Buffalo Sabres @ Winnipeg Jets 4-2
Sam Reinhart had his first career hat trick, and Marcus Foligno scored the go-ahead goal with 15:48 to go in the third period to help the Buffalo Sabres to a 4-2 win against the Winnipeg Jets at MTS Centre. The win ended a season-high six-game losing streak for the Sabres. The game marked the first time the teams met since a February 2015 trade that sent Zach Bogosian and left wing Evander Kane to Buffalo. They returned to Winnipeg for their first game against the franchise that selected them in the NHL Draft in back-to-back years (2008 and 2009, respectively). Jets forwards Drew Stafford, Joel Armia and Tyler Myers went to Winnipeg in the trade. Winnipeg outshot Buffalo 5-0 to start the third period before goaltender Connor Hellebuyck kicked out a long rebound of Brian Gionta's shot to the left circle that Foligno put into the net.
The goal, Foligno's third of the season, was his first in 15 games dating to Dec. 4, 2015 and gave Buffalo a 3-2 lead. Reinhart, the second pick in the 2014 NHL Draft, scored twice in the first period before adding an empty-net goal with 27 seconds left in the game. Kane assisted on the empty net goal. Blake Wheeler, Winnipeg's leading scorer, had a first-period goal that ended a run of 12 games without a goal. Mathieu Perreault also scored and Bryan Little had two assists.
Kane chose to downplay the attention surrounding his return to Winnipeg, where he played nearly four seasons. Goaltender Linus Ullmark had a career-high 42 saves for Buffalo; Hellebuyck made 25 saves. Winnipeg outshot Buffalo 44-29, including 33 shots in the final two periods, but could not tie the game a third time. The Jets remain last in the Central Division and began a stretch of nine of 10 games at home. Winnipeg is four points behind the sixth-place Nashville Predators.
Reinhart started the scoring 1:37 into the game off a wrist shot from the top of the left circle. Wheeler answered 3:44 later when he tipped Little's slot shot past Ullmark. Buffalo's eighth-ranked power play started the game 4-for-16 in its past four games, and it gave them their second lead of the game. On Buffalo's first power play with Myers off for holding, Reinhart took a cross-ice pass from Rasmus Ristolainen and snapped a left-circle shot that deflected off Toby Enstrom and past Hellebuyck at 14:29. The Sabres started the game with 15 first-period goals, the fewest in the NHL. Reinhart has 12 goals which tie him with Anthony Duclair of the Coyotes for fourth in the NHL among rookies. Perreault tied the game 56 seconds into the second period when he put the rebound of Little's shot past Ullmark for his seventh goal to make it 2-2. He has three goals in his past five games. Kane set up Reinhart's hat trick by opting for a pass instead of shooting on an empty net. With goaltender Robin Lehner nearing a return from a conditioning stint with Rochester of the American Hockey League, Ullmark's time with the Sabres could be limited.
Paul Maurice: "We need to make good on the chances that we have. We didn't do that."
Bryan Little: "[There were] definitely big points [lost] and points we needed. We can't really blame anyone or anything. It was in our own hands, and we didn't get the job done."
Colorado Avalanche @ Chicago Blackhawks 3-6
Patrick Kane and Marian Hossa each scored two goals and the Chicago Blackhawks extended their season-high winning streak to seven games with a 6-3 victory against the Colorado Avalanche at United Center. Brandon Mashinter and Jonathan Toews scored goals for Chicago, which pulled within four points of the Dallas Stars for first place in the Central Division. Corey Crawford made 34 saves. Matt Duchene had two goals and an assist and Nathan MacKinnon scored for Colorado, which saw its three-game winning streak end. Avalanche goalie Semyon Varlamov often frustrates the Blackhawks, but the reigning Stanley Cup champions got some payback Sunday. Chicago scored four goals in the second period to drive Varlamov, who was replaced by Calvin Pickard. Varlamov, who was 8-0-1 with a 1.48 goals-against average and .961 save percentage in his past 10 games against the Blackhawks, made 16 saves. He was pulled at 12:25 of the second, when Chicago went up 4-2 on Kane's second goal of the game.
