Carolina @ Buffalo - Tuesday's game between the Buffalo Sabres and Carolina Hurricanes at First Niagara Center, NHL Game No. 647, was postponed due to the hazardous weather conditions in the Buffalo area. A make-up date will be announced as soon as it can be confirmed. The blizzard of '14 saw snowy, windy, hazardous conditions in the Buffalo area resulted in the first weather-related postponement of a Sabres home game since December 2000. The decision was reached with a blizzard warning in effect, the downtown area blanketed by whiteout conditions, major highways closed and wind-chill temperatures dangerously low. The Hurricanes held their normal morning skate at First Niagara Center, hoping conditions would improve and the game played at 7 p.m. The challenge will be finding a suitable date to reschedule the game. The Hurricanes, for example, have four days open next week between games against Calgary and Florida, but the Sabres have two games scheduled during that time frame. Compounding the problem is the February break for the Winter Olympics, causing the NHL schedule to be compressed during March and into April. The NHL previously has shuffled schedules of more than the two teams involved in a postponement, moving games around. There could be Stanley Cup playoff implications. The Canes (18-16-9) have 45 points and were fourth in the Metropolitan Division entering Tuesday, one point behind the Washington Capitals and Philadelphia Flyers. The Sabres said the last weather-related postponement of a home game was Dec. 6, 2000, against the New Jersey Devils. That game was played the next day. Carolina’s Nathan Gerbe, a former Sabres forward, said he has seen worse weather in Buffalo. His advice for handling it: “Better bundle up.” The Hurricanes’ plan was to return to Raleigh on Wednesday morning. They face the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday at PNC Arena.
NY Islanders @ Toronto 5-3 - John Tavares' first three-assist game of the season came one night after he had a hat trick and two assists in a 7-3 home victory against the Dallas Stars. He has 54 points, tying him with Patrick Kane of the Chicago Blackhawks for second in the League scoring race. Tavares' second assist of the night came on Frans Nielsen's tie-breaking power-play goal early in the third period. Nielsen snapped home a loose puck in the slot at 3:41 on the Islanders' lone power play of the game to break a 2-2 tie. It was a tough night for Maple Leafs goalie Jonathan Bernier, whose goaltending is perhaps the biggest reason Toronto holds a playoff berth despite being outshot by more than nine shots per game. He didn't look good on a first-period goal by Okposo, misplayed a second-period clearing attempt that turned into a goal by Michael Grabner and didn't stop a slap shot from outside the blue line by Calvin de Haan that gave the Islanders a 4-2 lead. Bernier's struggles enabled New York to survive a late push by Toronto that included Lupul's goal with 3:05 remaining. The Islanders' Cal Clutterbuck hit the empty net with 8.3 seconds left, wrapping up the 100th NHL victory for New York coach Jack Capuano. Toronto opened the scoring 5:05 into the game. After a weak backhanded clearing attempt by de Haan, defenseman Paul Ranger fired a shot from the left point shot that was deflected in the slot by Bozak and fluttered past Poulin for his sixth goal of the season. The Islanders tied it with 43.5 seconds left in the period when a harmless-looking shot by Okposo beat Bernier. Okposo, who missed the Islanders' game Monday night due to the birth of his first child, took a pass from Tavares, used a defenseman as a screen and fired a long wrister from the high slot that went past Bernier's blocker for his 17th of the season. New York not only killed the game's first penalty, but turned it into the go-ahead goal 3:06 into the second period. Just after de Haan's tripping penalty had expired, Nielsen cleared the puck down the ice with Grabner behind the defense. Bernier came out to play the puck, but couldn't do so cleanly and it wound up outside the trapezoid. Grabner grabbed the loose puck, raced around and wrapped the puck past a diving Bernier for his sixth of the season. Toronto had more success on its second power play against the NHL's bottom-rated penalty-kill. With Travis Hamonic off for hooking, Jake Gardiner took a shot from the right point that Poulin stopped with his glove but didn't control. Raymond slid the rebound under Poulin's pad at 8:25 for his 12th of the season and first in seven games. The Islanders managed to kill off two more Toronto power plays to escape the second period even at 2-2. New York got its first power play 2:33 into the third period when Lupul was called for goaltender interference, and the Islanders used the power play to take the lead. Thomas Vanek snapped a shot from the high slot that hit Toronto defenseman Cody Franson just in front of the crease, and Nielsen shoved the loose puck into the net at 3:41 for his 16th of the season, one short of his career high. The assist extended Vanek's point streak to 10 games, the longest current stretch in the League. De Haan scored his first NHL goal at 6:01 on a shot Bernier definitely wanted back. The rookie teed up a slapper from outside the blue line; the shot ticked off defenseman Dion Phaneuf 45 feet from the net, hit Bernier and went past him. Lupul made it a one-goal game at 16:55 when Nazem Kadri's wrister from the right point hit him in the chest and deflected past Poulin.
