NHL Results - Wed, Mar 11, 2015

Buffalo @ Toronto 3-4 SO - Tyler Bozak scored the tying goal and the shootout winner. Bozak said he likes to come in with speed and then slow down to determine what the goalie is giving him. The Sabres line of Matt Moulson, Johan Larsson and Tyler Ennis produced nine points (a goal and two assists each). Moulson gave the Sabres a 3-2 lead with his 10th goal of the season at 11:50 of the second period. He got a pass from Larsson at the side of the net and took a quick shot that was touched by Maple Leafs goalie Jonathan Bernier. The puck trickled into the net behind him. The Maple Leafs came close to tying the game at 16:10 of the third period when captain Dion Phaneuf drilled a shot off the goal post from 15 feet out. Twenty-five seconds later, Phil Kessel took a 30-foot slap shot that was tipped by Bozak for his 19th to tie it 3-3. Larsson gave the Sabres a 1-0 lead at 6:52 of the first period on a broken play. Ennis was set up alone after the Sabres broke in 2-on-1, but when he went to shoot, the puck rolled off his stick to Larsson. With Bernier down and out, Larsson simply backhanded it into the empty net. It was his third goal of the season and second in as many games. The Maple Leafs tied it 1-1 at 14:09 on a slick three-way passing play that ended with Brandon Kozun scoring his second of the season. Toronto defenseman Andrew MacWilliam, playing his first NHL game, started the play with a perfect clearing pass to Joakim Lindstrom in full flight. Lindstrom spotted Kozun alone on the slot, hit him with a pass, and Kozun snapped a shot past goalie Anders Lindback. The Maple Leafs took a 2-1 lead 21 seconds later when Leo Komarov was set up at the top of the crease and tapped a puck past Lindback. The Sabres tied it 2-2 1:32 later on a goal by Ennis. A clearing pass by Toronto's Joffrey Lupul up the middle was picked off, allowing Ennis to score his 17th goal of the season.
NY Rangers @ Washington 3-1 - In a physical first period, Hagelin jump-started a rush, then scored at 8:20 to give New York a 1-0 lead. Holtby saved Hagelin's first shot from near the right circle, but as the puck caromed through the zone, it ultimately ended up back on Hagelin's stick on the weak side. Holtby, sliding in the opposite direction, could not stop Hagelin from knocking the puck into the net. Ovechkin tied the game on the power play at 11:43 with his NHL-leading 45th goal. Rangers forward Jesper Fast blunted Ovechkin's one-timer from the slot with the blade of his stick, but the puck's change of direction fooled Talbot. The Rangers reclaimed the lead at 2-1 when Miller beat Holtby with a wrist shot at 16:34. Tim Gleason's defensive-zone giveaway as he attempted to chip the puck off the glass led to Miller's seventh goal, which was set up by a pass from Kevin Hayes. Searching for the tying goal, the Capitals were more aggressive offensively in the third period. Their 16 shots were three more than in the first two periods combined. Chris Kreider intercepted John Carlson's D-to-D pass and raced toward Holtby, with St. Louis completing a 2-on-0 rush at 17:33.
Anaheim @ Calgary 3-6 - The goals, his 17th and 18th of the season, moved Gaudreau to 50 points to become the first Flames first-year player to do so since Jarome Iginla in 1996-97. Iginla, now with the Colorado Avalanche, remains Calgary's leader in games played (1219), goals (525) and points (1095). Trailing by two goals early thanks to Getzlaf, the Flames rallied for five straight goals kick-started by Kris Russell. Pinching in at the point, Russell fed Stajan in front of the net. John Gibson stopped the initial shot and a rebound attempt from David Jones, but the Ducks goaltender kicked the second rebound back to Stajan before the latter converted on his second attempt to cut the lead to 2-1 at 10:32. Gaudreau had a goal waved off 39 seconds later but scored at 15:25 thanks in part again to Russell, who pinched to keep the play alive in Anaheim's end and found Josh Jooris, who fed Gaudreau for a backhand that went off each post before it trickled over the line to tie the game 2-2 heading into the first intermission. Stajan scored his second and fourth in as many games after chipping a Michael Ferland pass over Gibson at 7:28. At 8:53, Monahan scored his 25th of the season with Getzlaf in the penalty box for roughing. Gaudreau scored on the power play at 13:59 after another penalty on Getzlaf, working a give-and-go with Dennis Wideman before beating Gibson.

Lindholm ended the Flames' run with 1:01 remaining in the second, intercepting a clearing attempt from Raphael Diaz and sending a shot over the glove of Calgary goaltender Karri Ramo to cut the lead to 5-3. Hudler scored his 24th of the season with 4:43 remaining to give Calgary a three-goal lead. Getzlaf's goals to open the game were the fastest by one player from the start of the game in Ducks history. Getzlaf moved past Paul Kariya (an immensely better player) into sole possession of second on their all-time scoring list with 670 points. Teemu Selanne owns the record with 988 points.

Winnipeg Jets @ St Louis Blues 4-5 - 03/10

There was a collective sigh of relief in the St. Louis Blues' locker room after one of the stranger goals of the season gave them a 5-4 victory against the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday. Barret Jackman broke a tie with 1:03 remaining in regulation when he shot the puck from just inside the red line, and it somehow fooled Jets goalie Ondrej Pavelec. Jackman's shot gave the Blues a victory after the Jets rallied from a 4-1 deficit in the third period to tie the game. David Backes won a faceoff back to Jackman's defensive partner Robert Bortuzzo, who immediately passed to Jackman. The veteran defenseman was aiming to throw the puck into the offensive zone and let the forwards go to work. Instead, he ended up with a game-winning goal. The Blues (42-19-5) trail the Nashville Predators by two points for first place in the Central Division and have two games in hand. St. Louis scored goals on four consecutive shots in the first and second periods. The "STL Line" had six points, giving it 17 in the past four games. Vladimir Tarasenko, Jaden Schwartz and Jori Lehtera each had a goal and an assist. Pietrangelo and Backes each had two assists for the Blues, and Brian Elliott made 12 saves. Elliott was as happy as anyone when Jackman's shot went in. The loss left the Jets (33-22-12) one point in front of the Los Angeles Kings for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference; the Kings won 5-2 at the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday. It was the second of a four-game trip for the Jets, who won Saturday at Nashville. Andrew Ladd had a goal and an assist, and Michael Frolik, Lee Stempniak and Blake Wheeler also scored. Michael Hutchinson, who started in goal, was pulled from the game after giving up four goals on seven shots; Pavelec made 19 saves in relief. The Jets, who were 0-17-4 when trailing after two periods, scored three unanswered goals in the third to pull even at 4-4. To see it end for them in that fashion was painful, especially so late in the season when points are precious. Ladd and Stempniak scored 11 seconds apart early in the period to make it 4-3. Ladd's power-play goal at 1:34 ended the Blues' streak of 17 straight kills, and Stempniak took an Adam Lowry pass and beat Elliott under the crossbar at 1:45. The Jets tied it 4-4 on Wheeler's shorthanded goal, a slap shot from the high slot that beat Elliott high to the glove side with 5:28 left but lost in gut-wrenching fashion. Blues coach Ken Hitchcock, who win his 699th game in the NHL, was not displeased with his team after frittering away a 4-1 lead. He called Jackman's goal, "Justice. Frolik opened the scoring and extended his point streak to seven games with his 16th of the season off a flip pass from Ladd. Frolik beat Lehtera to the puck and took a wrist shot that beat Elliott five-hole 8:50 into the game for a 1-0 lead. It was the ninth straight game in which the Blues have allowed the first goal. Schwartz scored with 5:40 remaining in the period to tie the game 1-1. Then the Blues got goals from Tarasenko 31 seconds into the second to make it 2-1; Ott scored to make it 3-1 at 10:08 and Lehtera ended Hutchinson's night after finishing off a tic-tac-toe play 1:01 later to make it a 4-1 game. The Blues got the two points at the end of the night, and that's what they'll hang their hat on.

Blues Quotes

Barret Jackman: "I just tried to get the puck in and give our forwards an opportunity. It so happened their [goalie] lost track of it. We'll take it any way we can. When I threw it in there, I thought [Pavelec] was just kind of surveying the play and was just going to grab it and flip it to the side. It just kind of floated over the glove. He obviously didn't get a good look at it."
Alex Pietrangelo: "We were on the bench; we could see it. All I was saying was, 'Go in!' We knew he didn't know where the puck was. I thought it was going right in his glove. Lucky enough it changed direction. We'll take it. It's an interesting way to win a hockey game, but we'll take it. Not a good way to finish in the third period; I think we can all agree with that. Fun to watch. Two points out of first place. That's a great accomplishment right now. We've got two games in hand still [on Nashville]. Couple more home games before a really long road trip, so these next two games are really important for us."
Brian Elliott: "I would like to say I called it. I've never really screamed for a goal that we got. That was a quick, girlie, high-pitched scream I had. Not pretty, but we'll take the two points and move on, that's for sure. ... I guess my high-pitch scream tells you I didn't expect it to [go in]. Sometimes you lose the puck in the stands and you're expecting one thing, especially from [Jackman], who's kind of a 'get it deep' kind of player and you don't expect a shot from there. If you lose it in the stands, it's tough to gain it again. It's coming pretty fast. I'm assuming that's what happened. It's a tough break for him. You never want to get scored on like that."
Ken Hitchcock: "Play that good for two periods, deserve a good fate. I was really happy with the way we played in the second and third period. The hockey gods took care of us. Good for him; I'll go to church tomorrow."

