Matt Duchene scored the go-ahead goal 6:49 into the third period and the Colorado Avalanche rallied from a two-goal deficit to defeat the Boston Bruins 3-2 at TD Garden. The Avalanche have started their season-long seven-game road trip with back-to-back wins. A lot of the credit belongs to Duchene, who also scored twice in a 4-0 win against the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday. He has six of his seven goals in Colorado's past five games. Colorado was down 2-0 before the game was six minutes old but rallied to tie the score before the end of the first period. Duchene scored the game-winner on a one-timer from between the circles after Mikhail Grigorenko stole Kevan Miller's pass up the wall and set him up. Former Bruins center Carl Soderberg and defenseman Francois Beauchemin also scored for the Avalanche, who have nine wins and a tie since their last loss in Boston on March 30, 1998. Goaltender Reto Berra made 25 saves. The Bruins are 1-5-1 at home after losing the opener of their season-long five-game homestand. Goaltender Tuukka Rask made 27 saves, and Zdeno Chara and Ryan Spooner scored for Boston. The loss spoiled the season debut of defenseman Dennis Seidenberg, who missed the first 14 games because of preseason back surgery. The Bruins dominated early and took a 1-0 lead on a goal from the left point by Chara 1:12 after the opening faceoff. The Avalanche challenged the call because of contact Bruins forward Matt Beleskey made with Berra, but the goal was upheld. Boston doubled its lead at 5:51 on a power play when Patrice Bergeron blocked a clearing pass by Soderberg in front of the Avalanche net. The puck deflected to Spooner at the right side of the slot for a flip-in and a 2-0 lead. Soderberg, playing his first game in Boston after being traded to the Avalanche during the summer, started Colorado's comeback with a goal from the right hash mark at 12:08. Beauchemin evened the score at 2-2 with 28.2 seconds remaining when his shot was deflected by sliding Bruins forward Joonas Kemppainen and eluded Rask high to the glove side. There was no scoring during the second period, though the Bruins wound up with a three-minute power play after Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog was called for a match penalty for an illegal hit to the head of Brad Marchand, who was assessed a minor for roughing. During the ensuing 4-on-4, Rask kept the game tied by making three superb saves on shots from in tight by Colorado. The Bruins weren't able to capitalize on the extended power play, and Boston killed off two Colorado power plays later in the period. Boston has won once in the past four games.
Matt Duchene: "I think the puck is just bouncing a little bit. I'm just trying to put as many on net as I can. Early in the season it wasn't bouncing for me at all and I knew that if I just stuck with it, stayed positive and didn't grip the stick too much, eventually they would start going in. I didn't think it would be like this, but I'll take it. We just stuck with it. We thought after their first goal we were able to kind of stick with it. We came back hard and it was just a great team effort. Everyone buckled down and we were able to settle down and get the win."
Minnesota @ Carolina Hurricanes 3-2 OT
To a man, the Minnesota Wild players panned their first-period performance against the Carolina Hurricanes. But after erasing a two-goal deficit, the Wild pushed the game to overtime, where they killed off a penalty before Zucker scored his second goal of the game with 1:10 left to defeat Carolina 3-2 at PNC Arena. Suter, who took the hooking penalty that gave the Hurricanes a 4-on-3 power play, threw a shot at the net from the high slot. Zucker reached with his stick and deflected the puck past Cam Ward for his fifth goal of the season.
Devan Dubnyk made 37 saves to earn his NHL-leading 10th win of the season for Minnesota. Ward stopped 18 shots for Carolina, who lost for the first time in four overtime games. Carolina opened the scoring following a relentless forechecking shift that drew a penalty early in the first period. After a hooking call on defenseman Christian Folin, the Hurricanes scored five seconds into the power play when Justin Faulk connected on his League-leading sixth power-play goal at 4:26. Victor Rask won a faceoff to Eric Staal, who set up Faulk for a slap shot past Dubnyk. Carolina made it 2-0 on Andrej Nestrasil's first goal of the season at 8:17. Dubnyk kicked out the rebound of Joakim Nordstrom's shot to Nestrasil below the left circle for an easy finish. The goal was originally waived off for goaltender interference on Hurricanes forward Jay McClement, but the ruling was overturned after a Carolina challenge. Zucker cut the lead in half at 15:50 with a hard wrist shot from the left circle to the far post that beat Ward, who appeared overcommitted on the play. Minnesota coach Mike Yeo noted that his team was coming off two big home wins, 1-0 against the Tampa Bay Lightning and 5-3 against the Winnipeg Jets. His team might have had a letdown in the opener of its four-game road trip. The Hurricanes dominated the first period with a 19-5 advantage in shots and a 34-12 lead in shots attempted.
