NHL - Central - November 15-17

Sunday, November 15

Calgary Flames @ Chicago 1-4
the Blackhawks overcome a 1-0 deficit in the second period with three goals in 1:55. Patrick Kane and Marian Hossa each had a goal and assist to help the Chicago Blackhawks to a 4-1 win against the Calgary Flames at United Center. Chicago goalie Scott Darling made 25 saves in his first start since allowing five goals in a 5-4 loss at the Minnesota Wild on Oct 30.
Artemi Panarin and Jonathan Toews also scored for the Blackhawks, who are 8-2-1 at home and 7-0-0 when leading after two periods. Chicago is back at full strength after veteran defensemen Duncan Keith and Michal Rozsival each returned from injury in a 4-2 win at the St. Louis Blues on Saturday.
Kane, who leads the NHL in goals (13) and scoring (28 points), has a career-high seven-game goal streak. He has 10 goals and 12 assists during a League-high 13-game point streak, which is one shy of his career-best.
With an assist on Hossa's goal, Keith had one in each of his first two games since returning from Oct. 20 surgery to repair a meniscal tear in his right knee.
David Jones scored for Calgary, which got 37 saves from Karri Ramo in his eighth straight start. The first period ended scoreless, with the Blackhawks holding a 10-4 lead in shots.
Jones scored his sixth goal off a rebound to give Calgary a 1-0 lead at 3:41, but Kane, Hossa and Panarin responded with three straight goals to give the Blackhawks a 3-1 lead. Kane scored the first one with a backhand shot off a rebound at 6:37 to extend his streaks, Hossa scored his second goal off a point shot at 7:40 for Chicago's first lead, and Kane fed Panarin at 8:32 with a pass from below the goal line for a snap shot that beat Ramo to the glove side. Toews scored into an empty net with 38 seconds left.
The Blackhawks, who are 2-5-0 on the road, begin their annual "Circus Trip" on Wednesday against the Edmonton Oilers. They'll play six games over 11 days in Western Canada and California. Scott Darling made seven saves to help kill two Calgary power plays in the second period.
Prior to the game, there was a moment of silence to honor the victims of the attacks in Paris on Friday.
Scott Darling: "Last start I'd had, I didn't play well. When you're dwelling on it for two weeks, you're really excited to get back in the net and make the most of this opportunity. It's not fun to sit there and think about it. You don't have the luxury of just playing again and moving on and forgetting about it."
Joel Quenneville: "That was probably our best two games back-to-back, and the consistency we always look for was right there. We had some more four-line rotation going on, where we had some predictability, timely goals, some nice plays, and I thought across the board everybody contributed."
Duncan Keith: "It was nice to get the [win Saturday] on the road in a tough building. To be able to follow it up at home here, with it being the last game going on to our long road trip, I think we're excited about that and hopefully carry it on to the road."

Tuesday, November 17

Colorado @ Toronto Maple Leafs 1-5

The Maple Leafs' special teams were the difference in their 5-1 win against the Avalanche at Air Canada Centre. The Maple Leafs were 4-for-5 on the power play, including two goals by former Colorado forward PA Parenteau, and 4-for-4 on the penalty kill with a shorthanded goal. Goaltender James Reimer made 34 saves for his fourth straight win. Toronto has won four of its past five games. The loss snapped a three-game winning streak for the Avalanche, who have three games remaining on a seven-game trip. Parenteau acknowledged that scoring with the extra man and killing penalties play a huge role in today's NHL. Toronto entered the game ranked 25th on the power play; Colorado began the night 11th on the penalty kill.
The Avalanche got an early power-play opportunity when Toronto's Byron Froese was sent off for holding 2:32 into the game, only to have the Maple Leafs take the lead. Shortly after Michael Grabner missed on a shorthanded breakaway, Leo Komarov broke in on the left side and fired a slap shot from the top of the faceoff circle that caught the far top corner behind goalie Reto Berra at 3:21 to make it 1-0. It was Komarov's sixth goal of the season. The Maple Leafs made it 2-0 at 18:37 on Parenteau's first power-play goal. He beat Berra with a one-timer from 15 feet with Colorado's Blake Comeau sitting out a high-sticking penalty. Comeau was in the penalty box for interference when Toronto's Tyler Bozak scored at 10:12 of the second period to make it 3-0. He finished off a tic-tac-toe passing play with Peter Holland and Brad Boyes for his third goal of the season. Erik Johnson made it 3-1 at 12:04 with his fourth goal of the season. Matt Duchene won an offensive-zone faceoff to Nathan MacKinnon, who tapped the puck back to the blue line. Johnson's wrist shot from the left point fooled Reimer. Parenteau made it 4-1 with his second of the night and sixth of the season at 11:21 of the third period, beating Berra with Colorado's Francois Beauchemin serving a high-sticking penalty. The Avalanche replaced Berra with Calvin Pickard following the goal. The Maple Leafs scored their fourth power-play goal of the game at 15:59 when James van Riemsdyk connected on a snap shot from the high slot for his seventh goal of the season. Roy said he would spend time with assistant coach Dave Farrish going over the penalty-killing against the Maple Leafs, but he isn't about to press the panic button.

