Vancouver v NY Rangers 2-5 - Much of the attention Saturday afternoon was on Vancouver Canucks coach John Tortorella, who was returning to Madison Square Garden for the first time since being fired as New York Rangers coach after more than four seasons behind their bench. That New York's current coach, Alain Vigneault, was fired by the Canucks last summer after seven seasons in Vancouver only magnified the matchup. But it was one of the players Tortorella helped groom in New York who ended up stealing the show. Chris Kreider scored three goals as the Rangers defeated the Canucks 5-2. It was a difficult return for Tortorella, who admitted it was initially awkward going against his former team. But once the game began, those feelings were quickly forgotten. Rangers goalie Cam Talbot made a career-high 35 saves in his first career start at MSG, Rick Nash added a goal and two assists, and Michael Del Zotto scored for the Rangers, who bounced back from a 3-2 road loss to the Boston Bruins on Friday. David Booth and Daniel Sedin scored for Vancouver (13-10-5), which got 12 saves in relief from Eddie Lack. Roberto Luongo made seven saves before being pulled in the second period. Playing on a new line with Derek Stepan and Nash, Kreider opened the scoring with 7:23 remaining in the first period after being sent in on Luongo with a pass from the blue line by Nash. Kreider snapped the puck past Luongo's blocker for his fourth of the season to give New York a 1-0 lead. The play started with a failed clearing attempt along the boards by Canucks defenseman Alexander Edler, who was benched for the remainder of the first period. With Nash and Kreider using their size and speed to their advantage, New York's refashioned top line found open passing and shooting lanes throughout the game. Vigneault put the trio on the power play when Zack Kassian was whistled for delay of game after he shot the puck over the glass with 3:28 left in the period. Kreider doubled New York's lead 22 seconds later by redirecting Ryan McDonagh's shot from the right circle past Luongo. Vancouver's inability to capitalize on its chances was mostly due to Talbot, who made some big saves when it counted. In a sequence that began with 9:16 remaining in the first, Talbot stopped Alexandre Burrows in front of the net, then made a toe save off a spinning shot from Kevin Bieksa five seconds later. The 26-year-old also perfectly played an odd-man rush in which Daniel Sedin fed brother Henrik for a scoring chance with 8:50 remaining in the first. Those saves appeared to spark the home crowd and the Rangers (14-13-0), who opened the scoring 87 seconds after Talbot's stop on the Sedins. Kreider completed his first NHL hat trick with 10:22 remaining in the third period when he deflected Anton Stralman's wrist shot from the point past Lack. Nash expanded the Rangers' lead 17 seconds into the second. After Dan Girardi's point shot was blocked by Daniel Sedin, Stepan found the puck in the slot and fired toward the net, where Nash got a piece of the puck for his fourth of the season. The 3-0 lead gave Nash a goal in three straight games and spelled the end for Luongo, who was replaced by Lack after allowing three goals on 10 shots. Del Zotto, a healthy scratch in five of the Rangers' previous eight games, made it 4-0 when he scored on the power play as Christopher Tanev sat out for holding. Following some quick passing between Derick Brassard and Mats Zuccarello, Del Zotto was left alone at the left point. His blast from the top of the circle beat Lack for his second of the season at 11:04. Booth got Vancouver on the board with 4:10 remaining in the second. He was streaking toward the net from the left side when Mike Santorelli found him with a one-touch pass; Booth went to the backhand to beat Talbot between the legs for his third of the season. Daniel Sedin scored with 2:35 remaining and Kreider off for roughing.
Columbus v Boston 1-3 - Milan Lucic scored twice to help Boston defeat the Columbus Blue Jackets 3-1 at TD Garden on Saturday night. He scored a first-period power-play goal, then fought Blue Jackets defenseman Dalton Prout in the second period. Lucic capped his big night with a goal at 2:15 of the third period to put the Bruins (18-7-2) ahead 3-0. Chara recorded a Gordie Howe Hat Trick on Friday in a win against the New York Rangers. At first glance, Lucic appeared to get the assist he needed for his own Gordie Howe Hat Trick when Jarome Iginla took a swing at Lucic's shot early in the third period, but Iginla didn't touch the puck and Lucic was credited with his second goal of the night. Ryan Johansen scored a power-play goal for Columbus (10-14-3) at 6:16 of the third period to spoil Chad Johnson's shutout bid and cut the lead to 3-1. Patrice Bergeron carried over his hot hand from the Bruins' win Friday against the Rangers, when he snapped an eight-game goalless drought, by scoring the first goal against the Blue Jackets. The center's wrist shot from the right wall eluded McElhinney, who was screened by Loui Eriksson, and settled inside the far post at 9:02. Twenty-two seconds into the Bruins' first power play, they doubled their lead. Lucic tipped a Torey Krug slap shot past McElhinney at 14:58 of the first period.