Dallas Stars @ Philadelphia Flyers 2-1 - 03/10

Dallas Stars goaltender Kari Lehtonen wouldn't admit to feeling cursed against the Philadelphia Flyers, but his record against them was pretty bad entering Tuesday. In 13 career games against the Flyers, he was 0-10-3 with a 3.70 goals-against average and .886 save percentage. That streak ended Tuesday when he made 25 saves to help the Stars to a 2-1 victory at Wells Fargo Center. Vernon Fiddler scored the game-winning goal with 6:10 left in the third period. Rookie Brett Ritchie also scored for Dallas (30-27-10). The Stars are eight points behind the Winnipeg Jets for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. Luke Schenn scored for the Flyers (28-27-13), and goaltender Steve Mason made 37 saves. It was Philadelphia's third straight loss (0-2-1). The Flyers are nine points behind the Boston Bruins for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference; the Bruins defeated the Ottawa Senators 3-1. Lehtonen and the Stars were better Tuesday. But the Stars also thought they were the better team when they played the Flyers in Dallas on Oct. 18. The Stars had a 4-2 lead after two periods and a 5-4 lead with less than four minutes remaining, but the Flyers rallied for a 6-5 overtime win. Lehtonen said he didn't mention anything about his struggles against the Flyers, and although a few teammates knew about his career record against Philadelphia, they weren't putting much thought into it. Lehtonen got help from the Stars' penalty-killers, who shut down the Flyers on three chances. That included one at the start of the third period when Philadelphia was pushing to break the tie but couldn't get a shot on goal. Philadelphia had the NHL's third-best home power play entering the game. In a desperate time there was the expectation the Flyers would, if not score a goal, at least gain momentum from the man-advantage. Instead the Flyers came away empty, and then Fiddler's goal put the game away for the Stars. Ryan Garbutt chipped a puck past Flyers defenseman Carlo Colaiacovo to forward Colton Sceviour. He carried the puck along the right-wing boards and centered the puck to Fiddler, who beat Colaiacovo down the ice and tipped the puck between Mason's pads. The goal was Fiddler's third in two games and fourth in four. It was his 11th of the season, tying his career-high. The Flyers got the game's first goal on Schenn's shot from the point at 1:13 of the first period, but the Stars answered later in the first when Ritchie beat Mason with a wrist shot from the left hash marks. Mason was the Flyers' best player. Early in the second period, he scrambled to make two saves on Ales Hemsky in front. Late in the period he stopped a Jason Spezza blast from the right side, then pushed across to stop Hemsky on a rebound. Then with 1:30 left he stopped Ritchie in the slot and Curtis McKenzie from the side of the net poking at the rebound. He also was good in the third, before and after Fiddler's goal. But it's the sixth time in the past eight games the Flyers have scored two goals or fewer. As the Flyers' playoff hopes dwindle, the Stars are continuing to push and hope. They have three games in four nights coming up, starting Thursday at the Carolina Hurricanes, and know every point from now forward is vital.

Stars Quotes

Kari Lehtonen: "That's goaltending. Some nights you get them and some nights you don't. It seemed to be always the Philly nights when pucks were bouncing in and not hitting me. Tonight was different. That was good. That was one of those that I thought that's it, I can't ... whatever I do it doesn't work against these guys. But it's good that things worked out today."
Vernon Fiddler: "You don't look at those things. It's a mental thing, a head game if you put that on the board or something. I think they try to stay away from that. Kari played a really good game. It was just a good chip by Sceviour. I just tried to get to the net, create some traffic, get my stick on the ice and lucky enough it went in the net."
Lindy Ruff: "I think that could have created energy for them if they had a good one. We had some good up-ice pressure and didn't really allow them any zone time."
Jamie Benn: "Everybody is trying to contribute, and I think [Fiddler] has been doing a great job of late. He's a leader on this team and he's been stepping up his play. Good to see him get that second one there. We're still trying to pick up as many points as we can, keep it at least close going into April. Big two points for our team. We're happy to get this one."

NHL Results - Tue, Mar 10, 2015

NY Rangers @ NY Islanders 2-1 - Nash broke a tie 2:50 into the third period, he scored his 39th goal on a slap shot from the right boards inside the blue line that deflected off Islanders forward Ryan Strome past goalie Jaroslav Halak. Anders Lee scored at 9:35 to give the Islanders a 1-0 lead and extend his point streak to six games (three goals, three assists). Lee was behind the net with the puck and jammed it past goalie Cam Talbot. Kevin Hayes tied it 1-1 at 11:35 of the second period. He took an outlet pass from Mats Zuccarello and battled with Thomas Hickey before stopping near the right post, spinning around and reaching with his stick to the left side, putting the puck in the net for his 13th goal. Josh Bailey had a breakaway chance with less than two minutes remaining in the second period but his backhand was stopped by Talbot.
Columbus @ Carolina 4-3 SO - Ryan Johansen scored the only goal of the shootout for a 4-3 win. After Eric Staal gave the Hurricanes a 3-1 lead with a power-play goal in the final seconds of the first period, Bobrovsky's frustration was clear, glaring at teammate Daulton Prout and leaving his stick on the ice. The goaltender's view was obstructed on all three Carolina goals. Carolina scored 36 seconds into the game on its first shot. With an open lane through the right faceoff circle, Justin Faulk skated in and sent a wrist shot past Bobrovsky, who finished with 29 saves. The Hurricanes took a 2-0 lead with another quick goal, seven seconds into a power play at 12:47 of the first period. With Fedor Tyutin off for cross checking, the Hurricanes won the ensuing faceoff, and Faulk set up Victor Rask for his first goal in 11 games, a high one-timer. Rene Bourque, playing his second game with Columbus, cut the lead to 2-1 with a power-play goal at 18:05 of the first. He screened Cam Ward and redirected Cam Atkinson's shot over the goaltender's glove. With 10 seconds remaining in the period, Carolina took a 3-1 lead with another power-play goal. Ryan Murphy's slap shot through traffic was tipped by Staal and past Bobrovsky.
Scott Hartnell helped tie the game 3-3 with a power-play goal in the second period and another in the third. First, he located the rebound of Kevin Connauton's shot under Ward and pushed it in at 2:21 of the second. Hartnell tied the game at 6:10 of the third, scoring on the rebound after Artem Anisimov battled for the puck in front of the net. The Hurricanes had the best chance in overtime when Staal came in on a short breakaway, but his wrist shot sailed wide of the far post. In the shootout, Johansen led off the third round with a slow approach against Cam Ward before making a quick, wide move to the forehand to tuck the puck in.
Tampa Bay @ Montreal 1-0 OT - Tyler Johnson extended his point streak to seven games when his pass from the right side went into the net off Canadiens defensman Tom Gilbert's skate.

Boston @ Ottawa 3-1 - Spooner opened the scoring on a power play 62 seconds into the second period, and the Bruins took control with goals by Eriksson and Spooner 92 seconds apart later in the period. Eriksson scored his 17th of the season at 15:21. With the teams playing 4-on-4, Eriksson chased down a puck in the Ottawa zone. Senators defenseman Cody Ceci came off the bench and tried to play the puck instead of taking the man and was unsuccessful. Eriksson jumped around Ceci and went wide around Anderson, tucking the puck into the open net. Spooner scored his second at 16:53 when Bruins forward Milan Lucic put the puck toward the net and the puck went in off Spooner at the edge of the crease. The play was reviewed, but it was judged there was no distinct kicking motion by Spooner. Puempel made it 3-1 at 8:30 of the third period when he picked up a rebound of a Patrick Wiercioch shot off the end boards and scored into the open side. It was the seventh NHL game for the 24th pick in the 2011 NHL Draft. Spooner's first goal was a shot from the right-wing circle that found its way through a crowd and deflected into the net off the far post.
New Jersey @ Minnesota 2-6 - Bergenheim had been held without a point, and coach Mike Yeo dropped him to the fourth line with center Kyle Brodziak and right wing Erik Haula on Tuesday in an effort to spark him. The move worked; Bergenheim not only scored, he hounded the puck all night. He score his first goal for the Wild at 18:57. Stewart scored his 13th goal, second with Minnesota, on a rebound 13 seconds into the second period for a 2-0 Wild lead. Jared Spurgeon one-timed a perfect set-up by Mikael Granlund from the right face-off circle at 4:23. New Jersey closed within 3-1 at 10:03 when Dainius Zubrus scored his first goal since opening night, ending a 49-game goal drought. Thomas Vanek scored his first goal of the night when he cleaned up a rebound in front of goaltender Cory Schneider at 13:01. Minnesota went ahead 5-1 at 1:18 of the third period when Jason Pominville capped a pretty tic-tac-toe passing play with a blast from the slot that eluded Schneider's blocker. Schneider was lifted 12 seconds later for Keith Kinkaid, having allowed five goals on 30 shots. It was the first time since Dec. 13 Schneider had allowed more than three goals in an appearance, a span of 28 games. Vanek scored his second of the game on a tip-in at 8:18, and Gomez answered 22 seconds later on a tap-in from the side of the net.
Los Angeles @ Colorado 5-2 - The Kings took a 3-1 lead in the first period while chasing rookie goalie Calvin Pickard, who was replaced by Reto Berra at 14:15 after allowing three goals on eight shots. Pickard was recalled Monday from the Lake Erie Monsters of the American Hockey League because Semyon Varlamov is out with a groin injury. The Avalanche drew within 4-2 at 8:27 of the third period when Alex Tanguay scored into an open net off Marc-Andre Cliche's pass, but Jake Muzzin answered for the Kings at 9:56. Muzzin beat Berra from the top of the left circle for his seventh goal, first in 18 games. The Kings grabbed an early 2-0 lead on goals by Marian Gaborik and Jeff Carter. Gaborik tipped in McNabb's shot on a power play at 7:47 of the first period to open the scoring and end the Avalanche's penalty-killing streak at 19 in a row. Carter beat Pickard to the glove side at 11:58 off a feed from Jordan Nolan after Trevor Lewis intercepted a pass from Tanguay in the neutral zone. The Avalanche cut the deficit to 2-1 at 12:53 on a goal by Tyson Barrie, his 11th. Gabriel Landeskog passed to Barrie, who skated down the left wing and cut to the near hash marks for a shot past a screened Quick. Clifford got that one back for the Kings at 14:15 when he scored from the point for his second goal of the season. Clifford increased the Kings' lead to 4-1 at 15:03 of the second period during a scramble in front of Berra, who finished with 20 saves. It was his fifth goal.

