Boston @ Buffalo 4-5 OT - Matt D'Agostini scored 22 seconds into overtime to give the Buffalo Sabres a 5-4 comeback victory against the Boston Bruins at First Niagara Center on Wednesday. D'Agostini eluded Bruins captain Zdeno Chara and broke in on goalie Chad Johnson after forward Loui Eriksson turned over the puck out of the zone. D'Agostini slipped the puck underneath Johnson's right leg to give the Sabres their second win in as many nights. The Sabres got to overtime when Matt Moulson tied the game with 53 seconds left in the third period with his 16th goal of the season. Moulson pounced on a rebound of a Zemgus Girgensons shot and slipped the puck underneath Johnson. Moulson put the Sabres in a hole when he was whistled for a double-minor high-sticking 9:11 into the third period. Milan Lucic gave the Bruins a 4-3 lead 32 seconds later when he ripped a slap shot from the slot to beat Enroth for his 18th of the season. Enroth was scrambling after the Bruins buzzed his net, and Torey Krug connected with Lucic out high for the open look and shot. Enroth stopped 29 shots playing instead of Ryan Miller, who was in net for a 3-2 win against the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday. It was Enroth's second victory of the season, first since Oct. 25 against the Florida Panthers, in his 19th start. Buffalo took a 1-0 lead when Girgensons scored 3:32 into the first period. He was parked in front of the net when Brian Flynn connected with him on a centering pass from the corner. Girgensons' shot squeezed through Johnson for his sixth goal of the season. Bruins forward Chris Kelly tied the game at 10:47 of the first with his fifth goal of the season. Kelly was set up in the faceoff circle to the right of Enroth when Carl Soderberg passed to him from behind the net. Kelly's shot beat Enroth over his right shoulder. The Sabres held a 3-1 lead in the second period after a power-play goal from Tyler Myers at 6:25 and a wrist shot from Flynn at 9:10. Myers' goal came after he drew a slashing penalty against Bruins forward Brad Marchand. The Bruins came back late in the second. Chara scored a power-play goal at 11:01, his ninth on the man-advantage this season. Marchand scored his 20th of the season to make it 3-3 with 2:14 remaining. He took a pass from Reilly Smith after the forward stole the puck from Sabres defenseman John Scott. Johnson made 21 saves playing instead of Tuukka Rask, who was given the night off in the Bruins' first game after he played for Finland at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
Detroit @ Montreal 2-1 OT - Gustav Nyquist scored with 27.3 seconds left in overtime to lift the Detroit Red Wings to a 2-1 win against the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday in each team's first game back from the break for the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Montreal goalie Peter Budaj was able to make a save on Johan Franzen's deflection of Danny DeKeyser's wrist shot from the point, but Nyquist slammed home the rebound for his 15th goal and the Detroit win. The Red Wings (27-20-12) hold a three-point lead for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. With the point for the overtime loss, the Canadiens (32-21-7) tied the idle Tampa Bay Lightning for second place in the Atlantic Division. With the Red Wings holding on to a 1-0 lead, Canadiens captain Brian Gionta scored the game-tying goal with 28 seconds left in regulation to force overtime. The Red Wings carried the one-goal lead deep into the third after Todd Bertuzzi scored on the power play at 14:01 of the first period. It was Bertuzzi's seventh goal, the first in his past 18 games. Bertuzzi had been a healthy scratch for Detroit's past eight games, but he wasted no time burying Franzen's feed to the doorstep past Budaj. Daniel Alfredsson had the secondary assist on the goal, which came after a roughing penalty to P.K. Subban nullified the final 14 seconds to a Canadiens power play. The Red Wings finished 1-for-1 on the power play, and the Canadiens were 0-for-3 with the man advantage. Montreal's struggles weren't limited to the power play against Detroit's suffocating defense. If not for Budaj, who was playing for injured Carey Price, Montreal would have had a much tougher road to climb coming into the third period. The Slovakian Olympian stopped all nine shots in the second period and finished with 28 saves in his first start since Jan. 30, when he made 34 saves in a 4-1 win at the Boston Bruins. Price was pulled from the Canadiens' morning skate after he sustained a lower-body injury. Canadiens defenseman Andrei Markov, who has been the subject of trade rumors, assisted on Gionta's goal to extend his point streak to three games; he has three assists over that span. With his game-winner, Nyquist has six goals and two assists in his past eight games. In a pregame ceremony, the Canadiens honored local members of the Canadian women's gold-medal team, as well as members of the Canadian men's hockey team that captured a second straight gold medal Sunday with a 3-0 win against Sweden in Sochi. Red Wings general manager Ken Holland and coach Mike Babcock were brought out on a red carpet along with Subban, Price and Canadiens public relations director Dominick Saillant and trainer Pierre Gervais.
