Results - Wed, Oct 30, 2013

Toronto @ Calgary 4-2 - Joffrey Lupul, James van Riemsdyk, Mason Raymond and Paul Ranger scored for the Maple Leafs (10-4-0), who have won three straight. Matt Stajan and David Jones had goals for Calgary (5-5-2), which dropped its first game in regulation on home ice this season. Though they were heavily outshot after 20 minutes, the Maple Leafs escaped the first period with a 2-0 lead. Seconds after a slashing penalty to Dennis Wideman expired, Lupul picked Jake Gardiner's point shot off the boards. His initial attempt to stuff it past Flames goaltender Karri Ramo was blocked by Chris Butler, but Lupul fished out the rebound and made good on his second chance for his seventh of the season at 7:56. The Flames held a 15-7 shot advantage after 20 minutes, but Bernier was equal to the task. After former Toronto forward Joe Colborne failed to connect with TJ Brodie on a 2-on-1 the shift after Lupul's goal, Bernier shouldered away Curtis Glencross' shot from the high slot near the midway point of the first. Brodie followed that opportunity by deflecting a Glencross slap shot off the post three minutes later. With the Flames on a power play, van Riemsdyk put the Maple Leafs up 2-0 with a shorthanded goals. burying a shot under Ramo's arm with four seconds remaining in the period. Bernier went back to work with Calgary continuing its power play in the second period, stopping Glencross on the doorstep after a feed from Russell less than a minute in. He then stopped Jiri Hudler with the glove and followed it up by stoning Brodie, who had jumped into the play to create an odd-man rush with three minutes gone. He did the same to Sven Baertschi at 6:19, taking away the five-hole after the Flames forward danced around Phaneuf in front. The Flames broke through Bernier on their 31st shot of the game. Shortly after Shane O'Brien and Carter Ashton dropped the gloves in response to Ashton's hit on Derek Smith, Glencross found Stajan with some space in the slot. The former Maple Leaf fired a shot past Bernier's glove with 2:57 remaining in the period to cut Toronto's lead to 2-1. The goal ended Toronto's shutout streak at 150:11. The Leafs gave Bernier some breathing room at 5:59 of the third period. Brodie coughed the puck up to David Clarkson, who broke in and fired a shot that was turned aside by Ramo. On the doorstep, Raymond collected the rebound and tucked it across the goal line to give Toronto a 3-1 lead. Brodie's Flames didn't fold, though. Jones cut the lead back to one by deflecting Russell's point shot by Bernier with 5:21 remaining in the game. But with Clarkson in the box in the final minutes of the game and Ramo on the bench for an extra attacker, Ranger sealed it for Toronto with a shorthanded, empty-net goal with 1:22 remaining.

San Jose @ Los Angeles 3-4 SO - L.A. erased a 3-2 deficit on Williams' power-play goal at 12:21 of the third period before Kopitar scored at 2:32 of OT with Justin Braun serving a hooking penalty. Kopitar had plenty of room to wind up with Jeff Carter crowding the crease in front of Sharks goalie Antti Niemi. San Jose held a 3-2 lead with under eight minutes remaining when they took their second too-many-men penalty of the game. L.A. promptly set up in San Jose's end, and Kopitar fed Williams between the circles for a top-shelf goal. San Jose was outshot 12-3 in the third period and overtime and took seven penalties on the night. Special teams were crucial for both sides in the third period. Joe Thornton made a great stick block on Dustin Brown during a Kings power play, and L.A. killed Daniel Carcillo's boarding penalty after Logan Couture hit the post. L.A. had trouble taking care of the puck and paid for it on San Jose's first power-play strike, scored by Couture with 1:56 remaining in the second. Willie Mitchell couldn't clear the puck from behind the net and Patrick Marleau set up Couture for a one-timer from the high slot. Kyle Clifford was in the penalty box for goalie interference. The Kings have allowed 60 power plays this season, the most in the NHL. Kings coach Darryl Sutter mixed up all his defense pairings and tweaked his second, third and fourth lines after a 3-1 loss Tuesday night to the Phoenix Coyotes. Some of the moves worked because for much of the first 40 minutes, L.A. lulled San Jose into its game with its physicality, the Kings had outhit the Sharks 31-12 at one point in the second – and managed a 2-2 tie on 11 shots. Both goals came with traffic in front of Niemi, including Drew Doughty's fourth goal this season on a wrist shot 2:32 into the game. Jarret Stoll tipped Slava Voynov's slap shot into the net at 3:15 of the second period. It was a Kings turnover that gave San Jose a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes. Voynov's pass bounced off the stick of Trevor Lewis and the Sharks went the other way. Joe Pavelski buried Tommy Wingels' pass into the upper right corner of the net at 11:27. The Sharks needed all of 13 seconds and three passes to exercise their first-period dominance. Tyler Kennedy passed it to Couture, who drove down the right wing and found a wide-open pinching defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic for quick shot and 1-0 lead. Sharks wing Martin Havlat, coming off pelvic surgery, made his season debut but had no shots on goal in 14:01 of ice time.

Detroit @ Vancouver 2-1 - 10/30

The Vancouver Canucks lamented a "sloppy" game devoid of scoring chances and played mostly in the neutral zone. That was music to the ears of a Detroit Red Wings team that had lost four straight and been outshot in eight of its past 10 games. Fittingly, the winning goal wasn't pretty either. Tomas Tatar scored his first goal of the season on a long wrist shot with 62 seconds left in the second period, and the Red Wings clamped down in the third to beat the Canucks 2-1 on Wednesday night.

"When we're careless with the puck and careless with our structure we don't look very good," Detroit coach Mike Babcock said. "We're a team that needs to play a certain way to be successful."

They played that way against the Canucks, limiting the time spent in their own end and holding Vancouver to a season-low 20 shots.

"I've got to give the guys a lot of credit tonight," said goalie Jimmy Howard, who stopped 19 shots, including all seven he faced in the third period. "They did a great job in front of me."

The same couldn't be said of the Canucks in front of Luongo, at least not on Tatar's go-ahead goal late in the second period.

"I just tried to shoot it on net and the puck somehow ended up in," said Tatar, who played in his fifth game of the season. "This is a big relief. Our line played pretty well."

After Daniel Alfredsson tied the game midway through the period, Tatar put Detroit ahead with a shot off the rush from well above the top of the right circle that caught defenseman Christopher Tanev setting an inadvertent screen. Tanev lifted his foot at the last instant in an effort to get out of the way, but Luongo never saw the puck until it had gone between his legs.

"Obviously I didn't see it," Luongo said. "I think our defenseman was trying to cut across to get the guy on the other side and I didn't see it until the last second, but I have to find a way to find those. It's a pretty [lousy] way to lose a game on a goal like that."

Daniel Sedin scored Vancouver's lone goals and Luongo finished with 25 saves, including a couple of great point-blanks stops in the final five minutes for the Canucks, who had their four-game winning streak snapped.

"Don't blame Lui," said coach John Tortorella, deferring on Tanev's decision until he reviewed the play. "He gave us an opportunity to get back in that game in the third. He made some really good saves."

Some of his best came against Datsyuk, who was reunited with Henrik Zetterberg on a top line with Todd Bertuzzi. But it was the Canucks' No. 1 unit, with Ryan Kesler moved up with Daniel and Henrik Sedin, that opened the scoring late in the first period. After making a drop pass to twin brother Henrik off the rush, Daniel faded toward the right corner and took the return feed unchecked before firing a sharp-angled shot into an empty net after Howard got stranded atop his crease looking for a shot from Henrik. It was Daniel's fourth goal and seventh point during a five-game point streak; Henrik has three goals and 12 points during a 10-game point streak of his own. The Sedins almost added to those totals midway through the second period, but Howard slid hard from left to right through his crease to deny Daniel on a backdoor one-timer after a perfect cross-ice backhand pass from Henrik. Less than two minutes later, Alfredsson tied it with his third goal since joining the Red Wings as a free agent this past summer. The 40-year-old went to the top of the crease and jammed at a loose puck that hit the post, deflected off the back of Luongo's leg and slid over the goal line at 11:37.

"We were playing pretty good but had nothing to show for it," Alfredsson said. "We get the first one and then a fluke play where their defenseman ended up being a screen and we get lucky. That's a huge goal for us, to go into the third with the lead and I thought we handled that really well."

The Sedins were back with Alexandre Burrows for the third, and set him up for a shot in the slot that he whiffed on, but were otherwise quiet.

"It was a sloppy game from both teams, a lot of play in the neutral zone and turnovers and not a whole lot of chances," Henrik said.

The Sedin twins weren't the only ones to struggle.

"We just looked lethargic," Tortorella said. "For some reason we lacked some energy tonight. I thought throughout the game both teams, it was just kind of one of those games. I just don't think we generated enough without our energy."

The Canucks' power play, which is 4-for-43 and dropped to 29th in the League, couldn't take advantage of an early third-period opportunity, managing two shots. The Canucks ended the night 0-for-3 with the extra man.

"It could have helped us tonight," Tortorella said of the struggling power play. "It wasn't good tonight. The other nights it's been good. Tonight it wasn't good."

