Some temporary line changes and a commitment to
working hard at both ends of the rink paid off in a triumphant
homecoming for the Boston
Bruins on Monday. Coming off a 1-3-0 road trip, the Bruins
juggled all four of their forward lines for the first two periods and
earned a split of a home-and-home series with the Toronto
Maple Leafs by rallying from 2-0 down en route to a 3-2 shootout
victory at TD Garden. Tyler
Seguin and Patrice
Bergeron scored Boston’s shootout goals, while Tuukka
Rask stopped two of three shooters. Rask finished with 23 saves
in regulation and overtime. The Bruins lost 3-2 at Toronto on
Saturday after they failed to complete a comeback from a 3-0 deficit.
Julien noted that he’s a little concerned about potential fatigue.
He cancelled the team’s morning skate Monday and cancelled
Tuesday’s practice after the win. The new line combinations didn’t
wake up the Bruins’ offense (six goals in their prior four games)
until the second period. Milan
Lucic’s new line featured Rich
Peverley at center and Jordan
Caron on the opposite wing. In the second period, Lucic brought
the Bruins to within 2-1 down with 10:11 remaining in the period as
he scored his first goal in 16 games off a feed by Peverley. In the
third period, Lucic was back with Nathan
Horton and David
Krejci, while Bergeron was back centering Brad
Marchand and Seguin. The return to normalcy kept the Bruins
rolling in the right direction, as Bergeron’s goal with 10:36
elapsed in the third period tied the game at 2. Dougie
Hamilton actually went on the forecheck and created a turnover
below the goal line before he passed to an open Bergeron in the slot.
The Maple Leafs, trying to make the playoffs for the first time since
2004, hadn’t beaten the Bruins in eight tries prior to Saturday. So
earning three of a possible four points from their Northeast Division
rivals was another sign of a promising future for the Leafs. One
positive was the return of Joffrey
Lupul. The forward returned from a two-game suspension and made
his presence felt just 2:04 into the second period after the both
teams failed to score in the first. Lupul was wide open on the goal
line to the left of Rask for a one-timer after a feed from Jake
Gardiner on the power play. Gardiner sold the shot to the Bruins’
penalty killers before making the slap pass. Toronto doubled its lead
on a Nikolai
Kulemin breakaway. After Nazem
Kadri, the NHL Third Star last week, blocked Aaron
Johnson’s slap shot, the Toronto center fed the puck ahead to
Kulemin, who dragged the puck to his forehand and roofed the puck at
8:01 for a 2-0 lead. The Bruins, who outshot the Leafs for the second
straight game, might not have been at their best but they played
better in all facets than on their recent road trip.
New Jersey v Ottawa 2-3 - The Ottawa
Senators have the New
Jersey Devils' number in the shootout this season. The Senators
beat the Devils 3-2 on Monday night at Scotiabank Place, giving them
back-to-back shootout wins against New Jersey. Mika
Zibanejad went high on Martin
Brodeur for his first career NHL shootout goal and Daniel
Alfredsson, after being held scoreless in his first six attempts
this season, had his first shootout goal in the win. The victory now
gives Ottawa (18-9-6) at least one point in eight out of its past
nine games. Brodeur made 12 stops in regulation, while Ben
Bishop made 32 saves for the Sens. It was the 14th consecutive
game where the Devils (15-11-7) outshot their opponent. Bishop is now
4-0 in the shootout this season. The Sens' goaltender was rendered
speechless for a moment as he tried to think of a reason for his
success. Phillips and Colin
Greening scored for Ottawa, while Andrei
Loktionov and Marek
Zidlicky had the goals for New Jersey. Ottawa struck early in the
first, when Mike
Lundin passed across the blue line to Phillips, who sent a rocket
past the stick side of Brodeur for his fifth of the season at 2:12.
