Minnesota Wild @ Florida Panthers 1-2
Jaromir Jagr scored twice, including the tie-breaking goal at 8:52 of the third period, and the Florida Panthers extended their franchise-record winning streak to nine games by defeating the Minnesota Wild 2-1 at BB&T Center. Jagr gave the Panthers a quick lead when he scored 27 seconds into the game, then broke a 1-1 tie when he came down the right side, cut to the middle to back off the defense and took a wrist shot from the high slot that past the blocker of goaltender Devan Dubnyk. Jagr went for a solo skate after the Panthers' 3-0 victory against the New York Rangers on Saturday, a game in which he had no shots on goal and two penalties. The 43-year-old has 13 goals this season and 735 in his NHL career. He is six behind Brett Hull for third on the all-time list.
Backup goaltender Al Montoya is 6-1-1 after making 39 saves for Florida, which completed a perfect six-game homestand and moved three points ahead of the second-place Montreal Canadiens in the Atlantic Division. Florida allowed one goal in back-to-back weekend wins against the Rangers and the Wild. Jason Zucker scored in the second period and Dubnyk finished with 26 saves for Minnesota. The Panthers wasted no time taking the lead. The Wild failed to clear their zone, and Dmitry Kulikov controlled the puck inside the blue line before finding Jagr alone in front. Jagr backhanded a shot between Dubnyk's pads for his 12th goal of the season. Florida had all three first-period power plays but was unable to score, and the Wild needed 48 seconds in the second period to tie the game. Mikko Koivu controlled the puck in the lower left circle and slid a pass across the slot to a wide-open Zucker. Montoya stopped his first shot, but Zucker was able to nudge the rebound over the goal line for his 10th of the season. Minnesota dominated play for the rest of the period, outshooting Florida 16-9. But Montoya made a handful of superb saves to keep the game tied, including back-to-back stops on Justin Fontaine and Nino Niederreiter midway through the period. Minnesota was 0-for-4 on the power play despite controlling the puck for most of the time while playing with the extra man. Panthers forward Nick Bjugstad returned to the lineup after missing 15 games because of an upper-body injury. The Wild conclude a four-game road trip against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday, the same night the Panthers begin a six-game trip at the Buffalo Sabres in quest of their 10th consecutive win.
Mike Yeo: "I thought it was a good effort today. We just didn't bury our chances. It was one of our better road games, but we couldn't put the puck in the net. We had a lot of movement, a lot of zone time, not a lot of goals." Yeo told Fox Sports North.
Ottawa Senators @ Chicago Blackhawks 0-3
Corey Crawford made sure his 300th NHL game was one to remember. Crawford made 26 saves for his League-leading sixth shutout of the season in the Chicago Blackhawks' 3-0 win against Senators at United Center. He made six saves in the first period, nine in the second and 11 in the third for the 18th shutout of his career. Crawford has allowed one or fewer goals in six of his past nine starts at home, including four shutouts, and has allowed a total of nine goals in those nine home games. The Blackhawks opened the scoring on a second-period goal by Duncan Keith. Artem Anisimov gave Chicago a two-goal lead 6:01 into the third. Anisimov has goals in three consecutive games and in four of the past six. His 15 goals in 40 games are more than double the seven he scored in 52 games for the Columbus Blue Jackets last season and seven away from his career-high of 22 in 81 games for Columbus in 2013-14. Anisimov, who was acquired in an offseason trade with the Blue Jackets, centers high-scoring forwards Patrick Kane and Artemi Panarin. Their production sometimes overshadows Anisimov's scoring, but Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville has noticed. Andrew Desjardins hit the empty net with 47.9 seconds left in the third period to complete the scoring. Desjardins has scored four goals in the past three games and has a three-game goal streak. The Blackhawks, who won their third straight game, outshot the Senators 30-26 and killed off both Ottawa power plays. The Senators have lost three straight games, been shut out in their past two and are 6-10-1 since a season-high four-game winning streak from Nov. 19-25. Senators goalie Craig Anderson, originally from the Chicago suburb of Park Ridge, Ill., made 27 saves. His record against the Blackhawks, who selected him with the 73rd pick in the 2001 NHL Draft, fell to 6-3-3. After a first period dominated by defense, Keith scored the game's first goal at 8:13 of the second when his slap shot from the left point went past Anderson. It was Keith's second goal and fifth point in the past three games. It was also the only goal scored in the period, thanks largely to Crawford's blocker save on a wrist shot by Max McCormick with 1:47 left. Ottawa center Curtis Lazar sent McCormick a short pass in the bottom half of the left circle for an uncontested shot, but Crawford slid over in time to send the puck into the corner with his blocker. Anisimov gave Chicago some breathing room when he scored off a rebound of a shot by Michal Rozsival. He was rewarded for camping in front of the net, which is one of his main roles playing with Panarin and Kane. Ottawa will conclude a back-to-back set at the St. Louis Blues on Monday, hoping to break its six-period scoring drought.