Toronto v Montreal 2-4 - Max Pacioretty scored twice, had an assist and had a game-high 10 shots on goal in the Montreal Canadiens' 4-2 victory against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday. P.K. Subban and Tomas Plekanec also scored for the Canadiens (15-9-3), who are undefeated in regulation in their past six games (5-0-1). Montreal also allowed two goals or fewer in a 10th straight game; it's 7-1-2 during that span. James Van Riemsdyk and Mason Raymond scored late in the second for Toronto, but the Maple Leafs weren't able to carry that momentum into the final period. The game couldn't have started much worse for the Maple Leafs, with Carl Gunnarsson called for interference 20 seconds after the opening faceoff. Toronto's top penalty-killing unit then allowed Pacioretty to get in behind them to take a long stretch pass from Subban and go in alone on goal. Bernier stopped his first, second and third shots before Pacioretty finally scored on his fourth attempt at 58 seconds. Toronto appeared to tie the game at 5:35 when Dion Phaneuf beat Price with a shot from the blue line, but referee Chris Rooney immediately waved off the goal for incidental contact by van Riemsdyk, who was just inside the blue paint. Though van Riemsdyk didn't appear to make contact with Price, the NHL rulebook states a goal will be disallowed if "an attacking player, either by his positioning or by contact, impairs the goalkeeper's ability to move freely within his crease or defend his goal." The Canadiens made it 2-0 at 16:13 of the first when Subban moved in from the blue line off a faceoff, deked around Phil Kessel and beat Bernier high to the stick side for his fourth goal of the season. Kessel came within an inch of making up for the error in the first minute of the second period when he had Price completely out of position and backhanded the puck toward an open net, only to have it hit the inside of the post and bounce out. The Canadiens went up 3-0 at 15:05 when Plekanec, Daniel Briere and Brian Gionta had a dominant shift in the Toronto zone, resulting in Briere setting Plekanec up for his ninth goal of the season. Pacioretty made it 4-0 with a shorthanded goal at 17:22, deking Gunnarsson to the middle and sliding a backhand through Bernier's legs. The Maple Leafs got a big lift late in the period by scoring two goals in 22 seconds. The first, at 18:10, was a beautiful flip shot under the crossbar by van Riemsdyk for his 12th goal of the season, the second came when Raymond found a rebound to the right of Price at 18:38 to make it 4-2.
Buffalo v New Jersey 0-1 OT - Steve Bernier connected for his first goal in 20 games with 40.2 seconds remaining in overtime to give the Devils a 1-0 victory against the Buffalo Sabres at Prudential Center. It was the first overtime goal of Bernier's career. Bernier broke into the Sabres zone with defenseman Andy Greene before entering the left circle and unleashing a shot that beat Jhonas Enroth to the long side. Bernier waited until Sabres defenseman Mark Pysyk backed into his zone to partially screen Enroth before scoring his second of the season. The Devils had plenty of opportunities to end the game in regulation. Travis Zajac, who generated a game-high four shots, couldn't solve Enroth, who made 23 saves in his first start since a 4-2 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Nov. 16. Greene barely missed scoring 7:10 into the third when he collected a feed from Adam Henrique between the circles but fired wide of the net. Henrique rang the short-side post from the left circle at 11:58, and Zajac saw his quick wrist shot from the slot scooped up by Enroth at 12:42. The best scoring opportunity in the first period came at 10:25 when Zajac stole an attempted pass by Alexander Sulzer between the circles and unloaded a slap shot Enroth denied with his right pad. Zajac had another opportunity with less than two minutes remaining when he broke in on a 2-on-1 but whiffed on the pass at the right post. Patrik Elias rang a shot off the left post with 38 seconds left, and Pysyk cleared a puck near the goal line that Bernier would have easily tapped home five seconds later. Elias made a nice move to get into prime position 3:27 into the second before unleashing a wrist shot from the right hash that Enroth stopped with his pad.
