Anaheim @ New Jersey 3-2 OT - Ducks goon Kyle Palmieri, a New Jersey native, had close to 100 friends and family in attendance Friday at Prudential Center and he delivered a performance they and he won't soon forget. Taking time off from attacking junior players, Palmieri scored 2:37 into overtime to give the Ducks a 3-2 win against the New Jersey Devils. He also had an assist and was a plus-3 in 15:42 of ice time. He scored the overtime winner on a wraparound that went into the net off Devils defenseman Jon Merrill's stick, and set up Mathieu Perreault for the go-ahead goal with 9:13 remaining in the third period. Palmieri also set the screen on Devils goalie Cory Schneider that allowed Cam Fowler's slap shot from the left circle to tie the game 1-1 with 5:54 left in the second period. The Devils took a 1-0 lead on Michael Ryder's 10th goal of the season 4:15 into the second period, and Andy Greene scored a game-tying power-play goal with 5:02 remaining in the third. Schneider made 21 saves, but the Devils couldn't capitalize early in the game when they appeared to have the better of play with the Ducks admittedly lethargic. Ryder and Adam Henrique had shots go off of the post, and Ducks goalie Jonas Hiller made eight of his 19 saves. The bad news for the Devils may be yet to come. Forward Damien Brunner left the game with 2:52 to play in the first period with an apparent knee injury the team would only clarify as a lower-body injury. Ducks defenseman Mark Fistric went to check Brunner in the corner, but their knees collided and Brunner went down in pain. He couldn't get up on his own and did not put any weight on his right leg as he was helped off the ice by teammates Greene and Dainius Zubrus. Palmieri and Perreault each had a goal and an assist, and Teemu Selanne had two assists, giving him points in three straight games after he went the previous 16 without one.
NY Fish Sticks @ NY Rangers 5-3 - Michael Grabner scored his first two goals since opening night and Thomas Vanek had the tie-breaking goal early in the third period to give the Islanders a 5-3 victory against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. Cal Clutterbuck and Grabner scored shorthanded goals in the first period and Brian Strait scored in the second. Evgeni Nabokov made 21 saves. With Chris Kreider and Dan Girardi off for interference, Vanek put the Islanders ahead when he tipped Kyle Okposo's point shot past Lundqvist 78 seconds into the final period, breaking a 3-3 tie. Vanek's 11th of the season was one of five special-teams goals in the game. The Rangers had a chance to tie the game moments after Vanek's goal when Ryan Strome was called for hooking at 3:31 with the teams playing 4-on-4. But they mustered a single shot during a 4-on-3 advantage that lasted 1:25. The Islanders killed off a late boarding minor to Josh Bailey that expired one second before Grabner scored his empty-netter. The Islanders' tying goal didn't come on the power play, but it was close. Six seconds after Anton Stralman finished serving a hooking penalty, Bailey found Strait at the right point. Lundqvist got a piece of the defenseman's slap shot, but not enough, as the puck skipped into the net for Strait's first NHL goal. The Islanders' penalty kill came up big late after having its ups and downs in the first two periods. The game was tied 2-2 early in the second period when Grabner almost got his second shorthanded goal of the night 12 seconds after Clutterbuck was called for cross-checking at 6:40. Grabner sped down the middle and beat Dan Girardi to the inside before deking to his left and lifting the puck over a sprawling Lundqvist. But the puck hit the crossbar, and the Rangers took the lead 66 seconds later on the power play. Mats Zuccarello's centering pass from the right corner skipped off Nash's stick right to Stepan at the side of the net. Nabokov slid across the crease but could not get over in time to stop Stepan, who gave the Rangers a 3-2 lead with his seventh of the season at 7:58. The goal came after the Rangers had come back from a two-goal deficit for the third straight game. Three minutes into the second, Dominic Moore fed Dorsett, who fired a hard shot by the side boards. With Brian Boyle providing a screen, Nabokov was beaten to his right on Dorsett's third of the season to tie the game 2-2. The Islanders' penalty-killers secured the game late and did the damage early as they raced out to a 2-0 first-period lead. Clutterbuck was awarded a penalty shot at 14:42 when he broke free toward the Rangers net and was hooked by Ryan McDonagh. Clutterbuck skated in and beat Lundqvist to the glove side for his fourth of the season. With Matt Carkner off for holding, Grabner stole the puck from McDonagh at the Islanders' blue line and raced in alone. He deked to his forehand and beat Lundqvist at 17:09 for another shorthanded goal. The Rangers comeback began 30 seconds later when Pouliot took a feed in the slot from Kreider and beat Nabokov to cut the lead to 2-1. All three first-period goals came within a 2:57 span. It marked the second straight game in which the Islanders blew a 2-0 lead. Tuesday night, they held a two-goal lead with less than three minutes left in regulation only to lose 3-2 in the shootout to the Tampa Bay Lighting.
Washington @ Carolina 4-2 - Alex Ovechkin needed some prodding to smile as a photographer snapped a few pictures of the Washington Capitals captain holding the puck from his 400th goal. The milestone goal came on an uncontested shot into an empty net with 24 seconds remaining, sealing the Washington Capitals' 4-2 win Friday night against the Carolina Hurricanes. It may not have had the flair Ovechkin imagined in reaching the 400-goal mark, but he wasn't about to complain. Ovechkin leads the NHL with 29 goals. His 400th goal came in his 634th regular-season game, making him the sixth-fastest in League history to reach the mark. Ovechkin provided the finishing touch to a game that featured three Washington power-play goals in the second period and a half-dozen outstanding saves by goaltender Philipp Grubauer, playing in his sixth game this season and the eighth of his career. Grubauer stopped Jeff Skinner on a breakaway a few minutes into the game, then gloved Jordan Staal's shot from the slot 13 seconds later. He did the job often against Carolina. Grubauer robbed Nathan Gerbe on a big blast from the slot in the second, and he stopped a breakaway bid from Eric Staal in the third that would have tied the game. In all, he made 39 saves to run his record to 4-0-1. His efforts didn't go unnoticed by his teammates. Jordan Staal opened the scoring with 3:28 remaining in the first period, taking a touch pass from Alexander Semin before beating Grubauer over the blocker. But the Capitals’ power play owned the second period. With Eric Staal's high-sticking penalty carrying over from the first period, Marcus Johansson pounded home the rebound of Nicklas Backstrom's shot 41 seconds into the period to get the Capitals even. Backstrom assisted on all four Washington goals. Defenseman John Carlson made it 2-1 with another power-play goal at 8:34, blasting a knuckling shot from center point past Hurricanes goaltender Cam Ward. The Hurricanes tied it 2-2 with a 5-on-4 goal of their own less than three minutes later when Riley Nash cleaned up the rebound of Andrej Sekera's wrister for the first power-play goal of his career. But the Capitals went in front to stay with their third straight power-play goal. Mike Green broke his stick on a shot from inside the blue line, but Brouwer got a piece of the puck on the way through the slot and tipped it past Ward at 14:11.
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