Sunday 22 November 2015

NHL - Central - November 19-20, 2015

Thursday, November 19

Minnesota @ Boston Bruins 2-4
Loui Eriksson's third career hat trick helped the Boston Bruins to a 4-2 win against the Minnesota Wild at TD Garden. Eriksson scored twice in the second period and once in the third period. It was his first hat trick since Dec. 31, 2009, with the Dallas Stars against the Anaheim Ducks.
David Krejci had two assists, and goaltender Jonas Gustavsson made 24 saves for the Bruins, who improved to 2-2-0 on their five-game homestand and defeated the Wild for the second time in nine games all-time here. The Wild went 1-2-1 on their four-game road trip after opening with a win. They played without defensemen Jonas Brodin (illness) and Marco Scandella (lower body), who was placed on injured reserve Thursday.
Jason Zucker had to be helped off the ice and was not putting any weight on his left leg at the end of the game after he was slashed by Bruins forward Matt Beleskey. Yeo had no update on Zucker. Brad Marchand scored the only goal of the first period. He stole Wild Matt Dumba's outlet pass up the left wall and set up Brett Connolly for a shot from the left hash mark. Dubnyk made the save, but Marchand tracked the rebound behind the net and came out near the right post for a flip-in that put Boston ahead 1-0 at 5:30.
The Wild killed off two minor penalties, including 1:15 of a 5-on-3, early in the second period. Goalie Devan Dubnyk made seven of his 34 saves during the kills. Minnesota evened the score 1-1 when Zucker beat Gustavsson with a wrist shot off a rebound at 5:12 of the second period. Eriksson scored the next two goals. He banked one in from the bottom of the left circle off Jason Pominville's skate for a 2-1 lead at 7:37. Then he scored on a power play on his own rebound from the right side of the slot for a 3-1 lead at 11:21.
Before the period was through, Jordan Schroeder got Minnesota back within 3-2 with a deflection of a Ryan Suter wrist shot that eluded Gustavsson at 13:37.
Eriksson scored his third goal of the game at 4:14 of the third period to put Boston ahead 4-2 with a drive to the net during a give-and-go with Krejci.
Gustavsson earned the win in his first home start with the Bruins.
Bruins forward Frank Vatrano did not return after he was injured in the second period shortly after the Wild's first goal when he was checked into the end wall by defenseman Nate Prosser. Julien said Vatrano sustained an upper-body injury. The Wild will play their next four games at home starting Saturday against the Nashville Predators.
Mike Yeo: "It's tough, but there's no excuse. We've still got players that are capable and I give a lot of our guys credit tonight. I mean, we did battle. We don't always make it easy on ourselves, but we had a lot of guys that were sick playing in the game, and you know, I give us credit for the work, but we're not in the business of looking for consolation points here. We've got to find a way to win hockey games and so we've got to get ready for the next game now."




Friday, November 20

Nashville @ Columbus Blue Jackets 0-4
The Blue Jackets defensemen, what's left of them made the best of a bad situation in a 4-0 win against the Predators at Nationwide Arena. It helped that Sergei Bobrovsky made 39 saves for his first shutout of the season, giving the Blue Jackets their fourth win in five games. After losing defensemen Fedor Tyutin (upper body) and Cody Goloubef (fractured jaw) in the first period, the Blue Jackets, who lost 3-0 at the Ottawa Senators on Thursday, had four defensemen for the final two periods. David Savard led Columbus defensemen with 30:48 of ice time. Jack Johnson played 29:25, Kevin Connauton 24:31 and Murray 23:32. The Predators outshot the Blue Jackets 39-18.

Ryan Johansen and Boone Jenner each had a goal and an assist, and Scott Hartnell scored an empty-net goal with 50 seconds left for Columbus. Gregory Campbell and Johansen scored early in the first period against Nashville goalie Pekka Rinne. The second period had one goal and one highlight save. Each was by Columbus. Jenner put the Blue Jackets up 3-0 with a rebound of his shot at 5:17 of the period. His 10 goals lead Columbus. Then it was Bobrovsky's turn, doing the splits and making a left-skate save on James Neal, who was parked right of the net and took a one-timer. The Blue Jackets took two shots in the first 4:16 and the result was a 2-0 lead. Campbell's second of the season at 2:34 was set up by a blind pass from the behind the net by Kerby Rychel.

