Wednesday, December 02
Toronto Maple Leafs @ Winnipeg
Drew Stafford scored twice to help the Jets defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs 6-1 at MTS Centre. The Jets, who were on a 3-8-1 slide, scored six unanswered goals to open a stretch of five of seven games on home ice with a victory. They played 10 of 14 games on the road in November, winning two. Four third-period goals turned a 2-1 Winnipeg lead into a rout. Each team started a 22-year-old American goaltender playing his second NHL game. Toronto's Garret Sparks made 29 saves, and Winnipeg's Connor Hellebuyck made 32. The loss started a three-game Central Division road trip for the Maple Leafs, who visit the Minnesota Wild on Thursday. The six goals they allowed are a season high. After a mid-November run of five wins in six games, Toronto has one victory in its past five (1-3-1). The Jets are off until Saturday, when they host the Washington Capitals. Mark Scheifele had a goal and two assists, and Mathieu Perreault had two assists. The Jets recalled Hellebuyck from Manitoba of the American Hockey League on Nov. 22 after goaltender Ondrej Pavelec sustained a knee injury that will keep him out until at least January. Hellebuyck is 2-0-0 with a 1.00 goals-against average and a .958 save percentage. Sparks, who became the first Maple Leafs goalie to earn a shutout in his NHL debut in a 3-0 win against the Edmonton Oilers on Monday, blamed himself for the third-period breakdown. The Maple Leafs took a 1-0 lead on Michael Grabner's first goal of the season 2:02 into the game. Stafford's goal 6:23 later evened the score, and Stafford made it 2-1 with a power-play goal with 2:28 to go in the period.
Two third-period goals broke open the game for the Jets. Scheifele scored at 1:25, and Andrew Ladd's goal 1:18 later made it 4-1. Bryan Little scored his 10th goal at 10:53, and Anthony Peluso's first goal of the season finished the scoring at 17:53. The Maple Leafs thought they had pulled within 4-2 on a Nick Spaling goal at 3:22 of the third, but Jets coach Paul Maurice challenged the ruling on the ice, and it was determined after video review that Daniel Winnik interfered with Hellebuyck. Grabner's goal, his first since April 10 when he was with the New York Islanders, ended his 23-game drought. But Winnipeg's second line of Scheifele, Stafford and Perreault took over from there. Stafford backhanded a pass from Scheifele on a 2-on-1 rush past Sparks for his first goal of the night. Leo Komarov's tripping penalty set up the Jets' second power play, and Stafford settled down the rebound of a Nikolaj Ehlers shot before putting it past Sparks for his ninth goal. Winnipeg has scored on the man-advantage in three of the past four games, going 3-for-12 in that span. The Jets finally broke down Sparks and the Maple Leafs in the third period. Perreault drove the Toronto net, and Scheifele put the loose puck past Sparks for the first of four Jets goals in the third. Ladd's seventh goal, on an off-wing rising wrist shot, followed at 2:43.
Drew Stafford: "With the [past] month that we had, we need to start winning some games. We're kind of hitting the reset button at home here in December, starting fresh with this month. I think it's just mental, realizing that it's just one game. We've got to manage the highs and lows, the ebbs and flows, of this league. Just because we have one solid 60-minute effort doesn't mean the team we play next is going to hand it to us."
Mark Scheifele: "I think it shows that if you play good defense and you stick to the system for a full 60 minutes, you're going to get rewarded, and that's what happened. We stuck to the system. We didn't stray from it at all."
Connor Hellebuyck: "It's all just numbers. It's going to be a season-long grind, and I've got to give my best while I'm here."
Paul Maurice: "We had a fair amount of offense that didn't go for us in the second period, and I think it did in the third. I thought that we generated enough in the second that maybe they became a little more cautious with us, and then we were able to open up the game in the third."
Thursday, December 03
Colorado @ NY Rangers 2-1
Gabriel Landeskog called it a "mature game" from the Colorado Avalanche, who have won two games in a row, which is important for a team that is looking to rebound from an inconsistent first quarter of the season. Matt Duchene stayed hot, Chris Wagner chipped in with a goal, Semyon Varlamov made 24 saves in a strong start, and overall the Avalanche played a sound, structured, defensive game to defeat the New York Rangers 2-1 at Madison Square Garden.
Colorado has won back-to-back road games by 2-1 scores after starting their current four-game road trip with a 5-3 loss to the New York Islanders on Monday. They finish the trip Saturday against the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center. The Avalanche won despite a season-low 18 shots on goal. Their previous low was 22 on Oct. 14, when they lost 6-2 to the Boston Bruins. The Avalanche already have two losses this season when leading after two periods. No other team in the NHL has that many; Sixteen teams don't have any. The Avalanche are 3-2-1 in games that are tied after two periods. The Rangers lost for the fifth time in six games (1-4-1) since their 13-1-2 stretch from Oct. 18-Nov. 23. Goalie Antti Raanta made 16 saves. He had allowed seven goals in his first five starts. After starting his career 17-0-3 in his career at home, Raanta lost for the second straight time on home ice. The Rangers didn't score until Oscar Lindberg's 6-on-5 goal with 49.5 seconds remaining in the third period. They allowed only three shots on goal in the first period, but had just four.
