Minnesota @ Philadelphia 3-2 - Minnesota Wild coach Mike Yeo said after the morning skate Thursday that he would try Charlie Coyle at center between left wing Thomas Vanek and right wing Jason Zucker in a quest to find more offense on the road. The move proved to be a good one. Zucker scored in the final minute of the third period to lift the Wild to a 3-2 win against the Philadelphia Flyers at Wells Fargo Center. A strong forecheck deep in the Philadelphia zone by Coyle and Zucker led to the puck being cycled out to the point to Vanek, who sent it to defenseman Ryan Suter. When Suter tried moving it to Coyle behind the net, the puck bounced off the wall and came back to Suter. With all eyes on Suter, the defenseman threw a pass through the slot to Zucker, who stuffed it inside the right post with 45.4 seconds left in regulation. Giroux's power-play goal with 3:30 left in the third period appeared to have the Flyers headed to overtime with at least one point. Instead it was the Wild's newest line that made the difference in the game. The Wild took a 2-1 lead 1:42 into the third on Scandella's goal, but the Flyers came back to tie it late on a broken play, literally. With the Flyers skating on a power play, Giroux fired a shot from the left side that broke the skate protector covering Wild defenseman Jared Spurgeon's left skate. The hard plastic shell fell under the blade of Spurgeon's skate and he couldn't get it off. When the Flyers worked the puck back around to Giroux, Spurgeon was unable to get into position to block the shot.
Moments later, though, the Wild stole back the momentum. After a scoreless first period, Niederreiter's power-play goal at 10:59 of the second opened the scoring. The Flyers tied the game with 5:29 left in the second when Streit pinched into the offensive zone and finished a pass from Vincent Lecavalier to make it 1-1.
Tampa Bay @ Toronto 2-5 - Toronto wanted to get off to a fast start and scored 1:29 into the game when left wing Daniel Winnik spotted right wing David Clarkson alone in the slot and fed him a pass. Clarkson one-timed a shot that eluded a crowd in front and Tampa Bay goalie Ben Bishop for his sixth goal of the season. Toronto had a good opportunity to add to their lead when Tampa Bay's Radko Gudas was penalized for tripping at 16:32 and Brian Boyle for high-sticking at 17:41, each on Nazem Kadri. That gave the Maple Leafs a two-man advantage for 51 seconds. However, it was the Lightning who scored shorthanded, Alex Killorn getting his fifth goal of the season at 18:50. The Maple Leafs regained the lead at 2:45 of the second period when left wing Richard Panik, who was claimed off waivers from Tampa Bay on Oct. 9, deked Bishop to his backhand for his fourth goal of the season. Van Riemsdyk broke in 2-on-2 with right wing Phil Kessel and elected to shoot, connecting on a 15-foot snap shot at 12:31. With the Lighting playing shorthanded, van Riemsdyk scored 2:44 later when he snagged a rebound at the side of the net and lifted a shot high into the goal past Bishop to make it 4-1. Trailing by three, the Lightning pulled Bishop for an extra skater with a little more than five minutes remaining. Stamkos scored on a rebound at 15:47, his 13th of the season, to make it 4-2. The Lighting played most of the final 4:13 with six skaters and generated good chances but did not score again. Maple Leafs defenseman Roman Polak scored an empty-netter at 19:52. He shot from the defensive zone.
Nashville @ Ottawa 2-3 - Ryan, on the power play, and Chiasson each scored his fifth goal of the season, and defenseman Jared Cowen scored his first to build the lead. Ryan took a pass from Erik Karlsson and fired a shot through a screen to the stick side at 6:17 to tie the game 1-1. It was the Senators' ninth power-play goal at home this season; they had 16 last season. Chiasson deflected a shot by Ottawa defenseman Cody Ceci at 12:18 to put the Senators ahead. The goal came after Cowen was able to keep the puck in the Predators zone. Cowen was stopped by Hutton seconds before he scored at 14:24. Senators forward Milan Michalek did the work on the goal, grinding along the boards against Predators defenseman Roman Josi and forward Mike Ribeiro before emerging in the right-wing corner with the puck and threading a cross-ice pass to Cowen. He took a couple of strides and beat Hutton with a shot to the glove side from near the left faceoff dot. The Predators scored the only goal of the first period on the power play at 3:17 when Weber fired a one-timer past Lehner's glove. The goal came with Senators forward Colin Greening in the penalty box after a cross-checking penalty in front of the Nashville net. Predators center Olli Jokinen scored 76 seconds into the third period, his first point of the season, to make it 3-2.
