Results - Mon, Mar 10, 2013

Nashville @ Ottawa 4-3 OT - Struggling to produce offense lately, the Nashville Predators finally broke through with a second-period outburst against the Ottawa Senators on Monday night. Their defense let up in the third, but the Predators managed to come up with one more goal when they needed it most when Seth Jones scored at 3:49 of overtime for a 4-3 win against Ottawa at Canadian Tire Centre. Jones beat Senators goalie Robin Lehner on a rebound of Ryan Ellis' shot and the Predators recovered to end a four-game losing streak after blowing a 3-0 lead in the third period. Jason Spezza tied it at 3-3 with 1:07 remaining in regulation. The Ottawa captain went to the corner and pounded the glass with his fist after scoring his 17th goal for his second straight three-point game. Senators newcomer Ales Hemsky had three assists for a second game in a row playing on a line with Spezza and Milan Michalek. Hemsky, who was acquired from the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday, has eight points in his past four games, including two goals against the Senators in his last game with Edmonton, a 3-2 win for the Oilers last Tuesday. Spezza and Hemsky each assisted on goals by defensemen Jared Cowen and Marc Methot and the Senators closed to within 3-2 after Ottawa goalie Craig Anderson was injured and left the game at 4:50 of the third. Pekka Rinne made 34 saves for his first win in four starts since returning from an infection in his surgically-repaired hip that had sidelined him for most of the season. Nashville scored three times in the second before blowing its 3-0 lead in the third period. Nick Spaling put the Predators up 1-0 with his 12th goal at 8:20 of the second when he tipped Michael Del Zotto's point shot past Anderson. Craig Smith made it 2-0 with his 19th goal exactly midway through the second and Eric Nystrom increased the lead to three with an unassisted goal at 17:32. Anderson, who stopped 26 of 29 shots, was replaced by Lehner, who stopped 12 of 13 shots. Ottawa is 2-4-1 in its past seven games. The Senators (28-25-12) remain in 12th place in the Eastern Conference with 68 points. Ottawa defenseman Cody Ceci left the game and did not return after he was struck in the head by Predators defenseman Shea Weber's slap shot midway through the first period. Ceci fell to the ice in front of Anderson after he was hit on the side of the head by Weber's drive from inside the blue line at 10:21 of the first period. The 20-year-old rookie was bleeding from the right side of his head and was helped off the ice to the dressing room. Weber put a slap shot off Anderson's mask at 7:15 of the first that knocked the Senators goalie down. Ottawa medical personnel tended to Anderson on the ice, but the goalie remained in the game. After Spaling opened the scoring in the second, Smith scored off a faceoff win to give Nashville a 2-0 lead at 10:00. Colin Wilson won a draw and moved the puck back to the left boards to Jones, who passed to his partner, Mattias Ekholm. Smith turned around off the faceoff and deflected Ekholm's one-timer past Anderson. Nystrom took advantage of a turnover by Methot for Nashville's third goal. Methot's backhand clearing attempt on a Predators dump-in to the slot went right to Nystrom, who roofed a shot past Anderson for his 12th goal. Anderson left the game in the third and skated off to the dressing room after Michalek collided with him on a Nashville scoring chance. Cowen drew Ottawa to within 3-1 at 7:55 when he scored for a second game in a row after a three-game run as a healthy scratch. Methot's sixth goal at 10:34 cut Nashville's lead to one. Senators left wing Clarke MacArthur missed his second game in a row because of a right-hand injury.