Philadelphia @ New Jersey 3-2 OT - Flyers captain Claude Giroux has a finger on the pulse of his hockey team and can sense the change in attitude. At no time was that more evident than Tuesday, when Brayden Schenn scored 1:50 into overtime to give the rejuvenated Flyers a 3-2 victory against the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center. After allowing the Devils to pull into a 2-2 tie on an extra-attacker, shorthanded goal by Michael Ryder with 29.6 seconds remaining in the third period, the Flyers kept their foot on the pedal en route to winning their sixth game in the past seven. It was the second victory in three games this season against their Metropolitan Division rival. Schenn, who sustained a 5-inch laceration along his abdomen after Dainius Zubrus' skate accidentally sliced through his jersey early in the second period, scored the game-winner after collecting a slap pass from Nicklas Grossman just over the Devils blue line before shooting past Martin Brodeur from the right circle. The goal was payback for Schenn, who was denied by Brodeur with 57 seconds left in regulation off a snap shot from 10 feet away with his team on the power play. Twelve seconds before Schenn's game-winner, Devils forward Stephen Gionta hit the long-side post from the left circle. Not long after, Brodeur would leave for an extra attacker (Ryder) and New Jersey would tie the game with the teams skating 5-on-5. Ryder gathered a pass from Marek Zidlicky at the left post and scored his team-leading 14th goal of the season. It was the sixth shorthanded goal allowed by the Flyers this season. The Flyers appeared to have the regulation win when Devils center Travis Zajac was sent to the penalty box for high sticking Giroux with 1:43 left and Philadelphia holding a 2-1 lead on third-period goals by Giroux and Scott Hartnell. Devils forward Jaromir Jagr assisted on a goal by Adam Henrique 57 seconds into the first period, giving him 1,723 points in the NHL to tie him with Mario Lemieux for seventh place on the League's all-time list. Hartnell scored his 10th goal of the season midway through the third period to give the Flyers their first lead of the game, 2-1. After taking a feed from Schenn in stride just over the blue line, Hartnell skated into the left circle and ripped a shot through the five-hole on Brodeur at 9:49. Giroux tied the game a little more than four minutes earlier on an unbelievable wrist shot from the left point with his team on the power play. After taking a pass from Kimmo Timonen from the right point, Giroux patiently waited for a screen before unleashing a rope into the upper far corner on Brodeur at 5:18. Emery made two big saves early in the third period when he denied a slap shot from the left circle by Ryane Clowe before denying Clowe on the rebound from the slot at 3:11. Emery made 31 saves; Brodeur finished with 25. Henrique gave the Devils a 1-0 lead less than a minute into the game when he tucked home his 10th of the season and fourth goal in six games off a great pass from Jagr. Jagr took a pass from Henrique and skated low into the right circle before backhanding a pass through the slot that tipped the stick of Clowe. Henrique curled the cage with defenseman Mark Streit but gathered the puck on his backhand and knocked it past Emery.
