ENL - Whitley Warriors @ Sheffield Spartans 2-1 - Sunday, February 14, 2016

The Whitley Warriors ground out another hard-earned victory against the Sheffield Spartans last night to move within a single point of claiming a play-off berth.

Victory over the already relegated Sheffield Senators next weekend will move the Warriors to 43 points for the season and mean the Telford Tigers can no longer catch them. Only the Solihull Barons and Solway Sharks can mathematically catch the North-east side with just six points required from the remaining six games to claim second spot in the league.

Whitley found it difficult to break down a resolute Spartans side in the opening period with some strange calls made on both sides, preventing any kind of free-flowing hockey. Spartan’s forward Elliott Knell was ejected from the game with a misconduct penalty, just 5:30 into the clash.

The Spartans grabbed the lead, somewhat against the run of play at 32:31 when former Blackburn hawks defenseman Chris Wilcox fed David Pyatt to fire in a huge slap shot from the blue-line.

Whitley looked to respond immediately and went close a couple of times before eventually tying the game at 34:07. Some good work from Shaun Kippin around the crease, helped to set up Dean Holland on the powerplay.

Whitley probably should have added to their lead before the second intermission, but they were unable to find a way past Spartans goalie Andrew Bagshaw.

With seven regular players missing for the Warriors [Queenan, Barnes, Payette, Stamp, Cooper, Smedley and Johnson not to mention long-term injury victims Stu Tomlinson and Alex Lawson] it meant there were some unusual lines put out onto the ice. Indeed Martin Crammond, a regular on the third forward line was forced to ice as a defenseman with so many blue-liners unavailable for this encounter.

With 48:03 of the game elapsed, Adam Reynolds set up Ben Richards for what would prove to be the game winner.

The game would end in controversy however when with 2:51 remaining referee Paul Staniforth made the decision to end the game prematurely. Douglas Jordan was called for a cross-check on Dean Holland, with the Whitley power forward spilling blood on the ice. With no ice maintenance crew available to clean up the blood, Staniforth who was in a hurry to end the game so he could move next door to act as linesman in the Sutton Sting/Blackburn Hawks game, signalled to the players to resume the action.

The blood was clearly visible, even from the commentary box and was in the face-off circle they were about to use to re-start proceedings. Sheffield quite rightly objected to continue playing in those circumstances, which earnt them nothing but further misconduct penalties.

Stephen Weeks, was ejected from the game and at this stage the Warriors would have had a 5-on-3 powerplay for the next two minutes. Had the Spartans been able to kill that penalty off they would have been left with 51 seconds to pull their goalie and attempt to tie the game themselves.

In the end though Staniforth decided not to allow Sheffield to continue the game in what became farcical scenes. It was not only a joke for what has been a very good league to watch this season but also extremely harsh on a Spartans side who had played well and deserved to see out the closing 171 seconds.

All that meant Whitley took the two points home with them and edged that much closer to confirming their return to iceSheffield in April for the playoff weekend.

NHL - St Louis Blues @ Florida Panthers 5-3 - Friday, February 12, 2016

After St. Louis Blues coach Ken Hitchcock warned hours earlier not to expect too much from Jaden Schwartz in his return, the forward made a major contribution in a win against the Florida Panthers. Schwartz had a goal and an assist, and the Blues defeated the Panthers 5-3 at BB&T Center. Schwartz was playing for the first time since Oct. 20 after missing 49 games with an ankle injury.
Vladimir Tarasenko and David Backes each had a goal and an assist for the Blues, who had failed to score at least two goals in five of their previous six games. Robby Fabbri and Alexander Steen scored for St. Louis, and defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk got his 200th point with the Blues with an assist on Schwartz's goal. Colton Parayko had two assists. Goalie Brian Elliott, making his 13th consecutive start, made 28 saves.
Jonathan Huberdeau had a goal and an assist for the Panthers, who were 11-1-1 in their previous 13 home games. Derek MacKenzie and Aaron Ekblad scored, and Jaromir Jagr had two assists. Jagr has 1,842 NHL points, eight behind Gordie Howe for third place on the NHL's all-time list, and remains two goals behind Brett Hull for third with 739.
Roberto Luongo moved into sixth place among NHL goaltenders by playing in his 907th game, but it was an abbreviated appearance. Luongo, who was tied with Glenn Hall, was pulled after the first period after allowing three goals on 13 shots. Al Montoya made 13 saves in relief.
St. Louis led 4-1 after Tarasenko scored at 8:00 of the second period on a rebound after Montoya stopped Jay Bouwmeester's wrist shot from the left circle. The Panthers made it 4-2 when Ekblad scored at 10:44 after Jagr stole the puck inside the Blues zone. Ekblad beat Elliott with a high one-timer to the glove side from halfway between the top of the circle and the blue line. Huberdeau made it 4-3 at 10:47 of the third when he redirected Brian Campbell's pass across the front of the net.
Steen made it 5-3 at 12:17 when he beat Montoya with a high backhand from a sharp angle. The goal was confirmed after Florida challenged, claiming the play was offside. MacKenzie, who had two goals when the Panthers defeated the Blues 3-1 at Scottrade Center on Dec. 1, made it 1-0 at 5:05 of the first period before the Blues answered with four consecutive goals. Backes tied it 1-1 at 12:16 with a wrist shot from the left dot that went between Luongo's body and his right arm. It was his first goal in 11 games.
Schwartz scored his first goal of the season at 15:58. It came on a rebound after Luongo stopped Parayko's wrist shot from the right circle. Schwartz played the first seven games of the season before he was injured at practice.
Fabbri scored with 18.9 seconds left in the period with Florida center Vincent Trocheck in the penalty box for delay of game. Paul Stastny's centering pass from the side of the net bounced off the skate of defenseman Alex Petrovic to Fabbri, who scored on the short side.
St. Louis ends its two-game road trip, which involved players' fathers, against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday. Florida continues a six-game homestand Saturday against the Nashville Predators.

Blues Quotes

Jaden Schwartz: "I felt pretty good. I tried not to think about it too much, just go out there and play, move my feet early, try to get in the game as quick as I could. The adrenaline was going too. Overall, I felt a little bit better than I thought I would. I didn't know what to expect, so it went well. It was fun being a part of the team again and contributing."
Brian Elliott: "We gave up one early on a bad rebound by me, but we responded really well. We just kept to our game plan and they kept going in. Having Schwartz back and him getting a goal right away, it's pretty cool."
"[Schwartz has] been watching games for I don't know how many months now, so it's good to see him get back out there and put it in right away. We obviously can't expect that every night, but he's a big piece to our puzzle."
David Backes: "I kept looking at [Patrik Berglund] and tried to rip it short side, get the goalie moving or thinking it's going over there a little bit and open up a hole. That was a big monkey off my back. It's great to contribute offensively."