Detroit @ Winnipeg 4-3 - Tomas Tatar's second-period goal started the Red Wings on their way to erasing a 2-0 Winnipeg lead. He scored the game-winning goal with 4:50 left when he buried a shot past Winnipeg goaltender Ondrej Pavelec. Byfuglien broke a 14-game goalless streak 2:15 into the second period. Evander Kane worked the puck to the edge of Mrazek's crease, where Byfuglien flicked the bouncing puck over the goaltender's left shoulder. Lowry broke his 14-game goalless streak at 9:32 with his second goal of the season. As part of a recently assembled line with center Mark Scheifele and right wing Michael Frolik, Lowry broke loose from the Detroit defense in front of Mrazek and poked a bouncing puck into the net. Detroit moved back to within a goal 30 seconds later. Tatar skated into the right circle and scored his seventh of the season on a low shot past Pavelec. Detroit used their power play to tie the game 2-2. Franzen skated around Winnipeg defenseman Mark Stuart before beating Pavelec with his sixth goal of the season. Franzen has four goals in his past six games. Perreault's wrist shot from the bottom of the left circle put the Jets ahead by a goal with 3:48 left in the second period. Abdelkader's sixth goal of the season tied the game 3-3 when he jabbed a rebound under Pavelec with seven minutes left.
Washington @ Colorado 3-2 - Held without a point in his previous three games and without a shot for the first two periods at Pepsi Center, Alex Ovechkin scored a spectacular goal with 5:56 remaining in regulation. Ovechkin sped into the Avalanche end and maneuvered past defenseman Jan Hejda after a pass from Brooks Orpik. Ovechkin moved in on goalie Reto Berra and fired the puck wide, but took the carom off the end boards and scored as he was skating by the net. The Avalanche tied the game 2-2 at 6:44 of the third period on Tyson Barrie's first goal in 13 games. After Nathan MacKinnon had the puck knocked off his stick in the Washington end, Gabriel Landeskog gained possession and made a pass through the slot to Barrie, who beat Braden Holtby with a quick shot. The Capitals took a 2-1 lead in the second period on goals by Backstrom and Jason Chimera, who broke a 1-1 tie at 12:10 with his first goal in 14 games. Daniel Briere scored for the Avalanche at 2:53 when he converted the rebound of MacKinnon's shot. Backstrom opened the scoring at 1:04 of the period with a shot from the right circle. Backstrom had a step on Avalanche forward Alex Tanguay when he took a cross-ice pass from Ovechkin. The Avalanche tied the game on Briere's goal after rookie Dennis Everberg prevented a potential scoring chance when he moved the puck from Berra's crease and passed to MacKinnon, who skated into the left circle for a shot. Briere was in the slot when he backhanded the rebound into the net. Tanguay, who leads the Avalanche with seven goals, went to the locker room at 7:29 after he was hit in the face with a shot by Ovechkin. Tanguay missed the rest of the game with a jaw injury. The Capitals went ahead on Chimera's goal. He beat Berra to the far side with an unscreened 35-foot shot from the left circle.
Chicago @ Calgary 4-3 - Chicago has five games remaining on their trip while United Center plays host to Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus for the next 10 days. The Blackhawks improved to 21-9-2 when giving way to the circus since coach Joel Quenneville was hired Oct. 16, 2008, including 6-1-0 last season. An unassisted goal by Kane gave Chicago their third lead of the game, and the Blackhawks held on from there to win their second straight. After Jonas Hiller failed to clear the puck behind the net, Kane jumped on the loose puck and tapped it between the skates of Sven Baertschi before sliding it under the Calgary goaltender at 9:12 of the third to put the Blackhawks up 4-3. Chicago shut down one of the most potent third-period offenses in the League. Entering the game, the Flames had scored 27 goals in the third, trailing only the Montreal Canadiens, who had 28. In fact, the Blackhawks limited the Flames to four shots until a hooking penalty to Niklas Hjalmarsson gave Calgary a late power play. But Crawford stopped three more, including a one-time blast from Mark Giordano with Hiller on the bench for the extra attacker. The Blackhawks scored twice on Hiller to open the game before the Flames could get one past Crawford. Exactly four minutes into the game and with four seconds remaining to TJ Brodie's minor for holding the stick, rookie Adam Clendening, playing in his first NHL game, sent a shot through a screen that beat Hiller for his first NHL goal to put Chicago up 1-0. The goal came on Clendening's first NHL shot and his second shift in the NHL. He's the third player currently on the Blackhawks roster to score his first NHL goal on his first NHL shot, joining Jonathan Toews and Andrew Shaw. Daniel Carcillo extended the lead to two at 7:12. After Paul Byron turned the puck over at the Flames blue line, the Blackhawks forward placed a shot just inside the far post. Calgary's first shot on Crawford came 27 seconds later. Their sixth hit the back of the net. Crawford stopped Josh Jooris' initial shot but kicked the rebound right onto the stick of Byron, who wasted little time atoning for his earlier mistake by putting the puck in the gaping net at 13:44 to cut Chicago's lead to 2-1. The goal was Byron's fourth goal in as many games after he went 16 straight without scoring. It also came with Marcus Kruger in the penalty box and halted Chicago's penalty-killing streak. It took Calgary 54 seconds to score a second power-play goal. With Hjalmarsson in the penalty box after he was whistled for tripping on Byron's goal, Dennis Wideman sent a shot through a screen that beat Crawford to pull the Flames even. Wideman's goal, his eighth, is his third in two games and leads all NHL defensemen. The Blackhawks and Flames traded goals again in the second period. Kris Versteeg sent a shot off Hiller's right pad, but Kane pulled the rebound off the boards and fed Brent Seabrook in the slot. Seabrook, playing in his 700th NHL game, beat the Flames goaltender to the glove side at 10:52 to restore Chicago's lead.
