Results - Tue, Mar 25, 2014

St Louis @ Toronto 5-3 - David Backes scored a hat trick in the Blues' 5-3 victory against the Maple Leafs at Air Canada Centre on Tuesday. The loss extended the Maple Leafs' losing streak to six games. The first of Backes' goals put the Blues ahead 2-1 with 32.3 seconds left in the first period. Backes took advantage of a turnover by Maple Leafs captain Dion Phaneuf and raced into the zone before beating goalie Jonathan Bernier between the legs on the power play. Backes made it 3-1 at 7:32 of the third period when he beat Bernier with a wrist shot on a breakaway. Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo connected with Backes and sprung him free. Backes scored an empty-net goal with 1:07 to play to complete the hat trick, the second of his career. Backes has 27 goals this season, four shy of his career-high of 31 set in 2008-09 and matched in 2010-11. Bernier made 44 saves in his first start since March 13 against the Los Angeles Kings. He missed the past five games, all losses started by James Reimer, with a strained groin. Toronto are one of four teams with 80 points seeking two wild-card Stanley Cup Playoff spots from the Eastern Conference. Ryan Miller made 21 saves for St. Louis (49-16-7), who leads the overall NHL standings with 105 points. Joffrey Lupul gave the Maple Leafs a 1-0 lead at 11:30 of the first period with a power-play goal. Lupul batted a loose puck past Miller after Nazem Kadri knocked the puck out of the air to him. With Miller sprawled trying to find the puck, Lupul fired it underneath Blues defenseman Roman Polak for his 21st goal of the season. The Blues made it 1-1 with 4:05 remaining in the first period when T.J. Oshie scored his 18th goal of the season. Oshie dove on the ice to poke in a loose puck after a Polak shot got between Bernier's legs. The play was reviewed to see if Steen hit the puck with a high stick but it was ruled he did not. Blues forward Alex Steen made it 4-1 with 2:25 left in the second period when he scored his 31st goal of the season. Steen fired a backhand from the slot that beat Bernier up high. Maple Leafs defenseman Carl Gunnarsson made it 4-2 4:39 into the third period with his third goal of the season. He sent a slap shot from the high slot through traffic that beat Miller five-hole. Toronto forward James van Riemsdyk made it 4-3 when he scored his 28th goal of the season. Van Riemsdyk took a pass from Phil Kessel from behind the net and fired a wrist shot past Miller with 4:06 left in the third period. With the loss, a win by the Columbus Blue Jackets and a shootout loss by the Washington Capitals on Tuesday, the Maple Leafs are tied with the Blue Jackets, Capitals and Detroit Red Wings. All have 80 points, but the other three teams hold tiebreakers against Toronto.
Los Angeles @ Washington 5-4 SO - One night after overcoming a blown two-goal lead in the third period to defeat the Philadelphia Cryers, the Kings erased a two-goal third-period deficit and beat the Crapitals 5-4 in a shootout at Verizon Center on Tuesday. Mike Richards, Dwight King, Marian Gaborik and Dustin Brown scored for Los Angeles, which has won seven straight road games. Goaltender Jonathan Quick made 23 saves in regulation and overtime. Alex Ovechkin scored twice and Dustin Penner and Evgeny Kuznetsov also had goals for Washington, which missed an opportunity to move into a Stanley Cup Playoff spot for the first time since Jan. 18. The Capitals are one of four Eastern Conference teams tied at 80 points, but the Columbus Blue Jackets and Detroit Red Wings occupy the two wild-card spots because each team has played fewer games than the Capitals and Toronto Maple Leafs. Ovechkin gave the Capitals an early 1-0 lead at 2:24 on the power play. After receiving a pass from John Carlson at the left circle, Ovechkin settled the puck and surveyed his options before threading a pass toward Nicklas Backstrom, who was roaming back-door. Ovechkin's pass, however, deflected off Kings defenseman Robyn Regehr and behind Quick. Nearly five minutes later, Ovechkin struck again on the power play, putting another puck past Quick for his NHL-leading 48th goal of the season. With 22 power-play goals, Ovechkin tied a career-high as well as Washington's single-season franchise record he shared with forward Peter Bondra. The Capitals lost Backstrom early in the second period; he sustained an upper-body injury after absorbing a heavy check from Doughty near the Washington bench at 5:03 and did not return to the game. The Kings cut the deficit to 2-1 at 2:53 of the second period. As Joel Ward's tripping penalty was about to expire, Alec Martinez's point shot hit Richards in front, but Richards was able to outmuscle Capitals defenseman Jack Hillen for the loose puck and slide it past Capitals goaltender Jaroslav Halak (32 saves). With Los Angeles pressing to tie the game, Washington restored its two-goal lead with 2:42 remaining in the period. Capitals