NHL - Central - Thursday, October 15, 2015

Nashville @ NY Islanders 3-4
Nikolay Kulemin broke a third-period tie, one of four straight goals scored by the Islanders in a 4-3 win at Barclays Center. Brock Nelson's shot was wide of the net, but the rebound came right to Kulemin, who scored at 6:42 to give the Islanders a 3-2 lead. The Islanders trailed 2-0 but won their second straight game at home after losing their opener in Brooklyn. Nashville outshot New York 17-7 in the first period, when the Predators took a 1-0 lead. Greiss stopped a shot by forward Cody Hodgson, but Austin Watson ricocheted the puck off Greiss' pad through the crease and it was knocked in by Islanders defenseman Marek Zidlicky at 2:14. The Predators led 2-0 4:22 into the second period after a net-mouth scramble. James Neal took a shot from the slot that was stopped by Greiss, but it went behind him and Tavares saved it from going past the goal line. Filip Forsberg got possession of the puck and scored. The Islanders scored 41 seconds later when Tavares skated behind the net and threw a pass across the goal mouth that Anders Lee tapped in. Tavares, who had a goal and an assist, and has six points in four games, made it 4-2 at 11:49 of the third period. Neal scored on a tip in of a one-timer on a shot by Forsberg at 14:36 to get the Predators within 4-3. The Islanders challenged the play, saying Greiss was interfered with, but the goal stood. Kyle Okposo tied the game 2-2 with a wrist shot from the right circle at 11:56 of the second period with the teams skating 4-on-4 because Tavares and Forsberg were in the box for roughing. Nashville goalie Pekka Rinne made 24 saves; he had allowed two goals in the previous three games.
Peter Laviolette: "It was our best game of the year by a mile. Worst result of the year. Just a couple good bounces for them. Tough ending, tough result."
Shea Weber: "That's probably the best game of the four [we have played]. The [Islanders] capitalized on their chances."

Chicago @ Washington Capitals 1-4
T.J. Oshie, Alex Ovechkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov combined for five points in the Capitals' 4-1 victory against the Blackhawks at Verizon Center. Oshie, who opened the scoring in the first period, was relieved to get his first goal with the Capitals after being acquired from the St. Louis Blues in the offseason. The Capitals bounced back from a 5-0 loss to the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday, with Ovechkin returning to the lineup after he was benched against San Jose for missing the morning skate. Coach Barry Trotz was pleased with the production of his top line; their performance against the Blackhawks was exactly what the Capitals envisioned when they traded for Oshie. Ovechkin and defensemen John Carlson and Matt Niskanen also scored for the Capitals (2-1-0). Washington goalie Braden Holtby made 26 saves in his third start of the season. Kuznetsov and Marcus Johansson each had two assists. Defenseman Viktor Svedberg scored for the Blackhawks.
Reunited with Ovechkin on the top line, Oshie scored on the power play at 8:48 of the first period to give the Capitals a 1-0 lead. Kuznetsov sent the puck to the high slot, where Oshie scored over Blackhawks goalie Scott Darling's right shoulder. The goal broke Oshie's 13-game scoring drought; his previous goal was March 15 with the Blues. Carlson scored at 3:09 of the second period for a 2-0 Washington lead. Stanislav Galiev's pass nearly went over the blue line, but Carlson stopped it at the point, spun around and sent a slap shot over Darling's right shoulder for first goal of the season. Niskanen put the Capitals ahead by three at 2:32 of the third period, but Svedberg scored 41 seconds later to make it 3-1. Ovechkin scored off a feed from Kuznetsov at 14:18 of the third period to make it 4-1, and has three points in his past two games.
Each team made changes to its lineup after being shut out in its previous game.
Defenseman Nate Schmidt and forward Michael Latta were scratched for the Capitals. Defenseman Taylor Chorney made his season debut, and forward Chandler Stephenson, recalled from Hershey of the American Hockey League on Thursday, played his first NHL game. The Blackhawks scratched Ryan Garbutt and David Rundblad, and forward Kyle Baun made his season debut. Chicago coach Joel Quenneville saw some improvement in Washington compared to the 3-0 loss at the Philadelphia Flyers. The Capitals limited the Blackhawks to five shots on goal in the third period, two in the final 9:59 of the game. Kuznetsov played in his 100th career NHL game for the Capitals. Darling made 20 saves in his second start of the season.
Joel Quenneville: "Tonight was much better than last night. Last night, I didn't like it at all. Tonight, we had some good opportunities and had some zone time and had some good looks. So, it was one of those nights if you get one earlier in the game, it might have helped us."
Marcus Kruger: "I mean, we're not happy with how we played the last few games. First, we've got to try to find ways [to score], and that's usually [what] we do. So, let's see how it is, and all of us got to be better and take responsibility."