Pittsburgh Penguins @ San Jose Sharks 1-2 OT - 03/09

They needed a shootout, but the San Jose Sharks defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins for the 10th straight time in San Jose and took another big step in their Stanley Cup Playoff push with a 2-1 victory at SAP Center on Monday.
Tommy Wingels scored the deciding goal in the eighth round and Antti Niemi made 39 saves before denying seven of eight in the shootout. Wingels beat Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury with a backhand to the stick side. Niemi then denied forward Steve Downie to seal the victory for the Sharks (33-26-8). San Jose has won three of its past four games. With 74 points, the Sharks pulled to within three of the third-place Calgary Flames in the Pacific Division and one of the fourth-place Los Angeles Kings. Fleury made 29 saves for the Penguins (38-18-10), who haven't defeated the Sharks on the road since Oct. 22, 1997. Matt Nieto scored for the Sharks in regulation. Sidney Crosby scored for Pittsburgh, which went 2-1-1 on its four-game road trip. Melker Karlsson beat Fleury with a backhand in the third round, but Kris Letang scored to extend the shootout. Five rounds later, Wingels delivered what proved to be the game-winner. The Sharks took a 1-0 lead into the third period, but Pittsburgh pulled even when Crosby scored his first career goal in seven games against the Sharks at 7:22. Crosby accelerated and beat Niemi to the far side with a backhand from the right circle. It was Crosby's 22nd of the season. The Penguins outshot San Jose 13-8 in the period. With 3:35 left, Evgeni Malkin sent a shot from the high slot through traffic and David Perron swung away at the rebound before Niemi could cover the puck. After a Sharks turnover with under two minutes left, Malkin had another shot that Niemi denied. The Penguins went on a power play with 26.3 seconds left in the third and opened overtime with a 4-on-3 man-advantage. Niemi made a spectacular pad save on a shot by Crosby from the right circle moments before the power play expired. Penguins defenseman Derrick Pouliot hit the left post in the final seconds of overtime. Nieto scored at 19:03 of the first period, giving the Sharks a 1-0 lead moments after their second power play expired. Sharks forward Ben Smith stole the puck from Letang behind Pittsburgh's net and got it to Chris Tierney, who sent a pass through the crease to Nieto for a shot from the slot that beat Fleury. It was Nieto's seventh goal of the season.

Sharks Quotes

Tommy Wingels: "Maybe a win like that injects some life and emotion into a team because of how excited everyone was. Just keep going and keep the gas pedal down. I know that's cliché to say that, but that's what we have to do now. We can't keep talking about doing different things. At this point, with 15 games left, everyone knows what we need to do to win games. That's what we have to do. I think when you're sitting there, you think about what you're going to do if your number is called. I wanted to get a good fake in and go backhand. I think he would have been a little bit worried about covering the five-hole after Melker's good move. So [I was] fortunate it went in."
Antti Niemi: "Huge, [the victory]. It's playoff time almost for us now."
Todd McLellan: "I thought Nemo was terrific tonight. Maybe his best game this season. First saves, second saves. Those are some very gifted, skilled players that are getting some good looks. Shootout-wise he was tremendous as well."
Matt Nieto: "That was nice to get one at the end of the first there and come into the intermission with some momentum and confidence heading into the second. Tonight was just back-and-forth hockey. They had chances, so did we. It came down to a shootout. It was a nice win."

Pens Quotes

Sidney Crosby: "I thought it was a fairly even game. We put them on their heels in the third. It's unfortunate. In a shootout, anything can happen. We played a pretty good game and we deserved better."
Brandon Sutter: "I thought both goalies were awesome. Niemi definitely took a lot of chances in the third and the pucks around the crease [but] we just couldn't bang them in. He stood his ground. I thought Fleury did the same thing for us. It was a pretty good goalie battle. I thought we got stronger as the game went on. Especially the last half of the game, I thought we really turned it up but we really didn't get much and we had a lot of chances."

NHL Results - Mon, Mar 09, 2015

NY Islanders @ Toronto 4-3 OT - John Tavares scored with 21.8 seconds remaining in overtime in a 4-3 win. Tavares drove hard to the net and sneaked his way through a crowd of Maple Leafs defenders before beating goaltender Jonathan Bernier for the game-winner. The Maple Leafs took a 1-0 lead at 18:23 of the first period on a fine individual play by right wing David Booth. The speedy veteran muscled his way past Nick Leddy and Ryan Strome, cut to the net and beat Neuvirth with a hard backhand shot to the top corner on the far side of the goal. It was Booth's fourth goal of the season and third in as many games. Peter Holland made it 2-0 when he collected Richard Panik's rebound and tapped home his 11th goal of the season at 10:27. The goal extended Holland's point streak to four games. Kennedy, playing in his first game for the Islanders since being acquired from the San Jose Sharks at the trade deadline, put his new team on the board at 1:32 of the third period when he accepted a pass from Tavares and connected on a wrist shot to the short side from a sharp angle. It was Kennedy's fifth goal of the season. James van Riemsdyk restored Toronto's two-goal lead five minutes later when he broke into the New York zone on the left side and snapped a 30-foot shot past Neuvirth for his 23rd goal of the season. It was his second goal in 18 games. Nielsen made it 3-2 at 9:58 with a tap-in from the side of the net 29 seconds after Booth was penalized for holding. Thirty seconds later, Cizikas tied it when he redirected Travis Hamonic's shot past Bernier for his seventh goal of the season.

Edmonton @ Detroit 2-5 - Klinkhammer opened the scoring 2:15 into the game when he jammed in a rebound that Howard couldn't find for his fifth goal. The Red Wings scored twice in the second period to take a 2-1 lead. Kronwall's power-play goal 21 seconds into the second period tied the game, 1-1. He beat Scrivens with a wrist shot from the high slot, high on the blocker side. Kronwall shot the puck through the legs of Oilers defenseman Mark Fayne for his eighth goal. Sheahan gave Detroit a 2-1 lead with 5:56 left in the second period. He chipped Gustav Nyquist's cross-crease pass into an empty net for Sheahan's 11th goal. Scrivens made a pad save on Thomas Tatar's shot as he skated across the slot 8:54 into the middle period and then denied Tatar as he cut in off right wing, while fending off an Oilers' defenseman. Howard made a glove save coming across the crease on left wing Benoit Pouliot from the bottom of the right circle 5:32 into the third period. Pulkkinen made it 3-1, 9:21 into the third period. He put in a loose puck from the bottom of the left circle for his third goal. With the Oilers on a 5-on-3 power play, the Red Wings killed it off after taking two consecutive overlapping penalties late in the third period. In the third period, Yakupov scored a power-play goal with Scrivens out for the extra attacker to make it 3-2. It was Yakupov's 10th goal. Abdelkader scored his 17th and Datsyuk his 23rd, each with the net empty.

