Washington @ New Jersey 1-2 - Stephen Gionta and Adam Henrique scored, and goalie Cory Schneider earned his ninth victory of the season with 30 saves in a 2-1 victory against the Capitals on Friday at Prudential Center. The Capitals scored their first goal in seven periods, dating to a 4-1 loss Sunday to the Rangers, when Jason Chimera tipped a shot past Schneider midway through the third period. John Erskine took the initial shot from the left point that Chimera deftly redirected into the top left corner on a waist-high attempt at 10:10. The goal snapped a scoring drought of 149:11. Washington was without NHL goal-scoring leader Alex Ovechkin for the second straight game with an undisclosed lower-body injury he apparently sustained Jan. 19 against the Rangers. Without their ailing captain, the Capitals have scored once in two games. The team is winless in seven (0-5-2) and has been outscored 21-8 over that stretch. The Capitals also played the third period against the Devils without forward Mikhail Grabovski, who sustained a lower-body injury in the second. Capitals goalie Michal Neuvirth, seeking his first win since Jan. 10, finished with 28 saves. Henrique gave the Devils a 2-0 lead early in the third period when he collected a picturesque pass from Jagr in the slot and scored his 14th goal of the season with his team on the power play. Jagr took a lead pass from Travis Zajac and skated low into the right circle before dishing to Henrique at 1:45. The assist, Jagr's second of the game, pulled the 41-year-old right wing into a tie with former Pittsburgh Penguins teammate Mario Lemieux for 10th on the all-time NHL list with 1,033. Schneider made certain the two-goal lead would stand with some solid goaltending late in the second period when Washington was given its second power play of the game after Jagr was whistled for slashing. Schneider made three of his 14 saves on that penalty kill, stopping John Carlson, Joel Ward and Martin Erat in a span of 10 seconds while moving about the crease. The Devils opened a 1-0 lead when Stephen Gionta, playing his 100th NHL game, scored his third of the season at 4:57 of the first period. After taking a feed from Jagr in the neutral zone, Gionta skated into the Capitals end and fired a shot from the right circle that beat Neuvirth to the long side, just underneath the blocker. Schneider made seven saves in the first, including two big stops at the right post against Erat and Eric Fehr at 7:26. The goalie also denied consecutive wrist shots by Fehr and Mike Green late in the period when the Capitals were on the power play, two of his eight saves during three Washington advantages.
The outdoor game at Yankee Stadium between the
Devils and Rangers is Sunday at 12:30 p.m. ET (NBC, CBC).
Montreal @ Detroit 1-4 - Brendan Gallagher scored a power-play goal and Carey Price made 22 saves for the Canadiens (27-19-5), who have lost three in a row and four of five, allowing four or more goals in all five games. Detroit moved within three points of Montreal for third place and the last guaranteed playoff berth in the Atlantic Division. It was the first meeting between the Original Six rivals since Jan. 25, 2012, and Montreal's first visit to Detroit since Dec. 10, 2010. The teams are in the same division for the first time since 1980-81 and will play four more times this season. Montreal had the first good chance when Tomas Plekanec stole the puck from Daniel Alfredsson at his blue line and went in on a shorthanded breakaway. But Alfredsson raced back and pestered Plekanec enough to prevent a good shot before the Montreal center tumbled over Gustavsson. On the return rush, Montreal defenseman Alexei Emelin was called for boarding Daniel Cleary, giving Detroit a 5-on-3 power play for 65 seconds, and the Red Wings capitalized. Zetterberg's one-timer from between the top of the circles knuckled past Price's glove at 12:27 for his 16th of the season and a 1-0 lead. Sheahan, one of several young players who've gotten ice time in Detroit because of injuries, made it 2-0 at 11:48 of the second period with an unassisted goal. Sheahan picked off an errant pass near the red line, skated into the high slot and rifled a shot over Price's glove for his second NHL goal. The Canadiens made it 2-1 68 seconds later. With Justin Abdelkader off for boarding, Gallagher took a pass in the lower left circle and swept unimpeded to the front of the net, where his jam shot slid through Gustavsson's pads and over the goal line for his 13th of the season. Price kept the lead one goal with 5:45 remaining in the period when he used his shoulder to rob Abdelkader, who was alone in the lower left circle cutting toward the net. However, Price had no chance at 16:29, when Nyquist's backhand pass off the left wall found Kronwall alone between the hash marks for a rocket that went through a screen and caught the top right corner. Kronwall's sixth of the season gave Detroit a 3-1 lead. Nyquist put it away with 1:19 remaining when he finished a tic-tac-toe passing play on a 3-on-1 break by beating Price with a wrister from the slot. Emelin was helped off the ice with 7:08 left in the third period after a shot by Kronwall hit him in the knee. Coach Michel Therrien said after the game that Emelin was OK. The Canadiens host the Washington Capitals on Sunday.
