Results - Sat, Mar 15, 2014

Carolina @ Boston 1-5 - It's safe to say Jarome Iginla is enjoying his first season with the Boston Bruins. The veteran power forward continued his impressive inaugural season with the Bruins by scoring twice Saturday to take possession of the team goal-scoring lead, and linemates David Krejci and Milan Lucic combined for six points in a 5-1 victory against the Carolina Hurricanes at TD Garden. Iginla, who signed with Boston as an unrestricted free agent last summer, has 23 goals, two more than Brad Marchand. Iginla's 553 career goals are three shy of tying Bruins legend Johnny Bucyk for 25th in NHL history. Iginla's productivity has come a long way since he started this season with four goals in 24 games. The Bruins (45-17-5) have won eight in a row, their longest run since they won 10 in a row from Nov. 1-23, 2011. Boston has won four in a row at home and leads the Pittsburgh Penguins by three points for first place in the Eastern Conference, though the Penguins have played one fewer game. Goalie Chad Johnson improved to 8-0-0 at the Garden after making 29 saves. Cam Ward stopped 36 of 41 shots for the Hurricanes (29-29-9), whose two-game winning streak ended. Lucic extended his point streak to four games with a goal at 15:28 of the first period. Krejci's shot attempt turned into a pass toward the right post because the Boston center was getting tripped by Eric Staal, and Lucic tapped the puck into the vacated right side of the net before Ward could react. Lucic set up the Bruins' second goal late in the second period. After winning a couple of battles down low, Lucic fed the puck from behind the Carolina net to the left circle. Iginla stopped the pass and snapped the puck high to Ward's glove side and inside the far post at 17:24 for a 2-0 lead. Carolina got within 2-1 at 3:53 of the third. After Jordan Staal beat Chris Kelly in a faceoff at the right dot, Alexander Semin took a wrist shot from the top of the right circle. The puck hit Boston forward Carl Soderberg and defenseman Johnny Boychuk before it trickled past Johnson. The Bruins pulled away, beginning with a goal by Kelly at 12:49. Boston then went ahead 4-1 when Kevan Miller won a battle to the side of the net and Iginla scored his second goal of the game from the slot at 13:02. Bruins defenseman Torey Krug scored the last goal with 9.4 seconds remaining.
Ottawa @ Montreal 4-5 OT - Francis Bouillon's first goal of the season couldn't have come at a better time for the Montreal Canadiens. Bouillon scored at 1:26 of overtime to cap a wild third period comeback for the Canadiens, who erased a three-goal deficit with fewer than four minutes to play in regulation to defeat the Ottawa Senators 5-4 at Bell Centre on Saturday. Lars Eller and Brian Gionta scored at 16:38 and 17:56 of the third period before David Desharnais scored on a power play with 0.3 seconds remaining in regulation to tie the game 4-4, with Canadiens defenseman P.K. Subban assisting on all three goals. Bouillon scored in overtime when the puck popped out of a goalmouth scramble right onto his stick with a wide open net to shoot at, scoring for the first time in 62 games to allow the Canadiens to snap a three-game losing streak in the most dramatic fashion imaginable. It was Canadiens goalie Carey Price's first game in three weeks after he missed eight games with a lower-body injury he aggravated playing for Canada at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. He finished with 30 saves, including several on breakaways and high quality scoring chances in the third period while his teammates pushed to tie the game. With the Senators ahead 4-1 late in the third period, Eller snapped a 24-game drought with his 11th goal of the season at 16:38, converting a rebound of a Gionta shot. Gionta then scored his 14th of the season at 17:56, tipping a Subban shot past Senators goalie Robin Lehner for the Canadiens captain's 14th of the season. Kyle Turris was called for hooking with 1:48 to play and Canadiens coach Michel Therrien pulled Price for an extra attacker, giving Montreal a 6-on-4 advantage. The puck came to Subban with fewer than three seconds remaining and, instead of shooting, he found Desharnais open to the right of Lehner and his shot beat the final buzzer to send the game into overtime. Daniel Briere also scored for the Canadiens (36-25-7), who earned their second win in six games, but Therrien hopes the way they won can propel his team in the final push toward the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Clarke MacArthur and Jason Spezza each had a goal and an assist and Ales Hemsky scored his first goal with the Senators (28-25-13), who have earned points in three straight games (1-0-2). MacLean