Anaheim @ Vancouver 1-2 - Emerson Etem tied the game in the third period, Zack Kassian scored the go-ahead goal with 3:59 left and Eddie Lack made 29 saves to help Vancouver to a 2-1 win. Dan Hamhuis led a rush into the Anaheim end, faking a shot before driving wide and down to the goal line for a pass to Kassian in the slot for a quick shot through Andersen that trickled a foot over the line behind him. Anaheim nearly opened the scoring, but Getzlaf muffed a shot with Lack down and out and hit the crossbar just over one minute in. Instead the Canucks opened the scoring midway through the first period. A harmless looking shot off the rush bounced out of Andersen's glove and Jannik Hansen chipped the loose puck back to Horvat above the right faceoff dot. Horvat beat Andersen low on the glove side through a maze of defenders for his 11th goal of the season. The Sucks were outshooting Vancouver 26-10 when Etem finally tied it 8:40 into the third period. After a couple of failed chances to clear by former Anaheim center Nick Bonino, the Ducks worked it behind the net to center Nate Thompson, who sent it out front to Etem alone between two defenders in the slot for a one-timer past Lack. It was the 100th career point for Thompson and Etem's fifth goal this season. Perry almost put the Ducks ahead from a sharp angle with 5:20 left when his shot trickled through Lack and fell onto the goal line. But Lack reached back with the blocker as fell backwards and managed to keep the puck from completely crossing.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nhl-puck-daddy/patrick-maroon-turtles-in-fight-with-zack-kassian--video-043042847.html


Nashville @ Phoenix 2-1 OT - A  loose puck in front of the Coyotes net helped the Predators and Neal get what they wanted. The Predators' six-game losing streak came to an end when Neal scored at 2:45 of overtime for a 2-1 win. The Predators outshot the Coyotes 7-0 in overtime. Neal, whose double-minor penalty for high sticking against Shane Doan at 4:49 of the third period allowed the Coyotes to tie the game, made the last one count by banging it in from just below the left faceoff circle for his 22nd goal, ending a nine-game goal drought.
Paul Gaustad scored early in the second period to give the Predators a 1-0 lead. But with Neal sitting in the box for four minutes, Kyle Chipchura tied the game 7:27 into the third period. Renne made nine saves in the first period, including a few tough ones. He gloved a Doan shot from the slot before stopping Sam Gagner's backhand and Oliver Ekman-Larsson's rebound attempt late in the period. The Coyotes came out strong in the second period. David Moss rang a shot off the crossbar from the left circle. But the Predators got the game's first goal, Taylor Beck fanned on a shot attempt from the slot, and the puck skidded toward the net. Gaustad reached around John Moore and swatted the puck between Domingue's pads at 3:26 for his third goal. The Coyotes kept coming and got their chance to tie the game in the third period when Neal was assessed the double minor for high sticking. Moore's feed into the slot was deflected by Chipchura and fluttered over Rinne's glove. It was Phoenix's first goal in 129 minutes, 56 seconds, dating to B.J. Crombeen's third-period goal in a 3-2 shootout win against the Vancouver Canucks on March 5.

NHL Results - Sun, Mar 08, 2015

Detroit @ Boston 3-5 - The odious Brad Marchand opened the scoring. During a penalty kill, Marchand won a race to the puck against Stephen Weiss and scored a shorthanded breakaway goal with a deke to his backhand and a forehand shot that put the puck behind Gustavsson at 4:15 of the first period. The Red Wings tied it 1-1 on a goal by Gustav Nyquist, whose wrist shot deflected off Boston Adam McQuaid and beat Svedberg at 7:01. The Bruins regained the lead during a power play. David Pastrnak skated up to the left dot and beat Gustavsson with a wrist shot inside the far post at 9:12 for a 2-1 edge.
Boston outshot Detroit 16-12 in the first period. The Bruins' penalty kill remained their hottest weapon in the second period when Paille stripped the puck from Weiss at the Boston blue line and scored on an end-to-end rush. Despite slashes from Erik Cole and Justin Abdelkader, Paille still beat Gustavsson for a 3-1 lead. Paille hadn't scored more than one goal in a game since April 2011, but he doubled his day's output at 18:39. Center Gregory Campbell won a faceoff before Maxime Talbot carried the puck below the goal and set up Paille for a one-timer in front that gave the Bruins a 4-1 lead.
Detroit pulled within 4-2 when Luke Glendening beat Svedberg through the five-hole 1:24 into the third period. But the Bruins' power play responded with Loui Eriksson's goal at 4:03 for a 5-2 lead. The Red Wings' power play snapped an 0-for-4 drought with Marek Zidlicky's goal that cut the Bruins' lead back to two goals at 5-3 with 6:02 remaining. The Bruins survived despite a 17-7 shots edge for the Red Wings in the third period.
Edmonton @ Carolina 4-7 - Down three goals midway through the second period, Alexander Semin scored the first of six consecutive Carolina goals in a span of 17:27, and Elias Lindholm had his first career hat trick in a 7-4 win. Lindholm finished with five points, including an empty-net goal, to seal the win for the Hurricanes. Jeff Skinner scored twice on the power play. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had a hat trick and four points for the Oilers. Semin's goal will be replayed on sports highlight shows for a while. After being tripped in the slot, Semin fell to the ice, gathered his own rebound and made a one-handed stick sweep over his head to slip the puck under goaltender Richard Bachman. The goal ignited the offense, including three straight power-play goals. Edmonton struck first after a Carolina turnover in the neutral zone. Nugent-Hopkins engineered a 2-on-1, keeping the puck and sending a shot inside the far post for a 1-0 lead at 10:19. Jordan Eberle started the play by knocking down Rasmus Rissanen's pass and steering the puck to Nugent-Hopkins along the boards to earn the assist. Eberle made it 2-0 on a second-period power play. Matt Hendricks dug out the rebound of Nugent-Hopkins' slap shot and fed it to Eberle with a wide-open net at the left post at 6:45. It was Eberle's first goal since Feb. 2, a span of 15 games. The Oilers pushed the lead to 3-0 less than two minutes later on another power-play goal. Nugent-Hopkins gathered the puck near the goal line and got off a high shot on Hurricanes goalie Cam Ward, before tucking the rebound under the goaltender at 7:59 for his second of the game. Carolina cut the deficit to 3-2 on Lindholm's 12th of the season. Ron Hainsey's backhand pass from the top of the slot found the Swedish forward at the right post for a redirect at 13:00. Moments later, Semin found another way to provide offense; he drew consecutive penalties against Justin Schultz and Teddy Purcell 54 seconds apart to give Carolina 1:06 of 5-on-3 time, and the Hurricanes quickly capitalized. Staal fed Skinner on the back door for his 17th of the season at 15:23. Andre Nestrasil scored on the power play to give Carolina its first lead of the game at 1:40 of the third. When Purcell headed for the bench after breaking his stick, Nestrasil found the top shelf from the slot during a two-man advantage to make it 4-3. Carolina went right back on the power play following a high-sticking penalty on Eberle. Skinner scored at 6:18 on a long wrist shot that Bachman could not track. Lindholm scored his second of the game 31 seconds later, taking a pass from Victor Rask across the crease to make it 6-3.
Nugent-Hopkins jumped on a Carolina turnover in the slot and beat Ward under the crossbar for his 19th of the season at 9:31 to complete the hat trick. Staal set up Lindholm for the final goal into the empty net.
Philadelphia @ New Jersey 2-5 - The win came on a night the Devils honored players, coaches and managers from their 1995 Cup team, which eliminated Philadelphia from the Stanley Cup Playoffs in the Eastern Conference Final in six games before sweeping the Detroit Red Wings in the Cup Final. The pregame ceremony culminated with a speech by Dirty Dog Stevens, the three-time Stanley Cup champion and 2000 Conn Smythe Trophy-winning defenseman. Josefson broke a 1-1 tie early in the second period when he scored a shorthanded goal at 3:32. Stephen Gionta skated down the right wing and took a shot from the right circle that Mason stopped. Josefson picked up the rebound and scored just inside the right post, his first goal in 13 games. Gelinas gave the Devils a 3-1 lead on a power-play goal late in the second. After getting a pass from Scott Gomez, Gelinas put a shot over Mason's blocker at 18:09. With the assist, his second of the game, Gomez moved into a tie with Scott Niedermayer for fourth on the Devils' all-time points list with 476. Gomez has 121 goals and 355 assists in seven seasons with New Jersey. Henrique extended the lead to 4-1 with his second goal of the game 5:31 into the third when he finished a 2-on-0 breakout with Bernier. It was his first two-goal game since March 8, 2014. After Raffl scored the first shorthanded goal of his career 11:44 into the third to pull the Flyers within 4-2, Sean Couturier made a move past Devils defenseman Damon Severson and had Kinkaid out of position, but he pushed a backhand attempt wide at 13:20. Gionta then collected a stretch pass from Patrik Elias, broke in 1-on-1 against Mason and scored his fourth goal at 13:31 to make it 5-2. The Flyers pulled into a 1-1 tie at 7:45 of the first period when White won an offensive-zone draw against Gomez to Luke Schenn at the point. Schenn sent a strong wrist shot on goal that White redirected past Kinkaid for his third goal. Henrique opened the scoring at 4:49 with his first goal in seven games. Bernier canceled an icing call before Gomez forced Flyers defenseman Mark Streit to turn over the puck in front of Mason. Henrique then picked up the loose puck on his backhand down the slot. After Stevens addressed the fans to close the pregame ceremony, the 1995 Devils took a lap around the rink before shaking hands with the current New Jersey players. Interim co-coach Lou Lamoriello hopes the Devils take more than handshakes with them from the experience.
Colorado @ Minnesota 3-2 - In their previous matchup eight days ago, the Wild won 3-1 at Pepsi Center. The game ended with controversy when Cody McLeod hit Mikael Granlund with three seconds left and then fought Charlie Coyle. It took 43 seconds for McLeod to answer for his actions when he fought former teammate Chris Stewart on their first shifts.

