Results - Tue, Mar 11, 2014

Nashville @ Buffalo 4-1 - The Predators made their first trip to Buffalo in nearly three years a successful one, earning a 4-1 victory against the Sabres at First Niagara Center on Tuesday. Predators captain Shea Weber had a goal and an assist. His 16th goal of the season, 3:33 into the second period, broke a 1-1 tie and helped Nashville to its second win in as many nights. Weber's goal came on the rush when forward Colin Wilson dropped a pass to him in the faceoff circle to the right of Sabres goalie Jhonas Enroth. Weber snapped a quick shot over Enroth's glove hand. Sabres forward Drew Stafford opened the scoring 2:09 into the game with a power-play goal. Stafford put a rebound of Cody Hodgson's shot past Predators goalie Carter Hutton for his 12th of the season. Stafford was playing in his 500th NHL game, all with Buffalo, and has 14 points in the past 15 games. After the Predators gave up a goal on the Sabres' first power play, they stopped them on the next three, two in the second period. The Predators tied the game with 2:50 left in the first period when Nick Spaling scored a power-play goal. A shot from Weber glanced off Spaling's skate past Enroth for his 13th of the season. Video replay confirmed the puck deflected into the net in legal fashion. Craig Smith gave the Predators a 3-1 lead at 7:51 of the second period. Wilson set up the goal when he found Smith alone in the slot to fire a slap shot through Enroth's five-hole. It was Smith's 20th goal of the season. Predators center Paul Gaustad, playing his first game in Buffalo since being traded by the Sabres on Feb. 27, 2012, scored an empty-net goal with 1:31 remaining.
New Jersey @ Philadelphia 2-1 - Jaromir Jagr said one of the most important lessons he learned from his father was to always keep skating. He heeded those lessons Tuesday, scoring the game-winning goal in the third period to lift the New Jersey Devils to a 2-1 win against the Philadelphia Flyers at Wells Fargo Center. Jagr also had an assist, Travis Zajac had a goal, and Tuomo Ruutu had two assists for New Jersey. Martin Brodeur stopped 30 shots as New Jersey won its second straight game to move within two points of the Flyers for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. Nicklas Grossmann scored and Steve Mason made 24 saves for Philadelphia. The game was tied 1-1 in the third when New Jersey cycled the puck down low on the right side of the Philadelphia zone. Marek Zidlicky carried the puck below the goal line and made a nifty backhand pass to Jagr, who outmuscled defenseman Mark Streit on the goal post to flip the puck over Mason's blocker at 7:42. The goal was Jagr's 21st of the season. He also added an assist for his 17th multipoint game of the season and extended his point streak to four games. With 1,745 points, Jagr moved within 10 of Steve Yzerman for sixth on the all-time list. His 702 goals are six behind Mike Gartner for sixth all-time. He's also averaging 19:00 ice time per game, more than he's played since he returned to the NHL for the 2011-12 season. At age 42, Jagr credits his expanded playing time as much as anything else for his strong play this season. Brodeur, 41, also was a big part of the Devils' success Tuesday. Starting back-to-back games for the first time since Dec. 31 and Jan. 3, Brodeur played one of his better games of the season, making almost every save and backstopping a penalty-killing unit that shut down Philadelphia on six chances. The physical play changed the course of the game in the final minute. With the Flyers trailing 2-1 and pushing for the tying goal, Philadelphia shoved a puck under Brodeur with 40.1 seconds remaining, but the goal immediately was waved off when officials ruled Scott Hartnell pushed Brodeur across the goal line with the puck. The referee consulted with the NHL Situation Room in Toronto, but that call is not reviewable. Their final power-play chance came with 4:20 left in the third when Jagr was called for hooking, but Brodeur made three saves, including a stop on a point shot by Kimmo Timonen and a denial of Wayne Simmonds from the crease on the rebound. That left the Flyers frustrated on a night when they saw themselves slip from third place in the Metropolitan Division into the group of teams fighting for one of the two wild-card spots in the conference. New Jersey opened the scoring at 7:56 of the first period on Zajac's 12th goal. New Jersey was cycling the puck deep on the left side of the Philadelphia zone when Zajac pulled it out of the corner and sent it to Jagr in the left circle. Jagr one-timed a return pass to Zajac, who got a step on Brayden Schenn and went to the net. Zajac patiently skated through the crease and waited for Mason to go down and then shot it over him from a sharp angle. The Flyers tied the game 47 seconds into the second period on Grossmann's first goal in 75 games. Giroux won a faceoff in the New Jersey end and Jakub Voracek fired a shot from the right side that went well wide of the net. The puck rolled to Grossmann along the wall on the left side of the New Jersey zone, and he fired what looked like a harmless wrist shot on net that squirted between Brodeur's pads. Grossmann's goal was his first since Feb. 20, 2013, against the Pittsburgh Penguins. It also gave him 12 points on the season, tying his personal best. It was the only goal of a period that saw Philadelphia carry the play. After getting two even-strength shots in the first, they had 11 in the second. Zajac's goal came during a 20-minute stretch that saw New Jersey dominate play. The Devils limited the Flyers to six shots, two at even strength. They also held Philadelphia without a shot for an 8:43 span in the second half of the period.
