NHL - Results - Monday, December 28, 2015

Washington @ Buffalo 2-0
Braden Holtby came up big in the second period, when he made 12 saves and helped kill two Buffalo power plays. His sprawling glove save against Evander Kane with 1:01 left in the game preserved the Capitals' two-goal lead. Kane gathered the puck on his backhand before taking a shot on the forehand, giving Holtby just enough time to dive, get in front of the puck and grab it with his glove. Ovechkin opened the scoring 19 seconds into the second period with his 18th goal. T.J. Oshie tapped the puck into the corner, where Nicklas Backstrom grabbed it and passed to Ovechkin alone in the slot for a one-timer over the glove of Sabres goalie Linus Ullmark. Beagle made it 2-0 with 7:05 left in the second. He scored his sixth goal when he put the rebound of a Tom Wilson shot from the blue line past Ullmark. Beagle's goal came 2:06 after Michael Latta left the game with an upper-body injury he sustained in a fight against Nicolas Deslauriers. Tyler Ennis nearly made it 2-1 with 4:10 left in the game when he put the puck past Holtby, but the apparent goal was waved off because Ennis made contact with the Washington goalie. Bylsma challenged the call on the ice, but video review confirmed the referee's call.
Montreal @ Tampa Bay 4-3 SO
Max Pacioretty and Brian Flynn scored in the shootout to lift the Montreal Canadiens to a 4-3 win. Flynn and Valtteri Filppula scored in the second round of the shootout, and Condon denied Nikita Kucherov to set the stage for Pacioretty, who beat Lightning goalie Ben Bishop with a backhand shot. The Canadiens took a 1-0 lead at 15:58 in the first period when P.K. Subban made a nice play in the slot to find a streaking Tomas Plekanec, who flipped the puck past a sliding Bishop. Tampa Bay tied the game at 5:40 in the second period on a power-play goal from Kucherov, who beat Condon with a shot from the slot. Galchenyuk's goal at 9:57 of the second period gave the Canadiens a 2-1 lead. Andrei Markov found Galchenyuk uncovered in the slot and he one-timed a shot past Bishop. Callahan gave the Lightning a 3-2 lead with 6:18 remaining in the third period when he converted a cross-ice pass from Valtteri Filppula, who attempted a shot that was tipped back to him and with Condon sliding his way, Filppula found an open Callahan at the right circle. Garrison scored his fourth goal of the season 21 seconds earlier on a wraparound that beat Condon on the glove side to make it 2-2. Weise tied the game at 14:14 of the third period when he scored on a snap shot in the slot off a pass from David Desharnais, who was parked behind the net.
Los Angeles @ Vancouver 5-0
Tyler Toffoli opened the scoring on a spinning wrist shot from the slot with less than five minutes left in the first period. He converted a rebound from low in the left faceoff circle 5:55 into the third period and deflected a point shot from the slot on a power play with 7:04 left for the second hat trick of his NHL career.
Kopitar, who assisted on all three of Toffoli's goals, said any chemistry with the 23-year-old forward is about simplicity. Defensemen Derek Forbort and Brayden McNabb scored in the second period to give Los Angeles a 3-0 lead. Forbort scored his first NHL goal in his 11th game at 1:57, and McNabb scored his second goal of the season with 8:03 left in the period.

Toffoli credited McNabb for setting the tone for a physical game with a big hit on Canucks captain Henrik Sedin 31 seconds into the game. McNabb tussled with Alex Biega after the hit and fought Brandon Prust less than six minutes later, part of a spirited first period. Quick wasn't tested often by the Canucks, who were shut out for the fourth time in their past 11 games. He made his best save off Bo Horvat from the slot in the second period shortly before McNabb extended the lead to 3-0. Toffoli opened the scoring with 4:27 left in the first period, and Forbort made it 2-0 on a double deflection early in the second period. After Dustin Brown forced a turnover on the forecheck, Forbort collected a loose puck at the point, and his shot bounced off two Canucks defenders and past the glove of a helpless Markstrom.

