Florida @ Boston 2-6 - The line of Brad Marchand, Patrice Bergeron and Reilly Smith combined for nine points in the Boston Bruins' road win against the New York Islanders on Monday night. At home against the Florida Panthers on Tuesday, it was the line of Milan Lucic, David Krejci and Jarome Iginla that dominated. Lucic scored two goals, Krejci had a three-point night, and the line combined for seven points. The Bruins reached six goals for the third straight game and won for the fourth time in a row, defeating the Panthers 6-2. Krejci had one goal and two assists, and Iginla had two assists. Tuukka Rask made 28 saves for the Bruins, who are 5-0-1 in their past six home games and in their past six games overall dating to a road win against the Dallas Stars on Jan. 16. Despite being under contract, Thomas took last season off, and the Bruins traded his rights to the New York Islanders. The 2011 Conn Smythe Trophy winner from Boston's Stanley Cup championship signed with Florida as a free agent this offseason. The Bruins scored first when Lucic snapped a four-game goal drought at 7:41 of the first period. Iginla nearly turned over the puck at the blue line, but Florida's Jonathan Huberdeau passed it back to Iginla for a shot Thomas stopped. Lucic cleaned up the rebound for a 1-0 lead. The Bruins took a 2-0 lead at 15:26, when Chara's one-timer from the right point deflected in front then went into the net off Thomas' head. Thomas had moved a few inches out of the crease to try to challenge Lucic. Chara ran his goal streak to three games (four goals). Lucic scored his second goal on a rebound of a Matt Bartkowski shot from the point. Lucic hacked at the rebound and it eluded Thomas at 1:46 for a 3-0 lead. Reilly Smith's power-play goal at 14:54 gave the Bruins a 4-0 cushion. Florida scored with 32.9 seconds remaining in the second period. Brad Boyes cashed in on the back end of a 3-on-3 with a one-timer from the bottom of the left circle to cut Boston's lead to 4-1. Dmitry Kulikov's power-play goal at 4:00 of the third period trimmed the margin to 4-2. It also helped the Panthers' avoid a near-record power-play drought. Florida hadn't scored a power-play goal in its prior 13 games, and without Kulikov's score would've tied the 1997-98 Toronto Maple Leafs, who went 14 games without a man-advantage goal, for the longest such slump since expansion (1967-68), according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The Panthers had been 0-for-41 prior to the goal. Shawn Thornton stalled the Panthers' comeback hopes with a goal at 8:14 of the third. He dangled out of the corner and roofed a backhand shot from the slot for a 5-2 Boston edge.
Tampa Bay @ Toronto 2-3 - James van Riemsdyk goal with 4:03 remaining in the third period put the Maple Leafs ahead. The best of Jonathan Bernier's 40 saves kept them there. Van Riemsdyk broke a tie on a goal that needed an on-ice decision overturned by video review and Bernier robbed Martin St. Louis less than a minute later to give the Maple Leafs a 3-2 victory against the Lightning on Tuesday night. Toronto went ahead when Tyler Bozak forced a turnover in the Lightning zone and fed Phil Kessel, who found van Riemsdyk alone in the slot for a wide-open snap shot that beat Ben Bishop. The play was originally ruled no goal on the ice, but a video review showed that the shot had hit the back bar at the top of the net, rather than the post, giving van Riemsdyk his 21st goal of the season. Bernier then made a game-saver on a wide-open one-timer by St. Louis from the lower right circle with 3:17 remaining. Nazem Kadri scored twice in the first half of the second period for Toronto, but goals by Matt Carle and Matt Barberio in a 3:59 span late in the period got the Lightning even. The Lightning outshot Toronto 11-8 in a scoreless first period during which neither team generated many high-quality chances, even though the Maple Leafs had three power plays. That changed quickly in the second period. Kadri opened the scoring at 1:49 on a fine individual effort. He picked off a pass just outside his own blue line, raced down the left side and used Tampa Bay defenseman Victor Hedman as a screen as he fired a shot that beat Bishop for an unassisted goal. Kadri made it 2-0 a little less than eight minutes later with another fine effort. Joffrey Lupul batted a pass to Kadri in the left circle; he toe-dragged past Hedman, cut to the front of the net and deked Bishop before tucking home a backhander at 9:47 for his 14th goal and ninth point in seven games. A holding penalty on Toronto's Peter Holland 60 seconds after Kadri's second goal appeared to spark the Lightning, who hit two posts during the power play and scored less than 30 seconds after it ended. Carle took a pass from Ondrej Palat in the slot, stepped to his left and whipped a shot past Bernier at 13:13 for his second of the season. The Lightning couldn't capitalize on a second power play, but they kept controlling the play and tied the game at 17:12 when Barberio slammed home a rebound after Bernier stopped shots by Nate Thompson and B.J. Crombeen but got no help in clearing the rebound. It was the fourth goal for the rookie defenseman, all of which have come in the past four games. Kessel missed a chance to put Toronto back in front 3:25 into the third period when he raced in alone on Bishop but fired wide.