Panthers Quotes

Gerard Gallant: "It was just to shake up the team. [Roberto's] been a horse all year long. It was just to shake up the team; we weren't happy with how we were playing. It actually worked a little bit in the second."
Jaromir Jagr: "They were faster, quicker on every loose puck in the first period. After that, I thought we started putting the pucks in the zone and creating more scoring chances and scored some goals. We had a bad start, but in the second half of the game I thought we were fine."
Jonathan Huberdeau: "We were not as sharp as we were the past few games. I think tomorrow we've got to come back and be better defensively. That's usually where we're good at. Tonight we allowed too many odd-man rushes."

NHL - Pittsburgh Penguins @ Carolina Hurricanes 2-1 SO - Friday, February 12, 2016

The Pittsburgh Penguins and Carolina Hurricanes went end-to-end through much of regulation, then dialed it up a notch in overtime. In the end, a single shootout goal made the difference. After the first five shooters in the tiebreaker failed to score, Kris Letang made two small dekes to his forehand before lifting a backhand shot under the crossbar to give the Penguins a 2-1 win against the Carolina Hurricanes at PNC Arena.
Pittsburgh goalie Marc-Andre Fleury made 29 saves, including two in overtime, to help the Penguins win for the seventh time in nine games. That was especially evident in overtime. Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby, Carl Hagelin and Kris Letang pressured Carolina relentlessly. Hurricanes goalie Cam Ward, who made four of his 25 saves in the extra period, denied Hagelin charging down the slot at 2:45, then stopped Crosby on a backhand at the top of the crease at 3:09.
Fleury's best stop in overtime came against Elias Lindholm in the slot at 3:22.
The Hurricanes played a strong first period, but had nothing to show for it thanks to the work of Fleury. He left Andrej Nestrasil and Kris Versteeg looking into the rafters in disbelief after stopping prime scoring chances. First, Fleury came across the crease to rob Nestrasil on a backhand, then he made a glove save to deny Versteeg from point-blank range.
After being outshot 13-8 in the first period, the Penguins knew they needed a better effort. Phil Kessel put the Penguins up 1-0 at 15:43 of the second period with his 16th goal. He beat Ward with a sharp-angled shot on the short side under the blocker after taking a pass from Matt Cullen from below the goal line. Hagelin got the second assist.
Pittsburgh held on to the lead through much of the third period until Nestrasil scored on a wrist shot from the right circle, beating Fleury over the glove with 5:18 remaining. Nestrasil's eighth of the season was assisted by Joakim Nordstrom and John-Michael Liles.
It was the first time the Penguins failed to win in regulation after entering the third period ahead. The Penguins penalty kill was sharp, holding the Hurricanes without a shot on three power plays. Carolina played without defenseman Justin Faulk, its top power-play scorer (12 PPG), who was held out after falling hard into the boards during practice Thursday. The Hurricanes have lost three out of four, scoring one goal in each of the losses. But they have had no shortage of offensive looks. The Penguins play at the Florida Panthers on Monday.

Pens Quotes

Mike Sullivan: "It felt like a track meet on the bench. There was a lot of pace in that game. It seemed like when either team got hemmed in, they got hemmed in when their team was tired. It's tough to get guys to the bench in those circumstances."
"We're obviously a better team when [Kessel] scores. He shoots the puck differently than most guys. It comes off his stick in a way that is different. He's a dangerous guy when he gets inside those dots, regardless of the angle. On the goal, he had a real quick release, and it probably surprised Ward a little bit."
Sidney Crosby: "Those are kind of extended shifts with a lot of puck battles. You feel it a bit. But you have to make plays when you're tired. We were kind of watching and we made some mistakes that gave them momentum. We gave them some really good zone time, and [Fleury] faced a number of Grade A scoring chances from them and made some big saves for us early on. He definitely held us in there and allowed us to regroup in the second period."
Marc-Andre Fleury: "It's always fun for a goalie when you can make those saves. Like when the guys get a goal, they get a good rush. For goalies, when you make a good save, keeping [the score] tight, and seeing the guys looking up, it feels good."
"I didn't see it. I could see it [at first], but then he dragged it behind the defense and shot through his leg. I didn't pick it up, and it was in the net."
Kris Letang: "As a team, I don't think we played well, but we found a way to win. Obviously, we backed up a little too much in the third, let them skate around the zone and have quality chances. We have to learn from that."

Other Results
Montreal @ Buffalo 4-6
Los Angeles @ NY Rangers 5-4 OT
Colorado @ Detroit 3-2 SO
Nashville @ Tampa Bay 3-4 OT
Calgary @ Phoenix 1-4

NHL - Calgary Flames @ San Jose Sharks 6-5 SO - Thursday, February 11, 2016

There were three minutes left in the third period when Calgary Flames goaltender Jonas Hiller came off the bench in a tie game to replace an injured Karri Ramo against the San Jose Sharks at SAP Center. Hiller immediately helped kill all two minutes of San Jose's 5-on-3 power play and ended up helping the Flames to a 6-5 shootout victory. Hiller stopped all five shots he faced in regulation and three more in overtime. In the shootout, he gave up a goal to Logan Couture in the first round before stopping Joonas Donskoi, Joe Pavelski and Patrick Marleau.
Jiri Hudler's goal in the fourth round gave the Flames the win. Calgary's Joe Colborne scored in the first round, beating Alex Stalock, after Couture had scored against Hiller. Sam Bennett, Mark Giordano, Sean Monahan, Mikael Backlund and Kris Russell scored in regulation for the Flames, who won their third in a row. The Sharks, who overcame a 4-1 deficit after one period but couldn't hold a 5-4 third-period lead, got goals from Tommy Wingels, Couture, Marleau, Donskoi and Dylan DeMelo.
Just before Hiller entered the game, Bennett went to the box for elbowing Paul Martin, and Giordano joined him after tripping Donskoi, who piled into Ramo as he went headfirst into the crease. Ramo had to be helped off the ice. The Sharks had four shots during the two-man advantage, but Hiller stopped them all.
Ramo made 29 saves on 34 shots. Hartley didn't disclose Ramo's injury but said "it doesn't look very good" for him now. Hiller will start against the Coyotes on Friday at Gila River Arena. Flames forward David Jones also left the game with an undisclosed injury; Hartley said he had "no idea of the extent of the damage." Stalock, making his first start since Jan. 18, gave up five goals on 22 shots.
The Sharks entered the third period trailing 4-3 but pulled even when Donskoi, a rookie forward, scored his ninth goal of the season at 2:46. He took a cross-ice pass from Couture and beat Ramo from close range.
DeMelo, a rookie defenseman, gave San Jose its first lead at 5:55 with the Sharks' third power-play goal of the game. Joel Ward sent a cross-ice pass to the left circle, and DeMelo put the puck past Ramo for his second goal of the season. But Calgary tied it when Russell scored a power-play goal at 8:08. Bennett fired a sharp-angled shot that Stalock stopped but couldn't control, and Russell knocked in the rebound from close range. Couture hit the post just over a minute into overtime. Marleau had a good scoring chance with two minutes left, but Hiller made the save, and also stopped Justin Braun's shot from close range with 1:36 remaining.