The Sens nearly made the score 2-0 at 11:26, when Jakob
Silfverberg fed a cross-ice pass to a wide open Kyle
Turris, who was streaking down the left side. Turris' snap shot
hit the post on Brodeur's glove side. The puck bounced back, hit
Brodeur and hit the same post again. The flurry caused New Jersey
coach Pete DeBoer to call a timeout to regroup his squad. The Devils
would get a quality opportunity in the opening minutes of the second
period. Adam
Henrique came down the right wing on an odd-man rush and shot a
wrister on the Ottawa net. Bishop made the pad save, but the rebound
went to Loktionov, who shot and hit the crossbar. After dominating
the Sens through the majority of the period, Loktionov would
capitalize for the Devils, tying the game 1-1. After regaining
control of his rebound, Steve
Bernier passed the puck across the goal mouth to a wide-open
Loktionov. Bishop was caught far out of position, allowing the
Devils' center to put the puck high into the Sens' net at 4:47. But
the Sens weren't finished. With 16.9 seconds left, Turris' wrist shot
from the high slot was initially saved by Brodeur. Greening was
skating to the net, scooped up the rebound and put it five-hole for
his fifth of the season. The Devils responded early in the third when
they caught the Senators on a line change. David Dziurzynski was
unable to catch Zidlicky, who skated across the zone and sent a wrist
shot past Bishop at 6:05. New Jersey's Bryce
Salvador (lower body) and Stephen
Gionta (upper body) both left at the end of the first period and
did not return. There was no update on the status of either player.
With 1:22 left in the third, Erik
Condra to a puck to the mouth and immediately left the ice. After
repairs, Condra returned to the bench before the end of the shootout.
With only 14 shots on goal, the game on Monday marked the lowest
shooting total for the Sens this season.
Los Angeles v Chicago 5-4 - It was exactly what the Los
Angeles Kings needed coming off two straight shutout losses. Not
only did the defending Stanley Cup champions beat the Chicago
Blackhawks 5-4 at United Center on Monday, but they did it by
shattering a lengthy scoring drought and coming back from one-goal
deficits three times. Tyler
Toffoli and Dustin
Brown were responsible for the final comeback effort, combining
to score a pair of third-period goals that pushed Los Angeles back in
front for good after Blackhawks captain Jonathan
Toews put Chicago up 4-3 early in the third. Toffoli tied it 4-4
about five minutes after Toews scored and Brown potted a rebound of
Anze Kopitar's
shot into a wide opening of the net with just 1:27 left in the game
for the clincher. Kings goalie Jonathan
Quick (21 saves) made sure it did. Despite allowing four goals,
Quick was great when he had to be, coming up with three big stops
after Brown's goal, with the Blackhawks' net empty, to preserve the
victory. Jarret
Stoll and Dwight
King also scored for Los Angeles (18-12-2), which heads to
Washington, D.C. for a White House visit on Tuesday before flying to
St. Louis for the next leg of a five-game road trip. Michael
Frolik, playing right wing on the top line for Chicago in place
of injured Marian
Hossa, scored two goals and set up the goal by Toews. Patrick
Kane also scored his team-high 17th marker for the Blackhawks
(24-4-3), who dropped their second game in a row. Chicago coach Joel
Quenneville found himself with a rare moment to be critical of his
team afterward, which was actually the second game in a row that's
been the case. The Hawks also blew a late one-goal lead in Anaheim on
the last game of their road trip last week to lose that game. Despite
scoring four times, the Blackhawks went 0-for-4 on the power play,
including a four-minute advantage in the first period that resulted
in just two shots on goal. They also allowed a shorthanded goal by
Stoll and forced goalie Corey
Crawford (31 saves) to make a big save on a different shorthanded
breakaway by Brown. Things started well for Chicago, as Frolik put
the Blackhawks up 1-0 just 5:55 into the game with his second goal of
the season. It was also his second goal of the year against the
Kings, whom he scored against in a season-opening 5-2 win at Staples
Center. After Toews won a faceoff in the Kings zone, the puck went
back to Duncan
Keith, who worked it along the boards to Brandon
Saad at the top of the left circle. Saad slid a crisp pass to
Frolik in the slot, which he quickly snapped low and hard between
Quick's pads. Crawford, meanwhile, stopped all seven shots the Kings
put on net in the first, which meant the seventh straight period in a
row without a Los Angeles goal. The drought ended at 4:21 of the
second on Kopitar's goal. The Kings' leading scorer collected the
puck just inside the Chicago blue line after an attempt to chip it
into the zone hit a linesman. He then walked right to the slot before
firing a hard wrister into the top right corner of the net for his
10th goal. Stoll then put Los Angeles up 2-1 with his shorthanded
marker 3:04 later, after the Blackhawks turned it over in the Kings
zone to create an odd-man rush. After carrying the puck into the
right circle, Stoll beat Crawford to the glove side with a wrister
and just like that the Kings were rolling. Frolik's second of the
game stole some of the momentum back before Kane's tally at 19:19 of
the second made it 3-2 Blackhawks. Once again, Los Angeles had an
answer. This time it was King, who was credited with a goal off a
rebound of Drew
Doughty's shot that tied it 3-3 after deflecting off his skate
blade and eluding Crawford with just 0.5 left on the clock. It was
reviewed in Toronto and upheld. Toews, however, quickly put Chicago
up 4-3 just 3:51 into the third with his fifth goal in the last four
games to give him a four-game goal streak. Frolik again was pivotal
by blasting a slap shot from the high slot that hit Toews in front
and dropped the puck to his feet. The Blackhawks captain swatted it
past the sprawled Quick for his 16th goal, but Toffoli's blast
through traffic tied it up yet again, 4-4, at 8:06, setting up
another nail-biting finish in the Windy City.
