NHL - Central - Tue 13 & Wed 14 October 2015

Tuesday October 13
Nashville @ New Jersey Devils 3-1
Roman Josi scored twice, a power-play goal midway through the first period and a shorthanded, empty-net goal with 2:39 left in the third. Eric Nystrom also scored into an empty net after the Devils had pulled within 2-1 with 1:40 remaining in the third when Kyle Palmieri scored on a power-play deflection with goalie Keith Kinkaid pulled for an extra attacker. The Predators improved to 3-0-0 for the second time in team history and has outscored its three opponents 7-2. They opened the 2005-06 season by going 8-0-0. Josi scored his goal 19 seconds after Cody Hodgson's holding penalty gave the Devils a power play and they pulled Kinkaid for a 6-on-4 advantage. Devils first-year coach John Hynes, who is still seeking his first NHL victory behind the bench, did not regret pulling Kinkaid when his team was given the power play and trailing 1-0 late in the game.
Rinne played in his 384th career game to become the team's all-time leader in games played by a goaltender, breaking a tie with Tomas Vokoun. Rinne also holds team marks in wins (207) and shutouts (37) in his six seasons, all with the Predators. He was the first to admit being the beneficiary of solid defensive play throughout. Whenever New Jersey did gain entry into the Nashville end, it rarely generated quality second-chance attempts; defensemen Josi, Shea Weber, Barret Jackman, Seth Jones, Ryan Ellis and Mattias Ekholm were strong on every loose puck. New Jersey's leading point-producer, Mike Cammalleri (one goal, three points), was held without a shot attempt and center Adam Henrique struggling in the faceoff circle, winning six of 17 draws.
The Devils, who outshot the Predators 23-20, have opened a season with three straight losses (0-3-0) for just the second time in team history; they started 2001-02 by going 0-4-0. The Devils have gone seven straight without a win, dating to the end of the 2014-15 season, and haven't won in regulation since March 20, going 1-10-3 since with one shootout victory. Josi scored his first of the season by firing a slap shot from the top of right circle past Kinkaid at 10:34 of the first period. The puck squeezed between the pads of Kinkaid, who may have overplayed the shot by sliding right-to-left too soon.
Kinkaid, who allowed four goals on 26 shots in a 5-3 loss at the Washington Capitals on Saturday, made 17 saves in his second straight start. Kinkaid, who started two straight games for the first time in his career, played in 19 games last season, including 13 starts. No. 1 goalie Cory Schneider was unavailable after his wife, Jill, gave birth to the couple's first child, a son named Wyatt, early Tuesday morning. The Devils are off until they host the San Jose Sharks on Friday. The game marks the return of former Devils coach Peter DeBoer, who now coaches the Sharks. Pekka Rinne has allowed two goals in the three victories.
Pekka Rinne: "I was just happy to see Eric Nystrom's empty-netter seal the deal. Obviously you never want to give up a goal but at the same time I was just extremely happy about this win. It wasn't the most exciting game, and as players we felt that too. But any time you play a game like that it's going to bother you way more if you come out on the losing side. We have so many good skaters [on defense] and every one of them block shots and have good sticks. It comes down to a lot of things, even with how [the forwards] help out. The biggest thing is guys feel comfortable and feel confident playing together. We communicate a lot on the ice and I think that helps, but overall it's just how good they all are. We're fortunate to have those guys."
Peter Laviolette: "Our goaltending has been really good and our defense has done a good job from the top of the circles down. There hasn't been too many chances where there have been guys uncovered, so I think we're doing a good job of protecting the front of our net and guys are blocking shots and doing the little things in the defensive zone."
Despite the win, Laviolette would like to see a little more out of his offense.
"It's got to get better. In the second period [when the Devils outshot the Predators 6-4] we weren't very good. I thought we were better in the third but there wasn't a lot of room out there either. We're not giving up too much, but we're not creating too much either."

Winnipeg @ NY Rangers 4-1

This was an early-season test at the end of an early-season road trip for the Jets. Better put, it was exactly what Jets coach Paul Maurice wanted for the fourth game of the season. Fresh off a subpar performance one day earlier, the Jets had to step into Madison Square Garden to face the New York Rangers, Presidents' Trophy winners last season and perfect through three games this season. The Jets passed, even if the formula wasn't perfect. Winnipeg defeated the Rangers 4-1 despite being outshot badly for the second straight game and giving New York five power plays in the second period. Jets forward Bryan Little scored two special-teams goals, including a shorthanded goal at 18:49 of the second that turned into the game-winner for Winnipeg, which finished its season-opening trip with a 3-1-0 record. Little also scored a power-play at 10:35 of the third period, rookie forward Nikolaj Ehlers scored his first NHL goal via the power play at 7:31 of the first period, and defenseman Mark Stuart scored an empty-net goal. Goalie Michael Hutchinson made 40 saves for his second win in as many starts.