The Sharks went 3-for-9 on the power play; Calgary was 2-for-5. Flames forwards Monahan, Johnny Gaudreau and Lance Bouma returned the lineup after being scratched Tuesday against the Toronto Maple Leafs as punishment for arriving late for practice Monday. Gaudreau had two assists; Monahan scored his 17th goal of the season.
The Flames raced to a 4-1 first-period lead, scoring four times on their first eight shots. The four goals were the most San Jose has allowed in a period this season. Bennett put Calgary ahead at 4:12 with an unassisted goal. He intercepted Braun's pass in the neutral zone and beat Stalock from above the right circle with a wrist shot for his 15th of the season. Giordano made it 2-0 at 5:18 with a power-play goal, a snap shot from the left circle that deflected off Braun's stick and past Stalock for his 13th of the season.
San Jose got one goal back at 8:45 when Wingels scored his sixth of the season, converting a pass from Donskoi. But Monahan scored on a 4-on-2 rush at 12:46, and Backlund made it 4-1 by beating Stalock on a breakaway at 13:26, extending his goal streak to three games. Couture cut the deficit to 4-2 with a power-play goal 48 seconds into the second period, and Marleau scored during a 5-on-3 advantage at 11:17.
Brenden Dillon missed the game with an upper-body injury. Matt Tennyson replaced him and played for the first time since Dec. 8.

Sharks Bites

Logan Couture: "Kudos to [Hiller]. He stepped in on a 5-on-3 and made unbelievable saves. He saved them a couple of points."
Peter DeBoer: "[Stalock] hadn't played in a long time. I actually thought after the first period he settled in. Made a couple of big saves to give us a chance to get to overtime. I expected him to be a little rusty. We were a little rusty around him in the first period, and I thought in the second and third he was really good."
Justin Braun: "You've got to be ready. I was one of the guys who wasn't ready at the drop of the buck, didn't have my A-game that first 20 [minutes], and it showed on the scoreboard."

NHL - Dallas Stars @ Chicago Blackhawks 4-2 - Thursday, February 11, 2016

Patrick Sharp and Johnny Oduya got a lot of attention in their return to Chicago, but the night belonged to Patrick Eaves and Kari Lehtonen. Eaves scored three goals, and Lehtonen stopped 44 shots as the Stars defeated the Blackhawks, 4-2, at United Center.
The win, the fourth straight on the road for the Stars, pulled them to within one point of Central Division and Western Conference-leading Chicago and the Stars have three games in hand. The Stars, who lost 5-1 to Chicago at American Airlines Center on Saturday, scored all four of their goals in the first period. Eaves scored once five-on-five and twice on the power play, and John Klingberg scored four-on-four as the Stars took a 4-0 lead into the first intermission.
The Stars, who lost the special teams battle in Saturday’s loss to Chicago, came out on top in that area in Thursday night’s victory. They were 2-2 on the power play and 2-2 on the penalty kill. Chicago made the game interesting in the third period, scoring twice to cut the lead to two goals but Lehtonen made 19 of his 44 saves in the third to preserve the Dallas win. Lehtonen, who made 37 saves in Tuesday’s overtime win in Minnesota, has stopped 81 of 86 shots in his past two starts.
The Blackhawks lost their second straight game and fell to 4-5-0 in their past nine. Eaves scored 3:19 into the game, beating Chicago goalie Corey Crawford with a sharp angle shot to give the Stars a 1-0 lead. Klingberg extended the lead to 2-0 at the 9:44 mark, skating into the slot and putting a backhand shot on net that deflected off Niklas Hjalmarsson and past Crawford. Eaves then scored on the first two power plays of the game to push Dallas’ lead to 4-0. Tyler Seguin made a great pass from the left corner to Eaves, who scored from close range at the 16:26 mark of the first to extend the lead to 3-0. The Stars’ next power play came with 20 seconds left in the first and Eaves scored four seconds into it, putting home the rebound of a Seguin shot to give Dallas a 4-0 lead heading into the first intermission. Eaves, who has been playing on the top line with Seguin and Jamie Benn has seven points (four goals, three assists) in his past four games.
After a scoreless second period, the Blackhawks made things interesting in the third, outshooting the Stars 21-2 and scoring twice to make it a 4-2 game. Duncan Keith scored 32 seconds into the period when his point shot deflected in off Klingberg. Patrick Kane scored off a Jonathan Toews faceoff win at 7:48 mark. But that was as close as the Blackhawks would get. The Stars killed off a Chicago power play just after Kane scored and Lehtonen came up with some big stops the rest of the way, including a great one on a point-blank shot by Andrew Shaw with just under eight minutes left to help keep the Stars on the path to victory.


Stars forward Travis Moen left Thursday’s game midway through the second period and did not return. He had a lower-body injury.
“Looks like he could be out for a few days.” Ruff said.

Stars forward Patrick Sharp and defenseman Johnny Oduya played their first regular season games in Chicago since being acquired by Dallas in the offseason. The Blackhawks played video tributes to both players during the game. Sharp played in Chicago ten seasons and won three Stanley Cups and Oduya played there three-plus seasons and won two Cups.
“That was very special. First class by a first-class organization. I’ve said many times I enjoyed my ten years here in Chicago. Very proud of what we accomplished on and off the ice. I have a lot of good friends over there on the other side, and that was definitely emotional to watch that.” Sharp said.

