Saturday, December 26
Detroit Red Wings @ Nashville Predators 3-2
Luke Glendening scored the game-winning goal 6:45 into the third period to give the Red Wings a 3-2 win against the Predators. Glendening scored on a deflection in front of Pekka Rinne. Brendan Smith took the original shot from the point that Glendening was able to redirect past Rinne for his second goal.
Smith gave the Red Wings a 1-0 lead at 5:34 of the first period on a slap shot from the right faceoff circle. Smith took the pass from forward Darren Helm and took a shot that beat Rinne for his second goal. Filip Forsberg tied the game for the Predators 45 seconds later on a wrist shot from the left faceoff circle. Forsberg took the pass from forward Mike Ribeiro on a 3-on-2 rush and took a shot that beat Red Wings goaltender Petr Mrazek for his eighth goal. Riley Sheahan gave the Red Wings a 2-1 lead at 2:55 of the second period with a power-play goal on a wrist shot from the right side of Rinne. Brad Richards took the original shot from the point, and Sheahan was able to get to the rebound and slide the puck past Rinne for his fourth goal. Forsberg tied the game 2-2 at 17:11 of the second period on a deflection off of a faceoff. Craig Smith retrieved the puck and took a wrist shot that went off of Forsberg and past Mrazek for his second goal of the game and ninth of the season. Detroit traveled to Nashville on Saturday morning after having off for three days for the Christmas break. The players said getting back into a mentality for hockey was difficult, but they liked the way the team responded. Mrazek made 24 saves for Detroit and improved to 11-6-3. Rinne made 20 saves for Nashville.
Peter Laviolette: "He looks strong to me with the way he's skating. He's hard to defend when he moves the puck in and out of areas quick, when he's fast off the rush. Hard to defend. He looks like he's strong right now. Tonight it was more of an even game. I do think that in the third period we turned it on. The first two periods, the first period was a little bit us and the second period was a little bit them. The third period I thought we got going and played better and had looks. We just came out on the wrong end of the third period."
Sunday, December 27
Carolina Hurricanes @ Chicago Blackhawks 2-1
Carolina's 2-1 victory against the Blackhawks at United Center was the latest example. The Hurricanes won despite being outshot 36-27, but goalie Eddie Lack made 35 saves in his first appearance since Dec. 15. Justin Faulk and Victor Rask scored for Carolina. Lack made 11 saves in the first period, six in the second and 18 in the third before Brent Seabrook, playing his 800th NHL game, scored with three seconds remaining. Carolina beat the Blackhawks for the first time since Oct. 28, 2011, a 3-0 win at PNC Arena. It was the Hurricanes' first victory in Chicago since Jan. 30, 2010, a 4-2 win at United Center. The Blackhawks had the puck most of the time, finishing with a 70-44 edge in total shot attempts. Lack's saves plus 21 blocked shots by the Hurricanes kept the puck out of the net, and the Blackhawks helped by missing the net 13 times. Corey Crawford made 25 saves for Chicago, which was nearly shut out in back-to-back games. The Blackhawks, who were off for four days off during the break, fell to 2-4-0 when they have three or more days between games. The game was scoreless after the first period. Chicago's fourth line, led by rookie center Phillip Danault, had five of the Blackhawks' 11 shots in the period and nearly opened the scoring on attempts by Danault and Ryan Garbutt off rushes. Crawford was sharp as well. He made several pad saves to deny goals off slap shots, including a one-timer by Versteeg at 5:30 from the right circle. Faulk opened the scoring at 19:41 of the second period with his 14th goal of the season and second in as many games. Faulk, who tied the San Jose Sharks' Brent Burns for most goals by a defenseman, scored by shooting the puck through the legs of both Seabrook and Crawford. Rask made it 2-0 at 4:48 of the third with his 10th goal, a wrist shot that beat Crawford high to the glove side. It turned out to be the game-winner when Seabrook's shot trickled past Lack. Marian Hossa returned to the lineup after missing the previous two games with an upper-body injury.
Marian Hossa: "I think everyone was well-rested, so that should be to our advantage. Obviously, we didn't take advantage. This game, we should've played a little different. We didn't have enough bodies going to the net and sacrificing to get the ugly goals."
Joel Quenneville: "It was a huge goal. We get out of that period [tied], we're still [OK]. We had the quality [scoring chances]. We missed some great chances, but they're a dangerous team, as well. That was a pivotal goal."
Phoenix Coyotes @ Colorado Avalanche 2-1 OT
Playing overtime for a second straight day didn't bother the Coyotes, who defeated the Avalanche 2-1 at Pepsi Center when Mikkel Boedker scored on a breakaway with 42.1 seconds remaining. Boedker also set up Michael Stone's tying goal at 2:34 of the third period, and goalie Anders Lindback made a season-best 38 saves, 13 in the third and three in overtime. The Coyotes have gone 4-1-2 since losing five consecutive games and have climbed into second place in the Pacific Division, one point ahead of the San Jose Sharks. They lost 4-3 in overtime Saturday to the Los Angeles Kings and are 4-3 in extra-period games. Boedker raced ahead of Tyson Barrie, moved in on goalie Semyon Varlamov and put a move on him before lifting the puck over his blocker. All three Avalanche players were caught deep after Lindback made a save and got the puck to Brad Richardson, who passed to Boedker. Avalanche coach Patrick Roy wasn't happy with the way his team played in overtime, saying players stayed on the ice too long and didn't pay enough attention to defense.
The Avalanche, who are 1-2 in overtime, closed to within four points of the Nashville Predators for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference, but they've gone 0-1-1 since putting together a five-game winning streak. Colorado's best scoring chance in overtime came from Francois Beauchemin, who shot the puck off the crossbar with 1:50 to go. The Coyotes tied the game in the third when Stone took a drop pass from Boedker at the top of the right circle and beat Varlamov high to the far side. It was his third of the season and first in 14 games. Iginla scored after Oliver Ekman-Larsson was given a double minor for high-sticking Alex Tanguay, who was assessed a roughing minor for retaliating. Nathan MacKinnon took a shot that Lindback denied, but the rebound slid to the left slot. Iginla backhanded the puck and it hit Klas Dahlbeck's skate in front and caromed into the far corner of the net. Iginla has two goals and an assist in a three-game scoring streak after going nine games without a point. The Avalanche killed all three Coyotes power plays after allowing three goals on three shorthanded situations last Monday in a 7-4 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Coyotes right wing Steve Downie sustained what Tippett said is an upper-body injury. He didn't return after a fight with Andreas Martinsen at 12:23 of the second period. Jarome Iginla gave the Avalanche a 1-0 lead at 17:07 of the first period on a power play. It was his 10th goal of the season and 599th of his NHL career.
Patrick Roy: "We should have kept the shifts a little shorter. We had a rush chance and we took a shot from a bad angle. Not only that, the three guys went to the net and the puck came back. That's not the type of game we want to play. We want one guy to be aware and stay back and be smart about it. We played like an all-star game in that 3-on- 3."
Jarome Iginla: "It's disappointing, no question. We did a lot of good things. I thought we played well (enough) to get the win. You'd love to see that one go in."
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