Corey Crawford: "I think as a group, we've been playing a lot better at home this year. We have the puck a lot more. I haven't seen the stats, but it seems that way. We're playing with the puck a lot more in our home games. I saw [Lazar's] blade turn over and it felt like he was passing it to the guy back door. I just got a real good read on that one and was able to push and be aggressive with my pad and blocker."
Joel Quenneville: "You look at 15 goals, and his production is high for him when you look at his career. He's been a perfect fit for us. He's so responsible on the other side of the puck, that the offense, to me, is a bonus. That line, with those two wingers being special players, they generate so much for our team game and sometimes he gets the finished product by being at the front of the net, like he was tonight."
Artem Anisimov: "It's fun playing there. Most of the goals are scored from the [front of the net], from the net area. I just try to go there and I've got two great wingers who can make plays. I just try to make space for them and go to the net, take away the goalie's eyes and good things can happen."
Winnipeg Jets @ Anaheim Ducks 1-4
Rickard Rakell and Kevin Bieksa each had a goal and an assist to help the Anaheim Ducks to a 4-1 win against the Winnipeg Jets at Honda Center. Corey Perry and Ryan Kesler scored and John Gibson made 19 saves for the Ducks, who scored more than two goals for the third time since Nov. 30 and won by three or more for the second time this season. Anaheim has allowed two regulation goals in its past four games, matching the record for the fewest allowed in Ducks history over a four-game stretch. Tyler Myers scored and Michael Hutchinson made 31 saves for Winnipeg. Hutchinson hadn't played since Dec. 22 and said he felt the effects of the layoff. He was solid in the third period (12 saves) and twice denied Carl Hagelin on breakaways, but the Jets had already dug too deep of a hole. Rakell opened up the scoring in the first period at 5:51, capitalizing on a broken play in front of the net by knocking a loose puck between two defenders and past Hutchinson. Bieksa scored on the power play over three minutes later with a slap shot through traffic. It was Bieksa's first goal with the Ducks; he hadn't scored since April 11, 2015, with the Vancouver Canucks. Perry made it 3-0 with a slap shot 5:01 into the second period for his team-leading 14th goal of the season. Gibson was credited with the secondary assist for his first NHL point. The Jets got one back when Myers scored off the rush at 6:56 of the second. The goal ended Gibson's shutout streak at 184:30. The streak is the third-longest in Ducks history and the third-longest among rookie goaltenders since 1989-90. Kesler scored with the man-advantage at 18:41 of the second period to give Anaheim a 4-1 lead. The Ducks have scored a power-play goal in each of the past three games and four of the past five. The poor start was not what the Jets were expecting after defeating the San Jose Sharks 4-1 on Saturday. Winnipeg attempted to slow Anaheim down through the neutral zone but failed to keep pace and the Jets spent most of the night hemmed in their own zone.
Paul Maurice: "We were the slower team on the ice from the start to the finish, really. We had a few good chances, their guy made some good saves, but not enough to warrant us being tight to that game."
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