NHL - Central - Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Chicago Blackhawks @ Carolina Hurricanes 0-5

Ask anyone in the Hurricanes locker room, and they will tell you that their team game has been steadily growing. But no one expected a dominant performance against the defending Stanley Cup champions. Riley Nash scored two goals and Eddie Lack made 26 saves for the Hurricanes, who are three games above NHL .500 for the first time this season. Jeff Skinner had a goal and an assist, one of 11 players to get at least one point for the Hurricanes. The Blackhawks enter the All-Star break with the best record in the Western Conference despite having their most lopsided loss of the season. Jeff Skinner's 18th goal of the season started the scoring. Skinner went to the net with Jay McClement, creating an outnumbered chance against defenseman Nicklas Hjalmarsson. Skinner knocked the rebound of Elias Lindholm's shot past Corey Crawford from the top of the right circle. The Hurricanes made it 2-0 when Nash redirected Jaccob Slavin's shot from the left-side boards for his third goal at 13:05. Liles finished a 2-on-1 with former Kris Versteeg at 15:23 to give Carolina a 3-0 lead. Versteeg kicked the puck from his right skate to his stick for his fifth of the season. Scott Darling (22 saves) relieved Crawford at the start of the second period. Crawford finished with 13 saves on 16 shots. The change in goaltenders failed to provide a spark: the Hurricanes scored two goals 93 seconds apart in the second period. Joakim Nordstrom, acquired with Versteeg from Chicago on Sept. 11, scrambled to slot to gather a loose rebound and beat Darling over the blocker at 10:51 for his fifth of the season. Jordan Staal and Andrej Nestrasil were strong on the forecheck to set up Nordstrom, who has scored in three straight games. Nash, who has been a healthy scratch on numerous occasions this season, struck for his second of the game when he took Skinner's pass from behind the net and slipped a shot inside the short side post for a 5-0 lead at 12:24. Lack, who was not heavily tested, posted his second shutout in four games, raising his record to 9-9-3. The Blackhawks were outshot 16-6 in the first period. They had one power-play opportunity, but the Hurricanes cleared the zone five times without allowing a shot attempt. The Blackhawks enter the break having played 53 games, including four in six days, the most in the NHL. Having played four games in six days.

Joel Quenneville: "It was pretty evident right from the beginning that we were in a lot of trouble tonight. We lost every single puck battle, every single race. It was an ugly game across the board and nothing positive came out of it except that it's over."
Patrick Kane: "The best thing to do right now is probably get away from the game for a few days and relax and get ready for the late push here. When we come back, we should have a sour taste in our mouth after these last three games."

Phoenix Coyotes @ Winnipeg Jets 2-5

Rookie Nikolaj Ehlers had his first NHL hat trick, and the Jets defeated the Coyotes 5-2 at MTS Centre. The Jets ended a three-game losing streak and won for the first time in four games on a six-game homestand. They are still in last place in the Central Division, but hit the All-Star break on a positive note. Ehlers, who moved to a new line with right wing Blake Wheeler and center Mark Scheifele, extended his point streak to four games (four goals, two assists). The trio quickly provided offense for a team that had managed four goals in its previous four games. Dustin Byfuglien had two goals and an assist, and Wheeler had three assists. It was for the first hat trick for the Jets since Mathieu Perreault had one against the Colorado Avalanche on Jan. 13, 2015. Winnipeg selected Ehlers in the first round (No. 9) of the 2014 NHL Draft. The last rookie to score a hat trick for the Winnipeg franchise was Kamil Piros, who did it on April 6, 2003, against the Tampa Bay Lightning when the franchise was known as the Atlanta Thrashers. Jets rookie Connor Hellebuyck started for the 19th time in the past 21 games, making 32 saves. Brad Richardson and Anthony Duclair scored for Phoenix, who have won its previous two games and came to Winnipeg after a 2-1 shootout victory at the Minnesota Wild on Monday. The Coyotes are third in the Pacific Division. Rookie goaltender Louis Domingue started for the second consecutive night and made 20 saves before Anders Lindback (12 saves) replaced him to start the third period. Michael Stone took two minor penalties in the first 5:30 of the game, and the second one led to Winnipeg's first goal. The Jets took a 1-0 lead at 6:55 when Wheeler's off-wing shot from the left circle bounced to the left of Domingue and Ehlers put home the rebound. Ehlers scored again at 13:53, finishing a 2-on-1 rush with Wheeler. Byfuglien made it 3-0 with a center-ice shot that fooled Domingue at 6:00 of the second period. Ehlers completed his hat trick at 14:31, taking Wheeler's left-side pass in the mid-slot and snapping a shot under the crossbar. His 12th goal of the season put Winnipeg ahead 4-0. It was the first time in Domingue's streak of 12 consecutive starts that he had allowed more than three goals in a game. Richardson's fifth of the season 1:09 later made it 4-1; however, Byfuglien scored on a breakaway at 17:43 with the Jets playing two men short to restore the Jets' four-goal lead. It was the Winnipeg franchise's first goal while shorthanded two skaters since the 2003-04 season. Duclair scored his 13th goal with 15.8 seconds left in the game. The Coyotes come out of the break by playing seven of their first nine games at home. Winnipeg resumes play Feb. 2 at home against the Dallas Stars.

