Gameday 62 (Thu, 21 Mar) - Results

Toronto v Buffalo 4-5 - Steve Ott's shootout goal proved to be the difference in a wild game between the Buffalo Sabres and Toronto Maple Leafs at a raucous First Niagara Center on Thursday. The goal by Ott in the top of the sixth round of the shootout lifted the Sabres over the Maple Leafs 5-4. Ott came in fast and slipped a backhand in past James Reimer's left pad. Ryan Miller then stopped Clarke MacArthur to secure the extra point. Toronto's Tyler Bozak faked a shot then wristed one over Miller's blocker in the bottom of the second round to put the Maple Leafs ahead. Drew Stafford kept Buffalo alive with a shot that trickled in off Reimer's glove. Nazem Kadri scored twice in regulation and added an assist, and Bozak and Mikhail Grabovski each had a goal for the Maple Leafs. Reimer stopped 32 shots. Kadri nearly put the Leafs ahead in the first round of the shootout, but Miller, sliding back into the net, managed to keep the puck out. Miller made 30 saves. Tyler Ennis, Marcus Foligno, Jason Pominville and Christian Ehrhoff scored in regulation for the Sabres, who battled back from a 3-1 deficit in the second period. Foligno and Ennis scored before intermission to make it 3-3, and Ehrhoff gave them a lead early in the third. Buffalo has won back-to-back games and has points in nine of its last 12. Ehrhoff had two assists to cap a three-point night, his third multipoint game of the season. The defenseman's rocket from the point 22 seconds into the third period put the Sabres ahead 4-3. Buffalo started the period on a power play, and on their first possession in Toronto's zone, Ennis carried the puck over the blue line and dropped it back to Cody Hodgson. He passed it backward one more time to Ehrhoff at the right point, where he leaned into a slap shot that beat Reimer. Toronto tied it 4-4 when Kadri scored his second of the game at 6:33. With the man advantage, Phil Kessel moved the puck to the right point where Cody Franson fired a shot on goal. Kadri deflected it past Miller as James van Riemsdyk drew two defenders in front of the net. Kadri has two goals and six assists in his past three games and leads Toronto with 33 points. Despite having collected just five points in their last seven games with a 1-3-3 record, the Maple Leafs are still optimistic about their play as they try to break a playoff drought that extends to 2004. The third period was filled with end-to-end rushes and breaks by both teams. Each goaltender had to come up with big stops to keep the game tied. With 3:34 left in regulation, Miller received help from his right post when van Riemsdyk cranked a shot off the pipe. Buffalo earned a power play with 1:17 to play in regulation when Kulemin was called for high sticking. Bozak stole the puck in his own end and was stopped by Miller on a 2-on-1 with 47.7 seconds left in the third, and Toronto was able to kill off the rest of penalty in overtime. The gloves came off early. Before a faceoff in the Buffalo zone 2:09 after the start, Maple Leafs forward Frazer McLaren poked at Sabres forward John Scott and the two went at it as soon as the puck hit the ice. Toronto's Colton Orr simultaneously charged after Buffalo's Patrick Kaleta and cross-checked him before the two traded punches. Orr was called for cross-checking, instigating and fighting, and received a 10-minute game misconduct that put the Sabres on a four-minute power play, though they were unable to capitalize. The game remained scrappy and fast-paced to the point where many players said it felt like a playoff game.