Los Angeles @ Colorado 6-4 - Starved for goals before the break for the 2014 Sochi Olympics, the Los Angeles Kings offense came to life Wednesday in a 6-4 win against the Colorado Avalanche at Pepsi Center. Anze Kopitar collected two goals and an assist, and Justin Williams scored into an empty net with 11.1 seconds remaining to complete a comeback from a 4-2 deficit. Kopitar scored a power-play goal at 3:13 of the third period to give the Kings their 5-4 lead. He batted the puck out of the air and inside the right post after Jeff Carter deflected a shot by Tyler Toffoli with Avalanche defenseman Nick Holden serving a boarding penalty. Holden was assessed the penalty 10 seconds after the Avalanche killed off an interference penalty taken by Cody McLeod with 25.8 seconds left in the second period. Kings goalie Martin Jones stopped all 11 shots he faced in the third period, including big saves against Gabriel Landeskog and Jamie McGinn. Jones made a stop against McGinn driving to the net shortly after Kopitar put the Kings ahead and he made a stick save against Landeskog in the slot with six minutes to play. The Kings also killed off what turned into a 6-on-4 Avalanche power play that started with 3:24 remaining. Giguere eventually left the ice for an extra skater after Greene was penalized for kneeing McGinn. Kopitar and Carter scored 2:04 apart late in the second to tie the game 4-4. Kopitar scored at 16:49 after his wraparound attempt went to Justin Williams in the slot. Williams passed back to Kopitar for a tap inside the post. Carter scored at 18:53 after Mike Richards carried the puck from the right corner to the faceoff circle. He shot the puck and Carter tipped it by Giguere, who was screened on the play. Jarret Stoll tied the game 2-2 for the Kings 24 seconds into the second period when he drove to the net ahead of Avalanche defenseman Tyson Barrie to convert a pass from Dustin Brown, who retrieved the puck after shooting wide on a breakaway. The Avalanche went ahead 4-2 on power-play goals by McGinn and Andre Benoit. McGinn skated down the slot and redirected Ryan O'Reilly's pass behind Jones at 8:57. The rebound off Nathan MacKinnon's shot hit Benoit and bounced into the net at 15:42. O'Reilly and PA Parenteau scored goals 5:15 apart in the first period to give the Avalanche a 2-1 lead. Kings defenseman Robyn Regehr opened the scoring at 5:48 with a shot from the left point. All three of Regehr's goals this season have come in the past three games. O'Reilly shot the puck off the left post shortly after Regehr scored and he tied the game with a power-play goal at 11:17 with Regehr in the penalty box for cross-checking MacKinnon. Holden was between the faceoff circles when he passed to O'Reilly skating through the goalmouth. O'Reilly lifted the puck over Jones' right arm for his 22nd goal, tying MacKinnon for the team lead. Parenteau broke the 1-1 tie at 16:32. Matt Duchene skated away from Kings forward Tanner Pearson, came from behind the net and slid the puck through the slot for a chip shot by Jones. Avalanche left wing Maxime Talbot was scratched because his fiancee went into labor with their first child earlier Wednesday. Defenseman Cory Sarich dressed as the seventh defenseman.
St Louis @ Vancouver 0-1 - Mired in their worst losing streak in 15 years, the Vancouver Canucks would have been happy with a win against any team. Snapping the skid against the St. Louis Blues was a confidence-boosting bonus. Jannik Hansen scored on a breakaway with 8:47 left in the third period, Eddie Lack stopped 20 shots and the Canucks snapped a seven game losing streak with a 1-0 win against the Central Division-leading Blues on Wednesday at Rogers Arena. The Canucks swept the three-game season series against St. Louis, and Lack was in goal for all three. The rookie backup was at his best when he made 11 saves in the second period, but needed three stops in the third to secure his third shutout of the season, giving the Canucks their first win since Jan. 26 and their fifth in 20 games in 2014. Hansen provided all the offense Lack needed after fourth-line forward Tom Sestito flipped a backhand high out of his own zone. Hansen skated after it at center ice, outracing defensemen Roman Polak and Carlo Colaiacovo before snapping a quick shot between the blocker and body of Blues goalie Jaroslav Halak. The win moves Vancouver into the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference, leapfrogging the idle Dallas Stars and Phoenix Coyotes by a point, though each has played three fewer games. Halak finished with 34 saves for the Blues, who remained tied with the Chicago Blackhawks atop the Central Division with 84 points. It was the first time the Blues have been shut out all season. Lack kept it scoreless in the second by turning aside Vladimir Tarasenko on a tip alone in tight early, making a good left pad save off a David Backes one-timer in the slot on a delayed penalty midway through and stopping Chris Stewart on a 2-on-1 opportunity with three minutes left. He got a break when Canucks defenseman Alexander Edler kicked away T.J. Oshie's shot at an open net during a late power-play scramble. So was getting Henrik Sedin back. The Canucks captain missed six of eight games and the Olympics with a rib injury, then had to fly to Sweden early this week after his father-in-law passed away. He flew back on Wednesday morning, and provided a big lift to a team that lost center Ryan Kesler to a hand injury at the Olympics. The 16 players who took part in the 2014 Sochi Olympics were honored in a pre-game ceremony. Thirteen played, not counting Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo, who watched from the bench. St. Louis started five of their nine Olympians, with the gold medal-winning pairing of Jay Bouwmeester and Alex Pietrangelo on defense and a new top forward line of Americans Backes and Oshie with Swede Patrik Berglund, who moved to left wing. By the third period, all the travel appeared to catch up to the Blues' Olympians. The Canucks went into the Olympic break on their worst losing streak since 1999, but came out outshooting the Blues 14-6 in the first period, forcing Halak to make a handful of good stops on rebounds and scrambles. Another win against the Blues was a good first step, especially since it was settled in the third period, a time when the Canucks have struggled mightily all season, blowing leads and scoring the fewest goals in the NHL.
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