was puzzled by some of the decisions made by referees Eric Furlatt and Dean Morton, but ultimately blamed the loss on his team's inability to hold a lead and stop the bleeding once Montreal made it 4-2. Spezza has three goals and seven assists in his past six games and Hemsky has a goal and six assists in four games since he was acquired from the Edmonton Oilers at the NHL Trade Deadline. Price was welcomed with a huge roar from the fans when he was announced in the starting lineup for his first action since the gold medal game at the Olympics on Feb. 23. It took the Senators more than three minutes to test Price with a shot, but they made it count with Spezza taking an Erik Karlsson pass in the slot and firing a slap shot to the top corner past Price's glove hand at 3:08 to tie the game 1-1. It was the first goal Price allowed in 167:27 of game action after stopping every shot he faced over the final 164:19 of the Olympics. Karlsson's second assist of the night was the play of the game, and might be a candidate for the assist of the season. With the Canadiens on a line change late in the second period, Karlsson curled back into his zone to retrieve the puck near his own goal line. When he looked up he saw Zack Smith breaking for the Canadiens zone and launched a saucer pass that traveled approximately 110 feet before landing perfectly on Smith's stick, allowing him to break in on Price and score his 11th of the season at 17:10 of the second period. Hemsky scored at 1:54 of the third period when he was left alone in the slot to finish a Spezza feed. MacArthur made it 4-1 at 5:08 on a similar play, slapping home a Turris pass from about five feet in front of Price for his 20th goal of the season, one short of his career high. Briere scored at 38 seconds of the first on Montreal's third shot of the game, a low wrister that beat Lehner to the stick side for his 12th goal of the season. After Spezza's goal at 3:08 made it 1-1, Briere was denied his 13th after the five-minute mark of the first when Alex Galchenyuk set him up with an open net on a power play, but Lehner slid across to make an outstanding pad save. Ottawa outshot Montreal 16-9 and appeared to have taken a 2-1 lead at 14:50 when Colin Greening went in on goal and was tripped by Eller, crashing into Price before the puck dribbled into the net afterwards. The goal was initially awarded on the ice, but the four officials huddled up and decided that the goal wasn't good due to incidental contact with the goaltender, which is not a reviewable play.
New Jersey @ Tampa Bay 0-3 - Goalie Ben Bishop set a Tampa Bay Lightning record in style Saturday night. Bishop made 23 saves in a 3-0 victory against the New Jersey Devils at Tampa Bay Times Forum. The win was his 31st of the season, which broke a tie with Nikolai Khabibulin, who won 30 in 2002-03. The shutout was the fifth of the season for Bishop, the eighth of his career. This is the 27-year-old's first season as a No. 1 NHL goaltender after playing rarely for the St. Louis Blues and Ottawa Senators in parts of four seasons prior to being traded to Tampa Bay. Tampa Bay (36-24-7) maintained a two-point advantage over the Montreal Canadiens for third place in the Atlantic Division. Bishop is 31-11-6 with a 2.10 goals-against average and .929 save percentage. Defenseman Michael Kostka scored in a second consecutive game and had an assist. He gave Tampa Bay a 2-0 lead after he pinched to the left of the crease and gathered a pass from Ondrej Palat. Kostka pulled the puck to his backhand and beat Devils goalie Martin Brodeur with 3:02 remaining and the teams skating 4-on-4. Kostka has four goals and four assists in 16 NHL games this season. He scored in a 5-4 win against the Florida Panthers on Thursday. Valtteri Filppula had his second assist, his sixth in his past three games. Palat has three goals and four assists in his past four games. Nate Thompson made it 3-0 with 3:19 remaining after he took a cross-ice pass from J.T. Brown and slipped the puck through Brodeur's pads for his ninth goal of the season. B.J. Crombeen scored his third goal of the season 12:26 into the second period for the 1-0 lead. He deflected a shot by Kostka from the blue line past Brodeur with Ryan Malone, in front of the New Jersey net, obscuring the goalie's view. The goal came 67 seconds after Brodeur stopped a Brown penalty shot. Brown, on a breakaway, was pulled down from behind by New Jersey defenseman Jon Merrill. Brodeur took Brown's attempt with his glove, the ninth successful stop of a penalty shot in 12 against during his career. Brodeur made 17 saves before the Lightning scored, several worthy of a highlight reel, including a glove save on a shot Steven Stamkos blasted from the slot.

