Montreal @ Buffalo 3-1 - David Desharnais' power-play goal at 13:44 of the second period proved to be the game-winner as the Montreal Canadiens defeated the Buffalo Sabres 3-1 at First Niagara Center. He deflected P.K. Subban's shot from the point to beat Sabres goalie Ryan Miller to make it 2-0 and help the Canadiens extend their winning streak to four games. Sabres captain Steve Ott was cut by a high stick 7:54 into the game. Canadiens forward Alex Galchenyuk was assessed a double-minor for high sticking, but the Sabres didn't score on the power play. Ott returned later in the period. Galchenyuk scored his sixth goal of the season to give the Canadiens a 1-0 lead at 17:21. Andrei Markov's shot from a Lars Eller pass deflected off Galchenyuk and went past Miller. After Desharnais' goal gave Montreal a two-goal lead, Matt Moulson cut the deficit back to one when he scored his ninth goal of the season at 17:30. Drew Stafford set the play up after he stole the puck from Subban and found Moulson alone in front for a one-timer that beat Carey Price. A third-period fight between Sabres forward John Scott and Canadiens defenseman Douglas Murray left Murray with a cut to his forehead. Murray needed stitches to close the cut, but returned late in the game. Brendan Gallagher added a power-play goal with 1:44 to play in the third for the Canadiens, his ninth goal of the season. The Canadiens finished 2-for-4 with the man advantage.
Winnipeg @ NY Islanders 3-2 - Mark Stuart, Andrew Ladd and Devin Setoguchi scored in a 5:15 span of the second period for the Jets (12-11-4), who improved to 2-0-0 on their six-game Eastern trip after beating the New Jersey Devils on Monday. Former Islanders goalie Al Montoya made 28 saves for the victory and helped the Jets hang on after building a 3-0 lead in the second period. Stuart broke a scoreless tie 11:27 into the second period. After Jets center James Wright won a faceoff in the Islanders zone against Casey Cizikas, Stuart collected the puck near the left point and fired a shot that found its way through a crowd and past Poulin's glove to give Winnipeg a 1-0 lead. It was Stuart's first goal of the season. Ladd doubled the Jets' lead at 14:39 on his seventh goal of the season. Islanders defenseman Matt Donovan turned the puck over in the neutral zone, which allowed the Jets to break the other way. Ladd ended up being left all alone in front of the net and finished off a give-and-go with Bryan Little by backhanding a shot past Poulin to make it 2-0. Setoguchi made it a three-goal game 2:03 later. Jets defenseman Keaton Ellerby took a pass from Mark Scheifele and let go a slap shot from the right point that Setoguchi was able to redirect past Poulin for his sixth goal of the season. The Islanders got one back before the end of the second period via the power play. After Olli Jokinen took a boarding penalty in the offensive zone, Thomas Vanek sent a feed to MacDonald at the point, where the latter ripped a slap shot past Montoya to make it 3-1. It was MacDonald's second goal of the season. Tavares, who had the second assist on MacDonald's goal, cut the deficit to one with 5:59 left in regulation when he knocked down a pass by teammate Matt Carkner, bulled his way to the front of the net and jammed the puck through Montoya's five-hole for his 11th of the season. New York got a golden opportunity to tie the game when Jets defenseman Jacob Trouba was called for hooking at 14:54. The Islanders generated three shots on goal, but failed to score.