"I played with him for three or four years. He's a good buddy of mine," McLeod said. "He's doing his job and I'm doing mine. That's the way it goes in hockey.
"I'd say this is our main rival right now and stuff happened last game, but we came out to battle and our main goal was to get two points."

The fight seemed to ease the tensions. Colorado came out slow, unable to get a shot on goal until 14:20 of the first. But a goal late in the period changed the complexion of the game. McLeod, drawing loud boos from the Minnesota crowd, redirected a Jarome Iginla shot at 18:05 to give the Avalanche a 1-0 lead. Late in the second, a shot by defenseman Zach Redmond eluded Dubnyk at 18:09.
Early in the third, Avalanche forward Gabriel Landeskog put in a loose puck in the crease for his 19th at 1:19 with Colorado on a power play. It was the first power-play goal scored by either team against the other this season. Stewart scored his first goal in a Wild uniform, dumping the puck into the corner and having it bounce back into the slot and off an Avalanche defender and in at 14:04. Varlamov left the game seconds later and was replaced by Reto Berra, who made three saves over the final 5:44. Thomas Vanek scored with 19.4 seconds remaining and an extra attacker on the ice to make it a one-goal game.
In the final moments, Parise chased down a loose puck behind the net and centered a pass into traffic near the crease, but the puck slipped through and out of the zone as time expired.
Calgary @ Ottawa 4-5 SO - The Senators led 4-0 with a little more than 13 minutes left in the third, but the Flames got a goal from Joe Colborne at 6:56 and then goals 59 seconds apart by Kris Russell on the power play and Mikael Backlund starting at 11:28 to make it 4-3. Russell tied it with a wrist shot from the slot with 2:18 left in regulation, completing a four-goal comeback in the final period of the Flames' seven-game road trip. Senators captain Erik Karlsson beat Flames goalie Jonas Hiller to the glove side in the sixth round of the shootout, then Anderson stopped Josh Jooris with his blocker to give Ottawa the win. The Senators looked like they had taken control of the game with a strong second period, when they doubled their lead to 4-0 on goals by Mark Borowiecki, his first of the season, and Mike Hoffman. Borowiecki's goal came after some sustained pressure by the line of center Jean-Gabriel Pageau and wings Curtis Lazar and Erik Condra. His waist-high shot deflected off David Schlemko and past Ramo at 2:34. Hoffman scored his 24th goal, which leads the Senators, on a strong wrist shot at 7:10. His shot from inside the right wing circle off a pass from Mika Zibanejad found the net over Ramo's left shoulder.
The Senators led 2-0 after the first period on goals by Alex Chiasson, his 10th, and Milan Michalek, his 12th and the 199th of his NHL career.
NY Rangers @ Chicago 1-0 OT - Derick Brassard's slap shot from the left circle 32 seconds into overtime beat Corey Crawford to the short side and gave the New York Rangers a 1-0 victory against the Chicago Blackhawks.

Vancouver Canucks @ San Jose Sharks 3-2 - 03/07

The Vancouver Canucks' decision to sign Radim Vrbata as a free agent in July keeps paying dividends. Vrbata scored two goals, including the game-winner, in a crucial 3-2 victory against the San Jose Sharks at SAP Center on Saturday.
Vrbata scored at 5:21 of the third period during a 4-on-3 power play, breaking a 2-2 tie. Henrik Sedin won a faceoff against Joe Pavelski in the left circle, and Daniel Sedin sent a cross-ice pass to Vrbata while diving to the ice. Vrbata lifted a shot over goalie Antti Niemi's left shoulder for his team-high 25th goal of the season. Bo Horvat had the other goal for the Canucks (37-24-4), and Eddie Lack made 38 saves,. With 78 points, the Canucks are second in the Pacific Division, two points ahead of the Calgary Flames. San Jose (32-26-8) remained fifth in the division and saw its two-game winning streak end. Melker Karlsson and Joe Thornton scored for the Sharks, and Niemi made 31 saves. Vancouver ended a two-game losing streak and won the season series against San Jose 3-2-0, with the road team winning each of the five games. The Sharks beat Vancouver 6-2 on Tuesday at Rogers Arena after jumping to a quick 3-0 lead. This time San Jose built a 2-0 lead, but Vancouver scored three unanswered goals. Early in the third period, Sharks forward Tommy Wingels jammed the puck past Lack at the end of a long battle in front of the net. But the officials said the whistle had blown, even though the puck was still loose, negating the goal. Lack made a brilliant left pad save on Karlsson's shot from close range with 13:30 left in the third. Thirty seconds later, Sharks forward Tomas Hertl hit the left post. The puck bounced off Lack and toward the goal line, but Vrbata swept it away before it completely crossed the line. The Sharks pulled Niemi with 1:50 left to play but couldn't get the puck past Lack. Karlsson gave San Jose a 1-0 lead at 7:58 of the first period with his 11th goal of season and second in back-to-back games against Vancouver. Lack tried to clear the puck, but Joe Thornton intercepted his pass and got the puck to Marc-Edouard Vlasic at the point. Lack stopped Vlasic's wrist shot, but the rebound went to Karlsson, who beat Lack from the left circle with a shot to the upper right corner. Thornton made it 2-0 at 11:51 with a power-play goal, burying a rebound from the right circle into a wide-open net. Pavelski sent a wrist shot from the left circle that caromed off Lack, then hit Sharks defenseman Brent Burns and came to a wide-open Thornton on the other side. The goal was Thornton's 13th of the season. Vancouver cut the deficit in half with 39 seconds left in the first period on Vrbata's first of the night. After a turnover by Patrick Marleau, Vrbata got behind Burns and Scott Hannan, took a pass from Nick Bonino and banked the puck from the left post off of Niemi and over the goal line. When the second period began, Marleau dropped from the second to the third line, trading places with Wingels. Marleau had a great chance to extend San Jose's lead midway through the period after taking a cross-ice pass from Hannan, just to the right of the crease. But he sent an apparent tap-in through the crease and wide left. The Canucks pulled even at 16:24 on Horvat's unassisted goal. The puck hopped over Burns' stick along the boards at the blue line and Horvat made him pay. The rookie center darted in, got the puck and headed the other way, staying a step ahead of Burns. He flipped the puck over Niemi's right shoulder for his 10th goal of the season. Horvat said he wasn't positive he could get the puck over Niemi because it was rolling for so long before he could control it. The Sharks' stretch run doesn't get any easier. They have home games against the Pittsburgh Penguins, Nashville Predators and Chicago Blackhawks before going on a seven-game road trip. Blowing a 2-0 lead and losing in regulation to Vancouver was damaging to their playoff hopes, Wingels said. The Canucks will take some momentum into a tough five-game homestand that begins Monday against the Western Conference-leading Anaheim Sucks. Canucks forward Chris Higgins missed the game with a lower body injury, and Brandon McMillan took his place in the lineup. Vancouver defenseman Yannick Weber left the game late in the third period with an undisclosed injury. Desjardins said Weber will be further evaluated on Sunday.

Sharks Quotes

Joe Pavelski: "It's our biggest game to date. We got the start we wanted and we get the lead and we gave it away. We can be better than that. We had chances, probably enough to win."
Patrick Marleau: "I went to stop it and it hit my stick and took off the other way. I'd like to have that one back."
Tommy Wingels: "It's painful because it's a team we're chasing and these opportunities, there aren't too many more. We're pretty disappointed not getting the two points."

Pittsburgh Penguins @ Los Angeles Kings 1-0 OT - 03/07

The Pittsburgh Penguins recorded a season-low 18 shots, but most of them looked dangerous. They just needed one play to fall their way and some more magic from Patric Hornqvist. Hornqvist scored with 3:16 left in overtime and goalie Marc-Andre Fleury made 31 saves for his League-leading ninth shutout of the season in the Penguins' 1-0 win against the Los Angeles Kings at Staples Center on Saturday. Hornqvist got the puck in the slot after Penguins defenseman Paul Martin freed it from Tyler Toffoli and Hornqvist beat goalie Jonathan Quick for his third goal in two games. Hornqvist scored twice in a 5-2 win against the Anaheim Sucks on Friday. The Penguins (38-18-9) are 2-1-0 on their four-game trip after a Southern California sweep. One night after a five-goal output against the Anaheim Sucks, Pittsburgh churned out a low-scoring win against the defending Stanley Cup champions. It was Fleury's 37th career shutout. Hornqvist has nine goals in 19 career games against the Kings, and 19 goals in 40 games against the Kings and Sucks. They took pride in being able to win different types of games against some of the best teams in the Western Conference. The Kings (31-21-13) got a point but are one behind the Calgary Flames in the Pacific Division for the third and final guaranteed spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Los Angeles perked up with several scoring chances in the third period but Fleury kept it scoreless with three quick saves in a goalmouth scramble and key saves against Dustin Brown and Kyle Clifford. Pittsburgh had six shots through the opening 34 minutes despite three power plays, but it seemed to have the better opportunities. The Penguins' fourth power play got three shots but Quick stopped them, including a deflection. Sidney Crosby made a highlight move around Kings defenseman Drew Doughty and shot the puck off the crossbar. Penguins defenseman Kris Letang was stopped by an outstretched Quick in the first period. Crosby said the 18 shots weren't representative of the Penguins' performance. Los Angeles is known for grinding out these games, but in this case it came down to one misstep in overtime. Sutter thought Martin surprised Toffoli, who tried to collect a pass from Jeff Carter in the high slot. The Kings had a goal disallowed early in the third because Brown interfered with Fleury. Evgeni Malkin had his seven-game point streak end. It was the longest active streak in the NHL.