Duchene and Wagner scored on consecutive shots separated by 4:16 in the second period to give the Avalanche a 2-0 lead. The Rangers had 13 shots on goal in the second period and eight more in the third, but Grade A scoring chances were hard to come by with the way the Avalanche were defending.
Varlamov, who allowed 10 goals in his previous three appearances, got the start despite watching Reto Berra make 27 saves in New Jersey. Colorado coach Patrick Roy said he went back to Varlamov because he wanted to instill confidence in his No. 1 goalie. It worked. Varlamov feels his confidence spread to the rest of the team. No Avalanche player appears to have more confidence right now than Duchene, who scored his 13th goal in the past 15 games after scoring one goal in his first 11 games of the season. Duchene scored off a 2-on-1 at 17:37 which Landeskog created off a turnover by Rangers center Kevin Hayes at the Avalanche blue line. He got it after Colorado center Carl Soderberg forced the turnover and Rangers defenseman Dylan McIlrath was caught trying to defend the 2-on-1. Landeskog delivered a perfect pass out of McIlrath's reach to Duchene for a far side shot from the right circle past Raanta.
Wagner gave Colorado a 1-0 lead by scoring off the rush from the right circle at 13:21 of the second.
Matt Duchene: "It shows us we can win all types [of games]. We know we can win the 6-5s, the 5-3s, the 5-4s; we have enough offense to do that. But it's been those one-goal games we've had trouble with. We've had a lot of really good games where we deserved to win and we didn't. It's nice to start getting rewarded. Our record could easily be flipped, that's the frustrating part. But we're staying positive. I wanted the puck, absolutely."
Semyon Varlamov: "If you're a goalie and you're not confident the team will feel that and the team will play uncomfortable. It's big for the group to go out there and play every game with confidence in the goalie. That's what they want from me."
Gabriel Landeskog: "[Duchene] was wide open and the way he is shooting the puck right now, the way he is playing, I figured I'd just slide it over to him and he'd do the rest from there. He's hot."
Patrick Roy: "Early in the season for some reason we were finding ways to lose those games, and right now we're finding ways to win those hockey games. I just feel that we're managing our game better and better."
Chicago @ Ottawa Senators 3-4 OT
Mike Hoffman scored 30 seconds into overtime to give the Senators a 4-3 win against the Blackhawks at Canadian Tire Centre. Patrick Kane tied Bobby Hull's franchise record 21-game point streak with a goal and two assists. The Blackhawks have lost three in a row for the first time this season. Kane has 13 goals and 22 assists during his streak, which started Oct. 17. He tied Hull's record with a power-play goal in the second period, and assisted on goals by Artemi Panarin and Artem Anisimov. Hoffman scored the winner when he took a pass from Erik Karlsson, who outraced Kane to a loose puck along the boards in front of the benches, and put a shot just under the crossbar. It was Karlsson's third assist of the game; he has five goals and 12 assists in his past 11 games.
Senators coach Dave Cameron said he didn't catch any windburn from the race between Karlsson and Kane, but "my eyes watered." Hoffman hit the post to the right of Chicago goaltender Corey Crawford as time expired in the third period. Hoffman, who also scored the first goal of the game, has 13 goals, nine in his past eight games. Bobby Ryan and Mark Stone scored for the Senators, who ended a two-game losing streak. Ryan had two assists. Crawford made 23 saves; Ottawa goaltender Craig Anderson made 35. Anisimov tied the game 3-3 at 12:34 of the third period, taking a clever pass from Kane, who started to circle behind the Ottawa net before slipping a backhand to Anisimov in front. The Senators led 3-2 after Stone's power-play goal at 3:54 of the third period.
Behind 2-0, the Blackhawks dominated the second period, getting goals from Kane and Panarin to tie the game. Kane scored his 16th goal of the season at 2:20 of the second period with the Blackhawks on a 5-on-3 power play. Ottawa's Marc Methot was penalized for closing his hand on the puck, and four seconds later, Jared Cowen was penalized for delay of game when his clearing attempt went into the crowd. Panarin tied the game at 6:52 on a play seen frequently in the Ottawa zone this season. He took a drop pass from Kane near the left point and was free to skate into the middle of the ice and down the slot to score his eighth goal of the season. The Senators took a 2-0 first-period lead on goals by Hoffman and Ryan.