NHL - Results - Sunday, December 27, 2015

Boston @ Ottawa 1-3
Zibanejad scored the winning goal at 18:21 of the second period after a good example of creating a scoring chance by craftily shooting the puck off the goalie's pad. After some good work in the neutral zone to get to the Bruins zone, Mike Hoffman passed the puck to wing Bobby Ryan. He's playing with a broken finger, but that didn't seem to hinder his ability to put a low shot on Rask's long-side pad. The puck rebounded to Zibanejad in the slot, and he scored into the top half of the net. The Bruins tied the game 1-1 at 7:54 of the second period after video review confirmed the puck had crossed the goal line after Krejci jammed it under Anderson's left pad. Krejci made a good play to kick the puck back up to his stick after he was checked on the edge of the crease. The Senators ended the Bruins' streak of 26 straight penalty kills when they scored with 19 seconds left in the first period. Working well below the goal line, Stone banked the puck off Dennis Seidenberg and into the net. The Senators were on the power play after Jimmy Hayes was given an instigator penalty for fighting with Mark Borowiecki. Hayes went after Borowiecki after he put a heavy hit on Frank Vatrano along the right-wing boards in the Boston zone. Stone scored his second of the game into an empty net at 19:06.

Columbus @ Florida 2-3
The Panthers dominated the first period from the opening faceoff and took the lead at 3:34. Reilly Smith hit the post with a wrist shot from the left circle, but the puck came right to Ekblad, whose wrist shot from the top of the right circle went past a screened McElhinney. It was the ninth goal of the season and fifth in 10 games for Ekblad, the Calder Trophy winner last season. The Blue Jackets didn't get their first shot on goal until 10:07 into the game, when Boone Jenner's wrist shot forced Luongo to make his only save of the period. McElhinney kept the margin at one goal later in the period by making seven saves during a 1:38 span in which the Panthers had a 5-on-3 power play. But the Panthers doubled their lead with 17.7 seconds left. Barkov won an offensive-zone draw to Huberdeau, who cut down the right side and slipped a pass to Barkov in the slot for a wrist shot that beat McElhinney cleanly. It capped a period in which Florida had a 19-1 advantage in shots on goal and a 30-3 lead in shot attempts. The Blue Jackets came out for the second period with much more energy and cut the margin to 2-1 at 7:59 on Saad's 13th goal of the season. Saad raced into the Florida zone to chase down Justin Falk's dump-in to the left-wing corner, controlled the puck and wheeled a shot from along the goal line that found its way past Luongo. Saad had a chance to tie the game near the midway point of the period, but Luongo stopped him at the left post after a defensive breakdown. Barkov restored Florida's two-goal margin at 7:23 of the third period when he finished off a feed by Huberdeau on a 2-on-1 break for his ninth of the season. Barkov's goal proved to be the game-winner when Atkinson scored a power-play goal with 8:34 remaining.

Toronto @ NY Islanders 3-1
Michael Grabner's goal at 3:13 of the second period was the difference in Toronto's 3-1 win at Barclays Center. The Maple Leafs didn't need much time in the second period to put the Islanders down by two. Bozak scored off an end-boards rebound at 1:33, and Grabner scored a 6-on-5 goal off a rebound during a delayed penalty 100 seconds later. Nikolay Kulemin cut the deficit to 2-1 at 12:30 of the third period with his first goal in 30 games (Oct. 20), but van Riemsdyk sealed the win for Toronto with an empty-net goal at 19:14. He has scored in three straight games and has six goals in the past seven games. Bozak scored after P.A. Parenteau led an easy rush into the zone down the left side. He found Roman Polak trailing the play and got him the puck. Polak's shot went wide, but it bounced off the end boards to a wide-open Bozak in the lower part of the right circle. Grabner scored his 6-on-5 goal because the Maple Leafs hung onto the puck after Bernier went to the bench for an extra skater. They worked it around the zone, to defenseman Morgan Reilly at the top for a shot that hit off Greiss and went to Grabner for put-back from the slot. Toronto continued to dominate the second period after taking the 2-0 lead. In addition to the 16-6 edge in shots on goal, the Maple Leafs had a 25-14 advantage in total shot attempts.

