Colorado @ NY Rangers 4-3 SO - Alex Tanguay skated down the middle of the ice toward the goal before cutting to his left and lofting a shot over fallen Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist. Avalanche forward Nathan MacKinnon scored on the first attempt in the shootout before Rangers center Derek Stepan evened it in the second round. Varlamov stopped Mats Zuccarello in the tiebreaker. MacKinnon scored a power-play goal 7:54 into the third period to tie the game 3-3. After taking a feed from Zach Redmond in the left circle, MacKinnon took a slap shot that deflected off the stick of Girardi and went between the pads of Lundqvist. Varlamov had to come up big in several key moments to keep the Avalanche close or the game tied. He denied Dominic Moore on a breakaway with 1:12 left in the second period and made a brilliant stop on a quick shot by Chris Kreider 3:33 into the third period to keep Colorado within 3-2. Varlamov made another great stop 11:20 into the third, getting his blocker on a rising snap shot in the slot by Rick Nash with the game tied 3-3. Varlamov took a shot off his mask at 17:28 and made stops on Martin St. Louis and Mats Zuccarello in the final three seconds of regulation. The Rangers took their first lead late in the second period after sustained pressure by linemates Kreider, Stepan and Zuccarello. They maintained possession of the puck for 1:13 in the Avalanche end before Zuccarello found Girardi at the left post for a tip-in at 17:02. It was Girardi’s first goal of the season. Stepan scored his first of the season 15:19 into the second to tie the game 2-2. After taking a pass from Nash in the neutral zone, Stepan broke in 2-on-1 and took a shot from the right circle that beat Varlamov over his short-side shoulder. The assist by Nash gave him a point in 12 of 16 games this season. Lundqvist came up big on several occasions throughout the second period, in which he turned away nine shots. The Avalanche opened the second in good shape, outshooting the Rangers 6-0, but New York tied it 1-1 when Hayes scored his second of the season during a delayed penalty at 6:42. The Rangers maintained possession of the puck for 40 seconds after the penalty was indicated before Hayes swept in a rebound off Varlamov's right pad at the left post. Colorado took a 2-1 lead when Tanguay redirected a great pass from the slot by Erik Johnson past Lundqvist at 11:09. But the Avalanche, as has been the case all season, couldn't sustain the effort that enabled them to grab the lead. The Avalanche were a more determined team in the first period, outshooting the Rangers 12-6. The effort paid off at 15:09 when Duchene scored his fifth goal of the season. Avalanche defenseman Tyson Barrie took a shot from the right point and Duchene side-stepped John Moore before knocking home the rebound.
Winnipeg @ Carolina 3-1 - Winnipeg went up 1-0 on Wheeler's sixth goal at 5:29 of the first period. After curling near the goal line, Mark Scheifele put a pass on the stick of Mark Stuart, whose shot from inside the blue line was redirected in front by Wheeler. Hurricanes goalie Cam Ward had to make a couple sparkling saves to keep it a one-goal game. He stopped Paul Postma at close range after Postma took a pass from Wheeler on a 3-on-1. A couple minutes later, Ward stopped a Matt Halischuk backhand shot to the far post. The Hurricanes tied the game on the power play early in the second period. With Zach Bogosian off for hooking, Elias Lindholm wrapped the puck from behind the goal line and off the skate of Stuart at 3:44. The goal was Lindholm's sixth in the past seven games. Nathan Gerbe and Riley Nash earned assists. The Jets regained the lead at 13:02 of the second, again on a redirect by Wheeler, after a strong forechecking shift. Scheifele protected the puck above the circles before leaving it for Bogosian, whose shot was tipped in by Wheeler in the low slot. Winnipeg clamped down on the Hurricanes after regaining the lead, taking away passes and allowing seven shots in the third period. Michael Frolik's empty-net goal with 1:30 remaining in the third sealed the win for the Jets.
Boston @ Montreal 1-5 - Dale Weise scored on a penalty shot and Max Pacioretty had two goals. Weise, who fought and beat Bruins forward Gregory Campbell in the first period, completed a Gordie Howe Hat Trick with an assist on Pacioretty's first goal when Montreal scored three times in the second period. Lars Eller scored for the third straight game 13:00 into the second period to give the Canadiens a 2-1 lead. Pacioretty scored his second goal at 5:09 of the third period when David Desharnais' centering pass went in off his skate. Jiri Sekac increased the lead to four with Montreal's first power-play goal in 11 games at 14:06. Carey Price made 21 saves, and 40-year-old defenseman Sergei Gonchar played 20:08 his Canadiens debut two days after he was acquired in a trade with the Dallas Stars for forward Travis Moen. Dougie Hamilton scored a power-play goal in the first period for Boston. Weise's penalty-shot goal at 3:31 of the second tied the game 1-1. Weise, who was tripped by Dennis Seidenberg on a breakaway, beat Svedberg with a shot between the legs for his first goal of the season. Eller gave the Canadiens the lead with his fifth goal on a pass from Brendan Gallagher, who beat Hamilton and Seidenberg to a puck behind the Bruins' net. Hamilton scored at 16:04 of the first, four seconds after Montreal's PA Parenteau was penalized for hooking. Loui Eriksson got the puck back to the point off the faceoff in the Canadiens' zone and Hamilton shot a rolling puck that got past Price for his fourth goal. Gonchar was paired with fellow Russian defenseman Andrei Markov on the power play in his 1,257th NHL game. That moved Gonchar into a tie for 75th in regular-season games played with Joe Nieuwendyk, one ahead of Henri Richard, who played his entire career with Montreal and holds the Canadiens' record for games played. Gonchar, who turns 41 on April 13, is the third 40-year-old to play for the Canadiens, and the first since Lorne "Gump" Worsley in 1969-70. Another Hall of Fame goalie, George Hainsworth, was 41 when he played four games in his return to Montreal in 1936-37.