Luongo made up for the second goal with a sprawling right pad save to take an apparent goal away from Justin Abdelkader after a 3-on-1 backdoor pass from Tatar with five minutes left. He also stuffed Bertuzzi from in tight 90 seconds later. But the Canucks failed to take advantage, with Kesler whistling a shot wide in the final seconds.

"I hit that shot nine out of 10 times and I just missed it," Kesler said. "It's frustrating."

Frustrating and "sloppy" were sentiments echoed by several Canucks, and those words were music to the Red Wings ears.

"We had the puck a lot more because we executed out of our defensive zone fast, we didn't waste a lot of time in there and we got through neutral zone and in the end had way more puck possession because of it and that's the right way to play," Babcock said. "Tonight was a good step for our team. Now we've got to match it."

Boston @ Pittsburgh 2-3 - 10/30

The Pittsburgh Penguins' performance Wednesday didn't erase the memory of the Boston Bruins' sweep in last season's Eastern Conference Final. But it did showcase why the Penguins made it to that conference final. Brandon Sutter and Jussi Jokinen scored third-period goals to propel the Penguins to a 3-2 win against the Bruins at Consol Energy Center. Sutter charged through the neutral zone and down the right boards before putting a pinpoint shot into the upper left-hand corner for his first goal of the season to give Pittsburgh a 2-1 lead with 9:00 remaining.

"It's nice to get that monkey off the back and get the first one," Sutter said.

Jokinen scored the game-winner off of a turnover with 2:02 left when he fired a snap shot past Tuukka Rask.

"I saw a couple of times, our guys were taking the boards, and [Bruins defenseman Johnny Boychuk] had the puck and he was hitting their centermen all night," Jokinen said. "I was just kind of reading that he was going to hit their centerman and I was able to get the puck there. I had lots of time there to get the good shot."

Boston's Jarome Iginla scored on a slap shot with 1:43 remaining in his return to Pittsburgh, but the Bruins could not get another puck past Marc-Andre Fleury, who stopped 21 of 23 shots.

"We knew they'd come out strong and be skating well," Iginla said. "We were probably a bit not as aggressive as we can play, or going after it the way we can on our forecheck and our zone time. They came out well and skated well and did a lot of good things. We know we can be a lot better, and in the third, we were a lot better and were able to get back into it, but just came up short."

David Krejci had a chance to tie the game when he wristed a shot toward Fleury just before time expired, but the goalie made a stop reminiscent of his save on Nicklas Lidstrom in the waning seconds of Game 7 in the 2009 Stanley Cup Final against the Detroit Red Wings.

"It was a different situation and a different side too," Fleury said. "But it was good to make the save and get the win."

After struggling to get anything past Fleury for two periods, Boston's Patrice Bergeron scored 1:05 into the third to tie the game 1-1. Dennis Seidenberg fired a wild shot from the blue line and Bergeron deflected it from in front of Pittsburgh's net. The intensity remained through the rest of the final period with a few scrums forming after whistles were blown.

"I think the intensity and the atmosphere, I'm not sure it was quite April and May and June," Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said. "But it certainly was a good match for a Wednesday Night Rivalry game in October."

Rask replicated his performance from last season's Eastern Conference Final through much of the first part of the game, but Chris Kunitz scored a power-play goal to give Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead 6:54 into the second period. Kris Letang deflected Sidney Crosby's shot high off of Kunitz, who backhanded the puck through his legs and past Rask. It was the Penguins' first goal against Rask since their lone goal in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Final, which was scored 8:51 into the second period. Rask stopped 28 of 31 shots.

"I think we were a little soft on that first penalty kill," Bruins coach Claude Julien said. "We allowed the guy to come in and take that wrist shot when we were supposed to push him down. So we have to be a little better. We have to play three periods like we did in the third. [Rask] was good. Especially in that first period more than the second," Julien said. "He certainly held us in there, and that's what Tuukka's done for us this year."

With Chuck Kobasew (lower body) injured and Matt D'Agostini scratched for Pittsburgh, rookie Jayson Megna played alongside Evgeni Malkin and Jokinen. Malkin's line faced more turnover when Megna temporarily left the game after being hit into the boards on the first shift of his third NHL game. Craig Adams replaced Megna, and Malkin had one of his more impressive periods of the season by facing Rask 1-on-1 three times after slicing through Boston's defense. Rask made the save each time and continued to deny Malkin and Megna, who led the Penguins with five shot attempts in the first period despite missing a few shifts.

"That was Evgeni's best game, I think, of the year," Bylsma said. "He was dominant. He stripped pucks, got the two great chances in the first period that were breakaways, but he was great down low. He set up Jayson Megna and Jussi about four or five times throughout the game. I thought he was exceptional."

Los Angeles @ Phoenix 1-3 - 10/29

Five days after the Phoenix Coyotes gave up seven goals in a one-sided loss to the Los Angeles Kings in L.A., goalie Mike Smith knew it was important to answer with a better effort in rematch Tuesday with their Pacific Division rivals. Smith led the way, making 24 of his 41 saves in the first two periods to keep the game scoreless before Derek Morris and Shane Doan scored goals 1:25 apart late in the second period as the injury-plagued Coyotes beat the Kings 3-1 at Jobing.com Arena on Tuesday night. Smith allowed four first-period goals in a 7-4 loss at Los Angeles on Oct. 24 and was pulled after 20 minutes. This time, he came within 3:21 of his first shutout of the season before Jarret Stoll hammered a dancing puck under his blocker for a power-play goal.

"When you get shellacked like we did in L.A., it was nice to play them again so soon to get it back," Smith said. "To respond the way we did was good to see. Our first period was exceptional and then they came at us pretty hard. But we held our own pretty well."

Kyle Chipchura had an assist and a spirited fight with former Coyotes forward Daniel Carcillo before capping his night by punching home a David Moss feed 5:38 into the third period to ice the win. The victory moved the Coyotes to 8-3-2, their best start since the 2000-01 season, and 5-0-1 on home ice. They ended a run of four straight Pacific Division games with three wins. Playing without forwards Martin Hanzal, Lauri Korpikoski and Jeff Halpern and defenseman Rostislav Klesla, the Coyotes got a strong effort from the patchwork line of Chipchura, Moss (one assist), and 2011 Hobey Baker Award winner Andy Miele, who had two assists for the first points of his NHL career.

"It took me three years to get my first point up here," said Miele, who had played eight games without hitting the scoresheet, "so it's pretty exciting and it's great to be able to help keep the team rolling here."

Miele called his father in China after the game to give him the good news. Chipchura was minus-7 coming into the game, but Phoenix coach Dave Tippett never lost faith in his veteran center.

"It seemed like lately every time he was stepping on the ice there was a minus and it wasn't his fault," Tippett said. "You knew he was chewing on that, but he cares so much and works so hard. I've been in that position before and it gets you down a little bit. He was looking to have an impact tonight and boy did he ever."

The Coyotes allowed 39 goals in their first 12 games and the Kings had plenty of chances, but Tippett felt Tuesday was a step forward for the defense. "There were lots of shots at the net, but I thought we just competed harder. We were harder in front of our net; we got an 'A' game from Smitty and some timely scoring. It was a good two points."

Smith was especially good in the second period, when the Kings made their bid to score first with wave after wave of pressure. He made big saves on Carcillo, Drew Doughty and Trevor Lewis before the Coyotes finally broke through. Morris put a wrist shot into traffic that ping-ponged off Doughty and defense partner Robyn Regehr before skidding just out of the reach of goalie Ben Scrivens and into the net at 18:19. It was the third goal and eighth point of the season for the 35-year-old Morris, who had two goals and 22 points thep ast two seasons combined.

Justin Williams was penalized for roughing 31 seconds after Morris' goal, and the Coyotes doubled their lead when Oliver Ekman-Larsson, who had a goal disallowed in the first period, put a shot into the slot that Doan deflected around Scrivens with 5.9 seconds to play. It was Doan's 100th career power-play goal and his 36th goal in 94 career games against the Kings.

"Our top players [Mike Richards, Jeff Cater and Matt Frattin] got scored on, didn't kill the penalty and took the penalty with less than a couple left in the second period," Kings coach Darryl Sutter said. "That usually results in a loss."

Scrivens, who had a 20-save shutout against the Florida Panthers on Oct. 13 in his only other start with the Kings, played well again, making 17 of his 30 saves in a feisty first period that had a little bit of everything except a goal. The teams combined for 26 shots, 10 penalties, six power plays and one disallowed goal, which came when Ekman-Larsson's bomb from the point was waved off because teammate Antoine Vermette was called for pushing Doughty into Scrivens.

"I felt I played well in the first and I tried to keep the boys in it through a couple of tough penalty kills," Scrivens said. "But overall this League is about winning. They did a good job of getting guys in front."

Ottawa @ Chicago 5-6 - 10/29

The Chicago Blackhawks' stars stepped up when they were needed the most. Led by the third regular-season hat trick of Jonathan Toews' career plus a strong relief outing by goalie Corey Crawford, the Blackhawks overcame a two-goal deficit and stunned the Ottawa Senators 6-5 Tuesday night at United Center. Also instrumental in overcoming a 4-2 deficit were Andrew Shaw, who scored twice, and Toews' linemates, Patrick Sharp and Marian Hossa. Sharp finished with a pair of assists and Hossa scored his 100th goal as a Blackhawk to go with two assists in a game that saw 77 combined shots and numerous odd-man rushes for both sides. But it was Toews, the captain, who led the way when his team needed him.