*Patrick Eaves tallied the second hat trick of his career. The first one came in December 2010 when he was with Detroit. The opponent? The Dallas Stars.
*Eaves became the tenth player in franchise history to score three goals in one period. The last player to do it was Tyler Seguin, who scored three in the second period against Philadelphia in December 2013.
*The Stars improved to 12-5-1 vs. the Central Division.
*Chicago outshot the Stars 46-32 and had a 62-51 advantage in attempted shots.
*Patrick Eaves led the Stars with six shots on goal.
*The Stars were 2-2 on the power play and 2-2 on the penalty kill.
*The Stars scored two power-play goals in a game for the first time since Dec. 27.
*The Stars won 27 of 57 faceoffs (47 percent).
*Tyler Seguin won 9 of 15 faceoffs (60 percent). Vernon Fiddler won 7 of 13 (54 percent). Cody Eakin won 7 of 15 (48 percent). Jamie Benn won 3 of 8 (38 percent).
*John Klingberg led the Stars with 25:02 of ice time.

The Stars return home to take on the league-leading Washington Capitals Saturday night at American Airlines Center. This is the second and final meeting between the two teams. The Stars won, 3-2, in Washington on Nov. 19.

Jamie Benn – Tyler Seguin – Patrick Eaves
Antoine Roussel – Cody Eakin – Patrick Sharp
Valeri Nichushkin – Mattias Janmark– Ales Hemsky
Travis Moen – Vernon Fiddler – Colton Sceviour

Alex Goligoski – John Klingberg
Johnny Oduya – Patrik Nemeth
Jyrki Jokipakka – Jordie Benn

Kari Lehtonen
Antti Niemi

Injured: Jason Demers (illness), Jason Spezza (upper body)
Scratched: Jamie Oleksiak, Radek Faks

Stars Quotes

Patrick Eaves: “It was just nice to get a good start. We got spanked on Saturday, so that was still fresh in our mouth. We didn’t play anywhere where we thought we should. We played more of our game tonight.”
“I just shot it short side, and it just squeaked in. Playing with some pretty special players. Things happen fast out there, usually towards the net, so I just try to be there and help out.”
Lindy Ruff: “Real important for us because we wanted to get off to a good start and I thought we came out and really skated well. We did a lot better job on special teams. A lot of what we talked about this morning. We wanted to be better on special teams. I thought we had a little bit of luck early, and they had a little bit of luck to start the third period, but the start, I think, put them in a deep hole.”
“Absolutely fabulous. He made some great saves for us. Minnesota was the same way; we needed some big saves at important times. He made some game changers.”
Tyler Seguin: “He is really shooting them right now. Last game, he had a great shot against Minnesota. He’s got a quick release, and when you find those open spots good things are going to happen. He’s dialed in right now.”

Hawks Quotes

Joel Quenneville: “Certainly, it was a terrible, brutal, brutal first period.”
Jonathan Toews: “I think we could expect that they’re going to come out hard, given the fact that they had a rough game, maybe didn’t play their best against us last time we were in their building a week ago. I guess we weren’t prepared to respond to that.”

NHL - Boston Bruins @ Winnipeg Jets 6-2 - Thursday, February 11, 2016

When Patrice Bergeron opened the scoring just 1:38 into the game, it was the start of a never-ending chase for the Winnipeg Jets, who faced 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 deficits before the well ran dry. In the end, it was scored as a 6-2 Bruins win, and for the eighth time this season, the Jets were unable to extend a two-game winning streak to three.
The Jets trailed the Bruins 3-2 after a wild, back-and-forth first period that saw the teams combine for 29 shots. Winnipeg held the edge in that department, 18-11, while also having the upper hand in even-strength scoring chances, 10-9. At one point in the middle frame the Jets were up 30-12 in shots, but the Bruins finished the period on a 12-0 run the final 10-and-a-half minutes, before registering the first five of the third. The Jets went more than 17 minutes without a shot on goal.
Blake Wheeler finished the night with two assists and a spirited fight with Bergeron. The Bruin forward drew first blood when he finished off a pretty feed from Brad Marchand, but the Jets replied within minutes, tying the game off Bryan Little’s team-leading 17th. On a delayed penalty call, Blake Wheeler deked out a pair of defenders before finding Little, who hammered a one-timer past Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask. Little had previously gone eight games without a goal, but he now has goals in two straight.

The Bruins took a 2-1 lead at 16:34 as Loui Eriksson jumped on a loose puck, drove to the net and fired a shot far side on Connor Hellebuyck, but once again, the Jets were quick to level the score. On the team’s 18th shot on the period, Nikolaj Ehlers buried a beautiful pass from Wheeler, who found a seam through traffic on the power play. Just over a minute later, the Bruins went in front for the third time as Marchand showed great speed, turning a 1-on-1 into a clear cut break, and once in tight, roofing a backhander bar down over Hellebuyck’s left shoulder. Hellebuyck did finish the period, but was replaced by Michael Hutchinson to start the second. He finished the night with 25 saves on 27 shots.
Bruins rookie David Pastrnak scored to make it 4-2 just 35 seconds into the third, all but putting the game away. On a 2-on-1 with Zdeno Chara, Pastrnak elected to shoot, burying his own rebound after Hutchinson made the initial save with his left pad. Bergeron added another midway through the third when he crashed the net and chopped home a rebound, while Jimmy Hayes rounded out the scoring with empty netter at 15:12.

Jets Quotes

Paul Maurice: “The simplest thing is that they got faster and we got slower. We couldn’t get to a puck, couldn’t come up with the puck and when we did we couldn’t move it quick enough. We came out right, got behind it, fought back, fought back…”
“Sometimes enough’s enough for a guy [he pulled Hellebuyck]. To be great you’ve got to be real good and you’ve also got to have it going for you around the net.”
Blake Wheeler: “They turned it up to a level that we weren’t able to get to in the second half of the game and that was the difference.”
Bryan Little: “For the first half of the game I thought we did a good job controlling the play. We had a lot of shots and a lot of chances in front of the net. They were just the better team for the rest of the game. They were the better team when they needed to be.”
Tyler Myers: “We came out in the third and we looked tentative. Being down a goal we can’t play like that if we want to come back. They get the first one in the third and we’re caught chasing and it’s tough to come back like that.”

NHL - Washington Capitals @ Minnesota Wild 4-3 - Thursday, February 11, 2016

Alex Ovechkin’s 14^th career hat trick helped the Capitals to a 4-3 win over the Wild in St. Paul. The hat trick wasn’t a thing of beauty, the game wasn’t a thing of beauty, and in order to claim the two points, the Capitals were forced to overcome a good deal of adversity down the stretch, little, if any, of which was their own doing. When it was over, though, the Caps had their fifth straight win, their 40^th of the season and their 20^th road triumph of 2015-16.