NY Rangers @ Carolina 1-3 - As badly as the Hurricanes needed a win to keep their hopes of making the Stanley Cup Playoffs alive, goaltender Cam Ward may have needed it more. Both got what they were looking for Tuesday night in a 3-1 victory against the New York Rangers at PNC Arena. The Hurricanes had lost seven of eight coming into the game. With the win, they are seventh in the Metropolitan Division and trail the Philadelphia Flyers by eight points in the race for the second wild-card position in the Eastern Conference. New York (35-27-4) remains second in the Metropolitan Division, one point ahead of the Columbus Blue Jackets, despite losing to Carolina for the first time in 11 games. In addition the team's tailspin, Ward has carried the additional burden of playing a sub-par season and battling a lower-body injury that has caused him to miss two long stretches. The win against New York was his first since defeating the Montreal Canadiens 5-4 in overtime on Dec. 31. Anton Khudobin won the starting job immediately after that, leaving Ward little chance to find his form. This time, Ward's teammates put in the kind of effort that takes the heat off of a goaltender. Jiri Tlusty and Jordan Staal took turns setting up pretty goals for each other, and the Hurricanes pursued the puck all over the ice, limiting the Rangers to 25 shots. After a scoreless first period, the Hurricanes opened the scoring 33 seconds into the second. Alexander Semin sent a backhand shot wide, but Carolina controlled the puck in the offensive zone until Staal slipped a pass to Tlusty in front, where he beat Henrik Lundqvist for his 11th goal of the season. The Rangers answered at 4:22 with defenseman Kevin Klein's second goal of the season. Mats Zuccarello skated the puck below the Carolina goal line before flicking a pass to Klein, whose shot from between the circles went over Ward's glove. Staal put the Hurricanes ahead to stay, starting and finishing a 2-on-1 break. Staal wrapped a pass around defenseman Anton Stralman to Tlusty, who sent a return feed to Staal for an easy tap-in at the right side of the net. It was Staal's 13th goal of the season Rookie Elias Lindholm scored his sixth goal of the season with 5:29 remaining in regulation. The win comes four days after the Hurricanes squandered a 2-1 third-period lead at home against the Rangers, who went on to a 4-2 win.

Detroit @ Columbus 1-4 - The Red Wings had plenty of chances to build a lead against the Blue Jackets in the first period Tuesday night. But they didn't capitalize on their domination, and the Blue Jackets used a three-goal third period to earn a 4-1 victory and possession of third place in the Metropolitan Division. Detroit held an 18-8 shot advantage in the first period, but the teams skated off the ice tied 1-1 because of Columbus goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky. Columbus was coming off an emotional Monday night in Dallas when Stars forward Rich Peverley collapsed on the bench in the first period. He was immediately treated for a heart condition and hospitalized in stable condition; the game was postponed. Columbus rebounded from the slow start against Detroit and scored three times in the final 10 minutes. Boone Jenner broke the 1-1 tie at 10:08 and Brandon Dubinsky scored 40 seconds later to make it 3-1. Derek MacKenzie added an insurance goal five minutes later to back a 39-save performance by Bobrovsky. Nick Foligno scored in the first period for the Blue Jackets, and Nathan Horton had two assists. Derek DeKeyser gave Detroit the lead at 10:24 of the first period but Bobrovsky stopped the next 31 shots he faced. DeKeyser's shot was deflected by Columbus forward Matt Calvert and changed direction before going past Bobrovsky. It was his fourth goal. Detroit, dealing with a rash of injuries, suffered another setback when top goalie Jimmy Howard couldn't go because of the flu. Petr Mrazek made 33 saves and kept the Red Wings in the game after Detroit failed to take advantage of three power plays in the first 13 minutes. At one point the Blue Jackets were outshot 16-3 but tied the score on their fourth shot at 15:11. Foligno was knocked to the ice by Detroit defenseman Jonathan Ericsson, but while on his stomach in the low slot he was able to whack a rebound of a shot from the left point by Nick Schultz past Mrazek for his 17th of the season. It was Schultz's first assist with Columbus and came in his first home since being acquired from the Edmonton Oilers on March 5. The score remained tied until Jenner's goal. He forechecked the puck from Cory Emmerton, a center called up for the game from the Grand Rapids Griffins of the AHL to replace center Joakim Andersson, who broke his foot Sunday against the New York Rangers. The 12th goal for Jenner came after he skated from behind the goal line to the right dot and fired a shot over the shoulder of Mrazek. Dubinsky followed with his 13th taking a dish from Calvert and making a strong move to the net before beating Mrazek. MacKenzie completed the scoring at 15:48 off a pass from Mark Letestu. He has seven goals. The Red Wings, who were without seven regulars from their 2-1 win against Columbus on Oct. 15 in Detroit, also lost right wing Tomas Jurco to an upper-body injury in the third period and he did not return. Columbus has turned the series around against their former Central Division, going 6-1-1 in the past eight games against Detroit, including 4-0-1 in the past five in Nationwide Arena.

