still have their sights set on home-ice advantage. Reaves actually had a golden chance in the first period to score from the slot but fired a shot high over the net. His teammates were giving it to him on the bench with some playful humor, but Reaves atoned for it by capitalizing on another chance. The Blues knew catching the Chicago Blackhawks was over long ago, but reaching the fourth seed is still very attainable. Chris Stewart also scored for St. Louis, which got 21 saves from Brian Elliott. The Blues, sixth in the Western Conference, improved to 26-16-2, good for 54 points, one behind both the Los Angeles Kings and San Jose Sharks with four games remaining for all three teams. The fourth-place finisher will have home ice in the opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Blues are 9-2-0 in April, allowing only 14 goals in their 11 games. Both teams came into the game hot, but the Stars' ability to score [27 goals in seven games compared to the Blues' seven goals in seven games] made it an impressive victory for the Blues. The Stars (22-19-3), who had won six of seven coming in, hit a pothole in their bid to grab the eighth and final playoff berth in the West. The loss left their two points behind the eighth-place Columbus Blue Jackets (49 points) and even with the ninth-place Detroit Red Wings (47). The Stars have four games remaining, the Blue Jackets have three and the Red Wings have five. The Stars got a third-period goal from Antoine Roussel and Kari Lehtonen stopped 18 shots but fell to 8-3-1 lifetime against the Blues. Stewart's 17th of the season broke the Blues' 0-for-18 power play slump. He cleaned up Alex Pietrangelo's slap shot from the left circle that Lehtonen stopped but left a big rebound on the opposite side of the post. Stewart fired it home at 10:10 of the first period. Elliott preserved the lead when he made a right skate save on Loui Eriksson from the top of the crease with 1:09 left in the period after a Blues turnover deep in their own zone. Elliott is 8-1-0 in April with a 1.01 goals-against average and .960 save percentage. Reaves' second goal of the season and first in 16 games came after he intercepted a failed clearing pass near the blue line and got the puck to Chris Porter, who threw it off the side of the net. Reaves crashed the net and popped a backhand over Lehtonen 7:52 into the second period for a 2-0 lead. The Blues improved to 6-1-0 this season when getting a goal from a fourth-line forward. Roussel cut the Blues' lead in half when he was able to get a tip on Stephane Robidas' shot from the right point 4:37 into the third period.

Nashville v Chicago 4-5 - It was one of those pretty goals and it won a game in overtime for the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday night, but Marian Hossa's one-time blast was bigger than the two points it earned his team. The goal, which beat Nashville Predators goalie Pekka Rinne 52 seconds into OT to give Chicago a 5-4 win, also meant the Blackhawks can still be dangerous on the power play. Despite a lingering 0-for-19 slump in man-advantages prior to the game, the Blackhawks (34-5-4) scored two power-play goals in just three opportunities against the Predators. Duncan Keith scored a power-play goal early in the game to end a drought that dated to March 29. The Hawks have been spending extra time in practice working on their power play and had hoped to see marked improvement before the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Hossa's came during 4-on-3 advantage after Nashville's Rich Clune picked up a double minor for high-sticking with 45 seconds left in regulation. Patrick Kane fired a perfect pass to Hossa that went tape-to-tape and circle-to-circle for a one-timer from near the right faceoff dot that Rinne had no chance to stop. The victory put Chicago six points up on the Pittsburgh Penguins in the race for the Presidents' Trophy; both teams have five games left to play. The Blackhawks, however, are more interested in getting their power play cranked up for the postseason. That turned out to be the case on Friday night, which was anything but a typical game between the Central Division rivals. Rather than a low-scoring, defensive battle dominated by goaltending, the Blackhawks and Predators kept the scoreboard operator busy. Kane, Brandon Saad and Michal Handzus scored Chicago's other goals in regulation, while Corey Crawford (23 saves) picked up the win. Matt Halischuk led Nashville with two goals and added an assist for a three-point night, while rookie Kevin Henderson and Bobby Butler scored the other two for the Predators (15-21-9), who broke a seven-game pointless streak but haven't won since April 2 against the Colorado Avalanche. Rinne (25 saves) took the loss and has allowed 10 goals in the past two games. The nine combined goals in this game also gave Chicago television play-by-play broadcaster Pat Foley plenty to talk about during an evening celebrating his 30th season calling Blackhawks games. It didn't take long after Foley's pre-game ceremony concluded for the red lights to start flashing, Keith opened the scoring 4:48 into the game with his first goal since March 16. The fact that it broke that looming power-play drought seemed even bigger than the 1-0 lead it provided, coming off a broken play in the Nashville zone after Viktor Stalberg slid a pass to Keith in the slot with Rinne out of position. Saad also scored for Chicago in the first, while Halischuk and Henderson, making his NHL debut, found the back of the net for the Predators. Nashville stormed back to take a 2-1 lead, but Saad knotted it up with 6:24 left in the period with his 10th goal of the season. After a nice set-up pass by Jonathan Toews near the half wall in the left circle, Saad fired the puck past Rinne on the short side from the slot – after his initial pass attempt to Hossa was blocked. The puck kicked back to him for the shot and the talented 20-year-old rookie buried it. The teams also matched each other in the second with a goal each. Kane notched his 21st of the season at 9:20 to share the team lead with Toews and Halischuk put home his own rebound off a mini-break at 12:31 to tie it 3-3. Handzus put Chicago up 4-3 midway through the third with his first goal since being acquired by the Blackhawks before the NHL's Trade Deadline, but Nashville battled back again when Butler tied it 4-4 with 3:34 left in regulation. That led to overtime, but not before Clune's four-minute penalty put the Predators in a bad spot, heading into OT on a penalty kill. Hossa made sure Chicago swept the five-game season series against Nashville, which has been a thorn in the Hawks' side the past few seasons.