"Johnny had a special game," Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said of Toews, who recorded a natural hat trick by scoring three straight times between the second and third periods, turning a 4-2 deficit into a 5-4 lead. "If you're a fan and you watched him play tonight, you're going to go, 'Wow.' It was a special performance and that line had a great night, as well. They had high-quality chances and they had the puck. They were dangerous off the rush, but that was one of those performances as a fan you get to see [and] you'll remember it."

Chicago also received a dazzling performance by Crawford, who made 14 saves to earn the win after relieving Nikolai Khabibulin 11:14 into the second period. Khabibulin's bad spell continued; he has allowed 10 goals on the last 47 shots he's faced in his last two starts, including a 6-5 overtime loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning last week.

"This is a team game, so we're not placing the blame on anybody individually," Crawford said. "That stuff happens, some tough bounces and some tough plays for him. But we all know what he can do. He's going to play some big games for us and win some big games for us this year."

This was not one of those games for the 40-year old Russian goalie, who returned to Chicago as a free agent last summer to be Ray Emery's replacement behind Crawford. After allowing a late first-period goal to Milan Michalek that tied it 1-1, Khabibulin was beaten three times in the second to prompt his exit. Mika Zibanejad's goal, scored after a pretty move to glide into the slot, was the final straw. Quenneville made the switch to Crawford and the crowd responded with a standing ovation. Toews, who added an assist for a four-point night, responded by scoring three straight goals. His first came late in the middle period on a beautiful wraparound. He got the others in the third period by charging the net to put the Blackhawks up 5-4 with 10:47 left.

"I think there's a lot of games this season, whatever our [line] was, we were always creating something and [there were] some frustrating nights where it just didn't go in," Toews said. "Guys were getting great chances and pucks didn't go in for us and we got nothing to show for it. So, it's nice as a line that we could get a few tonight."

Shaw made it 6-4 at 14:10 with his second of the game; it turned out to be the deciding goal whenZack Smith scored 13 seconds later for Ottawa (4-6-2).Michalek,Kyle Turris, Joe Corvo and Zibanejad had the other goals for the Senators, who've dropped three games in a row. Craig Anderson , a native of nearby Park Ridge, Ill., took the loss in front of family and friends.

"We got five goals on the road against the Stanley Cup champions," Senators coach Paul MacLean said. "I thought we controlled a lot of play early in the game, but once we got the game to 4-2 and they changed the goalie, they seemed to get lots of momentum and we didn't handle, obviously, the change in momentum very well."

Chicago, which swept its second back-to-back set of 18 on the schedule, improved to 7-0-2 against Eastern Conference teams and 4-0-2 against teams from the Atlantic Division. The Blackhawks have 19 points and are within a point of the first-place Colorado Avalanche in the Central Division. One troublesome area is the number of goals they've allowed of late. Opponents in three of the last four games have scored at least five goals, but Quenneville didn't put the onus on the defense. Without saying it out loud, he fingered the goaltending as the main issue. Khabibulin started two of those three high-scoring affairs.

"I think our numbers always, our chance numbers all year long have been the exact number that we've been pleased with at the end of the night," Quenneville said. "[This was] kind of comparable to the Tampa game, where a lot of pucks were going in tonight on both ends and we were fortunate to be on the right side tonight."

As for the backup goaltending situation, Quenneville is not pleased with Khabibulin's performance thus far. The Blackhawks don't play again until Saturday afternoon in Winnipeg and won't practice again until Thursday, giving the coaches a whole day to break down the film.

"Gotta be better than that," Quenneville said. "You can't really say [why it happened]. It was just one of those nights and we'll look at it and try to get better. We've got a few days off here. Let's get back to the day off [Wednesday] and revisit with it."

Dallas @ Montreal 1-2 - 10/29

The Montreal Canadiens are dealing with so many injured players they have had to intensify their focus toward the defensive end of the ice. One player who recently removed himself from that injured list is helping the Canadiens do that, and the result was wins on consecutive nights. Michael Bournival and Rene Bourque scored, and Carey Price made 26 saves to lead the Montreal Canadiens to a 2-1 win Tuesday against the Dallas Stars at Bell Centre. The victory came one night after the Canadiens and backup goalie Peter Budaj shut out the New York Rangers 2-0 at Madison Square Garden, a game when defenseman Douglas Murray made his Montreal debut after signing with the team as a free agent in August. Though Murray had less of an impact in New York, his footprints were all over the win against Dallas with six hits and three blocked shots in 12 minutes of ice time.

"The last two games … it's been really good team defense," said Murray, who had to leave the game in the first period to get some stitches for a cut under his nose. "Whether it's been getting pucks out or blocking shots or being in position, it's been a good effort by the whole team."

The Canadiens did play a strong defensive game, blocking 29 shots, three more than Price. It was the second straight game Canadiens skaters blocked more shots than their goaltender, with Budaj making 27 saves and Montreal blocking 28 shots Monday.

"You can see guys want to pay the price to get some wins, and that's a great sign," Canadiens coach Michel Therrien said. "When guys were blocking shots on the ice you could see the reaction from the guys on the bench. This is good for team spirit. They sacrificed their bodies to make sure we get the job done."

With the Canadiens missing a good deal of grit and toughness due to injuries to forwards Brandon Prust, Travis Moen and George Parros and defenseman Alexei Emelin, Therrien said the dimension Murray has brought is an important one.

"It's crucial," Therrien said. "He's a player that's very difficult to play against, and we could see tonight what kind of physical presence he is in the corners, in front of the net. If he has a chance to punish the opponent, he's going to do it."

Raphael Diaz assisted on each goal for the Canadiens (8-5-0), who evened their record at home this season at 4-4-0. Cody Eakin scored for the Stars (5-6-1), whose string of three straight games with a point (2-0-1) was snapped. They have not won consecutive games since Oct. 5 and 11, their second and third games of the season. The Stars were also playing their second game in as many nights. Dallas goaltender Kari Lehtonen got the start in a 4-3 win at the Buffalo Sabres and made 22 saves. He again made 22 saves Tuesday but with a different result, tagged with his second loss in regulation, his first since opening night Oct. 3. The loss left the Stars 0-3-0 this season playing the second of back-to-back games.

"We've got to start finding a way in back-to-backs, especially on the road," Eakin said. "It's early but these points are huge. Points are only going to get harder to get as the season progresses."

It was a homecoming of sorts for several members of the Stars. Dallas forward Erik Cole was playing his first game in Montreal since the Canadiens traded him on Feb. 26 to the Stars in exchange for Michael Ryder and a third-round pick in the 2013 NHL Draft. Unlike most former players who return to Montreal, regardless of the circumstances surrounding their departure, Cole did not get much of a reaction from the Bell Centre fans. Cole did not give them much reason to react either; his line with Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn was more or less silent for much of the night, combining for four shots on goal.

"Our line just couldn't get anything going tonight," Seguin said. "We've got to be better and step up a lot more than we did, show more leadership in these back-to-back games."

It was the first NHL game on Quebec soil for Stars forwards Alex Chiasson and Antoine Roussel. Chiasson spent his early childhood living just outside Montreal in Lorraine, Quebec; Roussel was born in France but moved to Quebec as a teenager. Chiasson had more than 50 family and friends in the stands and he nearly gave them something to cheer for in the third period when he took a pass from Eakin and one-timed it from in tight, but Price was able to get across for the save. Chiasson finished with a game-high five shots on goal, one more than the Seguin line combined, and was the Stars' most-used forward at 19:54 of ice time. The rest of the team did not have the same effectiveness, though coach Lindy Ruff was satisfied with the effort.

"It was a pretty hard-fought game. They got a bounce on the first goal going wide, I thought we did a good job killing off their power plays," Ruff said. "They did a great job being in shot lanes and blocking shots. It was probably a game we could have come out of here with points."

That bounce on the Canadiens' first goal came at 12:02 of the first period when a Diaz shot from the point was tipped in front by Bournival before going in off the leg of Stars defenseman Stephane Robidas. Bournival's goal gave the rookie seven points in his past seven games; center Tomas Plekanec's assist on the goal gave him nine points in his past seven games.

"That's an important line for us," Therrien said of the group completed by captain Brian Gionta. "Not only are they able to produce offensively, but they often have the mandate of checking the best line on the other team. So they're playing very well. Bournival seems to give some energy to our two veterans, and I like what I'm seeing from that line because they play an important role."

Bourque made it 2-0 at 12:55 of the second period, tipping another Diaz point shot in front then burying his rebound for his fourth goal of the season. The Stars cut the lead in half at 17:27 of the second when Eakin crossed the Montreal blue line and used Canadiens defenseman P.K. Subban to surprise Price with a long wrist shot for his third goal of the season. Eakin had an opportunity to tie it when he took a wrist shot from just about the same location with 45 seconds remaining, but this time Price made a glove save.