Los Angeles @ Calgary 3-2 - In his four-year tenure with the Calgary Hitmen of the Western Hockey League, Martin Jones recorded 57 career wins at Scotiabank Saddledome. Despite some late heroics from the NHL team he shared the Saddledome with throughout his junior career, Jones chalked up another one and extended the Los Angeles Kings' winning streak to eight games with a 3-2 victory against the Calgary Flames on Monday. The victory, in which Jones made 24 saves, has Los Angeles one shy of tying the franchise record of nine straight wins established from Jan. 21-Feb. 6, 2010. It's also the second time the Kings have beat the Flames in Calgary during the stretch, with L.A. handing Calgary its only two losses in the past nine games at the Saddledome. Jones holds almost every conceivable goaltending record for the Hitmen, including games played (148), minutes played (8,704), wins (108), shutouts (16) and saves (3374). The North Vancouver native started off his NHL career in a similar fashion, tying a League record with wins in his first eight games in the same season to start his career, a nod he shares with Bob Froese (1982-83). After Kopitar scored his 20th of the season at 7:01 of the third, the Flames tested Jones. With Mike Richards in the penalty box for delay of game, the Kings goaltender had his shutout bid ended with 4:31 remaining after Cammalleri’s blast ricocheted off Kings defenseman Slava Voynov and behind Jones. Brian McGrattan, with his second in as many games, beat Jones with a spinning slap shot with 2:22 remaining to cut Los Angeles' lead to one. But the Kings, who improved to 21-0-0 when leading after two periods, shut down the Flames with goalie Joni Ortio on the bench in favor of an extra attacker. Los Angeles gave Jones plenty of support early. On the Kings' first shot of the game, Justin Williams redirected Kopitar's pass behind Ortio for his 17th of the season to take a 1-0 lead at 4:05. After a brief review, the goal stood. Trevor Lewis extended that lead 10 minutes into the period, deflecting Voynov's point blast over Ortio's blocker to make it 2-0. Seconds before Lewis' goal, his fourth of the season, Flames defenseman Kris Russell inadvertently knocked Ortio's stick out of his hand. In the dying seconds of the first, Jones denied a shot from a streaking TJ Galiardi, one of eight saves he made in the opening period. The goaltenders traded big saves in the second. With Lewis searching for his second of the night, Ortio flashed a quick pad in tight to deny the Kings forward more than three minutes into the period. Jones countered with a blocker save off Paul Byron's wrist shot through traffic at 5:22. Though shorthanded, the Kings generated the best chance of the period. Breaking in 2-on-1, Tanner Pearson fed Tyler Toffoli for a tap-in, but Ortio slid post to post in full splits to keep the Flames within two.
NY Islanders @ Vancouver 7-4 - Islanders goaltender Evgeni Nabokov has seen a lot during 13 seasons in the NHL, but none of it compares to what he witnessed Monday night. Seven Islanders scored in a wild third period as New York erased a 3-0 deficit before recovering from a blown lead of its own to beat the Canucks 7-4 at Rogers Arena. The craziness started with three New York power-play goals, including one on a 5-on-3, to tie the game in the opening 3:36 of the third period, and the Islanders took the lead one second after another power play expired. They gave it back when Canucks defenseman Christopher Tanev scored midway through the period, but Islanders forward Matt Martin scored the game-winning goal 10 seconds later. Anders Lee added an insurance goal 1:41 after Martin scored, and Cal Clutterbuck scored into an empty net with 17.3 second left, matching the Islanders' franchise record for goals in one period. The Islanders have been part of third-period comebacks of late, but on the losing side, blowing leads in the first three games of their four-game trip through Western Canada and Winnipeg. Frustration wasn't a strong enough word for the Canucks, who were stunned after blowing the 3-0 lead and a chance to post consecutive wins for the first time in seven weeks. Vancouver came into the game ranked fifth in the NHL on the penalty kill, but the unit fell apart quickly in the third period. Bailey, Ryan Strome and Calvin de Haan scored power-play goals over a 2:23 span to tie the game, and Frans Nielsen put the Islanders immediately after another power play expired less than three minutes later. The Islanders had seven shots on goal with five minutes left in the second period, but after rallying with a couple chances late in the period, they came out firing on the power play early in the third. With rookie Nicklas Jensen