Results - Thu, Apr 03, 2014

Columbus @ Philadelphia 2-0 - Sergei Bobrovsky had a lot of good games at Wells Fargo Center. He had another one Thursday, but this time the home fans weren't all that pleased. In his first start in Philadelphia against his former team, Bobrovsky stopped all 37 shots he faced to lead the Blue Jackets to a 2-0 victory against the Cryers. James Wisniewski had a goal and an assist and Brandon Dubinsky also had a goal as the Blue Jackets pulled within two points of the Flyers for third place in the Metropolitan Division. It also marked the first time the Blue Jackets have won a game in Philadelphia; they had been 0-5 with one tie in six previous visits. The Blue Jackets stayed one point ahead of the Toronto Maple Leafs in the race for the second Eastern Conference wild-card position in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Columbus is one point behind the Detroit Red Wings, who hold the first wild-card spot. The Cryers dropped four points behind the New York Rangers in the race for second place in the Metropolitan Division. Bobrovsky's fourth shutout of the season was all the sweeter because he did it against the team with which he spent his first two NHL seasons before the Flyers traded him to the Blue Jackets on June 22, 2012. It also felt good for the Blue Jackets to not just protect a third-period lead but build on it. In their previous visit to Philadelphia, they allowed five goals in the final 20 minutes, and a 3-0 lead turned into a 5-4 loss. On Tuesday, they led the Colorado Avalanche 2-0 after 40 minutes only to see Colorado rally for a 3-2 overtime victory. Leading 1-0 after two periods Thursday, Columbus carried the play in the third and got Dubinsky's deflection goal at 3:20. Philadelphia outshot the Blue Jackets 10-9 in the final period, but most of those shots came in the final 2:34 after Mason had been pulled for an extra attacker.

A frustrated Philadelphia team is winless in three straight (0-1-2) and has been shut out in back-to-back games for the first time since Nov. 28 and Dec. 3, 2009. The Flyers have gone 130:25 without a goal, dating to the final minute of regulation in their game Sunday against the Boston Bruins. They lost 1-0 in a shootout against the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday. Mason, on the one-year anniversary of his trade to the Flyers by the Blue Jackets, stopped 25 of 27 shots. Adding to the Flyers' struggles was a power play that went 0-for-4 and managed three shots, including two shots on three first-period chances. That extended a run of futility with the man advantage to 0-for-11 in their past four games. The Flyers were ready in the second period when they outshot the Blue Jackets 17-9, but Columbus got the only goal when Wisniewski scored on the power play with 2:53 left. With Sean Couturier off for slashing, the Blue Jackets worked the puck around the top of the Philadelphia zone. Mark Letestu slid down to the left circle and found Wisniewski open along the goal line. Wisniewski took one stride and slid the puck under Mason and inside the far post.
Boston @ Toronto 3-4 OT - Nazem Kadri scored a power-play goal 2:51 into overtime to give the Maple Leafs a 4-3 victory against the Bruins at Air Canada Centre on Thursday. Kadri's 19th goal of the season came on a rebound of a Cody Franson shot from the point. He beat Bruins goalie Chad Johnson to give the Maple Leafs their second consecutive victory. The victory prevented the Maple Leafs from losing a game in which they held a 3-1 lead going into the third period and lost starting goaltender Jonathan Bernier with a lower-body injury. It also kept their hopes of making the Stanley Cup Playoffs alive; Toronto remained one point behind the Columbus Blue Jackets and two behind the Detroit Red Wings, who hold the two Eastern Conference wild-card positions. The Maple Leafs have played two more games than the Blue Jackets and Red Wings; a loss to the bruins might have effectively ended their playoff hopes. Milan Lucic made it 3-2 when he one-timed a puck past Bernier at 5:03. David Krejci circled the Maple Leafs net and snapped a pass to Lucic to set up his 22nd goal of the season. Bernier left at 8:22 after Toronto defenseman Paul Ranger pushed Boston forward Patrice Bergeron into him. He was replaced by James Reimer. Bergeron tied the game at 12:51 with his 28th goal of the season. Brad Marchand circled behind the net and found Bergeron alone in the slot for a wrist shot past Reimer. The Maple Leafs held on after Bergeron's goal despite being outshot 17-5 in the third period. The game got more stressful for Toronto when Nikolai Kulemin took a penalty for holding with 1:14 left in regulation. The penalty carried into overtime and the Maple Leafs killed it off. Reimer finished with 10 saves. Tyler Bozak drew a holding penalty against Bruins defenseman Torey Krug at 1:52 of overtime to set up Kadri's game-winning goal, a call the Bruins weren't pleased with. Kadri's second game-winning goal of the season handed the Bruins their second loss in as many nights. They lost 3-2 to the Wings in Detroit on Wednesday. Ranger opened the scoring 6:00 into the first period with his fifth goal of the season when he chopped a pass by Jerry D'Amigo past Johnson. D'Amigo was in the lineup because Joffrey Lupul missed the game with a lower-body injury. Marchand tied the game 56 seconds later when he intercepted a pass by Franson, skated in and put a wrist shot past Bernier for his 23rd goal of the season. The Maple Leafs made it 2-1 with 12 seconds left in the period. Bozak was credited with a goal when Phil Kessel's shot went wide but bounced off his chest and into the net. James van Riemsdyk gave the Maple Leafs a 3-1 lead 52 seconds into the second period. He took a pass from Kessel in front of the net and slipped the puck underneath Johnson for his career-high 30th goal of the season.