The goal gave Chicago the lead, but it would stand for less than two minutes.
After gaining the zone, Glencross spotted an open Sean Monahan, who one-timed the pass over a sprawling Crawford to tie the game 3-3 at 12:33.
Anaheim @ Vancouver 4-3 SO - Ryan Kesler was disappointed to hear the boos directed his way, but happy to exit Vancouver with two points. After being greeted with more jeers than cheers in his first trip to play the Canucks since a trade to the Anaheim Sucks in June, Kesler was mostly just glad to be leaving again after a 4-3 shootout win at Rogers Arena on Thursday. Corey Perry and Jakob Silfverberg scored shootout goals to allow the Sucks to head back to Southern California on a winning note. Andrew Cogliano and Ryan Getzlaf staked the Sucks to a 2-0 first-period lead, and the Canucks lost defenseman Dan Hamhuis to a lower-body injury 1:27 into the game. But the Canucks rallied with three straight goals in the second period to take the lead before Matt Beleskey tied it for the Sucks with 8:08 left in the third. Perry opened the shootout with a backhand deke for a goal, and Silfverberg scored in the third round to end the game. Frederik Andersen, who made 25 saves, stopped Nick Bonino, and Radim Vrbata lost the puck in the second round of the shootout, giving Silfverberg, who was robbed a couple of times earlier, a chance to end it.
Rookie Bo Horvat scored his first NHL goal early in the second period, and Jannik Hansen and Radim Vrbata scored 30 seconds apart five minutes later.
The Canucks fell behind on the first shot 37 seconds in on a goal by Cogliano, and lost Hamhuis to a lower-body injury 50 seconds later. Hamhuis caught his right toe on the back of teammate Daniel Sedin’s skate and didn't put weight on his right leg as he was helped off the ice and into the locker room. Horvat got the Canucks on the board after a Kesler turnover 3:08 into the second period.
Kesler lost the puck inside the Vancouver blue line, and the Canucks converted the ensuing rush when Derek Dorsett’s backhand pass from the bottom of the left circle went through two defenders to Horvat alone at the other side of the high slot. The 19-year-old rookie one-timed it past Andersen for his first point in his seventh game. Hansen tied the game with a one-timer during a delayed penalty with 8:42 left in the second period, and Vrbata put the Canucks ahead after being left all alone atop the Sucks crease on the next shift. Sami Vatanen’s point shot hit Getzlaf, who was outside the crease, and Beleskey was able to sweep the loose puck past the outstretched left pad of Lack. Kesler was stopped in the second round of the shootout.
Ryan Kesler: "When you play somewhere 10 years, you expect something different. They paid for their tickets, they are allowed to do what they want to do. Does it hurt? Obviously when you play somewhere for 10 years and you give your heart and soul every night ... it is what it is."
Carolina @ Los Angeles 2-3 - Kings coach Darryl Sutter is known to shake up his lines to great effect, and his latest moves had a big impact on the outcome of this game. Trevor Lewis and Tanner Pearson, each of whom was playing on a new line, scored second-period goals to lift the Kings to a 3-2 win. Pearson, demoted to the fourth line and in danger of being scratched, scored the game-winner, ending an 11-game goal drought, when he batted in a loose puck at the goal line at 2:59 of the second, 38 seconds after the Hurricanes had tied it. Mike Richards' initial shot bounced off Carolina goalie Cam Ward's shoulder. Ward made 36 saves in his matchup with fellow Conn Smythe winner Jonathan Quick, who made a glove save on Elias Lindholm with 1:32 left in the third and Carolina playing with the extra attacker. Lewis, promoted to the top line, crashed the net and had the puck deflect off his skate and the blade of his stick before it slid across the goal line 37 seconds into the second. Drew Doughty and Marian Gaborik each put a shot on the Carolina net to create the chance. Lewis had six shots on goal playing with Gaborik and Anze Kopitar. Sutter has always liked Lewis because of his grinding style, which can be adaptable in the Kings' system, and perhaps the promotion was a reward. Hurricanes captain Eric Staal tied the game 1:24 after Lewis' goal when he scored a power-play goal with a backhand off the rebound of Jeff Skinner's shot. Kings forward Tyler Toffoli was in the penalty box for high sticking against Brett Bellemore at 2:13 of the second. Staal earned his 700th career point with an assist on Skinner's goal late in the first. Skinner made it 1-1 when he scored on a 2-on-1 by beating Quick to the blocker side at 17:16. Kings defenseman Jake Muzzin got caught after making a hit, leaving Doughty alone to defend. Jarret Stoll's second goal of the season at 7:53 put Los Angeles ahead 1-0. Stoll chipped Dustin Brown's feed high over Ward after nice work down low by Brown. The Kings have the most wins (10) and points (21) at home in the NHL, and their 10-2-1 home start is their best since 1992-93, when they opened 12-1-0 at the Forum.
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