forward Chris Brown drove to the net hard and fired a wrist shot at Quick, who challenged aggressively to make the initial save. With Quick out of position, Brown collected the rebound and slid it to Penner, who scored his first goal since being acquired from the Anaheim Ducks on March 4. King kicked off the Kings' comeback 45 seconds into the third period, converting a Brown rebound to cut the deficit to 3-2. Gaborik tied the game at 8:41, roofing his ninth goal of the season past Halak. Brown then gave the Kings their first lead of the game at 12:55, taking advantage of a Washington turnover when Capitals defenseman Patrick Wey failed to clear the puck out of the defensive zone. Jarret Stoll picked up the loose puck and threw it towards the net, where it went to Brown for his 14th goal of the season. With 59 seconds remaining in regulation, Carlson hooked Richards as he carried the puck toward an empty Washington net, putting the Kings on a late power play. The Capitals pulled Halak to even things up, and with 42 seconds left, Kuznetsov capped off a furious flurry in the crease with his first career NHL goal to tie the game at 4-4. Kopitar and Jeff Carter scored in the shootout for Los Angeles, and Quick stopped Kuznetsov and Eric Fehr to seal the victory. In overtime, Hillen was knocked out of the game after colliding with Ovechkin near center ice. Hillen was down on the ice for several minutes before being helped off. Oates did not provide an update after the game, other than Hillen was being evaluated.
NY Islanders @ Carolina 5-4 - For the first 11 minutes of the game, the Islanders demonstrated what happens when youthful enthusiasm takes over. The rest of the game had its ups and downs, but New York will take the result. The Islanders raced to a 4-0 first-period lead, then held on to beat the Hurricanes 5-4 at PNC Arena on Tuesday night. Playing on a line with center Ryan Strome, Colin McDonald and Matt Martin each scored twice, and Strome and Thomas Hickey added two assists apiece for the Islanders, now 13-4-1 in their past 18 road games. With several veterans injured, the Islanders were counting on a lineup that featured nine rookies and a dozen players under the age of 25. That may have played a role in allowing the Hurricanes to cut the deficit to 4-3 early in the second period. McDonald started the scoring with his seventh of the season at 3:39. Strome won a draw back to the point, where Hickey threaded a shot through traffic. McDonald found the loose puck in the crease and pushed it past Cam Ward for a 1-0 lead. Cal Clutterbuck made it 2-0 at 5:26 on a similar play. Travis Hamonic's shot from the right point was redirected by Josh Bailey and buried in front by Clutterbuck for his 11th goal. The Hurricanes' loose defensive play continued when Calvin de Haan circled the net and found McDonald alone on a back-door play for his second of the game at 6:12. That spelled the end of the night for Ward, who slammed his stick on the ice in frustration. He faced nine shots before giving way to Anton Khudobin. The Islanders kept the offense coming. Kevin Czuczman fired a shot at Khudobin, who thought he had directed the shot to the corner. Instead, the rebound fell to Martin, who hit the net for his sixth of the season at 10:54. Czuczman's assist was the first point of his career in his third NHL game. He signed a professional contract March 11 after finishing his collegiate career at Lake Superior State University. The Hurricanes, who were outshot 10-0 through the first nine-plus minutes, finally slowed the Islanders with a quick power-play strike. Jeff Skinner needed nine seconds of the man advantage to follow his shot from the slot with a backhander past New York goalie Anders Nilsson at 12:38 for his 27th of the season. Andrei Loktionov cut the lead to 4-2 with a nice individual effort. He burst past Hamonic at the New York blue line before pulling Nilsson out of position and slipping in a forehand shot from a tight angle at 15:06. Carolina made it a one-goal game early in the second when the Islanders took their second delay-of-game penalty for shooting the puck over the glass. Jordan Staal fed a back-door pass to Alexander Semin, who found room inside the post at 2:42. Martin scored his second goal of the night at 16:57, taking a pass from Strome behind the net to give the Islanders a 5-3 lead. The breathing room didn't last for long; the Hurricanes answered 22 seconds later when Nathan Gerbe popped a bouncing puck over Nilsson's shoulder for his 16th goal, tying his career high. The Islanders clamped down in the third period, limiting the Hurricanes to six shots. Nilsson, who admitted to being a little off-balance in net, made a key save on Skinner, whose shot from between the circles was the last of seven on the night. With the loss, the Hurricanes neared mathematical elimination from playoff contention. The sloppy start to the game drew criticism from coach Kirk Muller.
