NY Islanders @ Washington 6-2 - Both teams scored twice at even strength, but the Capitals scored four power-play goals in one game for the first time since Dec. 9, 2011, regaining the League lead in power-play percentage at 27.9 percent in the process. New York was 0-for-5 on the man advantage, though John Tavares' game-opening goal went into the net just as a penalty he drew on Mikhail Grabovski expired. Tavares scored off a scramble 5:58 into the game after Holtby kicked the puck out towards Frans Nielsen, who got just enough of his stick on it for a chip to an unattended Tavares in the slot. Despite falling behind after 20 minutes, the Capitals used Islanders turnovers and penalties to blow the game open in the second period. John Carlson tied it at 3:06 when he stepped in front of a Kyle Okposo pass intended for Thomas Vanek at the New York blue line, moved into the zone and snapped a shot past Nabokov for his second goal of the season. When Cal Clutterbuck went off for tripping just over a minute later, Backstrom won the draw back to Ovechkin, who ripped a shot past Nabokov three seconds into the power play. Okposo atoned for his earlier misplay 17 seconds after Ovechkin's first goal with a snap shot past Holtby to make it 2-2, but Marcus Johansson's first goal of the season, also on the power play, came at 6:50 and put the Capitals ahead for good. Alexander Urbom also scored his first goal of the season, beating Nabokov 80 seconds after Johansson on an impressive play by Tom Wilson. Nabokov thwarted Wilson's drive to the net, but as Wilson tripped and slid across the ice, he was able to send a pass to Urbom at the point for a wide-open blast. Ovechkin's second power-play goal at 17:18 came from his usual spot in the left circle and completed the Capitals' second five-goal second period in three games. Washington also scored five times in the middle period of a 7-0 victory against the Philadelphia Flyers on Friday. The Capitals killed off three New York power plays in the third period before Ovechkin set up Wilson's tip-in goal, his first career goal and Washington's fourth power-play goal of the game, with 4:01 remaining. Meanwhile, the Islanders, who had their two-game winning streak snapped, were left reeling after being bombarded.
Ottawa @ Columbus 4-1 - Erik Karlsson scored the first goal then last into an empty net, and Clarke MacArthur and Chris Neil scored in between for the Senators (5-6-4), who led 2-0 after one period. Columbus could not solve Lehner until Umberger's goal at 3:02 of the third period made it 2-1. Umberger was being checked by Marc Methot in the low slot when he picked the puck off the stick of Chris Phillips. Umberger then took the shot from his knees for his second goal. Skill-less goon, Chris Neil iced the win for the Senators at 13:55 by taking a pass from Jason Spezza and beating Curtis McElhinney. Neil 29 seconds later dropped the gloves with Dalton Prout for his second fight of the period after earlier engaging Jared Boll. Those were among four fights. Karlsson scored his sixth goal of the season into an empty net with 18 seconds left. Ottawa took the lead with two rushes that resulted in goals after spending most of the first period defending. Columbus had eight of its 13 shots, plus another off the crossbar by James Wisniewski, during two power plays, but Lehner was unyielding, particularly on the first kill when he made six saves. A minute after the Senators returned to full strength, Karlsson struck on their eighth shot. He created a turnover in the neutral zone then skated to the right dot, where he snapped a wrist shot under the crossbar to fool McElhinney at 14:51 for the unassisted goal. Another transitional goal came with 3.9 seconds left when the Blue Jackets' defensive-zone coverage fell apart. The Senators created an odd-man rush with Kyle Turris left alone in the slot for a one-timer he fired left of goal. As two Blue Jackets swiped at the rebound off the boards, Bobby Ryan swooped in, wheeled behind the net and fed MacArthur for the bang-bang goal. McElhinney, who stopped 20 of 23 shots, made consecutive starts for the first time this season in place of Sergei Bobrovsky after making 24 saves in the loss to Pittsburgh. McElhinney's previous two starts came in the second of back-to-back games.
St Louis @ Montreal 3-2 SO - Alexander Steen scored his League-leading 13th goal in 13 games and Chris Stewart also scored for the Blues (9-2-2), who won for the fourth time in five games. T.J. Oshie was the lone shooter to score in the shootout. Steen failed to score a goal in the Blues' 4-2 road loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday, just the second time that's happened this season. But he quickly rectified the situation by putting the Blues ahead at 2:38 of the first on a one-timer of a David Backes feed after Backes forced Douglas Murray into a turnover behind the Canadiens net. Down 2-1 entering the third in spite of clearly controlling the play for the vast majority of the game, the Blues tied it up midway through the period when Kevin Shattenkirk's bouncing shot from the point was tipped into the net by Stewart at 10:31 for his second goal of the season. Backes nearly allowed the Canadiens to win the game with 48.9 seconds to play in regulation when he was called for intentionally dislodging the Blues net, resulting in a penalty shot. Plekanec came in on Halak down the middle of the ice, but his wrist shot grazed his former teammate's arm and went wide, sending the game to overtime. After Steen gave St. Louis the early lead the Blues dominated much of the first period, but were unable to build on that lead, thanks to Price. The Canadiens took advantage in the second when Bourque scored his fifth of the season at 5:38, picking up a rebound off defenseman Andrei Markov's hard-driving move into Halak's crease to tie the game. St. Louis defenseman Jay Bouwmeester helped the Canadiens take the lead 2-1 at 14:49 of the second when he was pressured by Brian Gionta into a giveaway in the slot to Bournival, who beat Halak between the legs for his fourth goal in 10 games.