Nashville @ Calgary 4-5 SO - The biggest night of Eric Nystrom's career wasn't enough to beat the team that drafted him. Nystrom scored all four of the Nashville Predators' goals in regulation Friday night, but the Calgary Flames rallied to force overtime and earned a 5-4 victory when Sean Monahan scored in the fourth round of the shootout. Nystrom, who spent his first four seasons with the Flames after Calgary took him with the 10th pick in the 2001 NHL Draft, capped his big night when he deflected Matt Cullen's shot into the net with 9:13 remaining in regulation. But Mikael Backlund and David Jones scored 1:09 apart after the Predators got into penalty trouble, pulling the Flames even. Calgary's Jiri Hudler scored in the second round of the shootout, and Nashville's Roman Josi matched him in the third round. Monahan slid a backhander through the legs of goaltender Devan Dubnyk to start the fourth round, and the game ended when Nashville's Ryan Ellis was denied by goaltender Reto Berra on a backhander. Nystrom's eighth, ninth, 10thand 11th goals of the season, weren't enough to help Devan Dubnyk earn his first win as a member of the Predators. Dubnyk was acquired from the Edmonton Oilers on Jan. 15 in exchange for forward Matt Hendricks. Instead, Monahan gave Berra, who came on in relief of Karri Ramo in the second period, the victory to remain undefeated in the shootout. The Predators led 3-1 after 40 minutes before a wild third period sent the game past regulation. With Nashville's Rich Clune off for hooking, defenseman Seth Jones' clearing attempt found the stick of Calgary's Matt Stajan, who quickly dropped a pass to Jones. He snapped his seventh of the season over Dubnyk's shoulder at 1:24 to inject some life into the Flames and cut Nashville's lead to 3-2. After Nystrom's goal restored Nashville's two-goal lead. Craig Smith and Paul Gaustad took penalties 24 seconds apart, giving Calgary a 5-on-3 power play. Backlund redirected Kris Russell's shot from the point past Dubnyk with 7:33 to play to make it 4-3, and the Flames got even 11 seconds after Gaustad's penalty ended when Jones deflected TJ Brodie's slap shot into the net with 6:24 remaining. A matchup between two of the NHL's lowest-scoring teams got off to a fast start, with each team getting a goal before the game was four minutes old. Nystrom opened the scoring 1:51 after the opening faceoff on Nashville's first shot. After Gabriel Bourque bobbled the puck in his dash through the slot, Nystrom swooped in and fired a shot off the inside of the post to beat Ramo. But with Gaustad in the penalty box for holding, Mark Giordano knotted the game at 3:23. Calgary's captain took a pass from Kris Russell and one-timed it off the crossbar and past Dubnyk. Nystrom got his second of the night 1:50 into the second period. Josi lobbed what looked to be a harmless looking dump-in on Ramo, but the puck took a big hop, forcing the Flames starter to throw his shoulder in front of it. The rebound dropped straight to an onrushing Nystrom, who tapped it in. Nystrom completed his first career hat trick at 6:00. After a turnover kept the puck deep in the Flames zone, Gaustad threw a sharp-angled shot that skipped off Nystrom and behind Ramo to give Nashville a 3-1 lead. The goal, which chased Ramo from the game after 12 shots, wasn't without debate. It was originally credited to Gaustad but was changed during the second intermission.
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