NHL coverage from the United Kingdom, by Hockey Nerd 'Sergei Adamov' Follow me on Facebook.com/Hockey-From-Across-the-Pond Twitter: @SergeiAdamov
Monday, 13 January 2014
Results - Sat, Jan 11, 2014
Tampa Bay @ Philadelphia 6-3 - Jakub Voracek scored two goals, Wayne Simmonds had a power-play goal, and Claude Giroux had two assists for the Flyers, whose 10-game home winning streak was snapped. Steve Mason allowed five goals on 17 shots in two periods, the first time he allowed that many with Philadelphia. He was replaced by Ray Emery at the start of the third. Ryan Malone scored two goals, and Teddy Purcell, Alex Killorn and Valtteri Filppula each had a goal and an assist for Tampa Bay. Lindback made big saves at key moments through all three periods. The win did come at a price; defensemen Sami Salo and Victor Hedman each left the game with an injury. The Lightning said they would be evaluated Sunday. Salo blocked a shot in the first period, sat out the final two periods with a lower-body injury, and was seen after the game on crutches. The 39-year-old plays more than 16 minutes per game and provides a strong, smart, veteran presence on the blue line. Hedman did not return after being hit in the head by Flyers forward Scott Hartnell with 4:51 remaining. Hartnell was assessed a minor penalty for an illegal check to the head. The 23-year-old defenseman spiked his helmet and stick as he went off the ice, but Cooper said that was a good thing. Lindback was at his best in the second half of the first period. Tampa Bay was held without a shot for more than 11 minutes, and Philadelphia had a 5-on-3 advantage for 1:46. The Flyers put six shots on net, but nothing got through Lindback. The Flyers outshot the Lightning 15-7 in the first. The best save of the game should be credited to Lightning defenseman Andrej Sustr with 12:19 left in the third period. The Flyers were down 5-3 when defenseman Andrej Meszaros carried the puck around the Lightning net and found Michael Raffl in front. Raffl's shot hit the crossbar and dropped onto Lindback's glove and began to slide toward the goal line, but Sustr reached his stick and stopped the puck before it could fully cross the line and shoved it under Lindback. The Lightning were able to escape the first period up 1-0 on Killorn's goal at 4:33 then build their advantage to 3-1 in the first half of the second period on goals by Purcell and Malone sandwiched around a Voracek goal. Goals 3:21 apart by Simmonds and Voracek allowed the Flyers to tie it 3-3, but the Lightning showed their resiliency by responding 66 seconds later with Filppula's 18th of the season. Mason stopped Killorn's bouncing shot from the left side but couldn't control the rebound. Filppula got away from Steve Downie and scooped the rebound over a sliding Mason with his backhand at 15:41 to put the Lighting ahead 4-3. The Lightning pushed their lead to 5-3 when St. Louis scored with 56.2 seconds left in the second period. Radko Gudas held on to the puck in the Tampa Bay end despite being hounded by Giroux and found Tyler Johnson with a breakout pass. Johnson skated the puck into the Philadelphia end and passed across to St. Louis, who one-timed a shot past Mason from the right faceoff dot for his 20th of the season. It's the 10th time in the past 11 seasons St. Louis has scored at least 20 goals; he had 17 in the shortened 2012-13 season. The Flyers had chances in the third period besides Raffl's point-blank attempt. They got a power play when B.J. Crombeen was called for delay of game but their two shot attempts were blocked. The only goal of the third was Malone's empty-netter with 1:48 remaining. It was his first multigoal game since Jan. 25, 2013; the goals were Malone's first since Nov. 12.
