Nashville @ Boston 2-3 OT - Brad Marchand scored 54 seconds into overtime, and Niklas Svedberg made 33 saves in his NHL debut to give the Bruins a 3-2 win against the Nashville Predators at TD Garden on Thursday. Marchand made a move around Predators forward Mike Fisher right after crossing the blue line, then beat goalie Marek Mazanec with a snap shot from the top of the left circle. Late in the third period, Marchand was dropped by a Shea Weber hit near the Nashville bench. Marchand put his head down while he recuperated on the bench. Despite getting rocked by one of the biggest hitters in the NHL, Marchand was able to get himself back together to net the winner. Boston's Johnny Boychuk scored his first goal in 19 games to tied it 1-1 early in the third period. Teammate Ryan Spooner skated from the circle in his end to the circle in Nashville’s zone before feeding Boychuk in the high slot. The defenseman stopped the puck, then picked the top corner to the glove side at 4:55. Bruins forward Jarome Iginla broke the tie with some old-school net drive. After Milan Lucic gained the zone and took the puck wide, he found the angle to feed Iginla, who had beaten Nashville defenseman Roman Josi to the front for a tip at 12:29. Weber’s blast from the high slot tied the game again at 14:35. Svedberg stopped Fisher’s backhand from in tight before Weber scored on the rebound for a 2-2 tie. The goaltender duel continued from the first period into the second. Each made his best saves of the period around the 15-minute mark. Mazanek made a pad save on a Reilly Smith one-timer from between the hash marks. About 30 seconds later, Svedberg had to flash his left pad to stop Seth Jones after a move to the net around Bruins defenseman Adam McQuaid. Viktor Stalberg got the Predators on the scoreboard first at 18:04, when Nashville caught Boston during an ill-timed line change. Weber advanced the puck to a wide-open Fisher at the Boston blue line. Fisher gained the zone and fired a shot off Svedberg from the right faceoff dot. The rebound bounced to Stalberg, just below the left hash mark, for a shot that landed in the back of the net before Svedberg could get back into position.
Carolina @ Washington 4-3 OT - Jeff Skinner completed his second-career hat trick, and second in a month, with an overtime game-winner to lift the Hurricanes to a 4-3 victory against the Washington Capitals at Verizon Center. In overtime, the Hurricanes took advantage of a Capitals offensive-zone turnover, converting a 3-on-1 when Ryan Murphy fed Skinner with a cross-ice pass that he tipped in for his 19th goal of the season. The Hurricanes and Capitals opened the 2014 portion of their schedules with a bang, exchanging five goals within 3:45 of a seesaw second period that ended with the game tied at 3-3. The Capitals controlled the pace of play throughout most of the first period, registering 11 of the game's first 14 shots on goal. Khudobin, however, turned them all away, most notably sliding over to thwart Jason Chimera's rebound chance around the four-minute mark. Despite Washington's many scoring chances, Carolina took the lead at 13:27. With the Capitals down two men for 1:22 and Nicklas Backstrom breaking his stick on a clearing attempt, Alexander Semin threaded a pass to Skinner near the right post. Skinner, who had whiffed on a rebound opportunity from the same area earlier on the power play, did not miss the second time, roofing the puck over a sprawling Grubauer. Washington wasted little time tying the game in the second period. Ovechkin broke a season-long four-game goalless drought 49 seconds in. As he rumbled down the ice and into the offensive zone, Ovechkin's snap shot clipped Ron Hainsey's stick before knuckling past Khudobin for his NHL-leading 31st of the season. Ovechkin's goal was just the beginning of the teams' scoring outburst. Malhotra restored Carolina's lead 55 seconds later, finishing a 2-on-1 rush with Drayson Bowman by beating Grubauer high to the glove side for his third goal of the season. Brouwer answered with his ninth at 3:02, collecting Backstrom's rebound in front and backhanding it into the net. Thirty-eight seconds after Brouwer tied the game 2-2, Ovechkin earned his second penalty shot of the season when he was dragged down by Justin Faulk on a breakaway, but he failed to score for the seventh time in nine career penalty-shot opportunities. Oleksy, however, made sure that the Capitals did grab their first lead of the game 14 seconds after Ovechkin's failed penalty shot. Jay Beagle won the faceoff back to Oleksy, standing just outside the right circle. The defenseman carried the puck below the goal line, wrapping all the way around to the left circle before firing a wrist shot that eluded Khudobin at 3:54. The Capitals gave up another goal soon after scoring, a problem that has plagued them all season. Skinner chased down Murphy's rebound after Martin Erat failed to corral it and beat Grubauer for his second of the game 40 seconds after Oleksy had given Washington the 3-2 lead. Carolina had a prime chance to take a 4-3 lead late in the period when Murphy wrapped around the net on a power play, but John Carlson was able to get his stick on the puck, preventing it from crossing the goal line.