Calgary @ Tampa Bay 4-1 - Flames goaltender Karri Ramo tried to downplay how good it felt to beat his former team, the Lightning. His coach wasn't buying it. Ramo stopped 31 shots and the Flames got goals by Mike Cammalleri and Kevin Westgarth 15 seconds midway through the first period in a 4-1 victory on Thursday night. Lightning goaltender Ben Bishop contributed to his own demise by making a bad clearing pass that Cammalleri turned into the game's first goal at 10:20 of the opening period. Westgarth added his fourth of the season at 10:35 for a quick 2-0 lead. Tampa Bay made it 2-1 at 15:56 of the second period when Ondrej Palat took a backhand pass from Matt Carle, skated across the crease and slipped the puck behind Ramo on his second attempt. It was Palat's 20th goal of the season. Ryan Callahan had the second assist, his 11th point since joining Tampa Bay 15 games ago. But Calgary's Curtis Glencross added a power-play goal with 1:56 left in regulation and hit the empty net with 16 seconds remaining. The Lightning, who've clinched a berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, dropped behind the Montreal Canadiens into third place in the Atlantic Division. Each team has 93 points and five games remaining, but the Canadiens have 37 non-shootout wins to 35 for the Lightning. Midway through the first period, Calgary had four shots on goal but had scored on two of them. Calgary kept the lead thanks to Ram's play and a bunch of blocked shots. Tampa Bay ended up outshooting the Flames 32-25, a margin that would have been higher had the Flames not blocked 24 shots. But the Lightning spent the night playing catch-up. Cammalleri opened the scoring when he picked off an errant Bishop pass from behind the net and fired his 25th of the season into the empty Lightning net. Westgarth then found himself with the puck to Bishop's left and scored for a 2-0 lead. Christopher Breen collected his first NHL point with the lone assist.
Buffalo @ St Louis 2-1 - They set a franchise record for wins in a season and caught the Boston Bruins for the most points in the overall standings. But despite a 2-1 victory against the League-worst Sabres on Thursday night, the mood in the St. Louis Blues' dressing room was far from festive. St. Louis, in need of points as it tries to hang onto first place in the Western Conference and overtake the Bruins in the race for the Presidents' Trophy, had a tough go of it against the last-place Sabres. So when the Blues needed a pick-me-up, they turned to the guys asked to grind and produce energy, Lapierre and Ryan Reaves, whose chief function is to forecheck and grind down the opposition. When they can chip in goals, it's a bonus. Lapierre's goal early in the second period got the Blues going, and Brian Elliott made 24 saves to earn his second straight win. The Blues needed Elliott to be sharp on a night when their overall team game was not up to par. Miller, who came to the Blues from Buffalo on Feb. 28, served as Elliott's backup against his old team. St. Louis and Boston are even with 111 points, though the Bruins are leading the race for the Presidents' Trophy because they have six more non-shootout wins. The Blues moved three points ahead of the Anaheim Ducks in the race for first place in the Western Conference. The Blues (52-17-7, 111 points) broke the team record of 51 wins set in 1999-2000, the franchise's only Presidents' Trophy-winning season. But Hitchcock cautioned against too much celebrating. Elliott, who stopped 33 shots in a 1-0 victory against the Pittsburgh Penguins in his last start on March 23, improved to 10-0-2 lifetime against the Sabres. Brenden Morrow also scored for the Blues, knocking in a rebound with 1:52 left in regulation after Nathan Lieuwen made a sprawling save on Vladimir Sobotka in the slot to make it 2-0. That goal proved to be the winner when the Sabres got a power-play goal from Cody Hodgson with 55.1 seconds remaining to end Elliott's shutout and snap his scoreless string at 169:03. Lieuwen finished with 26 saves in his sixth NHL start. Lapierre gave the Blues a 1-0 lead with his first goal in 23 games since Jan. 28 against the New Jersey Devils. He converted a feed from Reaves, who got his first point in 26 games. Reaves fed Lapierre in the slot and his wrister beat Lieuwen five-hole 1:59 into the second period. The goal was the Blues' first in 106:10 going back to a goal by Alexander Steen 49 seconds into the third period Saturday against the Dallas Stars. The Sabres, already decimated with injuries, lost left wing Marcus Foligno 1:58 into the game when he fell awkwardly on his right leg in the slot by the Blues' goal. He lay on the ice in pain, had to be helped off and did not return.
