Colorado Avalanche @ Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1
Semyon Varlamov made 34 saves to lead the Avalanche to a 2-1 win against the Lightning at Amalie Arena. Alex Tanguay and Nathan MacKinnon scored goals for Colorado. Alex Killorn had the lone goal for Tampa Bay. The Lightning are 0-2-1 in the past three games and have scored one goal during that span.
Avalanche coach Patrick Roy moved Tanguay and MacKinnon to Jarome Iginla's line after a 4-1 loss to the Florida Panthers on Tuesday. The move paid off as the line was responsible for all of Colorado's offense.
The Avalanche took a 1-0 lead with 4:03 remaining in the first period when Tanguay scored his first goal of the season. The goal was allowed after a video review determined that Tanguay's shot crossed the goal line past the pads of Lightning goalie Ben Bishop. MacKinnon made it 2-0 at 13:04 of the second period with his fourth goal of the season. As the Avalanche crashed the net, Iginla's shot hit Bishop's pad and landed on the stick of MacKinnon, who fired home the rebound. Iginla had two assists, giving him 1,233 career points. He moved past Phil Housley into 38th place on the NHL's all-time scoring list.
Tampa Bay, which was shut out by the Chicago Blackhawks and St. Louis Blues in the final two games of a road trip, ended its goal drought at 156:03 when Killorn scored at 15:46 of the second period on a power play. Varlamov made a save on a wrist shot from Victor Hedman in the left circle, but Killorn controlled the rebound and hit a wide-open net. The Lightning outshot Colorado 13-5 in the third period and peppered Varlamov with shots in the final five minutes but couldn't score. Ondrej Palat had a good look at an open net with less than 20 seconds left but Varlamov reached out with his stick and knocked the puck away. Roy said Varlamov would play Friday when the Avalanche visit the Carolina Hurricanes. Bishop finished with 24 saves. Lightning forward Jonathan Drouin was a late scratch with a lower-body injury, and coach Jon Cooper said he is day-to-day. Varlamov also stopped a shorthanded breakaway attempt by Palat earlier in the period.
Nathan MacKinnon: "We all can score, it's a good mix, we seem to mesh very pretty well. I thought we controlled the play and were good defensively. Definitely a lot of positives. I was talking to [Iginla] and we wanted some ugly [goals] today and we both got ugly ones and those feel great. It feels like those goals are sustainable."
Alex Tanguay: "We played a good, solid game 5-on-5, I think they only scored on the power play. We'll take the two points; it's two points we desperately need right now. We have to continue to play with that same urgency. We have to want the puck and want to make plays with it and hopefully bounces will come our way."
Semyon Varlamov: "I felt good today. [This] was an important game. It was a huge game for us because we need to bring confidence back to the team."
Alex Killorn: "We scored one but it seems like we've had a ton of chances. Their goalie played well. That's the way things have been going lately, we just have to get over this hump. There's ebbs and flows during the season. It's too bad that a goal drought happens early on but we've been through this before."
Ryan Callahan: "I thought out of the last three games that was our best game chances wise, we had a lot of opportunities. [We had a] bunch of 2-on-1s, couple posts, couple breakaways. We created a lot more opportunities and it's going to come when you're having that many chances."
Chicago Blackhawks @ Winnipeg Jets 1-3
The last thing the Blackhawks wanted to see was Michael Hutchison in goal for the Jets. Hutchinson made a career-high 45 saves to help the Jets complete their six-game homestand with a 3-1 win against the Blackhawks. Winnipeg's Blake Wheeler, Andrew Ladd and Mark Scheifele scored, and Bryan Little had two assists. The Jets, who went 3-2-1 on their homestand, will play eight of their next nine games on the road. A four-game trip begins Saturday against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Chicago's four-game winning streak came to an end. The Blackhawks finish a two-game trip Friday against the Minnesota Wild. Patrick Kane scored on a power play for the Blackhawks, and goalie Corey Crawford made 28 saves in his fifth consecutive start. Kane's sixth goal, a one-timer off Artemi Panarin's cross-ice feed to the right circle past Hutchinson 1:26 into the game, gave the Blackhawks early momentum. Wheeler's fifth goal, a snap shot past Crawford's left glove at 8:12 halted Chicago's quick beginning and ended Crawford's shutout streak at 141:33.
Winnipeg took their first lead 5:09 into the second period on Ladd's third goal when he finished Little's rebound on the power play. Scheifele's fourth goal on a wrist shot with 11:56 left in the third period made it 3-1. Hutchinson went 12 days between starts at one point this month, but he has started two of the past three games, winning each. Chicago had the first six shots and the final six shots, but scoring continues to be an issue. The Blackhawks are tied for 26th in the NHL at 2.00 goals per game. Chicago has gone 235:08 without a 5-on-5 goal, dating to Oct. 22 when Artem Anisimov scored in the first period of a 3-2 home win against the Florida Panthers. Since Anisimov's goal, the Blackhawks have three power-play goals and two overtime goals over three-plus games. Chicago's 14-shot third period could not break Hutchinson, but Kane said generating shots and creating traffic in front of opponents' nets will continue to be emphasized. For the Jets, the win provides another building block as they prepare to spend most of the first half of November away from home. Michael Hutchinson is 4-0-1 with a .965 save percentage in his career against Chicago.
Joel Quenneville: "I thought we worked hard, but I don't think we played with much of a purpose. [We had] some good looks. We had way more chances than in prior games."
Patrick Kane: "I thought we had a great start to the game, so it's disappointing to get up 1-0, give one back, and then they kind of took the momentum after that. Good start by us, but a disappointing finish. At this point in time, we can do things to try to make it tougher on their goalie. Try to get to the net. Stay at the net. Get shots through. Try to bang in goals that way. Get some dirty goals, because it seems like all of the pretty plays aren't happening for us."
Jonathan Toews: "I think the positive is that we showed quite a few spurts where we were working and had that momentum and were in control of the game. The times where we let up, I think, are the ones that are hurting us. We've got to try to tighten up our game, be more consistent and stay with it. You can't get frustrated. Keep working and eventually pucks will go in. The more that they do (go in), the more confidence we'll get, and it will feed off itself. We want to keep shooting the puck from anywhere and go for those second efforts and rebounds, and that's how we're going to break through."
Michael Hutchinson: "I don't know what it is. It seems like it's one of those teams that is easy to get up against, especially with them being the defending Stanley Cup champions. But our whole team got up for the game. I don't think they like playing us. We play pretty physically against them. It's a full team effort when we play [Chicago]."
Bryan Little: "To end it with a win and beat the Blackhawks, it doesn't get any better."
Andrew Ladd: "The goal is to keep building on what we've established so far," Ladd said. "That's the key to every good team. During those games when the other team is going to push, you need to push back and find a way to carry the play."
Paul Maurice: "What [Hutchinson] has done so well is build a routine for himself that he follows daily. His work ethic never changes. He clearly has had some success there and earned it. He didn't get it easily done [Thursday]. He worked hard for it. They're invested and they're trying to get better. We do some things well, and we've got lots of room to improve.
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