Winnipeg @ Ottawa 3-4 - Zack Smith and Clarke MacArthur scored third-period goals, and Ottawa did not allow a Winnipeg power play as it held on to extend its winning streak to three games with a 4-3 victory against the Jets on Thursday. Winnipeg's Dustin Byfuglien scored in the first period and assisted on Olli Jokinen's goal at 14:31 of the third that drew the Jets within 4-3. Jokinen scored two seconds after roughing minors to Conacher and Winnipeg's Jacob Trouba expired. Ottawa had seven minutes in penalties, including Matt Kassian's major for fighting with Anthony Peluso at 9:30 of the first period. Evander Kane scored for Winnipeg, which saw its winning streak end at three games despite erasing deficits of 1-0 and 2-1. Smith scored his ninth goal at 6:42 of the third period to give Ottawa its third one-goal lead. After winning a faceoff in Winnipeg's zone and drawing the puck back to the left point, Smith deflected defenseman Marc Methot's shot past Montoya to make it 3-2 with his fourth goal in six games. MacArthur made it 4-2 at 11:29 with his 13th goal, his second in as many games. Jokinen scored when he put home a centering pass from Byfuglien for his 10th goal. Zibanejad put Ottawa up 1-0 when he scored his 10th goal at 13:34 of the first period. Byfuglien got credit for tying the game when his shot from right point struck Ottawa defenseman Joe Corvo's stick and deflected past Anderson at 15:37. Michalek restored Ottawa's one-goal lead at 2-1 when he scored for the first time in seven games with 46.4 seconds remaining in the first period. Kane drew Winnipeg even for the second time with his 12th goal at 1:32 of the second period. He banked a shot from behind the net off Anderson's backside for his fifth goal in his past nine games. Peluso pulled the puck around Anderson for an opportunity at a wide-open net midway through the second, but his shot struck the crossbar. Senators captain Jason Spezza missed his third game in a row because of a hip-flexor injury. Ottawa defenseman Chris Phillips returned after missing two games because of a left-foot injury.
Los Angeles @ St Louis 0-5 - With fellow Blues and U.S. Olympic teammate David Backes still sidelined by an upper-body injury and Alexander Steen, who is second in the NHL with 24 goals, out with a concussion, Oshie picked up some of the offensive slack with two goals in a 5-0 victory against the Kings. Brenden Morrow scored his 21st career goal against the Kings, Ken Hitchcock earned his 100th win as Blues coach and Brian Elliott stopped 30 shots in his third shutout this season. Vladimir Tarasenko and Barret Jackman also scored for St. Louis. Oshie scored twice in a span of 1:31 in the second period to give the Blues a 3-0 lead. His first goal chased Jones. Oshie gave the Blues a 2-0 lead when Schwartz, who has 21 points (11 goals, 10 assists) his past 19 games, had his shot deflected off a Kings player's stick into the slot. Oshie was there to put the puck into an open net at 11:41. Oshie struck again, this time taking Sobotka's faceoff win in the left circle and beating Scrivens with a quick wrister off the far post at 13:12 for a 3-0 Blues lead. It was his eight goal. The standing room-only crowd of 19,839 went into a "U-S-A U-S-A" chant after Oshie's second. The Blues killed off a 5-on-3 that lasted 1:26 late in the second, not allowing a shot and blocking two in that time span. Schwartz, Jay Bouwmeester and Pietrangelo led the penalty kill. The Blues had an apparent third-period goal from Derek Roy waved off when officials ruled Morrow had touched the puck with a high stick before Roy could put it in. But Tarasenko scored on Magnus Paajarvi's pass into the slot at 3:24 for a 4-0 lead. Jackman's one-timer from the top of the left circle at 6:11 made it 5-0. It was his first goal. Despite getting outshot 13-6 in the first period, Morrow's goal, which came on a power play, gave the Blues a 1-0 lead. It was Morrow's seventh goal; he also assisted on Jackman's goal. After Kevin Shattenkirk's one-timer caromed off Kings defenseman Drew Doughty, the puck took a big bounce off the back boards. Morrow, at the left side of the goal, popped the backhand off Jones and into the goal 4:42 into the period. The Blues were on a four-minute power play when Kings defenseman Matt Greene got called for high-sticking Roy. Elliott was able to preserve the Blues' lead in the opening period, with his best save coming off Jarret Stoll's break-in late in the period.
