NHL - Central - Thursday, January 20, 2016

Chicago Blackhawks @ Tampa Bay Lightning 1-2

The Lightning defeated the Blackhawks 2-1 at Amalie Arena to extend their winning streak to seven and end Chicago's at 12. Anton Stralman and Nikita Kucherov each scored a goal, Victor Hedman had two assists, and Ben Bishop made 17 saves for Tampa Bay. Artem Anisimov scored for the Blackhawks, who lost for the first time since Dec. 27 to end the longest win streak in their history.
It was the first time the Blackhawks and Lightning played in Tampa since Game 5 of the 2015 Stanley Cup Final. Chicago won that game 2-1 and then the Cup in Game 6 in Chicago. Kucherov scored the game-winning goal on a Lightning power play with 3:31 left in the second period. He skated to the right circle and surveyed the ice before taking a wrist shot that beat Blackhawks goalie Corey Crawford high on the glove side for his 20th of the season. Tampa Bay closed out the game with a strong defensive effort. The line of J.T. Brown, Valtteri Filppula and Ryan Callahan limited Chicago's top line of Jonathan Toews, Marian Hossa and Andrew Shaw to two shots. Tampa Bay outshot Chicago 33-18. The Blackhawks took a 1-0 lead 43 seconds into the game on Anisimov's 17th goal. Patrick Kane beat Stralman and passed to an open Anisimov, who put a backhand shot past Lightning goalie Ben Bishop. Stralman tied the game 1-1 at 7:14 of the first period when he redirected a slap shot from Hedman, beating Crawford through the five-hole. Crawford had 31 saves in his first loss in 10 starts. The Blackhawks will visit the Florida Panthers, who had a 12-game win streak of their own Dec. 15-Jan. 10, on Friday. The Lightning will play the Panthers on Saturday and go for an eighth straight victory, which would tie their record for longest winning streak.

Joel Quenneville: "Tonight, they were definitely the better team. [We] didn’t generate much, didn’t get much traffic or pucks to the net, didn’t get the offensive-zone time we liked. We got a few shifts, but they were few and far between."
Artem Anisimov: "They checked pretty well the whole game. You go to the net hard and take your opportunity. If you have a chance to shoot, you need to shoot. We made too many plays in the middle of the ice. They took away the puck and [went] the other way."
Niklas Hjalmarsson: “They just have so much skill on their team. They pretty much have exactly the same lineup as last year, so just looking at that, they should be a good team. I think they’ll end up in the top spot in the Eastern Conference.”
Corey Crawford: "It seems like they had pretty good sticks and they closed the gap in their zone pretty fast. We worked hard, but some things didn't go for us."

Nashville Predators @ Winnipeg Jets 4-1

Goaltender Pekka Rinne made 26 saves to help the Predators to a 4-1 win against the Jets at MTS Centre. The Predators moved five points ahead of the Jets in the Central Division. Nashville moved to within one point of the Colorado Avalanche for fifth place. Rinne allowed three or more goals in eight of nine games entering Thursday. The win started a four-game road trip for the Predators, who will visit the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday. They were on a 1-5-1 slide entering the game. The Jets have one win in their first five games of nine of 10 at home. They played without injured forwards Alexander Burmistrov, Adam Lowry, Mark Scheifele and Drew Stafford. Neal, Ryan Johansen, Craig Smith and Calle Jarnkrok scored for Nashville. Nikolaj Ehlers scored for Winnipeg. Connor Hellebuyck made 24 saves for the Jets, starting for the 17th time in the past 19 games. Joel Armia's stretch pass to Ehlers set up a breakaway that gave the Jets a 1-0 lead 4:16 into the game. The goal was his third in the past five games and ninth of the season. Johansen's power-play goal with 3:21 left in the first period tied the game 1-1. Anthony Peluso's kneeing minor put the Predators' ninth-ranked power play to work, and Johansen stuffed his ninth goal past Hellebuyck. He has eight points (three goals, five assists) in seven games since arriving in a trade from the Columbus Blue Jackets on Jan. 6. Smith's 10th goal made it 2-1 at 5:04 of the second period; he took a pass from Petter Granberg and snapped a rising left-circle shot past Hellebuyck. The goal ended Smith's eight-game goalless drought and the assist was Granberg's first NHL point in his 10th game. The Predators stalled the Jets inside the neutral zone and Winnipeg struggled to maintain a strong offensive push in the third period. Neal's 17th goal with 1:52 remaining made it 3-1 before Jarnkrok's empty-net goal 25 seconds later finished the scoring. The Predators held the Jets to five power-play shots on four opportunities. Nashville's penalty kill started the game tied for 26th in the NHL. The Predators were 0-3-1 in their previous four road games. The Jets power play has gone three games without a goal (0-for-8) and the penalty kill has allowed a goal in five of the past six games. A visit from the New Jersey Devils on Saturday continues the Winnipeg homestand. Maurice refused to attribute the recent slump to injuries.