Patrick Roy: "We were just not good enough tonight 4-on-5 or 5-on-4. I never thought we could be worse than we were in Florida (Oct. 27) when the Panthers scored three power-play goals, but tonight was one of our worst performances. They scored four power-play goals and one shorthanded goal and that was the story of the game. I guess we just had an off-night. Our penalty-killing was really good against Montreal, was really good in Boston and really good in Philadelphia, so let's not panic over this game. Obviously we need to learn from it. I thought we had a good start to the game, but we were just sloppy on our power play, giving them two great chances. You cannot win on the road if your power play and penalty kill [are] not playing some good hockey."
Mike Babcock: "PA is working probably as hard as he has in his career without the puck."
"It's real simple and it's the way life works; if [you're] given an opportunity and you do a good job, you usually get to keep the opportunity. If you don't then someone else gets the opportunity. That's the way life is. [Reimer] has confidence now. If he gives up a goal, it doesn't seem to bother him. He just keeps making saves and playing good. The guys are confident in him and happy for him."

Anaheim Sucks @ Nashville 2-3

Pekka Rinne made 38 saves to help the Predators to a 3-2 win against the Sucks at Bridgestone Arena. Rinne faced a combined 30 shots in the second and third periods, but he didn't mind the workload. Rinne stopped Carl Hagelin on a breakaway midway through the second period, and then made a save on Hagelin's rebound attempt. He felt those saves were a big difference in the game. Rookie forward Miikka Salomaki gave the Predators a 3-1 lead at 6:13 of the second period on a redirection that got past Ducks goaltender Frederik Andersen. Salomaki tipped defenseman Mattias Ekholm's shot for his first goal.
Andersen was pulled after Salomaki scored; he allowed three goals on 10 shots. Anton Khudobin replaced him. Mike Santorelli, who played 22 games for the Predators last season, scored on a rebound to pull the Ducks (6-9-4) to within 3-2 at 5:33 of the third period. Kevin Bieksa took the original shot, and Santorelli drove to the net and scored his third goal.
Shea Weber gave the Predators a 1-0 lead at 9:33 of the first period on a slap shot from the point on the power play. Roman Josi passed the puck to Weber, who one-timed the puck past Andersen for his sixth goal. It was Josi's 100th career assist. Rickard Rakell tied the game 1:14 later on a wraparound goal. He took the pass from Cam Fowler in the neutral zone, went behind the Nashville net and beat Rinne to the post for his third goal. James Neal gave the Predators a 2-1 lead at 13:13 of the first period on a wrist shot from the neutral zone that squeezed through Andersen's five-hole. It was Neal's ninth goal. Khudobin made saves on all 11 shots he faced in relief. Nashville went 3-1-1 on its five-game homestand and is 7-1-2 at Bridgestone Arena. Ducks defenseman Josh Manson missed his second consecutive game with the flu. Korbinian Holzer replaced him in the lineup. Nashville will play at the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday in the first of a five-game road trip.

Pekka Rinne: "I like it. I don't want to complain when we score a lot of goals and I don't get a lot of shots. That's fine too, but for sure, if I'm just thinking about myself, it's fun to play these games where you get more shots and more saves. You just try to be ready for anything. I was happy to make that save and then the rebound, and then [Ryan Ellis] played goalie after that rebound. It was a team effort, I guess, at that point, but a key moment in the game, for sure. They had a couple of breakaways there in the second period, and we were able to keep them out. That was a big sequence."
Peter Laviolette: "[Salomaki's] been good. He's a straight-line player. He goes in straight lines, whether it's for the puck, the hit or the net. He works hard every day. He can skate, he's physical, he can make plays and he's been a really good addition to our group since he's been up here. They really picked it up in the second and third. They played a good game. They played a strong game. They definitely, I think as the game went on, ratcheted up the speed. We didn't match that speed."
James Neal: "Anything can happen when you put it on the net, obviously, but that was just a lucky one. I don't know if it landed weird or what happened. I didn't really get a good look at it, but I was surprised that it went in."
Seth Jones: "We had a lot of ups and downs. A couple of games with seven goals and then a couple of tight ones. I think today was kind of a game that you want to look forward. We got the win, but it wasn't the way that we wanted to play. The two points is all that matters."

Penalties

1st Period
06:56 NSH	Mike Fisher  Fighting (maj) against  Kevin Bieksa
06:56 ANA	Kevin Bieksa  Fighting (maj) against  Mike Fisher
07:06 ANA	Nick Ritchie  Slashing against  Ryan Ellis
08:53 ANA	Carl Hagelin  Hooking against  Filip Forsberg
10:25 ANA	Corey Perry  Roughing against  Roman Josi
10:25 NSH	Roman Josi  Roughing against  Corey Perry