Philadelphia @ Anaheim 2-4
Corey Perry tied the game 2-2 with a power-play goal at 4:14 of the second period and put the Ducks ahead to stay 58 seconds into the third with a sharp-angled wrist shot that beat Flyers goaltender Steve Mason. It was a game with plenty of heavy hits [Flyers and Ducks physical, really?] and lots of emotion, which the Ducks felt played to their strength. Perry also triggered an altercation that led to Getzlaf's first-period power-play goal, which opened the scoring.
Mason stopped Perry on a breakaway at 4:29, and Perry shoved Mason into the net. A scrum ensued, with Perry, Mason and Luke Schenn each receiving minor penalties for roughing and Philadelphia's Ryan White and Anaheim's Kevin Bieksa being assessed game misconducts. That gave the Ducks a power play, and Claude Giroux was sent off for slashing 32 seconds later, giving the Ducks a two-man advantage. Getzlaf capitalized by one-timing a shot past Mason at 6:28, one second before the 5-on-3 power play expired. It was Getzlaf's second goal of the season and came as a huge relief for the struggling captain, who is off to the worst start of his career. Jakub Voracek tied the game at 12:12 when he took a rebound off the end boards and beat Gibson for his fourth of the season. Michael Raffl scored 2:26 into the second period to give the Flyers a 2-1 lead but Perry tied it less than two minutes later when he scored off a goalmouth scramble. Getzlaf was credited with the primary assist to earn the 700th point of his career, becoming the second player in franchise history to do so. After Perry put Anaheim ahead to stay, Shawn Horcoff put the game away when he went five-hole on Mason for a shorthanded goal at 7:54 of the third period.

Edmonton @ Calgary 3-5
With Joe Colborne in the penalty box, Stajan batted a rebound off Markus Granlund's initial shot out of midair and past Anders Nilsson at 12:52. It was Calgary's first shorthanded goal of the season. The Flames' penalty kill is last in the NHL at 74.2 percent but hasn't allowed a goal in six straight games. The goal, Stajan's second of the season, came 2:31 after Purcell put Edmonton up 3-1. Giordano's first power-play goal at 16:47 tied the game 3-3.

After Jiri Hudler gained the zone, Giordano one-timed a pass from Dennis Wideman past Nilsson. Calgary's power play has scored in three consecutive games but is still last in the NHL at 13.0 percent. Gaudreau's second goal of the game gave Calgary a 4-3 lead. After picking up a turnover by Justin Schultz in the slot, Gaudreau beat Nilsson glove-side for his team-leading 17th goal with 31.1 seconds remaining in the period. Giordano scored his second power-play goal of the game with two minutes remaining, snapping a shot that beat Talbot short-side. It's the first time the Flames have scored multiple power-play goals in the same game this season. Pouliot scored on back-to-back shots late in the first period to give Edmonton a 2-0 lead. He tipped a backhand by Jordan Eberle from the high slot past Ramo at 16:21 to put the Oilers ahead. After getting tangled with Bouma on his next shift, Pouliot drove to the net in time to redirect a pass from Nugent-Hopkins into the net at 18:11. Gaudreau's first of the game, a wrist shot from the slot on a setup by TJ Brodie, cut the deficit to one at 3:10 of the second period. But Purcell restored the two-goal lead at 10:21, beating Ramo with a low shot on a breakaway from center ice after Giordano and Dougie Hamilton were caught in the Edmonton zone

NHL - Pittsburgh Penguins @ Winnipeg Jets 0-1 - Sunday, December 27, 2015

Winnipeg Jets rookie goaltender Connor Hellebuyck made 30 saves and earned his first NHL shutout in a 1-0 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins at MTS Centre. The shutout was the first for the Jets since April 9. Winnipeg had started the game ranked 27th in the NHL with 3.03 goals-against per game.

The Jets are the third team in NHL history to win a 1-0 game in regulation on a penalty-shot goal, according to Elias Sports Bureau. Hellebuyck, who started for the seventh time in the past eight games, has taken over the Jets' No. 1 goaltending job since he was recalled from Manitoba of the American Hockey League on Nov. 22 after Ondrej Pavelec sustained a knee injury. Hellebuyck, 22, has one shutout in the AHL this season and had six shutouts last season.
Jeff Zatkoff had 27 saves for Pittsburgh, which failed to win three straight games for the first time since Oct. 31-Nov. 6. The Penguins start a stretch of three of four games at home Wednesday against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Winnipeg avoided a three-game losing streak but remains in last place in the Central Division. The Jets host the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday before beginning a five-game road trip.

Little drew a penalty shot when he drove the net and Ben Lovejoy hooked him at 14:46. He followed with his team-leading 14th goal on a shot over Zatkoff's left shoulder on his first career penalty shot.
Little has four goals in his past five games. Little's goal was the first successful penalty-shot attempt for the Winnipeg/Atlanta Thrashers franchise since Oct. 8, 2010.

