Montreal @ New Jersey 4-3 SO - The Canadiens picked up two wins against the New Jersey Devils in the past three nights despite not feeling like they played even remotely close to their best. David Desharnais scored the tying goal in the final minute of regulation and the winner in the shootout to give Montreal a 4-3 victory in a wild game at Prudential Center that featured five goals in the third period, including three in the final four minutes. Lars Eller also scored late in the third period and in the shootout for Montreal, and goalie Peter Budaj made a pad save on Patrik Elias to end it. The Canadiens beat New Jersey, 3-2, at Bell Centre on Monday despite being outshot 30-17. They have won three straight and are 7-0-1 in their past eight games and 9-1-2 since losing 4-1 to the Ottawa Senators on Nov. 7. The three goals by the Devils snapped Montreal's streak of 11 straight games in which it allowed two goals or fewer. Devils rookie Reid Boucher, who made his NHL debut, scored the lone goal in the shootout for New Jersey. It was the Devils' first shootout goal of the season; they were previously 0-for-14. However, Travis Zajac and Elias came up empty against Budaj to drop New Jersey's record to 0-5 in games decided by the shootout. The Canadiens improved to 2-3 in shootout games. The Devils grabbed a 2-1 lead midway through the third period Wednesday on goals from Andrei Loktionov and Michael Ryder that were separated by 5:31. DeBoer had put together a line of Loktionov with Ryder and Boucher to start the third after the Devils went scoreless on 19 shots against Budaj through 40 minutes. Until Loktionov scored, the lone goal in the game belonged to Gionta, who beat Devils goalie Cory Schneider with a redirection goal off the rush with 9:24 to play in the first period. However, the Devils couldn't hold onto the lead. Eller cashed in on his own rebound to tie the game with 3:50 to play. Elias took advantage of P.K. Subban's giveaway deep in the Canadiens' defensive zone to beat Budaj for an unassisted goal that gave New Jersey a 3-2 lead with 1:06 remaining. With Budaj racing to the bench for the extra skater, a turnover by the Devils in their own end led to Gionta's one-timer from inside the right point that Desharnais deflected past Schneider (27 saves) for the game-tying goal with 35.6 seconds left. The play went under review to see if Desharnais deflected it with a high stick, but replays concluded that his stick was below the crossbar.
Philadelphia @ Detroit 6-3 - The Flyers beat the Detroit Red Wings 6-3 despite entering the game with one victory here in 19 regular-season games since the 1989-90 season. Trailing 3-2 heading into the third, the Flyers scored four times to deflate the injury-laden Red Wings (14-8-7). The other two members of Couturier's line, Matt Read and Steve Downie, also had big games. Read finished with a goal and two assists and Downie had a goal and assist to keep a recent trend going in the right direction. During the past 10 games, the three have combined to score 11 goals and 26 points to help Philadelphia post a 6-3-1 record over that span. Philadelphia held Detroit to a 1-for-7 performance on the power-play and killed off four of five man-advantages in the second. The Red Wings' lone power-play goal, scored by Tomas Tatar in the second, was during a 5-on-3 situation. The Flyers went 3-for-3 on their own power plays, with two scored in the third. This was the first time they've won a game they trailed going into the third and the relief was evident. Detroit has only won five of 16 home games (5-5-6) and played without forwards Henrik Zetterberg (herniated disc), Pavel Datsyuk (concussion) and Todd Bertuzzi (shoulder), along with rookie defenseman Danny DeKeyser (shoulder). Things looked good for the Red Wings after Johan Franzen and Tatar (two goals) scored less than two minutes apart midway through the second, but it fell apart quickly in the final 20 minutes. Philadelphia scored three times in the first 10 minutes of the third and added a second by Couturier, who scored into an empty net to post the Flyers' highest goal total for a game this season. Claude Giroux also scored for the Flyers (13-13-2), who helped goalie Steve Mason (32 saves) pick up his 10th victory and third in a row. Philadelphia simply dominated the first 10 minutes of the third, outshooting Detroit 9-4 through the first 13 minutes and getting goals from Giroux, Couturier and Hartnell. Giroux's tied it 3-3 at 5:15 via the power play with a long wrist shot from above the left circle that sailed through traffic. Couturier then put the Flyers ahead for the first time, 4-3, at 8:28 on his line's second goal. Hartnell made it 5-3 at 9:58 during another power play with his sixth goal of the season and third point of the game before Couturier (two goals, two assists) sealed it at 19:01 with an empty-net goal. The Red Wings got on the scoreboard first on Tatar's first of the game, a snap shot he zipped over Mason's shoulder into the upper right corner at 10:17 for a 1-0 lead. Downie tied it 1-1 at 13:48 by putting a shot from the slot between Howard's pads after the puck found its way through traffic. It was his first goal since being traded to the Flyers by the Colorado Avalanche on Oct. 31 in exchange for Maxime Talbot. The Red Wings got a golden chance to retake the lead with 1:33 left in the first, but Justin Abdelkader's wrist shot off a breakaway clanged off the iron to keep it 1-1 starting the second. Franzen and Tatar gave the Red Wings a 3-1 lead halfway through the second, but Read's goal with 3:22 left cut it to 3-2 and set the stage for the big Flyers' big third. Couturier fed him with a nice pass after Downie helped win a puck battle.
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