The postgame celebration was muted by the Caps’ collective concern over an injury to Caps center Evgeny Kuznetsov, who was the victim of an unpenalized butt-end of Mikael Granlund’s stickto the head, just before the eight-minute mark of the third period. Kuznetsov lay prone on the ice for more than a minute before being aided to his feet. He skated off slouched over, but under his own power, and did not return to the game.

 Although Minnesota held a slim 19-18 advantage over Washington in shot attempts in the first period, the Wild also had 4:33 worth of power play time in that first frame to just 47 seconds with the extra man for the Capitals. For the third time in as many games, the Caps faced a five-on-three opposition power play. Fortunately, this one was brief, just nine seconds in duration, and the Caps were able to kill it off without incident.

The Caps outshot the Wild 8-5 at even strength in the first, and Washington earned its second power play of the night in the waning seconds of the scoreless first. Once again, the Capitals weren’t able to do anything with that power play opportunity, but seconds after the expiration of that extra-man opportunity, the Caps took a 1-0 lead on a broken play that produced Ovechkin’s first goal of the game.

Ovechkin gained the zone with possession on the left side and went cross-ice to Nicklas Backstrom. Backstrom dropped it for late-arriving T.J. Oshie, who pounded a one-timer that glanced off Zach Parise’s skate and went right to Ovechkin. His shot wasn’t perfect, but the puck bounced off Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk and into the cage to put Washington on top at 2:14 of the middle stanza.

Thomas Vanek was boxed at 4:10 of the period, and the Caps’ struggling power play went back to work. Marcus Johansson made a great play to enable the Caps to gain possession after the initial offensive zone draw, and Washington got set up in the Minnesota zone. The Capitals moved the puck sharply and crisply, and their recoveries were good as well. The combination produced a prime chance for Ovechkin to drill a one-timer, but Dubnyk made the stop.

Seconds later, the Caps and their captain made good on a more unconventional extra-man strike. John Carlson put the puck off the back wall, and it took a membership bounce right to Ovechkin, who chipped it high into the cage from a tight angle, giving the Caps a 2-0 lead at 5:21.

Minnesota cut into the lead on a Charlie Coyle goal at 11:27, a tally that came after Washington was unable to clear the puck from its zone. But Ovechkin restored the Caps’ two-goal lead at 14:55. Backstrom kept the puck in at the Minnesota line, barely, as video review later revealed, and carried deeper into the Wild end of the ice. He whipped a shot on net, and Dubnyk made the stop, but Ovechkin banked the rebound in off the post and the goaltender’s body; it more or less fell behind him without reaching the back of the net. No matter, Washington owned a 3-1 lead with 4:55 remaining on the strength of three Ovechkin goals in a span of 12:41.

Washington took that lead into the final frame, and that’s when the ornery Wild, snarly over their 1-9-2 record in their previous dozen games and their ongoing offensive impotency (three or fewer goals in 23 of their last 24 contests) began to display their collective irritation. Christian Folin cross-checked Andre Burakovsky behind the Minnesota net, and Caps goalie Braden Holtby skated to the bench upon seeing the official’s arm go up. In the wake of Folin’s foul, Caps forward Justin Williams laid a cross-check of his own on Folin.

Incredibly, the officials forgot all about Folin and took only Williams to the box. Predictably, the Wild scored on a Ryan Suter point blast at 7:35 of the third to make it a 3-2 game. Kuznetsov’s injury occurred on the ensuing face-off, and again, the incident was conveniently missed/ignored by every official on the ice.

In the face of all this adversity, the Caps kept their cool and whittled time off the clock until Minnesota coach Mike Yeo pulled Dubnyk for an extra attacker with a little over two minutes remaining. Holtby made a sharp right pad save on Matthew Dumba’s point shot, expertly padding the puck right to Tom Wilson for the clear. Wilson sent it toward the vacant Minnesota cage, and Jason Chimera skated in and helped it home with 51.1 seconds remaining to make it a 4-2 game.

The Wild scored a disputed Granlund goal with mere seconds remaining, Holtby claiming that Parise had interfered with him before the goal and Trotz issuing a coach’s challenge. Although that call also went against the Caps, it didn’t matter. Washington had its fifth straight win, leaving the Wild to continue sputtering.

Wild Quotes

Devan Dubnyk: “The puck just went to [Ovechkin] on all three goals. Every single puck ends up on his tape and he doesn’t make a mistake. That puck off the wall, I don’t think anybody else on the ice is putting that in the net.”
Charlie Coyle: “Getting tired of it.”

Ryan Suter: “Everything about this stinks. You usually have to hit rock bottom to go up, and I feel like we’ve hit rock bottom.”

“I saw it in real life, and on the replay it looked even more offside. [Sharrers] said he doesn’t have enough angles. He said he can’t overturn it because he can’t see it clearly. If they’re going to have the rule, they better get some more cameras, I think.”

Mike Yeo: “If this wasn’t really maddening and really frustrating, it would almost be comical the way things are going right now. I don’t think I’m in a state of mind to start figuring out what’s best for the league right now.”

Matt Dumba: “I don’t think anyone can really put a finger on it, but we need to figure that out.”

Capitals Quotes

Alex Ovechkin: “It’s a good feeling. Obviously when you get one, it’s nice. When you get the second one, it’s pretty cool. But when you have three goals in one game, it’s kind of special.”
Barry Trotz: “We’ll see [Kuznetsov’s condition]. He was being evaluated. He didn’t come back, but I haven’t talked to the trainers yet, so I have no idea.”
“I thought it was big [Williams standing up for his teammate]. You’ve got a veteran guy who is all-in as a teammate. When he is out there battling for a young guy, that’s pretty impressive. We had a couple of things happen out there that were uncharacteristic in the game. We just battled through it. It was good.”