Results - Tue, Oct 29, 2013

NY Rangers @ NY Islanders 3-2 - Trailing 2-1 heading into the third period, the New York Rangers got a power-play goal from Ryan McDonagh at 4:59 and an even-strength goal from Benoit Pouliot with 6:14 remaining, lifting them to a 3-2 victory against the New York Islanders in what was a raucous atmosphere at the old barn on Hempstead Turnpike. Pouliot capped a third-period rally with his second goal of the season at 13:46 of the third. Islanders defenseman Radek Martinek left Pouliot alone in the slot, where he gathered a feed from Carl Hagelin and ripped a wrist shot past Evgeni Nabokov. The Rangers got on the board first on Kreider's power-play goal with 7:30 remaining in the first period. With Kyle Okposo serving a hooking penalty, Brad Richards sent a shot from just inside the right point that went off the sticks of both Andrew MacDonald and Kreider before Nabokov stopped it with his right pad. But Kreider collected the rebound in front of the net, spun around and swatted the puck over the goal line for his first goal of the season. After killing another hooking penalty on Okposo early in the second period, the Islanders tied it at 3:40 on Clutterbuck's first goal as an Islander. Clutterbuck, who was acquired at the 2013 NHL Draft in the trade that sent Nino Niederreiter to the Minnesota Wild, beat Marc Staal to a loose puck in the neutral zone, skated into the Rangers' end on a 2-on-1 and fired a wrister from the right circle past Talbot to make it 1-1. An incredibly entertaining second period was capped when the Islanders grabbed the lead at 19:19 on Hamonic's goal originally credited to Peter Regin. With the teams at even strength, MacDonald fired a shot from the point that Talbot swatted away with his right arm, but Hamonic's rebound chance from the left circle went off Talbot's glove and Dan Girardi's hand before dribbling into the net to give the Islanders a 2-1 lead. Regin was involved in the scramble in front, but never appeared to touch the puck. The Rangers tied it via the power play 4:59 into the third period. After the Islanders were caught with too many men on the ice, McDonagh took a pass from Stepan and fired a shot from the point past Nabokov to make it 2-2. It was McDonagh's second goal of the season.

Anaheim @ Philadelphia 3-2 - The Ducks won their third straight game but it came at a cost as they lost forward Teemu Selanne early in the third period when he was hit in the mouth by the stick of Flyers defenseman Luke Schenn. Schenn was leaping to avoid a check by the Ducks' Bryan Allen when he accidentally struck Selanne in the face. A Ducks official said Selanne lost teeth and needed stitches to close a cut in his mouth. There was no word on how long he may be out; the Ducks continue their road trip Thursday against the Boston Bruins. The Flyers started the game strong, getting Read's third goal in as many games 3:40 into the first period. Nicklas Grossman dumped the puck behind the Anaheim net for Simmonds. As two Ducks defenders converged on Simmonds, he found an open Read next to the left post. Hiller got his right pad on Read's first attempt, but Read lifted the rebound over Hiller. They extended the lead to 2-0 with 3:26 left in the first period on Lecavalier's fifth goal of the season. With the Flyers on their first power play of the game, Giroux held the puck along the wall on the left side of the Anaheim zone. He snapped a pass across the zone to Lecavalier alone in the right circle, and he ripped a one-timer past Hiller for his fourth goal in two games. However, the Ducks continued to chip away, getting Cogliano's goal with 3:35 left in the second to start the rally. Ryan Getzlaf skated the puck into the Philadelphia end and fired a shot from the left side that missed the net. The rebound came out to Cogliano on the right side, and he one-timed it into the net before Mason could get over. They had more than a chance when Palmieri blocked a Lecavalier shot at the Anaheim blue line, tipped the puck past Lecavalier and broke in alone on Mason. He deked to open Mason's pads before sliding the puck along the ice through the goalie's five-hole at 1:01 of the third. Palmieri capped the comeback after an outstanding play by Ducks defenseman Sami Vatanen to hold off Lecavalier and Mark Streit to keep a puck in the Philadelphia end. Palmieri jumped on the loose puck and created a quick 2-on-1 with Nick Bonino. Bonino got the puck in the high slot and gave it back to Palmieri as he drove to the net to redirect the puck behind Mason with 4:09 left in the third.

Tampa Bay @ New Jersey 1-2 - Martin Brodeur made 16 saves, Jagr scored midway through the second period, and the Devils won two straight games for the first time this season. Jagr's game-winning goal was the 119th of his NHL career, the most by any player since 1967-68. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Gordie Howe holds the all-time record with 121. Phil Esposito is third with 118. Jagr connected 10:54 into the second period when he stole the puck from Lightning captain Martin St. Louis and broke in 1-on-1 against Ben Bishop before lining a shot over the goalie's right shoulder. That gave the Devils a 2-0 lead. Brodeur, who won consecutive starts for the first time since April 18-20, was called upon to make a few big stops in the third period. His best save came with 6:46 remaining when he robbed Valtteri Filppula's backhand at the right post with his left pad. Filppula took a pass from Steven Stamkos in the slot. The Lightning pared the deficit to 2-1 when Stamkos connected for a power-play goal 15:23 into the second period. After gaining position in the slot, Stamkos deflected a left-circle pass from Teddy Purcell into Brodeur's pads before jamming in his rebound while tumbling to the ice. The goal seemed to ignite Tampa Bay, which began to really pressure New Jersey for the equalizer. Adam Henrique gave the Devils a 1-0 lead on a shorthanded goal at 1:36. He received his opportunity after taking the puck away from Carle at the left point before skating down his right wing on a 2-on-1 with Patrik Elias. Henrique fed Elias in the high slot before getting a return pass low in the left circle and snapping a shot home.

Winnipeg @ St Louis 2-3 - The puck is finding Alexander Steen's stick, and the St. Louis Blues left wing is finding the back of the net with precision and accuracy. Steen's 11th goal of the season with 59.4 seconds remaining Tuesday night at Scottrade Center led the Blues to a 3-2 win against the Winnipeg Jets. It also moved Steen into the NHL lead in goals. Steen took an open shot-pass from Jay Bouwmeester into the slot and beat Ondrej Pavelec, with the puck caroming off the right post and Pavelec's backside before going into the net. Morrow's second goal of the season put the Blues ahead 1-0 6:36 into the game when Pavelec gave up a big rebound off Ryan Reaves' shot from the right circle. Morrow came in off the back side and one-timed the rebound into the empty side. The Jets tied the game when Derek Roy (interference) and Morrow (roughing) took simultaneous penalties, giving Winnipeg a two-minute 5-on-3 advantage. Morrow drew his penalty when he reacted to Olli Jokinen delivering a shoulder check that sent Alex Pietrangelo into the corner boards. Wheeler whacked in a rebound off an Andrew Ladd shot on the power play. Halak stopped the initial shot, but lost sight of the puck as it popped up high and toward the back post. Wheeler finished into the empty side at 11:20 of the first. It broke an 0-for-26 skid on the power play for the Jets. Neither team could light the lamp in the second period, but the Jets nearly scored late when Wheeler went in alone from the blue line after he split the Blues' defense, but his backhand attempt hit the left post with 55 seconds left in the period. St. Louis regained the lead thanks to Oshie's determination to win a loose puck and keep possession. He then faked a shot and fed an on-rushing Pietrangelo, who was able to beat Pavelec high short side with an open side to shoot at 4:16 into the final period to break a 1-1 tie. The Jets were able to come back and tie the game at 2-2 when Oshie failed to keep a puck in the Winnipeg zone on the power play, and Little was able to convert Ladd's pass at 10:27 on what amounted to a 2-on-0 play. Halak preserved the tie when he was able to get a glove on Michael Frolik's backhand shot at point-blank range off a deflected shot with five minutes remaining in regulation. Halak made a number of quality saves in the game.

Toronto @ Edmonton 4-0 - Phil Kessel opened the scoring 1:08 into the first period, collecting a pass in front from a diving Kadri and sliding the puck past Bachman. The Maple Leafs made it 2-0 at 1:41 of the second when Kessel and van Riemsdyk broke away on a 2-on-1 rush moments after Justin Schultz rang a shot off the post at the other end. Kessel slid the puck to van Riemsdyk, who beat Bachman for his sixth goal of the season. Kessel added his second of the game at 9:42 of the second period, taking the puck at the side of the net and beating Bachman over the shoulder from a tight angle. The goal was Kessel's eighth of the season and seventh in four games. Kadri added an insurance goal at 6:14 of the third period, tipping Morgan Rielly's shot over Bachman's shoulder.

NHL News

Vanek/Moulson Trade - After qualifying for the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time in six years and nearly upsetting the Pittsburgh Penguins in the opening round, the New York Islanders entered the 2013-14 season with great expectations from management. Eleven games into the season, the Islanders have four wins, although they've earned points in seven (4-4-3). But for general manager Garth Snow, it's just not good enough. That's why Snow made arguably the biggest trade of his tenure Sunday, sending left wing Matt Moulson, a first-round pick at the 2014 NHL Draft and a second-round selection in 2015 to the Buffalo Sabres in exchange for left wing Thomas Vanek. The trade sent shockwaves through the Islanders' dressing room, particularly to captain John Tavares, who is one of Moulson's closest friends and the godfather to Moulson's daughter, Mila. The two have been friends for a decade.