T.J. Oshie: "Those guys have been feeding me the puck left and right it seems like, and I haven't been able to put any in. It wasn't clean, but it found the back of the net. I'm so happy with it. I think a big part of that is I sort of settled down a little bit and started getting a little bit more comfortable and just playing hockey. It's definitely a starting point for us to build on. No game's ever going to be perfect, but tonight was a step in the right direction."
Alex Ovechkin: "We just wanted to come out hard and set the tone right away. I think the first period was a good example how we have to play; get the puck deep and finish our checks."
Minnesota @ Phoenix Coyotes 4-3
Zach Parise scores and the Wild win. So far, the formula is working pretty well.
Parise scored his NHL-leading fifth goal and the Wild stayed perfect with their third win in as many games, a 4-3 victory against the previously unbeaten Coyotes. Parise also had his first assist of the season as the Wild built a 4-1 lead in the second period, then held on through a penalty-plagued final 25 minutes as the Coyotes chipped away but couldn't complete the comeback. Playing in Arizona for the first time since being traded by the Coyotes in January, Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk made 22 saves and handed his old team its first loss in four games this season. It was his 100th NHL win. Thomas Vanek, Mikko Koivu and Mikael Granlund also scored for the Wild, who have scored 12 goals in victories against the Colorado Avalanche, St. Louis Blues and Coyotes.
Rookies Anthony Duclair and Max Domi continued their red-hot starts with a goal each for the Coyotes. Michael Stone made it a one-goal game by knocking a rebound past Dubnyk with 4:48 to play. But Phoenix failed to score on seven power-play chances, four of them in the third period. Of the 13 goals scored by Phoenix in four games this season, eight have been scored by rookies; four by Duclair, three by Domi and one by forward Jordan Martinook. Mike Smith was pulled in the second period after allowing three goals on 17 shots. Smith had allowed two goals on 106 shots in the first three games, all wins in which the Coyotes never trailed, and had killed all 10 opposing power plays. All that changed in a 58-second span of the first period.
With Boyd Gordon the penalty box for tripping, Jason Pominville deflected Ryan Suter's shot from the point over the net. But the puck caromed hard off the boards and into the right circle, where Parise was waiting, and he beat Smith with a backhander at 9:22. Parise, who had a hat trick against the Avalanche to open the season and a goal against the St. Louis Blues on Saturday, is well ahead of his 33-goal pace last season. At 10:20, Vanek took a Justin Fontaine pass on the rush down the right side and beat Smith high with a high wrist shot that went between the goaltender's shoulder and the near post. Vanek's second goal of the season capped a strong first period for the Wild, who drew three penalties and put 12 shots on Smith.
Koivu made 3-0 at 7:07, finishing off a Jason Zucker pass on a shorthanded break. Duclair got Phoenix going, converting a pretty cross-ice, backhand pass from Domi at 12:13. But Granlund, set up by Parise, answered 22 seconds later to make it 4-1. Domi made it 4-2 at 19:50 on a superb individual play, winning a puck battle with Minnesota defenseman Jared Spurgeon on the fly before beating Dubnyk between the pads from the slot. Dubnyk was impressed with Duclair, as well as with Domi, who he played with in training camp last fall.
Phoenix moved within a goal late in the third when Stone cleaned up the rebound of a Shane 'Cheap Shot' Doan shot just outside the crease. The assist leaves Doan one shy of 900 NHL points. The Coyotes lost center Antoine Vermette to a lower-body injury in the second period; he did not return.
Zach Parise: "We had a really good start to the game, but as the game went on they got a little better and we got a little sloppier."
Devan Dubnyk: "I forgot about that [a victory on his return to Phoenix], kind of on purpose. It's a big one; that's a lot of wins and this team has been an important part of that. I'll remember it and it was nice to get it here where I have good memories. Hopefully there are a lot more to come. I was surprised last year when they sent down Domi, but obviously there was a plan there and it was probably a good one with the [junior] season he had. That first goal (the pass to Duclair and the finish by Domi) was pretty ridiculous. Those guys are going to be pretty exciting in this building."
Mike Yeo: "Most of two periods looked like the way we should be playing. It's nice that we're (3-0-0), but we're still short of playing a 60-minute game so far. In the second half of the second period, the focus was a little bit more on scoring the next goal than playing the game the right way. That's how we built the lead but then we lost our focus."