San Jose @ Nashville 2-3 - San Jose played without forward Logan Couture, who will undergo a surgical procedure Wednesday for an upper-body injury. Legwand broke a scoreless tie 3:35 into the second period after a Sharks turnover. Craig Smith was able to poke the puck away from Joe Thornton near the right circle and quickly chipped it to Legwand, who ripped a wrist shot past Niemi for his seventh goal of the season. Pavelski tied it via the power play at 6:49. After Ekholm was whistled for shooting the puck over the glass, Dan Boyle fired a slap shot from the right point that Pavelski managed to redirect past Mazanec to make it 1-1. It was Pavelski's 19th goal of the season. Ekholm quickly redeemed himself and put Nashville ahead to stay at 7:16. With the teams back at even strength, Ekholm retrieved the puck after Legwand won a faceoff deep in the offensive zone, then drove around the net and fought off Sharks defenseman Justin Braun before backhanding a shot from the right circle past Niemi for his first NHL goal. Josi put the Predators up by two at 11:30 on another even-strength goal. Weber sent a wrister from just inside the blue line that was denied by Niemi, but Josi collected the puck along the left-wing boards, skated around the net and out to the slot before firing a wrist shot near the right circle past Niemi to give Nashville a 3-1 lead. It was Josi's fourth goal of the season and ninth point in his past 15 games. McLellan thought Predators forward Colin Wilson interfered with Niemi on the play, but the goal stood. San Jose made it a one-goal game with 1:22 left in regulation on Marleau's 20th goal of the season. With Niemi pulled for an extra attacker, Marleau redirected Matthew Nieto's shot past Mazanec.
Tampa Bay @ Winnipeg 4-2 - Martin St. Louis and Victor Hedman may not be heading to the 2014 Sochi Olympics, but the Tampa Bay Lightning had plenty of use for them in a 4-2 win against the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday. The omission of St. Louis from the Canadian Olympic team, which was announced Tuesday morning, dominated headlines in the hockey world, and Hedman was a notable omission from the Swedish Olympic team. The pair worked together to break a 2-2 tie with a third-period power-play goal. St. Louis tipped Hedman's shot past Jets goaltender Ondrej Pavelec with 11:21 left in the third period to give Tampa Bay a 3-2 lead. Jets forward Michael Frolik was in the penalty box on a boarding call against center Nate Thompson. St. Louis finished off the Jets with an empty-net goal with 26.2 seconds remaining. He leads the Lightning with 19 goals. Tampa Bay, which wrapped up a four-game trip through Western Canada and Winnipeg with a 3-1-0 record, leads the Eastern Conference with 11 wins against Western Conference teams. After a one-game stop at home Thursday against the Washington Capitals, the Lightning will begin a three-game road trip. In all, they play 10 road games this month. The Jets lost their fourth consecutive game. They struggled to generate offense against Tampa Bay, registering two shots in the first period and reaching the 10-shot mark at 8:45 of the third. The Jets finished with 14 shots, five of them in the final period. Valtteri Filppula, who along with teammate Sami Salo was named to Finland's Olympic team Tuesday, opened the scoring on the game's first shot 1:20 after the opening faceoff. The wrist shot past Pavelec was his 17th goal. Ondrej Palat, who will represent the Czech Republic at Sochi, extended his point streak to a career-high seven games with a goal in the second period to tie the game at 2-2. He is tied with Jets center Mark Scheifele for the NHL's longest point streak by a rookie this season. Teddy Purcell and Alex Killorn each contributed two assists. Olli Jokinen, who will play for Finland, and Dustin Byfuglien scored for the Jets between the Filppula and Palat goals. Anders Lindback started for the Lightning in place of Ben Bishop, who exited the Lightning's 5-3 road loss Sunday against the Edmonton Oilers with a hand injury. Lindback finished with 12 saves. Pavelec stopped 29 of 33 shots. The Jets had managed one shot in the opening 16:30 before minor penalties to Filppula and Lindback 13 seconds apart set up a 5-on-3 power play for Winnipeg. Scheifele reached Jokinen with a cross-crease pass for a tap-in 19 seconds into the two-man advantage. The game-tying goal was Jokinen's11th of the season. The Jets, whose power play ranked 27th in the League entering the game after an 0-for-13 slide that stretched six games, used the man-advantage to grab a 2-1 lead on their fifth shot of the game. A hooking penalty against Hedman gave the Jets their second power play, and Byfuglien stepped into the Tampa Bay zone before beating Lindback with a low glove-side shot at 3:45. Byfuglien's 10th goal gave him his fifth double-digit season in goals over his past six seasons. But Palat pulled the Lightning to 2-2, finishing off a 3-on-2 rush by banging Nikita Kucherov's slot pass past Pavelec with 4:23 left in the second period. Filppula has seven goals and seven assists in his past 11 games. Palat has three goals and five assists during his seven-game point streak. The teams combined for 66 penalty minutes, including six fighting majors. It started at just 5:06 in the first-period when Mark Stuart and Ryan Malone dropped the gloves. 8:35 in the second saw Chris Thorburn fight BJ Crombeen. Just 4 minutes later (at 12:38) Blake Wheeler Cross-checked then fought Radko Gudas. Then things ignited properly at 16:19 of the third. Jean-Philippe Cote had a fight with Dustin Byfuglien while, Eric Brewer fought Evander Kane after he had interfered with Anders Lindback. With 20 seconds remaining in the game, Eric Brewer Cross-checked Kane, provoking their second fight of the evening and earning the pair fighting majors.
