Results - Sun, Dec 08, 2013

San Jose @ Minnesota 1-3 - Until the dying minutes of the game, Harding was perfect. His 37 stops were a season-high as he improved to 16-4-3 this season. The wins total is tied for second-best in the NHL. He also lowered his goals against average to a League-best 1.50. After a scoreless first period, the Sharks drew a hooking penalty on Minnesota forward Charlie Coyle at 1:12 of the second. But the Wild's penalty kill was able to hold the Sharks off the board and seconds after killing the penalty, the Wild went ahead 1-0 on Zach Parise's 13th of the season. The play began in the Sharks zone, when Wild defenseman Marco Scandella's shot from the point deflected off Jason Pominville in front. The puck danced neatly to Parise on top of the crease, where he backhanded it into an open net at 3:55. Following Parise's goal, San Jose dominated the next few minutes, getting quality shots down low from Matt Nieto and Tomas Hertl and a blistering wrist shot by Joe Pavelski from the right circle that Harding sprawled to snare with his glove. Shortly after Harding's highlight-reel robbery of Pavelski, Mikko Koivu's snipe from the slot beat Sharks goaltender Antti Niemi for his seventh of the season for what would amount to the game-winner. Koivu's goal was Minnesota's seventh shot on goal of the night. By the time the second period expired, San Jose had a 32-11 lead in shots. Entering Sunday, the Wild's previous high for shots allowed at home this season was 31. Harding lost his bid for his fourth shutout of the season at 18:19 of the third, when Patrick Marleau gobbled up a rebound of a Matt Irwin shot and beat Harding with the extra-attacker for his 13th of the season. Niemi got to the bench again with over a minute left in regulation, but Parise added an empty netter with 5.9 seconds remaining. Niemi made 10 saves and fell to 16-5-5. His six-game winning streak snapped Thursday by the Pittsburgh Penguins, Niemi has lost consecutive starts in regulation for the first time this season. Defensively, the Sharks had a lot of success with their systems, limiting the Wild's ability to generate chances or sustain much pressure. Minnesota's 13 shots on goal were its fewest of the season. The Wild's previous low was 20 (three occasions).

Boston @ Toronto 5-2 - Kevan Miller's first career NHL goal at 15:58 of the second period proved to be the game-winner and led the Boston Bruins to a 5-2 victory against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Air Canada Centre on Sunday night. Miller's slap shot from the blue line beat Maple Leafs goalie Jonathan Bernier cleanly. The goal came in just his fourth career game. Miller was in the Bruins' lineup because of injuries to defensemen Adam McQuaid and Johnny Boychuk. An injury forced Miller out of the game with 2:21 left in the third period, when he was hit from behind into the boards by Maple Leafs captain Dion Phaneuf. No penalty was called on the play. Julien said the injury shouldn't impact him playing in their next game. The Maple Leafs got on the scoreboard first at 12:20 of the first period, when center Peter Holland scored on a rebound of a Jake Gardiner shot. Gardiner's initial shot went off of Bruins goalie Chad Johnson and to the far post, where Holland collected it and put it in the back of the net for his third goal of the season. The Bruins tied the game at 5:14 of the second period on the power play, when Carl Soderberg scored his fourth goal of the season. Soderberg was alone in front of the net and Reilly Smith connected on a pass from the faceoff circle, where Soderberg one-timed it past Bernier. The Bruins took the lead for good when Krug scored on the power play at 6:47 of the second. It was Krug's eighth goal of the season. The Maple Leafs' troubles on the penalty kill have mounted in the past eight games. They've given up at least one goal while down a man in each game and have allowed a total of 13 power-play goals in that span. Miller's goal late in the second made it 3-1, but the Maple Leafs were able to cut the deficit in half in the third, when Jay McClement scored his first goal of the season 37 seconds into the period. McClement scored on a rebound of his initial shot to beat Johnson. Jarome Iginla added to the lead with his sixth goal of the season with 4:00 left in the third to make it 4-2. The goal was reviewed to see if it was kicked in, but replay confirmed it was a good goal. Patrice Bergeron added an empty-net goal with 11 seconds to play. Johnson made 30 saves for Boston; Bernier had 35 for the Maple Leafs. The Bruins refrained from hospitalising any of their opponents but did lose defenseman Dougie Hamilton in the first period due to a lower-body injury.

Washington @ NY Rangers 4-1 - After a tight-checking first period that saw few quality chances, it was the two quick goals that gave Washington (16-12-2) control of the game. They opened the scoring 2:28 into the second following an aggressive forecheck from the line of Martin Erat, Chimera and Joel Ward. Erat's shot from in close was stopped, but the rebound rested in the crease before Chimera pounced for his sixth of the season. The goal seemed to give Washington a huge boost, especially considering it ended Lundqvist's shutout streak against the Capitals at 202:28, which dated back to New York's series win against the Capitals in the 2013 Eastern Conference Quarterfinal. After going more than 10 straight periods without scoring on the Rangers goaltender, the Capitals wouldn't wait long to get another. Oleksy doubled Washington's lead 25 seconds later with his first goal of the season on a wrist shot from the point that beat Lundqvist to his glove side. The goals from Chimera and Oleksy may have given Washington a boost, but the talk in the Capitals' locker room was the play Grabovski made late in the second to effectively put the game out of reach. Grabovski earned a penalty shot after being hooked by Ryan McDonagh on a breakaway with 1:59 remaining in the second. Grabovski drifted slightly to the right circle, then back between the hashmarks and fired a perfect slap shot into the top corner glove side to give Washington a 3-0 lead on his ninth goal of the season with 1:34 left in the second. It was the combination of Ward and Chimera that gave New York (15-15-1) trouble throughout the night. With Dmitry Orlov off for cross-checking midway through the second, Ward stole a pass at his blue line and carried the puck into the New York zone before feeding a streaking Chimera, whose deflection was stopped by Lundqvist with 8:17 left in the second. Ward found the rebound, but could not beat the Rangers goaltender. It wasn't the first big save on Ward by Lundqvist, who had to be sharp with 6:24 left in the first when the Capitals wing raced to the net and went to the backhand. Rick Nash responded with a scoring chance of his own on the rush nine seconds later, but the Capitals' third line had a step on the Rangers much of the night, with the speedy Chimera leading the way. With his team suddenly trailing 2-0, Ryan Callahan took it upon himself to try to answer back. New York's captain raced into the Washington zone 3:40 into the second and wired a quick wrist shot, but Grubauer made his most acrobatic stop of the night when he stretched out his right leg to make the save before stoning Michael Del Zotto on the rebound. The Rangers were kept at bay in the third, failing to register a shot until 7:58. But Pouliot finally solved the Capitals goaltender after being a healthy scratch Saturday against the New Jersey Devils. Sixty-four seconds after Schmidt beat Lundqvist with 2:57 left in regulation on a shot from the point, Pouliot deflected Del Zotto's shot into the net for his third of the season with 1:53 left in regulation. Despite the game mostly being decided by then, the Capitals weren't pleased about New York spoiling Grubauer's shutout.