Winnipeg @ NY Rangers 5-2 - Olli Jokinen scored twice, including the game-winning goal, and John Albert scored on his first NHL shot to lead the Winnipeg Jets to a 5-2 win against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Monday night. Devin Setoguchi and Blake Wheeler also scored for the Jets and Ondrej Pavelec made 35 saves. Mats Zuccarello and Ryan Callahan scored for New York. Cam Talbot stopped 25 of 29 shots; he had allowed two or fewer goals in his first seven starts. Entering the game with a single assist in his previous five games, Jokinen was in the right place at the right time. With the teams deadlocked 2-2 late in the third, Jokinen was the beneficiary of a bounce when Setoguchi' s pass in the right corner deflected off Chris Thorburn and skipped into the slot right to Jokinen, who beat Talbot glove side to give the Jets a 3-2 lead with 7:18 remaining in regulation. Trailing 1-0 in the second, Jokinen took a pass from Setoguchi, pivoted and sent the puck back to a trailing Setoguchi, whose shot beat Talbot between the legs to tie the game with 11:44 remaining in the second. The goal was Setoguchi's seventh of the season and his third in four games. The goal allowed Winnipeg to pull even after an error by defenseman Keaton Ellerby led to the opening goal 2:49 into the game. Ellerby's cross-ice clearing attempt bounced directly to Ryan McDonagh, whose slap shot was tipped by Zuccarello between Pavelec's legs for his fourth of the season. Playing in his first NHL game, Albert gave the Jets their first chance to even the score when he drew a tripping penalty on Derick Brassard behind his own net with 8:39 remaining in the first period. Winnipeg fired one shot on the ensuing power play and finished the game 0-for-2 on the man advantage, marking the fifth straight game in which the Jets failed to score on the power play. Drawing the penalty was just a prelude to Albert's storybook evening. The speedy forward, who was called up from St. John's of the American Hockey League on Sunday, gave Winnipeg the lead 1:44 after Setoguchi's tying goal. Dustin Byfuglien stole a pass from Brassard and fed Albert, who outraced McDonagh toward the net and wired a shot past Talbot for his first NHL goal. Despite the two unanswered goals from Winnipeg, New York took the majority of the shots in the second, outshooting the Jets 14-6 in the final 12:46 of the period. That aggressiveness paid off with 4:10 remaining, when Brad Richards' shot from in close sneaked past Pavelec and trickled toward the goal line. Jacob Trouba cleared the puck away, but it bounced around the crease before Callahan pounced and tied the game, 2-2, with his seventh of the season. New York had a great chance to take the lead when Chris Kreider sent Derek Stepan in alone on Pavelec. Stepan was hooked by Tobias Enstrom with 9:14 remaining in the period just as he fired a shot that Pavelec stopped with his right pad. The crowd called for a penalty shot on the play, but none was awarded. Those mistakes were evident on Jokinen's second goal. With all three New York forwards pinching deep, the Jets counter-attacked with plenty of open ice. As Michael Frolik carried the puck across the blue line, defenseman Anton Stralman was forced to close in on the Frolik, who found Jokinen in the slot. His shot squeaked through Talbot with 1:54 remaining to give him his third point of the night. The four goals equaled Talbot's total from his previous four starts combined. It was a disappointing evening for the rookie, who was making consecutive starts for the first time in his career. Wheeler scored an empty-net goal with 51 seconds left in regulation.