Pittsburgh outshot Winnipeg 14-5 in the second period and controlled large portions of the game. Tyler Myers, who led the Jets with 23:03 of ice time, made two diving stops in the final minute of the game to preserve the shutout.
The Penguins, who are 27th in the League with 2.29 goals per game, have been shut out four times. They have allowed six goals in their past four games, but are 2-2-0 in that span. Sullivan did not like the Penguins' puck management, especially in the neutral zone. Jets center Bryan Little's successful first-period penalty shot provided the game's only goal.

Pens Quotes

Mike Sullivan: "I thought [Zatkoff] was solid. He made a couple of really timely saves for us. He kept it close. He gave us a chance to win. That's all you can ask for from your goaltender. We had some chances. I think in the second period we started to come on and started to play the way we've been playing most recently. We did a better job with the puck, and we had some pretty good chances that didn't go in for us."
"I don't think it was our most complete effort of the [past] probably four games that we have played. I thought in the first period we didn't manage the puck as well as we have in the important areas of the rink. I think more specifically coming through the neutral zone, we turned the puck over a fair amount of times there. I think that when we do that we don't spend as much time in our opponent's end zone. I think we make it easier on our opponents when we don't manage the puck in that area of the rink. I think that's a really important aspect of our team game, how we manage the puck in those areas because we're a team that wants to play with [the puck]. Sometimes we try to do a little too much. We don't have the necessary focus in that area of the rink, and it hurts us when we don't do as good a job there."
"We pushed down the stretch. We tried to put pucks on the net. We tried to go to the net. I thought we could have done a better job of getting to the [crease] for that second opportunity, the rebound chance [that] is usually a high-quality chance."
Jeff Zatkoff: "I don't know [Little] that well. I know he's a scorer. He made a nice shot. I just missed it just right by the side of arm. It's tough that that is the game-winner, but that's the way it goes sometimes. I felt good all game. I just tried to battle and give our team a chance, keep it a one-goal game."
Sidney Crosby: "[Winnipeg] jumped on us early. We got on our heels a bit. I thought in the second (period), we did a better job and had some good chances."

Jets Quotes

Bryan Little: "[Hellebuyck] was outstanding. Every time he needed to make a big save, he made one for us and kept us in the game. He did everything he needed to do for us to win. I didn't know a lot about this goalie, but I knew I was going to shoot glove-side pretty much before I went."
Paul Maurice: "[The most impressive aspect] is [Hellebuyck] looks the same each night. He seems to have a really solid foundation to his game. He is really consistent in his approach, how he looks in the net and he stops the puck."
Connor Hellebuyck: "I'm just really excited that I finally got this milestone."

NHL - St Louis Blues @ Dallas Stars 0-3 - Sunday, December 27, 2015

Patrick Sharp had a goal and an assist and Kari Lehtonen made 22 saves to help the Dallas Stars to a 3-0 win against the St. Louis Blues at American Airlines Center. Sharp scored what proved to be the game-winning goal via the power play with 1:57 remaining in the first period after collecting his own rebound and knocking the carom past Blues goaltender Brian Elliott, who made 35 saves.
Jamie Benn and Cody Eakin scored for Dallas, which is 15-4-0 at home. St. Louis, who defeated Dallas 3-2 in a shootout on Saturday at Scotttrade Center, was shut out for the third time this season. The Blues shut out the Stars 3-0 in St. Louis on Dec. 12. Lehtonen earned his third shutout of the season and 33rd of this career.
Benn made it 2-0 with his NHL-leading 23rd goal of the season when he scored with the Stars on a power play 40 seconds into the third period. Sharp's pass from the left side deflected off Jay Bouwmeester before Benn slipped the puck under Elliott at the far post. Benn is one goal ahead of Vladimir Tarasenko for the NHL lead after Tarasenko did not score in either game against Dallas this weekend.
Eakin scored an empty-net goal with 1:32 remaining. But Hitchcock felt the story was the 21 giveaways the Blues committed, many of which were in the neutral zone.
Elliott kept St. Louis, which was outshot 38-22 (16-5 in the first period), in the game. He made a diving save against Jordie Benn in the first period and denied Ales Hemsky on an attempted tap-in during the second.
The Stars killed two Blues power plays in the third period, one resulting from a tripping call on Jason Demers and another from a kneeing penalty on Seguin.
Elliott was pulled with 2:13 remaining but St. Louis was unable to score with the extra attacker. Dallas, who are 4-1-1 on the second night of a back-to-back, now has consecutive shutouts at home and hasn't allowed a goal over the past 135:48 on home ice. The Stars defeated the Blackhawks 4-0 on Dec. 22 in their final game before the Christmas break.

