Minnesota Wild @ Tampa Bay Lightning 2-3 SO
Ryan Callahan scored the deciding goal in the shootout to lift the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 3-2 win against the Minnesota Wild at Amalie Arena. Tampa Bay goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy made 30 saves through overtime, then denied all three Wild shooters in the tiebreaker. Nikita Kucherov and Valtteri Filppula scored for Tampa Bay, which won for the first time in three games and went 3-2-1 on its six-game homestand. It's been an eventful few days for Vasilevskiy, 21, who is 4-4-0 with a 2.78 goals-against average and .911 save percentage in nine games for the Lightning this season. He and his wife, Ksenia, had their first child, a boy, on Thursday, and Tampa Bay recalled him from Syracuse of the American Hockey League on Friday. Jared Spurgeon and Charlie Coyle scored for Minnesota, which got 28 saves from Devan Dubnyk. The Wild's first shot on goal came 15:01 into the first period. Spurgeon tied it 2-2 with 2:39 left in the third period when he put a rebound past Vasilevskiy during a scrum in front of the net. It was Spurgeon's sixth goal. The Wild outshot the Lightning 15-3 in the third period. Kucherov gave the Lightning a 2-1 lead at 1:03 of the second period with a one-timer off a pass from Ondrej Palat that beat Dubnyk on the glove side. Dubnyk stopped Palat's shot from the left faceoff circle, but the rebound went back to Palat, who found Kucherov open in the slot. It was Palat's first game since Dec. 12. He missed the previous eight because of a lower-body injury. The Wild appeared to tie the game at 12:22 of the third period on a power-play goal from Ryan Suter, but after Cooper challenged, video review determined Zach Parise interfered with Vasilevskiy, and the goal was disallowed.
The Lightning took a 1-0 lead at 11:40 of the first period when Filppula scored his fourth goal. Steven Stamkos sent an outlet pass to Alex Killorn to start a 2-on-1 break. Filppula received the puck outside the left face-off circle, faked a shot to get Spurgeon to commit to a block, and beat Dubnyk through the five-hole. Minnesota tied the game at 15:39 of the first on Coyle's 10th goal. Vasilevskiy tried to play the puck from behind his net, but Coyle intercepted his outlet pass and scored before the Lightning goalie could get back in the goal crease.
Mike Yeo: "I think that as a group, obviously, we know that we weren't our best. It's a pretty darn good team over there, and we knew that we were going to face their best game. We got a point; we lost in a shootout. I think probably if we won the shootout, we might be feeling pretty good about ourselves, so we obviously have to find a way to make sure we're ready to start the game better tomorrow."
Thomas Vanek: "I guess we forechecked a little bit better (in the third) and got some of those pucks back. I feel like the first two periods, every time they forechecked they just went [defenseman-to-defenseman], cross-ice or high flip, and off they went."
Nashville Predators @ Carolina Hurricanes 2-1 OT
The Predators finally solved the mystery of 3-on-3 overtime. Mattias Ekholm scored at 3:09 of overtime to give the Predators a 2-1 victory at PNC Arena. The Predators had lost all six games decided in the new overtime format before Ekholm took a pass from Filip Forsberg and beat Carolina goaltender Eddie Lack from the lower right circle for his fifth goal of the season. The Predators have made a few adjustments to their 3-on-3 game. Pekka Rinne made 27 saves and ended his personal eight-game road losing streak (0-6-2). His best save came in the third period, when he stopped Jeff Skinner cutting to the slot for a backhand. Lack stopped 19 shots for Carolina. Carolina's Victor Rask scored his 11th of the season to open the scoring at 8:58 of the first period. Jeff Skinner drove past Ryan Ellis to the net, and Rask fought off Ekholm to pop the rebound past Rinne. Phillip Di Giuseppe started the play with a pass out of the Carolina zone to earn the second assist. Nashville tied the game on center Paul Gaustad's shorthanded goal at 12:35 of the second. Gaustad won an offensive-zone draw, then went to the slot and redirected Ekholm's shot from the left point past Lack for his first of the season. With one hand on the stick lagging behind him, Gaustad tipped the puck, allowing it to flutter under Lack's glove. Miikka Salomaki got the second assist. Scoring chances were few in a game that didn't have much offensive rhythm. The game was physical, with Nashville holding a 48-28 advantage in hits. One puck battle in the second period ended with Di Giuseppe and Eric Nystrom each tumbling into the end boards. Di Giuseppe left the game with what Peters believed to be injuries to his shoulder and head.
