NHL - Central - Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Nashville @ Buffalo Sabres 3-2
The Predators ended a franchise-worst goal drought and a three-game losing streak with the help of a former Sabres forward. Cody Hodgson scored the decisive goal 6:29 into the second period and helped the Predators to a 3-2 win against the Sabres at First Niagara Center. Hodgson made it 3-0 with his second goal of the season. He took a pass from Gabriel Bourque, who recovered a rebound from a shot by Calle Jarnkrok, and Hodgson one-timed the pass from Bourque past Sabres goalie Linus Ullmark. It was Hodgson's first game against the Sabres since he was waived and bought out by Buffalo on June 30. He played three and a half seasons for the Sabres and signed a one-year contract with the Predators on July 1. Mike Fisher gave the Predators a 1-0 lead with 6:08 left in the first period. Fisher put a rebound of a Colin Wilson shot past Ullmark for his third goal of the season. Fisher's goal was the Predators first goal since Nov. 17 and ended their franchise-record scoreless streak which included three straight shutouts at 227:39 The Predators were outshot in the first period 11-4 and were 32-20 overall. The Sabres led the Predators in shots attempted 65-37. In the three previous games, they had 203 shot attempts.
Evander Kane made it 3-1 with his second goal of the season with 1:38 left in the second period, and Jack Eichel made it 3-2 with 1:19 left in the third period with his seventh goal of the season. Craig Smith gave the Predators a 2-0 lead with his fifth goal of the season 55 seconds into the second period. Smith took a pass from Mattias Ekholm on a 3-on-1 into the zone against Josh Gorges and took a wrist shot that went off the post past Ullmark. Ullmark was replaced by Chad Johnson after Hodgson's goal made it 3-0. Ullmark made five saves on eight shots; Johnson made 12. Predators goalie Carter Hutton made 30 saves in his third start of the season, first since Nov. 1. For Buffalo, Zemgus Girgensons returned to the lineup after he missed four games with an upper-body injury. Tyler Ennis missed the game with an upper-body injury. Sabres coach Dan Bylsma said there was no timetable for Ennis' injury and he'll be evaluated further.

Cody Hodgson: "Bourque made a great play, a really sharp pass. Just the way we play our defense, they are always in the play. He made a good play to jump the wall, and allowed the guy to cough it up to the middle. Jarnkrok made a good pass down to Bourque, who made a real good pass backdoor. I just had to tap it in."
Peter Laviolette: "I know people always want to do well in the buildings that they're in and they came from for whatever the reason. I don't think our guys were in panic to score goals. I mean, we didn't score any, but like I said, I'm a pretty honest guy; I'll tell you how the first period was tonight and I'll tell you the second period was better. But the games that we played, we did the right things and it didn't go in for us, so we move on. Our guys are confident that we're going to score goals. We weren't going to get shut out the rest of the year; that would be impossible. … At some point we're going to score a goal. I think there's just a lot of confidence in our guys that they're going to score. They do the right things, they put the puck at the net; it's going to go in. Cody played a good game tonight; his line factored in a big goal for us."
Mike Fisher: "Knew it was going to come; just a matter of time. Definitely feels good to get the first one and get a lead. Really didn't have a great first period either. We were due for bounces and we got a few. Luckily it was enough, because they were coming pretty hard at the end. We've played some great games and lost, haven't played some good games and won. I haven't seen it like this in a long time. We needed a win bad."
Carter Hutton: "The first goal I didn't like but it's one of those things; I think the more I play and get into a rhythm those things will disappear. It's hard when you don't play in three weeks and you get in there and play. Buffalo's a good hockey team, they've got a lot of speed and they're coming. I thought we did a good job though. We gave up some chances but they were a lot of perimeter stuff. ... Our offense broke out and it was just a matter of time. We put up three and were able to hold on and win the game."
Winnipeg @ Washington Capitals 3-5
The Capitals knew Evgeny Kuznetsov was talented, but this season they're finding out just how good the forward can be. Kuznetsov had a goal and two assists in a 5-3 win against the Jets at Verizon Center. The 23-year old center has five three-point games this season, two in his past three games. Kuznetsov has nine points in his past seven games and leads the Capitals with 24 points.
