Nashville @ Florida 3-2 SO - In a battle of Calder Trophy hopefuls, Nashville Predators forward Filip Forsberg and Florida Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad had their moments Sunday. In the end, Forsberg strengthened his case while helping the Predators get a second victory during a weekend back-to-back set.
Forsberg tied the game with 4:43 left in regulation, then scored the game-winner in the bottom half of the fourth round of the shootout and the Predators defeated the Panthers 3-2 at BB&T Center. Forsberg, who leads NHL rookies with 48 points, scored his team-high 18th goal to help Nashville rally from a 2-0 third-period deficit. Ekblad, who came in leading all rookie defensemen with 27 points, had a goal to give Florida a 2-0 lead in the second period. Matt Cullen and Craig Smith scored earlier in the shootout for Nashville, but were matched by Brad Boyes and Nick Bjugstad. Forsberg scored the winner with a backhand-to-forehand deke when the puck went in off Panthers goalie Roberto Luongo's left pad. The Predators had the best scoring chance in overtime when Luongo stopped Roman Josi on a 2-on-1 in the first minute. Tomas Fleischmann had the first goal for the Panthers, who had a two-game winning streak ended. Florida led 2-0 after two period before Nashville tied the game with two power-play goals. Jones cut Florida's lead in half at 4:44 with a slap shot from the point. Florida almost regained its two-goal lead during a power play midway through the third period, but Hutton stopped three close-range shots in succession. Forsberg then tied it at 15:37 after he stopped a backhanded clearing attempt by Bolland and beat Luongo off the far post with a wrist shot from the right circle. Fleischmann opened the scoring at 8:37 of the second after taking advantage of a turnover just inside the Nashville blue line. After Fleischmann blocked Victor Bartley's clearing attempt, he skated to the loose puck and beat Hutton with a wrist shot high to the glove side. Fleischmann has points in three consecutive games since being a healthy scratch three times in four games. Ekblad made it 2-0 at 14:27 on a delayed penalty. After Ekblad was tripped by Jones on a rush, the puck ended up behind the Nashville net. Jimmy Hayes lost control of the puck while attempting a quick stuff from the side of the net, but Ekblad put the rebound past Hutton.
Philadelphia @ Washington 3-1 - Streit gave the Flyers a 1-0 lead 50 seconds into the second period when his point shot knuckled through traffic and past Holtby. Washington’s sluggish power play finally engineered some offense during a second-period opportunity, leading to Ovechkin’s goal at 13:29. After an 80-second two-man advantage expired, Ovechkin settled a pass from Evgeny Kuznetsov in the left circle and beat Emery with a wrist shot. Simmonds scored on the rush at 3:50 of the third period, his team-leading 19th goal and first at even strength since Dec. 23. The Capitals pulled Holtby with 1:59 remaining, but their 6-on-5 advantage resembled their ineffective power plays. Tom Wilson received two minor penalties during a scrum along the end boards, giving the Flyers a late power play that ended Washington’s comeback attempt. Voracek scored an empty-net goal with 37 seconds left.
NY Islanders v Buffalo 3-2 - The Islanders got out to a 3-0 lead when Hamonic set up Lee and Grabovski 1:02 apart halfway through the second period. Lee's 16th of the season came on the power play when he put a rebound of a Hamonic shot past Neuvirth. Hamonic then set up Grabovski high in the slot where he took a wrist shot that beat Neuvirth over his blocker. After an icing call against the Sabres, Frans Nielsen won a faceoff to Hamonic, who found Grabovski alone in the center of the zone. Colin McDonald scored his first goal of the season with 3:41 left in the first period that gave the Islanders a 1-0 lead. Casey Cizikas set up McDonald's shot after he stole the puck from Sabres defenseman Tyson Strachan. Cizikas passed to McDonald who one-timed a shot past Sabres goalie Michal Neuvirth. Buffalo scored two goals on three shots in the second period. Foligno, playing his first game since Dec. 21 after missing 19 with a broken hand, scored his sixth when he put a rebound of a Nikita Zadorov shot past Halak 1:11 after Grabovski's goal. Zadorov's assist extend his point streak to five games. Foligno then set up Stafford's ninth goal to make it 3-2 with 5:03 left in the second period.