Patrick Kane: "It's one of those things [the streak] I'm not too worried about when I'm playing the game. I guess when you're tied for anything with Bobby Hull it's pretty special considering the career that guy had. Like I said, I'm not too worried about it."
Jonathan Toews: "It's another example of a game where we had spurts where we controlled the game. We ended up giving a couple of weak power-play goals where we let the guy walk right in, giving up shots from the slot. It's not fun to lose those games, especially when we're playing pretty good hockey. It's just little defensive letdowns that are costing us points the last little while."
Florida Panthers @ Nashville 2-1
Goaltender Roberto Luongo made 32 saves to help the Florida Panthers defeat the Predators 2-1 at Bridgestone Arena. The Panthers have won four consecutive games, including three straight on the road, where they are 6-4-2. Florida blocked 21 Nashville shots. Pekka Rinne made 14 saves. The Predators are 8-3-2 at home and 2-5-1 in their past eight games. Quinton Howden gave the Panthers a 1-0 lead at 14:59 of the first period on a wrist shot from the slot. The puck caromed strangely off the boards, which allowed Howden to get around Mattias Ekholm and shoot it past Rinne for his third goal. Jonathan Huberdeau gave the Panthers a 2-0 lead at 11:24 of the second period on a power play. Huberdeau set up in the slot and one-timed a pass from forward Aleksander Barkov past Rinne for his second goal. The Predators have killed 57.9 percent of penalties in the past seven games. Roman Josi scored to make it 2-1 at 17:46 of the second period. Craig Smith took a shot on the rush, and the puck bounced off Josi past Luongo for his fifth goal. The Predators had a chance to tie the game late in the third period on a shot by Cody Hodgson, but the puck went off the crossbar and kicked away from the goal line, which was confirmed by video review after play was stopped. Mike Fisher missed the game with a lower-body injury and will be out at least the next three games. Forward Calle Jarnkrok filled Fisher's role on the second line.
Peter Laviolette: "Tonight I think we could've been in better position. We ran out of position a little bit, and we got caught in front of the net. The penalty kill is moving around. It's never just one thing. Sometimes it's your pressure, sometimes it's coverage. It's different things."
"We certainly miss [Fisher]. He's a big part of our team from on-ice and in the locker room, but with that there's the old cliché that there's always opportunity for somebody else to make the most of it. This is a great spot for [Jarnkrok]. He's been in a position where he's, I think, watched and learned and has gained some experience over the last year-plus. Now he's in a position where he actually gets to take down the minutes on the power play and the big faceoffs. To this point, he's done a really nice job."
Toronto Maple Leafs @ Minnesota 0-1
Minnesota Wild goaltender Devan Dubnyk earned his NHL-leading fourth shutout against the Maple Leafs, thanks to some help from his coach. Dubnyk made 28 saves in the 1-0 win but appeared to allow the tying goal to Toronto's Peter Holland with four minutes remaining. But Wild coach Mike Yeo had a feeling right away that Holland, who got tied up with Ryan Suter at the blue line, entered the Minnesota zone ahead of the puck. Yeo challenged the goal, and it was determined after a short video review that Holland was in fact offside.
Minnesota closed out the final four minutes to end its three-game losing streak at home. The Maple Leafs, who lost 6-1 to the Winnipeg Jets on Wednesday, controlled large portions of the game, including a stretch from the middle of the first period until Matt Dumba's game-winning goal in the second when they outshot the Wild 12-1. The Maple Leafs haven't scored since Michael Grabner's goal at 2:02 of the first period against the Jets, a span of 127:58. Dumba's power-play goal at 9:24 of the second period came on a one-timer from the point on a setup by defenseman Jared Spurgeon. It was Minnesota's first shot on goal of the period. James Reimer made 27 saves for Toronto in his first game after sitting the previous three with an undisclosed injury. Dubnyk was largely responsible for Toronto's offensive struggles, making 10 saves in each of the final two periods. He's allowed one goal in back-to-back wins; he made 30 saves in a 2-1 win at the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday. Toronto will conclude its three-game Central Division road trip Saturday against the St. Louis Blues. The Wild will host the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday before beginning a three-game road trip.
Mike Yeo: "We got word quickly. And if we would have had a miscommunication, we would have been calling that one. We saw that one live. One goal against? That's pretty good in two games. Toronto has been doing a good job in regards to net-front play. There was a lot of traffic there, and I thought he was picking up those pucks extremely well tonight and reading off those plays."
Devan Dubnyk: "It's the rare one-goal-against shutout. You don't see it too often."
Matt Dumba: "It was perfectly placed by [Spurgeon]. We practice it a lot, and it went smooth tonight. I think we all knew we were going to bear down. No matter what the score in the game was, we were going to stay with it and stay relentless."
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