Columbus @ Los Angeles 2-5 - The trio of Tanner Pearson, Tyler Toffoli and Jeff Carter combined for 10 points, leading the defending Stanley Cup champions to a 5-2 victory against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Carter and Toffoli each had a goal and three assists. Pearson scored two goals and leads the Kings, and all NHL rookies, with seven. The three have combined for 33 points and a plus-32 rating in the past seven games. Dwight King, who like Toffoli, Pearson and Carter wears a jersey number in the 70s, had the other goal and Jonathan Quick made 22 saves for the Kings, who begin a road trip Tuesday against the Philadelphia Flyers. The Kings again were without injured forwards Marian Gaborik and Trevor Lewis. Toffoli snapped a 1-1 tie late in the second period and King scored just over two minutes later. Letestu scored in the final minute of the period to cut the margin to 3-2, but Pearson put the game away with two goals in the third period. The Blue Jackets also lost forward Nick Foligno to a scary hit at 8:26 of the third period. Foligno and Carter were racing for the puck as they approached the Kings' blue line, and the crown of Foligno's helmet crashed into linesman Shane Heyer's hip as the official jumped onto the boards in front of the Los Angeles bench in an effort to avoid the play. Foligno was wheeled off the ice and didn't return. However, the Blue Jackets said he was alert, has full movement in his limbs and was talking with doctors. It was the second awkward injury in as many games for the Blue Jackets. Cam Atkinson was cut by Ryan Kesler's skate blade in Friday's 4-1 loss at Anaheim. Atkinson suffered a three-inch cut that ran from his right eyelid and down his cheek and didn't play Sunday. Kings center Anze Kopitar left the ice late in the second period with what was termed an upper-body injury and did not return. Sutter would say only that "he's all right" when asked about Kopitar's availability for the Kings' next game. Matt Greene got a Misconduct for instigating with Corey Tropp.
Ottawa @ Chicago 1-2 - Scott Darling made his NHL debut Sunday at the rink where he used to attend games as a Blackhawks fan and led his hometown team to a 2-1 win against the Ottawa Senators, snapping a two-game losing skid for Chicago. Darling, 25, is from nearby Lemont, IL. He signed with the Blackhawks as a free agent during the summer following a strong season for the Milwaukee Admirals of the American Hockey League. After working his way through the minor leagues at multiple stops in several different leagues, the 6-foot-6, 232-pound goalie finally got a chance to realize his lifelong dream of playing in the NHL. He didn't squander the opportunity, making big saves from start to finish and allowing just one shorthanded goal in the second period. The Senators carried a lot of the early action and forced the rookie goaltender to make several big stops to keep them from taking a quick lead. He stopped all 12 Ottawa shots in the opening period and helped the Blackhawks kill off the first two of three Senators power plays in the game. He also thwarted a shorthanded mini-break at 9:12 by center David Legwand, who had taken the puck from Marian Hossa in the Chicago defensive zone. The opening period, which featured eight combined penalties, ended scoreless. That lasted all of 21 seconds into the second, when Toews scored his second goal of the season on a wraparound during 4-on-4 play with Patrick Sharp and Mike Hoffman still in the penalty box for matching minors at 18:50 of the first. Assisting on the goal were defenseman Duncan Keith and Kane, who said his milestone point didn't really sink in until he was on the bench. The Senators tied it 1-1 at 7:08 on the shorthanded goal by Michalek, who capped a 3-on-1 rush by burying a cross-ice feed from Alex Chiasson past Darling with a one-timer from the right circle.
A fortunate break set up the play. Blackhawks forward Brandon Saad rimmed the puck around the boards in the offensive zone, but center Brad Richards was prevented from playing it on the other side by referee Steve Kozari, who skated between him and the boards trying to get out of the way. The puck slid out to the neutral zone, where Chiasson collected it and took off toward Darling for the odd-man rush. Seabrook put Chicago back on top at 13:38 with his first goal of the season, capping the fourth of six Blackhawks power plays. He fired a point shot that Anderson never saw thanks to a screen by Bryan Bickell. Darling did some of his most impressive work during 1:27 of carryover power-play time at the start of the third period. He stopped four hard shots during the man advantage and added one more save at even strength during the sequence after defenseman Johnny Oduya got out of the box. Ottawa, which dropped both ends of a back-to-back set, kept up the pressure the rest of the game. Darling just didn't flinch. He stopped 12 more shots and earned his first career win in impressive fashion.
Washington @ Vancouver 2-4 - Radim Vrbata scored into an empty net with 1:01 left, Ryan Miller made 20 saves and second-line left wing Chris Higgins had two assists. Henrik Sedin tied the game 1-1 by banking a power-play goal into the net off goalie Justin Peters from below the goal line with six minutes left in the second period. Higgins made a nice chip pass to set up Bonino on a 2-on-1 and he put Vancouver ahead with a wrist shot past Peters' glove 1:22 later. Higgins and Bonino combined to set up Sbisa's first goal with the Canucks 25 seconds after that. The Capitals kept opponents under 30 shots for seven straight games to start the season, their longest such streak in four years, but Vancouver fired 14 shots in the first period, pressuring the tired Capitals early. They got away with it in the first 10 minutes because of their goalie. Peters got a bit of a break when Vrbata, playing his 800th NHL game, lost the puck while making a strong deke to his backhand after a John Carlson turnover in the slot 30 seconds in. Peters also sprawled to rob Linden Vey, who was in all alone on a 2-on-1 down low after another bad turnover in its own end midway through the period. Instead, Washington came out with more jump to start the second, outshooting the Canucks 8-1 and taking the lead at 5:28 when Johansson one-timed a cross-ice pass from Andre Burakovsky behind Miller. Peters kept the Capitals ahead with a couple of great saves, sliding left to right to rob Kevin Bieksa and Zack Kassian on consecutive shifts, but had little chance when Sedin finally got the Canucks even. Peters robbed Daniel Sedin in tight but the rebound was fired just wide by Vrbata, stranding the goalie as Henrik Sedin collected it at the side of the net and banked it into the net off him before he could recover. Bonino beat him with a shot just inside the top corner and Sbisa's one-timer through traffic found the same spot, over the glove. O'Brien, a 20-year-old playing his eighth game after earning an NHL contract as an undrafted rookie camp invitee, made it 3-2 with a nifty one-touch deflection from the slot over Miller's blocker. But Miller, who stopped Eric Fehr on a breakaway on the first shift of the second period, kept the Canucks ahead with three good shorthanded saves midway through the third period. Miller made blocker and glove saves off Carlson and got a blocker on Ovechkin's power-play one-timer from the right circle with 9:30 left.
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