Dubnyk was the reason the Wild remained in striking distance. His first-period stop on Jeff Skinner, one of seven shots by the Hurricanes forward, might have preserved the game. With the Wild already down 2-0, Dubnyk came left to right as Skinner cut across the slot before going against the grain to make a left-pad save. The Wild seized the momentum in the second period, outshooting the Hurricanes 8-3. Thomas Vanek tied the game at 2-2 at 9:41 with his seventh of the season, jumping on the rebound of Mikael Granlund's shot. Hurricanes defenseman Noah Hanifin tried to clear the puck from the slot, but instead sent the puck to Vanek's stick. The Hurricanes pressured Dubnyk during overtime but could not convert. Kris Versteeg had the best scoring chance during the power play, but he could not settle a pass at the left post to finish the game. After making several outstanding saves in regulation, Dubnyk relied on his penalty-killers to survive in overtime before Zucker could finish it. With three straight wins, Dubnyk is rounding into the form that Yeo was counting on this season.
The Hurricanes' hopes for a big month of November are beginning to wane. Carolina is 1-3-1 in a month with nine of 13 games at home. This was the first of a five-game homestand. Peters has stressed the importance of making a move in the standings. He wants the Hurricanes in the thick of the Eastern Conference playoff race at Thanksgiving.
Jason Zucker: "I don't think we were ready the first 15 minutes, that was obvious. Suter just made a good pass. I honestly didn't do much on that."
Ryan Suter: "We were shaking our heads, like, what the heck just happened?"
Mike Yeo: "We played a few emotional games. We have a lot of respect for them and how they play, but there's just not the same emotion going into the game. We just had to get out of the first period still breathing, to be honest. It was not a very pretty period at all. Dubnyk held us in there, and we were able to get that one opportunity. I would have taken being down 2-0 after one, but we needed that chance to regroup. He's on his game, you can tell. That why we've rolled with him for a little bit. We knew that he was close to his game and if he got some more game reps he would get there."
Devan Dubnyk: "That's how it goes on the road sometimes. We were kind of playing into what they wanted to do a little bit. I got some huge blocks from [defenseman Nate] Prosser toward the end of the PK."
Toronto Maple Leafs @ Nashville 2-1 SOPeter Holland scored in the fifth round of the shootout to help the Maple Leafs to a 2-1 win against the Predators at Bridgestone Arena. Holland scored the only goal of the shootout. He made a move from Nashville goaltender Pekka Rinne's glove side to the blocker side and was able to lift the puck over Rinne's pad for the goal. Toronto won consecutive games for the first time this season and its first game in a shootout this season. They had been 0-3. The Maple Leafs blocked 24 shots. It was the fourth consecutive game the Maple Leafs have played that has been decided by one goal, and they have gotten points in all of them. Shea Weber gave the Predators a 1-0 lead at 2:40 of the third period on a one-timer from the left faceoff circle that beat James Reimer. James Neal passed the puck across the ice from behind the net, and Weber scored his fifth goal. It was his 70th career power-play goal. Weber played in his 700th career game Thursday after scoring his 150th career goal and 400th career point in a 7-5 win against the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday. Tyler Bozak tied the game at 1-1 at 5:52 of the third period on a one-timer from in front of the net that beat Rinne. Nashville turned the puck over at the blue line and Shawn Matthias passed it to Bozak, who scored his second goal. Reimer made 21 saves in his sixth consecutive start and stopped all five shots in the shootout; Rinne made 22 saves. The Predators had 1:49 of power play time in overtime but were unable to generate many quality scoring chances. They went 1-for-4 on the power play but had one shot in 6:49 of power play time. Daniel Winnik returned to the lineup after missing one game with a lower-body injury. Brad Boyes was the healthy scratch at forward with Winnik's return.