Detroit @ Philadelphia 0-5 - Playing without Pavel Datsyuk, Johan Franzen and Henrik Zetterberg, Detroit could not muster much offense against Philadelphia, which got two goals from Scott Hartnell and a three-point night from Claude Giroux in a 5-0 victory. Detroit has been shut out in three straight road games for the first time since 1928 and the second time in franchise history. Hartnell opened the scoring at 13:42 of the first period with Detroit defenseman Danny DeKeyser off for cross-checking. Hartnell deflected a point shot by defenseman Kimmo Timonen past Red Wings goalie Jonas Gustavsson. Hartnell scored at even strength to put the Flyers up 2-0 at 8:08 of the second period when he fired a wrist shot past Gustavsson for his 14th goal of the season, third in four games. Detroit defenseman Niklas Kronwall got caught pinching in the Philadelphia end, allowing Hartnell to get free with Giroux and Jakub Voracek on a 3-on-2. Giroux slid a cross-ice pass to Hartnell, who took a quick shot to beat Gustavsson to his glove side. Hall extended the Flyers' lead to 3-0 a little less than three minutes later. The fourth-line right wing backhanded a rebound past Gustavsson for his third goal of the season after the Detroit goalie made the initial stop on defenseman Erik Gustafsson's shot from the left point. Mason robbed Red Wings rookie Luke Glendening with a left-pad save on a 2-on-1 at 12:31 of the second period to preserve the 3-0 lead, and Kyle Quincey fired the rebound off the crossbar, one of three Red Wings' attempts to hit the post. Philadelphia shut down two Detroit power plays in the first half of the third period. The Red Wings were 0-for-4 with the man-advantage. Shortly after the Flyers killed off a minor penalty against Brayden Schenn without allowing a shot on goal, Giroux scored his 16th to give the Flyers a 4-0 lead at 11:22 of the third. Gustavsson, who stopped 23 of 28 shots, got his glove on Giroux's wrist shot from the left circle, but the puck rolled into the net. Giroux, who assisted on each of Hartnell's goals, has 44 points in the past 41 games. Hartnell and Voracek were credited with assists on Giroux's goal. Hartnell's first goal marked the first time in seven games that the Flyers opened the scoring in the first period; they scored first in a 4-3 shootout loss to the New York Islanders last Monday, but not until the second period. Couturier completed the scoring with a wraparound goal, his ninth, with 3:51 remaining. Franzen, who returned to play Sunday against the Florida Panthers after a concussion forced him to miss 16 games, was placed on injured reserve Tuesday due to a recurrence of symptoms. Datsyuk has played in 35 of 58 games, none since Jan. 1, because of a groin injury. Zetterberg has missed two straight games with a sore back. Mark Streit had two assists for Philadelphia. Acquired in an offseason trade from the Islanders, he is fourth on the team and first among defensemen with 20 assists. Timonen left the game with a lower-body injury with 8:46 remaining in the second period and did not return. He was wearing a walking boot on his left foot after the game, but Berube said the injury is not believed to be serious.
