NHL coverage from the United Kingdom, by Hockey Nerd 'Sergei Adamov' Follow me on Facebook.com/Hockey-From-Across-the-Pond Twitter: @SergeiAdamov
Thursday, 5 December 2013
Results - Fri, Nov 29, 2013
Winnipeg @ Philadelphia 1-2 - Ondrej Pavelec returned to the Winnipeg net after a one-game break and saw 34 Philadelphia shots, turning aside 32. Pavelec's first-period work prevented the Flyers from turning the game into a rout, but he was one of few Jets to shine. The Flyers pounced early, building a 2-0 lead by the five-minute mark of the second period with a hard forecheck and aggressive play against Jets forwards that prevented them from setting up offensively. In helping the Flyers earn their second win in six tries against the Western Conference, Hartnell's his fifth goal made it 1-0. Sean Couturier's shorthanded goal five minutes into the second period set up a two-goal lead the Flyers nursed late into the third. Left wing Evander Kane, tied for second on the Jets with seven goals, exited the game after Philadelphia defenseman Braydon Coburn hit him along the boards late in the first period. Kane did not return with what the Jets described as a lower-body injury and his status for their next game against the New York Rangers is unknown. Hartnell needed 48 seconds to put the Flyers ahead 1-0 on the their second shot of the game. Heavy pressure from Flyers forward Steve Downie pinned the Jets inside their zone. Downie's play forced a quick breakout pass by Winnipeg defenseman Dustin Byfuglien up the right side boards that kicked off Blake Wheeler's stick into the high slot, where Hartnell directed a shot into the net before Pavelec could scramble into position. Mason saw two shots in the first period, and Winnipeg went the final 15:27 of the period without one. The Jets faced early penalty trouble, taking four minors in the first. A tripping penalty to Tobias Enstrom at the horn created a two-man advantage for the Flyers that spanned the opening 1:36 of the second period. Winnipeg managed to kill off the 5-on-3, but with the visitors on their third power play shortly afterward, Couturier, whose first-period shorthanded breakaway was stopped by a Pavelec right-pad save, jumped on Byfuglien's turnover inside the Flyers' defensive zone. Couturier outraced Enstrom and put the puck between Pavelec's pads at 5:36. Jets forward Michael Frolik halved the Philadelphia lead with 7:07 remaining and ended Mason's shutout bid with his seventh goal. Wrestling away a bouncing puck from a pack of players he took it to Mason's right and fired a low shot that snuck past the goalie.
NY Rangers @ Boston 2-3 - Zdeno Chara scored the game-winning goal at 11:05 of the third period after he'd already assisted on a goal and dominated a fight with Rangers center Brian Boyle in a 3-2 win at TD Garden. The Bruins carried over their solid play from the second period into the third and tied the game at 2-2 with a fortuitous bounce. After Brad Marchand gained the New York zone with speed and stopped at the goal line, he set up a Patrice Bergeron one-timer from the right hash mark. The shot hit Rangers defenseman Dan Girardi, who was battling with Loui Eriksson in front, and eluded Lundqvist at 1:35. Bergeron snapped an eight-game goal drought. Chara gave the Bruins a 3-2 lead at 11:05. After yeoman's work by linemates David Krejci, Jarome Iginla and Milan Lucic prevented the Rangers from crossing the red line, Boston got the puck deep in the New York end. Krejci passed the puck to Chara in the high slot for a slap shot that beat Lundqvist to the glove side. Marchand's assist on the tying goal was his second point, after his first goal in seven games put the Bruins on the scoreboard first at 11:42 of the first period. Chara faked a shot from the left wall and instead passed cross ice to Marchand waiting at the bottom of the right circle for a one-timer that beat Lundqvist up high. It didn't take long for the Rangers to even the score 1-1. Brad Richards retrieved a rebound in the corner and cycled it to Rick Nash coming from behind the Boston net. Nash carried the puck to the slot while warding off Bergeron's check and then beat Rask with a low shot to the blocker side at 13:04. The Rangers took a 2-1 lead 82 seconds later on a wrist shot by McDonagh, who stepped up to the top of the right circle and beat Rask through traffic high to the blocker side at 14:26. The Rangers went on four power plays in the opening 20 minutes, including one that extended into the second period. Bruins coach Claude Julien said he wasn't concerned with their first period and was proud of his players' 60-minute effort. In the second period, the Rangers didn't land a shot on Rask until 12:26. Lundqvist kept New York in the lead with a couple of big saves on Lucic's chances in tight. Chara tried to fire up the Bruins with a fight against Boyle, but the emotion didn't translate into a goal before the second intermission.