Florida @ New Jersey 1-2 OT - With only a few seconds to work with and a faceoff in the offensive zone, Jaromir Jagr was basically a player/coach for the New Jersey Devils on Saturday. Moments before the draw, Jagr told defenseman Marek Zidlicky where to position himself. Travis Zajac won the faceoff back to Jagr, who quickly fed Zidlicky for a one-timer with 2.1 seconds left in overtime to give the Devils a 2-1 victory against the Florida Panthers at Prudential Center. With the assist, Jagr passed Pittsburgh Penguins star Mario Lemieux on the NHL all-time points list with 1,724. Lemieux scored 1,723 points in 915 games. Jagr passed him in his 1,437th regular-season game. Jagr, who turns 42 next month, has 11 points more than any Devils teammate (36; 13 goals, 23 assists). Michael Ryder scored in the first period and Cory Schneider made 29 saves for the Devils (19-18-9), who went 2-0-1 on a three-game homestand. New Jersey begins a four-game road trip Sunday against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Ryder gave New Jersey a 1-0 lead 15:22 into the game. With the teams at even strength, Ryane Clowe stripped Panthers defenseman Erik Gudbranson of the puck behind the net and backhanded it front to Ryder, who snapped a shot past Thomas for his 16th goal of the season. Ryder extended his goal streak to four games, and Clowe made it three straight with an assist. Thomas prevented New Jersey from doubling its lead with 9:30 to play in the second when he made two fantastic saves on Devils forward Adam Henrique. After the Devils won a faceoff in the offensive zone, Bryce Salvador wristed a shot from the point that Thomas denied. Henrique collected the rebound and tried to backhand it past Thomas, but the goaltender sprawled across the crease and managed to get a glove on Henrique's shot. Henrique had a second chance from the bottom of the right circle and fired a wrist shot that Thomas gobbled up and held until play was stopped. Bjugstad tied it for Florida at 11:54. The rookie, who had gone five straight games without a point, redirected a cross-ice feed from Tomas Fleischmann past Schneider to make it 1-1. It was Bjugstad's ninth goal of the season. Scottie Upshall, who had gone seven games without a point, picked up the secondary assist. Schneider was forced to make a big save for the Devils in the final minute of regulation when a turnover by Jon Merrill led to a chance in the slot for Panthers forward Sean Bergenheim, but Schneider denied his quick wrister to send the game to overtime. Each team had 13 shots on goal in the third period.
Ottawa @ Nashville 2-1 SO - Spezza scored with a wrist shot through Nashville goalie Marek Mazanec's five-hole to give the Senators a 2-0 win in the shootout. Mika Zibanejad scored on a wrist shot low to the blocker side in the first round, and Ottawa goalie Craig Anderson stopped Craig Smith with a toe in the first round and turned aside David Legwand in the second. Ottawa had to kill a penalty over the final 1:36 of overtime to get to the shootout after defenseman Marc Methot was called for holding the stick of former Senators forward Mike Fisher as the Predators buzzed late. Nashville, which fell to 1-7 in games decided after regulation, outshot Ottawa 6-0 in overtime and had three shots on the power play. Anderson, who made 32 saves and stopped Viktor Stalberg's first-period penalty shot, saved one of Nashville defenseman Shea Weber's trademark blistering slap shots, a 36-footer, during that power play. Anderson was asked if he had a hot glove, which he used to stop Stalberg on the penalty shot. Some physical play helped wake up the Predators and even the game. First, Eric Nystrom and the Senators' Colin Greening engaged in a protracted fight at 15:00. Then Rich Clune put a hard hit on Ottawa's Jared Cowen that resulted in a boarding call, but Spezza took exception and dropped his gloves and started hitting Clune. That earned Spezza a roughing call, and Nashville capitalized on the 4-on-4. Ryan Ellis cranked a slap shot from the high slot, but it deflected off Zibanejad and caromed directly to Fisher, who whisked the puck in from the doorstep at 3:00. The point was Fisher's 111th in the past eight games and his fifth goal during that span. It was his 12th of the season, moving him one behind Smith for the team lead. Ottawa took a 1-0 lead at 6:23 of the second period, capitalizing on a miscue by Predators defenseman Mattias Ekholm. He reversed the puck behind his net but no one was there except Ottawa center Kyle Turris. He put the puck in the net before Mazanec even moved from the opposite post. Stalberg earned his penalty shot when Ottawa defenseman Joe Corvo tripped him from behind. (Coincidentally, Stalberg had just come out of the penalty box for tripping Corvo.) Anderson made a glove save on a relatively mild wrist shot.
