Chicago Blackhawks @ Colorado Avalanche 4-3 OT
The Blackhawks' strategy in overtime is pretty simple: Get the puck to Jonathan Toews. The Chicago captain scored on a power play with 1:31 remaining in the extra period to give the Blackhawks a 4-3 win against the Avalanche at Pepsi Center. Toews has six game-winning goals this season, including four in overtime, which is a Blackhawks record. The win, which gave Chicago a sweep of its two-game road trip, ended Varlamov's winning streak against them at eight games. Toews credited Patrick Kane (one goal, two assists) with creating space for him on the 4-on-3 power play. Varlamov had 29 saves in the Avalanche's 3-0 win in Chicago on Dec. 15, when they ended Kane's scoring streak at 26 games. The Avalanche rallied from down 3-1 in the second period and sent the game to overtime when Erik Johnson tied it with 4:55 left in third after they killed off back-to-back penalties. Johnson skated into the Chicago zone after taking a return pass from Matt Duchene, moved into the right circle and beat goalie Scott Darling (27 saves) to the far side. The Avalanche felt fortunate to get a point, especially after being outplayed so badly in the second period, when they were outshot 17-5. Varlamov made 39 saves. The Blackhawks are 8-4 in overtime this season; the Avalanche are 1-3. Colorado practiced 3-on-3 play Wednesday for one of the few times this season. Colorado's Jarome Iginla, who needs one goal for 600 in his NHL career, had three shots on goal in 17:57 of ice time. Andrew Desjardins and Kane scored 2:13 apart early in the second period to give the Blackhawks a 3-1 lead.
Desjardins, who had one goal in his first 32 games, scored his third in the past two games at 2:07 of the second to break a 1-1 tie. Teuvo Teravainen took a shot from the right circle, and Desjardins deflected it past Varlamov. It was Kane's turn at 4:20. With the Avalanche's Blake Comeau off for tripping, Artemi Panarin slid a cross-ice pass to Kane, who had a step on Johnson while skating down the left wing. Kane ripped a shot inside the near post for his 23rd goal.
The Avalanche made it 3-2 at 11:32 on a goal by Cody McLeod, who took a shot from the high slot that seemed to surprise Darling and beat him to the glove side. The Avalanche took a 1-0 lead at 4:04 of the first period on a power-play goal by Carl Soderberg with Trevor van Riemsdyk serving a hooking penalty. Colorado has scored a power-play goal in five consecutive games. The Blackhawks tied the game at 18:32 on a goal by Artem Anisimov, his second in as many games. Anisimov completed a pretty passing play with Kane and Panarin, beating Varlamov from low in the left circle. Tyson Barrie, the Avalanche's top-scoring defenseman with 23 points, didn't dress because of flu-like symptoms. He was replaced by Nate Guenin, who was a healthy scratch the previous two games. Toews beat goalie Semyon Varlamov from the right side after Colorado was called for too many men on the ice.
Joel Quenneville: "[Toews is] clutch. It was a great move too. Taking it to the net with quickness, great shot. You look at all his goals in overtime, they're pretty exciting to watch because there's a lot of skill involved."
"It's nice to get that one off our back and maybe have a little more confidence going down the end with this team. I thought we played great."
"We gave up some stuff, but I thought we did some good things and generated some dangerous opportunities. We were much better than the last time we saw them."
Jonathan Toews: "The (defenseman) got up on him, so I got in behind him on the goal line and was able to get a chance on the short side. We needed that one. We played pretty good tonight. That team plays really well here (against the Blackhawks). We didn't have the effort we needed at home against Colorado, so we returned the favor and got a big one tonight."
Erik Johnson: "I hadn't rushed the puck too much tonight. I had a little bit of gas, saw a lane and just weaved my way through traffic. I was shooting to score, shot it along the ice at his pads and tried to fool him. If it doesn't go in, you get a rebound. Fortunately, it went in and we'll take the one point. Disappointing not to get two, but it's better than nothing."
Patrick Roy: "The second period, we were horrible. They dominated us. It was pretty simple; if it was not for Varly in the second period, it could have been a 6-2 game. Good for us to have at least a point tonight, but we didn't deserve it. It was their game, they outplayed us. Should have practiced my line change."
Winnipeg Jets @ Phoenix Coyotes 2-4
Oliver Ekman-Larsson put Phoenix ahead 3-2 on the power play with 7:25 left, and goalie Louis Domingue made 35 saves for the Coyotes, who are in second place in the Pacific Division in large part due to their 8-2-2 record in their past 12 home games. Adam Lowry scored each Winnipeg goal, and Hellebuyck made 17 saves for the Jets, who have lost 12 of their past 13 road games, 11 of them in regulation. Two of Phoenix's three third-period goals came on the power play. On the go-ahead goal, which came after Tyler Myers was called for roughing against Tobias Rieder, Ekman-Larsson used a Doan screen in front to beat Hellebuyck on the stick side. Domingue won for the third time in four starts this season. He made a big mistake putting a clearing attempt on Lowry's stick for a game-tying goal in the third period, but he also came up with big saves on Blake Wheeler in the second and third period, and against Drew Stafford in tight in the final minute. Lowry opened the scoring early in the first period. Domingue made a save on a long shot by Dustin Byfuglien and stopped a rebound try by Alexander Burmistrov. He thought he had the puck pinned under his pad, but play continued, and Lowry whacked the puck free and into the net for his second goal of the season at 3:31. Almost six minutes later, Nicklas Grossmann sent Doan and Max Domi down the ice 2-on-1 against Byfuglien. Doan moved the puck by a sprawling Byfuglien, but Domi passed up the shot and set up Doan for his record-setting goal. Doan has four goals and nine points in his past five games and eight goals and 20 points in 22 career games against the Jets.
Winnipeg outshot Phoenix 29-11 through two periods, but Jets captain Andrew Ladd's cross-checking penalty against Ekman-Larsson behind the play at the end of the second period gave the Coyotes a power play to open the third, and they would capitalize. Connor Murphy set up Michael Stone for a shot from the point that hit Tikhonov in the slot and dropped at his feet. Tikhonov's shot hit off Hellebuyck's glove and went in at 1:18 for his second goal of the season and a 2-1 Coyotes lead. Domingue's miscue allowed Winnipeg to tie it at 7:45. After stopping a dump-in with his glove, Domingue tried to send the puck up the middle of the ice and instead put it on Lowry's stick in the high slot. Lowry beat Domingue over his glove for his second of the night and third of the season.
After the game there were further reports some Coyotes fans were abusive towards both the Winnipeg players and fans. It's another sad incident which is now becoming a catalogue of events. The Coyotes have some great fans, believe me I have met them, but they also have some complete douche bags that let themselves and their team down. I have visited Glendale Arena nine times over the previous two seasons, and during that time there have been unsavoury incidents in four of them.
Tyler Myers: "Anytime you lose it hurts. It doesn't matter what my opinion of [the penalty] was, I shouldn't have thrown my arm out there. I'll be the first to admit it."
Paul Maurice: "It was a difficult loss and it should be. We dominated most of the game. You can't touch them and you can't dive and we can't figure that out. We can't take the penalties we take, you just can't. And if you're looking for any consistency or quality, you're not coming to any of the games we play."
No comments:
Post a Comment