Montreal v NY Islanders 5-2 - The Montreal Canadiens are the latest team to take advantage of the New York Islanders' third-period woes. Brian Gionta broke a tie 48 seconds into the final period, P.K. Subban and Brendan Gallagher added insurance goals, and the Northeast Division-leading Canadiens defeated the Islanders 5-2 Thursday night at Nassau Coliseum. Gionta scored his 10th of the season and seventh in his past 11 games by deflecting a perfect shot/pass from David Desharnais behind Montreal native Kevin Poulin, who was playing in the Islanders net for the first time since Feb. 24. Subban scored his second of the night and Gallagher added his ninth of the season in a 33-second span midway through the third to put the game away for the Canadiens (20-5-5), who are 14-1-4 in their past 19 games. The lone regulation loss was 6-3 to the Islanders on March 5 in their previous trip to Long Island. The Islanders have allowed 45 goals in the third period of their 30 games this season, by far the most in the NHL. New York surrendered four goals in the third period of a 5-3 loss to the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday and blew a 3-0 lead in the final period at the Florida Panthers on Saturday before scoring the game-winner in a 4-3 victory. The Islanders have been outscored 10-1 in the third period of their past three games. New York has led or been tied in the third period in 24 of its 30 games but has lost 11 of those (13-8-3). Canadiens goalie Carey Price made 25 saves for his first victory in three games against the Islanders this season. Poulin, a rookie who gave starter Evgeni Nabokov the night off before the Pittsburgh Penguins come to Nassau Coliseum on Friday, stopped 24 shots. Lubomir Visnovsky also scored for the Islanders (13-14-3), who fell to 5-10-2 at home, 0-2-0 on their four-game homestand. New York remained in 11th place in the Eastern Conference, three points out of the last Stanley Cup Playoff spot. Montreal opened the scoring midway through the first period on the power play. With Mark Streit in the box for cross-checking, Michael Ryder moved to the top of the left circle and snapped a shot that went through a screen by Gionta and past Poulin at 9:36. It was Ryder's ninth of the season. The Canadiens nearly had another goal just over two minutes later, only to misfire on a 3-on-1 break, and the Islanders took advantage on the return rush. Tavares, whose line had been called out by Capuano after Tuesday's loss to Ottawa, led a 2-on-1 break. Tavares carried down the left side, was allowed to cut in front of the net and beat Price from just outside the crease at 12:06 for his team-high 18th of the season. New York went on top 6:38 into the second period. After a slick three-way passing play among Tavares and linemates Matt Moulson and Brad Boyes, the puck squirted loose just outside the crease. Visnovsky snuck in from the point and slammed home his third of the season and second in as many games. That 2-1 lead lasted only until New York's Michael Grabner was called for hooking at 9:26. Montreal controlled the puck for more than a minute before Subban took a pass from Tomas Plekanec and stepped into a straightaway slapper from just inside the blue line that went through the five-hole of Poulin.

Florida v NY Rangers 3-1 - Every time it looks like the New York Rangers are about to turn the corner, they turn into a wall instead and wind up flat on their backs. On Thursday night, that wall was the 30th-place Florida Panthers and 23-year-old rookie goaltender Jacob Markstrom. Brian Campbell and Scottie Upshall staked the Panthers to a two-goal lead, and Markstrom made it hold with 44 saves as Florida squeezed out a 3-1 victory against the Rangers at Madison Square Garden. The Rangers won back-to-back contests to start the week after losing three straight, but were unable to continue their winning ways against the NHL's last-place team. For the fifth time in six games, the Rangers were held to one goal or fewer, and goaltender Henrik Lundqvist was clearly frustrated about it after the game. It wasn't for a lack of trying that the Rangers' were held to one goal by Markstrom, who allowed Marian Gaborik's ninth goal of the season with 3:48 remaining that cut the lead to 2-1. The Rangers spent about half the game in the offensive zone and had 18 shots in the third period. They fired 77 shots toward goal, 44 hit the net, 24 were blocked and eight missed the net. The abundance of chances was the result of the Panthers' willingness to clog the neutral zone and set up a five-man barricade around their net after taking a 2-0 lead with more than 35 minutes left in the game. Gaborik scored his goal on a breakaway, but most of the Rangers' chances were from the perimeter. The Panthers took a lead they would not relinquish at 8:22 of the first period with Rangers defenseman Roman Hamrlik in the penalty box for high sticking. Campbell unleashed a slap shot from the top of the left circle that Lundqvist