Columbus @ Winnipeg 6-3 - The Columbus Blue Jackets found some answers after a poor first period. Winnipeg Jets coach Claude Noel continues to scour his team's roster for solutions. The Jackets provided Noel with more questions in a 6-3 win against the Jets on Saturday. The Blue Jackets trailed 1-0 after one period but took command by scoring four times in the first 9:07 of the second, capped by Boone Jenner's penalty-shot goal. Columbus won its third straight game while Winnipeg lost its fifth in a row. Noel overhauled his lineup this week in hopes of arresting his team's slump. Defenseman Dustin Byfuglien, who began the game tied with Bryan Little for the team lead with 34 points, moved to the top forward line. Rookie Eric O'Dell moved to the second line to replace injured left wing Evander Kane, and U.S. Olympian Blake Wheeler, the team leader with 16 goals, moved to the third line to spark slumping Devin Setoguchi. Mark Letestu picked up his third and fourth goals of the season while Cam Atkinson contributed his 13th and Nick Foligno added his 12th. Jenner also scored in the third period and has eight goals this season. James Wisniewski and Derek MacKenzie each had two assists. O'Dell, whom Noel moved to the second line with first-year center Mark Scheifele and Michael Frolik, scored his first NHL goal. Tobias Enstrom scored his fifth and Little broke an 11-game goalless streak with his 15th. Curtis McElhinney, who gave starter Sergei Bobrovsky the night off after a 36-save shutout against the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday, stopped 28 shots for Columbus. Winnipeg's Ondrej Pavelec made 20 saves. O'Dell gave the Jets a 1-0 lead 4:32 into the game, stuffing a loose puck into the net after McElhinney failed to secure the carom of Keaton Ellerby's slap shot. But after a first period in which they managed six shots and a chat with Richards, the Blue Jackets regrouped. The Blue Jackets went right to work and tied the game 36 seconds into the second period. Winnipeg received the game's first three power plays, but Letestu finished a 2-on-1 rush nine seconds into the Blue Jackets' third shorthanded situation. Columbus took its first lead of the game 3:39 later when Atkinson converted a give-and-go with passes from Wisniewski and Ryan Murray. Atkinson went eight games without a goal but has scored in three straight games. The Jets' downward spiral continued as Foligno made it 3-1 when he stuffed Ryan Johansen's centering pass from behind the Winnipeg net through Pavelec's pads at 8:26. Jenner followed with his penalty-shot goal after Winnipeg defenseman Adam Pardy pulled him down on a breakaway. Enstrom cut the margin to 4-2 with a heavy left-circle through traffic in front of McElhinney at 11:55 of the second period. Jenner restored the Blue Jackets' three-goal lead 4:08 into the third period before Little made it 5-3 at 5:55. Letestu's second of the game finished the scoring.
Detroit @ Los Angeles 3-1 - The win was dinged by another Red Wings injury; Howard hurt his hip flexor and will miss at least the game Sunday against the Anaheim Ducks, coach Mike Babcock said. The Red Wings lost yet another forward before the game when Daniel Alfredsson was scratched with back spasms, according to the team. Detroit was already missing key forwards Pavel Datsyuk, Johan Franzen and Darren Helm. Daniel Cleary scored with 2:34 remaining to seal the victory. Detroit has a chance to win consecutive games in regulation Sunday for the first time in 18 games. L.A. appeared to get caught in a line change during a Red Wings rush, and Quick kicked out Sheahan's shot to Tatar, who was free to flick it in the net at 12:06 of the third. Tatar has goals in three straight games. Los Angeles played well in a 5-2 win against the Boston Bruins on Thursday that came after a 1-5-1 slump, but the Kings' offensive woes resumed against Howard, who held his ground during a third-period power play and shut out L.A. over the final two periods. Howard was pulled from a 4-1 road loss to the San Jose Sharks on Thursday and wanted to come back strong. Sheahan, who was recalled from the Grand Rapids Griffins of the American Hockey League on Friday, helped Detroit come out of the first period with a 1-1 tie. Tatar did the heavy lifting; he held off Robyn Regehr and Mike Richards on his way to the net, but Sheahan crashed the crease and was able to lean forward and backhanded Tatar's rebound into the net at 17:11. The Kings' lone goal came on a 5-on-3 power play after Red Wings defenseman Kyle Quincey was called for tripping Richards and center Joakim Andersson was whistled for holding Drew Doughty's stick in the neutral zone. It was Doughty's first goal since Dec.11 and the first by a Kings defenseman other than Alec Martinez since that Doughty goal. But that was it for Los Angeles, which had 21 missed shots and 17 blocked.
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