Ottawa @ Columbus 3-2 - On a night when each team scored two power-play goals, it was a critical penalty kill by the Senators that led to the game-winner. The Blue Jackets had overcome a two-goal deficit and tied the game 7:16 into the third period on James Wisniewski's power-play goal. They got a chance to go ahead when Zack Smith went off for high-sticking Ryan Johansen with 9:13 remaining. But Ottawa's penalty-killers held the Lightning without a shot, and Nathan Horton was called for tripping 21 seconds after the power play ended. Jason Spezza capitalized by scoring with 4:58 left in regulation, giving the Senators a 3-2 victory Tuesday night. Spezza, who assisted on the second of two goals by Stephane Da Costa, took a centering pass from Colin Greening but his shot hit the stick of Columbus defenseman Fedor Tyutin. His second try hit Tyutin's skate, but the puck came back to Spezza again and he scored his 14th goal with six seconds left on the power play. The Blue Jackets got off to a slow start. Da Costa, recalled from the Binghamton Senators of the American Hockey League on Jan. 20, scored his first two goals in eight games with the Senators this season. He opened the scoring at 8:06 of the first period with a power-play goal. Da Costa was the beneficiary of a rush by Milan Michalek while Matt Calvert was off for holding former Blue Jackets defenseman Marc Methot. Michalek was checked off the puck in the front of the net, but Da Costa was trailing and swept a backhander past Columbus goalie Curtis McElhinney, who had 25 saves on a night when starter Sergei Bobrovsky was rested. Da Cost put the Senators ahead 2-0 at 6:24 of the second period after strong forechecking forced a turnover deep in the Columbus zone. Spezza collected the puck below the goal line and fed him for a bang-bang goal when Da Costa shirked the check of Columbus defenseman Jack Johnson. The Blue Jackets got back in the game when Cam Atkinson scored a power-play goal 12:00 into the second period with Spezza off for holding. Atkinson drew the hooking call on Smith that led to Wisniewski's tying goal.
Washington @ Buffalo 5-4 OT - Alex Ovechkin had a pair of goals, increasing his League-leading total to 38, but it was his perfect pass that set up Mike Green's goal 1:00 into overtime to give the Capitals a 5-4 victory against the Sabres on Tuesday night. Martin Erat forced a turnover at the Washington blue line and fed Ovechkin, who raced down the left side, apparently looking for a hat trick. Instead, as the defense came to him, he found Green cruising down the slot and hit him with a perfect feed that Green rifled past Jhonas Enroth for his second goal of the night and seventh of the season. Ovechkin got the Capitals off to a fast start by scoring a power-play goal 3:49 into the game. Nicklas Backstrom won a faceoff to the left of Enroth to Ovechkin, whose slap shot hit the back of the net to make it 1-0. The Capitals' power play entered the night with one goal in its past 31 opportunities. Ovechkin scored again 53 seconds later, tipping Green's wrist shot from the point past Enroth. Marcus Johansson was parked in front of the net and passed out to Green for the shot. The Sabres cut the deficit to 2-1 at 13:45 when defenseman Christian Ehrhoff scored his fourth goal of the season. Ehrhoff crashed the net following chances by Tyler Ennis and Matt Moulson and beat Braden Holtby for his eighth point in the past nine games. The teams traded goals in the second period. Hodgson scored on the power play and Phil Varone scored his first NHL goal for the Sabres. The Capitals got goals from Green and Troy Brouwer to take a 4-3 lead into the third period. Hodgson forced overtime when he beat Holtby with a backhander at 6:48 of the third period for his 14th goal of the season.
Carolina @ Montreal 0-3 - The Canadiens scored their three goals
on 12 shots in 21:41, better than their total of two goals on 76
shots in the previous three games combined. Price's shutout snapped a
streak of six straight games when the Canadiens allowed at least four
goals, and it was the fourth time in their past 14 games they allowed
fewer than that. That being said, Price still needed to be sharp with
the Hurricanes earning a number of high-quality scoring chances, and
he got some help, the Canadiens blocked 27 shots and the Hurricanes
hit two posts. Carolina won 3-2 at home against the Columbus Blue
Jackets before arriving here late Monday night. The game Tuesday was
Carolina's fifth in a span of seven nights, a situation created when
a Jan. 21 game at the Philadelphia Flyers had to be postponed a day
because of a snowstorm. The Hurricanes came in as one of the hottest
teams in the NHL offensively, scoring at least three goals in six
straight games. Brandon
Prust opened the scoring at 6:11 of the first period when he
completed a nice passing play from Rene
Bourque and Josh
Gorges for his fifth of the season. Gallagher made it 2-0 at
18:44 of the first when he came out from behind the net on a
wraparound attempt, then jammed it in off the scrum for his 14th of
the season and third in five games. Pacioretty completed the scoring
at 1:41 of the second when Andrei
Markov picked up a Gallagher rebound and found Pacioretty alone
in front for a tap in, his team-leading 22nd goal of the season.