Detroit @ NY Islanders 5-0 - It was the Red Wings' first victory against the Islanders since Jan. 30, 2007, and their first in regulation since a 6-0 win on Nov. 28, 2003. New York had been 6-0-1 in the past seven games between the teams. The Red Wings played their puck-possession style perfectly, and the Islanders struggled with their decision-making. Helm opened the scoring 7:09 into the game and added a spectacular shorthanded goal at 16:49 of the second. Alfredsson, playing in his 1,200th NHL game, sandwiched his goals around one by Gustav Nyquist in Detroit's three-goal third period. The Red Wings grabbed the lead on a quick defense-to-offense transition. Brendan Smith broke up a rush in his own zone and sent Alfredsson speeding away. Alfredsson carried the puck into the Islanders zone and dropped it for Helm, who deked past defenseman Radek Martinek, drew Poulin out of the net and slid home a backhander for his sixth goal of the season. Howard, who stopped 12 shots in the first period, had to be sharp early in the second when Tavares set up Thomas Vanek in the slot. But Howard got to the right post and took Vanek's one-timer in the crest. The Islanders got their only power play of the game when Justin Abdelkader was called for interference with 3:57 left in the second period. But it was the Red Wings who capitalized when Helm outraced Andrew MacDonald for a clearing attempt. Poulin came out of his net, but Helm got a piece of the puck before the two collided and it slid over the goal line for the first shorthanded goal allowed by the Islanders since March 29, 2012. It was Helm's seventh goal of the season; three have come against the Islanders. Alfredsson ended any speculation about the outcome when he took Smith's breakaway pass at the New York blue line, raced in alone and beat Poulin from between the hash marks 12 seconds into the third period for his fifth of the season. Six minutes later, Nyquist took a pass from Johan Franzen and beat Poulin to finish a 2-on-1 break. Alfredsson knocked in a loose puck with 3:47 remaining to complete the scoring.
Calgary @ Anaheim 2-5 - The Ducks got veteran center Saku Koivu back, and its top line provided the opening and finishing touches to set up a four-game stretch against the San Jose Sharks, Los Angeles Kings, Chicago Blackhawks and St. Louis Blues. Koivu got two assists in his first game back after he missed 15 with a concussion. He was reunited with Daniel Winnik and Andrew Cogliano and the line had a goal and four assists. Winnik took a pass from Koivu and fed Cogliano for a backhand off a rush for a 4-1 lead 8:21 into the second period. Koivu's most impressive move of the game might have been a drive around Christopher Breen in the third. Koivu also won 11 of 18 faceoffs. The Penner-Ryan Getzlaf-Corey Perry line had three goals and three assists. Penner tipped in Getzlaf's shot-pass for a 3-0 lead 3:52 into the second period and hammered home Getzlaf's pass to make it 5-2 at 11:26 of the third. Calgary played without rookie center Sean Monahan and defenseman Dennis Wideman. Monahan is week-to-week with a hairline fracture in his foot, and Wideman is out six to eight weeks with a broken hand. Anaheim's defensemen helped build a 2-0 lead. Sami Vatanen slapped the puck into an open net 12:20 into the first period after Calgary goalie Reto Berra got out of position trying to defend Cogliano. A little less than a minute later, Ben Lovejoy sent a low shot Perry redirected under Berra for his team-leading 14th goal. Calgary got its goals in the second period from David Jones, who was credited with the first goal when he touched Smid's shot that trickled past Anaheim goalie Frederik Andersen across the goal line at 5:51. Jones then took the puck from Koivu behind the net, spun around and fired it to the right side at 12:17 for an unassisted goal that made it 4-2.