Other Results
Los Angeles @ NY Islanders 2-5
Buffalo @ Philadelphia 1-5
Anaheim @ Columbus 3-4 SO
Colorado @ Ottawa 4-3
Toronto @ Edmonton 2-5

NHL - NY Rangers @ Pittsburgh Penguins 3-0 - Wednesday, February 10, 2016

The New York Rangers and Henrik Lundqvist did what has seemed impossible recently and shut down Sidney Crosby. Lundqvist made 34 saves in his third shutout of the season to help the Rangers defeat the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-0 at Consol Energy Center. The shutout was Lundqvist's 58th of his NHL career and his 366th win, passing Martin Brodeur for the most by a goalie in his first 11 seasons. It was New York's first shutout at Pittsburgh since Feb. 27, 1971, when Ed Giacomin won 4-0.
New York continued their defensive dominance against Pittsburgh since last playing in the Eastern Conference First Round of the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Rangers, who are 7-1-3 against the Penguins in the regular season since April 3, 2013, allowed one goal in each of their four wins in a series that lasted five games.
Crosby had more than two shots in a game once in that series and Wednesday did not have a shot for the fourth time this season and the first since Oct. 31.
Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said he attempted to match forward Derick Brassard against Crosby as much as possible and was able to do so 60-70 percent of the time. Vigneault said he also was impressed with his defensemen, who played without captain Ryan McDonagh (upper body) for a second game.
After a second four-point game is less than a week against the Anaheim Ducks on Monday, Crosby's NHL career-long seven-game goal-scoring streak, career-long nine-game home goal-scoring streak, and 11-game point streak each ended. Crosby last failed to score at home against the Carolina Hurricanes on Dec. 19, marking the longest streak in the NHL since Mario Lemieux scored in 11 consecutive home games during the 1995-96 season, a Penguins record.
Shortly after failing to generate much on their first power play, the Rangers took a 1-0 lead on Kevin Hayes' eighth goal of the season.
Tanner Glass took a shot off goalie Marc-Andre Fleury's pads that bounced to Hayes just outside the crease. Fleury, boxed in by Penguins forward Patric Hornqvist in front and Rangers forward Daniel Paille to his left, scrambled in the paint while Hayes dragged the puck around Hornqvist and put a wrist shot into an open net 8:34 into the first period. Dominic Moore made it 2-0 on a 2-on-1 with Chris Kreider 4:21 into the third period, and Jesper Fast scored into an empty net with 1:31 remaining.
Pittsburgh controlled much of the first period, allowing five New York shots until the Rangers had two in the final minute, but couldn't take advantage. The Penguins' best scoring chance of the period came with 3:31 remaining, when Crosby drove in on Lundqvist from the right circle but shot wide.  Conor Sheary had a better chance 2:28 into the second period, when he split two defenders and deked to his backhand before shooting over Lundqvist's glove off the crossbar. The Penguins outshot the Rangers 34-22.
Trevor Daley did not play a shift after 13:36 of the first period. Midway through the first, Daley tripped after getting tangled with Fast and crashed back-first into the Rangers net. Penguins coach Mike Sullivan did not update Daley's status. Phil Kessel had six shots and had a few quality scoring chances but wasn't able to finish on those opportunities and failed to score for the 15th time in 17 games.

Pens Quotes

Sidney Crosby: "We had some good chances tonight. They capitalized on theirs and we didn't. That was the difference, but I think what's gone on in the past doesn't really matter. … We had some good chances that hit the post, a few got blocked, [Lundqvist] made some good saves on a couple other ones. We had some good looks."
Mike Sullivan: "Obviously, when Phil scores, we're a better team. We can't just rely on just one line or just one guy to generate our offense night in and night out. We've got to find ways to get more contributions throughout our lineup."

Other Results
Ottawa @ Detroit 1-3
Vancouver @ Phoenix 2-1

NHL - San Jose Sharks @ Chicago Blackhawks 2-0 - Tuesday, February 09, 2016

Martin Jones made 33 saves, and the San Jose Sharks were perfect on four special-teams opportunities in a 2-0 victory against the Chicago Blackhawks at United Center. Patrick Marleau scored for the Sharks on their only power play, and the San Jose penalty kill was 3-for-3. Joe Thornton, who got the secondary assist on Marleau's goal, scored into an empty net with 1:42 remaining.
San Jose, who lost 6-2 at the Nashville Predators on Saturday, went 2-2-0 on a four-game road trip. Jones, in his eighth straight start and fourth since the All-Star break, made 10 saves in the first, 12 in the second and 11 in the third for his fifth shutout of the season and the 12th of his NHL career. His performance helped the Sharks improve to 18-8-2 on the road, 23-2-1 when scoring first and 20-0-2 when leading at the end of the second period. Corey Crawford made 25 saves for Chicago, which lost for the first time in four games.
The Blackhawks, playing their first home game since Jan. 24, were without rookie left wing Artemi Panarin, who was sick and missed his first game. Teuvo Teravainen filled Panarin's role on the second line, and forward Jiri Sekac entered the lineup as right wing on the fourth line. As the game progressed, Chicago coach Joel Quenneville used a rotation of forwards in Panarin's spot.
A pivotal moment came at 17:23 of the first period, when Blackhawks forward Brandon Mashinter appeared to give Chicago a 1-0 lead. After a rebound deflected off Mashinter's right leg and past Jones, Sharks coach Peter DeBoer used his coach's challenge, and the goal was overturned after video review determined rookie center Dennis Rasmussen interfered with Jones.
Rather than Chicago holding a 1-0 lead at the end of the first, it remained scoreless and gave Marleau the opportunity to put the Sharks up 1-0 on the power play at 9:09 of the second. His slap shot from the right point hit Chicago center Jonathan Toews in the slot and redirected past Crawford. It was Marleau's first goal since Jan. 21 and his third in the past 21 games. The Sharks finished the season series 1-1-0 against the Blackhawks. They will head back to San Jose for two games before leaving again for a five-game road trip.

Sharks Bites

Joe Pavelski: "The guys played hard and gave them, really, nothing. The PK was great [and] the power play. The special teams were there for us. [Jones] was solid. [We're] playing a good team game right now."
"That was the last chance we got to play [the Blackhawks], and they're a great team. They really are. They're good, and you expect a good game out of them. They had the puck at times. They were good, but if there was a breakdown, we seemed to have somebody there recovering. It was good to see."
Martin Jones: "We've been good with the lead all year, so it's important for us to get the first goal. With a team like [the Blackhawks], they can score goals pretty well. You never know what can happen, but we were really good all night."
Peter DeBoer: "I didn't see [Rasmussen in the crease] from the bench. Dan Darrow, our coach behind the scenes here, caught it from an overhead view. Great call by him. Key call at that time of the game, and really changed the game for us."

Hawks Quotes

Brandon Mashinter: "I can't blame [Rasmussen]. The puck was there. It's unfortunate. That's it."
Joel Quenneville: "I don't know the rules anymore, or something's changed. My understanding, I've played a lot of hockey - I don't know. I think everybody has an interpretation of what's a good goal and what's a bad goal. But I can't believe it."Corey Crawford: "They move the puck pretty quick. They have a lot of movement with their players, too, around the [offensive] zone. I thought we played pretty well too. [We] just got an unlucky bounce there, pretty much."