Buffalo @ NY Islanders 1-4 - The NHL's worst defensive team shut down its weakest offensive team Saturday night. Anders Nilsson made 33 saves to lead the New York Islanders to a 4-1 victory against the Buffalo Sabres at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Frans Nielsen, Kyle Okposo, Ryan Strome and Cal Clutterbuck scored for the Islanders, who came into the game having allowed a League-high 228 non-shootout goals. Lubomir Visnovsky had three assists. Tyler Ennis scored a power-play goal for Buffalo early in the third period, but the Islanders killed off five other penalties and did not allow an even-strength goal. The loss was the fifth in a row for the Sabres, who've scored five goals during that span. Jhonas Enroth made 34 saves for Buffalo, which is last in the NHL with 126 non-shootout goals, 32 fewer than anyone else. The Sabres are a League-worst 7-21-3 on the road. The Islanders wasted little time taking the lead. Nielsen scored his career-best 22nd goal 3:31 into the game when he took a pass from Anders Lee and with Okposo crashing the net, fired a wide-angled slap shot from the left circle that hit Enroth and found its way into the net. New York killed off a pair of Buffalo power plays, then capitalized on its first chance with the extra man. Okposo found some room between the hash marks, took a right-circle feed from Brock Nelson and zipped a quick low shot past Enroth at 17:24 for his team-high 27th goal of the season. He had four goals in 48 games last season. Okposo also had the second assist on Nielsen's goal, and his career-best 69 points are fourth in the NHL scoring race. Islanders center Casey Cizikas missed a chance to make it a three-goal game three minutes into the second period when he took a passout from Johan Sundstrom but fired high and wide from 10 feet in front of Enroth. That was one of the few scoring chances for either team in the period. Nilsson made his best save an instant before the buzzer when he stopped Drew Stafford's power-play rocket from the high slot with his mask, preserving New York's 2-0 lead. Buffalo got on the board 55 seconds into the third period when Ennis took a pass at the right post, spun and banked a power-play shot into the net off Islanders defenseman Travis Hamonic for his 18th goal of the season. But New York, which has lost a League-leading 12 games when leading by two goals, got that one back 40 seconds later when Strome knocked in his own rebound for his fourth of the season after Enroth stopped his breakaway. Enroth was left to fend for himself after four Sabres were caught up ice, leaving Strome free to take a pass from Matt Martin. Nolan pulled Enroth for an extra attacker with three minutes remaining, but Clutterbuck pitched a backhander from center ice into the empty net with 2:13 remaining. The Islanders announced before the game that they signed defenseman Adam Pelech to a three-year, entry-level contract. A third-round pick (No. 65) at the 2012 NHL Draft, Pelech has nine goals, 45 assists and a plus-45 rating in 59 games this season for the Erie Otters in the Ontario Hockey League.