Dmitry Orlov scored the tiebreaking goal in the second period to help the Capitals win their third in a row. His third goal in three games gave the Capitals a 4-3 lead at 16:22 of the second period; it was a slap shot from the point that beat goalie Michael Hutchinson blocker side. Orlov previously had not scored since March 2, 2014. Justin Williams, Alex Ovechkin, Backstrom and Kuznetsov scored for Washington; Holtby made 23 saves. Hutchinson made 31 saves, while Tyler Myers, Andrew Ladd and Mathieu Perreault scored for Winnipeg. Williams scored 1:12 into the first period to give the Capitals a 1-0 lead. John Carlson's shot went wide behind the net and Williams scored on the rebound. It was his sixth of the season, fourth in his past seven games, and was the fastest goal to start a game for Washington this season. Myers scored for Winnipeg at 6:38 of the first period to tie the game 1-1. Bryan Little won the faceoff in the offensive zone and got the puck to Ladd, who passed to a wide-open Myers. With Brooks Laich tied up, Myers had plenty of space to score from the slot. The goal was Myers' second of the season and the 50th of his NHL career. Ladd gave the Jets a 2-1 lead with his goal at 13:01 of the period. Blake Wheeler fished the puck out of the corner to Ladd at the top of the left circle, where he sent a wrist shot past Holtby for his fifth of the season. Ovechkin tied it 2-2 on a power play at 18:46 of the first. Carlson gave it to Ovechkin, waiting in his usual spot by the hash marks in the left circle. Ovechkin he kicked the puck to his stick to score his 11th goal, and second power-play goal of the season. Carlson's assist was his 11th of the season. Ovechkin had seven of Washington's 15 shots on goal in the first period. Backstrom made it 3-2 at 10:03 of the second with his eighth of the season. Nate Schmidt sent a pass across the goal mouth to Backstrom for the tip-in. Backstrom has seven points in his past five games. Perreault went top corner on Holtby to tie the game 3-3 at 13:53 of the second period. Dustin Byfuglien corralled the puck at the point and fed Perreault, who scored his second of the season, breaking a streak dating to Oct. 18. Kuznetsov scored with 6:16 remaining in the third period to make it 5-3.

Michael Hutchinson: "It's just one of those games where I had to try and be aware of where everyone was on the ice, especially Ovechkin. You kind of have to be aware of where he is because [the Capitals] are able to make good plays and get pucks to the net quick."
Paul Maurice: "We're chasing games. For too many minutes of the game, chasing that game, and when you're doing that you're looking for offense that's hard to generate, and we've got some guys scoring on a big chunk that aren't, and that has as much to do with some of the offense that we're giving up. Five-on-5, the shots, [the Capitals] have a bit of an advantage, I would expect that they would, but we're talking about four or five shots. They got a lot of shots on the power play, and that's [about] staying out of the box."
Nicklas Backstrom: "I think for his age [Kuznetsov's] really matured as a player. He's really responsible all over the ice. He's got his great skill too. He can do it all, and that's great for us. He's been playing great lately."
Vancouver Canucks @ Minnesota 3-2
After losing six times on a seven-game road trip that concluded last week, the Canucks knew a better start was required. Radim Vrbata scored twice and Ryan Miller made 30 saves and the Canucks opened a four-game road trip with a 3-2 win against the Wild at Xcel Energy Center. Vancouver overcame a sluggish first period, getting a goal from Vrbata in the final minute that changed the momentum of the game. The Wild outshot the Canucks 13-9 and appeared ready to carry a 1-0 lead into the first intermission before Vrbata accepted a backhanded drop pass from Jared McCann in the high slot and beat goaltender Devan Dubnyk with a low shot, tying the game 1-1. The Canucks took control of the game in the second period, owning zone time and a 10-5 edge in shots. Vancouver finally cashed in on Vrbata's second goal midway through the period. Henrik Sedin's cross-rink pass deflected off a defenseman's skate in front of Dubnyk, who was caught out of position. Vrbata jumped on the loose puck, shooting between Dubnyk’s glove and the post for his sixth at 11:15. Minnesota lost on home ice for the second time in 10 games. Dubnyk, making his 18th start in 20 games, finished with 25 saves. Vrbata's second midway through the second and Jannik Hansen's breakaway goal early in the third gave Vancouver a two-goal lead that appeared to be safe. Minnesota pulled Dubnyk with two minutes remaining and got within one when Ryan Suter's point shot was tipped in front by Coyle with 1:20 remaining. The Wild pulled Dubnyk again with 44 seconds left and finished the game on the power play after Alexander Edler was called for hooking with 32.4 seconds left. Miller made a blocker save on Mikael Granlund, Jason Pominville hit the crossbar and Dan Hamhuis made a diving block on a shot by Mikko Koivu with Miller down-and-out in the crease. Thomas Vanek scored his team-leading ninth goal at 12:39 of the first while on the power play, giving Minnesota a 1-0 lead. Granlund made a nice play along the wall to gain control of the puck, getting it to Koivu. He found Vanek alone in the slot, who rifled a shot over Miller's glove. Clinging to a 2-1 lead in the third, Hansen gained control of a long outlet feed from Daniel Sedin early in the third and shot it over Dubnyk's blocker for his seventh at 5:31. The Canucks will spend Thanksgiving in Dallas. They continue their road trip against the Dallas Stars at American Airlines Center on Friday. Minnesota will play the third of a four-game homestand against the Winnipeg Jets on Friday.