Colton Sissons: "It's pretty cool. I grew up idolizing him, and he was a legend in Kelowna. It's awesome to be by him in those milestones and playing alongside him on the ice. It's a cool experience for me."
Peter Laviolette: "We had a lot of looks. We had a couple times to crank it up, but you had to put it to the side of somebody trying to block it or maybe just missed wide. There was definitely some chances there."
Mike Babcock: "Well obviously when you have success and you've earned it, you feel better about yourself. Two nights in a row we were down going into the third and found ways to win games. Points in five out of six, so to me you've got to start feeling a little better about yourself. I didn't think we were as competitive early as we normally are, but we got better as the game went on so that was good for us."
After losing their first four games, the New Jersey Devils' resolve has kept them from allowing single losses to turn into something larger. The Devils started their season 0-3-1. But they are 9-3-0 since then and haven't lost back-to-back games. They avoided consecutive losses again with a 3-2 win against the Chicago Blackhawks at United Center. The Devils, who lost 2-0 to the St. Louis Blues at Prudential Center on Tuesday, are showing the kind of resilience first-year coach John Hynes was looking for. Rookie Sergey Kalinin broke a 2-2 tie when he scored a power-play goal with 2:27 remaining in the third period, giving the Devils their second victory in six days against the defending Stanley Cup champions. Kalinin and Kyle Palmieri each had a goal and assist. Adam Henrique scored his eighth goal and had two of the 22 blocked shots credited to the Devils. Kalinin scored 4:14 after Chicago rookie Artemi Panarin had tied the game 2-2. Panarin's goal at 13:19 of the third period was his third in the past two games. It injected energy into the arena and seemed to be the tipping point for a Blackhawks comeback win. Mike Cammalleri was called for tripping at 14:01, giving the Blackhawks the second of two power plays, but momentum still shifted back toward New Jersey. The Devils killed the man-advantage and capitalized on one of their own when forward Patrick Kane was called for high-sticking at 17:25, his second penalty of the game. Kalinin scored his second NHL goal eight seconds into the resulting power play by swatting a rebound of Palmieri's shot into the net. The puck slid underneath Blackhawks goalie Corey Crawford, who made a diving attempt to poke check the puck away. Crawford's frustration was indicative of the mood for the Blackhawks, who are 2-4-1 in their past seven games. Kane had a goal and assist and extended his NHL-leading point streak to 11 games. His line, which includes Panarin at left wing and center Artem Anisimov, was again Chicago's best. They just couldn't do it all against New Jersey goalie Cory Schneider, who made 27 saves and yielded two or fewer goals for the sixth straight start. The two shots that beat Schneider were off high-skill plays. Panarin beat Schneider high to the short side off a tough angle, and the Devils' goalie didn't have much chance to stop Kane's goal to cap an early 5-on-3 power play at 6:42 of the first period. After a two-man advantage created by dual minors called on the same play, the Blackhawks made it 1-0 when Teuvo Teravainen fed Kane with a cross-ice feed for a one-timer. Chicago nearly took a two-goal lead with 1:10 left in the first, but Stephen Gionta prevented it. Schneider's save against a wrist shot from Teravainen sent the rebound out to Marko Dano, but his shot hit Gionta's stick and deflected off the crossbar. New Jersey took a 2-1 lead in the second by scoring on two of six shots. Henrique scored 59 seconds into the period with a long wrist shot to pull the Devils even at 1-1. Palmieri scored at 17:01 off a rebound of a shot by Kalinin to give New Jersey the lead, capitalizing on a Chicago turnover that created a rush. Crawford made 19 saves.
Corey Crawford: "We're back in it and give up another one late. [We've] got to learn from that. I make a mistake too. I go reaching for a puck that I shouldn't be reaching for. Just got to learn from these little things that are costing us games."
Joel Quenneville: "I can't fault the game tonight. I thought we did a lot of good things. We generated zone time, shots, traffic, everything we look for. I think we deserved a better fate, but take a penalty late in the game, that's a tough one."
Sergey Kalinin: "I'm excited to win the game. Thank the boys. Huge game. Huge win. Everybody worked hard and the result was the [win]."
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