"I assume if things were going the way we wanted them to, I don't think there'd be too many changes," Tavares said Monday at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, where Vanek will make his Islanders debut against the New York Rangers on Tuesday night. "Obviously, [it's] a significant one. We know we haven't played our best and we haven't gotten to the level of consistency that we talked about. There's still a lot of hockey left, and it just goes to show that we have to be better. There's no waiting around for it, and our expectations have to be higher than what we're achieving right now."

Still, it was easy to see the impact Sunday's trade had on Tavares. Not long after Tavares was the No. 1 selection at the 2009 NHL Draft, the Islanders signed Moulson as a free agent. The two have been one of the more dangerous offensive combinations in the NHL over the past four years. Moulson was a three-time 30-goal scorer in New York and Tavares was a Hart Trophy finalist last season.

"I don't think Matt's ever gotten the credit he's deserved for the success I've had," Tavares said. "A lot of the things he's done so well … the little things he's done that's helped my game. Living together that first year (2009-10), door-to-door neighbors our second year, how long we've known each other, the impact he made, him and his family, how much they helped me off the ice. Words can't really describe how much he was there for me. It's part of the game, part of the business and you understand that. It's sad to see him go, but it's what the team felt was best, and we have to move forward, starting [Tuesday night]."

Islanders forward Michael Grabner was also disappointed to see Moulson traded to Buffalo, but he was awfully excited to see Vanek, his fellow countryman, come to New York. Grabner and Vanek are two of the three Austrian players in the NHL. Philadelphia Flyers forward Michael Raffl is the other. Vanek is set to become an unrestricted free agent after the season. Grabner will surely do everything he can to convince the talented wing to stay put and ride shotgun on the top line alongside Tavares.

"It's a great place to live and play," said Grabner, who is in the third of a five-year deal with the Islanders. "I think everyone who's came here experiences it for themselves and get to know the area, the fans, the team and stuff, so I think he'll enjoy it after he sees what we have here. He will see how great of a place this is, how nice of an area it is. We have a great team here. We're going in the right direction and [we want to] win a Stanley Cup, and I think that's his main goal too. Obviously, I've known him for a little bit and he's excited to come here and get a fresh start."

Perhaps Sunday's trade will be a fresh start for every member of the Islanders' roster. Snow and coach Jack Capuano are certainly pleased with having such a tight-knit group, but winning games is the main priority. Capuano believes the trade may provide the room with the jolt it needed.

"It's probably a pretty good time, if any, if you want to look at it with some of the guys' work ethic to let them know that the boss isn't happy and as coaches we're not happy too with some of the guys," Capuano said. "You've got to hold guys accountable. We've had meetings, we've showed the video. They know exactly how we have to play. We've just got to get back to playing the way that we played in the second half of last year and in spurts this year. It's not like we've played poorly. We've lost two shootouts and an overtime game. I'm glad that we're seeing this early in some of our guys so we can address it now and move forward."

The new-look Islanders will get their first test Tuesday against the Rangers at what will surely be a raucous Coliseum. Islanders defenseman Travis Hamonic knows it's time for his team to be better, and he admitted the trade was a wake-up call.

"As a group, we definitely demand more of ourselves," Hamonic said. "We realize that we're a better team than what our record shows, in my opinion. A trade like this obviously changes things up a little bit, but we've still got a good core group of guys that have been here for a while. It's tough to see a guy like Matt go. He's done a lot of good things for the organization. But moving forward, I think we're excited to have Thomas here."

Phoenix - Coyotes forward Martin Hanzal has been suspended for two games, without pay, for charging Edmonton Oilers defenseman Jeff Petry during NHL Game No. 164 in Glendale on Saturday, October 26, the National Hockey League’s Department of Player Safety announced today. Hanzal is considered a repeat offender under the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement and, based on his average annual salary, will forfeit $75,609.76. The money goes to the Players’ Emergency Assistance Fund. The incident occurred at 13:42 of the first period. Hanzal received a minor penalty for charging on the play.

Washington @ Vancouver 2-3 - 10/28

The Vancouver Canucks' loaded-up top line took over in the third period by taking advantage of the Washington Capitals' top forwards in their own end. Playing against Alex Ovechkin and the Capitals' No.1 line, Ryan Kesler tied the game 2:53 into the third period and Daniel Sedin put Vancouver ahead 2:08 later. The Canucks outshot Washington 41-19 en route to a 3-2 win at Rogers Arena on Monday night.

"They had the puck a lot," Canucks coach John Tortorella said of his new No.1 line of Kesler with Daniel and Henrik Sedin. "(Kesler) did a lot of forechecking for them and winning battles. Danny's goal was just puck possession, and I haven't seen a goal like that in quite a while."

Despite being outshot badly, Washington went ahead 1:52 into the third period when Jason Chimera, who scored in the first period, made a diving pass to send Mikhail Grabovski in alone for a perfect shot over Luongo's glove. The lead didn't last long. Kesler tied it on a rebound, and Daniel Sedin, who assisted on Kesler's goal, put the Canucks ahead after a dominant 78-second shift spent cycling the puck in the Washington end. Sedin walked along the blue line and into the high slot before sending a high shot past Michal Neuvirth, who couldn't see around Kesler's screen.

"We had them in there for at least over a minute, grinding them out and Danny somehow got wide open coming down the pipe there and it was a great shot," said Kesler, who has five goals in four games.

Zack Kassian also scored and Roberto Luongo made 17 saves for the Canucks, who returned home after wrapping up the road trip with a 5-1-1 record and extended their winning streak to four games.

"Resiliency," Kesler added. "We find a way to battle back and get the go-ahead (goal). That's the way our team's been all year."

Ovechkin, who was held off the score sheet for a second game after scoring 10 goals his first 10 games, was more upset about blown coverage than missing a penalty shot 79 seconds into the game.

"Our line got minus-2 in third period," Ovechkin said. "We can't give them that kind of chances. It starts with me and (linemate Marcus Johansson)."

Asked what needs to improve defensively, Ovechkin said: "everything."

"When Kesler goal was scored, it was my guy," he continued. "Third goal, he make great move and (Johansson) was kind of guessing. Again, two shifts cost us the game. … We get 2-1 lead and we have to play simple. We didn't."

Capitals coach Adam Oates was more forgiving of his top line's defensive play, calling the Kesler goal a good bounce.

"The last one the Sedin line is a great line and they are great players and we were a little tired and they circled us and we couldn't recover," Oates said, adding the early penalty shot could have changed things.

But with Canadian Olympic coach Mike Babcock watching from the press box, his Detroit Red Wings play in Vancouver on Wednesday, Luongo stayed with Ovechkin and got enough of his shot after the puck started to roll on a quick fake. Luongo has stopped 21 of 24 penalty shots in his career.

"I make a great move," Ovechkin said. "I beat him, but I didn't finish it up. It's all my fault. If I make penalty shot, we have the lead and play much better."

Luongo made a couple more great saves during a Capitals power play midway through the period, and Kassian opened the scoring the shift after it ended. But Luongo also pointed back to the penalty shot as an early turning point.

"(Ovechkin) will be flying the rest of the game (if he scores)," he said. "I think it was a huge point in the game. If he gets that, I'm sure that he's sniffing around for more."

Chimera did tie it with 5:24 left in the first period, tapping in his third goal in as many games when Mike Green's point shot got through a crowd and onto his stick on the back door. But Vancouver outshot the Capitals 16-3 in the second period, including a couple great scramble chances on power plays that forced Neuvirth to be great. The Canucks finished 0-for-6 on the power play. Washington was 0-for-4, but Vancouver generated momentum with every advantage.

"They took momentum on their power play every time," said Neuvirth, who finished with 39 saves in his second start of the season. "They put a lot of pucks on net and it wasn't an easy game. They are a pretty good team around the net and we took too many penalties and I think we got tired a little. … We gave up way too many shots."

It was the result, Chimera added, of not playing simple enough.

"You don't have to make the pretty play all the time," he said. "You gotta get pucks out and pucks in. It's not rocket science. That's how you win games, especially against good players like the Sedins."

Chicago @ Minnesota 5-1 - 10/28

Following the Chicago Blackhawks' pregame skate Monday afternoon in preparation for its game against the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center, forward Brandon Saad was hopeful he could find chemistry playing with a pair of linemates he had never played with before. Playing with Patrick Kane and Brandon Pirri on the Hawks' second line, Saad's hope was realized when he and his new linemates led the Blackhawks to a 5-1 victory against the Wild.

"We've had a couple of shifts together this year, a couple looks, but to play a full game, that's the first time," Saad said. "Communication was huge. We got each other the puck and played well. It's a different look for our team. [We] had never been together, and we jelled well [Monday night]. That's big for our team."

Saad, Pirri and Kane looked especially lethal in the third period. With the Hawks up 3-1, Kane took a smooth spin-o-rama pass from Saad in the slot, then buried his seventh goal of the season at 2:47, essentially putting the game out of reach. Almost six minutes later, Saad scored a pretty goal of his own, taking a pass from Duncan Keith and slipping the puck through Wild goaltender Niklas Backstrom's five-hole to make it 5-1. Pirri also picked up an assist on Kane's goal and tallied a helper on Sheldon Brookbank's game-winner at 13:21 of the second. Nick Leddy, an Eden Prairie, Minn., native and 2009 first-round draft pick of the Wild, ripped a slap shot past Backstrom from the left point at 16:43 of the second, pushing the Hawks' lead to 3-1. It was a goal that, for all intents and purposes, broke the Wild's back shortly before the second intermission.

