Pittsburgh v Toronto 3-1 - Shutting down the NHL's top offense for more than 52 minutes is an impressive accomplishment. Unfortunately for the Toronto Maple Leafs, it wasn't enough to win. Pascal Dupuis scored two late goals as Pittsburgh Penguins rallied to beat Toronto 3-1 on Thursday night for their seventh consecutive win. The Leafs led 1-0 and had stifled Pittsburgh's attack until Dupuis tied the game with 7:18 remaining by burying a brilliant behind-the-back pass by Sidney Crosby. Dupuis then got the game-winner with 2:10 left in regulation when Chris Kunitz found him unmarked in the high slot for a quick shot that beat Ben Scrivens, who may have been screened by his own defenseman on the play as Korbinian Holzer dove to block the shot. It was the second time in three days that the Penguins went more than 50 minutes without scoring, only to rally for a victory. They trailed Boston 2-0 on Tuesday but scored three times in the last 6:30 for a 3-2 win. On the go-ahead goal, Crosby drew two Maple Leafs players in the far corner, leaving Dupuis open for the pass. The goals were Dupuis' 12th and 13th goals of the season. The Maple Leafs might have been able to put the game away in the first 10 minutes of the third period had it not been for the stellar goaltending Fleury who stopped 12 shots in the final 20 minutes. Three minutes in, Fleury stoned Nikolai Kulemin on his redirection of Dion Phaneuf's slap pass. After Penguins coach Dan Bylsma called timeout just before the five-minute mark, Fleury dove out to stop Nazem Kadri who had a clear path to the net but couldn't slide the puck in on the short side. Fleury also stopped Leo Komarov on a breakaway with less than 3 1/2 minutes remaining. Craig Adams added a shorthanded goal into an empty net with 10 seconds remaining to give the Penguins their second win in six days at Air Canada Centre. With the win, they clinched the season series 2-1-0, with the road team winning in each game. Toronto effectively utilized its transition game to open the scoring at 10:01 of the second period. Tyler Bozak roofed a Cody Franson pass from the edge of the crease to finish off a nice passing play initiated by Phil Kessel. With the Penguins retreating from the Leafs' zone, Kessel raced the puck through the neutral zone and into Pittsburgh territory before flipping the puck to Franson. It was Bozak's seventh goal of the season; the assist gives Kessel 10 points in his past five games. Ben Scrivens started in goal for Toronto and finished with 25 saves. Leafs defenseman John-Michael Liles, playing in his first game since Feb. 16, had his best shift early in the second period, combining with Mikhail Grabovski for back-to-back chances, but Fleury made a chest save followed by a left skate stop to keep the game scoreless. Liles had four shots and five hits in 17:22 of ice time. The physical play that began in the first period continued to escalate in the second period. The Maple Leafs out-hit the Penguins 24-21 through 40 minutes and had 11 takeaways to Pittsburgh's six. It was a tough loss for the Maple Leafs, who currently sit in seventh spot in the Eastern Conference but are 0-2-1 since barely hanging on for a 5-4 victory against the Ottawa Senators on March. 6. The one point came in a 5-4 shootout loss to Pittsburgh last Saturday. Toronto coach Randy Carlyle, looking for a spark, not only added Liles to the lineup but also tinkered with his second and third lines. Kulemin moved off the second line and played with Kadri and Clarke MacArthur while Komarov, Grabovski and Matt Frattin made up the second line. Toronto's game plan of aggressively forechecking, using its speed in transition and clogging up the shooting and passing lanes worked for much of the night, but in the end the Maple Leafs could not hang on.