Buffalo @ Montreal 0-2 - The Canadiens were coming off two of their biggest road victories of the season, so it would have been easy to overlook the Sabres on Tuesday. For a while the Canadiens did just that, but ultimately they continued a stretch of victories that has them comfortably sitting in a spot to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Max Pacioretty's 100th NHL goal broke a scoreless tie at 10:53 of the third period and helped the Canadiens get a 2-0 win against the Sabres. The Canadiens won an important 4-3 game at the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday, and then pulled off an emotional 2-1 shootout win at the Boston Bruins on Monday, making the game against the Sabres pale in comparison of importance. Montreal began a run of six wins in seven games with a historic comeback against the Ottawa Senators on March 15, scoring three times in the final 3:22 of regulation and again at 1:26 of overtime to win 5-4. Since then, the Canadiens have outscored their opponents 18-10 in winning five of six games to move two points ahead of the Tampa Bay Lightning for second place in the Atlantic Division, though the Lightning have two games in hand. Price made 24 saves for his fifth shutout of the season and 24th of his career, but none was bigger than a breakaway stop on Cody Hodgson with 3:20 to play in the third that allowed Montreal to maintain its 1-0 lead. Briere made it a 2-0 game 14 seconds after the big save. Matt Hackett (nephew of former Habs goalie, Jeff) kept the Sabres in the game by making 33 saves, including stops on the first 31 shots he faced, but could not prevent Buffalo's 10th loss in 12 games. Sabres defenseman Tyler Myers returned from a five-game absence caused by an elbow injury. He left the game at 6:15 of the third period after crashing into the goal post on a 2-on-1 break, but quickly returned. Through the first half of the game, the Sabres were skating with the Canadiens, leading 15-14 in shots on goal when Buffalo forward Matt D'Agostini was called for holding and unsportsmanlike conduct at 6:10 of the second period. The Canadiens outshot the Sabres 21-9 from that point. Pacioretty scored on a nice setup from Thomas Vanek, tapping in a pass that bounced off Hackett and in for his 32nd goal. His 100th goal came in his 311th NHL game. Briere made it 2-0 when he fished a puck out of a crowd at the faceoff circle and put a wrist shot under the crossbar at 16:54.
Ottawa @ Florida 2-3 SO - The Panthers hope that the combination they saw Tuesday night, young talent up front and Roberto Luongo in net, is the harbinger of better days to come. Two rookies, Vincent Trocheck and Brandon Pirri, scored in the shootout to back Luongo's goaltending and give the Panthers a 3-2 victory against the Senators at BB&T Center. After Kyle Turris opened the tiebreaker by beating Luongo, Trocheck tied it with a slick deke before sliding the puck past Robin Lehner. Ottawa's Jason Spezza then missed the net before Pirri snapped a shot through Lehner's five-hole. Luongo, who made a number of spectacular saves among his 37 stops through 65 minutes, ended the game with a sweeping glove grab of Milan Michalek's backhander. It was Florida's eighth win in 14 shootouts this season. Ottawa is 4-7 in tiebreakers. All of the pre-shootout scoring took place during a span of 6:21 in the second half of the second period. Mark Stone and Clarke MacArthur gave Ottawa a 2-0 lead before Sean Bergenheim and Trocheck tied the game for Florida with goals 23 seconds apart. Ottawa has lost nine of 10 and its hopes of making the Stanley Cup Playoffs have all but disappeared. The Senators are eight points out of the final wild-card position in the Eastern Conference with 10 games remaining. The Senators, coming off a 4-3 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday, came out flying, taking seven of the game's first eight shots. Luongo got a break when Spezza's power-play blast from the top of the left circle hit the goal post 3:27 into the game, and he used his glove to rob Turris a half-minute later. Florida thought it had a goal at 7:57 when Bergenheim backhanded a loose puck into the net after Lehner stopped his shot. But referee Gord Dwyer immediately waved off the goal, saying he had blown his whistle. Luongo finished the period with 20 saves, and Lehner made 10. Luongo kept the game scoreless early in the second period when he robbed Ottawa's Erik Karlsson from the lower right circle on a 2-on-1 rush