Edmonton @ Florida 4-3 OT - Mark Arcobello and Taylor Fedun each scored his first NHL goal in regulation before Arcobello added a second goal 1:55 into overtime to give the Oilers a 4-3 victory against the Florida Panthers. For good measure, defenseman Philip Larsen scored his first goal of the season. Arcobello connected in overtime on a power play when he one-timed a pass from Ales Hemsky past goalie Jacob Markstrom. Scottie Upshall scored his first two goals of the season for the Panthers, including the game-tying goal with an extra attacker on the ice with 57.6 seconds left in the third period. But it was Upshall who was in the penalty box for tripping when Arcobello scored the game-winner. Upshall tied the game when he got a loose puck at the top of the left circle and fired a wrist shot past Dubnyk. Upshall made it 3-2 at 10:04 of the third period with a nice individual effort. After falling to the ice to steal the puck at the Edmonton blue line, he skated to the high slot before taking a feed from Winchester and beating Dubnyk with a wrist shot. Edmonton scored twice in 33 seconds early in the second period to break a 1-1 tie. Markstrom was caught deep in his net and giving up the top when Arcobello beat him with a sharp-angle shot at 2:06. Fedun, recalled from the Oklahoma City Barons of the American Hockey League on Monday, made it 3-1 when he redirected a feed from Nugent-Hopkins on a 2-on-1 at 2:39. Larsen was playing in his second game of the season after being recalled from Oklahoma City on Friday. He tied the score at 16:59 of the first period on a goal similar to Fedun's, also redirecting a feed from Nugent-Hopkins across the net. Larsen's goal snapped the Oilers' scoreless streak at 172:46. They had been shut out since Nail Yakupov scored at 4:12 of the second period of a 2-1 shootout loss against the Los Angeles Kings on Oct. 27. Goc opened the scoring 10:35 into the game when he took a centering feed from Jonathan Huberdeau after jumping on the ice and skating into the offensive zone and beat Dubnyk with a wrist shot to the glove side.
Philadelphia @ Carolina 1-2 OT - The two teams played 56-plus minutes of scoreless hockey before Philadelphia's Scott Hartnell tipped in Kimmo Timonen's power-play shot from the point. Then, with 53 seconds left, Jordan Staal rescued the Hurricanes, firing the puck past Flyers goalie Steve Mason from the top of the crease after taking a pass from his brother Eric. It was Jordan Staal's second goal of the season. Jordan Staal's goal was equally important on an individual level. With three points through the first 14 games, he was not producing on the offensive end as Carolina had expected of him. Making the tying goal more special was the fact that his brother Eric set it up from behind the net. Because the two have not played together much, the goal left a lasting impression. That goal set up Malhotra's moment. Sidelined since being placed on injured reserve by the Vancouver Canucks early in the 2012-13 season, Malhotra played eight games with the American Hockey League's Charlotte Checkers at the start of the season, hoping to put his 2011 eye injury behind him. Three games after signing an NHL contract with the Hurricanes, he's proven something to himself. The Hurricanes activated forward Radek Dvorak from injured-reserve list Tuesday. The right wing had missed three games with a lower-body injury.
Calgary @ Minnesota 1-5 - The Wild's reunited top line of Parise, Koivu and Charlie Coyle combined for seven points and was a plus-5 overall to lead the Wild to a 5-1 victory against the Calgary Flames at Xcel Energy Center on Tuesday night. It took the line just 9:07 to get on the board against the Flames after a sluggish start put the Wild in an early 1-0 hole. Coyle stole the puck at center and fed a pass to the left corner in the Wild's offensive zone. Parise and Koivu won a battle for the puck as Parise circled behind the net and put a shot towards Flames goaltender Reto Berra. Berra stopped the initial shot but the rebound came free near the left post to Koivu, who roofed a backhander for his second goal of the season. The trio struck again early in the second, this time on the power play, as Parise slammed home a rebound of his own shot in front for his seventh of the season at 6:28. Koivu earned the second assist on the play for his first multi-point game of the season. The Flames could not take advantage of three turnovers by the Wild early in the third period, and Minnesota made them pay by grabbing a 3-1 lead at 8:05 when Justin Fontaine skated from behind the net to the hash marks in front and banked his fifth of the season into the net off a defenseman. Fontaine's five goals are third among all rookies. Just 33 seconds later, Zenon Konopka made it 4-1, capping a 2-on-1 break with Torrey Mitchell by firing a wrist shot short-side past Berra. The goal was Konopka's first point with the Wild in his 53rd game with the team. The Parise-Koivu-Suter combo struck again at 13:14 with a highlight reel goal that saw Koivu throw a no-look pass to Parise, who roofed his eighth of the season past a sprawling Berra. The three-point effort was the 27th of Parise's career and 21st for Koivu. The Flames began the game like a team ready to win its second consecutive game on the road. After defeating the defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks 3-2 in overtime Sunday night, Calgary fired the game's five shots on Wild goaltender Josh Harding, grabbing a 1-0 lead at 5:24 when Lance Bouma led a mini 2-on-1 break and fed a backhanded pass to Jiri Hudler in the slot for his sixth of the season.