Johansen's third 1:42 later came close to not counting. He skated through the right circle then slowly drew Rinne out of the crease. Johansen went to the backhand and avoided a stick check by Rinne. At the same time, linemate Brandon Saad was shoved into the net. By the time Saad hit the back of the goal and dislodged it, the puck was across the line. It was Bobrovsky's 12th NHL shutout. Columbus had 26 blocked shots, Nashville had eight.

Mike Fisher: "We weren't hungry around the net. [Bobrovsky] was seeing a lot of our first shots."
Peter Laviolette: "We made a couple of big mistakes. We were in position to make the plays but we missed some assignments and it cost us a couple of goals."
Seth Jones: "We played a pretty good game. There's not much more we can do than put the puck in the net. We had a defensive lapse on the first goal. The D, myself included, we didn't get enough pucks through from the point. They did a great job of blocking pucks. We couldn't find lanes. That's kind of how it went. They didn't do much after they scored their two goals, and then they got the third."
John Tortorella: "You can tell he wasn't going to let one [in]. That's the way it felt on the bench. Those four [defensemen] that played, they got stronger as the game went on. Those four and [Bobrovsky], I couldn't ask for any more. That was the biggest goal, knowing where our club was on the back end."
Sergei Bobrovsky: "I didn't think I would get it. There were so many blocked shots. "I think in the first there were 14. That was more than I had."

Ryan Murray: "Four D on back-to-back nights. It's a great challenge for us. That's what you live for. That's why you play hockey, for these challenges. We played pretty well defensively. They had a couple of Grade A chances but [Bobrovsky] came up big. We got through it well, and when we weren't there, he bailed us out. I was standing right there. I was about to go, 'Oh man,' but he came out of nowhere like he does sometimes."

Chicago @ Calgary Flames 1-2 OT
Johnny Gaudreau scored 1:38 into OT to give the Flames a 2-1 win against the Blackhawks at Scotiabank Saddledome. The Flames are 5-0 in overtime thanks in large part to Gaudreau's contributions. He's scored the game-winner in two of the victories and has an NHL-leading four points in overtime. Sean Monahan scored and Karri Ramo made 18 saves for Calgary, who avenge a 4-1 loss to Chicago at United Center on Sunday to win their fourth straight game on home ice. Scott Darling made 35 saves and Artem Anisimov scored for the Blackhawks, who have split the first two of six straight on the road on their annual "Circus Trip." Chicago, which has gotten points in four consecutive games and five of its last six, plays at the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday.

Gaudreau's first shot was stopped by Darling, but Gaudreau stripped Brent Seabrook of the rebound, threw a quick fake and lifted a shot over the goaltender for the win. Darling held the Blackhawks even in the third period, making nine saves before Chicago's first shot at 11:39. He stopped Mason Raymond with an outstretched right pad at 1:30 and denied Monahan near the midway mark of the period from point-blank range. He also blockered away Joe Colborne's shot from the slot with 39 seconds remaining, his 14th save of the period. Two first-period goals were followed by unsuccessful coach's challenges.
Monahan scored at 15:05, backhanding the rebound of Kris Russell's point shot past Darling to put Calgary up 1-0. Chicago coach Joel Quenneville challenged the goal, but replay confirmed that there was no goaltender interference before the puck crossed the goal line. Anisimov tied the game 13 seconds into a penalty to Dougie Hamilton, sliding in the rebound of Seabrook's one-timer at 16:59. Flames coach Bob Hartley challenged the goal, but replay confirmed no goaltender interference on Ramo by Anisimov. With an assist on the goal, Patrick Kane extended his NHL career-high point streak to 15 games (10 goals, 15 assists). He is three games away from the longest point streak by an American-born player, a mark held by Eddie Olczyk and Phil Kessel.
Russell sustained an upper-body injury in the first period and did not return to the game. Scott Darling made five saves in overtime before Gaudreau's winner.

Scott Darling: "They're a good team. They create a lot of offense. They've got a lot of good players on that team. They made some nice plays tonight. You want to get two points. At the end of the day we battled hard and got one. We'll go from there."
Duncan Keith: "He was the biggest reason why we got the one point. He played great and kept us in the game."

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