St Louis @ Edmonton 5-2 - The Blues have 10 players who will represent their countries at the 2014 Sochi Olympics, most in the NHL. In addition, Hitchcock is an assistant coach and general manager Doug Armstrong is on the management team for Canada. Stewart opened the scoring on the power play at 12:46 of the first on a long shot from the point that found its way through Bryzgalov. Moments earlier, the Blues right wing, who has 14 goals, had skated around three Oilers defenders and got off a shot from in tight. Bryzgalov turned away the shot, but the puck found its way back to Stewart as he was circling back to the blue line, and he fired a shot through traffic past the Oilers goalie. Yakupov tied the game at 1:36 of the second, taking a pass from David Perron following a turnover at the St. Louis blue line and snapping a shot through Elliott's pads. Less than a minute into the period, Elliott had stopped Nugent-Hopkins on a breakaway to preserve the Blues' lead. Lapierre restored the St. Louis lead at 2:18, outmuscling Oilers defenseman Brad Hunt in the corner, taking the puck to the net and stuffing it past Bryzgalov. One replay seemed to show the puck go in through the side of the net, but it was later confirmed the puck went in for a legitimate goal after officials checked the net for a possible hole. Arcobello tied the game 2-2 at 5:10, getting to a loose puck in front of the Blues net and flipping it over Elliott. Backes put the Blues up 3-2 at 10:56 when he scored on the power play, ripping a shot over Bryzgalov's shoulder from the top of the faceoff circle. Tarasenko gave the Blues a two-goal lead heading into the intermission with a long-range blast of his own past Bryzgalov. In the third, Nugent-Hopkins came close to cutting into the lead, but his shot from the wing bounced off the post. Late in the game, Blues right wing T.J. Oshie had to be helped off the ice after a knee-on-knee hit with Taylor Hall. Oilers right wing Ales Hemsky also left in the third for precautionary reasons after taking a hit from Ryan Reaves in the first period. He will be evaluated Wednesday as well. Berglund iced the contest with an empty-net goal at 19:27.