The Jets were outshot 41-29 by the Rangers after getting outshot 44-24 by the Islanders. They didn't let the shot discrepancy ruin their night in Manhattan the way it did in Brooklyn. Mats Zuccarello scored his third goal in the past three games for the Rangers. Goalie Henrik Lundqvist made 25 saves. The Rangers were 0-for-5 on the power play with the shorthanded goal against, and 3-for-5 on the penalty kill. Little's shorthanded goal not only gave Winnipeg a 2-1 lead after two periods, it gave the Jets life going into the third period, which was clearly their best of the game. The Jets outshot the Rangers 9-8 and forced three penalties, one of which led to Little's power-play goal at 10:35.

The Jets were fortunate to be up 2-1 after two periods because they had to kill off 8:37 in penalties in the second period. The Rangers outshot Winnipeg 20-8 and had a 33-13 edge in total shot attempts in the second largely because of the power plays. Maurice said he particularly liked the Jets composure in the second period despite the fact that it seemed like they were honored guests in their own penalty box. Ehlers' goal could be considered just as big. It came 46 seconds after Zuccarello gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead at 6:45 of the first period off of a 3-on-1 rush, a result of a miscommunication between forward Blake Wheeler and defenseman Tyler Myers in the offensive zone. Wheeler tried a drop pass to Myers, but the latter was pinching in and skated past the puck, leaving it for Rangers forward Rick Nash to start the 3-on-1. He moved it to center Derick Brassard, who pushed it across to Zuccarello for a one-timer that went in under Hutchinson's left arm. With the Jets on a power play, Ehlers used a screen from forward Drew Stafford to rip a hard shot from the left circle past Lundqvist and into the top right corner for his first NHL goal.

Jets forward Alexander Burmistrov had a chance to give Winnipeg a 2-1 lead approximately three minutes later, when he had the puck on his stick and what looked like a wide open net after defenseman Adam Pardy's shot hit the end boards and came out the other side. Lundqvist scrambled across the crease to close the door on Burmistrov's attempt. The Rangers couldn't take advantage of that save or the five power plays they were given in the second period. The Jets instead hung around, found their game, got a go-ahead shorthanded goal and finished their road trip off on a high note.


Andrew Ladd: "It's a good start, especially with the fact that we know we have a ways to go and we can keep getting better. We just gotta keep building, and in this League you take the points whenever you can get 'em. Obviously a big goal [Little's shorthanded goal], especially after spending most of that second period in the box. To get that and to get that momentum going into the third it definitely gave us a lift and we were able to come up with a big power-play goal in the third."
Paul Maurice: "Today's game was very important for us, because it was a playoff team coming off a real disappointing loss on back-to-back nights. What we did here, we did last year consistently. Every team needs to find its identity and needs to prove to itself that it can do it. Even if you've done it all of last year, it's a new year and it's really important mentally for the psyche of our team in terms of how we handle adversity. I really liked our penalty kill, it got better, and I really liked our composure. That's the key piece to it. Back-to-back nights we had a run of penalties, but didn't lose our focus, got the kill, got stronger, and a real nice payoff on it for doing the right things."
Nikolaj Ehlers: "[Lundqvist] couldn't see anything at all so I just tried to shoot it far side. It feels pretty good, I gotta say. Here in Madison Square Garden, it's a pleasure."
Wednesday, October 14
Chicago @ Philadelphia Flyers 0-3
Flyers goaltender Michal Neuvirth was alone in his net, with star Marian Hossa bearing down on him. The Flyers had a 1-0 lead and a power play midway through the second period when a shot by Jakub Voracek was deflected into the corner. Viktor Svedberg retrieved it and sent Hossa, who leads all active players with 30 shorthanded goals, in alone. Neuvirth was up to the challenge; he got his blocker on the shot, one of 30 saves he made in the Flyers' 3-0 win. It was Neuvirth's second straight shutout. Dating to the third period of the Flyers' 7-1 loss to the Panthers on Oct. 10, Neuvirth has a shutout streak of 132:05.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Neuvirth is the second goaltender with shutouts in his first two starts with the Flyers. Jeff Hackett did it Oct. 9 and Oct. 16, 2003.