Blues Quotes

Ken Hitchcock: "Yeah, I thought the difference [was], their top players came to play, they set the tone for them and that got us back on our heels. The one (goal) that really hurt us was the second goal (by Benn)."
"[Bouwmeester] was playing the front of the net, gets cross-checked from behind and the guy (Benn) that cross-checks [Bouwmeester] from behind scores a goal. That really hurt us a lot."
"We didn't manage the puck properly. We turned it over in the neutral zone all the time. In the first two games we played in our building, we didn't turn it over, but we turned it over all night today and when you play that way against that team, that just feeds what they did, so we couldn't get on our toes because we put ourselves on our heels. They came at us because of the neutral-zone turnovers and we couldn't sustain any zone pressure until really the third period."
Brian Elliott: "Results aside, I felt good. I made a couple good saves to try to keep us in it, but the less than 24-hour turnaround, it just looked like we didn't have the same amount of gas as we did at home. It was tough getting scoring chances. We couldn't really get anything to the inside. We know we can (compete with Dallas). When we don't have the gas or something like that, we have to focus on the little details and play our game instead of the turnovers that they feed on."

Stars Quotes

Lindy Ruff: "We did all the right things. We played the way we needed to play. Our compete level and our attention to smaller details in the game were real good. Their power play's been very good, and I thought those two kills were as important as the two power-play goals we scored. I thought our penalty killers were in shot lanes, they bottled up the entries, we didn't give them a lot of zone time. They've got real good special teams. The Blues have really good special teams, and if you can win that battle you're going to win the game against them."
Patrick Sharp: "It's a big win for us for a lot of reasons; divisional opponent, a team that had beaten us twice, a team that's tough to play against."
Kari Lehtonen: "You look at the game [Saturday] night and comparing it to today, it was night and day. We played a strong game both ends of the ice, and it was fairly easy for me to come back and get going."
Jamie Benn: "We didn't have a good effort [Saturday] night, and we got to regroup here tonight with a good game. Their goalie, he was on fire back there. I just liked our effort tonight. It seems like being back here at home we've slowly started to figure it out. We've just got to continue that."

Penalties

1st Period
05:55 DAL	Jamie Benn  Roughing against  Vladimir Tarasenko
05:55 STL	Vladimir Tarasenko  Roughing against  Jamie Benn
09:41 STL	Colton Parayko  Hi-sticking against  Jamie Benn
17:09 STL	Scottie Upshall  Interference against  Jordie Benn
17:09 STL	Robert Bortuzzo  Slashing against  Jamie Benn
17:09 DAL	Tyler Seguin  Roughing against  Robert Bortuzzo
2nd Period
00:03 DAL	Antoine Roussel  Fighting (maj) against  Troy Brouwer
00:03 STL	Troy Brouwer  Fighting (maj) against  Antoine Roussel
00:07 STL	Robert Bortuzzo  Fighting (maj) against  Travis Moen
00:07 DAL	Travis Moen  Fighting (maj) against  Robert Bortuzzo
19:28 STL	Dmitrij Jaskin  Tripping against  Tyler Seguin
3rd Period
10:59 DAL	Jason Demers  Tripping against  Dmitrij Jaskin
15:08 DAL	Tyler Seguin  Kneeing against  Colton Parayko

NHL - Central - December 26-27, 2015

Saturday, December 26

Detroit Red Wings @ Nashville Predators 3-2
Luke Glendening scored the game-winning goal 6:45 into the third period to give the Red Wings a 3-2 win against the Predators. Glendening scored on a deflection in front of Pekka Rinne. Brendan Smith took the original shot from the point that Glendening was able to redirect past Rinne for his second goal.
Smith gave the Red Wings a 1-0 lead at 5:34 of the first period on a slap shot from the right faceoff circle. Smith took the pass from forward Darren Helm and took a shot that beat Rinne for his second goal. Filip Forsberg tied the game for the Predators 45 seconds later on a wrist shot from the left faceoff circle. Forsberg took the pass from forward Mike Ribeiro on a 3-on-2 rush and took a shot that beat Red Wings goaltender Petr Mrazek for his eighth goal. Riley Sheahan gave the Red Wings a 2-1 lead at 2:55 of the second period with a power-play goal on a wrist shot from the right side of Rinne. Brad Richards took the original shot from the point, and Sheahan was able to get to the rebound and slide the puck past Rinne for his fourth goal. Forsberg tied the game 2-2 at 17:11 of the second period on a deflection off of a faceoff. Craig Smith retrieved the puck and took a wrist shot that went off of Forsberg and past Mrazek for his second goal of the game and ninth of the season. Detroit traveled to Nashville on Saturday morning after having off for three days for the Christmas break. The players said getting back into a mentality for hockey was difficult, but they liked the way the team responded. Mrazek made 24 saves for Detroit and improved to 11-6-3. Rinne made 20 saves for Nashville.