St Louis @ Nashville 4-1 - St. Louis Blues center Patrik Berglund had ice bags wrapped around his left shoulder, left wrist and left knee as he walked into the locker room at Bridgestone Arena for postgame interviews. With the night Berglund had, he didn't seem to mind. Asked if he received treatment, Berglund glanced up and down at himself and said, "Yeah, a little bit." Berglund scored twice in a 4-1 win against the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena on Saturday to help his team remain unbeaten in regulation in eight games since acquiring goalie Ryan Miller. Miller, who made 30 saves, is 6-0-1 since coming to St. Louis in a trade from the Buffalo Sabres. He has given up more than two goals once, in his overtime loss. The Blues (46-14-7), who have the best record in the NHL, are 7-0-1 since March 2. (Backup goalie Brian Elliott played one game, winning in a shootout.) The loss ended a three-game winning streak for Nashville (29-29-10); those wins were on the road. The Predators have lost five straight at home in regulation, which is one from tying the franchise record. They have lost six straight at home four times, including last season. The Blues cashed in on a couple of Predators turnovers. St. Louis capitalized on Nashville's inability to clear its zone to take a 1-0 lead at 11:32 of the first period. Predators defenseman Mattias Ekholm hit teammate Rich Clune in the back of his skates with a pass along the left boards and the puck bounded to Berglund. He skated to his left to create some space, eluded two Predators checkers, and slipped a wrist shot past Nashville goalie Pekka Rinne's glove side. Rinne started back-to-back games for the first time since returning from a hip infection that sidelined him for more than four months. He made 22 saves one night after defeating the Chicago Blackhawks, 3-2, with 31. Berglund scored at 2:02 of the second period on a 2-on-1. Skating down the right wing with Ekholm sprawling to take away the pass, Berglund went to Rinne's glove side, ripping the shot just inside the post to put the Blues up 2-0 with his 14th of the season. Vladimir Tarasenko gave St. Louis a 3-0 lead at 7:21 of the second period with his 21st goal of the season. T.J. Oshie's shot from the right side caromed off the boards behind the net, and in one motion Tarasenko slapped it in from the opposite side before Rinne could move across the crease. Nashville scored with 3:10 left in the second period. Miller could not find the rebound of Shea Weber's point shot, and Predators center Paul Gaustad carried the rebound behind the net. He centered it, and the puck glanced off teammate Colton Sissons and came to Eric Nystrom, who converted it for his 13th. The Blues took advantage of a 3-on-1 for their fourth goal. Nystrom's pass to Weber misfired, creating a turnover in the neutral zone. Alex Steen scored his 30th goal by one-timing the feed from Jaden Schwartz 8:05 into the third period. Nashville went on a bit of an offensive spree on the road, scoring 11 goals in three games, but its scoring woes at home continued. The Predators have four goals in five games during their home losing streak. Trotz appeared to mix his lines on almost every shift Saturday. He said he began doing that during the winning streak, which started Monday at the Buffalo Sabres.
Columbus @ Minnesota 2-1 SO - Ryan Johansen capped an improbable comeback in the shootout by scoring in the fourth round to give the Columbus Blue Jackets a 2-1 victory against the Minnesota Wild on Saturday night. Zach Parise and Mikko Koivu scored on Minnesota's first two attempts in the tiebreaker. But Artem Anisimov and Mark Letestu sandwiched successful attempts around a miss by Jason Pominville to send the shootout to an extra round. After Sergei Bobrovsky stopped Matt Moulson's attempt, Johansen came in, avoided a poke-check bid by goaltender Darcy Kuemper and backhanded the puck into an empty net. Officials on the ice originally waved off the goal, saying that Kuemper had gotten his stick on the puck, but a video review overturned the call and gave Columbus the win. Johansen's deciding goal won a goaltending duel between Bobrovsky (32 saves) and Kuemper (29), both of whom were tested early and often. No team had won a shootout this season after falling behind 2-0. The victory moved the Blue Jackets (35-26-6) ahead of the New York Rangers into second place in the Metropolitan Division. Each team has 76 points but the Blue Jackets have a game in hand. For Bobrovsky, it was his second straight game-stealing performance at Xcel Energy Center. Richards refers to his 39-save effort in a 3-2 shootout win last season as simply “The Bobrovsky Game.” Bobrovsky wrote another chapter on Saturday, stopping 12 shots each in the first and second periods and eight more in the third period and overtime. Thanks to realignment, the Wild see Bobrovsky and the Blue Jackets twice this season instead of four or five times, as they did when the teams were in the Central Division. It wasn’t until 19:38 of the second period and the 55th shot of the game that either team was finally able to get on the board. Even then, it took a deflection off a stick and then a leg to get the puck into the net. Columbus took the lead when a point shot by Prout hit off Wild forward Matt Cooke’s stick, caromed off defenseman Jonas Brodin’s knee and bounced past Kuemper. The goal was Prout’s second of the season. The Wild tied it 3:12 into the third period on a great hustle play by Parise, who raced down ice to negate an icing call, then sent a saucer pass to Pominville at the bottom of the right circle. Pominville ripped a one-timer that snuck between Bobrovsky and the near-side post for his 25th of the season. Bobrovsky rebounded after that, stopping Charlie Coyle alone in front with 11:40 left in regulation and denying a redirection try by Kyle Brodziak seconds later. He got some help from the goal post earlier in the game; Pominville rang the bar in the first period and Clayton Stoner ripped a slap shot off the post in the second. Minnesota (35-22-10) solidified its hold on a Stanley Cup Playoff spot. The Wild hold the first wild-card position in the Western Conference, five points ahead of the Dallas Stars, but can't be happy at all the points they left on the table by going 1-0-3 on a four-game homestand. Minnesota begins a three-game road trip Monday night against the Boston Bruins. Minnesota dropped three shootouts in seven days after winning seven of its past eight.
