Boston @ Detroit 3-2 SO - Detroit goalie Jimmy Howard gave his team a chance with 37 saves. Gustav Nyquist scored a power-play goal 2:56 into the third period to tie it 2-2. The Bruins controlled play for most of overtime and Howard was forced to make four saves. He also stopped Dougie Hamilton and Smith from in close in the last minute of regulation. Boston's Daniel Paille hit the post with 8:57 left in the third period. Nyquist beat Rask with a wrist shot from the top of the right circle high on the stick (long) side. It was Nyquist's third goal this season and came with Boston defenseman Adam McQuaid in the penalty box for interference. Smith gave the Bruins a 2-1 lead with 6:29 left in the second period when he put in a rebound from the front of the net. It was Smith's second goal. Rask stopped Red Wings center Luke Glendening on a breakaway off the right wing 5:01 into the second period. Howard made a glove save on Boston center Patrice Bergeron's one-timer from the bottom of the right circle at 6:33 of the period. The game was tied 1-1 in the first period, despite Boston dominating in shots on goal by a 14-4 margin. Krejci opened the scoring 5:12 into the game when he raced around Red Wings defenseman Jakub Kindl for a breakaway and beat Howard with a forehand shot glove side, after a couple of moves. The play was caused when Detroit center Darren Helm lost the puck outside the Boston blue line. Tatar tied the game 1-1, 3:28 later when he picked up a loose puck at the bottom of the right circle and snapped a shot past Rask under the crossbar on the long side. It was Tatar's first goal this season.
An errant puck hit Bruins assistant coach Doug Houda, who played with the Red Wings during his NHL career, in the head 6:39 into the second period. He was cut and bleeding, but got stitched up and returned to the bench with a little less than 10 minutes left in the period. Bruins forward Simon Gagne played 12:13 in his first NHL game since April 27, 2013.
Calgary @ Chicago 2-1 OT - Despite being outshot 50-18 at United Center, the Flames won for the second time in as many nights by riding Hiller's 49-save effort to a 2-1 overtime victory that ended 25 seconds short of a shootout on center Mikael Backlund's goal. It was the first time the Flames won a game in which they allowed 50-plus shots since Game 1 of the 2004 Western Conference Final, when they were victorious despite being outshot 52-37. By nearly every measure but power-play success and final score, the Blackhawks controlled this game. Including misses (16) and blocked shots (30), they launched 96 shot attempts to 33 for the Flames. Calgary also handed the Blackhawks multiple opportunities to seize control by continually committing penalties that led to power plays. One of the Blackhawks' seven man-advantage situations was converted into a goal, and that one, scored by center Andrew Shaw at 14:15 of the third to tie it 1-1, needed a video review to see if his stick touched the puck above the crossbar. Replays were inconclusive and the goal stood, but not even that doused the Flames' effort. They withstood more pressure from the Blackhawks in the waning moments of regulation and found new life in overtime, forcing goalie Corey Crawford (16 saves) to make a couple of great stops before Backlund ended it with a wrist shot from the top of the left circle.
It rewarded Hiller with his first victory as a member of the Flames after signing with them as a free agent. Coming into the game, he was 0-2-0 in his first two starts with a 3.53 goals-against average and .901 save percentage. Hiller became the third goalie in Flames history to face 50 or more shots and allow one goal, joining Fred Brathwaite and Andrei Trefilov. All seven penalties the Flames committed resulted in power plays, which forced Hiller and the penalty killers in front of him to work hard for much of the game. Each successful kill, however, after they struggled to kill penalties in their first three games. Forward Daniel Carcillo squandered a couple opportunities in the first and third. Following nice feeds off the rush, he failed to collect the puck each time with wide openings in the net. Forward Bryan Bickell couldn't get his stick on a nice pass through traffic in the second, right in front of the crease, and watched the puck glide harmlessly away through traffic. Even right wing Patrick Kane had a good chance spoiled during a 2-on-1 in the second, with his wrist shot sailing wide to keep the game scoreless. Defenseman Dennis Wideman broke the scoreless tie at 11:55 of the second with his first goal, firing a point shot off a clean faceoff win by Joe Colborne that appeared to clip rookie defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk in the low slot and zip past Crawford.