Washington v NY Islanders 3-2 OT - Vanek scored what looked like it would be the game-winner with 1:51 left in regulation. Holtby stopped Vanek's initial shot from the left circle, but Vanek followed the play and ended up poking a loose puck on the doorstep over the goal line for his eighth goal. Moments later, Capitals defenseman Mike Green was whistled for interference while trying to prevent an empty-net goal, putting the Islanders on the power play for the remainder of regulation. All they had to do was protect their one-goal lead. That's where Nicklas Backstrom tied it with a shorthanded goal, one-timing Jason Chimera's feed past Nilsson at 19:11 to send the game to overtime. Aaron Volpatti broke a scoreless tie 8:58 into the second period. With the teams at even strength, Martin Erat skated behind the net with the puck before sending it out in front to Tom Wilson, who was denied by Nilsson. But Volpatti was also in front of the net and swatted the rebound over the goal line to give Washington a 1-0 lead. It was Volpatti's second goal of the season. Cal Clutterbuck ended the Islanders' scoring drought at 109 minutes and 58 seconds with a shorthanded goal at 3:59 of the third period. With Pierre-Marc Bouchard off for interference, Andrew MacDonald sent Clutterbuck on a breakaway, and the latter fired a wrist shot past Holtby to make it 1-1. Alex Ovechkin won it for the Capitals with his 21st goal of the season. He took a pass from Mikhail Grabovski, got around Islanders defenseman Travis Hamonic at the left circle and ripped a shot past goalie Anders Nilsson.
Philadelphia v Nashville 3-2 SO - Vincent Lecavalier scored the only goal of the shootout to give the Flyers a 3-2 victory against the Nashville Predators on Saturday night. Lecavalier deked goaltender Marek Mazanec and beat him with a wrist shot in Philadelphia's first attempt. Goaltender Steve Mason stopped Craig Smith before Lecavalier's attempt and made a sprawling stop on Matt Hendricks' backhander in the second round. Matt Cullen, Nashville's third shooter, fired wide to end the game. Both teams had chances in the first few minutes after the opening faceoff. At 1:41, Mazanec denied Matt Read, who was alone in front after a pass from Couturier. A little more than three minutes later, Mason had to be sharp to stop Patric Hornqvist's wide-open one-timer from the slot. Giroux opened the scoring at 16:49 when he picked a loose puck after a blocked slot, stepped into a slap shot from the high slot and blew it past Mazanec for his fourth of the season. Fisher tied it at 17:49 with his sixth of the season when he took Hornqvist's pass from the left corner and snapped a shot from the faceoff dot that beat Mason. Mason kept the game tied through 40 minutes by stopping 10 shots in the middle period, including a pair of superb stops on deflections by Bourque. Wilson also barely missed the far post with another deflection. Nashville (13-11-3) broke a 1-1 tie 5:05 into the third period when Colin Wilson bulled his way past Jakub Voracek and chased down a dump pass by Gabriel Bourque, then put a backhander from the right circle through Mason's legs. But Philadelphia (12-12-2) got even at 13:07 when Sean Couturier was left all alone near the right post and snapped home a cross-slot pass by Andrej Meszaros. It was Couturier's third goal of the season and his second in as many days. Mason earned the Flyers a point when he denied David Legwand from the slot with 30 seconds left in regulation after a coast-to-coast rush by rookie defenseman Seth Jones. Wilson had two chances to win the game in overtime, but his blast from the high slot midway through the extra period hit the right post and Mason stopped his backhander on a breakaway with 35 seconds remaining.
Calgary v Los Angeles 2-1 - The Kings had won four straight games in overtime or the shootout, but Cammalleri made sure it didn't get that far. He surprisingly got open in front of the net for Mikael Backlund's pass and backhanded the puck past goalie Ben Scrivens. Justin Williams tied it with 4:31 left on a wrist shot from the right side that beat Ramo for Williams' 200th career goal and Anze Kopitar's 500th career point. The Flames goalie got a piece of the shot, but it found the upper portion of the net. Scrivens has been masterful in place of Quick, but his gaffe allowed Calgary to take a 1-0 lead into the third period. During a five-minute power play, Scrivens fell trying to grab the puck. Paul Byron beat him to it from behind the goal line and from a prone position passed it to Blair Jones for an open-net shorthanded goal at 15:50 of the second.