Tyler Myers: "[The power play] didn't get the job done for us. It is something that we have been addressing, but we're just going to continue to have to work hard at it. You can survive a bad power play, but we've been giving [up] too much on the penalty kill. I think that's the bigger issue. We've got enough good players. You're going to have injuries."
Paul Maurice: "Clearly we're in a tough spot here now the losses that are mounting here at home."

James Neal: "It was a great team win, and a good way to start off what is going to be a tough road trip. It was a huge win. It just seems to be a battle every time we play [Winnipeg]. They're huge points, and they're [Stanley Cup] Playoff-like games. [Each team] is fighting for its playoff lives, so you've got to do everything you can to grab a point, grab two. We wanted to be as tight as we could in the neutral zone and give them nothing, get in on the forecheck. I think we played one of our best third periods as a team."
Pekka Rinne: "Hard work, especially on the road. I know it sounds [very] simple, but it's just the way it is. It's really the simple things, but I think that's what it comes down to when you win on the road."
Peter Laviolette: "I thought our specialty teams was the difference. The execution on our penalty kill (4-for-4) was really good. Our power play (1-for-3) was good. We've got to be consistent with what we're doing. There are a lot of things that go into it. We're at our best when we're playing with energy and we execute well. There's no question that it's just the first step to getting something going in the right direction. Now you've got to build off it."
Mike Fisher: "I thought that our penalty kill was really, really good. We pressured them hard. It didn't feel like they could get zone time and create even momentum from shots. It can turn in either direction on the penalty kill, and I thought we turned it the right way."
Craig Smith: "We just need a little bit of success in some areas. We've been working hard to try to fix things, and that starts with moving our feet."

Minnesota Wild @ Los Angeles Kings 3-0

The Wild came into the game with their offense ailing and their confidence frayed, but the atmosphere in their dressing room afterward couldn't have been more relaxed. Darcy Kuemper made 32 saves and Zach Parise snapped an 11-game power-play drought in a 3-0 win against the Los Angeles Kings at Staples Center on. Charlie Coyle and Erik Haula scored for the Wild, who snapped a five-game losing streak. Kuemper, injured or scratched in 11 of the previous 12 games, got his second shutout this season. The Kings lost for the third time in regulation (9-3-1) since the Christmas break and were shut out for the third time this season. Minnesota scored four goals during its losing streak, which included back-to-back shutouts. Parise said the win released a lot of pressure.
Parise got Minnesota's first power-play goal of 2016 in the second period to end an 0-for-25 slump. Jason Pominville tied up two Kings in the corner and Thomas Vanek made a saucer pass to Parise for a snap shot at 3:12, with Kings captain Dustin Brown serving a cross-checking penalty. Minnesota played the second of back-to-back games but it was Los Angeles that looked sluggish. The Wild blocked 21 shots and won 42 of 71 faceoffs. Coyle beat Kings goalie Jonathan Quick to the glove side on a breakaway at 19:06 after Marco Scandella lifted a pass to center ice that Coyle collected at the blue line. The Kings challenged that Coyle was offside, but the goal stood because Coyle was ruled to have had possession and control of the puck as he entered the attacking zone, even though his skates preceded the puck over the blue line. Haula scored shorthanded 5:04 into the third, finishing off a 2-on-1 break with Mikko Koivu. Ryan Suter, on his 31st birthday, started the play by chipping the puck free from a defensive zone faceoff. Jarret Stoll received a standing ovation during a video tribute in his first appearance at Staples Center since he left the Kings last summer after seven seasons. He raised his arm to salute the crowd before he took a faceoff. The Wild finish their three-game swing through California at San Jose on Saturday, the same day the Kings visit the Coyotes.

Darcy Kuemper: "We were due in a lot of areas, and I think our game had been a lot better the last couple of games. We just weren't really getting the results. We get that early power-play goal ... it was kind of a breath of fresh air for everyone and a bit of a relief. You could see us get to our game after that."
Kuemper also won at the San Jose Sharks this season. Asked about liking California, Kuemper said jokingly, "Maybe it's the California girls. It's the type of game that happens in these buildings … tight checking and not a lot of rush chances."
Zach Parise: "I think we really needed it for our own psyche. It's been getting tough for us lately - losing a lot of games and not producing on offense. It's been really tough and frustrating."
Jarret Stoll: "It was great, it was awesome. Obviously chills everywhere throughout your body and I wanted it to end as quickly as possible … I would've got emotional or started to maybe, but just looked at [Trevor Lewis] in the faceoff and said, 'Let's go.'"