Edmonton @ Phoenix 4-7 - Mikkel Boedker continued his hot start with his first career hat trick and Connor Murphy and Rob Klinkhammer snapped a second-period tie with goals 1:07 apart to lead the Coyotes to a 7-4 victory against the winless Oilers on Wednesday night. The native of Brondby, Denmark, scored on a breakaway in the first period, a backhander midway through the third and capped his hat trick with a steal and stuff into an empty net with 26.7 seconds left. He has five goals in the first three games of 2014-15, one behind NHL leader Rick Nash of the New York Rangers. With two of last season's top four scoring forwards, Radim Vrbata and Mike Ribeiro, departing from a team that has never been endowed with an embarrassment of offensive riches, more goals from Boedker are a must if the Coyotes are to end a two-year playoff drought. Kyle Chipchura and Martin Erat also scored for the Coyotes, who are 16-2-3 against the Oilers since coach Dave Tippett arrived for the 2009-10 season; they are unbeaten in regulation (10-0-3) against Edmonton since the 2011-12 season and have scored 28 goals and their past six games against the Oilers. Yotes goalie Mike Smith, who allowed six goals by the Winnipeg Jets in the season-opener on Oct. 9, wasn't particularly sharp but made 23 saves in his return to the net after sitting out a 3-2 overtime win against the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday. Smith also earned his 10th career point when he assisted on Boedker's first goal. Taylor Hall scored his second and third goals of the season for Edmonton and added a nifty assist on Mark Arcobello's third-period goal. Mark Fayne also scored for the Oilers, who have been outscored 23-9 during their 0-3-1 start. Goalie Ben Scrivens made 23 saves, but his defense allowed far too many choice scoring chances and the Coyotes took advantage of enough of them to improve to 2-1-0. The Oilers scored early when the Coyotes had trouble clearing their zone. Nikita Nikitin held in Oliver Ekman-Larsson's hard around in at the blue line, and his shot toward the net hit Ekman-Larsson in the skate. Jordan Eberle gathered in the deflection and fed Hall for a point-blank tap between Smith's pads at 1:25 and the Coyotes were behind for the third straight game. The Coyotes got even on the power play after Nikitin was sent off for hooking Arizona's Antoine Vermette. Keith Yandle whipped a 100-foot pass that found Boedker waiting at the Edmonton blue line. Boedker went in alone and dumped a backhander over Scrivens' glove at 8:22 to give him a goal in each of Arizona's first three games.
The Coyotes made it 2-1 at 13:53 when Chipchura, a healthy scratch in the first two games, finished off a good hustle play by the fourth line. Brandon McMillan raced to beat Scrivens to a puck behind the net and chipped a pass to Joe Vitale, who found Chipchura alone in the slot for a shot that beat Scrivens. Edmonton tied the game at 17:50 when Leon Draisaitl's pass/shot banked off the end boards and came right to Fayne, whose one-timer beat Smith to the near post. But the Coyotes did all the second-period scoring. After a strong Arizona penalty kill, Shane Doan dropped a pass that Murphy snapped over Scrivens' glove from the top of the left circle at 5:08. It was Murphy's second career goal and his first in 31 games, dating back to Nov. 16, 2013, against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Klinkhammer made it 4-2 at 6:15 when he got to the slot and pushed Erat's pass behind Scrivens. Edmonton made it a one-goal game during a 4-on-4 early in the third period when Hall feathered a beautiful saucer pass over the prone body of Ekman-Larsson and Arcobello banged it past Smith for his second goal of the season. But Boedker restored the lead to 5-3 when his innocent-looking backhander from the slot eluded the glove of Scrivens, dropped between his pads and slid over the goal line. Erat made it 6-3 at 12:59, beating Scrivens with a backhander, before Hall scored his second of the night at 14:30.
No comments:
Post a Comment