Minnesota @ Washington 2-1 - Without Ovechkin and his NHL-leading 19 power-play goals, the Capitals were missing almost 40 percent of their power-play production, but scored on their first opportunity at 2:51 of the first period. Curtis Glencross curled down the right-wing boards, beating Dubnyk with a top-shelf wrist shot for his 10th goal of the season, the first since he was acquired by the Capitals in a trade from the Calgary Flames on Sunday. The best scoring chance for either team came at 16:59 of the second period when Washington's Marcus Johansson, on a cross-ice pass from Andre Burakovsky, hit the post on an in-close attempt. Minnesota tied the game at 9:19 of the third period. Pominville dropped his stick after being denied by Holtby on a 2-on-1, but in the scramble, he retrieved it and scored on the rebound of Zach Parise's follow-up chance. Pominville's second goal at 14:28 gave the Wild a 2-1 lead. Hounded by Parise, Washington defenseman Mike Green turned over the puck attempting to break out of the zone, leading to Pominville’s slap shot that clipped Holtby's shoulder before going into the net. Washington pulled Holtby with 2:10 remaining in the third period, but forward Troy Brouwer interfered with Dubnyk at 18:47, nullifying the Capitals' 6-on-5 advantage.
Toronto @ Tampa Bay 2-4 - Kucherov gave the Lightning a 1-0 lead 4:25 into the first period when Tyler Johnson found him wide open at the right circle, where he sent a snap shot past Toronto goalie Jonathan Bernier. When Johnson skated into the zone, he attracted four Maple Leafs defenders, which left Kucherov open for the pass. Callahan put the Lightning ahead 2-0 with his 21st goal of the season. He took a slap shot from the point that hit the stick of Toronto’s Eric Brewer to bounce up and get past Bernier at 15:17 of the first.
Toronto scored 6:48 into the second period when Booth completed a 2-on-1 with a shot past Bishop’s glove off an assist from Peter Holland. Tampa Bay scored twice in the third period. Namestnikov, a call-up from the Syracuse Crunch of the American Hockey League on Wednesday, scored when a slap shot from Andrej Sustr hit his skate and got past Bernier at 6:31. Killorn made it 4-1 on a power-play goal when he received a pass from Stamkos in front of the net and easily slid the puck past Bernier at 15:14. It was Stamkos’ second assist.
The Maple Leafs scored with 2:18 left in the third period when a slap shot from Nazem Kadri hit Panik on the shoulder and bounced past Bishop. Toronto did not score on a power play for the final 1:49.
NY Islanders @ Nashville 4-3 - Brock Nelson scored the go-ahead goal with 6:08 remaining in regulation to give the Islanders a 4-3 win. Nelson scored on the rebound of a shot from the left circle by Michael Grabner. Goalie Pekka Rinne made the save on Grabner's shot, but the puck kicked into the slot, hopped over the stick of Seth Jones and came to Nelson, who beat Rinne for his 18th goal of the season. Craig Smith tied the game 3-3 at 10:47 on a wrist shot from point-blank range that beat goaltender Jaroslav Halak. Smith took a pass from rookie Filip Forsberg and lifted the puck over Halak's pads for his 21st goal. Smith's goal came 31 seconds after Nashville's Mike Ribeiro scored to make it 3-2. Tavares gave the Islanders a 1-0 lead at 11:24 of the first period on a wraparound goal. Tavares got the puck behind the net, came out to Rinne's left and banked a shot off the goaltender and into the net for his 31st goal, matching his career-high. It was the 10th consecutive game in which the Predators surrendered the first goal of the game. Rookie Anders Lee gave New York a 2-0 lead at 18:30 when he redirected Nick Leddy's power-play shot past Rinne for his 22nd goal. Tavares set up Leddy at the right point, and Lee changed the direction of the shot and got it past Rinne. Colin Wilson scored with 1.2 seconds remaining in the period to make it 2-1. The Islanders failed to clear their zone; Wilson found the puck in a scrum in front of the net and slapped it through traffic and into the net for his 20th goal of the season. Leddy gave the Islanders a 3-1 lead at 8:39 of the third period with a wrist shot from the left circle. His shot trickled under Rinne's arm and into the net for his ninth goal of the season. Ribeiro got the Predators within a goal at 10:16 on a redirection that got past Halak. Ryan Ellis took a shot from the right point that hit Ribeiro in the forearm and deflected into the net for his 13th goal of the season. The goal stood after a video review.
