Montreal @ New Jersey 2-3 SO - P.K. Subban knows one key to success in the Stanley Cup Playoffs is making certain the power play is at least providing momentum in tight games. That hasn't been the case for Montreal of late.
Jacob Josefson and Patrik Elias scored in the shootout to give the Devils their first win in seven games (1-4-2). Kinkaid stopped Alex Galchenyuk and David Desharnais in the shootout. Josefson scored in the second round and Elias in the third. The Canadiens failed to take advantage of a five-minute power play in the second period when Scott Gomez was given a major and a game misconduct for elbowing Alexei Emelin at 14:38. The defenseman knocked Gomez to the ice on a legal hit with his shoulder, and Gomez retaliated with his elbow a few seconds later in front of Tokarski. The Devils penalty-killers limited the Canadiens to one shot on the advantage. The Canadiens also failed on a 5-on-3 for 33 seconds late in the third period with Matteau (delay of game) and Andy Greene (tripping) in the penalty box. The Devils then denied the Canadiens during a 4-on-3 power play in overtime after another Greene tripping penalty at 2:39. The Devils tied it 2-2 in the second period when Boucher scored his first goal in eight NHL games this season. He deflected a shot from the left point by Jon Merrill past Tokarski at 4:37. The goal came less than a minute after Tokarski made a great save with his left pad against Damon Severson. Plekanec and Petry scored in a span of 2:03 to give Montreal a 2-1 first-period lead. Plekanec scored seven seconds into a power play after Merrill was whistled for interference at 14:39. With Brendan Gallagher providing a screen, Plekanec shot from the top of the right circle. Petry scored with a snap shot from the right circle at 16:42. The goal was the defenseman's third in 16 games with the Canadiens since being acquired from the Oilers in a trade March 2. The Devils took a 1-0 lead when Matteau scored his second NHL goal off a rebound at the right post at 9:51. It was his first in the League since Feb. 9, 2013 against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Montreal coach Michel Therrien also opted to scratch veteran defenseman Andrei Markov. Markov, who hadn't missed a game this season and usually plays on the first power-play unit with Subban, was replaced by veteran Sergei Gonchar, coming off a nine-game absence.
St Louis @ Dallas 7-5 - The St. Louis Blues have been strong in back-to-back situations this season. Thanks largely to a hat trick from Jaden Schwartz, the Blues rallied for a 7-5 victory against the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center, their second win in as many nights. Brian Elliott made 27 saves and the Blues (48-23-7) pulled even with the Nashville Predators for first place in the Central Division. Each team has 103 points and four games remaining; the Predators own the tiebreaker with two more regulation/overtime wins (ROW).
It was the fifth time this season the Blues have won both ends of a back-to-back. St. Louis clinched a berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the fourth consecutive year by defeating the Calgary Flames 4-1 the previous night. In a game that saw each team blow a two-goal lead, Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo broke a 5-5 tie 9:57 into the third period. Pietrangelo fired a wrist shot from the slot over the blocker of goaltender Kari Lehtonen for his seventh goal of the season. The goal also ended Lehtonen's night; he was replaced by Jhonas Enroth. Schwartz completed his hat trick by hitting the empty net with 22 seconds remaining. Patrik Berglund scored two goals for the Blues. Jay Bouwmeester, T.J. Oshie and Kevin Shattenkirk each had two assists, and Pietrangelo and Zbynek Michalek a goal and an assist each. Dallas captain Jamie Benn scored twice and had an assist; linemate Tyler Seguin scored a goal and assisted on each of Benn's goals. Travis Moen and Antoine Roussel also scored for Dallas (37-31-10), which remained six points behind the Los Angeles Kings and Winnipeg Jets for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference; the Kings hold the ROW tiebreaker over the Jets 36-32. It was another night of frustration for the Stars, who have four games remaining. The Stars appeared to take an early lead when Patrick Eaves scored 6:15 into the first period. However, the goal was immediately waved off because center Jason Spezza caught Elliott's right skate at the top edge of the paint, upending the goaltender. Seguin hit the post with a one-timer from the left circle at 8:46, and Elliott stopped him on a breakaway at 16:27. Berglund gave St. Louis the lead with 2:11 remaining in the first when he redirected a David Backes one-timer into the net. Backes played the carom off the boards on the near side of the ice and took a shot that Berglund got his stick on, deflecting it top shelf past Lehtonen at the near post. Dallas answered with 11 seconds left in the period when Moen scored on a penalty shot after being taken down in front of the net by Michalek. Moen skated up the right side of the ice and scored his second goal of the season with a wrist shot from the slot that went under Elliott's blocker. It was Moen's first NHL penalty shot. Seeing his first action in 20 games, Moen last played on Feb. 17 at the Blues. St. Louis scored twice in the first 32 seconds of the second period to take a 3-1 lead. Berglund got his second of the game 15 seconds into the period, redirecting a wrist shot by Shattenkirk from the left point past Lehtonen for his 12th goal of the season. Schwartz backhanded his own rebound past Lehtonen 17 seconds later. But the Stars scored the next four goals, two by Benn and one each by Seguin and Roussel, to take a 5-3 lead. Six seconds after Schwartz's goal, Benn's wrist shot from the slot went under Elliott's blocker. Counting Moen's goal late in the first period and the three goals early in the second, the Blues and Stars scored four goals in 49 seconds, the fastest four goals in NHL history, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The Stars tied it at 10:01 when Seguin scored his 36th of the season. His wrist shot from the slot struck Elliott's stick, bounced up and deflected off Shattenkirk's upper body and into the net. Benn's second of the game and 30th of the season came at 14:40. He tipped in a pass from Seguin to give Dallas their first lead. Roussel made it a two-goal game at 15:23 with his first goal in 15 games on a wraparound at the near post. It was Roussel's first goal since Feb. 27 against the Colorado Avalanche. But Schwartz gave the Blues a spark with 26 seconds left in the period when he scored his second of the game and 27th of the season to make it 5-4. His wrist shot from the left circle went under Lehtonen's glove. The Blues tied it 5-5 when Michalek scored his fourth of the season 4:44 into the third period. Michalek's wrist shot from the right circle deflected off both skates of Dallas defenseman Jason Demers and into the net. Pietrangelo's game-winner came after he got the puck inside the right circle, skated around freely in the slot and spun around before beating Lehtonen to the far post.
