Friday Night Hockey

To cap off a busy week, we were treated to eight games, 51 goals, six emptynetters, one hat trick, a shutout and one overtime period.
The Carolina Hurricanes celebrated their victory with a VIP Storm Surge, Jordan Martinook took on four-time heavyweight boxing champion, Evander Holyfield, in ‘the ring’.

 

St Louis Blues v Carolina Hurricanes

2-5

The Carolina Hurricanes won their fourth in a row on Friday night with a 5-2 victory over the St Louis Blues at PNC Arena.

Sebastian Aho had a goal and an assist, Justin Williams, Justin Faulk and Andrei Svechnikov also scored for the hosts. Teuvo Teravainen, Nino Niederreiter and Brett Pesce each registered two assists for the Canes who are 23-3-1 in their last 17 games.

Curtis McElhinney made 21 saves for Carolina, who moved into third place in the Metropolitan Division, 1pt ahead of the Columbus Blue Jackets and Pittsburgh Penguins. The goalie is 6-1-0 in his past seven starts and has allowed two or fewer goals in six of them.

Aho‘s goal came on the shorthand after Blues’ goaltender Jake Allen mishandled the puck along the boards after the Canes had cleared it, the Finn gathered it to score on the wraparound.

Justin Williams opened the scoring for the Canes in the first period, Justin Faulk has scored a goal in three of his last four games and Svechnikov scored an emptynetter with a little over a minute left.

Niederreiter has six multipoint games in the 18 he’s played with the Hurricanes since being traded from Minnesota Wild. Teravainen has 43 assists and set an NHL career high of 41.

Vince Dunn had a goal and an assist for the visitors, who sit third in the Central Division, 5pts ahead of the Dallas Stars. Allen made 19 saves for the Blues, who are 2-2-1 in their last five following an 11-game winning streak.

Robert Thomas had two assists for his fifth multipoint game of the season for St Louis, forward Robby Fabbri and defenseman Alex Pietrangelo finished the game on -4.

Up Next:

Blues v Stars – Saturday, March 2nd (8pm)

Canes v Panthers – Saturday, March 2nd (7pm)

 

Pittsburgh Penguins v Buffalo Sabres

3-4 (OT)

Conor Sheary scored his second goal of the game at 4:11 of overtime to give the Buffalo Sabres a 4-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins, after Brandon Montour forced overtime.

Montour‘s shot from the blue line was deflected past Pens goalie Matt Murray, who was screened, tying the game 3-3 with 2:32 let in the third. It was the defenseman’s second point of the game. He was acquired from the Anaheim Ducks last Sunday.

Jack Eichel scored and Linus Ullmark made 41 saves for hosts, who won for the first time in three games and are 7pts behind the Columbus Blue Jackets for that second wild card spot in the East.

Eichel extended his point streak (5g, 4a) to seven games and has 70pts on the season, he is the first Sabres player with at least that many in a season since Jason Pominville (73) in 2011/12.

Nick Bjugstad, Patric Hornqvist and Sidney Crosby scored, Justin Schultz had two assists and Murray made 26 saves for the Penguins, who have lost three of their last four games and are tied in points with the Blue Jackets.

Crosby‘s goal tied him with Jaromir Jagr for second in franchise history with 439. Mario Lemieux is first with 690.

Evgeni Malkin got his 605th NHL assist to pass Pavel Datsyuk for third amongst Russian-born players, Sergei Fedorov had 696 and Sergei Zubov 619.

The Penguins are 5-7 in games decided in overtime this season.

Up Next:

Penguins v Canadiens – Saturday, March 2nd (7pm)

Sabres v Leafs – Saturday, March 2nd (7pm)

 

Philadelphia Flyers v New Jersey Devils 

6-3

Cam Talbot made 30 saves in debut for the Philadelphia Flyers in their 6-3 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Friday.

The visitors set an NHL record by using their eighth goalie of the season. Talbot, who was acquired in a trade from the Edmonton Oilers on Feb. 15, follows Brian Elliot, Carter Hart, Michal Neuvirth, Calvin Pickard, Anthony Stolarz, Alex Lyon and Mike McKenna as goalies to play for Philly this season.

James van Riemsdyk had two goals and assist for his first multigoal game against the Devils, his hometown team. He has 25 multigoal games in his 10 NHL seasons.

Travis Konecny scored twice and Jakub Voracek had three assists for the Flyers, whoa re 15-4-1 in their last 20 and are 5pts behind the Columbus Blue Jackets for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference.

Damon Severson had a goal and two assists, Jesper Bratt had a goal and one assist, Kevin Rooney also scored and Cory Schneider made 27 saves for New Jersey, who have lost two in a row and three in five.

Up Next:

Flyers v Islanders – Sunday, March 3rd (3pm)

Devils v Bruins – Saturday, March 2nd (7pm)

 

Washington Capitals v New York Islanders

3-1

Alex Ovechkin‘s 45th goal of the season broke a tie with 15:26 reaming in the third as the Washington Capitals rallied to a 3-1 win against the New York Islanders.

It’s the 10th time the captain has scored 45 goals in a season, passing Wayne Gretzky and Mike Bossy for the most in NHL history.