Vancouver @ Phoenix 2-3 SO - Thursday was a walk down memory lane for Coyotes captain Shane Doan. In the kachina-style jersey he and the Coyotes wore from 1996-2003, Doan held court before the game with many of his teammates from the late ‘90s. Then he and the current Coyotes went out and did something they hadn’t done at Gila River Arena in nearly two months: They won. Sam Gagner scored the only goal of the shootout, and Phoenix ended a nine-game home losing streak with a 3-2 win against the Canucks. The win was the Coyotes' first on home ice since a 4-1 victory against the Jets on Jan. 8. It also ended their overall 10-game losing steak; they had not won since a 3-2 shootout victory against the Blackhawks on Feb. 9. Goalie Mike Smith made 32 saves through overtime before denying Nick Bonino, Radim Vrbata and Chris Higgins in the shootout to help avoid setting a franchise record for consecutive losses.
“I loved being in the jerseys again and they worked some magic for us,” said Doan, who shared stories with Jeremy Roenick, Keith Carney, Craig Janney and Nikolai Khabibulin, among others. “It was weird in warm-ups, seeing No. 22 in that jersey and thinking he’s [Mike Gartner], and No. 8 reminds you of Danny Briere … every number had me thinking back to the guys who wore them and smiling.”
Doan had several good scoring chances in the game, a shorthanded 2-on-1 in the first period and two breakaways, including one in the first minute of overtime. No matter the jersey, the Coyotes needed this. Smith was trying to shut out the Canucks for the third straight time at Gila River Arena. He defeated them 1-0 on Jan. 14, 2014, and again by the same score March 4, 2014. He was a huge proponent of wearing the black jerseys and was comfortable in them from the start. Tobias Rieder scored late in the first period and B.J. Crombeen early in the third to give the Coyotes a 2-0 lead. Chris Higgins finished off a nice give-and-go with Jannik Hansen and beat Smith between the pads with 7:39 left in the third to pull Vancouver within a goal. Vrbata, who played six seasons with Phoenix, tied it 2-2 with 53.1 seconds left. His shot hit Oliver Ekman-Larsson, got through Smith and trickled over the goal line. It was the 29th goal for Vrbata, playing his first game in Phoenix since leaving the Coyotes to sign with the Canucks as a free agent last summer. But Smith bested his former teammate in the shootout, when Vrbata abandoned his patented fake-forehand-to-high-backhand move. Vrbata slowed almost to a stop before putting a wrist shot off the post. Vrbata received a long and loud ovation after a video tribute early in the game. Canucks goalie Eddie Lack made 33 saves, including on breakaways by Doan and Rieder in the first minute of overtime. But Gagner beat him with a wrist shot off the post on the Coyotes’ first shootout attempt, and it stood as the winner. Ekman-Larsson’s shot from the point missed the net, but Gagner was first to the carom alongside the net and pushed it out to Rieder. In tight, Rieder poked the puck by Lack at 19:00 for his 10th goal of the season and second in two games. Smith made a nice save on an Alexandre Burrows’ rebound backhand shot in tight. Then he mishandled a puck off the boards and lost it to Burrows but caught a break when one shot was blocked by Andrew Campbell and another missed the net while Smith was sprawled on his back. He also denied Vrbata twice, once from his favorite spot in the right circle. The Coyotes doubled their lead 2:31 into the third period on a hustle play started by forward Joe Vitale, who put the puck in front where several players whacked at it before Tye McGinn put a shot off Crombeen’s skate and past Lack.
Montreal @ Los Angeles 3-4 SO - Anze Kopitar scored in the fourth round of the shootout and goalie Jonathan Quick stopped two of four attempts to give the Kings a 4-3 win. Kopitar scored on a snap shot past goalie Dustin Tokarski, and Montreal's Lars Eller hit the crossbar to seal the win for the Kings. Gaborik tied the game 3-3 with 45 seconds left in regulation when he scored his second goal of the game on a 6-on-4 advantage, with Quick off for an extra attacker. Gaborik got the puck in the slot, spun and shot it past Tokarski with Eller serving a high-sticking penalty. Montreal was on the verge of a come-from-behind win when Max Pacioretty scored his 31st goal on a tap-in of a David Desharnais pass at 7:12 of the third for a 3-2 lead after Montreal erased a 2-0 deficit late in the second period. Tom Gilbert and Brendan Gallagher scored 94 seconds apart in the second to get the Canadiens even at 2-2 after Montreal had five shots in the first 35 minutes. Gilbert drove to the net off a faceoff win by Desharnais and scored at 15:15. The Kings' Justin Williams was slightly impeded by a referee while trying to get to Gilbert, who scored his first goal since Jan. 3. Gallagher tied it when he scored on a backhand in front at 16:49 after P.K. Subban kept the puck in to set up Tomas Plekanec's initial shot and rebound. Gaborik scored his 17th goal and Jeff Carter his 22nd in a first period controlled by the Kings, who outshot the Canadiens 13-2. Montreal's second shot was by Alex Galchenyuk with one second left in the period. Gaborik deflected Brayden McNabb's point shot past Tokarski at 4:02 for a power-play goal. Carter finished a give-and-go with Dustin Brown at 8:03 when Montreal's defense left Carter alone to go to the net.
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