NHL - Dallas Stars @ Minnesota Wild 4-3 SO - Tuesday, February 09, 2016

Kari Lehtonen turned in a superb performance in net, and John Klingberg delivered another overtime goal as the Dallas Stars topped the Minnesota Wild, 4-3, at Xcel Energy Center. Klingberg scored his third overtime goal of the season and fourth of his career, beating Wild goaltender Darcy Kuemper with a shot from the slot at the 2:39 mark with the Stars on an odd-man rush.
Lehtonen, making his first start since January 19, stopped 36 of 39 shots on the night, including 15 in the third period to help get the Stars to overtime.
The Stars bounced back from 1-0 and 2-1 deficits in the game, took a 3-2 lead and then withstood a big push from the Wild, who tied the game early in the third on the power play and had a 16-4 shots advantage in the period. Alex Goligoski, Jason Demers and Patrick Eaves also scored for the Stars, and Tyler Seguin had two assists. The Stars won for the fourth time in their past five games and pulled to within three points of Chicago in the race for the top spot in the Central Division and Western Conference. The Wild lost their sixth straight game (0-4-2) and fell for the 11th time in their past 12 games (1-9-2).
The Wild took a 1-0 lead 4:48 into the game when Thomas Vanek set up Erik Haula, who broke past the Dallas defense and beat Lehtonen with a backhand shot. The Stars drew even midway through the first. During a strong shift for the top line, Seguin set up Goligoski, who scored from close range to make it a 1-1 game at the 9:47 mark. But Justin Fontaine scored on odd-man rush to give Minnesota a 2-1 lead at 12:09 of the first.
The Stars struck twice in the second period to take a 3-2 lead. Mattias Janmark set up Demers, who came in from the point and had his shot from the right circle deflect off Minnesota defenseman Nate Prosser and into the net to tie the game 2-2 at 4:01 of the second. The Stars cashed in on their second power play of the game at the 10:45 mark. Seguin tracked down the rebound of a Jamie Benn shot and made a slick backhand pass to Eaves, who scored off a quick shot from the right circle to put Dallas up 3-2.
The Wild tied it early in the third by cashing in on their third power play of the game. Mikko Koivu scored off a scramble in front of the net at the 1:16 mark. The goal was reviewed to see if Wild defenseman Matt Dumba might have put the puck in with his hand, but the goal stood, and it was a 3-3 game. Lehtonen held the fort the rest of the way to help get the Stars to overtime. He stopped 15 shots in the third and had several big stops, including great ones on a point-blank shot off a rebound by Nino Niederreiter and a wrap-around attempt by Mikael Granlund. And in overtime, Klingberg delivered again for the Stars.


*The Stars are 7-5 in games that have gone beyond regulation. They are 5-3 in 3-on-3 overtime and 2-2 in shootouts.
*John Klingberg has three of the overtime goals for the Stars. Jamie Benn and Tyler Seguin have one apiece.
*Klingberg’s overtime goal was the fourth of his career, setting a new franchise record for OT goals by a defenseman.
*The Stars are 11-5-1 against the Central Division.
*The Wild outshot the Stars 39-30 and had a 68-60 advantage in attempted shots.
*Klingberg and Benn led the Stars with four shots on goal. Klingberg led the Stars with nine shot attempts.
*The Stars were 1-3 on the power play and 2-3 on the penalty kill.
*The Stars won 29 of 65 faceoffs (45 percent).
*Tyler Seguin won 8 of 15 faceoffs (53 percent). Cody Eakin won 7 of 14 (50 percent). Mattias Janmark won 6 of 13 (46 percent). Radek Faksa won 4 of 9 (44 percent).
*Alex Goligoski led the Stars with 26:17 of ice time.

Up next is a rematch with the Chicago Blackhawks, who defeated the Stars 5-1 in Dallas on Saturday. This is the third meeting of the season between the two teams. Both teams are 1-1-0 in the season series. The Stars are three points behind Chicago with three games in hand in the race for the top spot in the Central Division and Western Conference.

Jamie Benn – Tyler Seguin – Patrick Eaves
Patrick Sharp – Mattias Janmark – Valeri Nichushkin
Antoine Roussel – Cody Eakin – Ales Hemsky
Vernon Fiddler – Radek Faksa – Travis Moen

Alex Goligoski – John Klingberg
Johnny Oduya – Jason Demers
Patrik Nemeth – Jordie Benn

Kari Lehtonen
Antti Niemi

Injured: Jason Spezza (upper body)
Scratched: Jyrki Jokipakka, Jamie Oleksiak, Colton Sceviour

Stars Quotes

John Klingberg: “I wanted to play it over to [Tyler] Seguin first, but I know I pass a lot of pucks, so I just felt that I should shoot that. It felt good seeing it go in.”
Kari Lehtonen: “It was fun. I was excited all day to get out there and play for the first time in a long time. Glad it went well and, in the end, we ended up with two points. I didn’t know where the puck was. I was just trying to find it. I saw their guy batting it in, which I thought was a hand. It was tough to swallow for a couple of minutes, but after that you just keep playing and it’s good that we got it back.” 
Lindy Ruff: “They are a desperate team. We knew they’d be desperate. They started off well, we had a pretty good push in the middle of the game, and they had a pretty strong push at the start of the third. The power play goal gave them some life. Sometimes you have to survive through a team’s push, and I thought we did. Kari was fantastic. He made really good saves for us that allowed us to get to overtime.”

Wild Quotes

Zach Parise: “We’re playing better, but we are not getting the results. That’s a problem. We are playing with a little more enthusiasm, a little more jam and that’s a good sign.”