Buffalo @ Minnesota 3-6 - Nino Niederreiter had at least three golden opportunities for a hat trick before finally scoring his third goal with 2:28 remaining, into an empty net. With the Wild leading 4-2 late in the first period, Niederreiter nearly completed the hat trick early with a wicked wrister from the high slot, but Sabres goaltender Jhonas Enroth moved over just in time to make the save. In the third period, Niederreiter had a shot at an open net blocked by traffic. Another shot hit the post before, finally, Charlie Coyle fed him on a 2-on-1 break and Enroth off for an extra skater. Niederreiter hit the empty net and has a team-leading seven goals. Minnesota led by two goals after a crazy first period that saw an early Buffalo goal and three goals in 17 seconds. The Sabres took a 1-0 lead 1:06 into the game when a point shot by Rasmus Ristolainen got through traffic and trickled across the goal line. The Wild scored goals seven seconds apart five minutes later, taking a 2-1 lead on Ryan Carter's second of the season and Niederreiter's first of the night. Before public address announcer Adam Abrams could finish the third word of Carter's goal announcement, the puck was in the net again after Coyle passed to Niederreiter, who worked some quick stick magic to get the puck on his forehand and stuff it inside the right post. It took Buffalo all of 10 seconds to tie the game again on a snap shot by Zemgus Girgensons. His fourth of the season ended the night for Wild goaltender Darcy Kuemper, who didn't stop either of the two shots he faced. Kyle Brodziak and Niederreiter scored later in the first to give the Wild the lead for good. Wild defenseman Jared Spurgeon scored the only goal of the second period, a power-play goal, in his return to the lineup after missing five games with a shoulder injury. Playing without top-four defensemen Jonas Brodin and Marco Scandella, each of whom missed the game due to illness, Spurgeon played 29:27, three seconds fewer than minutes-eater Ryan Suter. Spurgeon also finished with eight shots on goal, tying a franchise record for shots by a defenseman. Torrey Mitchell scored a third-period goal for the Sabres, who reached three goals in regulation for the second time this season.
Phoenix @ Calgary 3-5 - Giordano pushed his streak to eight with his sixth goal, which broke a 3-3 tie at 16:23 of the second period. Skating four aside with Flames forward Curtis Glencross and Coyotes defenseman Keith Yandle in the penalty box serving coincidental roughing minors, TJ Brodie crept into the slot and froze Phoenix goaltender Mike Smith before dishing off to Giordano, parked just off the post, for a one-timer to put Calgary ahead. Giordano's goal came after the Flames and Coyotes each scored twice earlier in the period. Sven Baertschi connected with Byron for the second time in the game to put the Flames up 2-1 at 2:03 of the second period. Sean Monahan extended Calgary's lead to two after putting the puck behind Smith at 6:35 on his third swipe in a crease scramble. The goal was Monahan's seventh; he has four in the past five games. Phoenix responded with back-to-back goals to draw even. On the power play with Calgary center Josh Jooris in the penalty box for cross checking, Doan earned his second point of the game with a cross-crease pass to Antoine Vermette, who corralled the pass and beat Flames goalie Jonas Hiller to cut the lead to 3-2 at 9:58. After Hiller couldn't control a dump-in behind the net, Joe Vitale caught the unsettled Flames goaltender with a sharp-angled shot, sneaking his second goal of the season across the goal line to tie the game at 13:54. The Flames came close to adding to their lead eight minutes into the third period, but Smith made a sprawling, spinning pad save on David Jones. Smith followed that up by denying Byron of a hat trick after Brodie sprung the Flames forward in alone on a breakaway. The insurance goal came at Smith's expense with 7:37 remaining. Out to play the puck, Smith sent a rim around the boards that was intercepted by Jones, whose quick shot struck Phoenix defenseman Connor Murphy and ricocheted into the net to put Calgary up 5-3. The Flames opened the scoring shortly after the Coyotes recorded their first shot on Hiller. After scooping up the puck in the corner, Baertschi fed a backhand into the slot that pinballed off a couple of skates and the stick of Phoenix defenseman Tobias Rieder before finding Byron, who beat Smith from the slot to put Calgary up 1-0 at 11:06. The Coyotes responded with 3:17 remaining in the period. Doan took a pass from Vermette just inside the Flames blue line and snapped a shot that beat Hiller glove side to tie the game 1-1.
Ottawa @ Edmonton 4-3 OT - Mike Hoffman scored the overtime winner for the Senators at 2:39, snapping a shot through Oilers goaltender Ben Scrivens. The Senators scored in a 12:17 span in the first period to take a 3-0 lead. The Oilers battled back with a goal in the second period and two in the third to send the game into overtime. Edmonton came within a crossbar of pulling out the overtime victory. Hoffman opened the scoring at 3:34 of the first period, snapping a shot off the left wing through a screen and past Scrivens. Chiasson increased the lead to 2-0 at 12:51, tipping a Chris Phillips point shot past Scrivens. Michalek scored at 15:41 to give Ottawa a 3-0 lead, finishing off an odd-man rush by firing a shot over Scrivens after taking a pass from Bobby Ryan in the slot. Draisaitl started the Oilers comeback at 12:57 of the second period on the power play, converting a rebound in front of Anderson. Eberle cut the lead to 3-2 at 9:35 of the third period, finding the puck off a scramble in front and sliding it past Anderson. Petry tied the game at 13:45, stepping into a shot from the slot off a feed from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. The Oilers center was able to gain the zone and spotted Petry joining the rush. In overtime, Eberle came close to winning the game for Edmonton, firing a shot off the crossbar, prior to Hoffman's game-winning goal for the Senators.
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