NY Rangers @ Minnesota Wild 2-5
The Minnesota Wild maintain nothing is different about their game, but the results suggest otherwise. The Wild ran their point streak to nine-straight games with a 5-2 win against the New York Rangers at Xcel Energy Center. After scoring a total of 13 goals in the first seven games of its streak, Minnesota has scored 11 goals in its past two games. They used a three-goal third period that turned a close game into a blowout. The slumping power play, which had scored once in its previous 21 chances prior to Tuesday's win against the Vancouver Canucks, converted twice Thursday has five in their past two games. Koivu had two goals and an assist on Thursday and has at least one goal in each of his past three games. His 28 points lead the Wild and the captain is on pace for his best offensive season since he scored 71 points in 2009-10. The Rangers have lost four of their past five games and dropped to 2-4-2 in the month of December. They likely will be without backup goaltender Antti Raanta, who left the game with a head injury after being hit square in the mask by a slap shot by Marco Scandella almost 13 minutes into the game. Raanta made three saves and was replaced by Henrik Lundqvist, who allowed four goals on 31 shots. Wild goaltender Devan Dubnyk made 21 saves in his first start since missing four games with a groin injury. He gloved a penalty shot by Keith Yandle, a former teammate with the Coyotes, 49 seconds into the game to set the tone. Koivu scored 8:27 of the first period to give the Wild a 1-0 lead. A turnover in the neutral zone went to Zach Parise, who dumped the puck behind the net.
Thomas Vanek retrieved it and centered a pass to Koivu who beat Raanta five-hole. Minnesota pushed its lead to 2-0 on a power-play goal by Matt Dumba. Mikael Granlund controlled the puck along the right half wall and passed to Nino Niederreiter at the bottom of the right circle. His strong move to the net bounced off traffic and into the air. Dumba, pinching near the left post, took a swing at the puck and connected for his fifth at 17:30. An aggressive forecheck by Tanner Glass behind the Wild net forced a turnover late in the second period. Emerson Etem retrieved the puck and centered it to Dominic Moore at the left hash. His snap shot beat Dubnyk glove side for his third goal with 8.9 seconds remaining in the second. Jason Pominville scored a power-play goal on a partial breakaway at 9:38 and Chris Porter scored on a bad angle shot less than a minute later to make it 4-1 at 10:18. Pominville also hit a post moments before his goal, the third of the game for the Wild. Ryan McDonagh scored for the Rangers to make it 4-2 at 16:23 before Koivu's second of the game made it 5-2 at 17:43. Center Jarret Stoll played 11:16 of ice time and was credited with a team-high three hits in his first game with the Wild after being claimed off waivers from the Rangers on Tuesday.
Mikko Koivu: "I don't think anything is different, we were still generating a lot of chances, the puck wasn't going in. I don't think the answer is going to change if we're creating. I believe you're going to get some goals as well and right now, they're going in."
Mike Yeo: "I'm happy for him. He went through a spell where he was getting chances, things were happening but the puck wasn't going in. It's a good lesson for everybody, younger players especially, that you just have to stick with it."
Devan Dubnyk: "I've seen that move a couple of times so I was ready for it. I actually didn't think he was going to do it. He's scored on me lots that way in practice in Phoenix. I stuck my glove out there to protect from it and was preparing for something else. It's a dangerous move unless you know it."
Jason Pominville: "It's crazy how things go. There were a few [posts] tonight. It could have been more [than five goals]. Some nights they're hitting posts and not going in, but we stuck with it and defended well and it led to us scoring a little more."
Edmonton Oilers @ Chicago Blackhawks 0-4
Teuvo Teravainen had two goals and an assist, and goalie Corey Crawford made 33 saves in the Chicago Blackhawks' 4-0 victory against the Edmonton Oilers at United Center. Teravainen spearheaded the Blackhawks' top line; center Jonathan Toews had a goal and two assists, and right wing Marian Hossa had three assists. The shutout was Crawford's third in four games, fifth this season and 17th in his NHL career. He had back-to-back shutouts against the Winnipeg Jets on Dec. 11 and Nashville Predators on Dec. 13. Crawford is 5-1-0 in his past six starts with a 0.67 goals-against average and .978 save percentage. He has allowed four goals in that stretch. Chicago's second line made it 4-0 on a goal by rookie left wing Artemi Panarin at 18:35 of the third. Brent Seabrook got the primary assist, and right wing Patrick Kane, who had a 26-game point streak end in the Blackhawks' 3-0 loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday, got the secondary assist. Kane's line has sparked the Blackhawks offense this season, but it was Toews' group that gave the Oilers the most trouble.