"The second goal hurt us, but that third goal seemed to kill us," Wild coach Mike Yeo said.

Patrick Sharp scored the lone goal of the first period at 17:33 to give Chicago a 1-0 lead. The goal, Sharp's second of the year, snapped a personal five-game goal drought. Yeo wasn't thrilled with his team's execution in the first period, but said his team recovered in the second. The Wild's second line of Nino Niederreiter, Mikael Granlund and Jason Pominville, the team's best line of the night, knotted the score at 11:27 of the second when Pominville took a pass from Granlund and blasted a slap shot past Corey Crawford for his team-leading seventh of the season. Granlund's assist gives him the team lead in that category with eight. But a series of sloppy errors doomed the Wild later in the second. Brookbank's goal came after Wild defenseman Mathew Dumba tumbled over Backstrom. The puck squirted free to Brookbank, who slammed his first of the year into an open net. A holding penalty on Marco Scandella put the Blackhawks on the power play 1:39 later. Leddy took advantage of a failed clearing attempt by Mikko Koivu for his first goal of the season.

"There were plays out there, that were … odd," Yeo said. "Execution-wise, we weren't on top of it."

Leddy's goal extended Chicago's streak of consecutive games with a power-play goal to five, and several in the room said afterwards it might have been their most complete game of the season.

"In all zones, in all areas, we didn't play like we did the other day," said Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville. "I thought we were very loose in our last couple, three games, and I thought the approach today was good and the consistency was what we were looking for in our team game. I thought we may have had the most consistent game we've had."

It was an encouraging sign for a team coming off perhaps its worst game of the season 48 hours earlier in a 5-3 loss to the Wild on Saturday at United Center.

"Saturday night, losing at home, that's not something we want to do," Saad said. "We were looking for a bounce-back game, and we came out flying from the beginning."

Corey Crawford made 29 saves, including 10 in the first and 12 more in the second, buying the Hawks' offense time to get going. He improved to 6-2-2 on the season. The win also put the Hawks alone in second place in the Central Division with 17 points, three behind the Colorado Avalanche. Backstrom looked sharp early, but allowed five goals in a game for the first time since an April 19 loss to the San Jose Sharks, a game the Wild lost 6-1. He stopped 22 shots in the loss, which was Minnesota's first regulation defeat on home ice this season.

Montreal @ NY Rangers 2-0 - 10/28

After spending the first four weeks of the season on the road, the New York Rangers wanted to give their hometown crowd something to cheer about. But it was the visiting Montreal Canadiens who came away with two points Monday night in the Rangers' home opener at Madison Square Garden. From the onset, it appeared that this game could come down to a bounce. But it was the Canadiens who got the bounces when it mattered most. When the Rangers did get a bounce, goaltender Peter Budaj was there. Budaj made 27 saves for the shutout and Tomas Plekanec scored the winning goal on the power play to lead the Canadiens to a 2-0 victory. Alex Galchenyuk also scored a late insurance marker, but it was the Canadiens’ backup goaltender who made the most of his rare opportunity. Budaj outdueled Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist, who made 25 saves in his first start in nine days due to an undisclosed injury. The Rangers carried the play early, outshooting Montreal 5-1 in the opening eight minutes, with the Canadiens blocking an additional five shot attempts in that span. Chris Kreider had the first quality scoring chance for New York less than two minutes into the game, when he pounced on a rebound off a John Moore point shot. But Budaj got just enough of the puck to send it caroming off the crossbar. In a tight-checking affair that saw both teams do a good job blocking passing and shooting lanes, the opportunities to break open the game were few and far between. Through 20 minutes, Montreal and New York actually combined for almost as many blocked shots (13) as shots on net (14). Kreider again figured in a quality chance with less than seven minutes remaining in the second period.

 

 

The 22-year-old forward beat Francis Bouillon to a loose puck behind the Montreal net and quickly fed Derek Stepan in front. But Budaj kept the game tied with a quick kick save. The teams combined for 11 power-play opportunities, and Montreal took control of the contest by striking first with the man advantage. With 3:26 remaining in the second and Brian Boyle serving a roughing penalty, rookie Michael Bournival's soft pass sent Plekanec storming towards the Rangers’ net down the left wing. It was a quick sequence of passes from Andrei Markov to Brian Gionta to Bournival that momentarily broke down the New York defense. And the slightest of backhand passes provided an open lane for Plekanec, who went to his backhand to beat a sprawling Lundqvist for his team-leading sixth goal of the season. The Rangers appeared to have a prime opportunity to tie the game on the power play early in the third. Once again, a potentially pivotal play came down to the slightest detail. Derrick Brassard was left speeding down the wing all alone following a collision at the Canadiens' blue line. But the collision was precipitated by Kreider catching a piece of Raphael Diaz's skate on the play, earning Kreider an interference penalty.

Trailing 1-0, the Rangers found some space with four minutes remaining in regulation. But Budaj stopped Mats Zuccarello on the doorstep off a Rangers rush. Moments later, Galchenyuk earned an important insurance marker following some great work by Brenden Gallagher and a cross-crease feed from Lars Eller. The puck went in off Galchenyuk's skate and replay officials ruled that there was no distinct kicking motion on the play. The Canadiens, who host the Dallas Stars on Tuesday, have now won four straight against the Rangers and have not lost to New York since March 30, 2012. The night ultimately belonged to Budaj, who appeared sharp despite not having played in almost three weeks. In his two starts this season, he has allowed one goal and stopped 54 of 55 shots. NY Rangers, simply never created enough real scoring chances and their power-play was embarrasing.

Pittsburgh @ Carolina 3-1 - 10/28

The Pittsburgh Penguins' 3-1 win against the Carolina Hurricanes on Monday generated a garden-variety two points for the perennial Eastern Conference power. The game was not always pretty. It featured lots of grinding. It was, like so many other road battles during the season, a hard-fought victory for Pittsburgh. But once in a while, an opportunity comes along to stop and appreciate the joys of the game. The first incident arrived at 2.28 when Brent Sutter delivered a dirty hit on Craig Adams. Sutter was made to pay though, by Adams' line mate Joe Vitale, who got several good punches in during their fight. While the victory will be remembered by most for halting the Penguins' three-game losing streak, it will also be recalled as Jayson Megna's night. An undrafted free agent with hockey roots in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Omaha, Neb., Megna made a name for himself with the first goal and assist of his career in his second NHL game. Megna set up the Penguins' first score when he drove to the net and fired a shot off the pads of Carolina goaltender Justin Peters, earning an assist when Tanner Glass buried the rebound. Then, with Pittsburgh looking for breathing room with a 2-1 lead in the third, Megna went to the net and enjoyed the good fortune of having a Sidney Crosby shot deflect off him and into the net.

"I felt it go off my shin pad and I looked back and saw it in the net, so I figured it was probably me," he said. "Not how I dreamed it up, but I'll take it any way I can get it."

Though he described the goal calmly, his celebration was in line with those of most NHL players who find the net for the first time. There was a fist pump, a twirl and a smile, clear signs of excitement with scoring that first one.

"It's hard to describe, to put in words," said Megna, who scored 12 points in 56 games at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in the American Hockey League last season. "It's a great feeling. Even now I can't explain it. I was really jacked up for it."

Only a select few can say they did it with an assist from a star. Megna's moment will always be special because Crosby's name will appear after his in parentheses. While the rookie held court with the media afterwards, the Penguins captain sat unbothered in his locker for a moment, until he was asked about his role in the first goal.

"I don't know how many it's been, but I've been in on a few," Crosby said. "It's still fun to see the look on every guy's face when he scores that first goal. There's nothing you can say that explains it. It's just pure joy. It's a lot of hard work and a dream come true for every guy who scores his first NHL goal. It never gets old."

The helper on Megna's goal was Crosby's second of the night. After Hurricanes' forward Nathan Gerbe tied the game late in the first period during a 5-on-3 power play, Crosby set up Chris Kunitz for the go-ahead goal in the second period. He took a long pass from Brooks Orpik at the offensive blue line before turning outside, then curling in at the top of the faceoff circle. He put a pass on the tape of Kunitz, who redirected the puck past Justin Peters on the left door step. Orpik assisted on all three Pittsburgh goals, good for the second three-point night of his career. While the Penguins were glad to put an end to their losing streak, they received some bad injury news Monday. Defenseman Rob Scuderi will need surgery for a broken ankle sustained Saturday against the Toronto Maple Leafs. He left Raleigh Monday morning to be re-examined by team doctors. Pittsburgh coach Dan Bylsma said there is no timetable for his recovery.

"For a time, we're going to be at the seven (defensemen) we have here," Bylsma said. "We have the depth and guys who can step in and play and make our group strong. Obviously, we'll be missing what Rob Scuderi brings to our team."

As Pittsburgh climbed out of a three-game tailspin, the Hurricanes find themselves caught in one. The offense is sputtering, with only modest production from some of the front-line forwards and little scoring depth. In the Hurricanes' eight combined regulation and overtime losses, they have scored more than two goals just once.

