Friday, December 18, 2015
NY Rangers @ Winnipeg Jets 2-5
The Winnipeg Jets continued the New York Rangers' road woes with a 5-2 win at MTS Centre. The Rangers have a seven-game road losing streak (0-5-2), including losses on consecutive nights at the Minnesota Wild and the Jets. Overall, New York is 3-8-2 in its past 13 games. Bryan Little scored twice in the first period for Winnipeg, which had lost three of its previous four games. The Jets, who are last in the Central Division, moved within one point of the sixth-place Colorado Avalanche. Playing for the second consecutive night, Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist made 31 saves. An injury to Antti Raanta 13:50 into a 5-2 loss at Minnesota pressed Lundqvist into action on Thursday. He has allowed four or more goals in six of his past 12 games and has a .906 save percentage in that span. Rookie goaltender Connor Hellebuyck finished with 26 saves for the Jets. Little scored twice in the first 7:34 of the game to tie Mark Scheifele for the team lead with 12 goals, four of them in two games against the Rangers. Dustin Byfuglien and Tyler Myers each scored a goal, and Blake Wheeler had a career-high four assists (as well as a career-high four points) Jets captain Andrew Ladd, who was demoted to the third line in the third period after taking a penalty in the second, capped the win with an empty-net goal. J.T Miller and Dan Boyle scored for the Rangers. After Little gave the Jets a 2-0 lead, the Rangers made it a one-goal game at 14:01 of the first period when Miller pushed a shot from Kevin Hayes past Hellebuyck. But Byfuglien's ninth goal, a right-point slap shot past Lundqvist at 17:31, restored Winnipeg's two-goal lead. Winnipeg controlled much of the second period and finished with a season-high 17 shots. However, Ladd's minor for unsportsmanlike conduct let the Rangers pull within a goal again. With Ladd in the penalty box, Boyle scored his third goal on an off-wing shot from the left circle at 14:12. Myers restored the Jets' two-goal lead 2:02 later with a snap shot under the crossbar for his third goal. Forced to open up their game, the Rangers had to shift into more offensive approach. Rangers center Derek Stepan returned after missing 10 games with broken ribs but struggled. He was minus-2 in 18:47 of ice time and lost 18 of 27 faceoffs, including a defensive-zone draw that resulted in Byfuglien's goal.
Paul Maurice: "We're not far off the game that we're supposed to be playing. It's going to be a tough run, but I like the way we're playing. I really do."
Bryan Little: "I thought we were ready to play from the drop of the puck. We were just quicker all over the ice."
Andrew Ladd: "It's something that's between me and the coach. I'm sure he wasn't happy about that penalty, and that's what happens."
Saturday, December 19, 2015
Chicago Blackhawks @ Buffalo Sabres 3-2 SO
Patrick Kane continued his strong offensive play and came up clutch against his hometown team. Kane, a Buffalo native, scored to tie the game late, and scored in the shootout and Corey Crawford stopped all three shooters to give the Blackhawks a 3-2 win against the Buffalo Sabres at First Niagara Center. Kane was the only player to score in the shootout. He skated in slowly against Sabres goalie Chad Johnson, deked, and put a backhand over Johnson after he attempted to poke the puck away. Kane tied the game, 2-2 with 33.5 seconds left in the third period with a power-play goal. With Sabres defensemen Josh Gorges and Rasmus Ristolainen in the penalty box and Crawford pulled for an extra skater, Kane received a pass from Artemi Panarin and took a slap shot that beat Johnson for his 20th goal of the season. It is the ninth straight season to start his career that Kane has scored at least 20 goals, making him the first U.S. born player to do that, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Kane has scored a point in 28 of the past 29 games. Kane's tying goal came 6-on-3 as Joel Quenneville pulled Crawford with 1:27 left in the third period. It was Chicago's first power-play opportunity of the game. Ryan O'Reilly nearly scored an empty-net goal with 1:05 left in the third period, but the puck went just wide of the net. Moments later, Kane tied the game. The Blackhawks have won six of their past eight games. The Sabres lost two out of three games in their three-game homestand. O'Reilly gave the Sabres a 2-1 lead with 3:20 remaining in the third period. He took a pass from behind the net by Sam Reinhart and took a wrist shot from the side of the net that got past Crawford on his blocker side for his 12th goal of the season. O'Reilly has 12 points in his past 11 games.