St Louis @ San Jose 3-6 - Brent Burns had his first career hat trick, lifting the Sharks to a 6-3 victory against the Blues in a battle of two Western Conference powers. Burns scored twice in the first period when the Sharks built a 4-0 lead. Then one minute after the Blues closed to within 4-3 on Jaden Schwartz' 4-on-4 goal with 8:41 to play, Burns answered with a brilliant power-play goal. Skating down the left boards, Burns cut sharply to his right and snapped a shot between two Blues and past goaltender Jaroslav Halak, with Joe Pavelski providing a screen. Tomas Hertl added an empty-net goal for the Sharks at 19:14. Joe Thornton and Tommy Wingels each scored for San Jose during a four-goal first period. Defenseman Ian Cole scored for the Blues in the second period, and third-period goals by David Backes and Schwartz made it a 4-3 game. Burns scored two goals for the Minnesota Wild against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Nov. 6, 2010, but he had never scored more than one goal in a game since being traded to the Sharks before the 2011-12 season. The Sharks (17-3-5) won their fourth straight game and snapped the Blues' five-game winning streak. San Jose also ended its five-game losing streak on home ice to the Blues (18-4-3), a stretch that included two defeats in a 4-1 first-round series loss in the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Sharks beat the Blues 6-2 on Oct. 15 at St. Louis and scored six more times Friday, including four quick goals in the opening period. Antti Niemi made 21 saves for the Sharks, who improved to 4-0-0 on their five-game homestand. San Jose's Logan Couture tied his career high with three assists, all in the first period. Blues backup goaltender Brian Elliott started the game and allowed four goals on 12 shots in the first period before giving way to Halak to start the second. San Jose overwhelmed the Blues in the first period, outshooting them 12-2 and building a four-goal lead. Burns gave the Sharks a 1-0 lead 35 seconds into the game, taking a pass in the slot from Patrick Marleau and ripping a shot past Elliott. Couture, who fed a pass to Marleau, earned his first assist of the night. Thornton and Hertl, Burns' regular linemates, had yet to come off the bench in the Sharks first change, but he had no trouble adjusting to Couture and Marleau. Thornton made it 2-0 at 3:01 with a power-play goal, snapping the Sharks' 0-for-14 skid with the man advantage. Couture blasted a shot from the left circle, and Pavelski tracked down the puck to the left of the crease. Pavelski made a no-look pass to Thornton in the right circle, and Thornton snapped a shot over Elliott's shoulder, inside the right post. Burns struck again at 9:15 for his third goal in four games since coming off injured reserve. Burns took a cross-ice pass from Thornton in the right circle and buried a shot past Elliott, prompting St. Louis coach Ken Hitchcock to take his timeout. Just over two minutes later, Wingels scored on a breakaway, pounding a shot from the right circle that bounced off Elliott's glove and over the goal line at 11:27. Blues defenseman Jay Bouwmeester had turned the puck over in the neutral zone, and Wingels quickly headed the other way, racing along the right boards before scoring his eighth goal of the season and giving San Jose a 4-0 lead. Cole cut San Jose's lead to 4-1 at 11:03 of the second period, taking a pass from Schwartz and scoring his first goal of the season. Backes took a behind-the-back pass from Derek Roy in the right circle and beat Niemi to the far side on the power play at 2:02 of the third, making it 4-2. Schwartz scored at 11:19 to make it a one-goal game. The Sharks and Blues played each other for the first time since Oct. 15, a San Jose win in St. Louis that was marred by Maxim Lapierre's illegal hit from behind on Sharks defenseman Dan Boyle. Lapierre sent Boyle head-first into the boards. Boyle was knocked out, left the ice at Scottrade Center on a stretcher and missed seven games with a concussion. Lapierre was suspended by the NHL for five games. After the incident, Lapierre apologized to Boyle publicly and via text message; Boyle declined to answer his phone calls. Lapierre was greeted by a few boos from Sharks fans whenever he touched the puck, and forward Mike Brown bumped him at a stoppage during the first period, but San Jose was more intent on scoring goals than exacting retribution.