"In the third, Pittsburgh got the lead, and they know how to shut teams down," Carolina coach Kirk Muller said. "We got pushed out of the game. We weren't able to generate anything in the third period. They played a heavier game than we did. They won more battles than we did. They grinded harder."

Megna won't remember the game for the grind. He'll recall the hard-driving assist and the first goal on the helper from Crosby. He will always have the puck and the memory of his parents being at the arena. And of course, he might be tempted to revise the play-by-play with Crosby some day when he has kids who want to hear about their dad's first NHL goal.

"He will definitely remember it was from Crosby," Bylsma said. "I think he will remember it [going] top shelf a couple years from now."

No chance, Megna insisted. "No, I'll probably just tell them like it is,"

Dallas @ Buffalo 4-3 - 10/28

The Dallas Stars made coach Lindy Ruff's return to Buffalo a successful one. Jamie Benn's fourth goal of the season at 10:55 of the second period proved to be the difference in the Stars' 4-3 victory at First Niagara Center on Monday night. It was a happy homecoming for Ruff, who returned to Buffalo for the first time since being fired by the Sabres last season. Ruff coached Buffalo for nearly 15 seasons.

"It's kind of a huge relief," Ruff said. "I said it felt really strange coming back and I thought we came out really good. We made a couple mistakes and they clawed their way back."

During the first break in the game in the first period, the Sabres paid tribute to Ruff showing a video on the overhead scoreboard, honoring his career in Buffalo.

"It was awesome," Ruff said. "I've spent my whole life here. Really a visiting coach comes in, and I know I've been here a long time, but to do something like that by the organization was second to none. You know, I have a lot of respect for the years I had here. You know, I've said the hockey is one thing, the way the community has supported myself and my family has been second to none. The fans have been terrific and I was really glad once the tribute was over and I really wanted to get the game over after that. [There's] a lot of good memories there."

Sabres players were happy to see their former coach recognized as well.

"Lindy's connection is far beyond hockey," Sabres goalie Ryan Miller said. "I'm glad we took a moment. He definitely deserved it."

Vernon Fiddler would start the scoring for Dallas 2:59 into the first period, when he was left alone near the net to deke and beat Miller. The lead would last 27 seconds. Matt Moulson scored his first of two goals as a member of the Sabres at 3:26 with a one-timer from the slot in just his second shift of the game. Moulson was acquired from the New York Islanders, along with a first-round pick at the 2014 NHL Draft and a second-round selection in 2015, on Sunday in exchange for left wing Thomas Vanek.

"I'm not going to lie, that was probably the most nervous I've been for a game since my first game in the NHL," Moulson said. "I had a bit of butterflies in the stomach. It kind of settled me down there. Cody [Hodgson] and Enzo [Tyler Ennis] played great tonight."

The Stars would take the lead for good at 16:40 of the first, when Alex Goligoski scored a power-play goal during a double-minor penalty to Sabres captain Steve Ott.

"I hold myself accountable for taking a bad penalty and costing us a goal tonight," Ott said. "It's simply not good enough."

Tyler Seguin made it 3-1 1:12 later with his fifth goal of the season. Seguin's line with Benn and Erik Cole was a new combination for the Stars.

"Benn, Cole, and I played together in the preseason and we know each other's games a lot better now," Seguin said. "We could've put together a better three periods in total effort out there. It was a good move by Lindy, once again, sparking our line a little bit after the last few games and it worked."

Ott helped make up for his mistake with a power-play goal off a pass from Mikhail Grigorenko 1:59 after Seguin's goal to make it 4-2. Then at 17:17 of the second period, Moulson added his second of the night while tumbling to the ice to bring the Sabres to within 4-3, but they wouldn't get another one past Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen, who made 22 saves to earn the win. He withstood a flurry of chances in the final minute to preserve the win.

"I don't think anybody's ever calm when there's a minute left and you're up by one goal and they're coming at you," Lehtonen said. "Those last maybe four shots I was able to see them. They weren't able to get the traffic in front of me on those shots so I think that made it a little bit easier. It's always a little nerve racking when you're up but in the end it feels good to help the team win."

Miller stopped 25 shots in the loss. It was the Sabres' second loss in a row and fifth in their past six games.

"I thought our effort was really, really solid tonight," Ott said. "You work hard like that most nights, you're going to get ways to wins games. We've got to stick with this process. … Tonight there was probably the most positive signs I've seen in a long, long time."

The Sabres (2-11-1) will hit the road to face the New York Rangers on Thursday night. The Stars (5-5-1) conclude their two-game road trip in Montreal on Tuesday.

 

 

Results - Sun, Oct 27, 2013

San Jose @ Ottawa 5-2 - Hertl scored his eighth goal at 1:16 of the first. Andrew Desjardins made it 2-0 with his first goal at 6:35. Tommy Wingels scored the Sharks' third goal of the opening period with a shorthanded effort at 18:15. Logan Couture drove in on Ottawa goalie Craig Anderson, who turned aside the San Jose center's shot, but left the puck sitting just beyond his pad in the crease for Wingels to tap home. James Sheppard added his first goal of the season at 1:29 of the third to give San Jose its third two-goal lead of the game at 4-2. Joe Pavelski scored the Sharks' fifth goal at 7:59. Both of Ottawa's goals came on drives from their defensemen. Erik Karlsson drew the Senators to within 2-1 at 11:07 of the first with his third goal on a one-timer from just inside the blue line. Marc Methot closed the margin to one once again with his first goal at 9:09 of the second. Cory Conacher screened Stalock and picked up an assist when Karlsson drove a one-timer from just inside the blue line on a pass from Kyle Turris for his third goal. Methot drew Ottawa within 2-1 with a slap shot past Stalock into the top right corner from the left point.

Tampa Bay @ Florida 4-3 SO - Stamkos, Radko Gudas, and Martin St. Louis scored in regulation for Tampa Bay, which has won five of six. Anders Lindback stopped 29 shots and turned aside three of four Florida shooters in the tiebreaker. Stamkos also had an assist. Brad Boyes, Nick Bjugstad and Shawn Matthias scored, and Markstrom made 25 saves for Florida. Boyes also had a shootout goal. Jonathan Huberdeau, Aleksander Barkov, and Dmitry Kulikov all missed. The Lightning scored two goals on their first three shots, including on just 41 seconds into the game. Stamkos passed from the top of the right circle to St. Louis, who poked in the puck from in front. St. Louis has scored in three straight games. Stamkos made it 2-0 at 4:35. Markstrom blocked a shot by Ryan Malone, but the long rebound went out to Stamkos in the right circle for a slap shot. Florida closed to 2-1 on Matthias' first goal of the season. Matthias grabbed a puck in traffic in front of the crease and slipped it behind Lindback at 13:48 of the first. It was Matthias' first goal in 23 games, dating to last season. Tampa Bay stretched its lead to 3-1 during a power play in the second period. Gudas took a wrist shot from just inside the blue line that deflected off Florida's Mike Weaver and got past Markstrom at 9:58. Gudas got a game misconduct at 12:51 of the third when he slashed at the boards in front of the Panthers' bench after being squirted with water by Upshall, who received an unsportsmanlike conduct call. Florida rallied from a 3-1 deficit in the third period and closed to 3-2 on Bjugstad's goal at 5:39 when he tipped in Scottie Upshall's shot from the point. Florida tied it when Boyes grabbed an errant puck and backhanded it under Lindback's pads from in front at 8:51. Boyes leads the Panthers with five goals, but this was his first in seven games.

Anaheim @ Columbus 4-3 - Corey Perry scored with 2:25 to play and the Ducks survived the loss of another player for a 4-3 win against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday at Nationwide Arena. Perry took a bouncing puck off the end board to the left of goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky. He faked shooting as he skated to the right, then put a shot over the sprawling Bobrovsky. He leads the Ducks with six goals. Artem Anisimov had two goals for Columbus, including tying the game at 3 near the midpoint of the third period after Emerson Etem put Anaheim ahead earlier in the period during a five-minute power play. Blue Jackets center Brandon Dubinsky was given a major for interference and a game misconduct when he delivered a dirty hit on Saku Koivu in the face at 19:25 of the second period. Dubinsky did not leave his feet, but his shoulder appeared to hit Koivu in the jaw. Koivu did not return. Dubinsky said he didn't feel his hit warranted an ejection but he realizes The League is worried about all contact to the head area. Anaheim coach Bruce Boudreau said Koivu was knocked out on the play, but was walking around in the dressing room after the game. Boudreau said he had not watched video of the play and would not comment. Dubinsky checked Koivu just after the Ducks player released the puck. Emerson gave the Ducks the temporary 3-2 lead and an emotional left at 1:51 on a rebound of a Teemu Selanne shot from the slot for his second goal. Anaheim still had 2:36 of power play remaining after Etem scored, but were unable to add any insurance and it would come back to haunt them because Anisimov responded at 11:36 by redirecting a shot from the right point by James Wisniewski to make it 3-3. Once Perry put the Ducks ahead they held off the Blue Jackets despite taking their first penalty with 97 seconds remaining. Columbus pulled Sergei Bobrovsky for a two-man advantage, but managed only one shot on Frederik Andersen, who had 18 saves. Goals by Comeau and Anisimov, shorthanded, tied the game at 2 for the Blue Jackets through two periods to counter goals by Ryan Getzlaf and Peter Holland. Getzlaf got his fifth goal after 19 seconds off a pass by Corey Perry. Getzlaf one-timed the feed through the pads of Bobrovsky. Bobrovsky was also shaky on Anaheim's second goal when he left the post unprotected for Holland's first goal at 6:59. Dubinsky had the Blue Jackets first man-down goal of the season against the Maple Leafs, but this time he set up Anisimov at 12:12.