Anaheim v San Jose 3-4 SO - After scoring three times in the second period to take a 3-1 lead against the Anaheim Ducks, the San Jose Sharks appeared headed for an easy victory Saturday night at SAP Center. Then the Sharks were reminded yet again that nothing comes easily in the powerful Pacific Division. Anaheim rallied to force overtime, and the Sharks finally prevailed 4-3 in a shootout. Joe Pavelski scored in the second round of the shootout, lifting San Jose into sole possession of first place in the Pacific. Pavelski gave Sharks fans a thrill on Saturday night. Opening the second round, Pavelski skated in hard, came to a quick stop then wristed a shot past Ducks goaltender Jonas Hiller, just inside the right post. When Sharks goaltender Antti Niemi stopped Corey Perry in the second round and Kyle Palmieri in the third, San Jose had its hard-fought victory. The Sharks weren't happy about losing their two-goal lead in the third, but that didn't take away much from their perfect homestand and victories against three heavyweights from the West. Logan Couture, Patrick Marleau and Martin Havlat scored second period goals for the Sharks. Perry scored in the first period for Anaheim. Defensemen Alex Grant, making his NHL debut, and Ben Lovejoy scored in the third for Anaheim to send the game past regulation and assure the Ducks of at least a point. The Sharks went on a power play at 1:26 of OT when Perry went to the box for holding Couture. But the Sharks didn't get a shot on goal during that power play and finished the night 0-fo-5 with the man advantage. The Ducks had a power play for the final 31.4 seconds of overtime with Jason Demers in the box for holding Sami Vatanen, but they came up empty and finished 0-for-3. Niemi made 28 saves in the first meeting this season between San Jose and Anaheim. Hiller made 32 saves. After Perry gave the Ducks a 1-0 lead in the first period, the Sharks roared back to score three times in the second. The Sharks pulled even on Couture's ninth goal of the season at 4:16. Marc-Edouard Vlasic ripped a shot from above the left circle and Couture tipped it past Hiller from close range, snapping his seven-game goalless streak. San Jose took advantage of a huge mistake by Hiller to take a 2-1 lead at 10:02 on Marleau's shorthanded goal. Hiller skated far out of the crease to his right to get a slow-moving puck that the Sharks had cleared, even though two Ducks were in pursuit. Hiller's pass intended for defenseman Cam Fowler in the slot was off-target, and Marleau picked it off. Marleau passed the puck left to Joe Thornton, got it back and put it into a wide-open net before Hiller could recover. Havlat increased the Sharks' lead to 3-1 with 57 seconds left in the period. Scott Hannan rifled a shot from the left circle into heavy traffic, and forward Mike Brown, planted in front of the net, knocked the puck loose into the low slot. Havlat knifed in and beat Hiller with a backhand shot from 12 feet. Even though the Ducks were trailing by two goals, Boudreau was confident they would rally in the third period. Grant cut the Sharks' lead to 3-2 at 12:50 of the third, hammering a shot from the left point that deflected off of Niemi's chest then bounced over his shoulder and over the goal line. With 3:06 left in regulation, Lovejoy ripped a shot from above the left circle that went through traffic and past Niemi to tie the score. The Ducks were outshot 12-8 in the first period, but Perry scored the only goal at 5:56. Dustin Penner sent an outlet pass to Ryan Getzlaf, who quickly sent the puck ahead to Perry near the blue line. Perry raced in and wristed a shot that went over Niemi's glove and inside the right post. The goal was Perry's team-leading 15th, while Getzlaf got his team-high 18th assist and Penner his 12th assist. The Sharks got a scare early in the first when Thornton was hit in the face with a puck that was deflected by linemate Tomas Hertl near the Ducks' crease. Thornton immediately went to the dressing room, but he was back on the ice at 10:26 of the first. He had a swollen left eye, stitches above that eye and a cut on the side of his nose. Thornton played most of the game with fuzzy vision in his left eye, caused by a blood clot. The Ducks played without four of their top six defensemen due to injuries. Francois Beauchemin, Luca Sbisa and Sheldon Souray are on injured reserve, and Bryan Allen missed his third straight game with a lower-body injury. Former Shark forward Teemu Selanne, who has 96 points in 89 career games against San Jose, was not in the lineup and didn't travel with the team to San Jose. Selanne, who turned 43 on July 3, has been getting the second night of back-to-back games off in an attempt to keep him fresh.
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