Washington v Carolina 3-2 - For a moment, Alex Ovechkin thought he had endured the worst kind of luck. With just over two minutes remaining in a tie game, he had the outcome on his stick and Carolina Hurricanes goaltender Dan Ellis down on his belly. Ovechkin swiped the puck, first hitting the right post, then watching it creep along the goal line. The puck didn't go in for Ovechkin, but Mike Ribeiro somehow nudged it across the line for what proved to be the game-winner, giving the Capitals a 3-2 victory over the Hurricanes. The win ended a three-game tailspin for Washington. The Capitals dug out of a 2-0 first-period hole after goals from Hurricanes forwards Alex Semin and Patrick Dwyer against Michal Neuvirth, starting his first game since Feb. 5. Joey Crabb scored for Washington in the second, and Ovechkin notched a power-play goal early in the third to draw even. Neuvirth stopped 36 Carolina shots to earn his second win of the season. As a consolation, Ovechkin can celebrate a milestone. His game-tying goal gave him 700 NHL points. It came on a sniper's shot, after Troy Brower fed him for a blast in the left circle on a power play. That goal was a sore spot for the Hurricanes. Captain Eric Staal took a high-sticking penalty at the end of the second period, one that proved costly in protecting a 2-1 lead. The Hurricanes entered the game with wins in six of their past seven. They had won all of their previous 11 games in which they led after two periods. The game marked the first time Semin had scored against his former teammates, after signing with the Hurricanes as a free agent this summer. He took a sharp pass from Staal on his first shift of the game, beating Neuvirth in front. Dwyer extended the lead to 2-0, but that was all the scoring the Hurricanes could muster. Crabb started the comeback early in the second, taking a nice pass from Aaron Volpatti along the wall to cut the lead to 2-1. The Capitals lost defenseman Tomas Kundratek in the first period when his leg got tangled under Hurricanes forward Jeff Skinner, who was falling to the ice after a check. Oates said Kundratek would undergo an MRI exam.
Chicago v Columbus 2-1 - The Chicago Blackhawks got back into the win column Thursday night, but the Columbus Blue Jackets managed to extend their own franchise-record points streak. Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane scored in the shootout to give the Blackhawks a 2-1 win at Nationwide Arena, their 11th consecutive victory over the Blue Jackets. Chicago got its first win after losing two in a row following a season-opening 24-game points streak (21-0-3). Columbus got a point in its ninth consecutive game (6-0-3), a franchise record. The Blue Jackets have gone to overtime in eight of the nine games. Blue Jackets goalie Sergei Bobrovsky made 39 saves; the Blackhawks' Corey Crawford stopped 29 shots through 65 minutes and two more in the shootout. Bobrovsky has a .962 save percentage in his past seven games. Artem Anisimov scored for Columbus to start the shootout. Toews matched Anisimov's goal and Crawford denied Ryan Johansen before Kane scored on his patented delay move, waiting for Bobrovsky to commit then going forehand-backhand, under the crossbar. Crawford's save on Brassard ended the game. The teams combined for 13 shots in overtime, with the Blackhawks taking seven. But Columbus had the best chance to score when Nick Foligno came up left wing on a 2-on-1, worked his way between the circles and tried to go the other way on Crawford but missed wide. The Blackhawks killed 1:32 of a power play at the end of regulation and the first 28 seconds to start overtime. The crowd of 15,009 gave the teams a lengthy standing ovation after OT. All four of the meetings in the season series were decided by one goal. Chicago opened the scoring on Johnny Oduya's first goal of the season late in the second period. Kane gathered the puck slightly in front of the right point and sent a diagonal cross-ice pass against the flow of players to Oduya near the left circle. The defenseman's shot beat Bobrovsky at 16:45. The assist was Kane's 400th career point in his 426th NHL game. It took the Blue Jackets less than a minute to tie it. On the power play, Dubinsky won an offensive-zone faceoff to his left, and Brassard sent the puck from there across the ice to Jack Johnson moving forward from the blue line. Johnson ripped a one-timer past Crawford at 17:37 for his fourth of the season. Johnson has four points in six games since returning from a shoulder injury on March 5. The Blue Jackets points streak broke the record established Jan. 16-Feb. 6, 2001 in the club's inaugural season (4-0-2-2) and equaled on Tuesday.
NY Islanders v Tampa Bay 2-0 - Evgeni Nabokov stopped all 18 shots he faced and John Tavares scored a second-period power-play goal as the New York Islanders beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-0 on Thursday night at the Tampa Bay Times Forum. Tavares put a backhander into a wide-open net off a slick cross-crease pass from Matt Moulson at 10:22 of the second period on the Islanders' lone power play of the game. Mark Streit's straightaway slapper deflected off Brad Boyes and came to Moulson, whose blind pass found Tavares for his 17th goal of the season and eighth on the power play. Boyes hit the empty net with 40 seconds remaining. Nabokov stopped six shots in each period on the way to his second shutout of the season and the 54th of his career. It was the first shutout by the Islanders in Tampa since Oct. 14, 1998, and the first time this season the Lightning has been shut out. It was the fourth straight home loss at home for Tampa Bay (11-15-1) while the Islanders (12-12-3) got back to .500 as they rebounded from a 6-1 loss at Pittsburgh on Sunday. Tampa Bay had two power-play chances in the game, one late in the second period when Mark Streit was sent off for hooking, and another in the third when Frans Nielsen was whistled for holding, but the Lightning managed only two shots in the four minutes with the extra man. Lindback stopped 27 shots, many of them more challenging than the ones fired at Nabokov, as he took his seventh loss of the season. Tampa Bay was outshot in each period and has been outshot in each of its last seven periods.