Winnipeg @ Colorado 2-3 - The Avalanche outshot the Jets 17-6 in the third period and killed off Winnipeg's fifth power play of the game after Hejda scored the tying goal at 7:13 when he hammered a shot from the left circle that sailed over goalie Al Montoya's left shoulder. Hejda figured he had some making up to do after taking two penalties, including a trip against Devin Setoguchi with 1:43 left in the second period. Stastny was by himself just outside the crease when Gabriel Landeskog slid the puck to him through the slot after Alex Tanguay drew two Jets defenders to him. Stastny knocked the puck inside the left post to break the tie. The Avalanche killed off three penalties after Blake Wheeler ripped a shot from the right point into the net to give the Jets their 2-1 lead at 10:02 of the second period. The puck trickled behind goalie Semyon Varlamov three seconds after the Avalanche finished killing the Jets' second power play of the game. Colorado opened the scoring at 8:04 of the first period on Matt Duchene's ninth goal of the season. Steve Downie put a shot on goal from the right side, Montoya kicked the rebound into the left circle and Duchene banged the rebound into an open net. The Jets tied the game at the 11-minute mark after Adam Pardy shot the puck off the end boards. The puck ricocheted to the opposite side and Bryan Little fired it inside the right post before Varlamov could slide over in time. The Jets announced before the game that defenseman Paul Postma has a blood clot in his leg and will be sidelined indefinitely. Postma played Saturday in the Jets' 2-1 shootout win against the Dallas Stars.

Edmonton @ Los Angeles 1-2 SO - The Los Angeles Kings thrive on grinding out low-scoring games. They usually don't have to grind for this long, though, particularly against a struggling defense. L.A. put a season-high 48 shots on newly-recalled Edmonton Oilers goalie Richard Bachman and still managed only one goal. It wasn't until Anze Kopitar scored in the third round of a shootout Sunday night that the Kings earned a 2-1 win at Staples Center. Kopitar snapped a shot past the blocker side of Bachman to end a defensive stalemate. Jonathan Quick made 17 saves and stopped David Perron and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins in the shootout to barely edge Bachman, who stopped Jeff Carter but allowed shootout goals to Mike Richards and Kopitar. Jordan Eberle scored in the shootout for Edmonton. Just when it looked like L.A. would go into the third period down, 1-0, Richards' patience paid off down low when he grabbed Jake Muzzin's rebound, took his time and scored on a sharp-angle shot from the left side of the net at 16:58 of the second. Matt Frattin helped screen goalie Bachman, who couldn't track the puck until Richards fired it past his shoulder. Bachman wasn't tested much early, but held his ground on a night when the usually fast-skating Oilers muddled against the plodding Kings. Edmonton put 12 shots on goal in the first two periods despite getting four power plays and was outshot 48-18 in regulation and overtime. Nail Yakupov's first goal this season was a one-timer off Anton Belov's rebound at 4:12 of the second period after Ales Hemsky brought the puck across the blue line. Muzzin was serving an interference penalty. It ended a seven-game drought, dating to Edmonton's last power-play goal Oct.12. Already missing Taylor Hall and Ryan Smyth up front, Edmonton also didn't have Tyler Pitlick because of a knee injury from Saturday.

Edmonton @ Phoenix 4-5 - 10/27

The Phoenix Coyotes have scored 40 goals, won seven games, earned 16 points and are off to their best 12-game start in a decade. What they don't have is a very happy coach - or anything that resembles the system play Dave Tippett believes to be essential for his team to be anything more than fan-friendly. The Ice Capades continued Saturday as the Coyotes won another track meet at Jobing.com Arena. Phoenix rallied from two deficits and blew yet another two-goal lead before Keith Yandle and Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored power-play goals 1:43 apart in the third period for a wild 5-4 victory against the struggling Edmonton Oilers. The Coyotes improved to 4-0-1 at home and 7-3-2 on the season despite blowing a 3-1 second-period lead and trailing 4-3 midway through the third period after a three-goal Edmonton flurry. Phoenix has allowed 39 goals - four or more in a game five times. Watching the Coyotes has been fun for the fans, but not so much for Tippett.

"I like scoring goals, don't get me wrong. I like some of the plays we're making on that end," Tippett said after several postgame comments dripping with sarcasm. "I just don't like us giving up four and five a night. You're not going to win in this league doing that. You'll be a fun team, that's about it. If you're going to go out there and be loosey-goosey and give away chances and goals left and right, it might be good entertainment but it won't be winning hockey."

Phoenix is getting away with it so far. Ekman-Larsson had a goal and two assists while Radim Vrbata added chipped in with assists for the Coyotes, who are 12-1-2 in their last 15 meetings against Edmonton and have points in eight of the last nine games (6-1-2). Edmonton was 0-for-2 on its power play, which has now failed 21 straight times in the past seven games. But when the Oilers took three penalties in the final 10:10 of the third period, the penalty kill failed them twice. At 3-8-1, the Western Conference basement dwellers have lost seven of the last nine and head to Los Angeles for a tough back-to-back against the Kings on Sunday. Martin Hanzal, Michael Stone and David Schlemko scored goals in the first 5:47 of the second period to wipe out a 1-0 Edmonton lead. Goals by Will Acton and David Perron pulled the Oilers even after 40 minutes, and when Ryan Jones deflected home a Ryan Nugent-Hopkins shot at 7:23 of the third period, Edmonton had a 4-3 lead.

"Once again, we played a pretty solid game for the most part," said Nugent-Hopkins, who had a pair of assists. "Obviously, you can't take three penalties in the last 10 minutes."

Captain Andrew Ference started Edmonton's parade to the box, hooking down Rob Klinkhammer. Yandle used a screen to put a hard wrist shot past former teammate Jason LaBarbera and into the bottom corner for his first goal of the season at 10:40 to tie the game for the third time. Edmonton's Mark Arcobello caught Klinkhammer in the face with a high stick 41 seconds later to give the Coyotes another power play. Yandle make a sprawling, goalie-style stop with his gloves to ruin an Edmonton clearing attempt before Ekman-Larsson's shot from the point trickled through LaBarbera's pad to give Phoenix the lead for good.

"I went back to my Little League days on that one," Yandle said. "I used to play a mean shortstop back then. The defense scored four goals today. If you look at our back end, every guy can jump up and make plays and I thought we did that today."

Mike Smith made 24 saves in his battle with LaBarbera (23 saves), who left Phoenix for Edmonton as a free agent during the summer. But neither goalie was sharp in a rare Arizona afternoon matinee, and the Oilers didn't give LaBarbera much help - two of Phoenix's first three goals were deflected into the net by Edmonton players.

"I know what our players were thinking there, they are trying to get their sticks on the puck," Edmonton coach Dallas Eakins said. "But we don't want that. You block shots with your body, not your stick."

Tyler Pitlick gave Edmonton a 1-0 lead 9:59 into play when he regained control of his own fanned shot and reloaded one that found its way between Smith's pads. The unassisted goal was the first in the NHL for the 21-year-old Pitlick, who left soon afterward when he was clipped by a Schlemko hip check. Outscored 14-5 in the first period this season, and 5-0 in the past two games - Phoenix regrouped quickly with a flurry of three goals in a five-minute span early in the second. It started with Hanzal, who is in the midst of the best offensive surge in his career. Just 47 seconds into the period, Ekman-Larsson took a crisp pass from Shane Doan and found Hanzal steaming up the slot. The pass deflected off Hanzal's skate and by LaBarbera to give Hanzal his fifth goal and third in the last two games. Hanzal has at least one point in nine of Phoenix's first 12 games.

"He's gone to the net and screen in front of the net as well as I've ever seen him do," Tippett said. "He's had a good start to the year and he's an important player for us."

Stone, in for the injured Rostislav Klesla, put a shot through traffic that hit Ference before beating LaBarbera at 5:20. Schelmko's 55-footer from the point was deflected into the net by Arcobello 27 seconds later, leaving LaBarbera flat-footed and obviously frustrated. Edmonton coach Dallas Eakins pulled LaBarbera for Devan Dubnyk, but sent his starter back out after a 39-second break and the Oilers regrouped in front of him to get back even before the end of the period. At 8:03, Acton won a battle for a Ben Eager rebound and stuffed it past Smith for his second goal. Then Perron, who was robbed by Smith in close and hit the crossbar earlier in the period, was on the receiving end of great passes from Justin Schultz and Nugent-Hopkins for an easy put away at 19:42 to make it a 3-3 game.

"The first two goals were no good goal for [Smith] to give up," Tippett said. "The third one would be tactically glaring … the kind of thing we'll be looking at [in practice] Monday."