Washington @ Florida 2-3 SO - Scott Clemmensen stopped the Capitals' final six shootout attempts before Tomas Kopecky scored the game-winner in the second half of the 10th round. Jonathan Huberdeau, Brad Boyes and Nick Bjugstad also scored in the shootout for Florida; the goals by Boyes and Bjugstad extended the game. Eric Fehr, Nicklas Backstrom and Mikhail Grabovski scored in the shootout for the Capitals. Florida improved to 4-4 in tiebreakers this season; Washington is 5-2. The shootout tied for the second-longest in Panthers history. The longest also came against Washington, a 2-1 victory that ended in the 11th round on Nov. 28, 2007. Washington captain Alex Ovechkin, who had 48 goals in his previous 50 games, did not score and was limited to two shots on goal. Clemmensen also stopped him in the shootout. Dylan Olsen and rookie Aleksander Barkov scored in regulation for the Panthers, who have won four of five. Backstrom had a goal and an assist for the Capitals, giving him 10 points in his last six games. Joel Ward added a power-play goal for the Capitals, who had won three in a row and five of six. Florida led 1-0 and was outshooting Washington 26-10 late in the second period when the game took a sudden turn after Panthers defenseman Erik Gudbranson was assessed a match penalty after a hit to the head of Fehr. Gudbranson appeared to leave his feet as he leaned into Fehr in the neutral zone at 16:16. Fehr went to the Washington dressing room but was back for the start of the third period. Capitals forward Troy Brouwer was given a minor penalty for instigating a fight with Gudbranson, leaving each team down a man for two minutes before the Capitals got a power play for 3:00. Backstrom tied the game 18 seconds into the ensuing 4-on-4 when he took a feed from Grabovski from behind the net and put a quick wrist shot over the left shoulder of Clemmensen. With the teams still playing 4-on-4, Barkov gave Florida the lead again at 17:56 with his fourth goal of the season. After intercepting Mike Green's pass at the Washington blue line, Barkov skated along the right wall before cutting across to the slot and firing a wrist shot that beat Grubauer low to the stick side. After Brouwer's penalty expired, Ward tied the game on the power play with 30 seconds left in the period. Ward poked the puck in a scrum in front of the Florida net but it was quickly cleared away. When the whistle blew with 6.7 seconds left, the play was reviewed and video replay showed the puck had crossed the goal line. Washington had a goal disallowed in the first minute of the game when officials ruled that Martin Erat interfered with Clemmensen before Green's shot from the point went in. Olsen opened the scoring at 2:13 of the second period as he continued his surprising offensive spurt. He skated down the left side after getting a rebound off the back boards and beat Grubauer with a wrist shot high to the short side. It was the third goal in nine games for Olsen since he was acquired from the Chicago Blackhawks in the trade that involved veteran forward Kris Versteeg. He had two goals in 69 games in the American Hockey League during the past two seasons.
Edmonton @ Vancouver 0-4 - Vancouver dominated the tired Oilers from start to finish, breaking open a 1-0 game when Zack Kassian and Chris Higgins scored 3:41 apart early in the third period. Dale Weise added his first career power-play goal with 34.8 seconds left, and Roberto Luongo made 19 saves in a 4-0 victory at Rogers Arena. Daniel Sedin opened the scoring on a rare power-play slap shot from the left point 8:41 into the second period, and defenseman Jason Garrison added a career-best three assists as Vancouver (19-10-5) extended its season-long winning streak to six games. After a lot of talk all week about the Bruins visiting Vancouver for the first time since winning Game 7 of the 2011 Stanley Cup Final here almost exactly 2 1/2 years ago - and a lot of refusals to talk about it with the Oilers in town first - the Canucks came out flying. They had three great chances on the opening shift, outshooting the Oilers 6-0 in the opening six minutes and 14-4 in the first period. They didn't open the scoring until almost midway through the second period, however. With twin brother Henrik in the penalty box and the Canucks on a 4-on-3 power play, Daniel's shot 8:41 into the second period hit the leg of defenseman Nick Schultz as he battled Higgins in the slot and bounced between the legs of goalie Devan Dubnyk. Kassian scored in similar fashion 2:26 into the third, deflecting a long shot by David Booth through Dubnyk's legs, and Higgins snapped a wrist shot off a drop pass by Kesler under Dubnyk at 6:07. They still needed some big saves from Luongo on 2-on-1 rushes. He made a diving a poke check to deny Ales Hemsky after a strong move in tight late in the first period, then flashed the glove on David Perron from inside the left faceoff dot with 6:25 left in the second. Edmonton got forward Boyd Gordon back after missing six games with a shoulder injury, and shook up the lineup, dropping Sam Gagner down to the fourth line to start the game. Kassian finally broke it open with his first point in nine games, tipping the puck through a surprised Dubnyk after Booth, who also snapped a five-game pointless skid, cut into the middle and threw the puck at the net while falling to the ice. After Higgins converted a nice pass from Kesler, the Canucks were able to play their bottom lines more, resting their top players for the showdown with Boston. Fourth-liner Weise banged in a rebound during a last-minute power play. Minutes later, the Canucks were trying to downplay the Bruins game.
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