Ottawa @ Washington 6-4 - The Senators got off to a fast start, registering the game's first six shots on goal, but the Capitals gradually titled the ice in their favor, taking the next nine shots and grabbing the lead at 12:10 on Eric Fehr's second goal of the season. Fehr started the play by pressuring Joe Corvo along the half-wall. Michael Latta picked up the loose puck and was able to push it back to Fehr despite being tripped by a sprawling Ryan. With room in front, Fehr waited out Chris Phillips and fired a snap shot past Anderson from the slot. Ryan tied the game at 13:28 when he deflected Patrick Wiercioch's power-play point shot past Braden Holtby (35 saves), but the Capitals regained the lead at 14:06 when Alex Ovechkin's pass from the left circle ricocheted off Marc Methot and Troy Brouwer before finding its way to Marcus Johansson, who was waiting back-door. Forty-seven seconds later, Brooks Laich beat Jason Spezza to a loose puck in the slot and backhanded it past Anderson. With three goals in 2:43, the Capitals matched their goal total from their previous three games combined. The Senators, however, responded with a dominant second period, outshooting the Capitals 19-3 and tying the game with two goals exactly four minutes apart. Phillips cut Ottawa's deficit to 3-2 at 6:36, ripping a top-shelf slap shot past Holtby on the rush with Fehr in the penalty box for tripping. Colin Greening then tied the game at 10:36 on a nearly identical play, beating Holtby with a wrist shot as he came down the right side. In the third period, the Senators' power play cashed in for the third time and gave them their first lead of the game when Mika Zibanejad's deflection eluded Holtby at 6:05, marking the first time since April 5, 2011, that Ottawa scored three or more power-play goals in one game. Carlson's power-play slap shot with 3:27 remaining briefly tied the game 4-4; he scored three seconds after drawing a kneeing penalty on Smith. But Smith atoned 64 seconds later when he snapped a stretch pass from Chris Neil past Holtby. Ryan added an empty-netter to secure Ottawa's first regulation victory in Washington since March 12, 2006. Meanwhile, the Capitals, whose 38 penalty minutes were their second-most of the season, saw their losing skid reach a season-long four games as they fell to third in the Metropolitan Division.
Nashville @ Columbus 4-0 - There was a great team effort on display when Nashville played Columbus, the Predators got goals from four players and turned in a defensive performance that limited the Blue Jackets to 19 shots on goal, including four in the first period when Matt Cullen scored the only goal Nashville needed. The Predators could have been in trouble when starter Pekka Rinne went on injured reserve a month ago with a hip infection, but instead Carter Hutton and Marek Mazanec have stepped up. The Predators went into the game Wednesday at Nationwide Arena with the unusual statistic of having three goalies with four wins in the team's first 24 games. The Predators jumped on the Blue Jackets from the opening puck drop, and Cullen gave the Predators a hard-earned lead at 9:58 as they applied constant pressure on Bobrovsky, who finished with 25 saves. Cullen snuck behind defenseman Ryan Murray low in the right circle and waited for a pass from Ryan Ellis. The defenseman obliged as he faked a slap shot from the left point before drilling a pass to Cullen for the first of his two assists. Fisher made it 2-0 on the power play 56 seconds into the second with the aid of a fortuitous bounce. The original shot from the blue line by Roman Josi hit a bevy of players in front of the goalmouth, including Gabriel Bourque. The puck landed in front of Fisher, who whacked it past Columbus goalie Sergei Bobrovsky for his fifth goal. A turnover by Blue Jackets defenseman Jack Johnson allowed Legwand to skate through the crease and score at 8:56. Viktor Stalberg and Bourque picked up assists on Legwand's fifth goal. Cullen fired a one-timer that reached the back of the net before Bobrovsky could slide across the crease. It was his fifth goal of the season. Spaling closed out the scoring with his fourth goal of the season at 2:02 of the third period.
Boston @ Detroit 1-6 - Even without two-thirds of their top line, the Detroit Red Wings looked like themselves again Wednesday at Joe Louis Arena. Playing without Pavel Datsyuk and Todd Bertuzzi, Detroit defeated the Boston Bruins 6-1 thanks in large part to three quick goals scored in the first half of the second period. The Red Wings stifled the Bruins' attack, and the scoring struggle that's plagued the team all season disappeared. Henrik Zetterberg and Niklas Kronwall assisted on each other's goals in the second, Johan Franzen had three assists, and Detroit got two-point games from Tomas Tatar (goal and assist), Gustav Nyquist (goal and assist) and Joakim Andersson (two assists). Jarome Iginla scored late in the third period for the Bruins (16-7-2), long after the Red Wings had pulled away. Justin Abdelkader and Drew Miller also scored for the Red Wings (12-7-7), who won their second game in a row for the first time since Oct. 30 through Nov. 2, when they defeated the Vancouver Canucks, Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers to start a four-game trip to Western Canada. It was a completely different story in the visitors dressing room. It was the Bruins' worst loss thus