NY Rangers v Winnipeg 1-3 - Jets coach Claude Noel has stressed that his club must build and sustain consistency. He's yelled, cajoled and utilized every other tactic at his disposal to get his message across since taking over in June 2011. But at long last the Jets are following Noel's orders, and the victories are starting to come. Noel's club picked up its fourth win in five games Thursday by beating the New York Rangers 3-1 at MTS Centre, running its points streak to a season-best five games. The Jets (14-11-2) moved into eighth place in the Eastern Conference, two points ahead of the Rangers (13-11-2), who have a game in hand. The Jets' victory, combined with Carolina's home loss to Washington, moved Winnipeg within a point of the Hurricanes for first place in the Southeast Division. The win sets up a showdown Saturday night in Toronto when the Jets face the seventh-place Maple Leafs, who lead the Jets by a point. New York, meanwhile, has lost back-to-back games at Buffalo and Winnipeg this week; the Rangers finish a four-game trip Saturday at Pittsburgh. Producing one win over the past four games has undone the gains that a four-game winning streak had made for the Rangers. Antti Miettinen's first goal of the season late in the second period broke a 1-1 tie and sent the Jets ahead for good. Andrew Ladd hit the empty net with 38.7 seconds remaining to wrap up the Jets' second win in as many meetings with the Rangers. Nik Antropov also scored for the second consecutive game for Winnipeg after having only one goal in his first 24 games, pushing his point streak to a season-high four games. The Jets remain mired in a 3-for-42 slump on the power play, but Antropov has recorded man-advantage goals in each of the Jets' past two games. Ondrej Pavelec stopped 28 shots, including Marian Gaborik's first-period penalty shot. Pavelec also stopped a Gaborik penalty shot in February 2011. Winnipeg's penalty kill also ran its streak to 26-for-26. Rangers captain Ryan Callahan tied Rick Nash for the team lead with his ninth goal. Henrik Lundqvist stopped 30 Winnipeg shots. The Rangers have provided Lundqvist with just four goals in the three games he has started over the past week, all losses. Two nights after criticizing his team's play against Buffalo, Rangers coach John Tortorella took a softer approach. But Tortorella lamented the Rangers' inability to punish Winnipeg for its defensive miscues. Gaborik, Nash and Brad Richards all had prime scoring opportunities that failed to produce goals. Winnipeg pounced on the Rangers from the start, with Antropov scoring 1:56 after the opening faceoff. The Jets outshot the Rangers 11-3 in the game's first 11 minutes. Antropov, who posted a three-point effort in Winnipeg's 5-2 victory Tuesday against Toronto, backhanded the rebound of Dustin Byfuglien's long shot through Lundqvist's pads 12 seconds after Michael Del Zotto was sent off for cross-checking. Antropov became the 13th Winnipeg player to score first in the 15 games in which the Jets have opened the scoring. However, the Rangers registered nine of the game's next 10 shots, including the breakaways that Gaborik and Nash did not convert. The Rangers maintained that offensive presence into the second period and tied the game at 1-1 when Derek Stepan peeled off the left boards and fired a long shot that Callahan clipped enough to elude Pavelec's glove at 1:11. The teams remained tied until 14:52, when Miettinen parked himself at the edge of Lundqvist's crease before a Byfuglien right-point shot bounced off him and trickled between the goaltender's pads. Winnipeg then clamped down on the Rangers in the final period, outshooting them 11-7 and putting the game away when Ladd hit the empty net.