never saw, and it may not have mattered as the puck hit just under the crossbar in the top right corner of the net to make it 1-0. For the rest of the period, the Rangers were the aggressors. But it was their passive start that left them in a 1-0 hole, the 19thhtime that has happened in 30 games this season, that left defenseman Dan Girardi shaking his head. The Panthers will do a lot more winning down the stretch if Markstrom continues to play like the franchise goaltender they hope he will become. Among his best saves were two in the second period, he denied Gaborik at his doorstep and stretched to get a piece of a Jeff Halpern shot that seemed labeled for an open net. With more traffic in front of his net as third period progressed, Markstrom was able to use his 6-foot-6, 196-pound frame to see around bodies and control rebounds. He held the fort long enough to allow Tomas Kopecky to score a shorthanded empty-net goal from inside his blue line with 45.9 seconds remaining to ice it. The loss dropped the Rangers into ninth place in the Eastern Conference with 32 points. The Carolina Hurricanes sit in eighth with 32 points but have three more non-shootout wins, and the sixth-place Toronto Maple Leafs and seventh-place New Jersey Devils have 34 points. Following a stretch of good play with a loss against a team outside of the playoff picture is becoming a trend for the Rangers. In early February, they won three straight and four of five before losing 4-3 in a shootout to the New York Islanders, a team they beat 4-1 a week earlier. The Rangers won four of five to start March, then lost 3-1 at Buffalo and delivered such a poor performance that Tortorella shredded his team about its effort afterward. The loss Thursday to the Panthers came after beating the Hurricanes at home and Devils on the road on consecutive days. The Rangers will host the Washington Capitals on Sunday, leaving them two days to lament their effort and perhaps work on their special teams, something Lundqvist said needs to improve if the Rangers want to make the playoffs. They are 0-for-12 on the power play in their past six games and have allowed a power-play goal in four of their past five contests. Winning the specials teams battle, says Lundqvist, is a must if the team isn't going to put the puck in the net.

New Jersey v Carolina 4-1 - In the big picture of this 48-game season, the New Jersey Devils needed their 4-1 win against the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday night. But never mind that the two points pushed them over the eighth-place playoff line in the Eastern Conference. On a night when the Devils snapped a three-game skid, they were celebrating goaltender Martin Brodeur for any number of reasons: for coming back strong from an injury, for saving the team in a fast-and-furious first period, but most of all, for scoring a goal. In the midst of a scoreless first period, the Devils took a delayed penalty. When New Jersey defenseman Marek Zidlicky was whistled for hooking, Carolina goaltender Dan Ellis headed to the bench for the extra attacker. In the meantime, Brodeur swept Patrick Dwyer's shot to the corner, where it was retrieved by Carolina's Jordan Staal. But Staal's diagonal pass to Tim Gleason at the left point careened off the boards and all the way into the opposite net. With Hurricanes forward Alex Semin already in the box, Brodeur earned a power-play goal as the last New Jersey player to touch the puck. And there was a degree of absurdity about all of it as the game wore on: Until Jeff Skinner broke up the shutout with 8:33 remaining, everyone thought Brodeur might have another feather in his cap. As with most goals own-goals, there was some confusion trying to sort everything out. There also were conventional goals. With the Devils shutting down the Hurricanes in the second period, Henrique knocked in a rebound at 12:52. Peter Harrold followed his own shot 48 seconds later with a backhander that beat Ellis. Andrei Loktionov scored from the slot with 3:06 left in the third. Taking a 3-0 lead into the third period, the Devils had the game in hand, in part because they limited the Hurricanes to three shots in the second period. As amused as the Devils were after their convincing win, the mood was grim in the other locker room. The Hurricanes have lost five in a row (0-4-1), outscored 17-6 over that stretch. Muller was referring, in part, to the Hurricanes' lack of scoring punch outside of the top line of Jiri Tlusty-Eric Staal-Alex Semin. Muller has said many times he is waiting for contributions from some of his depth players. His patience is beginning to wear thin. For all the tension generated by the Hurricanes' loss, the Devils were basking in glow of a win, and a little bit of levity, the kind of moment that takes the pressure off during a Stanley Cup Playoff chase. If there was an intersection Tuesday night where Brodeur's greatness crossed with his simple turn of fortune, Kovalchuk found a way to say it simply.