Dennis Rasmussen gave the Blackhawks a 1-0 lead 6:04 into the first period. Rasmussen took a pass from Michal Rozsival and accelerated past Evander Kane and took a wrist shot which went over Johnson's glove for his third goal of the season. Franson made it 1-1 6:37 into the second period with his third goal of the season. He took a quick wrist shot after he pinched in from the blue line when Jack Eichel sent the puck around the boards. Crawford went behind the net and missed the puck when he tried to play it and was out of position when Franson took his shot.
Patrick Kane: "You're coming back home, I get to do this once a year, and haven't done it for a couple years because I was injured last year. This is my fifth game here in my ninth season. It's special every time you come back. I pretty much grew up in this rink and have a lot of childhood memories. It's fun playing, fun being in this building, lot of friends, lot of family, some 88 jerseys out there. Overall when you get that finish and end up winning the game it becomes a great day."
"We made it a little tough on ourselves to make it come down to the end there. Didn't have a power play all game and we got two at the end there, so it was nice that we took advantage of it. Great pass by [Panarin] there, and nice to finish it off and tie it up. Definitely a special ending."
Joel Quenneville: "It's a great comeback. It's 1-1 and it looks like we're heading to overtime the way the third was being played. Then we were in a real tough spot and got a fortunate break at the end with a 5-on-3. Took almost the whole two minutes to put in, but it was a great finish for that play. Overtime was different because it was the first time we played it where there was an ending to it and the shootout, and there was no 3-on-3 at all. Maybe that's why it went to a shootout, and obviously a big two points for us."
"[Rasmussen]'s played well since he's been up. I think that he's been useful in the middle, defensively responsible, has got some strength and some size. Today was a big goal and I think his offensive production has probably been higher than we expected and it's been a good fit for us right away."
Minnesota Wild @ Nashville Predators 2-3
Filip Forsberg, Mike Ribeiro and James Neal scored goals, and the Nashville Predators held off the Minnesota Wild 3-2 at Bridgestone Arena. Neal's goal 8:06 into the second period gave the Predators a three-goal lead, and Nashville survived goals by Minnesota's Zach Parise and Jason Zucker to end a three-game losing streak. Pekka Rinne wasn't tested often but made 20 saves. Devan Dubnyk made 36 saves for the Wild, whose point streak ended at nine games. The Predators had wanted more net-front presence from their forwards, and they got it in the first period. Forsberg gave the Predators a 1-0 lead 46 seconds after the opening faceoff when he tipped Shea Weber's point shot past Dubnyk for his seventh goal of the season. Ribeiro made it 2-0 at 14:11 during a 5-on-3 power play. Weber took a slap shot from the point that Ribeiro deflected past Dubnyk for his fourth goal. Neal gave the Predators a 3-0 lead when he beat Dubnyk with a wrist shot from the left circle. Neal created a turnover in the Minnesota zone and fired a shot that beat Dubnyk under the pad for his 13th goal. Parise got the Wild on the board 43 seconds after Neal's goal, deflecting Marco Scandella's point shot past Rinne for his 11th goal. Zucker made it 3-2 at 8:35 of the third period, beating Rinne with a wrist shot from the slot. He stole the puck from Neal in the offensive zone and took a shot that beat Rinne before he had time to react. It was Zucker's eighth goal. The Wild play at the Dallas Stars on Monday, the same night that the Predators host the Montreal Canadiens, who lost 6-2 at Dallas on Saturday.
Mike Yeo: "Tough start, that's for sure. The first period was not us, and they were ready. They were desperate and reeling a little bit here so we knew that they would be ready to go, and then we had a push at the end and we started to get some momentum off that. It was a little too late."
Peter Laviolette: "It's a big win. I mean, that's a big game. We're in a situation where wins have been hard to come by. I said this yesterday that all teams go through it. We're susceptible to it as well. I really like the way we hung our jerseys together tonight as a group. We all went out and played hard, and we got a big win."
"[Rinne] was terrific in net. You need your goaltender to be terrific, and he was. It was a division game against a real good hockey team that is playing well. We needed to get that done tonight. We did, and now we've got to wake up tomorrow and start thinking about the next one before the break."