Buffalo @ Minnesota 1-4 - The Wild overcame a slow start with three second-period goals and got a stellar performance in goal from Niklas Backstrom to defeat the Buffalo Sabres 4-1 Thursday at Xcel Energy Center, snapping a franchise-record six-game regulation losing streak. Backstrom took the place of an under-the-weather Josh Harding and was steady throughout, stopping 19 shots to earn his third victory of the season. The win snapped an eight-game losing streak for Backstrom dating back to a 3-2 victory against the Winnipeg Jets on Nov. 23. The Wild likes to play a puck-possession game with forwards driving the net and limiting the opposition's chances. In the second period, the Wild did just that, outscoring the Sabres 3-0 and outshooting Buffalo 15-5 in one of their better 20-minute efforts in several weeks. The win, at least for one night, relieved the growing tension gripping Minnesota's dressing room as the team plummeted down the Western Conference standings. Playing his second game against the team he played for in eight seasons and captained for two, Pominville again played a big part in the final result. He scored the game-winner in Minnesota's 2-1 win over the Sabres in October and scored the winner again Thursday, beating former teammate Ryan Miller with a wrist shot from the right half-wall at 6:19 of the second period to give the Wild a 2-0 lead. After a scoreless and slow-paced first period, the Wild came out flying early in the second. A series of crisp passes set Marco Scandella free down the slot, and the defenseman fired a wrister over Miller's blocker at 4:33 for his second goal of the season and a 1-0 lead. Pominville's goal also came courtesy of some nifty passing as he took a cross-rink feed from Mikko Koivu for his team-leading 18th of the season. The assist extended Koivu's point streak to four games. The Wild went ahead by three on Jason Zucker's goal at 16:09. Nino Niederreiter gained control of the puck in his own zone and chipped it up the glass to Zucker near the red line. Zucker knocked the puck out of the air, zipped down the right wall and fired a wrist shot over Miller's glove. It was the first NHL goal of the season for Zucker, who has bounced between Minnesota and the team's American Hockey League affiliate, the Iowa Wild. He was recalled Wednesday for the fifth time this season. Buffalo ended Backstrom's shutout bid with 1:12 remaining in regulation on a goal by Matt Ellis. Kyle Brodziak was credited with an empty-net goal after he was tripped on a partial breakaway with 25.7 seconds remaining. The goal snapped a 30-game goal drought for Brodziak and was his third of the season. The Sabres could be without forward Drew Stafford for a while. He left the game in the first period and did not return after colliding with Wild forward Matt Cooke, suffering what the team said is an upper-body injury.
Philadelphia @ Colorado 1-2 - The Avalanche have gone 10-3-0 against the East this season, and the win was their sixth in a row at home against the Flyers, who came in on a 7-1-1 roll. Goalie Semyon Varlamov made 29 saves and has enabled the Avalanche to pick up at least one point in each of his past nine starts, posting a 5-0-4 record in that stretch. He's allowed two or fewer goals in six of those games. The Avalanche have gone 2-0-1 in the first three games of a seven-game homestand and have built a seven-point lead over the Dallas Stars in the race for third place in the Central Division. The loss ended the Flyers' winning streak at four games. They reached the halfway point in the season with a 20-17-4 record and are third in the Metropolitan Division, two points behind the second-place Washington Capitals. Varlamov kept his team in front with 10 third-period saves, including a stop against Scott Hartnell, who drove to the net and tried to shove the puck by his pad with 3:24 remaining. Flyers goalie Steve Mason, who won his previous five starts, made 29 saves. Ryan O'Reilly gave the Avalanche a 2-0 lead at 9:17 of the second period. He worked a give-and-go with Gabriel Landeskog and skated to the net. Mason tried to poke the puck away with his stick, but O'Reilly managed to get off a shot and the puck bounced off Mason into the net. The Flyers cut the deficit in half at 13:48 when Wayne Simmonds redirected Andrej Meszaros' shot from the left point past Varlamov. Varlamov made two big saves earlier in the period, stopping Hartnell's open shot that came from the right circle and stretching his body to smother Steve Downie's shot on a Flyers power play. Avalanche right wing Jamie McGinn scored the only goal of the first period. Erik Johnson passed to Matt Duchene skating down the slot for a shot that Mason stopped, but McGinn drove to the net and put in the rebound at 11:14 for his second goal in two games. The Flyers went on a power play at 14:13 of the first when Cody McLeod was penalized for holding Braydon Coburn. Varlamov made four saves during the man advantage, including a pad stop against Downie, who was thwarted on a backhanded shot on a clean breakaway. Downie faced the Avalanche for the first time since he was traded from Colorado to Philadelphia for Maxime Talbot on Oct. 31. Talbot drew a Sean Couturier tripping penalty earlier in the period and was called for hooking penalty against Meszaros in the third. The Flyers lost left wing Michael Raffl to a concussion on a hit by Landeskog in the first period, and Berube said he would sit out against the Phoenix Coyotes on Saturday. The Flyers already were without forward Matt Read, who sustained an upper-body injury Tuesday against the Calgary Flames.
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