Charlie Coyle: "Our second period wasn't even close to good, and that's what killed us. We gave it to them. We weren't close to playing our game; losing battles, no sense of urgency."
Mike Yeo: "We've spent all week talking about how great of a home team we are. We tried to talk our way through that second period. We weren't good enough as a team to win tonight."
Thomas Vanek: "It was one of those nights where we expected to win but didn't put in the work. For the most part, we have been a solid home team. But after the first, we got away from it and tried long plays and were pretty sloppy for the most part."
Ottawa Senators @ Colorado 5-3
Rookie Shane Prince scored his first two NHL goals and had an assist, and the Senators held on for a 5-3 win against the Avalanche at Pepsi Center. Prince's goals came 3:07 apart in the first period to stake goalie Craig Anderson to a 2-0 lead, and the Senators stretched their winning streak to four games. Anderson made 30 of his 40 saves in the second and third periods. The Avalanche, who have lost four of their past five games, played their first home game since Nov. 6 after completing a seven-game road trip. Their 2-6-1 record at home is the NHL's worst. Zack Smith, who centered a line with Prince and Chris Neil, fed Prince for his second goal and scored at 18:13 of the second period for a 4-1 lead. The Avalanche outshot the Senators 22-4 in the third and got goals from Gabriel Landeskog and Nathan MacKinnon 1:36 apart to close to within 4-3.
Landeskog deflected in MacKinnon's shot at 10:50 on a 6-on-4 power play with Avalanche relief goalie Reto Berra on the bench for an extra skater. MacKinnon scored at 12:26 with a shot from the slot off a pass from Landeskog, closing the gap to a goal. Colorado went on its fifth power play of the game with 5:49 remaining when Ottawa's Marc Methot was penalized for interference, but the Senators killed it off. The Avalanche had another power play with 10.2 seconds to go when Milan Michalek tripped Tyson Barrie, but Kyle Turris won the faceoff and Mika Zibanejad scored into an empty net with 6.2 seconds left. The Senators, who are 5-0-2 in their past seven games, took a 3-1 lead at 1:48 of the second period on Turris' 11th goal, after which Avalanche coach Patrick Roy replaced starting goalie Semyon Varlamov with Berra. Turris scored on the Senators' first shot of the period, beating Varlamov from the right hash marks after accepting a centering pass from Mike Hoffman. Varlamov faced 15 shots in all. Prince, who was Ottawa's second-round pick (No. 61) in the 2011 NHL Draft, was playing in his 15th NHL game. He scored his first goal at 5:54 of the first period after taking a pass from Erik Karlsson. Prince shot from the top of the left circle, and Varlamov thought he covered the puck with his pads, but it trickled across the goal line. Karlsson extended his scoring streak to eight games with the assist, matching his NHL career high. He has five goals and seven assists in the streak. Prince scored again at 9:01. Smith skated down the right wing, moved to the bottom of the faceoff circle and slid the puck in front to Prince, who redirected it in for a 2-0 lead. Avalanche rookie center Chris Wagner followed with his first NHL goal at 10:36 when he banked the puck in off Anderson's right leg during a goal-mouth scramble. Wagner was playing in his 25th NHL game, his fifth since the Avalanche claimed him on waivers Nov. 15 from the Anaheim Ducks. Colorado's Matt Duchene had his scoring streak stopped at seven games.
Nathan MacKinnon: "We need to close it out or tie it up somehow. It's nice that we came back and had a good third, but we're down by three going into the third, so we should be desperate and should have dominated. There's no moral victories, we need points. This was a good opportunity to get them, and we didn't show up."
Patrick Roy: "That was a bad goal, the first one. Coming off a seven-game road trip ... when I saw the first one going in, I said, 'C'mon, Varly.' That can't happen. That was not a dangerous shot at all. It was coming from the board, and it really hurt us a lot. It took some momentum off of our game. He needs to be better. Period."