Anaheim @ Los Angeles 2-1 - The fourth of the five-game series between the Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings was missing several marquee names. Goalies Jonas Hiller and Jonathan Quick did not play, nor did Teemu Selanne or Dustin Brown. So it was fitting that the Ducks' grinders did the job in a nasty, gritty rivalry game. Fourth-liners Patrick Maroon and Tim Jackman provided the goals to give Anaheim a 2-1 victory Saturday night at Staples Center. Anaheim, which beat the Colorado Avalanche on Friday night, swept a challenging back-to-back sequence and gained some traction following a 4-6-2 stretch after the 2014 NHL Coors Light Stadium Series game against the Kings on Jan. 25. The Ducks (45-16-7) moved two points ahead of the San Jose Sharks in the race for first place in the Pacific Division. Each team has 14 games remaining. It was Boudreau's first win in Los Angeles as Ducks coach. At the other end, Kings coach Darryl Sutter was denied his 500th career win for the second straight game. Los Angeles put 38 shots on rookie goaltender Frederik Andersen but lost consecutive games in regulation for the first time since Feb.1-3. The Kings (38-24-6) are third in the Pacific and appear fated to play the division runner-up in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The bad feelings between the teams got into full swing when Kings forward Jeff Carter rubbed out Ducks defenseman Francois Beauchemin along the boards in the first period. Kings defenseman Robyn Regehr hit Anaheim star Corey Perry after the buzzer sounded to end the second period, during which there were scrums after almost every whistle. The sellout crowd of 18,228 was incensed and Sutter fumed after Anze Kopitar's apparent tying goal off the crossbar with 6:23 left was waved off because of incidental contact with Andersen by Gaborik. Anaheim's Hiller and Los Angeles' Quick were resting and ill, respectively, although Quick backed up Martin Jones. The Ducks also rested Selanne and sat defenseman Cam Fowler with a lower-body injury. Brown was also out with an illness. But Anaheim's role players came through. Maroon banked a shot off Kings defenseman Jake Muzzin at 12:12 of the second period after a defensive breakdown to break a 1-1 tie. The goal came 51 seconds after the Kings tied the game when Tyler Toffoli tapped Jarret Stoll's power-play rebound into an open net. It was the Kings' first goal against the Ducks in 1:48:08, dating to the first period of the Jan. 23 game. It also put Los Angeles on a 6-for-22 power play stretch. Anaheim's fourth line did some strong work down low to give the Ducks a 1-0 lead. Matt Beleskey spun past Muzzin to start the possession, and Mathieu Perreault slipped a short pass that Jackman chipped past Jones at 13:01 of the first period. Jackman hasn't been in Anaheim's lineup regularly but it was his second goal in his past three games. The teams combined for two shots on goal on four power plays in the first period. Anaheim went 0-for-3 and is in a 2-for-42 slump. Anaheim snapped an 0-3-2 streak at Staples Center.