with Spezza. But the NHL's leading scorer among defensemen got even at 11:34 when he set up the game's first goal. Karlsson was part of a 4-on-2 rush when he took a pass from Turris in the right circle and quickly rifled a feed across the slot to Stone, who hit the wide-open left side of the net for his second goal of the season. The goal came on the Senators' 29th shot. The assist extended Karlsson's point streak to eight games. MacArthur made it 2-0 at 16:11 when he got a piece of Patrick Wiercioch's power-play slapper from the left point and deflected it past Luongo for his 22nd goal. But the Panthers came back to tie the game with their two quick goals. Bergenheim got one that counted at 17:32, finishing off a feed by Brian Campbell with a one-timer from the right circle for his 15th goal. Trocheck tied it at 17:55 with his third when he beat Lehner with a wrister to cap a 2-on-1 rush with Scottie Upshall. Luongo robbed Turris with 2:21 left in regulation, and Lehner made perhaps the best of his 39 saves when he denied Trocheck with 15 seconds remaining. Each goaltender also made a brilliant stop in overtime; Luongo stopped Mark Methot all alone from 15 feet less than a minute into OT, and Lehner robbed Pirri from the right circle two minutes later.
Detroit @ Columbus 2-4 - What do goaltender Curtis McElhinney and the Blue Jackets' power play have in common? Neither had been doing much lately, but each proved critical in a 4-2 in against the Red Wings at Nationwide Arena on Tuesday night. McElhinney watched 2013 Vezina Trophy winner Sergei Bobrovsky start 19 straight games and 26 of the past 27, but he was forced into duty to start the second period because Bobrovsky (nine saves) fell ill. McElhinney stopped 22 of 23 shots, including all 13 in the third period. McElhinney had a combined 45 minutes in two appearances since Jan. 28, but kept the Blue Jackets in the game. The Blue Jackets' first win in three games enabled them to tie Detroit with 80 points apiece. The Washington Capitals and Toronto Maple Leafs also have 80 points; Columbus and Detroit hold the Eastern Conference wild-card positions for the Stanley Cup Playoffs because they've played fewer games. The Blue Jackets are in front of the Red Wings because they have four more non-shootout wins. Columbus got a controversial go-ahead goal by Cam Atkinson with 13:01 left in regulation and an empty-netter by Johansen with 5.4 seconds to play to offset two goals by Detroit's Gustav Nyquist. But the tone in the critical Eastern Conference showdown was set in the first period when the Blue Jackets got not one, but two power-play goals when Johansen and Brandon Dubinsky scored with the man advantage take a 2-0 lead. The Blue Jackets had not scored in their previous 36 tries over 10 games but ended the drought 95 seconds into the game with Johansen's goal. Johansen was low in the right circle when he fired a shot. Detroit goalie Jimmy Howard made the initial save, but Johansen followed his shot and reached the rebound before teammate Boone Jenner was able to take a swipe at it and slip the puck into the net. Dubinsky was fortunate on his 15th goal at 12:46 of the first during a 4-on-3 power play. With more open space, he had time to wait for a backdoor pass to Atkinson at the left post. The puck never reached Atkinson because Detroit defenseman Danny DeKeyser tried to stop the pass, but instead made a perfect redirect with his stick and put the puck in his own net at 12:46. Nyquist then went to work and continued his torrid scoring pace. He has 25 goals for the season, with 20 of them since Jan. 20, a span of 25 games. He has eight goals and an assist in the past five games. His first of the night came at 14:55 of the first period and cut the Blue Jackets' lead to 2-1, with Riley Sheahan setting up Nyquist for the goal. Nyquist tied the score at 10:58 of the second. The rebound of a Tomas Tatar shot the puck went off the skate of Nyquist, then hit Johansen before going across the goal line. The goal was upheld after video review. So was the winner by Atkinson, although the Red Wings saw it differently. Atkinson was crashing the net for a rebound of a Matt Calvert shot when he poked the puck away from Howard (23 saves). Before the puck slid across the line, the net came of its moorings, but the ruling was that Atkinson was shoved into the net by Detroit defenseman Brendan Smith and the goal stood. Atkinson was credited with his 19th goal of the season and first in nine games.