Edmonton @ Minnesota 4-3 SO - Taylor Hall's goal in the fourth round of the shootout was the cherry on top of a three-goal comeback for the Oilers in a 4-3 win against the Wild Tuesday at Xcel Energy Center. The Wild took a 3-0 lead by scoring three goals in a span of 4:16 late in the first period. But the Oilers got one back before the period ended, then scored twice in the third period to force overtime. Neither team scored in the five-minute OT, and Hall ended the game by beating Darcy Kuemper through the five hole. Kuemper allowed three goals on four shots in the tiebreaker after stopping the first 11 shootout attempts he faced this season. Indeed, the five-hole turned out to be Kuemper's kryptonite Tuesday. Edmonton's first two goals, almost carbon copies of one another, each beat the rookie goaltender between the legs. After Jason Pominville made it 3-0 at 15:23 of the first period, the Oilers were able to stem the tide and get an important goal 1:32 later. The play looked harmless enough, as Oilers defenseman Jeff Petry carried the puck to the right corner and floated a centering pass into the slot that deflected off the skate of Wild defenseman Jonas Brodin and went past Kuemper for his fifth of the season. The score remained 3-1 until just past the midway point of the third period, when Andrew Ference skated to the same corner and centered a pass from the identical spot. This time, David Perron tipped the puck through Kuemper's legs for his team-leading 24th. Four minutes later, the game was tied when Kuemper left a massive rebound on a dump-in from center by Ference. Eberle beat a pair of defensemen for the loose puck in the slot and beat Kuemper over his glove with less than five minutes left in regulation. The shootout loss extended Minnesota's winless streak to three games, and the Wild, currently first in the Stanley Cup Playoff wild-card race in the Western Conference, saw their lead over the Dallas Stars for the top wild card slot shrink to three points. Their lead over the ninth-place Phoenix Coyotes is four. The Wild were riding a season-best five-game winning streak when they acquired goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov and forwards Matt Moulson and Cody McCormick prior to last Wednesday's NHL Trade Deadline. Since those moves, the Wild are 0-1-2. Minnesota came out sluggish after a pregame ceremony honoring Matt Cooke's 1,000th game, as Yeo started Cooke on the left side of center Mikko Koivu and Moulson. It was a classy gesture by the third-year coach, but with Cooke normally slotted on the team's third line with Kyle Brodziak and Nino Niederreiter, it forced the Wild to constantly adjust their lineup until the first television timeout more than seven minutes into the game. Once Minnesota got its offense in order, it struck three times in succession. The Wild took advantage of a power play opportunity at 11:07 when Mikael Granlund found Zach Parise alone in front of Oilers goaltender Viktor Fasth. Granlund dished to the doorstep and Fasth was up to the task on Parise's tap-in try. But with nobody in front to clear him out, Parise gathered in the rebound and easily slipped it into the net for his 22nd goal of the season. Less than three minutes later, a point shot by Wild defenseman Jared Spurgeon deflected off the skate of Oilers defenseman Justin Schultz and over Fasth's shoulder for his third of the season. Minnesota's top line struck again at 15:23 when Granlund found Pominville in front. His shot was deflected in the air and looked to be headed into the net before Fasth knocked it down. So convinced he was about to score, Pominville raised his arms in celebration. He barely had enough time to get his stick back on the ice before Granlund found him again. This time, Pominville snuck the puck between Fasth and the near-side post for his team-leading 24th of the season. The Wild had an extended 5-on-3 power play in the second period and put eight shots in Fasth in the first 10 minutes of the third, but never could re-establish the three-goal lead. Fasth, traded to the Oilers last Wednesday from the Anaheim Ducks for a pair of third-round draft picks, settled in nicely after the rough first period. In his first NHL action since Nov. 18, Fasth stopped nine shots in the second and 13 more in the third. He finished with 28 saves. Kuemper made 23 saves and has lost in consecutive starts for the first time this season.