Boston v Ottawa 2-1 - The Boston Bruins continue to frustrate and dominate the Ottawa Senators in their own building. Dennis Seidenberg's shot from the right point beat Robin Lehner with 64 seconds left in the third period, as the Bruins beat the Senators 2-1 on Thursday night for their 11th consecutive victory at Scotiabank Place. The Senators haven't beaten Boston on their own ice since a 3-2 victory on April 7, 2009. The win put an end to the Bruins' three-game road skid and handed Ottawa (19-7-3) just its second regulation loss of the season at home. Daniel Paille also scored for the Bruins, while Kaspars Daugavins had the lone goal for the Senators. Anton Khudobin, in his second career start against Ottawa, made 27 saves. Lehner also turned away 27 shots in the loss. Seidenberg scored his first of the season on a seeing-eye one-timer from the right point. Patrice Bergeron won an offensive-zone draw back to Zdeno Chara, who slipped the puck to Seidenberg. His shot went past a maze of bodies and zipped behind Lehner, who never saw it. The Senators were forced to go without Sergei Gonchar for the last 10 minutes of the game, after he left the ice and did not return. The Senators, bogged down with myriad of injured players, are already down two major parts in defense in Erik Karlsson (Achilles) and Marc Methot (knee). The early minutes of the first period were dominated by neutral zone play, but the game began to take a physical turn near the middle of the period as Chris Neil leveled Gregory Campbell behind the Ottawa net and drove Aaron Johnson into the corner boards on the same shift. Ottawa's best chances came in the dying seconds of the first, after Khudobin was forced to stop a flurry of shots. Kyle Turris' backhander from down low rebounded out to Jakob Silfverberg, who took a wrister that was stopped by the left pad of the Bruins' goaltender. The puck then went out to the half-wall, where Silfverberg regained control and skated to the left corner. He fed Patrick Wiercioch, who took a point-blank wrist shot that deflected off of Khudobin's shoulder. The Senators grabbed the lead early in the second period. Mika Zibanejad drove into the Boston zone and passed off to Daugavins, who sent a high wrister into the top right corner at 4:55. Gonchar picked up the second assist on the goal, giving him assists in a franchise-record nine consecutive games. That broke a tie with Filip Kuba, who had an eight-game assist streak in October 2008. Ottawa nearly scored again halfway through the period when Zibanejad's backhand shot from the low slot was bobbled by Khudobin. As the puck popped into the air, he snatched it with his glove at the last instant. Boston got even with 1:22 left in the period after Johnny Boychuk's long lead pass was picked up by Paille at the Ottawa blue line. Paille deked and sent a wrister past the glove of Lehner for his sixth goal of the season. Prior to loss Thursday night, the Senators had garnered at least one point in 13 of their past 15 games.