After being booed off the ice and having their shots on goal
sarcastically cheered in their previous home game Saturday, a 5-0
loss to the Washington Capitals, the Canadiens gathered at center ice
following the victory to receive a loud ovation from the Bell Centre
fans.
New Jersey @ St Louis 0-3 - The Blues have seen each of their goalies take turns going on a hot streak. Jaroslav Halak has taken the reins and is playing like someone who doesn't want to go back to the bench. Halak stopped 23 shots for his fourth shutout of the season, a 3-0 victory against New Jersey on Tuesday at Scottrade Center. The victory, combined with the Chicago Blackhawks' 5-4 overtime road loss to the Calgary Flames, moved the Blues into first place in the Central Division. The Blues and Blackhawks each have 77 points, but St. Louis has three games in hand. Steen's 27th goal of the season put the Blues up 1-0 on their first shot of the game, a 3-on-2 rush that was set up by David Backes and Jaden Schwartz, who passed to Steen, who beat Schneider with a wrist shot from the slot on the short side 3:25 into the game. The Blues outshot the Devils 9-8 in the first period, and Halak had to make one key save on Steve Bernier after he skated in alone with 5:48 remaining after a bouncing puck got past defenseman Ian Cole. Neither team scored in the second period; the Blues had the best chance when Vladimir Sobotka wired a shot off the left post on another odd-man rush. This time, he moved in from the right on a 3-on-1 with 4:48 remaining in the period. Halak, who has played 36 games with backup Brian Elliott playing 22, was tested a couple times. The Devils outshot the Blues 10-5 in the period; Halak's best save came off a backhand rebound off the stick of Jaromir Jagr. Halak's right-pad stop on Damien Brunner 2:25 into the third period preserved the Blues' lead. Schneider then came up big on a Vladimir Tarasenko one-timer with 7:36 left in the game to keep the Devils within one goal. Each team had three power plays, and the Blues scored on their third when Morrow's 560th career point gave St. Louis a 2-0 lead. Jay Bouwmeester stepped into a slap shot from the right point, and Morrow deflected it past Schneider from the low slot 9:22 into the third period. The Devils pulled Schneider, and Lapierre scored an empty-net goal with 2:08 remaining. The timeliness of Morrow's goal was crucial for the Blues, who would have had a tough time fending off the Devils with a one-goal lead. Halak took care of the rest with his 29th career shutout. He holds the Blues franchise record with 20.