Pens Quotes

Marc-Andre Fleury: "He's been pretty hot. Hopefully he keeps his stick for the next game. They're a big team too. They're big guys with some skills and speed. It feels good for the team. We want to get ready for the playoffs. They're coming pretty soon, so I think that was a good challenge."
Patric Hornqvist: "L.A. is one of the toughest teams to play against. They're so big and strong and fast, and they always play the same way. They chip it in. They go hard at our [defensemen] and their [defensemen] are pinching. It's a really good win. We need to build on that. Now we know we can play with anyone."
Sidney Crosby: "I didn't feel like we lacked chances. Maybe we missed the net in the first, I don't know. I thought we had some good looks and didn't hit the net. Like I said, I think teams, when you're coming off a back-to-back night they're really going to try to wear you down early on and take away your time and space. Maybe that has something to do with it with the way they play. There's not a lot of room down there."

Dallas Stars @ Tampa Bay Lightning 4-5 - 03/07

Alex Killorn, Victor Hedman and Brian Boyle scored third-period goals to lift the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 5-4 come-from-behind win against the Dallas Stars at Amalie Arena on Saturday. Hedman put the Lightning ahead to stay at 5:31 when he sent a wrist shot past Stars goalie Jhonas Enroth off a pass from Tyler Johnson to make it 4-3. Dallas failed to clear the zone during a line change, giving Tampa Bay a 3-on-2 opportunity, and Hedman capitalized with his ninth goal. Boyle's shorthanded goal into an empty net with 24 seconds remaining gave the Lightning a 5-3 lead and proved to be the game-winner. Stars center Vernon Fiddler scored his second goal of the game from just in front of Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy to make it 5-4 with 2.6 seconds remaining. The puck went in off Fiddler's skate, and video review upheld the referee's call on the ice that it was a goal. Killorn tied the game 3-3 at 3:40 of the third with his 14th goal. He took a centering pass from Ryan Callahan and beat Enroth high on the glove side. Anton Stralman and Nikita Kucherov each scored in the first period for the Lightning, whose 26th home win set a Tampa Bay record. The Lightning (41-20-6) have won three in a row. They kept pace with the Montreal Canadiens, who defeated the Coyotes 2-0 on Saturday and lead Tampa Bay by two points for first place in the Atlantic Division. The Stars (29-27-10) took a 3-2 lead in the second period, when they got goals from Tyler Seguin and Fiddler, but they couldn't hold on for the win. Seguin returned after missing 10 games because of a sprained MCL in his right knee. He tied the game 2-2 at 3:52 of the second with his 31st goal off a centering pass from John Klingberg, who was injured later in the period. Seguin also scored a power-play goal in the first period. Fiddler gave the Stars a 3-2 lead at 11:03 of the second on a slap shot from the top of the point with Patrick Eaves providing a perfect screen on Vasilevskiy. The Lightning took a 1-0 lead at 12:59 of the first period when Stralman scored his sixth goal. Ondrej Palat passed the puck to Stralman at the top of the point, and the defenseman took a slap shot that appeared to bounce off the Stars' Patrik Nemeth and Shawn Horcoff before getting past Enroth. Kucherov scored his 25th goal at 15:52 of the first period off assists by Palat and Braydon Coburn. It was Coburn's first point with the Lightning since being acquired in a trade with the Philadelphia Flyers last Monday.

Stars Quotes

Lindy Ruff: "I think we had opportunities; we had three Grade A ones and we haven't been able to put it in the back of the basket. We've hit posts, we've hit goaltenders … it's tough. We put a lot of effort into this game tonight. We were down to five [defensemen] when Klingberg went down. Hopefully that's not too serious. Maybe a tough change hurt us. We knew they were going to generate some opportunities. We generated our fair share too. Both teams' speed created turnovers. They finished on a couple of ours, and we had the point-blank opportunities and didn't finish."
Tyler Seguin: "Same story. … We can talk as much as we want but … you [can't] give away wins, and that's what we did again tonight. It's on all of us in here. There aren't any excuses for it. It's just tough to swallow. I worked really hard to get back in the lineup and I was happy to be out there. But even with two goals, it doesn't matter without getting the win."
Jamie Benn: "We turned the pucks over, and they took advantage of their opportunities. They have such good offensive power and they showed it tonight."

St Louis Blues @ Toronto Maple Leafs 6-1 - 03/07

Six players scored for the St. Louis Blues in a 6-1 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Air Canada Centre on Saturday. The Blues (41-19-5), who had lost two in a row, picked up seven of a possible 10 points during a five-game road trip. Jaden Schwartz scored at 14:49 of the first period when he broke into the Toronto zone on the right side, used Maple Leafs defenseman Eric Brewer as a screen, and put a sharp-angle shot off the far post behind goaltender Jonathan Bernier. It was Schwartz's 22nd goal of the season. T.J. Oshie made it 2-0 1:41 later when he snapped a backhand high past Bernier for his 17th goal of the season. Blues leading scorer Vladimir Tarasenko added to his total with his 32nd goal at 19:45 on a play that was similar to Schwartz's. Tarasenko used Toronto defenseman Morgan Rielly as a screen and snapped a shot off the far post from the right side. The Blues were penalized for too many men on the ice at 9:08 of the second period and responded with a shorthanded goal. After a Maple Leafs icing, defenseman Chris Butler's slap shot from the right point hit the stick of Toronto center Peter Holland and flew high into the goal behind Reimer at 11:07. It was Butler's third goal of the season. With Toronto's David Booth off for hooking, St. Louis made it 5-0 at 13:36 when Paul Stastny cut to the slot and shot past Reimer for his 13th goal of the season. Booth spoiled Elliott's shutout at 2:59 of the third period when he tipped a pass from defenseman Jake Gardiner high into the net. It was Booth's third goal of the season and second in as many games. The Blues got that goal back at 10:36 when captain David Backes' pass attempt hit the skate of former Blues defenseman Roman Polak and deflected past Reimer. It was Backes' 22nd goal. Jori Lehtera and Alexander Steen of the Blues each had three assists. Goalie Brian Elliott made 23 saves. Toronto (26-35-5) lost its second in a row. The Maple Leafs were outshot 17-5 in the first period and didn't get their first shot on goal until 10:58. James Reimer replaced Bernier at the start of the second period. The Blues host the Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday, when the Maple Leafs host the New York Islanders.

Blues Quotes

Ken Hitchcock: "I liked the way we played tonight. We have played some of our best hockey recently and not gotten points, so it was nice to play some good hockey and get points. There was a little bit of a lull at the start of the third period, but for the most part I thought we kept our foot on the gas for most of the game and made them defend for more than they wanted to. You don't want to give those guys that shot from the top of the circle. They can both score from distance and it's accurate. Both Schwartz and Tarasenko use screens as well as anyone in the NHL."

Penalties

1st Period
11:01 TOR	Zach Sill  Fighting (maj) against  Steve Ott
11:01 STL	Steve Ott  Fighting (maj) against  Zach Sill
12:18 STL	Jori Lehtera  Hooking against  Peter Holland
17:35 TOR	David Booth  Hooking against  Alexander Steen
20:00 TOR	Joffrey Lupul  Roughing against  Chris Butler
2nd Period
04:47 STL	David Backes  Roughing against  Dion Phaneuf
04:47 TOR	Dion Phaneuf  Roughing against  David Backes
09:08 STL	Ryan Reaves  Too many men/ice - bench
12:02 TOR	David Booth  Hooking against  Jaden Schwartz
15:38 STL	Alex Pietrangelo  Cross checking against  Richard Panik
15:38 TOR	Richard Panik  Roughing against  Alex Pietrangelo
15:38 STL	Alex Pietrangelo  Roughing against  Richard Panik
19:38 STL	Robert Bortuzzo  Interference against  Nazem Kadri
3rd Period
04:07 TOR	Eric Brewer  Delaying Game-Puck over glass
06:03 STL	David Backes  Hi-sticking against  Tim Erixon
14:39 STL	Ryan Reaves  Roughing against  Roman Polak
14:39 TOR	Roman Polak  Misconduct (10 min)
14:39 TOR	Roman Polak  Roughing against  Ryan Reaves