Buffalo @ San Jose 5-4 SO - After taking a two-goal lead early in the third period Tuesday night against the San Jose Sharks, the Buffalo Sabres watched it disappear in a flash on back-to-back goals by Tyler Kennedy and rookie Tomas Hertl. The Shark Tank was rocking, and the Sabres appeared destined for a fifth straight loss in a nightmarish season. Buffalo's Cody Hodgson scored the winner in the fourth round of the shootout, faking left then going right and beating Sharks goaltender Antti Niemi to his glove side. San Jose's Logan Couture opened the shootout with a goal, beating Ryan Miller to his stick side, but Matt Moulson immediately answered with a goal of his own, beating Niemi on almost the same move. The Sabres took a 2-1 lead into the third period and quickly extended it to 3-1 at 1:20 on Ennis' power-play goal with Sharks defenseman Dan Boyle in the penalty box for hooking Marcus Foligno. It took the Sabres just 15 seconds to score on the power play. Hodgson poked a loose puck from the left circle to Moulson in the slot, creating a 2-on-1 with Ennis on his right. Moulson zipped a pass to Ennis, who buried his shot. The Sharks answered quickly. Kennedy scored on a rebound at 3:19 and Hertl on a wraparound just 70 seconds later. The goal was Hertl's team-high ninth of the season. Once again, Buffalo rallied to take the lead, this time on Tallinder's second goal of the season at 7:28. Niemi blocked one shot, but he couldn't corral the rebound and the Sharks couldn't clear the puck. Tallinder, left all alone, ripped a shot from the slot past Niemi's glove. The Sabres had a chance to increase their lead when Kennedy went to the box for interference at 8:49 and Scott Hannan quickly joined him for hooking. But the Sharks killed 1:22 of a 5-on-3 and escaped unscathed. The Sharks made it 4-4 at 16:41 on Wingels' fourth goal of the season. Hertl fired a shot from close range that bounced off Havlat and landed in the crease. With Miller out of position, a diving Wingels got his stick on the puck and poked it over the goal line, just seconds after a power play ended. The Sharks nearly ended it with just over three minutes left in OT when Kennedy hit the right post. After the game, there were reports that, based on replays, Wingels' had jammed the rebound past Miller and barely over the goal line before the Sabres knocked it away. But there was no video review of the play, and neither team brought up the play during post-game interviews. Havlat gave the Sharks a 1-0 lead at 8:48 of the opening period with his first goal of the season, in just his third game since returning from offseason pelvic surgery. The goal snapped Miller's shutout streak against the Sharks at 139 minutes and 22 seconds. Miller had made 88 consecutive saves during that span before Havlat scored from close range on a rebound. During that siege, the Sharks fired four shots at Miller in a span of 10 seconds before Havlat scored. Buffalo had been outscored 20-2 in the opening period, while the Sharks had outscored their opponents 19-8 in the first period before Tuesday. So it came as no surprise when the Sharks struck first and took a 1-0 lead into the second. However, the Sabres scored twice in the second period to take a 2-1 lead on goals by Stafford and McCormick. Stafford scored at 2:36, making forward Tyler Kennedy pay for a turnover in the Sharks zone. Jamie McBain sent Stafford a quick pass in the slot, and he fired a wrist shot that trickled through Niemi's legs and into the net. The Sabres took the lead at 5:53 on McCormick's first goal of the season. Buffalo's Zemgus Girgensons won a faceoff against Andrew Desjardins and Stafford got the puck to McCormick, who blasted it through Niemi's legs. The Sharks nearly tied it midway through the period during their second power play of the game, but Wingels' shot from close range clanked off the crossbar . "On the power play we had a couple of good chances, but that doesn't mean anything until you score a goal," Wingels said. "It was a lack of concentration. When we execute a play fast we're tough to stay with. They played a patient game, capitalized on a couple turnovers. That was a good win for them." Miller put on a goaltending clinic during the Sharks' third power play of the night by making five saves, two of them spectacular. He robbed Patrick Marleau, using his left pad to stop a blast headed just inside the right post, then denied Couture by extending his right pad to stop a shot headed just inside the left post.
No comments:
Post a Comment