Phoenix v St Louis 0-3 - Chris Stewart isn't getting caught up in his own point totals. All the St. Louis Blues power forward cares about is wins. The Blues are starting to get them, even with a depleted lineup, they are beginning to catch the fire that led to a 109-point season a year ago. Stewart continued his torrid pace by scoring two more goals, he has four in two games, and adding an assist; Alex Steen scored and added a pair of assists in his return to the lineup; and midseason call-up Jake Allen earned his first NHL shutout when the Blues downed the Phoenix Coyotes 3-0 at Scottrade Center on Thursday night. Stewart has 12 points (six goals, six assists) in the past six games and 22 points (nine goals, 13 assists) in 17 games. He's supplied more than sufficient offense in the absence of Andy McDonald, T.J. Oshie and Vladimir Tarasenko, all out with injuries for a Blues team that did get Steen back after missing eight games with an upper-body injury. Stewart, who had what was considered a down year last season, is generating offense no matter who he's playing with. As recently as a couple games ago, it was with Patrik Berglund and David Perron. Thursday night it was with Steen and David Backes. Allen is 7-1-0 after he stopped 28 shots. He was recalled from the American Hockey League's Peoria Rivermen and stabilized a Blues goaltending situation that looked bleak with a groin injury to Jaroslav Halak and the struggles of Brian Elliott. The Coyotes, who had a two-game winning streak stopped, got 27 saves from Mike Smith. The Blues outshot the Coyotes 16-8 in the first 20 minutes, helped by three power plays, but Smith and Allen were each up to the task. The Blues' best scoring chances came when fourth-liner Ryan Reaves powered his way to the net and had two point-blank chances thwarted by Smith. Allen, who obviously didn't see as large a workload, denied Antoine Vermette, who found himself alone at the top of the crease but had a couple whacks at the puck while Allen kept the right pad down. The puck eventually found its way into the net but officials whistled the play dead, saying the puck was covered by Allen when the whistle blew. Stewart broke the stalemate when a fortuitous bounce wound up on his stick from the other side of the net. Backes' original shot from the left circle caromed off the skate of Phoenix defenseman Derek Morris and off the back boards around the right side of the goal. Stewart was driving the net and skated right onto the puck and slammed it home 5:54 into the second period for a 1-0 Blues lead. Steen made it 2-0 4:05 into the third period when his initial shot was blocked, but the puck came right back into his wheelhouse in the high slot, and he whirled and fired it past Smith following an odd-man rush for the Blues. Stewart snapped a shot from the left dot over Smith's glove with plenty of traffic in front with 5:29 remaining as the Blues made it four wins in their past five games.
Colorado v Minnesota 3-5 - Clinging to a 4-3 lead and outshooting the opponent 39-32, Minnesota Wild coach Mike Yeo was doing quick math on the bench as the clock ran down Thursday against the Colorado Avalanche. Mikko Koivu's second goal of the night, a backhander into an open net, was indeed Minnesota's 40th shot of the night and closed out an impressive 5-3 win over Colorado at Xcel Energy Center. It was a three-goal second period that energized the home team as the Wild put a trio past Avalanche goalie Semyon Varlamov in a span of just over three minutes. Varlamov faced a barrage of shots in the second, 19 in all, and made 28 saves by the end of 40 minutes. The bevy of chances saw the Wild turn a 1-1 tie after one into a 4-2 lead after two. Devin Setoguchi scored his sixth goal of the season to open the floodgates, but Matt Cullen did much of the work. The veteran center sped by Colorado defenseman Greg Zanon and put a shot on net that Varlamov stopped, but a crashing Setoguchi poked home the rebound at 8:01. Just 1:42 later, the Wild went up 3-1 on a snipe from the left dot by rookie defenseman Jonas Brodin, his first NHL goal. Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog pulled Colorado back within 3-2 23 seconds later, but the Wild re-established the two-goal edge on a pretty tic-tac-toe passing play. Zach Parise charged into the offensive zone and dished back to Ryan Suter in the slot. Suter one-touched it back to Parise, who tapped it to Koivu near the left post, where he fired it into an open net at 11:12 for his fifth of the season. Parise's second pass caught Varlamov completely off guard, the goaltender was well out of his crease expecting a shot on the return feed by Suter. The goal was Koivu's first in five games. Suter's three-assist night marked his fifth multipoint game of the season. He has 11 assists in Minnesota's