NHL Results - Sat, Mar 07, 2015

Philadelphia @ Boston 2-3 - The Odious Brad Marchand scored the tying goal with 15 seconds left during a 6-on-4 in the third period and the game-winner with 1:08 remaining in overtime to give the Bruins a 3-2 win. The Flyers took the lead on a goal by Chris VandeVelde with 4:30 left in the third period. Marchand won the game with his 21st goal. He received a pass at the Philadelphia blue line from Maxime Talbot and cut to the middle on his backhand. The shot deflected off the skate of Michael Del Zotto and fluttered past goaltender Steve Mason. The Flyers couldn't keep the Bruins from tying the game with Wayne Simmonds in the box for tripping Daniel Paille with 2:03 left in the third. The Flyers survived most of it until there was a whistle with 19 seconds left. Julien opted to stick with the same six skaters, and Patrice Bergeron won a faceoff at the right dot. Defenseman Dougie Hamilton took a wrist shot from the right point that went off Marchand's stick and past Mason to tie it 2-2. Zdeno Chara's wrist shot from the left point eluded traffic, including Bergeron, in front of Mason and landed in the back of the net during a power play at 7:07 of the first period. Philadelphia tied it 1-1 with a power-play goal in the second period. Claude Giroux's shot from the left circle was blocked and deflected to Voracek at the right dot for a wrist shot that beat Rask into the top left corner at 9:45. Philadelphia took advantage of a Boston icing to take the lead. Defenseman Nick Schultz's wrist shot from the left point was deflected by VandeVelde in front and trickled through Rask at 15:30 to put the Flyers ahead 2-1.
NY Islanders @ Florida 3-4 - Huberdeau scored the only goal in the shootout and Ellis, making his second start because of the injuries to Roberto Luongo and Al Montoya, stopped Frans Nielsen, John Tavares and Josh Bailey to help the Panthers to a 4-3 win. Tavares scored against Ellis on a breakaway in the second period. Before his shootout goal, Huberdeau had a spectacular goal in the third period, his second in two games after an 18-game drought. Huberdeau broke a 2-2 tie at 9:26 of the third period with a spectacular goal. He took a pass from Aleksander Barkov down the left wing, skated toward the middle of the ice, then did a 360-degree turn before sending a shot along the ice off the left post. Bailey made it 3-3 at 12:48 of the third with a one-timer off Tavares' backhand feed that beat Ellis high to the glove side. Gudbranson ended his drought Saturday with the only goal in the first period. His low wrist shot from the point appeared to bounce off the skate of Islanders forward Casey Cizikas and trickled through Neuvirth's pads. Tavares tied the game on a breakaway at 4:39 of the second period after Anders Lee tipped a cross-ice pass in the neutral zone. Tavares beat Ellis with a backhand after a series of quick dekes. Lee extended his point streak to four games (two goals, two assists). Bjugstad, whose errant pass led to Tavares' goal, gave Florida the lead again at 8:20 with a high backhand from close range after taking a slick pass from Jussi Jokinen.
Buffalo @ Washington 1-6 - The Sabres took an early 1-0 lead on Larsson's second goal of the season. After the Sabres won an offensive-zone faceoff, Larsson slipped into the slot, where Marcus Foligno found him for a wide-open wrist shot at 2:35. Glencross tied the game on a similar play at 5:15, establishing position in the slot and beating Hackett with a wrist shot set up by a Mike Green pass from below the goal line. The Capitals took control of the game in the second period, scoring three times on a season-high 23 shots to take a 4-1 lead, beginning with Beagle's career-high 10th goal at 5:27. Beagle set up Troy Brouwer for a shot, curling around the net to score on the rebound. With Washington on the power play, Ovechkin took a wrist shot from the left circle which eluded Hackett for his 20th power-play goal of the season at 9:31. Laich broke a 26-game goalless drought at 13:53, scoring for the first time in two months when Tom Wilson intercepted a Buffalo clearing attempt and fed him in the high slot. Lindback, who replaced Hackett in the second period after he allowed four goals on 23 shots following Laich's goal, prevented the Sabres from falling further behind, stopping Ovechkin on a penalty shot and a Washington flurry within the final minute of the period. In the third period, Ward scored on the power play at 3:41, stuffing in a pass from Glencross in the crease. Johansson scored from in tight at 17:01 for Washington.
Colorado @ Columbus 4-0 - Nathan MacKinnon has 14 goals and 38 points this season. He is one of eight Colorado players who is injured. Colorado took a 2-0 lead on two power-play goals in the opening 3:51 by Jarome Iginla and Gabriel Landeskog. Matt Duchesne later scored on a breakaway to make it 3-0. Alex Tanguay scored in the third period and had an assist on the first goal. Iginla scored 21st goal at 2:05 from a pass from Barrie with the Avalanche on a 5-on-3 power play. The goal was his 1,211th NHL point, breaking a tie with Bobby Clarke for 43rd on the all-time scoring list. Barrie had the secondary assist on the second goal, getting the pass to Ryan O'Reilly before he fed Landeskog at the side of the net. Landeskog wrapped the puck around Blue Jackets goalie Curtis McElhinney. Landeskog, who has 18 goals, has eight of them and five assists in the past 11 games. The Blue Jackets settled down and were winning the possession game when Scott Hartnell made a turnover after being pressured by Iginla and Duchene converted for his 17th goal at 9:14.
Tanguay made it 4-0 at 9:23 of the third period after taking a long pass from Barrie. Tanguay has 17 goals.
Winnipeg @ Nashville 3-1 - Winnipeg took the lead at 10:52 of the second period on a goal by Blake Wheeler, and Hutchinson made several key saves to help the Jets hold on for the win. The Jets played without Dustin Byfuglien and Bryan Little after each sustained an injury on Wednesday. Michael Frolik scored his 15th goal to give the Jets a 1-0 lead at 14:54 of the first period on a one-timer next to the crease that beat Rinne. Andrew Ladd made a move to get around Nashville Seth Jones and passed it to Frolik. Ryan Ellis tied the game 1-1 at 10:17 of the second period on a wrist shot from the point. Ellis' shot hit a Winnipeg player in front, changed directions and went past Hutchinson for his sixth goal. Wheeler put the Jets back in front 35 seconds after Ellis' had tied it. He scored on a rebound given up by Rinne, who made 23 saves. Tyler Myers took the original shot, and the rebound went straight to Wheeler, who shot it in the wide-open net for his 18th goal. Drew Stafford's empty-net goal with 49.9 seconds remaining made it 3-1. Nashville initially pulled Rinne with 3:12 remaining in regulation, but Winnipeg was able to prevent them from sustaining pressure in the offensive zone. Cody Franson left the game with an apparent injury at 15:04 of the second period but returned for the start of the third. Hutchinson lost his helmet when he took a hard hit in the first period from Predators forward Gabriel Bourque, who was shoved into the Nashville goalie by Winnipeg forward Adam Lowry.
Montreal @ Phoenix 2-0 - Lars Eller scored the only goal Price needed 14:48 into the second period, on a nice drop pass from Devante Smith-Pelly. Brendan Gallagher scored his 19th of the season, into an empty net, with 1.5 seconds left. It was the 24th time this season that Price has held a team to two goals or fewer, also tops in the League. The shutout was the 32nd of his career. The Coyotes had several chances in the third period, but Tobias Rieder sailed one over the net, Shane Doan - Price's cousin - clanged a shot off the short-side post and Price made 13 other saves to turn away the offensively challenged Coyotes. But while the Coyotes played better in the second period, the Canadiens kept up the offensive pressure and finally broke through. Smith-Pelly left a drop pass to Eller, who whirled toward the net with traffic in front of him and swept a hard shot that slipped between Smith's pads at 14:48. The Coyotes pressured hard to tie the game in the third period. With 17:25 left, Price made an excellent pad save on David Moss. The puck popped up on Price's pad, and replays showed Price and the pad were pushed across the goal line by Craig Cunningham.

