Washington @ Buffalo 1-2 SO - Ryan Miller made 49 saves and Steve Ott scored in the sixth round of the shootout to give the Buffalo Sabres a 2-1 win against the Washington Capitals at First Niagara Center on Sunday. Ott beat Capitals goalie Philipp Grubauer with a wrist shot over the shoulder to help the Sabres improve to 5-0-1 in their past six games at home. He was the only participant to score. Miller stopped all six shots he faced in the shootout, including saves on Capitals forwards Alex Ovechkin and Mikhail Grabovski. Grabovski attempted a spin-o-rama against Miller but shot the puck off the side of the net. Drew Stafford gave the Sabres a 1-0 lead at 18:18 of the second period. He tipped a Christian Ehrhoff shot from the half-boards past Grubauer. It was Stafford's fourth goal of the season. Capitals forward Troy Brouwer tied the game 5:34 into the third period when he put a slap shot past Miller for his eighth goal of the season. Grabovski set up Brouwer's goal after forcing a turnover by Ott. The Sabres came close to ending the game in overtime when Ehrhoff drove the net and put a shot on Grubauer that popped loose through the crease, but the puck rolled away untouched.
Montreal @ Florida 1-4 - Dimitry Kulikov opened the scoring with his second goal of the season 6:10 into the game. With the teams at even strength, Panthers forward Tomas Fleischmann made a nice move around Markov at center ice and cruised into the Montreal zone before feeding a streaking Kulikov in the slot, where he one-timed Fleischmann's feed from the left circle past Budaj. Prust tied it at 2:56 of the second period. Prust, who had gone eight straight games without a point, parked himself in front of the net, collected Raphael Diaz's shot from the right point that didn't get through, then turned around and wristed a shot past Clemmensen to make it 1-1. But the Panthers regained the lead 1:55 later on Campbell's fifth goal of the season. The defenseman carried the puck into the Canadiens' zone and fired a shot from the slot that was stopped by Budaj, but the rebound landed in the crease and trickled over the goal line. The Canadiens had a goal disallowed for the second time in the game with 12:37 left. Danny Briere swept a loose puck into the net, but it was ruled that Alex Galchenyuk prevented Clemmensen from playing his position before the shot. Montreal also appeared to score with 6:34 remaining in the first, but the goal was waved off because Brian Gionta was called for knocking the puck down with a high stick at the blue line. Barkov scored made it 3-1 at 14:29. Brad Boyes made a nice move around Ryan White along the left-wing boards and sent a pass into the slot for Tom Gilbert. He wristed a shot that Barkov redirected past Budaj. Barkov has seven points in his past six games. Bergenheim iced the win with an empty-net goal at 19:43 of the third. It was his fifth goal in the past six games and eighth of the season.
Carolina @ Toronto 2-5 - Tyler Bozak, who hadn't played since Dec. 3 due to a lower-body injury, matched his career-high for assists in a game. The Hurricanes came out strong and had the Maple Leafs on their heels for the first half of the first period. Carolina took the game's first eight shots on goal before Joffrey Lupul tested Ward at 11:29 during Toronto's first power play. But Bernier stopped all 12 shots the Hurricanes threw at him in the opening period. His best was a pad save on Jeff Skinner's backhander just after the eight-minute mark. Kessel opened the scoring at 16:56 on a play that left Ward shaking his head. Kessel was behind the goal line to the right of Ward when he flung a backhand toward the net that hit the goaltender's back and deflected into the net for a 1-0 lead. The Hurricanes got even 1:36 into the second period. Alexander Semin outfought Toronto defenseman Jake Gardiner for the puck in the left corner and zipped a pass to an unchecked Gerbe in the lower left circle. Gerbe's one-timer beat Bernier cleanly for his ninth goal of the season. Ward kept the game tied 4 1/2 minutes later when he robbed Kessel with a glove stop on a 2-on-1 break, then got a lucky bounce when the rebound hopped over a couple of sticks and the Hurricanes cleared the zone. Ward wasn't as fortunate at 13:42, when James van Riemsdyk fed Kessel on another 2-on-1 break. Kessel's shot from the right circle hit Carolina defenseman Ron Hainsey and caromed past Ward, giving Kessel his second goal of the night and 20th of the season. Kulemin, who has struggled to score for much of the season, beat Ward at 14:58 with a shot from the left circle. Carolina's Tim Gleason tried to clear the puck up the left wall, but his attempt hit a skate and caromed into the center of the Hurricanes zone, where an unchecked Kulemin picked it up and scored his fifth of the season. Carolina got one back at 17:43 during a 4-on-3 power play. Faulk set up in the left circle and one-timed Skinner's pass off the stick of Toronto defenseman Cody Franson past Bernier for his third of the season. Ranger restored Toronto's two-goal lead 4:58 into the third period when his straightaway slapper from just inside the blue line went through traffic and past Ward. Phaneuf hit the empty net with 7.1 seconds to play.