Sam Gagner, Claude Giroux and Matt Read scored for the Flyers. Corey Crawford made 25 saves for the Blackhawks. Neuvirth had seven shutouts in his first seven NHL seasons, but prior to Monday his most recent shutout had been March 11, 2012. The only other time in his professional career he's had shutouts in consecutive games was with Hershey of the American Hockey League in the 2009 Calder Cup playoffs. Neuvirth's effort on Hossa's shorthanded breakaway, which came with 10:29 left in the second, was a game-changing moment. The Flyers were leading 1-0 at the time on Gagner's first goal of the season. Instead of a tie game, the Flyers kept momentum on their side and were able to push their lead to 2-0 late in the second period. Giroux's first goal of the season made it 2-0. He got into the blue paint to bang the rebound of Michael Raffl's shot from in close under Crawford at 16:21.
The Blackhawks came out with a strong push in the third period, outshooting the Flyers 15-5. They nearly scored in the first minute when Duncan Keith's slap shot bounced off the end boards and into the crease. Neuvirth was out of position, leaving an empty net for Artemi Panarin, but he pushed his shot into Neuvirth's skates. Chicago also had 3:37 of power-play time midway through the period, including 23 seconds of a 5-on-3 advantage; the Blackhawks managed four shots on goal, none during the two-man advantage. They finished the night 0-for-5 on the power play. A lot of that credit goes to Neuvirth, who started his second straight game in place of Steve Mason, who is out because of personal reasons. Flyers coach Dave Hakstol said Neuvirth's effort reinforces the fact that he feels his team has depth in goal.
Joel Quenneville: "We had a short 5-on-3 where we didn't really get a great look. Should have maybe put some pucks at the net right off the bat, to try to beat the next power play. Tonight would have been the night to get something going; we didn't get anything going. Give them credit."

Boston Bruins @ Colorado 6-2The Bruins, who were outscored 16-7 in three games at TD Garden, played tight defensively in front of goalie Jonas Gustavsson and shut down the Avalanche's high-powered offense that produced 10 goals in their first two games. Jimmy Hayes had a goal and three assists, Ryan Spooner had a goal and an assist, and Zdeno Chara had two assists. The Bruins also got goals from Tyler Randell in his first NHL game, Kevan Miller and Chris Kelly. David Krejci scored into an empty net with 1:29 left. He has three goals and three assists in a four-game scoring streak. Boston limited the Avalanche to 11 shots in the first two periods and 22 for the game while using a balanced attack to chase Colorado goalie Semyon Varlamov in the second period. Miller and Hayes scored 2:22 apart in the first period to give the Bruins a 2-0 lead. Miller scored at 5:49 with a shot from the top of the right circle with help from Krejci, who skated through the goalmouth to screen Varlamov. Hayes knocked the rebound of Chara's shot behind Varlamov at 8:11.
Gustavsson, who started for the first time this season, made a pad save against Avalanche rookie Mikko Rantanen at 12:00 of the first on a clean breakaway.
The Bruins broke the game open in the second period with three goals on 11 shots. Randell, a fifth-year pro who has played for Providence of the American Hockey League and South Carolina of the ECHL, put the Bruins ahead 3-0 at 3:46. He was in front of the net with teammate Joonas Kemppainen and Avalanche defenseman Brad Stuart when he tipped Adam McQuaid's shot between Varlamov's pads. Kelly scored at 9:30 after Hayes intercepted a clearing attempt. He passed to Spooner, who found Kelly heading to the net for a shot past Varlamov. Roy replaced Varlamov with Reto Berra at 15:32 after Spooner scored for a 5-0 lead. Varlamov faced 19 shots.
Colorado broke through at 18:31 on a power-play goal by Gabriel Landeskog, with David Pastrnak serving a double-minor for high-sticking Carl Soderberg. Nathan MacKinnon passed to Landeskog in front and he used a spinning move to slide the puck into the net. Landeskog has four goals and three assists in a three-game scoring streak. John Mitchell, who has a goal in each of the Avalanche's three games, scored from the left circle at 11:20 of the third period.
Patrick Roy: "I'm not happy, I'm not happy at all. We didn't compete like we should. We turned the puck over on the last four goals, we made poor decisions in the neutral zone. It can't happen. I understand if we don't have our 'A' game. That doesn't mean to be 5-0 in the hole before we start playing. We need to keep things simple and wait for a good opportunity to score a goal. That's the thing we need to learn. Varly does not have the start I'm sure he wants, but at the same time you look at the goals he gave up in the second, no help. You can't play like this. If we want to make the playoffs this is not the type of performance we need. We need more consistency from our guys and we definitely need to be better in our own end. We were awful tonight, that's all."