Edmonton v Nashville 2-3 - Eight days ago, Nashville
Predators left wing Sergei
Kostitsyn suffered through a nightmarish game against the
Edmonton Oilers.
On Monday, Kostitsyn picked up a goal, his first since Feb. 14, a
span of 14 games, and an assist against the very same Oilers in
Nashville's 3-2 win at Bridgestone Arena. On March 17 in Edmonton,
Kostitsyn became the subject of ridicule across North America for
giving up on a play and going for a line change. The decision led to
a 2-on-1 for Edmonton and turned into a shorthanded, go-ahead goal in
the third period as the Oilers prevailed, 3-2. Predators coach Barry
Trotz scratched Kostitsyn in the next game, one day before the
player's 26th birthday, to hold him accountable. Since then,
Kostitsyn, who led Nashville in goals and points in 2010-11, has gone
a total of plus-3 in three games, finishing even or better in each.
In fact, life has improved enough for the Belarusian, who struggles
at times with his English, to joke about his misfortune. Just like
his joke, his assist showed perfect timing. Taking advantage of an
Edmonton breakdow, he held the puck with poise in the Oilers' zone,
then found streaking defenseman Kevin
Klein wide open for an easy tap in at 4:31 of the second period.
In the first period, Kostitsyn tied the game at 1-1 at 11:51. Mike
Fisher dug the puck out of the corner and delivered a flawless
saucer pass into the goalmouth, where Kostitsyn slammed it past
Oilers goalie Devan
Dubnyk. Fisher has a seven-game points streak (eight points in
total). Martin
Erat had the secondary assist on that goal, his first of two on
the night, giving him six points in his last three games. The win was
Nashville's third in a row, as the Predators continue to dominate at
home, improving to 9-2-4. Earlier in the period, Edmonton capitalized
on Patric
Hornqvist's goaltender interference penalty at 7:42 of the first
period to earn the game's first goal. Oilers center Shawn
Horcoff screened Nashville goalie Pekka
Rinne as Corey
Potter's slap shot from the point was redirected by Taylor
Hall into the net 11 seconds after the call. Nashville made it
3-1 at 11:33 of the second when Chris
Mueller, sent in in alone by Brandon
Yip, ripped a wrist shot high over Dubnyk (23 saves). In that
second period, Edmonton center Eric
Belanger suffered a groin injury period and did not return.
Edmonton cut the lead to 3-2 at 7:03 of the third period when a puck
went off Horcoff's skate and trickled through Rinne, who made 24
saves to earn his 13th win. In the final minute, as Edmonton pulled
Dubynk for an extra attacker, Kostitsyn was among the players that
Trotz put on the ice to seal the victory.
Minnesota v Dallas 7-4 - The Minnesota
Wild have waited a long time to win at American Airlines Center,
over 10 years to be exact. On Monday, they got two goals and an
assist from Zach
Parise in a 7-4 win against the Dallas
Stars, as the Wild earned their first victory in Dallas since
March 21, 2003, a span of 16 games. Minnesota had not won in
regulation in Dallas since March 8, 2002. Cal
Clutterbuck, Matt
Cullen and Mikko
Koivu each had two points for the Wild, who won their sixth
straight game behind a 22-save performance from Niklas
Backstrom. Dallas had led 2-1 after the first period, but trailed
4-2 at the second intermission. Alex
Goligoski gave Dallas the lead with his first of the season 5:31
into the opening period as he beat Backstrom with a 33-foot wrister
from the slot. Derek
Roy fed Goligoski, who is tied for the Stars' team lead with 16
assists, after stealing the puck from the Wild's Ryan
Suter behind the Minnesota net. Minnesota got a scare at 6:42 of
the opening period when Clutterbuck had to be helped off the ice
after crashing violently into the Dallas net with an apparent right
leg injury. However, in somewhat amazing fashion, Clutterbuck
returned to the ice early in the second and finished the game with
two assists. However, the Wild's spirits lifted a bit at 7:35, when
Parise slid in his own rebound for his 13th of the season. Stars
goaltender Kari
Lehtonen had twice denied Minnesota wing Devin
Setoguchi at close range, but Parise knocked the rebound off
Setoguchi's second shot of the sequence out of the air. His attempt
struck the crossbar and landed behind Lehtonen, but Parise got his
stick in there to push the puck over the line to make it a 1-1
contest. Dallas' Eric
Nystrom was tripped by the Wild's Jonas
Brodin at 17:27, setting up the game's first power play. And the
Stars needed just 20 seconds to convert, regaining the lead at 17:47
when Jaromir
Jagr scored his team-leading 14th goal from the edge of the right
faceoff circle. After Ray
Whitney's blast was denied by Backstrom, Loui
Eriksson slipped the puck over to Jagr and he knocked it into the
open net to make it 2-1. The Wild lasted little time tying the game
for a second time early in the second when Koivu beat Lehtonen
through the five-hole with a 27-foot wrister from the slot at 3:42.