Colorado @ Nashville 5-4 SO - Sometimes, Avalanche coach Patrick Roy said, it's nice to win a game when your team does not play well. That was the case on Tuesday, when Colorado was outshot 13-1 until the final minute of the first period and trailed by two goals. The Avalanche never led in regulation but, with a good bit of help from captain Gabriel Landeskog, they rallied for a 5-4 shootout win against the Predators at Bridgestone Arena. Roy contrasted the game with the Avalanche's effort in their most recent game, a 2-0 loss to the Boston Bruins on Friday that was Boston’s 11th straight win. The win snapped a three-game skid for Colorado (0-2-1). The Avalanche remained three points behind the Chicago Blackhawks for second place in the Central Division. Colorado has played one fewer game than Chicago, which defeated the Dallas Stars 4-2 on Tuesday. Landeskog scored two goals and added the shootout winner. He beat Predators goalie Pekka Rinne in the third round with a quick wrist shot. Ryan O'Reilly tied it for Colorado in the second round at 1-1 with a wrist shot to the blocker side. Nashville rookie Calle Jarnkrok, in his third NHL game, used a slick backhander to beat Avalanche goalie Semyon Varlamov in the first round. Varlamov stopped Ryan Ellis and Roman Josi in the next two rounds. Landeskog said the Avalanche wanted to chip away at Nashville's early 2-0 lead. As Colorado pursues Chicago for home-ice advantage in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Landeskog said this game will serve the Avalanche well. The Avalanche trailed by 2-0 early and faced 3-2 and 4-3 deficits late in the third period. Forty-four seconds after Nashville's Matt Cullen scored his second goal of the game to put his team up 4-3 with 4:43 left in regulation, Colorado defenseman Nick Holden tied it. Holden skated down the left side off the rush and scored with a low wrist shot to the stick side. Holden has scored three of his nine goals this season at Bridgestone Arena. However, he almost went from hero to goat; he received a high-sticking penalty with 2:11 left in regulation. The Avalanche killed the penalty. Even with the night Landeskog enjoyed, Varlamov (29 saves) might have been their best player. Varlamov made big-time stops in the first period on Patric Hornqvist and Cullen in the first period. Roy said Nashville easily could have scored three or four goals in the opening period. Colorado's Cody McLeod tied the game with 7:35 left in regulation, putting in a rebound of his own shot with a backhander to even the score at 3-3. Matt Duchene earned primary assist with some strong possession behind the net. Nashville coach Barry Trotz was unhappy with the Predators' defensive play on a couple of the Colorado goals. The line of Eric Nystrom (minus-2), Colin Wilson (minus-2) and Nick Spaling (minus-3) was the major culprit, and criticized his wings for not being strong enough on the puck on the third goal. The fourth goal was more of a case of poor puck management. Josi scored twice in the first period and Cullen scored the go-ahead goal in the second period. Cullen scored for the second time in three games to give Nashville a 3-2 lead with 5:17 left in the second. The play started on a defensive zone faceoff, which Mike Fisher won. Ellis banked a pass off the left boards, sending Cullen in alone and he roofed a shot over Varlamov's right shoulder. Cullen, who did not score between Nov. 28 and March 18, has scored three times in his past three games. Josi scored twice in the first 9:49 of the first period for his 10th and 11th goals of the season to send Nashville out to a 2-0 lead. His slap shot from the left point beat Varlamov low to the stick side 3:33 into the game. Then off a faceoff win by Jarnkrok, Josi flipped a shot from the blue line that eluded Varlamov thanks to a screen by Nashville's Gabriel Bourque at 9:49. Jarnkrok, whom Nashville received from the Detroit Red Wings in exchange for David Legwand, picked up his third assist in his third NHL game since being promoted from the Milwaukee Admirals of the American Hockey League. Colorado had been outshot 13-1, but scored on its second shot of the first period with 54 seconds left to reach intermission trailing 2-1. Nathan MacKinnon did some nice work behind the net, using his strength to keep a couple of Predators defenders away. In quick succession, he passed the puck to Paul Stastny, who left it for Landeskog and the Colorado captain scored on a rising wrist shot from 13 feet. Colorado took advantage of a Predators turnover off a breakout to even the game at 2-2 with 11:19 left in the second period. Landeskog ripped a wrist shot from the high slot for his 23rd of the season, a career-high for the 21-year-old.