Montreal @ Washington 2-3 SO - Daniel Briere opened the scoring at 15:20 of the first period when he and Brian Gionta worked below the goal line. Gionta pushed the puck to Briere, who wrapped around the net and pushed the puck past Holtby. Despite 3:47 of consecutive power-play time before Briere's goal, the Capitals were held without a shot on goal for the final 15:40 of the period. Washington got off to a more spirited start in the second period, tying the game at 1-1 at 5:17 when Budaj mishandled the puck behind the goal, allowing Grabovski to corral it and feed a wide-open Fehr in front for his third goal of the season. Montreal regained the lead 67 seconds later. On a 3-on-1 rush, Tomas Plekanec was the beneficiary of a bouncing puck that was originally tipped by Washington defenseman Nate Schmidt's outstretched stick before ricocheting off John Carlson and back to Plekanec. It was the third goal in two games the Capitals have allowed within 80 seconds of scoring themselves. With 5:32 remaining in regulation, Mikhail Grabovski tied the game when Fehr returned the favor from his earlier goal. Shortly after Budaj stopped his backhand attempt, Fehr, who had to retrieve his stick after it was knocked from his hands, was able to chip a bouncing puck toward Grabovski, who settled it and beat the Montreal goaltender between his legs for his eighth goal. With the shootout tied at 2-2 after three rounds, Grabovski beat Budaj and Holtby stopped Plekanec to seal the victory for Washington.
New Jersey @ Carolina 5-2 - New Jersey had earned a 1-0 lead on Mark Fayne's first-period goal, but the Hurricanes got the upper hand in the second on goals by Jeff Skinner and Jordan Staal. At that point, it looked like goaltender Cory Schneider was destined for another hard-luck decision. In his eight losses this season, the Devils have scored six goals. With Carolina protecting a 2-1 lead in the third period, a shot by Devils forward Andrei Loktionov from the slot at 8:43 appeared to be stopped by Hurricanes goaltender Cam Ward, but the puck leaked through and crossed the goal line. Adam Henrique put New Jersey ahead 3-2 on the power play at 12:02, scoring from the slot. Dainius Zubrus extend the lead to two goals at 13:52 on a hard shot from between the circles, and Jaromir Jagr followed his rebound for his 11th goal of the season with less than five minutes remaining. For Jagr, it was a second straight game with a milestone goal. After passing Mario Lemieux for ninth place on the all-time list, Jagr struck for the 692nd of his NHL career, tying Steve Yzerman in eighth place. With a goal and two assists against Carolina, Jagr has 22 points in 26 games, easily the Devils leading scorer. With New Jersey trailing 2-1 after two periods, he didn't anticipate his team's four-goal comeback, but his 1,417 games of experience gave him a little perspective. For the Hurricanes, their 18-shot effort was their lowest output of the season. Carolina had some momentum when Skinner fired a wrister to the far post at 1:53 of the second period, then the Hurricanes took the lead on a beautiful pass from Justin Faulk to Jordan Staal for a breakaway goal at 14:53. After that, everything came unraveled in the third period. The Hurricanes seemed to have found their game after consecutive wins over the Ottawa Senators and New Jersey. The wins, however, came on the heels of an 0-3-1 stretch. The inconsistency left coach Kirk Muller to some blunt assessments after the game.