Parise picked up his second point of the night with the primary
assist on Koivu's eighth of the year. At 7:42 of the second, Parise
made a strong bid to put Minnesota ahead for the first time as he
tried to knock a rebound in after Lehtonen had made a pad save on a
shot by Koivu. However, the goal was nullified when replays showed
that Parise had pushed Lehtonen into the net. However, the Wild did
equalize at 9:33 and again it was Parise finding the back of the net
for a 14th time this season and second time in the game. After Koivu
won a faceoff with Dallas' Vernon
Fiddler, who appeared to injure his hand on the draw, Koivu sent
a puck toward the Stars' net that deflected off Lehtonen's right pad
before landing at the skates of Parise who was just inside the right
faceoff circle. Parise quickly buried a 13-foot wrister into the
empty net to make it a 3-3 affair. Minnesota then took its first lead
of the night at 14:22 of the second when Cullen netted his fifth of
the season, flipping a wrister into the far side of the Dallas net
after a long-range blast by Pierre-Marc
Bouchard deflected off Jared
Spurgeon. Cullen corralled the carom and quickly finished from
the right side. But Dallas wasn't quite finished, getting a third
goal from a defenseman at 7:02 of the third to tie the game yet again
at 4-4. Philip
Larsen's 24-foot wrister from the slot struck Backstrom on his
glove side before trickling over the line, his second of the season.
The play started when the Wild forward Mike
Rupp lost possession in the neutral zone. Tomas
Vincour then tapped the puck to Reilly
Smith, who fed a streaking Larsen for the goal. However, the
Stars got a four-minute power play when Rupp was issued a
double-minor after high sticking Whitney on the near side of the
boards. But just 20 seconds into the power play, the Wild went ahead
5-4 when Kyle
Brodziak scored his sixth of the year with Minnesota shorthanded.
Clutterbuck had the initial shot from the left faceoff circle, which
Lehtonen made a glove save on. But Brodziak crashed the net and
tapped in the rebound despite failing to strike the puck cleanly.
Minnesota added late goals by Dany
Heatley, who netted his ninth with a backhand with 1:28 left.
Lehtonen headed to the bench with 1:28 left and an empty-netter by
Bouchard with 16 seconds left made it a 7-4 final. Dallas got a pair
of assists from Eriksson in the loss and Lehtonen made 35 saves in
his 12th straight start for the Stars.