Peter Laviolette: "He looks strong to me with the way he's skating. He's hard to defend when he moves the puck in and out of areas quick, when he's fast off the rush. Hard to defend. He looks like he's strong right now. Tonight it was more of an even game. I do think that in the third period we turned it on. The first two periods, the first period was a little bit us and the second period was a little bit them. The third period I thought we got going and played better and had looks. We just came out on the wrong end of the third period."

Sunday, December 27

Carolina Hurricanes @ Chicago Blackhawks 2-1
Carolina's 2-1 victory against the Blackhawks at United Center was the latest example. The Hurricanes won despite being outshot 36-27, but goalie Eddie Lack made 35 saves in his first appearance since Dec. 15. Justin Faulk and Victor Rask scored for Carolina. Lack made 11 saves in the first period, six in the second and 18 in the third before Brent Seabrook, playing his 800th NHL game, scored with three seconds remaining. Carolina beat the Blackhawks for the first time since Oct. 28, 2011, a 3-0 win at PNC Arena. It was the Hurricanes' first victory in Chicago since Jan. 30, 2010, a 4-2 win at United Center. The Blackhawks had the puck most of the time, finishing with a 70-44 edge in total shot attempts. Lack's saves plus 21 blocked shots by the Hurricanes kept the puck out of the net, and the Blackhawks helped by missing the net 13 times. Corey Crawford made 25 saves for Chicago, which was nearly shut out in back-to-back games. The Blackhawks, who were off for four days off during the break, fell to 2-4-0 when they have three or more days between games. The game was scoreless after the first period. Chicago's fourth line, led by rookie center Phillip Danault, had five of the Blackhawks' 11 shots in the period and nearly opened the scoring on attempts by Danault and Ryan Garbutt off rushes. Crawford was sharp as well. He made several pad saves to deny goals off slap shots, including a one-timer by Versteeg at 5:30 from the right circle. Faulk opened the scoring at 19:41 of the second period with his 14th goal of the season and second in as many games. Faulk, who tied the San Jose Sharks' Brent Burns for most goals by a defenseman, scored by shooting the puck through the legs of both Seabrook and Crawford. Rask made it 2-0 at 4:48 of the third with his 10th goal, a wrist shot that beat Crawford high to the glove side. It turned out to be the game-winner when Seabrook's shot trickled past Lack. Marian Hossa returned to the lineup after missing the previous two games with an upper-body injury.

Marian Hossa: "I think everyone was well-rested, so that should be to our advantage. Obviously, we didn't take advantage. This game, we should've played a little different. We didn't have enough bodies going to the net and sacrificing to get the ugly goals."
Joel Quenneville: "It was a huge goal. We get out of that period [tied], we're still [OK]. We had the quality [scoring chances]. We missed some great chances, but they're a dangerous team, as well. That was a pivotal goal."
Phoenix Coyotes @ Colorado Avalanche 2-1 OT
Playing overtime for a second straight day didn't bother the Coyotes, who defeated the Avalanche 2-1 at Pepsi Center when Mikkel Boedker scored on a breakaway with 42.1 seconds remaining. Boedker also set up Michael Stone's tying goal at 2:34 of the third period, and goalie Anders Lindback made a season-best 38 saves, 13 in the third and three in overtime. The Coyotes have gone 4-1-2 since losing five consecutive games and have climbed into second place in the Pacific Division, one point ahead of the San Jose Sharks. They lost 4-3 in overtime Saturday to the Los Angeles Kings and are 4-3 in extra-period games. Boedker raced ahead of Tyson Barrie, moved in on goalie Semyon Varlamov and put a move on him before lifting the puck over his blocker. All three Avalanche players were caught deep after Lindback made a save and got the puck to Brad Richardson, who passed to Boedker. Avalanche coach Patrick Roy wasn't happy with the way his team played in overtime, saying players stayed on the ice too long and didn't pay enough attention to defense.