Anaheim @ Tampa Bay 3-5 - Boyle's first goal came at 2:55 of the first period after defenseman Victor Hedman split two defenders and found Boyle open in the slot for a wrist shot at close range past Anaheim goalie Frederik Andersen to give the Lightning a 1-0 lead. Filppula made it 2-0 with his 11th goal at 13:42. With the teams at even strength, Callahan backhanded a pass from the left wing towards the net where Steven Stamkos redirected it to the slot. Filppula quickly put a wrist shot past Andersen. Kucherov made it 3-0 at 18:52 of the period after winger Tyler Johnson made a pinpoint pass to catch the tip of Kucherov's stick and he beat Cam Fowler to the goal and scored on the chip-in. Fowler slammed his stick against the boards in frustration after the play. Getzlaf trimmed the deficit to 3-1 with his milestone goal at 4:49 of the second period. The goal was originally disallowed with the linesman ruling that the puck deflected off Getzlaf's skate. But the call was overturned after the video review determined that Corey Perry's pass deflected off of Getzlaf's skate and then off of Boyle's skate before going past Bishop. Boyle scored his second goal of the game at 14:27 of the second. Brett Connolly had the initial chance when he carried the puck out from behind the net and tried to whack it past Andersen, and Boyle followed the play and poked a loose puck over the goal line to make it 4-1. The Lightning extended their lead to 5-1 at 6:14 of third period on Callahan's 16th goal of the season when he scored on a put back of a wrist shot by Stamkos. Andersen was removed from the game 10:02 into the third period when the goal apparatus fell on top of him. He was replaced by Ilya Bryzgalov.
Colorado @ Winnipeg 3-5 - Mathieu Perreault, Dustin Byfuglien, Ben Chiarot and Bryan Little had goals for the Jets. Jacob Trouba scored late in the third period. Byfuglien, who moved to forward to replace the injured Evander Kane, and Perreault each had two assists. The line of Perreault, Byfuglien and center Mark Scheifele had a mix of size, speed and playmaking that the Avalanche struggled to slow. Colorado took a 1-0 lead in the first period with Varlamov off for an extra skater on a delayed Winnipeg penalty. Barrie stepped into the high slot and sent a low shot past Pavelec at 10:57. Perreault tied a career-high with his 18th goal 2:04 into the second period when he finished Mark Scheifele’s rebound low past Varlamov at the right post. Perreault had 18 goals in 69 games last season with the Anaheim Ducks before signing with the Jets as a free agent this past July. Moments after the Avalanche had a power-play opportunity to increase their lead and failed, the Winnipeg power play made it 2-1 at 5:42 of the second. Little one-timed a cross-ice pass at the left circle that Byfuglien tipped before Varlamov could scramble into position. Byfuglien has split the season as a forward and a defenseman and six of Byfuglien’s 13 goals have come at the forward position. The juncture highlighted the growing frustration with the Colorado power play. Instead of having a possible 2-0 lead, the Avalanche were tied 1-1 because of a power play that managed four shots on three opportunities in the game. Chiarot gave the Jets a 3-1 lead when he jammed his second goal under Varlamov off a rush led by Jim Slater and Chris Thorburn at 13:24 of the second. Little finished the second-period scoring on a 5-on-3 power play with his team-leading 21st goal with a slap shot under the crossbar at 15:48. Colorado managed to rally in the third period and move to within two goals when Duchene redirected Iginla’s right-side shot past Pavelec for his 14th goal at 7:07. After Trouba’s sixth goal restored Winnipeg’s three-goal lead with 8:57 left. Tanguay’s 14th goal pushed the Avalanche back to within two goals. Varlamov was pulled for an extra attacker with 2:21 left in the game, but Pavelec held off Colorado’s final push.
Montreal @ Boston 3-1 - Weise gave the Canadiens a 1-0 lead 38 seconds into the second period. Weise snuck to the Bruins net through the backdoor, where he slid in a rebound of a Pacioretty one-timer off the right post. Weise had gained the zone and passed the puck off Desharnais to Pacioretty at the left wall. Pacioretty extended the lead to 2-0 56 seconds into the third period. Zdeno Chara and Dougie Hamilton collided near the high slot in the Montreal end and the puck was deflected to Weise, who sprung Pacioretty for a breakaway. Pacioretty beat Rask with a wrist shot just after he passed the hash marks. Pastrnak ended Price's shutout bid with a goal at 15:29 of the third period. Pastrnak hacked at a rebound and the puck eluded Price's glove swipe before crossing the goal line. The call on the ice was no goal, but the NHL Situation Room overturned the call and Montreal's lead was trimmed to 2-1. The Bruins had gone 159:25 without a goal against Montreal. Andrei Markov's empty-net goal sealed the win with 30.5 seconds left.
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