Washington v Winnipeg 4-0 - The Winnipeg Jets saw this rare two-game home series with the Washington Capitals as a chance to deliver a statement and a near-fatal blow to a club that dashed their postseason hopes a year earlier. Instead, the Capitals and goaltender Braden Holtby marched into MTS Centre and shut out the Jets for the second time this month, taking a 4-0 decision Thursday. The teams meet again Friday here, where the Jets have seven wins in 15 games. The two-game get-together presented the Jets a prime opportunity to effectively close out the Capitals' fading Stanley Cup Playoff hopes. Fresh off a 3-1 home win against the Boston Bruins two nights earlier, Winnipeg had fashioned a 6-1-1 run that pushed them into the heart of the Eastern Conference race. Washington began the evening seven points out of a playoff spot, nine points behind the Southeast Division leaders. The Capitals used goals from Troy Brouwer and Marcus Johansson in the opening 16:22 to establish a 2-0 lead they carried over the remaining two periods until Alex Ovechkin's late team-leading 13th goal that put him atop the League with nine power-play tallies. Nicklas Backstrom poured on another goal with 1:38 left. Winnipeg, whose 20 shots were a season low, benefitted from the Carolina Hurricanes' 4-1 home loss to the New Jersey Devils that left the Hurricanes stranded two points behind the Jets for first place in the Southeast. Washington closed to within five points of Carolina. Washington regained the services of defenseman Mike Green, who missed 10 games with a groin injury. Green’s returned followed Brook’s Laich season debut Tuesday night in a 2-1 loss at the Pittsburgh Penguins. Holtby (20 saves) returned to MTS Centre and blanked the Jets here for the second time this month, his fourth shutout this season. Holtby, whose third-period stop on Antti Miettinen's in-close opportunity denied a struggling Winnipeg attack its best chance, shut out the Jets on 35 shots March 2. Washington’s 20 shots against are a season-low, and the Capitals are the only team to shut out the Jets this season. The Capitals' 29th-ranked penalty kill escaped three third-period Winnipeg power-play opportunities. Winnipeg netminder Ondrej Pavelec stopped 21 shots but fell into an early 2-0 hole. The Capitals struck 3:06 into the opening period when Brouwer, Laich and Mike Ribeiro manhandled the Winnipeg defense behind Pavelec's net and forced a pass into the left circle. Brouwer snapped his 11th goal through Pavelec's pads. Washington expanded its lead late in the first period when Winnipeg defenseman Dustin Byfuglien wheeled a pass along the end boards that Evander Kane fumbled along the right boards. Ovechkin grabbed the loose puck, faked a shot, then fed Johansson, who tipped the puck past Pavelec at 16:22. Winnipeg managed to begin the second with more energy, but Washington gradually slowed a Jets attack that produced four shots in the period. A Pavelec minor penalty late in the third period stalled a Winnipeg power play and ended any chance of a comeback. Ovechkin took Backstrom's right-corner feed to the far circle and one-timed a shot that beat the goalie with 5:54 remaining. Backstrom fired a late shot from the high slot for his fourth goal.

Calgary v Nashville 3-5 - Nashville Predators coach Barry Trotz said he had a conversation with center Mike Fisher during one of the team's many flights on its recent five-game road trip about why Fisher has begun scoring so much. He said Fisher wasn't going to the net. Trotz said he wasn't sure if it was a lack of focus from the lockout or all of the shinny that players played during it. Trotz's solution was to station Fisher in front of the net on the power play. The gambit seems to have worked, as Trotz has noticed Fisher's increased confidence. Fisher scored twice more on Thursday, giving him five goals in his last five games and helping the Predators snap a four-game losing streak with a 5-3 win against Calgary, extending the Flames' road losing streak to eight games. Nashville was playing its first home game after a disastrous road trip in which the Predators went 1-4-0 and allowed 20 goals in the four losses. They made a few lineup changes on Thursday, sitting out forward Craig Smith for the first time this season while reinserting forward Sergei Kostitsyn and reuniting him with Fisher and Martin Erat on what has been the Predators' top line for three seasons. It worked, as Fisher scored twice at even strength, Erat added a goal and an assist