Playing in the Central Division, Nashville is accustomed to playing teams that thrive on puck possession. Laviolette was impressed with the Hurricanes, who are 8-4-2 since Dec. 5. The teams hadn't seen each other since opening night. Mattias Ekholm assisted on Nashville's game-tying goal. Paul Gaustad was scoreless in his first 29 games.
Mattias Ekholm: "As it is, 3-on-3 is [getting] a break somewhere. You just have to make something happen out there."
Peter Laviolette: "I thought we had the puck a little bit more. We held on to it, we were patient. There were some overtimes earlier in the year when we had chances to win the game, and when it didn't happen, it went back quick the other way. Tonight it was nice to get the win."
"They're a really good team. Defensively they play hard, lots of pressure on the puck from different areas. There's not a lot of space out there. We were a little bit slow catching up with that the first 10 minutes of the first period, but the second period I thought we turned it on and played a pretty good period."
Paul Gaustad: "Honestly, it was just a quick play. Ekholm was getting it to the net and I thought if I got a tip on it, it might have a better chance of going in. So I just threw my stick out there."
"Those are games you have to learn how to win. We knew that's the style they play [puck possession]. It's one of those patient games. You try to grind it and grind it, and when you get chances, you have to put them away."
Shea Weber: "They played a good game. It was a pretty even game both ways, I thought. It helps build confidence winning on the road. It doesn't matter which opponent."
Calgary Flames @ Colorado Avalanche 4-0
Karri Ramo made 26 saves for his first shutout of the season in the Calgary Flames' 4-0 win against the Avalanche at Pepsi Center. Jarome Iginla is concerned that his bid for his 600th NHL goal has become a distraction. He's gone three games without one since scoring his 599th on Dec. 27 against the Coyotes, and there have been times when teammates have passed up good chances to feed him. Iginla's only shot on goal Saturday came at 2:34 of the third period. The Flames were outscored 5-1 in losing two straight games, each with Ramo in goal, before Saturday. The Flames seized control with three goals in the second period to build a 4-0 lead and chase goalie Semyon Varlamov.
Calvin Pickard replaced Varlamov at 13:07 when Mikael Backlund put in the rebound of Micheal Ferland's shot after a giveaway by Tyson Barrie. Varlamov, who faced 19 shots, has allowed 16 goals during a four-game losing streak (0-2-2). The Avalanche continue to struggle at home, where they're 6-9-3. They trail the Nashville Predators by six points for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. Josh Jooris gave the Flames a 2-0 lead at 8:18 of the second period when he tipped Mark Giordano's wrist shot from the left point into the net. Jooris was a healthy scratch in the four previous games. Matt Stajan increased the lead to 3-0 at 10:47 after Dennis Wideman took a shot from the right point after getting a pass from Jooris.
Stajan was between the faceoff circles when he deflected the puck past Varlamov. The Flames took a 1-0 lead in the first period on a power-play goal by Dougie Hamilton at 7:57. After Varlamov made a save, the rebound caromed into the left faceoff circle, where Colorado's Gabriel Landeskog turned it over. Hamilton shot the puck between the goalie's legs. It was the first time in a 12-game stretch that the Avalanche didn't score first. Hamilton's goal came with John Mitchell off for slashing Lance Bouma, a penalty that came 26 seconds after Colorado finished killing off Mitchell's penalty for interfering with Giordano.
Colorado's Alex Tanguay was in position to get off a good shot during a power play at 9:01, but he tried to make a pass to Iginla, and it didn't work out. Flames forward Jiri Hudler left the game in the second period with a lower-body injury and didn't return.
Jarome Iginla: "Once the game starts, we play. It's not like there's one game left in the year and we've already made the playoffs or anything like that. I don't want guys ... we talk about it, it's not to look for me. I want us to play normal; if anything, use me as a decoy. There's a lot of time to get that [goal]."
Patrick Roy: "I guess we focused more on seeing Iggy score that 600th instead of playing our game. We had a few good chances and we tried to pass the puck to him instead of bringing it to the net. An example, Tanguay's all alone in front of the net and he's trying a little play to Iggy. We're going to have to refocus. It's not that I don't want to see Iggy scoring his 600th, but we need to play our games here. Our focus was not as good. Is it because of it? I don't know."
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