serving a slashing penalty, Bailey converted a nice cross-ice pass from Matt Donovan on the back door to close the gap. Jensen was back in the penalty box for an offensive zone hook when Kevin Bieksa was penalized for knocking the net off after a long Okposo shot snuck through Lack and just wide. Strome converted the ensuing 5-on-3 after some nice passing left him with a mostly empty net from a sharp angle at 3:14, and de Haan beat a screened Eddie Lack from the blue line 22 seconds later. Nielsen beat Lack with a short-side rebound at 6:22. New York blew a third-period lead for the fourth straight game on their road trip when Tanev tied the game at 4-4 at 9:54. But Martin restored the New York lead on the next shift, beating Lack with a backhand from the slot through traffic after the Canucks rookie goaltender mishandled the puck behind the net. Not quite, but it's close. The Islanders lead the NHL with eight wins when trailing after two periods (8-22-2), but they have only won nine times (9-6-5) when they have the lead after 40 minutes. Chris Higgins and Kesler scored power-play goals for Vancouver, and Henrik Sedin snapped a 23-game goal drought. But it all came unraveled in the third period as the Canucks lost for the 12th time in the past 14 games in matching a franchise record for most goals allowed in a period, set twice by the Edmonton Oilers in the mid-1980s. The loss leaves Vancouver four points behind the Dallas Stars for the final Western Conference wild-card berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and the Stars have played three fewer games. The Islanders' outburst came after losing top-line left wing Michael Grabner with six minutes left in the second period. Grabner sustained an upper-body injury trying to hit Tanev and will be re-evaluated when the Islanders return home.
Toronto @ Anaheim 3-1 - The sight was familiar: Randy Carlyle behind the bench at Honda Center with his team burying chances in front of stellar goaltending. It wasn't quite a page from the 2007 Stanley Cup season, but Carlyle certainly approved. Jonathan Bernier made 43 saves, Phil Kessel scored his 34th goal and Tyler Bozak had a goal and an assist to lead the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 3-1 win against the Anaheim Ducks on Monday night. The win gave Carlyle a happy homecoming in his first visit to Anaheim since he was fired in 2011. Carlyle was recognized in a video tribute by the 17,229 fans, many of whom wore Toronto jerseys, and he gave a wave in the building he called home for seven years and where he helped raise that 2007 Cup banner. The Maple Leafs opened an important three-game California trip by improving to 14-3-3 in their past 20 games. Bernier was excellent and made glove saves on Bryan Allen in the first period and Patrick Maroon in the second. He made 34 saves in the final 40 minutes. Toronto blocked 24 shots. The Ducks, already bumped out of the top spot in the Western Conference by the St. Louis Blues, had their five-game point streak snapped and now have the San Jose Sharks on their heels for first place in the Pacific Division. Anaheim fell into a 2-0 deficit for the second time in three games, and its power play got good looks but is in a 1-for-19 slump since the 2014 Sochi Olympics. Anaheim coach Bruce Boudreau had joked that his top line didn't fare well against Toronto's in the Oct. 22 game between the teams. But he opted to still use Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry primarily against Bozak, Kessel and James van Riemsdyk, who combined for two goals and five assists. Perry energized Anaheim with a long, MVP-worthy shift, one of his nine shifts in the second period, to break the shutout. Perry's line hemmed Toronto in its zone and played keep-away until Maroon's rebound found Perry for a tap-in goal, his 35th, at 14:19. Perry had eight shots on goal and his effort couldn't nearly overcome the bad start. Anaheim's defense was uncharacteristically shoddy for the opening 30 minutes, and a breakdown led to a 3-0 lead for Toronto when Paul Ranger finished a 2-on-1 with Kessel at 3:44. Kessel gave Toronto a 2-0 lead at first intermission. He split Francois Beauchemin and Hampus Lindholm to break in on goalie Frederik Andersen, and his shot fluttered in at 19:21. The play started when the Maple Leafs poked the puck away from Getzlaf. Toronto snapped an eight-game drought on the power play (0-for-18) in the first period on Bozak's 15th goal at 16:31. Bozak chipped in Dion Phaneuf's pass from the slot following a faceoff win. Toronto right wing David Clarkson returned from an injury. The Maple Leafs played with seven defensemen after they scratched Carter Ashton, Colton Orr and Frazer McLaren.