and the trio was a combined plus-5. Nashville improved to 7-2-4 at Bridgestone Arena; it's 5-11-2 on the road. Nashville's 18 road games were the most in the League at the start of the day. The win pulled Nashville within two points of the eighth in the Western Conference. Calgary, which scored two of its goals while shorthanded, has not won a road game since Feb. 17 at Dallas. The Flames are 0-7-1 in their last eight away from Scotiabank Saddledome and are tied with Colorado for the fewest points in the Western Conference (26). Among the most egregious turnovers that the Flames committed led to Fisher's first goal, which allowed the Predators to tie the game going into first intermission. Calgary's Chris Butler had possession of the puck in the corner but attempted to reverse it behind his net. Erat stole the pass and fed a wide-open Fisher, who fired home a wrist shot at 18:09. Nashville took command in the second period. Predators defenseman Roman Josi skated down the right side and threaded a backhand pass through four players, leaving a wide-open net for Fisher to slam it in. Exactly one minute later, Nick Spaling redirected Victor Bartley's shot-pass into the net for the first point of Bartley's NHL career. Bartley and Kevin Klein each finished a game-best plus-3. In the first period, the Predators continued to battle a penchant for yielding shorthanded goals. They surrendered two in the first period, the first time in franchise history they had given up more than one in a period, making it three shorthanded goals allowed in three games. Still, they managed to come away tied 2-2 at first intermission. Mark Giordano scored the first of those shorthanded goals at 5:01 with T.J. Brodie in the penalty box for hooking. Josi had trouble handling a puck at the point and Lee Stempniak gained possession, making it a 1-on-1. Giordano joined the play, turning it into an odd-man-rush, and beat Pekka Rinne with a slap shot high to the glove side. After Mikael Backlund was assessed a double minor for high-sticking Ryan Ellis, Nashville tied the game at 1-1 when Erat scored his first goal since Feb. 5 by deflecting Josi's point shot at 11:36. But after Calgary then regained the lead after another odd-man rush, this time a 3-on-2. Giordano set up Blake Comeau for a 12-foot snap shot at 13:05. Despite earning two power plays in the first 11:30 of the third period, the Flames managed only two shots on net during that stretch. Calgary also had an apparent goal by Backlund waived off with 5:24 left in regulation, as the officials ruled Alex Tanguay was in the crease. Brandon Yip made it 5-2 with 4:06 left in regulation, completing a 2-on-1 from Kevin Klein. Jarome Iginla scored a 6-on-4 power-play goal with 60 seconds left and Miikka Kiprusoff on the bench for an extra attacker. Calgary will try to end its road woes on Friday at Columbus; the Blue Jackets are 7-0-4 in their past 11 games.

Vancouver v Phoenix 2-1 - When Andrew Gordon arrived in Arizona from the American Hockey League's Chicago Wolves late Thursday morning, he saw plenty of familiar faces in a Vancouver dressing room made over thanks to a rash of injuries to Canucks forwards. So does winning. And it was another of the recent call-ups, winger Jordan Schroeder, who made the difference for Vancouver, knocking in a loose puck in the crease with 10:07 left in regulation to give the Canucks a 2-1 win against the reeling Phoenix Coyotes. With five forwards out of the lineup, Zack Kassian and Chris Higgins were the latest to go down, both with back problems, the Canucks called up Gordon and shifted defenseman Keith Ballard up to a wing on a line with Andrew Ebbett and Dale Weise. The makeshift lineup had just enough to hand the Coyotes their sixth straight loss (0-5-1) as Phoenix slid deeper out of a Western Conference playoff spot, they are two points behind eighth-place San Jose but have played two more games. Phoenix's Jason LaBarbera, playing the third period after starter Mike Smith was wiped out by Alexander Edler's hit late in the second, lost Edler's shot from the point when it was deflected downward by Vancouver's Jannik Hansen. The puck rolled between the goaltender's skates as he was standing up, and he turned just in time to see Schroeder backhand his third goal of the season into a wide-open net. Cory Schneider made 33 saves, including big ones on Keith Yandle and Lauri Korpikoski in the third period to preserve the lead and notch his eighth win of the season. The Canucks are now 4-0-3 in