Montreal @ Philadelphia 1-3 - A knee injury to Erik Gustafsson got Andrej Meszaros back in the lineup on Dec. 23, and the way he's played since then Gustafsson's impending return might not be enough to knock Meszaros out of the lineup. Meszaros assisted on all three Philadelphia goals as the Flyers beat the visiting Montreal Canadiens 3-1 on Wednesday. Tomas Plekanec scored and goaltender Peter Budaj stopped 24 of 27 shots for the Canadiens, who lost 2-1 on Dec. 12 in their previous visit to Philadelphia. In an odd coincidence, the Flyers on Wednesday were playing their first home game after a six-game road trip, and were in the second half of a home-and-home, the exact same situation they were in when the Canadiens played in Philadelphia in December. The Flyers took a 3-0 lead at 8:24 of the second period with Meszaros doing the majority of the work to set up the goal. He took a pass from Brayden Schenn and skated the puck hard down the left side in the Montreal zone, then cut to the middle to create a nice scoring chance. Budaj stopped his shot but the rebound pinballed around until Raffl found it and scored from in close. Meszaros' point shot 6:27 into the game helped the Flyers open the scoring. Vincent Lecavalier tipped Meszaros' shot off Budaj, who couldn't control the rebound in the crease. Couturier skated in alone and banged in the loose puck for his eighth goal of the season. Philadelphia extended its lead to 2-0 at 14:39 of the first on Rinaldo's first goal of the season. Rinaldo fired a shot from the left side off the rush that deflected into the left corner. Douglas Murray got to the puck first but under pressure from Claude Giroux sent it back in front. Rinaldo got it on his backhand and slid a puck in front that went off the stick of Montreal forward Lars Eller and between Budaj's pads. After Meszaros' goal the Canadiens got on the board late in the second on Plekanec's shorthanded goal. The Flyers were attempting to break out of their zone on a power play when Steve Downie fell at the Philadelphia blue line. Brian Gionta jumped on the loose puck to create a quick 2-on-1 with Plekanec. Gionta fed Plekanec on the left side of the Flyers' zone and he fired a wrist shot over Mason's right shoulder at 17:37. The Flyers were playing their first home game after a six-game road trip and were in the second game of a back-to-back set that started with the Flyers beating the New Jersey Devils 3-2 in overtime on Tuesday. Despite having fresher legs, the Canadiens generated five shots on goal in the final 20 minutes. Coach Michel Therrien left Budaj in until the final whistle, saying he felt there would be no advantage gained by lifting his goaltender for an extra attacker in the final minutes. Therrien was unhappy with defenseman P.K. Subban, who took a roughing penalty during a scrum at the end of the second period. Subban played one shift totaling six seconds in first half of the third period. After giving the Flyers a power play in the third, Montreal got a man-advantage opportunity when Lecavalier was called for hooking at 13:08. But the Flyers killed it off, as they did the Canadiens' three other power plays. It extended the Flyers' streak of successful penalty kills to 19 in a six-game span that started Dec. 30 against the Vancouver Canucks.
Ottawa @ Colorado 3-4 OT - Avalanche defenseman Tyson Barrie could get used to scoring overtime goals. He got the second one in his NHL career Wednesday in a 4-3 come-from-behind win against the Ottawa Senators at Pepsi Center. Barrie beat goalie Craig Anderson with a shot from the right hash marks after calling for the puck from Stastny, who was behind the Senators net. The Avalanche tied the game after Anderson made a spectacular save against Gabriel Landeskog, who had beaten the defense and broken in alone on the goalie. Stastny followed the play and knocked in the rebound. The win gave the Avalanche a 4-1-1 record on a seven-game homestand that ends Friday against the New York Islanders. The Avalanche were coming off a disappointing 4-3 loss to the Calgary Flames. The loss ended the Senators' winning streak at four games, but they picked up a valuable point and are 5-1-2 in their past eight games. Down 2-0 early in the first period, the Senators scored two goals 1:25 apart in the second to take a 3-2 lead. Jason Spezza, who missed the previous four games because of a hip flexor, tied the game at 12:53 during a 5-on-3 advantage. Spezza was parked to the right of Avalanche goalie Semyon Varlamov when he tucked Clarke MacArthur's pass inside the left post. Kyle Turris scored four seconds after the end of the ensuing 5-on-4 advantage at 14:18 with a one-timer from the left circle off a pass from Mark Stone. The Avalanche took a quick 2-0 lead in the first period on goals by Jamie McGinn and Jan Hejda, but the Senators answered late on a goal by MacArthur, stretching his goal-scoring streak to four games. McGinn, who has four goals in the past five games, connected for his 10th of the season at 2:19 on Colorado's lone power play of the game. Nick Holden passed across to Erik Johnson at the right point for a shot that McGinn deflected past Anderson from the right hash marks. The Senators killed 20 of 21 penalties in the previous six games. Hejda made it 2-0 at 4:54 with a shot from just inside the blue line that beat Anderson, who was screened by Landeskog, to the stick side. The goal was Hejda's fifth, matching his career high. The Senators got on the board at 15:02 after Avalanche defenseman Andre Benoit lost the puck and fell in his own end. Bobby Ryan scooped up the puck, skated behind the Avalanche net, and passed to MacArthur in the slot for a shot that eluded Varlamov.
No comments:
Post a Comment