New Jersey @ Montreal 2-3 - Subban stopped two New Jersey Devils shots on the goal line with his stick, allowing Alex Galchenyuk to score the deciding goal at 9:34 of the third period and give the Canadiens a 3-2 victory at Bell Centre. The first of Subban's goal-saving plays came in the fifth minute of the first period when Devils forward Jaromir Jagr deked around Price, went below the goal line and tried to stuff it in short side, only to be met by Subban's stick. In the third minute of the third period, a Steve Bernier shot squeezed through Price and was sitting in his crease when Damien Brunner tried to jam it in, but Subban slid into the net and stopped it with his stick on the goal line. Rene Bourque had a goal and an assist, Pacioretty scored his eighth goal in seven games, and David Desharnais had two assists for the Canadiens (16-9-3). The Devils opened the scoring at 11:13 of the first period when a slow shot from the point by Anton Volchenkov was tipped in front of Price by Bernier for his third goal of the season. New Jersey did a good job from that point onward of limiting Montreal's chances, with Brodeur seeing little action in the first two periods. Yet the Canadiens entered the second intermission with a 2-1 lead on two opportunistic goals. Bourque scored with a quick shot to the short side off a nifty feed from Desharnais at 8:49 of the second period for his sixth of the season. It was the Canadiens' eighth shot on goal, and they wouldn't get another until Pacioretty scored a power-play goal on a one-timer off an Andrei Markov feed at 16:49. After the Brunner chance went to a video review, Ryder scored 39 seconds later on a laser from the top of the faceoff circle for his sixth goal of the season, but first in 12 games and second in 18, at 4:42 of the third to tie the game 2-2. Galchenyuk settled it just under five minutes later with his seventh goal of the season, making amends for his lack of discipline two nights earlier when he took an offensive zone penalty while up 4-0 against the Toronto Maple Leafs, leading to him being benched for the third period.
Philadelphia @ Minnesota 0-2 - The Minnesota Wild scored goals 57 seconds apart early in the third period on their way to a 2-0 victory against the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday at Xcel Energy Center. A rather stagnant offensive effort by both teams through 40 minutes turned quickly in Minnesota's favor in the final period when the Wild scored goals at 3:52 and 4:49. The play that led to the first goal started innocently enough when Wild captain Mikko Koivu scooped up a loose puck in the neutral zone and skated down the right wall and behind the Flyers net. Once at the left post, Koivu spun around and centered to Jason Pominville, who took the pass while driving the net and beat Flyers goalie Ray Emery for his 14th goal. Wild coach Mike Yeo said his team put a premium on getting back to its puck-possession game, which was so successful over the first six weeks of the season, to break that streak. Minnesota led the league in shots against per game over much of that stretch and is still second in that category. But over its past 10 games, Minnesota's shots allowed had risen in conjunction with the number in the loss column. On the next shift, Wild defenseman Marco Scandella chased down a loose puck to Emery's right as Minnesota changed attackers. He was able to hold off Flyers defenseman Mark Streit just long enough to get a pass to Jared Spurgeon, who blasted a slap shot on goal from the point. Emery made a quick pad save, but the rebound went right to a crashing Charlie Coyle, who slammed the puck into the net for his third goal.
St Louis @ Los Angeles 2-3 - Los Angeles Kings general manager Dean Lombardi once likened Tyler Toffoli to Luc Robitaille because, as the cliché goes, the puck just finds him. Lately, it's been finding him on the biggest stages. Toffoli's second goal was needed after Vladimir Tarasenko got the Blues to 3-2 with 16 seconds remaining. Toffoli ended a six-game scoring drought that might have got the attention of Kings coach Darryl Sutter. This was the first game between the teams since an unbelievably tight 2013 Western Conference Quarterfinal series that Los Angeles won in six games, with each game being decided by one goal. St. Louis still can't figure out L.A., which has won 15 of the past 18 meetings and nine straight at home, including the Stanley Cup Playoffs. St. Louis took back-to-back regulation losses for the first time this season. Its top line of Alexander Steen, David Backes and T.J. Oshie saw a lot of the Dwight King-Anze Kopitar-Jeff Carter line and were a combined minus-5 before the final two St. Louis goals. L.A. had one regulation loss in the previous 12 games, but came off one of its poorest showings of the season, to the Calgary Flames on Saturday, and Sutter changed all his lines. Toffoli was centered by Mike Richards, who assisted on both of his goals. Toffoli found a loose puck in the slot on Willie Mitchell's shot and wristed it home at 5:48 of the second for a 3-0 lead. Another Kings power play had just expired, dropping L.A. to 0-for-20 over the past six games. The Kings put the Blues in a 2-0 hole after the first period with nicely executed plays down low. Toffoli worked the puck out from behind the goal line with Roman Polak breathing down his neck, then got rewarded with an open-net goal when Drew Doughty's point shot rang off the crossbar at 16:13. Jarret Stoll got his first goal since Oct.30 with a snap shot from above the left circle with Dustin Brown as a screen at 10:38.
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