Toews scored in the first, and Teravainen scored in the second and third to give the Blackhawks a 3-0 lead. Teravainen started the season with Toews and Hossa, but Quenneville broke them up when he didn't see Teravainen handling the puck enough. In eight games since being reunited, Teravainen has four goals and seven points. Goalie Cam Talbot made 33 saves for Edmonton, which has lost two in a row after a six-game winning streak. The Oilers, who lost all three games against the Blackhawks this season (0-2-1), weren't pleased with their performance. Chicago is 9-1-2 against Pacific Division teams and 13-4-1 at home. Toews opened the scoring at 14:00 of the first period by one-timing a shot past Talbot off Hossa's saucer pass. Chicago's top line struck again at 12:29 of the second to make it 2-0 on Teravainen's first goal of the game. Hossa broke up Darnell Nurse's clearing pass in the offensive zone and sent the puck to Toews in the corner. Toews fed Teravainen in the slot, and he beat Talbot with a wrist shot before Hossa accidentally knocked him over. Teravainen made it 3-0 at 16:42 of the third by cleaning up a rebound of Hossa's shot, before Panarin scored with 1:25 remaining. Edmonton is searching for that too. Despite their recent winning streak, the Oilers are trying to build confidence by playing well against teams like the Blackhawks, who have won the Stanley Cup three times in the past six seasons. Marcus Kruger did not return after he fell awkwardly into the boards early in the second period. Quenneville said it's an upper-body injury but had no further update. Crawford made nine saves in the first period, 15 in the second and nine in the third.
Joel Quenneville: "I liked our game. We didn't give up much, and that's the first step when we measure our team performance, and we generated enough [offensively]."
Corey Crawford: "I feel good right now. I'm really focused and I'm seeing the puck well throughout the whole game and getting a lot of help too from everyone."
Jonathan Toews: "Well, [Teravainen's] a tricky little guy. He's so quick with his feet and his [puck-handling]. I don't think anyone can really guess what he's doing. I keep telling him over at the bench, 'If you want that puck, go to the areas you're going to get it. Don't feel like you have to defer to anyone else on the line."
Teuvo Teravainen: "It's good for us [Blackhawks' first line]. We don't expect our second line to score every night, of course. Someone has to step up every night."
NY Islanders @ Colorado Avalanche 1-2
It took them more than two months, but the Colorado Avalanche are back at .500 after a 2-1 win against the New York Islanders at Pepsi Center. Francois Beauchemin scored his second goal of the game with 3:48 remaining in the third period to break a 1-1 tie, and Semyon Varlamov made 33 saves for his fifth win in a row. Beauchemin, who has three goals and three assists in the past six games, took a shot from the left corner that hit the skate of Islanders center Mikhail Grabovski in front of the net and bounced behind goalie Thomas Greiss, who had 28 saves. Beauchemin scored his first goal at 3:48 of the first period after taking a pass from Andreas Martinsen. Using Martinsen as a screen, Beauchemin shot from the right point and beat Greiss high to the far side.
Colorado has won four consecutive games for the first time since March 25-April 5, 2014, when they won six in a row. The Avalanche moved within three points of the Nashville Predators for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. They're at .500 for the first time since Oct. 16, when they were 2-2-0. The Avalanche, who are 5-7-1 at home, were coming off a three-game road sweep of the Central Division rival Predators, St. Louis Blues and Chicago Blackhawks. The Islanders have lost two games in a row after going 8-0-2 in their previous 10 games. Greiss went to the bench for a sixth attacker with 1:40 remaining, and the Islanders applied some pressure but managed two shots on Varlamov. Varlamov has allowed five goals on 162 shots during his five-game streak and has a 6-1-0 record in December with a 1.13 goals-against average and .965 save percentage. The Islanders tied the game 1-1 on a second-period power-play goal by Brock Nelson with Mikhail Grigorenko serving a hooking penalty. The Avalanche had trouble clearing the zone, and Nelson converted Marek Zidlicky's pass, beating Varlamov at 4:55 from above the left hash marks. The Islanders killed both Avalanche power plays and have killed 26 in a row in an 11-game stretch. Colorado is in a 1-for-26 slump with the man-advantage in the past 10 games.
Francois Beauchemin: "It feels great, obviously, to get two goals. It doesn't happen too often for me. I happened to get a rebound in the corner and just threw it in front with guys there; it hit one of their guys and went in. Some nights, that's the way it goes. I just kept the puck in the zone, threw a little wrister at the net, and it found its way in."
Patrick Roy: "It would have been easy to be satisfied after those three wins. I thought we came back and played a strong game. I think we were very determined to play well in front of our home fans and play a good game, and I thought that's what our guys did. You know what? It's early in the season, and I think it's just a matter of playing some good hockey and winning some hockey games. Not only are we at the .500 mark, which is something we're happy about right now as of today, we're having a good month of December (7-2-0), and it's important for us to continue to play that way. Our guys are sharp right now and playing some good hockey."
Semyon Varlamov: "We're playing solid defensively. Everything comes from defense. If we're playing solid defense, we're going to get success. It feels really good. I hope we're going to continue to do the same thing because the guys work really hard right now. Everybody is really focusing and we're battling."
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