past nine games. Minnesota grabbed the early lead when Cullen fed Torrey Mitchell in front with a pass from the right corner. Mitchell, who had an early goal wiped away Tuesday against the Anaheim Ducks, buried his second of the year with a wrister 3:04 into the game. Colorado tied it in the waning stages of the first period on a power-play goal by PA Parenteau, whose off-speed knuckler wobbled past Wild goalie Niklas Backstrom with 25.4 seconds left. The Avalanche made it 4-3 midway through the third period when Parenteau scored his second of the night with 13:17 remaining. Defenseman Erik Johnson fired a shot intentionally wide to the right of Backstrom, and the puck caromed off the end boards right to Parenteau in front for his 12th of the season. Colorado pulled Varlamov with just over a minute to play and had a couple of good scoring chances, but Koivu added his second of the night on a backhander into the empty net with 33.3 seconds remaining. Backstrom made 29 saves, including a close-in try by Ryan O'Reilly in the final minute, to earn his 12th victory. Varlamov stopped 35 shots. Yeo was especially pleased by the play of his veterans, mentioning Cullen and Clayton Stoner as well as his entire third line of Dany Heatley, Kyle Brodziak and Cal Clutterbuck, which didn't figure into scoring but played energetic minutes all night. The Avalanche have lost eight games in a row on the road and are 2-9-3 away from Pepsi Center. Minnesota is 2-0-1 against Colorado this season, with all three games in St. Paul. The teams play their first game in Denver on Saturday. The victory moved the Wild six points ahead of the Avalanche in the Northwest Division and into a tie for fifth place in the Western Conference.
Anaheim v Dallas 2-1 - The Anaheim Ducks rarely fare well at American Airlines Center, so they were more than happy to leave with the extra point after beating the Dallas Stars 2-1 in a shootout on Thursday night. Ryan Getzlaf's backhand on the Ducks' third attempt of the shootout was the clincher. His goal, which was almost identical to the one that teammate Bobby Ryan scored on the Ducks' first attempt, saw him flip a backhand into the left side of the net to beat Stars goaltender Kari Lehtonen. After Ryan's goal, Dallas' Loui Eriksson had his attempt snuffed out by goaltender Jonas Hiller. Anaheim's second shooter, Teemu Selanne, misfired, sending a wrister over the net, but after Ray Whitney's wrister went wide, Getzlaf ended it with his goal. Hiller stopped 33 of the 34 shots he faced in regulation and overtime; Lehtonen stopped all but one of the 30 shots he faced. The Stars created plenty of chances in the first period, including a shot by rookie wing Antoine Roussel at 7:50 that glanced off the left post. It was a fortunate bounce that helped the Stars break through at 12:35 of the opening period when Whitney scored his third of the season by lifting a backhand into the top of the net. After a shot by Dallas defenseman Alex Goligoski deflected off the right skate of Eriksson, Whitney collected the carom near the left post and scored on backhander to the short side for his first goal since Jan. 24. Whitney missed 16 games with a foot injury before returning on Tuesday against the Nashville Predators. With 59 seconds left in the first, the Stars had a solid opportunity to double their lead when Eriksson had a breakaway. But Hiller stopped his backhand at the right post to keep it 1-0. Anaheim had a solid chance to tie the game with 21 seconds left in the period when Andrew Cogliano intercepted an Eriksson pass in the slot and drove toward the net, but was wide with a backhander. Dallas played its second straight game without first-line center Jamie Benn (wrist). However, captain Brenden Morrow, who missed Tuesday's loss to the Predators with a groin injury, returned and skated on a line with Roussel and Erik Cole. At 4:25 of the second period, Anaheim's Luca Sbisa and Dallas' Vernon Fiddler dropped the gloves near center ice. Fiddler took exception to Sbisa boarding teammate Ryan Garbutt near the blue line and he and Sbisa quickly squared off. They received matching five-minute fighting majors but Fiddler earned a roughing minor for initiating the scrum. Things got even more interesting at 5:06 when a wrister by Selanne from the left side struck Lehtonen's right shoulder, leading officials to think the puck might have crossed the goal line. However, following a quick review, officials ruled it was not a goal. The Ducks did score at 7:28 of the second when Cogliano collected his own rebound for his 10th goal of the season. Cogliano took a well-placed pass from Peter Holland and had his first shot stopped by Lehtonen, but he didn't quit on the play, collected his rebound at the far post and knocked a backhand in for the equalizer. However, the play of