The Avalanche, who are 1-2 in overtime, closed to within four points of the Nashville Predators for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference, but they've gone 0-1-1 since putting together a five-game winning streak. Colorado's best scoring chance in overtime came from Francois Beauchemin, who shot the puck off the crossbar with 1:50 to go. The Coyotes tied the game in the third when Stone took a drop pass from Boedker at the top of the right circle and beat Varlamov high to the far side. It was his third of the season and first in 14 games. Iginla scored after Oliver Ekman-Larsson was given a double minor for high-sticking Alex Tanguay, who was assessed a roughing minor for retaliating. Nathan MacKinnon took a shot that Lindback denied, but the rebound slid to the left slot. Iginla backhanded the puck and it hit Klas Dahlbeck's skate in front and caromed into the far corner of the net. Iginla has two goals and an assist in a three-game scoring streak after going nine games without a point. The Avalanche killed all three Coyotes power plays after allowing three goals on three shorthanded situations last Monday in a 7-4 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Coyotes right wing Steve Downie sustained what Tippett said is an upper-body injury. He didn't return after a fight with Andreas Martinsen at 12:23 of the second period. Jarome Iginla gave the Avalanche a 1-0 lead at 17:07 of the first period on a power play. It was his 10th goal of the season and 599th of his NHL career.

Patrick Roy: "We should have kept the shifts a little shorter. We had a rush chance and we took a shot from a bad angle. Not only that, the three guys went to the net and the puck came back. That's not the type of game we want to play. We want one guy to be aware and stay back and be smart about it. We played like an all-star game in that 3-on- 3."
Jarome Iginla: "It's disappointing, no question. We did a lot of good things. I thought we played well (enough) to get the win. You'd love to see that one go in."

NHL - Dallas Stars @ St Louis Blues 2-3 SO - Saturday, December 26, 2015

David Backes scored in the ninth round of the shootout to give the St. Louis Blues a 3-2 win against the Dallas Stars at Scottrade Center. Backes beat Antti Niemi and Jake Allen made a save on Vernon Fiddler to win the first of a home-and-home between the teams. They play Sunday in Dallas.
The Blues tied the franchise record for longest shootout before Backes won it with his first goal in five career attempts. Alexander Steen, Vladimir Tarasenko, Jori Lehtera and Dmitrij Jaskin scored in the shootout for the Blues, who led 2-0 in the tiebreaker before the Stars rallied. The Stars got shootout goals from Jamie Benn, Patrick Sharp, Jason Spezza and Patrick Eaves.
Sharp thought he won it in overtime but was robbed by the stick of Kevin Shattenkirk. Sharp and Spezza went in on a 2-on-1, Spezza fed Sharp, who pulled the puck to his backhand around Allen and flipped it towards the net. But Shattenkirk was at the left post and batted the puck down 3:11 into overtime to keep the game going.

Colton Sceviour and Tyler Seguin scored for the Stars; Niemi made 35 saves. Steen and Robby Fabbri scored for the Blues, Allen made 22 saves. Fabbri's eighth of the season tied the game 2-2 with 1:50 remaining. It came after a pass from Jay Bouwmeester, who weaved into the Dallas zone before centering to the slot.
The Blues had the first 11 shots on goal in the second period and took a 1-0 lead on Steen's power-play goal, a slap shot from the high slot that deflected into the net off Niemi's glove at 6:18. Tarasenko assisted on the goal to extend his point streak to a career-high eight games (six goals, six assists).
The Stars tied the game 1-1 on their first shot of the period, Sceviour's goal from in tight on Allen. Sceviour took a through-the-legs feed from Cody Eakin and beat Allen short side with a wrist shot at 8:15. The goal was the Stars' first against Allen in 184:36.
Seguin's 150th NHL goal gave Dallas a 2-1 lead with 37 seconds left in the second. He took a pass from Sharp, sped into the Blues' zone and wound up for a slap shot that got through Allen. Seguin, who started his career with the Boston Bruins, has played 389 NHL games.

Stars Quotes

Lindy Ruff: "I thought it was just a little bit of scattered play where we had some pockets of energy, but we didn't skate as well as a team as we've normally skated. Probably the break affected us a little bit. Antti's played very well for us. I thought he had a great night for us."
Jason Spezza: "I put my hands up. I thought it went in. A pretty spectacular play by, I think Shattenkirk; a little luck though. A little good hand-eye. That's just how it went for us tonight. We just get back at it tomorrow we see these guys again."