Detroit v Phoenix 3-2 - While the Detroit
Red Wings are finding their stride and sharpening their
special-teams play for the stretch drive, the Phoenix
Coyotes are fading from the Western Conference playoff picture
and searching for answers. And when Pavel
Datsyuk is in the vicinity, all the Coyotes seem to locate is
trouble. Datsyuk helped set up Johan
Franzen's power-play goal late in the second period and scored
the game-winner on the power play 6:12 into the third, as the Red
Wings rallied from a 2-1 deficit Monday for a 3-2 victory, sending
the reeling Coyotes to their sixth straight loss. Datsyuk, who
collected his 500th NHL point in Anaheim on Friday, continues to
haunt the Coyotes. He now has 14 goals and 57 points in 39 career
games against Phoenix, the most he has collected against any team
outside the Central Division. The Red Wings have now won five
straight on the road and three in the last four days, following up a
two-game sweep of the Ducks in Anaheim with another victory. Ian
White also scored for Detroit. After going six games in a row
without a power-play goal, Detroit now has at least one in eight
straight games, going 5-2-1 and solidifying its playoff position. The
Coyotes had a golden chance to tie the game with 4:12 left in
regulation when Lauri
Korpikoski was awarded his first career penalty shot after being
taken down from behind by Detroit's Jakub
Kindl on a shorthanded breakaway. But Detroit goalie Jonas
Gustavsson stopped Korpikoski with a glove save to preserve the
lead and the Red Wings' win. Martin
Hanzal and Rob
Klinkhammer scored first-period goals for the Coyotes, who are
0-5-1 in their last six games, their longest losing streak in coach
Dave Tippett's four-year tenure, and fell four points behind San Jose
for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
Tippett pointed to the game-winning goal, when Henrik
Zetterberg's pass across the crease from behind the net deflected
off Coyote David
Schlemko's skate a right to Datsyuk, as an example of the black
cloud that is following his team. The power play was set up by a
bench minor penalty that was also a bad-luck scenario. Jason
LaBarbera, subbing for the injured Mike
Smith, made 32 saves in a losing effort and played well, but
Franzen's goal with 38.6 seconds left in the second period, set up by
Datsyuk and Niklas
Kronwall, took the wind out of the Coyotes. Phoenix fell behind
for the sixth straight game when White let a shot go through traffic
and beat LaBarbera to the blocker side at 4:01. But the goal seemed
to light a fire under the Coyotes. After a blast from the point by
Phoenix defenseman Michael
Stone ping-ponged off both posts, Radim
Vrbata's power-play shot from the half wall found Hanzal just
outside the crease, and he re-directed the puck by Gustavsson at 7:56
for his seventh goal in the last seven regular season games against
Detroit. It was Phoenix's first first-period goal since a March 12
win against the Kings, but they weren't done. Gustavsson stopped a
Keith Yandle
bomb from the point and a David
Moss rebound, but was down and out when Klinkhammer roofed his
third goal in seven games as a Coyote at 12:17. The Coyotes failed to
build on their first lead in almost two weeks, missed several
opportunities with a shaky Gustavsson surrendering rebounds left and
right. And when Stone took a high-sticking penalty with just over two
minutes left in the period, Franzen cashed in on the power-play and
the Red Wings took all the momentum to the third.
San Jose v Anaheim 5-3 - To a man, the San
Jose Sharks said that this had little to do with the wake-up call
trade of popular defenseman Douglas Murray. It was difficult not to
call a 5-3 win Monday against the Anaheim
Ducks a turning-the-page game, though, particularly after the way
it unfolded. Martin
Havlat broke a 15-game scoring slump. Joe
Pavelski got his first goal in 10 games. James
Sheppard scored for the first time since Dec.11, 2009. This for a
talented team ranked 30th in the League in scoring. Hours earlier,
the Sharks said goodbye to Murray, who was sent to the Pittsburgh
Penguins. San Jose has stumbled badly since a 7-0-0 start and players
talked at the morning skate about how they almost expected a move.
But they didn't draw a line to their performance. Anaheim is 0-3
since its victory Wednesday against the Chicago Blackhawks. The Ducks
pulled to 3-2 and 4-3 on goals by Francois
Beauchemin and Corey
Perry in the third only to give up an empty-net goal to Dan
Boyle. This can't really be called a spiral for Anaheim, which
outplayed the Detroit Red Wings for much of the game Sunday. But it
is starting to show cracks in its defense, and at least one player
acknowledged that they have lost some edge. San Jose coach Todd
McLellan had Pavelski center Sheppard and T.J. Galiardi on the third
line for balance, and it paid dividends in the form of Pavelski's
first goal in 10 games. Sheppard made it happen when he took the puck
off Perry's stick and fed Pavelski for a quick shot in the high slot
for a 2-0 lead at 7:10 of the first. Pavelski had one goal in the
previous 18 games. Sheppard lifted a shot from the left side that
arced through traffic and over Havlat in the third period. It was
only the third time in 26 games that San Jose scored four or more
goals, and it came with diversity. Anaheim could have been down more
than 3-1 going into the third period if not for an error-prone second
period in which it killed three power plays and needed Viktor
Fasth to turn aside breakaways by Sheppard, Burns and a partial
breakaway by Tommy
Wingels. The Sharks also outworked the Ducks for a 1-0 lead.
Thornton outraced Bryan
Allen to the puck at the end boards and got it to Havlat, who
found Brent
Burns for a wrist shot far side on Fasth at 5:46. Poor starts
have troubled Anaheim the past three games. The Ducks been outscored
12-4 since the Chicago game. Anaheim was 7-1-1 against San Jose in
the previous nine meetings.
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