Filip Forsberg: "It was great. We had been talking about it a lot and really working on it in practice. Just trying to get shots through from the point, and obviously with two tip-ins there, that's something where I'm glad that paid off." Shea Weber: "We held on to the puck a lot more. I thought in the second period we made a couple of bad decisions and turnovers that led to some chances by them, but I thought for the most part we did a better job of controlling the puck. That's going to lead to more zone time, and that's going to lead to them not being able to possess the puck and get offense opportunities as well."
"We're not going to get ahead of ourselves here. We're not world-beaters by any means. It's a good, solid game for us, but we've got a tough opponent in Montreal who's obviously fighting for a lot right now because they've been struggling a little bit too. Finish off strong here before the break, and then we'll figure it out when we come back."
Edmonton Oilers @ Colorado Avalanche 1-5
Semyon Varlamov made 39 saves and the Colorado Avalanche used a balanced attack to defeat the Edmonton Oilers 5-1 at Pepsi Center for their fifth consecutive win. Blake Comeau, Tyson Barrie, Nick Holden, Jarome Iginla and Jack Skille scored for the Avalanche who moved above .500 for the first time this season and remained three points behind the Nashville Predators for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.
The Oilers finished a four-game road trip with a 1-3-0 record. They have lost three in a row after a six-game winning streak. Andrej Sekera took a drop pass from Taylor Hall and fired a shot from the high slot that hit the bottom of the crossbar and went into the net at 2:58 of the third period to cut the Oilers’ deficit to 3-1. But the Avalanche responded at 7:05 when Alex Tanguay set up Iginla for a point-blank shot past goalie Anders Nilsson to make it 4-1. Iginla, who had gone nine games without a point, has 598 NHL goals. Skille closed out the scoring with a shot from the right circle past Nilsson at 16:31. Varlamov, who has won six games in a row, made 14 saves in the second period, including a right pad stop against Hall with 1.2 seconds left to preserve Colorado's 3-0 lead. The Avalanche took advantage of special-teams play to grab a 2-0 lead in the first period, with a shorthanded goal by Comeau and a power-play goal by Barrie. Holden made it 3-0 at 14:26 of the second period. John Mitchell won a faceoff in the left circle, drawing the puck back to Holden for a shot through traffic that went past Nilsson (24 saves). Comeau scored on a first-period breakaway off a Carl Soderberg pass, whipping the puck past Nilsson's glove at 1:12 after the Avalanche were penalized for having too many men on the ice. The goal was Colorado's third of the season while shorthanded and the first such goal allowed by Edmonton. Barrie's goal came at 16:49 with Pouliot in the penalty box for concealing the puck. Nathan MacKinnon was in the right circle when he passed to Barrie for a long shot. The puck flew past Nilsson's glove after sailing past the raised sticks of Colorado's Matt Duchene and Sekera. The Avalanche began the game in 0-for-8 and 1-for-26 slumps on the power play.
Brandon Davidson needed help getting to the locker room after Comeau knocked him down at 6:25 of the third period with what appeared to be a cross-check to the chest. McLellan said Davidson has a rib injury.
Patrick Roy: "We managed to win and I thought we did a lot of good things out there, regardless of the fact that they outshot us [40-29]. I'd like to cut down on the shots against, no doubt about it. But this is a team that puts a lot of pucks at the net. If someone had to said to me at this point we'd be one game over .500, it's not that I wouldn't believe it, but at the same time we've had a tough schedule and our players deserve a lot of credit, and it's nice to see them rewarded. They work hard and they believe in themselves. I am very proud of our players."
Jarome Iginla: "It was a great play by Tangs, he stole it at the wall. When he passed it out, I thought I just turned a little too quickly. But I was alone in front and I almost had too much time to think about it. I tried to hesitate for a quick 5-hole and it went in. It was good to see one finally go in. It was nice to kind of kill their momentum."
Blake Comeau: "I wasn't quite sure how much time, how much room I had. When [the puck] was rolling I was just trying to get it to settle down as fast as I could. I think a big thing for me on a breakaway is to try and get a quick release and try to surprise the goalie, and I did that tonight. There's a different feeling in the locker room. I feel that we're going into every game confident, knowing that we can win any game against any team on any night. [Varlamov] has been playing outstanding and we have a more balanced scoring attack. We have to keep at it. We have a lot of work to do, a lot of points to gain back."
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