Blues Quotes

David Backes: "I figured around seven or eight [rounds] I should re-tie my skates and get ready. You never know what's going to happen. It's one of those things where we score, they score, we don't score, they don't score. I was put in a good situation by a lot of guys before me and able to come through. It was a good feeling to get two points. Now we've got to go into their barn and have another highly contested 60 minutes."
Alexander Steen: "It was long. That's the longest one I've been a part of, I think. It was a long one. It's difficult when you give up a 2-0 [lead] like that and then it goes back and forth. I looked at [Allen] when it was over and he just gave me [a relieved look]."
Ken Hitchcock: "We played very well. We played very well from start to finish. This is similar to the Boston effort We did a lot of good things. It would have been an absolute shame to not walk away with points, but we did a number of really good things today."
Robby Fabbri: "It was a great play by [Bouwmeester]. After the shot, I didn't see anything after that. I just saw the guys come over. It's a good feeling."

NHL - Pittsburgh Penguins @ Minnesota Wild 3-1 - Saturday, December 26, 2015

Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang returned to the lineup and helped the Pittsburgh Penguins play one of their most complete games of the season, a 3-1 win against the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center. Crosby had a goal and an assist, Letang had two assists and goaltender Matthew Murray made 25 saves for the Penguins, who won their second straight game under coach Mike Sullivan after losing the first four.
Crosby, who missed the game Monday against the Columbus Blue Jackets with a lower-body injury, scored his first goal since Dec. 5 to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead early in the second period. Letang missed six games with an upper-body injury sustained Dec. 9 and left this game briefly in the third period after he was checked near his head. Sullivan said he expects Letang to be fine. Patric Hornqvist and Eric Fehr scored late in the second period for the Penguins.
Jason Zucker scored a goal and goaltender Devan Dubnyk made 29 saves for Minnesota, which is 1-7-1 in its past nine games following the Christmas break. The Wild have been outscored 40-22 and have a minus-77 shot differential in those games. Murray, making his third NHL start, was rarely tested through the first half of the game; the Penguins outshot the Wild 22-6 through the 10-minute mark of the second period.
Crosby's goal at 4:23 of the second came after Ryan Suter whiffed on the puck on a forecheck at the offensive blue line. Crosby's initial shot sailed wide of the net but was corralled by David Perron, who set up Crosby for a one-timer from the top of the left circle for his seventh of the season. The Penguins capitalized on two Wild errors later in the period. Kevin Porter beat Suter to the puck in the right corner to avoid an icing, and Fehr then beat Justin Fontaine to the front of the net, putting Porter's perfect pass through Dubnyk for his fourth at 18:10.
Minnesota answered less than a minute later when Zucker collected a nice pass from Thomas Vanek inside the left circle and beat Murray to the glove side for his ninth at 18:55, but Hornqvist jammed in a loose puck in the crease while on the power play at 19:26 to make it 3-1.
Pittsburgh will finish a two-game road trip with the second of back-to-back games against the Winnipeg Jets at MTS Centre.

Pens Quotes

Sidney Crosby: "I think so [the Penguins playing a complete game]. I thought the Columbus game [on Monday] was up there too, so I think we were just building off of that. Very similar-type effort and we got rewarded for it. For the amount of days we had off, I thought we came out pretty sharp, generated a lot of chances and I thought we continued that most of the game. I felt good. You get a little bit of time off and you just want to get back out there and use that rest. I was happy to be back out there, and when everyone is playing like that, it helps everybody."
Patric Hornqvist: "Our effort was there from goalies, to [defensemen] to forwards. We paid the price out there. That was a great team effort."
Mike Sullivan: "Responding to the adversities in the game is really important to us becoming a better team and making sure we don't let those things affect is in a negative way. That was a big goal for us."

Wild Quotes

Mike Yeo: "Unfortunately, it's something that's become a little bit predictable, these games after Christmas. It's something we have to fix. First period, it seemed like we were defending OK, we were battling OK, but we couldn't make a play. Couldn't make a pass, just slapping pucks to people, not taking ice when it was there. Didn't seem to have the desire to want the puck in a lot of situations and I think they just took the game over from there."
Ryan Suter: "We were turning the puck over. Just couldn't execute, that was our biggest thing. Couldn't come out of our end, couldn't come through of the neutral zone. Turning pucks over to those guys is a tough thing to do and basically, I think that's the result."