far. They were outskated, outshot (28-17) and generally outplayed after Abdelkader made it 1-0 at 11:49 of the first period. They also were the recipient of some bad bounces on a night when their effort was epitomized by Milan Lucic colliding with linemate Iginla in the second period. That was tempered by his elbowing minor midway through the second period. It led to a power-play goal that made it 4-0 Detroit after Franzen slid a perfect feed through the legs of a Bruins defender and hit Kronwall in stride for a quick redirect into the net. The puck actually skipped off Rask's blocker into the top left corner for his third goal of the season and second in the past four games. Kronwall's goal came 1:15 after Zetterberg made it 3-0 by one-timing a low-to-high pass from Nyquist off Rask's left shoulder into the top right corner for his first goal since Nov. 9 against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Nearly three minutes before that one, at 6:05 of the second, Tatar gave the Red Wings a 2-0 lead by collecting the puck at center ice and zipping through the Boston defense to tuck a beautiful wraparound past Rask's right skate blade. Three goals scored in four minutes, and just like that, the Red Wings had their long lost offense back. It started in the first when Abdelkader made it 1-0 by beating Loui Eriksson to a loose puck in front of the crease and burying it into the open back side of the net. It was Abdelkader's first goal since Nov. 1 against the Flames and came 11 seconds after Franzen was let out of the penalty box. Prior to that goal, the Bruins had a couple of good chances to strike first. Instead, they squandered two power plays and quickly lost steam that was never regained. The Red Wings continued to push in the third, with Gustavsson making a nice stop early to keep the Bruins scoreless, and Miller making it 5-0 at 8:38 with his first goal since Oct. 26, smacking a shot from close range that trickled through Rask's pads. Nyquist made it 6-0 before Iginla finally beat Gustavsson to get the Bruins on the board.
Philadelphia @ Tampa Bay 2-4 - Hedman made it 3-0 at 5:00 of the third period with his second of the night. The Lightning had a 5-on-3 advantage when Hedman took a pass in the slot from Teddy Purcell, did a turnaround and beat Flyers goalie Ray Emery (31 saves) to the short side. Playing the slot on the power play is a spot that Hedman is unaccustomed to, but Lightning coach Jon Cooper said the placement made sense. The Lighting put together an aggressive second period and jumped out to a 2-0 lead. Hedman opened the scoring at 9:15 when he put an odd-angled shot on net that found just enough space under Emery's arm. Hedman, who had been pinching deep into the Flyers' zone on the play, fired from below the left circle near the boards. Nate Thompson and Tyler Johnson assisted. With Tampa Bay's Alex Killorn in the penalty box for hooking, Hedman and Ondrej Palat broke out of the neutral zone on a 2-on-1 shorthanded rush. Emery stopped Hedman's shot, but the rebound went to Palat, who finished by putting the puck behind a diving Emery for his fourth goal of the season at 12:16. Philadelphia had the best scoring opportunity of the first period when Wayne Simmonds was awarded a penalty shot with 3:14 remaining. Simmonds, who had been hooked by Hedman as he closed in alone on the Tampa Bay goal, deked to his right and then cut left, but Lindback caught Simmonds' shot with his right pad. Tampa Bay was cruising with a 3-0 lead late in the third period and Lindback had his first shutout of the season in sight before Philadelphia scored two goals 40 seconds apart with less than two minutes to go, but Tyler Johnson scored an empty-net goal to seal the victory for Tampa Bay. Lecavalier scored on a one-timer off a pass from Brayden Schenn via the power play at 18:07 of the third period, and Mark Streit followed at 18:47 with his first goal of the season.
NY Rangers @ Florida 5-2 - Florida controlled the early part of the first period, at one point recording four shots in a nine-second span, before Brassard opened the scoring 12:13 in with a gorgeous power-play goal. After four crisp passes in the Florida zone, Brassard finished off the play by redirecting Zuccarello's feed in the slot over Thomas' left shoulder. Zuccarello later ended Florida's comeback bid when he backhanded a loose puck in front of the net past Thomas. Richards increased the Rangers lead to 2-0 at 18:53 of the second period with a seemingly harmless snap shot from the top of the right circle that got past Thomas after going through the legs of Florida defensemen Tom Gilbert and Brian Campbell. Nash made it 3-0 at 5:32 of the third when he stopped a Florida clearing attempt near the blue line, skated to the slot and beat Thomas with a low wrist shot to the stick side. The Rangers appeared headed for an easy victory when they led 3-0 midway through the third period, but they had to respond after Florida's Upshall scored with 7:32 left in the third period to end Lundqvist's bid for his 48th career shutout, and Bjugstad scored with 3:43 left in the third to make things interesting. Mats Zuccarello scored the Rangers' second power-play goal of the game with 1:28 remaining to seal the outcome. Carl Hagelin added an empty-netter with 23.1 seconds left. Left wing Taylor Pyatt returned to the Rangers lineup after missing eight games because of a concussion.