Boston @ Anaheim 2-5 - Jonas Hiller has been the common denominator in the Anaheim Ducks' franchise-record home streak. He made 30 saves to lead the Ducks to a 5-2 win against the Boston Bruins on Tuesday night in front of a standing-room only crowd of 17,238 at Honda Center. Hiller led Anaheim through yet another poor start before the Ducks found their game with a three-goal second period and withstood a Boston push in the third to remain the only team without a regulation loss at home (18-0-2). Hiller's one flaw is that he lets in the occasional soft goal, but that has tightened up significantly during this run. Boston pulled to 3-2 at 7:19 of third when Dougie Hamilton fired a loose puck through a scrum. Jarome Iginla crashed the net on David Krejci's between-the-legs pass from the corner to get the Ducks scrambling. Anaheim came back with goals by Nick Bonino at 14:23 and Mathieu Perreault's second of the game at 17:29. Boston had a chance to tie it on a power play, but Marchand negated it with an interference penalty when he kicked Daniel Winnik's stick away. Boston opened a challenging California swing with 11 forwards before the puck dropped because Milan Lucic was scratched with an illness, according to the team. Carl Soderberg took Lucic's place on the top line and the Bruins dressed seven defensemen. The matchup featured an immovable object/irresistible force contest; Anaheim and Boston are ranked second in the NHL in 5-on-5 scoring and 5-on-5 goals against, respectively. But Anaheim dominated with special teams in a second-period show. After going 1-for-32 in a 10-game stretch, the Ducks converted their third straight power play with two scores in a 3:24 span of the second period. Perreault's snap shot off Teemu Selanne's pass beat Rask high at 5:53, and Corey Perry swooped in to bury Bonino's rebound for his 24th goal at 8:29. Perreault and Perry let loose with big fist pumps. In between their goals, Mark Fistric hip-checked Matt Fraser and the Ducks were in full swagger. Andrew Cogliano then put his foot on the gas with his second shorthanded goal of the season. Cogliano and Winnik broke up Reilly Smith's pass to Hamilton, and Winnik nudged a short pass that Cogliano put past by Rask’s right pad at 17:10. Anaheim might need to lean on Hiller even more after it placed defenseman Bryan Allen on injured reserve with a lower-body injury. Dustin Penner is day-to-day with an upper-body injury, coach Bruce Boudreau said. Boston didn't allow a shot until nearly 10 minutes into the game and had a 16-3 advantage. Daniel Paille squeezed a shot through Hiller with 16 seconds remaining in the second to make it 3-1. Justin Florek recorded his first NHL point on the play. Selanne moved past Chris Chelios for 38th on the all-time assists list with 764.
Minnesota @ Los Angeles 2-1 SO - Darcy Kuemper making his second start this season, made 39 shots through 65 minutes and stopped all four shots he faced in the shootout before Nino Niederreiter's goal in the tiebreaker gave the Minnesota Wild a 2-1 win against the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday night. Kuemper's lone NHL start this season came on Oct. 15, when he allowed three goals on seven shots against the Montreal Canadiens. He hadn't played in an NHL game since a relief appearance against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Nov. 19, and he's spent most of the season with the Iowa Wild of the American Hockey League. Kuemper got the start because Josh Harding is injured and Niklas Backstrom, who dressed as the backup, has abdominal soreness and didn't practice Monday. The Wild are also without captain Mikko Koivu and top-line forward Zach Parise due to injuries. Niederreiter tied the game 3:25 into the third period, then won it by deking Jonathan Quick before ripping a wrist shot into a wide-open net in the fourth round of the tiebreaker. Jarret Stoll scored and Quick made 16 saves for the Kings, who've dropped six of seven. Los Angeles lost despite attempting 82 shots to 39 for Minnesota. The Wild blocked 21 shots and the Kings missed the target on 21 others. After outshooting the Wild 30-9 through two scoreless periods, the Kings needed all of 50 seconds to get on the board in the third. Dwight King picked up the puck in his own zone and raced through the neutral zone before dishing the puck to Jeff Carter at the Minnesota blue line. Carter carried down right wing, circled the net and slid a pass through the slot to Stoll, who was coming late. Stoll slid to his right, got Kuemper to open his pads and slid a shot though the five-hole for his sixth of the season. The lead lasted only until Niederreiter drove to the net and deflected Jason Pominville's pass behind Quick for his ninth of the season. It came on the Wild's 11th shot of the game. The rest of regulation time featured little in the way of scoring chances, and neither team generated much offense in overtime. The Kings had by far the better of play in the first period, but couldn't get a puck past Kuemper. They outshot Minnesota 17-6, including 13-0 during the final 14 minutes. Los Angeles continued to pound away without success in the second period, outshooting the Wild 12-2 through the first 11:30 and 13-3 for the period. Four of the shots came in succession during the Kings' lone power play, but Kuemper denied three straight tries with his pad before gloving Carter's chip. The Wild generated their best pressure in the final two minutes of the period, hemming the Kings in their own zone and controlling the puck, but they missed the net three times and had two other attempts blocked.
No comments:
Post a Comment