NY Rangers @ Colorado 2-3 SO - Defenseman Tyson Barrie has turned into a clutch performer this season, and he came through again Thursday in the Avalanche's 3-2 shootout win against the New York Rangers at Pepsi Center. Barrie scored with 51.4 seconds remaining in the third period to tie the game, then scored the lone goal in the tiebreaker with a shot over Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist's right pad in the first round. Avalanche goalie Semyon Varlamov, who made 29 saves through the five-minute overtime, matched coach Patrick Roy's franchise record for home wins in a season with his 24th. Roy set the record in 2000-01, when Colorado won the Stanley Cup. Colorado tretched their winning streak to five games. The Avalanche are in second place in the Central Division, three points ahead of the Chicago Blackhawks, who defeated the Minnesota Wild 3-2 in a shootout. The Avalanche have a game in hand. New York completed a four-game road trip with a 2-1-1 record. The Rangers are second in the Metropolitan Division, four points in front of the third-place Philadelphia Flyers, who lost 2-0 to the Columbus Blue Jackets. The Rangers have four games remaining; the Flyers have six. The Rangers were nursing a 2-1 lead when Roy pulled Varlamov for an extra skater with 2:10 to play in regulation. Barrie connected for the tying goal with a shot from the slot that skimmed past Lundqvist's left leg after the Rangers failed to clear the puck shortly after an icing. Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson kept the puck in the Rangers end, Paul Stastny took a shot that was blocked and Barrie gained possession. The Avalanche outshot the Rangers 16-3 in the third period and 37-31 for the game. Varlamov forced the Rangers' first shooter, Mats Zuccarello, to shoot wide. After the Avalanche's Ryan O'Reilly missed the net with a backhand, Varlamov made a pad save against Martin St. Louis. Colorado's Gabriel Landeskog hit the post in the third round and Varlamov secured the win by stopping Brad Richards. Derek Stepan gave the Rangers a 2-1 lead at 15:30 of the second period with his 16th goal and first in six games. Stepan picked up a loose puck in his own zone and skated down the left wing into the Avalanche end on a 2-on-1 rush. He kept the puck as he moved toward the net and shot it under Varlamov's left arm. The Avalanche tied the game 1-1 on a goal by defenseman Andre Benoit at 5:57 of the second after Varlamov made a stop against St. Louis. The rebound caromed to O'Reilly, who made a long pass to John Mitchell. Benoit joined Mitchell on a 2-on-1 rush, and Mitchell passed across to Benoit, who went from his forehand to his backhand and chipped the puck over Lundqvist's glove. Defenseman John Moore, in his first game after missing six games to recover from a concussion, scored on the first shot of the game at 2:10 of the first period for a 1-0 Rangers lead. Moore ripped a shot from the left point that found its way behind screened Varlamov for his fourth goal. Moore's return took some of the sting out of losing defenseman Ryan McDonagh, who missed his first game of the season after sustaining a shoulder injury Tuesday against the Vancouver Canucks. The Rangers killed off all four of the Avalanche's power plays and have thwarted 42 of 45 penalties in the past 16 games. The Avalanche lost left wing Cody McLeod, who left with an injury to his left ankle at 13:43 of the second period. McLeod fell awkwardly into the boards and needed assistance getting off the ice.