Los Angeles @ San Jose 2-3 OT - The San Jose Sharks and Los Angeles Kings had scored three times apiece through seven rounds of a shootout Wednesday night at SAP Center when Joe Thornton took the ice to begin Round 8. The Sharks' captain hadn't taken a shootout attempt since Dec. 11, 2009, in the ninth round against the Dallas Stars. He hadn't scored a shootout goal since Dec. 16, 2007, against Anaheim, a game-winner in the sixth round. Thornton came through again, beating goaltender Ben Scrivens inside the right post, and when San Jose goaltender Antti Niemi stopped Tyler Toffoli, the Sharks owned a 3-2 victory against their Pacific Division rival. The Sharks moved into first place in the Pacific; they and the Anaheim Ducks have 37 points, but Anaheim has played three more games. Both teams are one point ahead of the Kings. It was the Sharks' 10th straight win at home against the Kings, a streak that includes seven regular-season wins and three in the Stanley Cup Playoffs last spring. The Kings have defeated San Jose seven straight times at Staples Center, including a 4-3 overtime victory on Oct. 30. Despite their loss Wednesday, the Kings recorded a point for the 11th straight game, tying a franchise record. The teams have split two games this season, with each visiting team earning a point by getting past regulation. Joe Pavelski, Tomas Hertl and Dan Boyle also scored in the shootout for San Jose. Anze Kopitar, Justin Williams and Dustin Brown scored for the Kings. Jeff Carter and Drew Doughty scored in regulation for the Kings. Pavelski and Thornton scored for the Sharks. Niemi and Scrivens each made 38 saves through 65 minutes. Carter scored 18 seconds into the game, but the Sharks took a 2-1 lead into the third period after Pavelski and Thornton scored goals in the second. The Kings answered with Doughty's goal at 6:23 of the third period. Doughty got the puck behind the Los Angeles net, brought it all the way into the San Jose zone and sent an apparent pass from the left circle toward Jarret Stoll in the slot. The puck deflected off Sharks defenseman Scott Hannan's right skate and went past Niemi. The Sharks had three power plays in the third period, their only opportunities with the extra man all night, but came up empty. They're now 0-for-10 on the power play in their past four games and 1-for-16 in their past five. The Sharks killed a penalty late in regulation, then sent a flurry of shots at Scrivens in the closing minute, but he stopped them all, sending the game to overtime. The Kings jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead on Carter's sixth goal. Center Mike Richards fired the puck wide right of the crease, off the end boards, setting the scoring play in motion. Dwight King laid a big hit on Hertl, got the puck and made a backward pass in front to Carter, who beat Niemi high to the far side. The rest of the period belonged to the Sharks. The Sharks outshot Los Angeles 18-8 in the first period, but couldn't beat Scrivens. Patrick Marleau had a game-high four shots in the first period, while Thornton had three, and Logan Couture, Hertl and Pavelski registered two apiece. Scrivens made his eighth straight start in place of Jonathan Quick, who sustained a groin injury Nov. 12 against the Buffalo Sabres. Entering the game, Scrivens led the NHL in goals-against average (1.44), save percentage (.947) and shutouts (three). In his first seven starts since Quick's injury, he went 5-0-2 with a 1.27 GAA and .954 save percentage with two shutouts. The Sharks were outshot 19-7 in the second period, but managed to score twice to take a 2-1 lead. San Jose pulled even at 2:43 of the second period on Pavelski's ninth goal of the season. Tyler Kennedy ripped a shot from the left circle that Kings defenseman Jake Muzzin blocked, but Pavelski got to the loose puck, moved to his right and wristed a high shot past Scrivens. The Sharks killed a four-minute double minor to Boyle for high-sticking Williams and drawing blood at 6:25. Thornton gave the Sharks a 2-1 lead at 16:54. Hertl forced a turnover by Doughty in the neutral zone, tracked down the puck and sent it behind the Kings net. Scrivens went behind the net and tried to clear the puck, but a hustling Thornton forced him to retreat to the crease. The Sharks captain beat Kings defenseman Willie Mitchell for control of the puck, which he put off Scrivens' skate and into the net for his third goal of the season.
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