NY Rangers @ Tampa Bay 4-3 - Mats Zuccarello had a goal and two assists and the New York Rangers converted on all three power plays en route to a 4-3 victory against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Tampa Bay Times Forum on Sunday night. Rick Nash, Chris Kreider and Benoit Pouliot also scored for the Rangers (19-19-2), who broke a 2-2 tie with two goals in the second period. When Tampa Bay began to surge in the third (the Lightning outshot New York 16-6), Henrik Lundqvist stood tall and finished with 37 saves. Filppula tipped Teddy Purcell's shot past Lundqvist at 8:14 of the third period to cut the lead to one goal, but the Lightning couldn't find the equalizer. A combination of careless passing and poor penalty-killing cost the Lightning two goals in the second period. With defenseman Dmitry Korobov in the box for holding, Krieder took a pass from Zuccarello and beat Lindback at 4:35. Pouliot gave the Rangers a 4-2 lead at 7:51 when he forced the puck into the Lightning net from just outside the crease. It was New York's third power-play goal in as many opportunities. The Rangers opened the scoring 4:30 into the game. Derek Stepan intercepted a Radko Gudas clearing pass at the Lightning blue line and sent a cross-ice pass to Nash, who beat Lindback for his seventh goal of the season. Johnson answered for the Lightning when he flipped a feed from Purcell past Lundqvist. The score came with J.T. Miller in the penalty box for hooking and was Johnson's 10th goal of the season. Palat put the Lightning up briefly when he collected the rebound of a Gudas shot from inside the blue line and wristed the puck into a wide-open net to Lundqvist's right at 16:05. Zuccarello made it 2-2 at 18:25 when his pass from behind the goal line deflected off Gudas in front of the net and bounced in. The power-play goal was Zuccarello's ninth of the season. Korobov recorded an assist on Filppula's third-period goal for his first NHL point in his third game. He was reassigned to the Syracuse Crunch of the American Hockey League after the game.
Vancouver @ Calgary 2-0 - Jannik Hansen scored late in the first period and Lack made the goal stand up until Mike Santorelli added some insurance with 2:16 left in regulation. Due to a quirk in the schedule, the Canucks had a full week between games sandwiched around the Christmas break. It didn't take them long to return to form and win for the 10th time in 12 games. And though he missed most of warm-ups receiving "five or six" stitches after a puck off the post hit him in the ear, Henrik Sedin didn't miss Hansen behind the Flames' defense to help Vancouver open the scoring. After Giordano's shot was blocked before it got to Lack, Sedin corralled the puck and found Hansen streaking through the neutral zone with a saucer pass he bobbled before ripping a shot by the blocker of Reto Berra with 39.7 seconds left before intermission. The goal came on the Canucks' 13th and final shot of the period. Calgary managed just two and failed to put a puck on Lack until Mike Cammalleri's opportunity from the faceoff dot at 13:02. The lopsided total was aided by Vancouver's five-minute power play after Calgary forward Brian McGrattan was assessed a major penalty and a game misconduct for elbowing defenseman Andrew Alberts 2:43 into the game. Alberts didn't return. Just 1:41 in, Mikael Backlund took a drop pass in the slot from Cammalleri and wired a puck into Lack's chest. Joe Colborne also tested the Canucks goaltender, bursting by Jason Garrison down his off wing before driving to the net. Lack's goal line stand kept Colborne and the Flames at bay through 40 minutes. Facing another 11 pucks, Berra frustrated the Canucks while Calgary slowly started to find their legs. His best stop came off Daniel Sedin with 6:41 remaining; he denied Daniel's three whacks to push the puck past his pad and over the goal line. Lack stopped 10 shots in the third period. He got his paddle on TJ Galiardi's spinning backhander from the slot at 5:32 and headed away another Galiardi chance 2 1/2 minutes later. The saves paved the way for Santorelli's ninth of the season, a quick shot past Berra after a feed by Ryan Kesler on a 2-on-1 break.
NY Islanders @ Minnesota 5-4 - Kyle Okposo came up big in his hometown. The St. Paul native scored twice in the third period, including the game-winner with 5:48 left in regulation, to help the New York Islanders overcome a three-goal deficit and beat the Minnesota Wild 5-4 on Sunday night. New York, scored twice in the second period and three times in the third to win after trailing by three goals for the first time since March 22, 1994, against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Okposo put the Islanders ahead for the first time at 12:13 of the third period when he blasted a slap shot from the right circle past Josh Harding. Justin Fontaine banged in a rebound at 13:45 to tie the game at 4-4, but Okposo put the Islanders ahead to stay 27 seconds later with a wrist shot from just outside the crease.
The Islanders began their comeback on a goal by captain John Tavares, who missed New York's 2-1 loss to the New Jersey Devils on Saturday with a lower-body injury. Thomas Vanek wheeled around the Wild net and flipped the puck in front. It deflected off Wild defenders into the top of the crease, where Tavares tapped it in for his 14th of the season. Minnesota killed off a holding penalty against Mikael Granlund at 15:49, but could not clear the puck. After several blocked shots and failed clearing attempts, the puck came free at the point to Islanders defenseman Thomas Hickey, who wristed a shot toward the net that was deflected by former Wild forward Cal Clutterbuck and went past Harding. Hickey, who had a goal and two assists, tied the game at 3-3 on a pretty redirection in the slot at 6:30 of the third. The Wild completely dominated the first period and grabbed the lead when Ryan Suter scored his first goal of the season 3:22 into the game. Minnesota's domination continued into the second period. Jonas Brodin's seventh goal of the season 39 seconds after the opening faceoff came a little more than two minutes before Nino Niederreiter, acquired in the offseason trade that sent Clutterbuck to the Islanders, made it 3-0 on a wrist shot from the slot. Niederreiter also had an assist on Brodin's goal.
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