their last seven trips to Arizona, and there was plenty of blue and green in the sellout crowd of 17,220 at Jobing.com Arena. The Coyotes have failed to score a goal in the first two periods of all five of their losses and held a 25-minute, players-only meeting after the game. Smith, who was still being evaluated by doctors, was unavailable for comment by captain Shane Doan spoke for the team. Chris Tanev scored his second goal of the season in the first period for Vancouver and Antoine Vermette tied it for Phoenix 2:26 into the third. But that was it for the Coyotes, who have scored just three goals during their five-game slide, all of them in the third period. Phoenix outhit the Canucks 24-4 in the first period, but the Canucks played a strong period and scored the only goal. Mason Raymond hit Tanev with a pass at the top of the circles and Taney beat Smith high to the stick side at 6:32. The second period was scoreless but began and ended with big hits on the Phoenix goalie. First Daniel Sedin crashed the Coyotes net, leaving Smith sprawled on the ice and Sedin with blood gushing from his nose. Then at 18:17, with Smith playing the puck behind his net, Edler steamed in and caught Smith in the head with an elbow, drawing a five-minute major for charging. Smith finished the period but was unable to return for the third. Martin Hanzal shaved two minutes off the long power play with a retaliatory roughing call and Doan was called for hooking in the attacking zone to cut the power play time to 1:51 early in the third. But that was enough time for the Coyotes to tie it. Radim Vrbata whacked a slap shot that beat Schneider but hit the crossbar. With Schneider down and out, the puck landed at the right post and Vermette stuffed it home. Vermette's seventh goal of the season snapped an 0-for-13 power-play drought for the Coyotes and was only their sixth in their last 47 tries with the man advantage. Vermette has 16 points in 20 career games against the Canucks. That was it until Schroeder found his present sitting behind LaBarbera.

Dallas v Los Angeles 2-0 - Kari Lehtonen and the old men parted the black-and-white sea again for the Dallas Stars. Dallas got goals from forty-somethings Jaromir Jagr and Ray Whitney in a span of 4:22 in the third period to back Lehtonen's flawless goaltending as the Stars beat the Los Angeles Kings 2-0 on Thursday night. Dallas won 5-2 at Staples Center two weeks earlier and has handed L.A. two of its three regulation home losses this season. This one came on the second night of a back-to-back in which the Stars were outplayed for much of the game but buoyed by Lehtonen's 40 saves. Jagr, 41, wheeled past Anze Kopitar and backhanded a shot off that hit Kings defenseman Drew Doughty in the back and went and past Jonathan Quick at 6:34 for the game's first goal. Whitney, 40, one-timed Alex Goligoski's pass from the lower left circle to complete a 3-on-2 rush at 10:56. Dallas won despite seeing its power-play slump reach 1-for-22 and being outshot, 40-21. Jagr's 677th career goal came after a potentially deflating swing in the game for Dallas. The Stars hardly saw the puck in the second period and squandered a power play early in the third after Doughty was called for interfering with Derek Roy. But with Lehtonen holding his ground against Quick, Dallas eventually broke through. Dallas was 2-15-2 in the second of back-to-back games dating to last season. L.A. had outscored the opposition 52-30 at home coming into the game. The top line of Kopitar, Dustin Brown and Justin Williams was on the ice for both Dallas goals. Jamie Benn got the puck free from Kopitar along the boards to start the rush on Jagr's goal. It only seemed as if the entire second period was played in the Stars' end because the Kings outshot Dallas 15-3 before Quick was put to work with saves on Cody Eakin and Brenden Morrow. Lehtonen kept the game scoreless with 30 stops through 40 minutes. Brown's shot hit Williams and trickled wide. Jeff Carter missed from the high slot and Dwight King was stopped in front. If Los Angeles was kicking itself it might have been because it put only three shots on goal in two power plays and went into the first intermission scoreless despite a 12-5 edge in shots. The best scoring chance might have been Colin Fraser's shorthanded attempt after Kyle Clifford wrested the puck from Jagr. As expected, the Kings scratched rookie Tyler Toffoli and inserted Jordan Nolan as Dustin Penner rejoined Carter and Mike Richards on the second line.