Edmonton @ Columbus 2-4 - Ryan Johansen had a goal and an assist, Matt Calvert had two assists and the Blue Jackets scored a pair of power-play goals in the second period. They appeared poised to try and match the beating the Oilers put on them. But Sergei Bobrovsky lost his bid for a second shutout in three games when Sam Gagner scored at 10:36 of the third on a bad angle shot from the goal line to make it 4-1. Edmonton (8-17-2) made it interesting when Jordan Eberle added a power-play goal with 4:21 remaining. Bryzgalov did what he could to keep the Blue Jackets from adding to the first-period goal by Johansen when the Oilers ran into penalty problems early in the second. Nick Schultz was sent off for tripping at 1:21, followed 13 seconds later by Jeff Petry, who was called for delay of game when he inadvertently sent the puck over the glass. Richards called timeout to have a fresh first power-play unit on the ice. That's when Bryzgalov went to work, denying Johansen from in front before getting a paddle on the goalmouth attempt by Cam Atkinson. With 39 seconds left on the two-man advantage, the Oilers' Andrew Ference was whistled for holding at 2:56 and had to wait to serve his penalty. It was too much for Edmonton as Anisimov was parked alone in front while Calvert patiently waited for an opening. He fired the puck through the crease for the redirect by Anisimov at 3:34 just as the 5-on-3 expired. Columbus made it 3-0 at 10:30 when Foligno stuffed his own power-play rebound through the pads of Bryzgalov. The original shot came off a centering pass by Boone Jenner. Skille made it 4-0 at 17:06 on a breakaway after taking a long outlet pass from Corey Tropp, who was playing his first game for Columbus after being claimed off waivers from the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday. Columbus managed seven shots on goal in the first period - the 18th straight regulation period with eight or fewer - but scored on the second one. Johansen took advantage of the forechecking by Atkinson and Calvert to grab a loose puck and fired a quick shot past Bryzgalov at 7:50 for his team-high ninth goal.
Toronto @ Buffalo 2-3 SO - Christian Ehrhoff scored 38 seconds into overtime to give the Buffalo Sabres a 3-2 victory against the Toronto Maple Leafs at First Niagara Center. Ehrhoff's goal came just as a penalty to Toronto's Paul Ranger ended, and the shot from the point beat Maple Leafs goalie James Reimer through the five-hole. It was Ehrhoff's second goal of the season. Ehrhoff was helped out by a screen in front by the newest Sabres forward, Matt D'Agostini. The Sabres claimed D'Agostini off waivers from the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday. Ranger took a holding penalty with 1:32 left in the third period, giving the Sabres a power play at the end of regulation, but it was Toronto's James van Riemsdyk who had the best chance during it. With 20.4 seconds remaining, van Riemsdyk broke in on Sabres goalie Ryan Miller only to be taken out of the play by D'Agostini. Phil Kessel put the Maple Leafs ahead 1-0 beating Miller on a quick 2-on-1 rush. It developed when Sabres defenseman Tyler Myers was caught out of position. That left Mike Weber alone to defend Kessel and van Riemsdyk. The goal was Kessel's 14th of the season. Matt Moulson tied the game 1-1 on the power play with his 10th goal of the season at 7:57 of the second period. Moulson put away a loose puck from a shot by Ville Leino in front of the net with Reimer out of position. Nikolai Kulemin put the Maple Leafs ahead with his second goal of the season at 10:23 of the second period. Trevor Smith set up the play when he floated a pass over the net out in front for Kulemin, who batted the puck midair past Miller to make it 2-1. Luke Adam's first goal of the season tied the game 2-2 with 1:10 to play in the second. He scored off a rebound of a Zemgus Girgensons shot that Reimer deflected right to him. Adam was playing in his fourth game of the season since being recalled by the Sabres on Nov. 20.
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