Nashville @ Winnipeg 4-3 - Mike Fisher's power-play goal 42 seconds into the third period enabled the Predators to overcome a blown two-goal lead and the loss of captain Shea Weber to beat the Jets 4-3 on Tuesday night. Fisher's 14th of the season snapped a 3-3 tie after Winnipeg had wiped out a 3-1 Predators advantage with two goals in 27 seconds late in the second period. Twenty-two seconds after the officials waved off a Predators goal when center David Legwand bumped into Winnipeg goalie Ondrej Pavelec, the Predators went ahead to stay when Fisher jabbed a rebound off a scramble over the goal line with Winnipeg's Devin Setoguchi off for slashing. The Predators wrapped up a four-game trip through Western Canada with a 2-1-1 record and slipped one point past the Jets out of last place in the Central Division. At 56 points, the Predators are trying to fight off the Dallas Stars and Phoenix Coyotes to climb above the Stanley Cup Playoffs line in the Western Conference. Predators defenseman Seth Jones opened the scoring with his fifth goal. Roman Josi scored his seventh of the season to put the Predators up 2-1 early in the second period, and Nick Spaling's 10th goal made it 3-1 with 2:42 left before intermission. But the Jets' second line got them back into the game. Rookie Mark Scheifele's 11th goal and Blake Wheeler's team-leading 22nd goal pulled the Jets even after 40 minutes. Wheeler's goal set a new career high. Chris Thorburn, who replaced injured left wing Evander Kane on the Jets' second line, had a first-period goal for Winnipeg, his first of the season. Weber exited the game 3:28 into the third period with an upper-body injury and did not return. The Predators departed Winnipeg immediately after the game, but team doctors will re-evaluate Weber's condition Wednesday. Weber had played 16:47 through the first two periods, and his departure forced the Predators to skate five defensemen for most of the third period. Jones opened the scoring when he danced past Winnipeg defenseman Tobias Enstrom coming down the left boards and swung around the net before scoring on a wraparound at 3:48. The Jets tied the game 22 seconds later when Thorburn tipped Jets defenseman Mark Stuart's point shot past Hutton, ending a personal 50-game goalless streak that dated to April 11, 2013. Josi finished off a passing play with Craig Smith and Legwand after a push into the Winnipeg zone for a 2-1 lead 42 seconds into the second period. His seven goals are a career high. Spaling put the Predators up 3-1 at 17:18 when he swatted Paul Gaustad's centering pass behind Pavelec. Rookie Colton Sissons, recalled Monday from the Milwaukee Admirals of the American Hockey League, assisted on the goal in his NHL debut. The Jets went to work erasing Nashville's 3-1 lead 55 seconds after Spaling's goal. After luring Hutton out of position, Scheifele banked the puck from the goal line off Josi and into the net at 18:13. Wheeler followed with a rising shot that Hutton failed to glove at 18:40. But Fisher's go-ahead goal put the Jets in a position of having to play catch-up hockey against an opponent that locked down defensively in the third period, even without Weber. Weber's absence forced a young Predators defense to pull together. Josi, new acquisition Michael Del Zotto, Mattias Ekholm and Ryan Ellis are all 23 years old, and Jones is a 19-year-old rookie. Josi finished with a team-leading 27:01, and Jones logged 24:13.
Minnesota @ Anaheim 4-2 - Zach Parise failed to produce a point in his first two games back from a broken foot, but he made a grand return to the scoresheet Tuesday night with a goal and two assists to lead the Wild to a 4-2 win against the Ducks at Honda Center. Parise made a deft tip of Marco Scandella's shot for the game-winning goal at 6:35 of the third period, and linemates Mikael Granlund and Jason Pominville combined for two goals and two assists to help the Minnesota improve to 9-3-1 in its past 13 games. Parise's tip came in traffic and the blade of his stick appeared to be parallel to the ice. He said he was "just kind of waving at the puck" but it was his first goal since Dec. 17. Parise missed 14 games with the foot injury. The Ducks played one of their more forgettable periods this season in the second. They managed four shots on goal, and sloppy play in their end led to two shorthanded 2-on-1 chances for Minnesota. The Wild snapped an 0-for-23 power-play slump, stretched over eight games, when Granlund got a backhand redirect of Parise's saucer pass 13 seconds into the second for a 2-1 lead. Minnesota could have put Anaheim in a bigger hole, but Matt Cooke and Ryan Suter each hit the post. Anaheim's Cam Fowler also missed a great opportunity in the slot when he had the puck bounce off his stick. Anaheim got out of the first period tied 1-1 despite giving Minnesota three power plays. The Wild dominated a stretch before the Ducks' top line worked the puck down low and Penner hammered Ryan Getzlaf's pass from the left side into the net for his 13th goal at 18:13. A heads-up play by Pominville gave Minnesota a 1-0 lead. Pominville banked a shot off Hiller from behind the goal line at 7:57 after Granlund's slap shot deflected off Jakob Silfverberg. It was Pominville's team-leading 21st goal. Ducks defenseman Luca Sbisa returned from a hand injury that forced him to miss 26 games. He took back-to-back hooking penalties in the first period, but he did have a jarring hit on Pominville in the second. Getzlaf passed Paul Kariya for sole possession of fourth place on Anaheim's list of games played (607).
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