Dustin Byfuglien: "It's pretty big for us to go into the break on a good note."
Paul Maurice: "We get to go feeling good. We get some guys who have some confidence back in their games. You need to have that good feeling." Maurice feels Ehlers new line will be even better after some time together.
"They drew a couple of penalties with their speed. It's speed. All three of those guys can really skate. When they learn to find each other or trust each other, they'll look even faster. This game has gotten faster this [season] in my mind than any [season] in the past. Speed is at a premium in terms of value."
Nikolaj Ehlers: "I couldn't have done it without the other guys of course, but it feels good. [Quick chemistry] is tough to find, and it doesn't happen much."
Blake Wheeler: "Really the only challenge is just finding [Ehlers] and trying to get him in those spaces because he is lethal around the net."

Nashville Predators @ Vancouver Canucks 2-1

James Neal didn't hesitate before shooting the winning goal over Ryan Miller's glove. Neal didn't hesitate before making a bold assessment about how important the win was either. Neal scored with 4:44 left in the third period to lift Nashville to a 2-1 victory against Vancouver at Rogers Arena. The Predators have won three straight games, something they hadn't accomplished in more than three months. Craig Smith scored 59 seconds into the game, and Pekka Rinne made 28 saves for the Predators, who hadn't won three in a row since Oct. 17-22. Nashville is one point behind the Colorado Avalanche for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. But with two-and-a-half months before the playoffs start, Rinne said the victory in Vancouver means more between the ears than in the standings. Despite jumping out to a fast start and an early lead, the Predators were being outshot 24-11 heading into the third period. But Nashville controlled the play in the third and were up 8-2 in shots when Neal put them ahead by taking advantage of a bad line change for Vancouver. With the Canucks defensemen going off at the same time, Barret Jackman threw the puck across the ice and off the boards to a streaking Neal, who beat Miller over the glove with a wrist shot from just above the right faceoff dot. It was a tough way to lose for the Canucks, who concluded a six-game road trip by blowing a two-goal third-period lead in a 5-4 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday. The Canucks have talked about making better changes, Desjardins said. Brandon Sutter scored in his first game back after missing 33 with a sports hernia that required surgery, but it was hard to find a lot of positives. The Canucks had five shots in the third period, but most came during a late power play with Miller pulled. They spent most of the period in their own end. The game started with a mistake too. The Predators, who have won the first three of a four-game road trip that wraps up against the Calgary Flames on Wednesday, jumped out to an early lead when Smith drove the net unchecked to deflect a Mike Fisher pass over Miller's glove. The Canucks didn't have a shot on goal until 6:10 of the first period, but they tied it 1-1 on a give-and-go between Sutter and Daniel Sedin with 8:21 left in the period.
Sutter, who was injured Nov. 10 and had surgery Dec. 1, dropped a pass for Sedin as they came over the blue line, then cut over to the right slot for the return pass, one-touching it over the pad and past the outstretched glove of a sliding Rinne. Sutter, who returned to the No.1 center spot of injured captain Henrik Sedin, had a great chance to score again on a shorthanded breakaway less than two minutes later, making a great deke that had Rinne down and out before missing wide with a backhand. Rinne, who has made saves on 77 of 80 shots on the road trip, made a point-blank save against Vancouver's Sven Baertschi late in the second period and got his right pad on a Bo Horvat tip with the Canucks on the power play in the final seconds. Rinne gave up 15 goals in five starts before the road trip but has allowed fewer than two goals in three straight games for the first time since the first three games of the season.

James Neal: "Stanley Cup-important, I think you can say. Playoffs-important. [Jackman] made a great play to lay one off the wall, and they were going for a change, so I was able to jump into a spot and get the puck on my stick and get it off as quick as I can. He made a great save on me earlier with the blocker, so if I had another chance, I was going to go high glove on him."
Pekka Rinne: "It was very crucial not only looking at the standings, but crucial mentally and as a team for our confidence and the way you feel about yourself and your game. I feel like we are putting something together here, as a team and personally too."