Edmonton v Colorado 4-1 - The Edmonton Oilers might have known that their visit to the Pepsi Center on Friday night would be just what they needed to end a six-game losing streak. The Oilers, led by goalie Devan Dubnyk, play some of their best hockey against the Avalanche, a trend that continued with an impressive 4-1 win. Dubnyk turned aside 33 shots and Jordan Eberle contributed a goal and two assists as the Oilers defeated the Avalanche for the fourth time in five games this season. It's been a rough season for the Oilers, who replaced general manager Steve Tambellini with Craig MacTavish on Monday. But while the Oilers (17-19-7) still have a chance to finish at .500 with five games remaining, the Avalanche (14-23-7) is last in the Western Conference and 29th in the NHL standings with four games to play. Justin Schultz broke the tie at 14:14 when he deflected in Eberle's shot. Eberle skated with the puck from the left side into the slot, spun around and slipped the puck in front where Schultz knocked it behind Avalanche goalie Semyon Varlamov. Taylor Hall opened the scoring at 2:33, three seconds after the Avalanche killed off a boarding penalty to Gabriel Landeskog. Avalanche defenseman Matt Hunwick couldn't control a bouncing puck in the goalmouth, it went to Hall and he tucked it inside the right post. Eberle had a goal and an assist in the second period when the Oilers built their 4-1 lead. He passed to Ryan Nugent-Hopkins for a shot that beat Varlamov to the stick side at 5:12, and he converted the rebound of Mark Fistric's point shot at 14:13 for his first goal since April 3, when he scored twice in an 8-2 road win against the Calgary Flames. The Oilers were outscored 22-7 during the losing streak and outshot in all six games. The second part happened again Friday, the Avalanche outshot the Oilers 34-24, with seven shots coming during four fruitless power plays. The Avalanche had gone 2-0-2 in their previous four games but reverted to the kind of play that has been all too common this season.

Anaheim v Calgary 1-3 - If Miikka Kiprusoff does hang up his pads at season's end, the Calgary Flames sent the 36-year-old off with a rambunctious ovation. The iconic goaltender stopped 32 shots in Calgary's final home game of the season Friday to lift the Flames over the Anaheim Ducks 3-1 at Scotiabank Saddledome. Kiprusoff intends to make a decision this summer whether to retire or return next season. The win could have been his last in front of the home fans who have seen him backstop the franchise since being acquired from the San Jose Sharks on Nov. 16, 2003. Kiprusoff's dominance left the Ducks winless in four games, a span in which they've scored five goals. The Pacific Division leaders are 4-4-2 in their past 10 games after losing to the 13th-place Flames. Kiprusoff, who has a Vezina Trophy and a slew of club records to his credit, got off to a proper start in downing the Ducks. Stopping five shots in the first three minutes and eight in the opening period, Kiprusoff, the final link to Calgary's Stanley Cup Final in 2004, treated the crowd of 19,289 to a vintage first period. Just 2:50 into the game, Kiprusoff stopped Ducks forward Emerson Etem on the doorstep after denying Andrew Cogliano twice a shift earlier. He continued his dominance over Cogliano at 12:25, flashing a quick glove to take away another chance. The Flames rewarded Kiprusoff's stellar play with a quick goal to start the second period. From the boards, Lee Stempniak sent a seemingly harmless slap shot on net that Ducks goaltender Jonas Hiller stopped but didn't control. Roman Horak grabbed the rebound and slipped his second of the season through Hiller for a 1-0 lead at 2:45. Hiller redeemed himself with a save off Tim Jackman and the help of a post at 8:21. Breaking into the Anaheim zone, Jackman threw a tricky wrister on net, sidestepped a defender and grabbed the rebound, pumping another shot that struck iron. Not to be outshone on his night, Kiprusoff flashed the glove once more for one of his 10 saves in the period by robbing Corey Perry cruising through the slot, much to the delight of fans near the midway mark of the period. Enforcer Brian McGrattan gave Kiprusoff some breathing room 3:14 into the third period. McGrattan poked the puck past Ducks defenseman Sheldon Souray at the Flames' blue line and outraced Francois Beauchemin to it before stepping around the defenseman. In alone on net, he showed poise by throwing a fake before sliding his third of the season between Hiller's pads to give Calgary a 2-0 lead. Kiprusoff made a pad save of a sharp shot from the point by Perry and another glove save on Souray, swatting away the blast just over five minutes into the third. He earned more applause from the crowd after blockering away Ryan Getzlaf's snap shot from the hash marks at 8:32. Perry ruined Kiprusoff's shutout bid with 3:41 remaining, taking a cross-slot pass from Kyle Palmieri and beating the goaltender to the blocker to cut the lead 2-1. The goal set the stage for Kiprusoff's late heroics, he stuffed Perry's attempt after pulling the puck off the end boards with just over two minutes remaining, prompting a loud chant directed his way followed by a standing ovation at the next stoppage. An empty-net goal with 50.8 seconds remaining by Roman Cervenka sealed the win. Post-game, Kiprusoff earned a curtain call, an appropriate sendoff for the goaltender from the Flames faithful after not being able to send captain Jarome Iginla off in similar fashion at the NHL Trade Deadline.