Pittsburgh Penguins @ Anaheim Sucks 5-2 - 03/06

There is a recurring theme when Patric Hornqvist plays the Anaheim Ducks. He gets bounces. The puck finds the net more often. Even Hornqvist chalks up his success against the Ducks to being fortunate. Hornqvist scored two goals and goalie Thomas Greiss made 27 saves to lead the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 5-2 victory against Anaheim at Honda Center on Friday. Hornqvist, who tormented Anaheim when he was with the Nashville Predators, has 10 goals in 21 career games against the Ducks. He scored his 20th and 21st goals of the season during a three-goal second period by the Penguins (37-18-9), who began the California portion of a four-game trip with a win against the best team in the Western Conference. Greiss got his first career win (1-3-2) against Anaheim; the Penguins will go for back-to-back wins with goalie Marc-Andre Fleury on Saturday against the Los Angeles Kings. Pittsburgh knew it was important to respond after the loss to Colorado. The Penguins swept the season series against Anaheim. The Ducks (42-18-7) did little offensively until a late surge that produced Tomas Fleischmann's first goal as a Duck and Corey Perry's 28th goal. Anaheim goalie Frederik Andersen allowed four goals on 20 shots. The loss ended Anaheim's four-game winning streak. Hornqvist tipped in Ian Cole's point shot for a power-play goal at 18:57 of the second period. The goal came four seconds after the expiration of a slashing penalty to Ducks defenseman Simon Despres, playing his first game against his former Penguins teammates. Hornqvist's first goal of the night and 20th of the season came on a clever bank shot off Andersen from the right side of the net at 11:53. Hornqvist now has five 20-goal seasons. Blake Comeau began the scoring by beating Andersen with a 50-foot slap shot to the glove side at 9:51 of the second. Andersen twice had the puck take strange caroms off the boards and nearly go into his net on a night of odd bounces for both teams. He was credited with three giveaways. Evgeni Malkin took a shot that went off Andersen and trickled into the net at 2:03 of the third for a 4-0 lead. After the goals by Fleischmann and Perry cut the Ducks' deficit to two, Anaheim coach Bruce Boudreau pulled Andersen in the final minutes, but Sidney Crosby hit the empty net with 11 seconds remaining for his 21st of the season. The Ducks went 0-for-3 on the power play and are scoreless in their past 17 power plays at home. Their last goal with the man advantage in Anaheim was Feb. 3. This is related to injured defenseman Sami Vatanen, the quarterback on their power play who has been out since Feb. 18. Anaheim has gone 1-for-13 in his absence. Boudreau also pointed to the lack of power plays. The Ducks' three power plays were as many as they had in their four previous games combined. Pittsburgh defenseman Ben Lovejoy made his first appearance at Honda Center since he was traded for Despres on Monday. He said he got a little emotional during the ride to the arena from his former home.

Pens Quotes

Patric Hornqvist: "Puck luck in front of the net. I try to go there and it seems like I get opportunities to score against Anaheim. It's just luck. It means a lot, at least on the road. We didn't play good against [the] Colorado [Avalanche, a 3-1 loss on Wednesday], and then we come with a big win here. A good team effort. We know we can beat anyone. Now we just have to get hot."
Mike Johnston: "You always like the way your team rebounds. If they're in a situation where you haven't played your best game, to come out and play a better game, especially against a top team, that's a good sign for our group."
Ben Lovejoy: "The driver was a bit weirded out. I felt like I got it out then and was able to come in with so much energy and adrenaline. It was so fun to be a part of. I'm so glad my new team won. This was such a special place for me. I was so proud to be a Duck. I'm lucky that my new team is very good and a group that I'm very comfortable with and hopefully can fit right back in with."

NHL Results - Fri, Mar 06, 2015

Columbus @ New Jersey 3-2 - 6:41 into the first period. Falk took a pass from Dubinsky and sent a wrist shot from the left point on net, which appeared to be deflected past Devils goalie Cory Schneider. Dubinsky scored at 2:24 of the second period to give Columbus a 2-0 lead. Patrik Elias turned over the puck at his blue line to Nick Foligno, who passed to Dubinsky, who took a wrist shot from inside the right point. Jordin Tootoo got the Devils within 2-1 at 5:54 of the second period with a power-play goal. His seventh of the season came off a feed from Adam Henrique, who from the trapezoid passed the puck through his legs into the slot, where Tootoo scored on a wrist shot. Mark Dano gave Columbus a 3-1 lead at 9:14. His shot from outside the right point went above the glove of Schneider and into the right corner of the net for his fourth goal. New Jersey scored at 6:36 of the third period when Peter Harrold skated by two Columbus defenders and his wrist shot from in close went over Bobrovsky's glove for his third of the season. Minutes later, Adam Larsson's shot from the blue line was deflected by Jacob Josefson, who thought he scored, but the puck hit the right post. Mike Cammalleri's last-second shot went into the net but was ruled no goal because it occurred after the horn sounded to end the game.
Minnesota @ Carolina 3-1 - The Wild scored at 11:00 of the first period, three seconds after the expiration of a Carolina bench minor for too many men on the ice. All five Minnesota skaters touched the puck before Nino Niederreiter made a cross-ice pass to Coyle, who scored over Anton Khudobin's glove for his eighth goal. The Wild nearly took a two-goal lead late in the first when Chris Stewart pulled Khudobin out of position but slipped his backhand shot wide. Dubnyk made tough saves on Riley Nash and Justin Faulk before Nash tied the game 1-1 at 15:18 with his eighth goal. Jeff Skinner carried the puck through the neutral zone on a 2-on-1 before Nash took a pass and beat Dubnyk with a low shot. Carolina outshot Minnesota 16-4. The Wild quickly made the most of their opportunities. Granlund gave Minnesota a 2-1 lead at 4:22 of the third period with his seventh goal. He patiently held the puck in the left circle before centering a pass that deflected off the skate of Chris Terry into the net. Less than two minutes later, the Wild capitalized on a Hurricanes turnover. Jason Pominville jumped on Ron Hainsey's errant pass and got off a shot against Khudobin. The rebound came to Parise, who scored his team-leading 26th goal at 6:18. Pominville also assisted on Granlund's goal.
Buffalo @ Ottawa 2-3 - The Sabres took a 2-0 lead in the first period when Philip Varone and Tyler Ennis scored, but the Senators took advantage of Buffalo's inexperienced defense and came back when Erik Karlsson scored early in the second period, and Mika Zibanejad and Mark Stone scored early in the third. Zibanejad and Stone scored 1:34 apart early in the third period. Zibanejad worked a give-and-go with Bobby Ryan in the left-wing circle, fighting off a check from Buffalo defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen to score on Ryan’s return pass at 1:34. Stone gave the Senators the lead with his 16th goal at 3:08 when he jumped into the crease to score on a rebound after a Milan Michalek wraparound. The Senators made it 2-1 26 seconds into the second period when Karlsson scored his 16th goal. Buffalo had a couple of chances to get control of a puck that was going back and forth along the end boards before it went out to Karlsson at the right point. Karlsson’s wrist shot made it to the edge of the crease where it bounced off the leg of Sabres defenseman Zach Bogosian and into the net to the right of Lindback. Varone was leading Rochester in scoring when he was recalled by the Sabres for the third time this season Feb. 26. He showed some speed on his goal, chasing down a puck that was chipped toward the Ottawa goal and beating Hammond and Senators defenseman Marc Methot to the puck. As Hammond attempted to swipe it away, Varone got his stick on the puck first and knocked it into the net at 7:22 of the first period. Ennis took advantage of a screen to put the puck behind Hammond at 16:32 of the first period.
Calgary @ Detroit 5-2 - Jiri Hudler's first goal, with 6:50 left in the second period, broke a 2-2 tie. He scored on a wrist shot from the bottom of the right circle, between the legs of defenseman Niklas Kronwall, that beat goalie Jimmy Howard high on the long side. It came after Hudler carried the puck from inside the blue line and was unchallenged when he got into the circle. Hudler's second goal, his 23rd of the season, was into an empty net with 1:06 remaining. Stajan tied it 2-2 at 6:05 of the second period with his fifth goal. He beat Howard with a one-timer from the top of the left circle after the puck caromed off the end boards. Raymond scored 1:50 into the third period to make it 4-2. Howard got a piece of the shot from the left circle but not enough of it. Abdelkader gave Detroit a 2-0 lead less than nine minutes into the game. He scored on a breakaway at 3:05, beating Hiller high to the glove (right-hand) side. Abdelkader was sprung by a one-time, headman pass from Henrik Zetterberg from the corner in the Red Wings zone. Abdelkader's power-play goal at 8:12 made it 2-0. He tipped in a pass from Zetterberg for his 16th goal. Monahan's power-play goal with 9:33 left in the first period started Calgary's scoring. He picked up a rebound, moved across the top of the crease to put Howard out of position, and shot through the legs of Kronwall, who was trying to block the shot in the crease.
Edmonton @ Chicago 1-2 - Vermette's goal in the third round of a shootout gave the Blackhawks a 2-1 victory. After heeding some advice from Chicago captain Jonathan Toews, Vermette tucked the puck between the pads of goalie Ben Scrivens to end the game. Toews told him about the five-hole being open, and that's all it took for Vermette to help erase a night when the Blackhawks were outplayed for long stretches. Corey Crawford made a career-high 46 saves through overtime and denied all three Edmonton shooters in the tiebreaker. Toews and left wing Patrick Sharp were denied by Scrivens in the first two rounds before Vermette's goal. The Blackhawks got their goal at 13:58 of the third, when Brent Seabrook scored his eighth of the season on a slap shot from the blue line that puck sailed past three Edmonton players in the slot who screened their own goalie. The Oilers carried the play to the Blackhawks in the first by carrying the puck for most of the period. They took a 1-0 lead on Roy's goal, outshot Chicago 18-12 and would have led by more if not for Crawford.
The lone power play of the opening period belonged to the Blackhawks, and it was symbolic of how things went for them during much of the opening 20 minutes. They didn't get a shot on goal and allowed Edmonton to two shots while shorthanded. Roy's goal rewarded the Oilers' hard work in the offensive zone, after right wing Nail Yakupov beat Blackhawks defenseman Duncan Keith in a puck battle behind the net and sent a feed to the low slot. Roy got to the puck first, wheeled and fired into a wide opening behind Crawford for his seventh goal.