Colorado @ Anaheim 4-2 - Matt Duchene scored on a breakaway at 9:08 of the third period to help Colorado stave off elimination with a 4-2 win against the Anaheim Ducks. Duchene slipped the puck five-hole on Ducks goalie John Gibson with Sami Vatanen closing in after the puck had bounced to center ice off a blocked shot. The game-winner was Duchene's 21st goal. The Avalanche, who would have been eliminated with a regulation loss, got an empty-net goal from Dennis Everberg with 1:24 left. They are six points behind the Los Angeles Kings and Winnipeg Jets in the race for the second wild card into the playoffs from the Western Conference. Anaheim gave the Avalanche three power plays in the second period, and Colorado's 29th-ranked man-advantage unit broke through with Gabriel Landeskog's 23rd goal to tie it 2-2. Landeskog buried a shot high from the slot at 16:52 after Alex Tanguay collected the puck and set him up with Ducks defenseman James Wisniewski serving a holding penalty.
Sekac grabbed a Tanguay turnover in neutral ice, skated past Avalanche forward Marc-Andre Cliche and beat Berra with a quick backhand at 7:31. Corey Perry misdirected Berra from behind the net and flubbed a pass that Rakell scored on from the right side at 17:58. John Mitchell scored for Colorado on a one-timer from Jarome Iginla on a rush at 6:33 of the first to give the Avalanche a 1-0 lead. Anaheim right wing Stefan Noesen made his NHL debut. He drew a holding penalty against Iginla and nearly scored from the slot in the third period. Boudreau said he probably should have played Noesen more than 6:54, but Noesen wasn't complaining.
Phoenix @ San Jose 1-3 - The San Jose Sharks know they still need lots of help if they're going to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the 11th straight season. The Sharks defeated the Coyotes 3-1, winning for the fourth time in five games. The Sharks (39-30-9) have 87 points and moved within three of the Los Angeles Kings and Winnipeg Jets for the second wild card from the Western Conference; the Kings hold the tiebreaker with 36 regulation/overtime wins to 32 for the Jets. The Sharks are also four points behind the third-place Calgary Flames in the Pacific Division. Logan Couture, Joe Pavelski and Matt Nieto scored for the Sharks, and Antti Niemi made 20 saves. The Sharks will probably have to win their final four games to have a chance of making the playoffs. The Sharks and Coyotes finish the home-and-home set Saturday at Gila River Arena.
The Coyotes (23-47-8) lost for the ninth time in 11 games. They have 54 points, fewer than every other NHL team except the Buffalo Sabres, who have 52. Mark Arcobello had the lone goal for Phoenix, and backup goaltender Louis Domingue made 34 saves. The Sharks outshot Phoenix 37-21, but they owned a slim 2-1 lead late in the third period before Nieto hammered a rebound past Domingue with 5:50 left in regulation. Domingue stopped Chris Tierney's shot from the left circle but couldn't control the puck, and Nieto scored his ninth goal of the season, all but sealing the win. The Sharks outshot Phoenix 16-3 in the first period and built a 2-0 lead on early goals by Couture and Pavelski. Couture scored 58 seconds into the game on a rush, snapping a shot from the right circle over Domingue's glove and into the upper left corner. Tomas Hertl sent a cross-ice pass to Couture, who controlled the puck with his left skate and quickly fired, scoring his 27th goal of the season. Pavelski made it 2-0 at 5:00 with his team-high 37th goal, which came just seconds after San Jose's first power play expired. Patrick Marleau threaded a pass from below the goal line to Pavelski, who scored on a slap shot from the low slot. David Moss put the puck past Niemi at 5:50 of the first period, but the goal was immediately waived off by the referees. A video review confirmed that Moss directed the puck over the goal line with his left hand. Phoenix cut San Jose's lead in half at 2:34 of the second period when Arcobello scored his 16th goal of the season. On a 2-on-1 rush, Arcobello sent a cross-ice pass from the right circle toward Tobias Rieder, who was a step behind Sharks defenseman Brent Burns. Burns reached out and got his stick on the puck, but he deflected it past Niemi. The Coyotes nearly pulled even with under a minute left in the second period when cheap shot Shane Doan fired a sharp-angled shot from the left of the crease. Niemi deflected the puck into the air and snagged it with his glove. Niemi stopped all 11 shots he faced in the third period, and the Sharks held on for the win.
Whoosh Its behind ya!
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