Results - Fri, Jan 17, 2014

Washington @ Columbus 1-5 - The Blue Jackets have been saying all season that once they got healthy they would be a good hockey team. They are not yet 100 percent because forward Marian Gaborik's return from a broken collarbone is uncertain, but gaining forward Nathan Horton and goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky from the injured reserve list this month has made a world of difference. Bobrovsky was stellar again Friday, turning aside 26 shots, including a dynamic duel with Russian Olympic teammate Alexander Ovechkin; Horton had an assist on a timely score early in the third period by Mark Letestu; and the Blue Jackets rolled to a 5-1 win against the Washington Capitals, their fifth straight. Columbus is 6-1-0 since Horton made his Blue Jackets debut Jan. 2 after missing the first 40 games because of offseason surgery on his left shoulder. His presence has added to the team's ability to not only roll four lines but get production from each of them. Horton has two goals and three assists; the most recent set up Letestu for a power-play goal 68 seconds into the third period to make it 4-1. Letestu went 39 games without a goal after scoring in the second game of the season but now has goals in three straight and five in six. Atkinson followed with his 15th goal at 4:24, three seconds after the conclusion of a power play, when he fired from the high slot through traffic. Columbus took a 2-0 lead in the first period on a power-play goal by defenseman James Wisniewski and an Atkinson score. It made it 3-0 early in the second when Ryan Johansen scored at 1:44. The Capitals at that point replaced goalie Philipp Grubauer with Braden Holtby. The goal for Washington came at 8:44 of the second off the stick of defenseman John Carlson. The key juncture was Columbus killing consecutive Washington power plays late in the second period to preserve a 3-1 lead. Bobrovsky, winner of six straight games dating to Nov. 29, did his part a minute into a goaltender inference call against Columbus left wing Boone Jenner. Ovechkin found himself alone in front of Bobrovsky and dangled the puck several times but could not get the goalie to commit. He made a glove save against the NHL goals leader who was seeking his 35th of the season. The save became even bigger when during the same power play the Blue Jackets were called for too many men on the ice to put them down two men for 18 seconds. Bobrovsky denied a wrist shot by Eric Fehr from the left circle, and with four seconds left in the second penalty, Washington defenseman Mike Green was sent off for hooking RJ Umberger.


Anaheim @ Chicago 2-4 - The Ducks got exactly what coach Bruce Boudreau expected from the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday night at United Center. The defending Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks stormed out of the gate and played one of their best overall games in recent weeks, earning a 4-2 victory that snapped Anaheim's winning streak at eight games. The win also ended Chicago's five-game losing streak against the Ducks, who lost for just the second time in 20 games. Anaheim's 18-1 run matched the 1967-68 Montreal Canadiens for the best 19-game stretch in NHL history.

"We knew we were facing the hottest team in the League and we knew how good they are, how talented they are," said Blackhawks forward Marian Hossa, who scored a pair of goals and had eight of Chicago's 35 shots. "They have the best line in the League and we knew we had to stop it somehow. I thought we did an excellent job."

Anaheim (36-9-5, 77 points) leads the Blackhawks (31-8-11, 73 points) by four points in both the Western Conference and NHL standings and faces a tough back-to-back turnaround game Saturday against the St. Louis Blues. Boudreau was not pleased with his team's effort, especially in the first 40 minutes. The Ducks trailed 2-0 after two periods, had been outshot 26-11 and had been forced to kill off five Chicago power plays.

"I didn't think the first two periods were very good at all," Boudreau said. "Granted, they made us look bad by playing well, but we weren't very good I didn't think. You're disappointed every time you don't win. I already had a text, 'Well, it had to happen.' Well it didn't have to happen. Every day is a new day. We didn't come ready to play ... to beat them."

Hossa and Kris Versteeg gave Chicago its first-period lead and Bryan Bickell scored 10:13 into the third to make it 3-0. Ryan Getzlaf and Kyle Palmieri countered with goals 53 seconds apart to make it close before Hossa's empty-netter with 7.6 seconds left sealed it.

"I thought that was a really good game, sort of like a playoff atmosphere," said Blackhawks goalie Corey Crawford, who made 19 saves and picked up his first win in six games since returning from a lower-body injury. "It was a little bit too close at the end maybe. Being up that many goals you want to be able to close it out without that kind of finish, but it's good to get the two points and beat that team."

Jonas Hiller made 31 saves and played well, but took his first loss since Dec. 3, snapping a string of 14 straight wins. He was three short of the NHL record for a single season, set by Gilles Gilbert with the Boston Bruins in 1975-76. Hiller's play wasn't the issue, he kept the game from becoming a blowout in the first two periods and nearly stopped Bickell's point-blank shot off a rush in the third. The Ducks' forwards and defense couldn't make the same claim after a rare off-night.

"It was definitely not our best game," Hiller said. "I thought we just didn't work enough, especially the first two periods. If you play a team like the Blackhawks, you can't just try to work for half a period or one period and hope you win. It's just disappointing to lose. If we played our best, we definitely [had] a good chance, but we can't just rely on talent."

Boudreau preached a similar message. "With all the press that we've gotten in the last two days, some guys maybe just weren't ready for this. It's a learning experience. To be on top, there's a commitment you have to make just being there or you don't stay there very long."

Chicago evidently made that commitment early. Just as Boudreau predicted, the Blackhawks came out flying. They took it right to the Ducks and forced Hiller to be at his best on several saves in the first half of the opening period. Hossa finally got one past him at 10:34, while the Blackhawks were shorthanded. He ripped a shot to the short side, over Hiller's left pad, to reward Niklas Hjalmarsson for a slick reverse pass in Chicago's defensive zone that sprung a 2-on-1 rush. The goal was the 18th of the season for Hossa and his third in four games. A fortunate bounce and some hard work by Versteeg turned into Chicago's second goal. After Versteeg tried to flip a puck toward the net from the corner, Anaheim's Matt Beleskey blocked it toward Ducks defenseman Sami Vatanen, who had it bounce off him and head toward Hiller. Versteeg, who didn't play in the third because of an upper-body injury, swooped in between the two Ducks skaters and popped the puck into the far side at 17:06 with a backhanded chop. The goals were big for the Blackhawks, who came into the game with a 23-0-5 record when scoring first but hadn't done so in their past five games.

"It was huge," defenseman Duncan Keith said. "We talked about coming out and having a good start against them and limiting their chances. I thought we had a good start and were pretty solid throughout the whole game."

Chicago earned four power plays in the second period, but couldn't convert any into goals and wound up going 0-for-5 with the extra man. Those power-play struggles nearly came back to haunt them in the third. After Bickell scored his first goal since Dec. 23, the Ducks made things interesting. Getzlaf capitalized on a turnover for his 24th goal to make it 3-1 at 13:47 and Palmieri cut it to 3-2 at 14:40 with a wrister from the high slot that snuck between Crawford's pads. Anaheim pressed hard from there, but couldn't get the equalizer before Hossa's empty-netter ended its comeback hopes. Versteeg suffered an upper-body injury in the final seconds of the second period and didn't return. The Blackhawks said he'll be evaluated on Friday.