the night might have come at 10:27 of the second period when an apparent go-ahead tally by Dallas' Derek Roy off a rebound of a Whitney shot on which Hiller made a pad save was waved off. Referee Mark Joannette had blown a quick whistle from behind the Dallas net and goal was disallowed, much to the dismay of the crowd. A wrister by Roussel at 12:34 of the second struck Hiller in the mask but he was able to secure the puck. And at 11:09, Dallas nearly recaptured the lead when a wrister by Reilly Smith struck both the right post and crossbar before floating away from the Ducks goal. Officials quickly ruled it was no goal in the second review of the period. With 3:37 left in regulation, the Stars again nearly took the lead. This time it was Jaromir Jagr attempting to one-time a wrister. His short wrist shot beat Hiller, the goal siren went off and lights flashed. However, referee Kevin Pollock immediately indicated no goal, and video replays showed that the shot hit the far post and then the underside of the crossbar, but never went over the goal line. Dallas had several chances in overtime with Brenden Dillon and Jagr delivering shots which forced Hiller to make pad saves. Cody Eakin had two strong opportunities at the game-winner but his wrister was stopped by Hiller with five seconds left and his backhand on the ensuing rebound sailed wide. The teams return to the ice Saturday with Anaheim visiting the St. Louis Blues; Dallas will continue a four-game homestand against Chicago.
Nashville v Vancouver 4-7 - Andrew Ebbett is tired of being yo-yo'd, sick of bouncing in and out of the Vancouver Canucks' lineup and up and down from their American Hockey League affiliate. This time, the 30-year-old center made sure he came back from the Chicago Wolves with his confidence and scoring touch intact. He showed off both on Thursday night. Playing his second game since being called back up after a strong month in the AHL, Ebbett scored just 1:25 after the opening faceoff and set up goals by Mason Raymond and Jannik Hansen to help the Canucks to a wild 7-4 victory over the Nashville Predators. Ebbett, who had four goals and 11 points in eight games during a month in the AHL, opened the scoring early by banging his own rebound from the top of the crease after Hansen stole the puck behind the net. It was Ebbett's first point in seven games with Vancouver this season, and he added two more primary assists as the Canucks eclipsed their total offensive output from their previous four games combined. After playing more games in the AHL (210) than the NHL (169) over a seven-year career that has already included stints with five NHL teams, Ebbett should get a good chance now. With Ryan Kesler out with a fractured foot and only two other NHL centers on the roster, Ebbett is playing on a speedy second line for a Canucks team that could use more offense up the middle. There was plenty of that between the Canucks and Predators on Thursday, a surprise for two normally stingy teams struggling to score. Mike Fisher scored 6:38 into the third period and Gabriel Bourque made it a one-goal game with 4:19 left. But Henrik Sedin ended any suspense by converting a penalty shot with 2:34 left, and David Booth scored his first of the season into an empty net 57 seconds later. Alexander Edler and Maxim Lapierre also scored for Vancouver, and Roberto Luongo made 29 saves as the Canucks won consecutive games for the first time in almost three weeks. Matt Halischuk and Nick Spaling also scored for Nashville, which lost in regulation for the first time in four games (2-1-1). The Predators were missing key forward Patric Hornqvist and leading scorer Colin Wilson to injury. It didn't help that Pekka Rinne, who hadn't given up an even-strength goal in three games coming in, didn't make it out of the second period. Ebbett ended the streak, and Lapierre ended Rinne's night 5:32 into the period, skating out of the penalty box and skating in on a breakaway before snapping a shot between his legs to make it 4-1 on just 12 shots. It was the third straight time Rinne has been pulled in Vancouver. After a back-and-forth night that saw Nashville answer two Canucks goals quickly and come back late, Trotz was upset with a couple of calls that ended up being important late. The first was on Hansen's goal, which made it 5-2 with 6:12 left in the second period. Chris Mason stopped Hansen after he got behind the defense, but the puck was knocked under the sprawled goalie when defenseman Ryan Ellis slid into him. Replays never conclusively showed the puck over the line under Mason, so the call on the ice stood up as a goal. The only thing more surprising than the call was seeing Sedin, who has taken only three shootout attempts in his career, convert the penalty shot with a move that faked Mason out of the crease.