NHL - Winnipeg Jets @ St Louis Blues 2-1 SO - Tuesday, February 09, 2016

Mark Scheifele scored the winning goal in the fourth round of the shootout, while Connor Hellebuyck stopped all four shooters as the Winnipeg Jets beat the St. Louis Blues 2-1 at Scottrade Center. Hellebuyck made a beautiful save off Vladimir Tarasenko, holding his left pad on the goal line to help push it to an extra round, where Scheifele fired a shot just under the bar for his first-career goal in the skills competition. The best chance of the first period came from the snake-bitten David Backes, who intercepted a pass up the middle and took two strides in alone, but Hellebuyck swallowed it up with the glove. Blues goalie Brian Elliott was equally good at the other end, with a dazzling glove stop off Blake Wheeler standing up as his best in the opening 20, but a mistake of his proved costly just 15 minutes into the middle frame. Elliott bobbled a towering pop fly from Dustin Byfuglien, dropping it in the blue paint, allowing Bryan Little to swoop in and pounce. No. 18 made no mistake, golfing it upstairs for the opening goal. It was a short-lived lead, however, as the Blues tied it up on the power play at 2:27. With Ben Chiarot in the box for delay of game (puck over the glass), rookie defenceman Colton Parayko blasted a high, hard shot from the centre point, beating a screened Hellebuyck blocker side. The Jets came close to taking the lead in the dying minutes of regulation as Tyler Myers banked a long shot off the shoulder of Andrew Ladd, but it richocheted off the bar and stayed out after a dance on the goal line.
The Blues' offense has been slumping for some time, and while fatigue was mentioned as a factor before the All-Star break, the effort was rarely in question. That wasn't the case in the shootout loss to Winnipeg, in which the Blues managed just 22 shots on goal and came up with their only goal on the power play. Even when the rules gave the Blues the puck, in the shootout, they couldn't do anything with it. Two of their four shooters, Alexander Steen and Jori Lehtera, never even got their shots off. Brian Elliott stopped Winnipeg's first three tries, but on the fourth, the Jets' Mark Scheifele put the puck past him for the Jets' first victory over the Blues in four tries this season. On a night when the organization celebrated its 50th anniversary of being brought into the NHL as an expansion franchise, a crowd of 18,323 saw the Blues wrap up their three-game homestand with a record of 1-2. They will head to the Sunshine State for two against Florida and Tampa Bay beginning on Thursday.

As Hitchcock alluded, Elliott was the Blues' best player. He allowed one goal on 33 shots, and though the one goal was a bit deflating, it was the fifth time in his past seven games that he's allowed one goal or fewer. He's 3-2-2 in that stretch with a 1.27 GAA and a .958 save-percentage. But once again, Elliott had no little offensive support. The Blues have scored one goal or less in five of their last six games and have just three five-one-five goals in the last 322 minutes, 3 seconds of regulation play.
The Blues have scored five goals in their past two games and four have been on the man-advantage. They had another Tuesday, after Winnipeg opened the scoring early in the second period. In their first game without injured defenseman Alex Pietrangelo, shouldering Kevin Shattenkirk with 27:54 of ice time, the Blues fell behind 1-0 just 15 seconds into the period. Shattenkirk fanned on a chance to clear the puck from the defensive zone. Dustin Byfuglien then put a shot on net that deflected off Shattenkirk's stick and popped in the air towards Elliott. The netminder camped under the puck like an outfielder waiting on a flyball, but after getting a glove on it, it dropped in the crease and lay free. Bryan Little and Steen were the closest the puck. Steen seemed unaware of its whereabouts, allowing Little to pump it past Elliott for his 16th goal this season. The Blues answered with a power-play goal by defenseman Colton Parayko.
Late in the team's man-advantage, Jori Lehtera dropped a pass back to the point for Parayko, who teed one of his blistering slap shots. It sailed through goalie Connor Hellebuyck for the rookie's seventh goal of the season and first in 21 games. The Blues' power play, which had gone 24 consecutive chances without a goal, had its fourth goal on its last eight opportunities. Meanwhile, their penalty-killing unit snuffed out all five Winnipeg power plays Tuesday.
But while special teams have offered their support lately, the Blues' even-strength offense has not pulled its own weight.

Blues Quotes

Ken Hitchcock: "I don't think we competed in the offensive zone at all. We didn't compete for the puck. Our goalie was our best player again, played great. We didn't compete for the puck in the offensive zone. Pretty simple. Lots of opportunities to do it and when you don't have the puck you can't score. We didn't have the puck. Pretty simple."
"The puck is part of the game. There's a reason you score goals five on five. There's a reason you create multiple chances. You have to work, you have to compete when you have the puck and not be discouraged because you're getting checked. There's a reason why we're scoring just one goal. Pretty simple. We've needed the power play the last two games, thank God, but we just don't, we don't compete when we get checked in the scoring areas near as hard as we have to."
"It's up to us to fix it. Pretty simple fix, quite frankly. We all talk about line combinations and chemistry - you've got to play harder than this. A lot harder than this. You've got to compete at a lot higher level than this, bottom line."
Brian Elliott: "It was spinning up in the air and you kind of lose it up in the lights and stuff. No excuses; they capitalized on it. It's frustrating that that's the one they get ..."
Colton Parayko: "I had an open lane right down the middle. Can't really pass up those opportunities on the power play."
Kevin Shattenkirk: "We just need to find ways to create more offense. I think that's just something we have to go back to the drawing board and figure out how we're going to do that. It's little things, it's details, it's getting pucks in, good passes, it's getting out of our defensive zone clean, which we didn't do tonight. I think that falls on us. Game planning, that's something we'll talk about as a team with the coaches and try to figure something else out."

Jets Quotes

Paul Maurice: “The on-ice product the last two games, for me, is a function of preparation. Every team has to find its soul, and how it gets itself ready. We’ve been right there the last two games, as good as we’ve been all year, where you’re wired into the game and ready to go. That’s a big deal. We’re back skating, we’re competing on pucks. We’re battling and when it all goes bad, we’re getting a block or a save.”
Mark Scheifele: “Seriously, eh? [how it felt scoring the winner with his father in attendance] I’ve only shot three times in [the past] three years. The biggest thing is that I knew what to do. I’ve done it a lot in junior and in practice, too. You know what you can do and I was happy to do it. I picked my spot going in. I saw it as soon as I started skating down.”
Connor Hellebuyck: “It only takes one to get used to it. I was mad after the last one (Dallas) that we lost because I thought I was pretty good at shootouts. I thought we played well. I thought we were getting some good chances early on and then as the game progressed, we were both playing our styles and shutting each other down. Didn’t surprise me that it went to OT, and it was a pretty exciting overtime, too.”
Brian Little: “It was a pretty hard-fought game. It was one of those nights that had you had to battle for everything that we got. … I thought we did a great job defensively, taking away their opportunities. You had the feeling within the first few minutes that it was going to be a tight game like that. We had the right mentality. We didn’t take many chances; we waited for (them). It feels good to get two wins (on the trip).”

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Other Results
Los Angeles @ Boston 9-2
Florida @ Buffalo 7-4
Anaheim @ Philadelphia 4-1
NY Islanders @ Columbus 3-2 SO
Tampa Bay @ Montreal 2-4
Washington @ Nashville 5-3
Edmonton @ New Jersey 1-2
Vancouver @ Colorado 3-1
Toronto @ Calgary 3-4