Quenneville has 781 career wins; he can tie Al Arbour for second all-time when the Blackhawks host the Nashville Predators on Tuesday. Kane, the NHL's leading scorer with 62 points, scored his 24th and 25th goals. Toews (one goal, two assists) and Andrew Shaw (two assists) each had multi-point games for Chicago, which has outscored opponents 29-15 during the streak. Against teams from the Central Division, the Avalanche entered the game 1-2-0 against the Minnesota Wild and 8-0-1 against the rest of the division. They had won five straight games at United Center. Roy was aggressive, as is often the case, in trying to change the story during the game. Trailing 6-2 with 10:06 remaining in the third period, Roy pulled Pickard to get a 6-on-4 advantage when Dennis Rasmussen was called for interference. Colorado did not score during the advantage and Pickard was eventually reinserted. Chicago scored first on Mashinter's second career goal at 8:27 of the first. Kane made it 2-0 at 16:22 with a wrist shot through traffic, which included a screen by 6-foot-4 Artem Anisimov. In the second, the Blackhawks built a 6-2 lead on goals by Hossa (two), Kane and Toews. Hossa made it 3-0 at 1:39 for his first goal since Dec. 6, a span of 14 games, but Duchene scored the next two at 5:10 and 9:18 to pull the Avalanche within 3-2. The Blackhawks responded with three straight goals to close out the period, starting with Kane's power-play goal to prompt Varlamov's exit. Toews made it 5-2 at 14:31 with his second goal in as many games, off a slap shot, and Hossa scored his second of the game at 18:42.
Hossa's goals were a relief. He has struggled to score through the first half of the season, as evidenced by seven goals in 39 games after a two-goal performance. Duncan Keith played his 800th NHL game. Hossa has 493 career goals and turns 37 on Tuesday.
Joel Quenneville: "I can say, I don't remember pucks going in against [Varlamov]... ever. It was the first time we've been able to get some goals on him, so it was a nice night on the offensive side of things and we got the nice lead."
Patrick Kane: "It seems like we're trending in the right direction. [Let's] keep building off this level we're at right now. It's a good room to be around. I think everyone's happy with the way we're playing, but we know there's still another level to get to. We're trying to reach that level, but we're definitely trending in the right direction."
Marian Hossa: "You could tell it's been such a long time, and definitely it felt good [to score]. I tried to work to get opportunities and the puck doesn't go in. I tried to stay positive. I'm glad tonight it went in."
Patrick Roy: "They were the better team tonight. They were skating well. Their best players had a great night and that's what it is. We had five wins in a row here [in Chicago]. Our record on the road is good. We've been playing good hockey on the road. Tonight, we just played against a team that played really well."
Matt Duchene: "That's why they've won three Cups in the last six years. They have so many weapons that can hurt you every night. When they're all going, it's really scary. Obviously, you have Kane and Hossa have two goals, and then [Toews] has a goal and two assists, so big game from those guys. They were the better team all around tonight."
New Jersey Devils @ Minnesota Wild 2-1
Jon Merrill's goal less than six minutes into the third period proved to be the game-winner in a 2-1 victory against the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center on Sunday. It ended an 82-game goal drought for Merrill, who hadn't scored since Dec. 13, 2014 against the Dallas Stars. Corey Schneider made 17 saves for the Devils, who ended a three-game losing streak and won in Minnesota for the first time since Jan. 2, 2010. New Jersey moved into fourth place in the Metropolitan Division with the victory; the Devils are two points behind the New York Rangers and New York Islanders. New Jersey will continue its four-game road trip against the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday. Zach Parise scored for Minnesota, which started 8-1-0 on home, has lost three of its past four games at Xcel Energy Center. The Wild mustered seven shots on goal through 40 minutes. The teams combined for 20 shots in that span.
Adam Henrique broke a scoreless tie 1:21 into the third. After Parise tied the game less than two minutes later, Merrill scored the game-winner at 6:26. Wild goaltender Darcy Kuemper made 15 saves in his first start since Dec. 22. The loss was his first in regulation this season and first since a 3-2 overtime defeat to the Coyotes on Dec. 11. Henrique's snap shot from the top of the left circle deflected off a defenseman's stick on its way to the net, fooling Kuemper for his 15th goal of the season. Parise tied the game at 1-1 at 3:05, finishing off a backhand pass by Mikko Koivu from on top of the crease. It was Parise's first career goal against his former team; he played 502 games for the Devils from 2005-12.
Merrill worked a give-and-go play with Sergey Kalinin entering the zone, beating Kuemper glove side from the left circle.
Mike Yeo: "I'm looking at tonight and looking at the next game. And for the most part, our game has been pretty good. Tonight, we didn't play with enough pace or enough battle. The mentality you need to have against a team and the way they're playing, we didn't have that tonight."
Zach Parise: "Seven shots, in your own rink, against a team that, no disrespect to them, but they have a lot of guys injured and a lot of minor-league players that are playing for them. It's not good enough. We want to catch Chicago, we want to catch St. Louis. You (can't) come out and play like that."
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