Los Angeles v San Jose 3-4 - The San Jose Sharks finally got their first chance to see how they measure up against the defending Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles Kings. They passed the test. Logan Couture scored two goals and Antti Niemi made 34 saves as the Sharks held off their Pacific Division rivals for a 4-3 victory at HP Pavilion on Thursday night. Brent Burns, a longtime defenseman playing his second straight game at forward, and rookie defenseman Matt Irwin each scored a goal for San Jose, which built a 4-1 lead and held on in the final minutes to snap a four-game losing streak. Todd McLellan became the winningest coach in Sharks history with his 207th victory, surpassing Ron Wilson. But he was more concerned with the two points, which gave the Sharks 30 for the season and lifted them from ninth place to seventh in the Western Conference playoff race. Dustin Brown scored two goals and Dwight King had one for the Kings, who lost back-to-back games for the first time since Feb. 10. Kings starting goaltender Jonathan Quick allowed three goals on just 12 shots before being pulled for backup Jonathan Bernier at 8:34 of the second period after the Sharks took a 3-0 lead on back-to-back power play goals by Irwin and Couture. The Sharks scored more than two goals in regulation for just the second time in their past 16 games. They entered the game averaging just 2.16 goals, 28th in the NHL. The Sharks and Kings will meet again Saturday in Los Angeles at Staples Center. That's when San Jose kicks off a five-game road trip and the Kings begin a five-game homestand. The Sharks took a 1-0 lead into the second period on Burns' first goal and quickly made it 3-0 with a pair of goals that came during a four-minute power play, the result of a fight stemming from Andrew Desjardins' big hit on Kings forward Colin Fraser behind the L.A. Net. Just seconds after Fraser hit the ice, Kings defenseman Jake Muzzin confronted Desjardins, igniting a long, spirited fight. Both players received fighting majors, but Muzzin got two minutes for being the instigator and two more for instigating while wearing a face shield, as well as a 10-minute misconduct.
"It looked like a great hit,"
Burns said. "When he does that for us it's huge. It obviously
changed the game. It was clean. It was a great hit. Obviously had a
big tilt after. Emotionally that's huge for a team to see a guy doing
that. It was a big swing."
"You are allowed to hit," Fraser
said. "It's the NHL, and I kind of put an onus on myself to
know he's coming, which obviously I didn't. I'll take a clean hit. If
it was the other way around I would have been trying hit him just as
hard."
Desjardins said he was just happy to "get the
guys going" with his hit."You try to obviously just lay
a clean hit, shoulder to shoulder. You’re obviously not trying to
take their head off or anything. When you see something like that you
want to try to make an impact with a physical play and make it
clean."
Clean hit or not, Muzzin sought immediate
retribution. "I'm not a fighter," Muzzin said. "I
didn't like seeing my teammate get hit like that, so I had to do
something about it. I tried my best. I had to look after a teammate.
A teammate is vulnerable like that, don't want them running around
thinking they can do that all the time."
Just 68 seconds into the power play, Irwin ripped
a shot from the left circle past Quick for his third goal of the
season, putting San Jose ahead 2-0 at 7:07 of the second. At 8:34,
Couture sent the puck to Joe
Thornton near the left circle, got it back at the point and
unloaded a long shot from the blue line that got past Quick, who was
screened by Patrick
Marleau. Couture's 11th goal of the season put the Sharks ahead
3-0 and ended Quick's night. The Kings sliced the Sharks' lead to 3-1
on Brown's power-play goal at 9:48, with Anze
Kopitar and Justin
Williams earning the assists. But just 27 seconds into the third
period, Burns intercepted an errant pass deep in Los Angeles' end to
start a quick 2-on-1 break. He zipped a pass to Couture, who beat
Bernier to his stick side for a 4-1 lead. That goal turned out to be
the winner when the Kings rallied. Brown cut the lead to 4-2 at 12:48
with his 11th goal of the season, sending a shot from the high slot
past Niemi. The Kings made it interesting when King put a rebound
past Niemi with 3:20 left to make it a one-goal game. Niemi survived
a furious onslaught in the final minute after Los Angeles pulled its
goalie, making a pair of key saves. The Kings outshot the Sharks 16-6
in the first period, but San Jose owned a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes
thanks to Burns' goal at 11:09. Burns, starting on the top line at
right wing with Thornton and Couture, scored a goal in his second
straight game and added an assist.
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