Jakub Vrana tied the game a little over a minute prior to Ovechkin‘s goal and T.J. Oshie was credited with an emptynetter at 18:32 of the third period when Isles forward Josh Bailey put the puck in his own goal from just outside the defensive zone.

Braden Holtby made 20 saves for the visitors, who have won five of their last six and are tied in points with the Islanders for first place in the Metro Division. The Islanders have a game in hand.

Tom Kuhnackl scored for the hosts, who failed to deliver an 800th NHL win for coach Barry Trotz, who won the Stanley Cup with the Caps last year. Thomas Greiss made 26 saves.

Up Next:

Capitals v Rangers – Sunday, March 2nd (12:30pm – NBC)

Flyers v Islanders – Sunday, March 3rd (3pm)

 

Montreal Canadiens v New York Rangers

4-2 

Joel Armia scored his first NHL hat trick to lift the Montreal Canadiens to a 4-2 victory over the New York Rangers.

Armia‘s three goals resulted in a natural hat trick.

Carey Price made 28 saves for 313th NHL win, one behind Jaqcues Plante for the most in franchise history. Price is 313-219-67 in 609 games in 12 seasons, Plante was 314-133 with 107 ties in 556 games in 11 season with Montreal from 1952-63.

Brendan Gallagher scored his fifth goal in his last five games for the Canadiens, who are 2pts ahead of the Columbus Blue Jackets for the first wild card place in the Eastern Conference.

Brendan Lemieux, who was acquired from the Winnipeg Jets on Monday, scored his first goal for the Rangers and his 10th of the season, Vladislav Namestnikov also scored, and Henrik Lundqvist made 32 saves for New York, who are 11pts behind the Blue Jackets for that second wild card spot.

 

Up Next:

Penguins v Canadiens – Saturday, March 2nd (7pm)

Capitals v Rangers – Sunday, March 2nd (12:30pm – NBC)

 

Nashville Predators v Winnipeg Jets

3-5 

The Winnipeg Jets moved into first place in the Central Division with their 5-3 victory over the Nashville Predators. There’s just 1pt between the two.

Mark Scheifele and Kevin Hayes each had a goal and two assists, Tyler Myers, Kyle Connor and Blake Wheeler also scored for the Jets, who won for the second time in seven games. Laurent Brossoit made 35 saves in place of Connor Hellebuyck who was out with the flu.

Scheifele tied his NHL career-high in goals with his 32nd at 15:48 of the second when he scored on the power play to pull his side to within a goal (2-1).

Myers and Hayes scored emptynetters, with the latter scoring his first goal with the Jets following his trade from the New York Rangers on Monday.

Meanwhile Connor has three goals and three assists and Wheeler has one goal and seven assists during their five-game point streaks.

Viktor Arvidsson, P.K. Subban and Mattias Ekholm scored for Nashville, who are 3-3-0 in their last six and Pekka Rinne made 27 saves.

Mikael Granlund, who was acquired from the Minnesota Wild for Kevin Fiala on Monday, had an assist on Ekholm‘s goal, and Ryan Johansen had an assists on Subban‘s goal to end a six-game point drought.

Up Next:

Predators v Wild – Sunday, March 3rd (7:30pm – NBCSN)

Jets v Blue Jackets – Sunday, March 3rd (7pm)

 

Vegas Golden Knights v Anaheim Ducks

3-0

Marc-Andre Fleury made 34 saves for his NHL-leading seventh shutout of the season for the Vegas Golden Knights.

It was the 55th shutout of Fleury‘s career, moving him past Bernie Parent, Ed Giacomin and Pekka Rinne for 21st in NHL history.

William Karlsson, Alex Tuch and Cody Eakin scored for Vegas, who are 9pts behind the San Jose Sharks for second in the Pacific Division and 8pts ahead of fourth-placed Arizona Coyotes.

Mark Stone had the primary assist on Karlsson‘s goal for his first point since he was traded to Vegas from the Ottawa Senators on Monday. Shea Theodore got his 30th point of the season with the secondary assist on Karlsson‘s goal, surpassing the NHL career high he set last season with the Knights.

John Gibson, who was returning after missing the last nine games, made 31 saves for Anaheim, who have lost five in a row and are 5-21-4 since December 18th.

Corey Perry played his 971st NHL game, moving into a tie with Ryan Getzlaf for most in Anaheim Ducks history.

Up Next:

Canucks v Knights – Sunday, March 3rd (4pm)

Avalanche v Ducks – Sunday, March 3rd (4pm)

 

Colorado Avalanche v San Jose Sharks

3-4

The San Jose Sharks pulled within 5pts of top spot in the Pacific Division with a 4-3 victory over the Colorado Avalanche.

Marcus Sorensen scored two goals in a game for the first time in his NHL career, Joe Pavelski scored one and assisted another, Timo Meier also scored and Martin Jones made 22 saves for the Sharks, who trail the Calgary Flames in the Pacific Division.

Jones reached 30 wins for the fourth straight season and Thornton played his 1,549th NHL game, one shutout of tying Alex Delvecchio for 14th on the League’s all-time list.

Nikita Zadorov, Mikko Rantanen (has 6pts [4g, 2a] in a six-game point streak) and Samuel Girard scored for the Avs, who remain tied in points with the Minnesota Wild for the second wild card spot in the Western Conference. They are 1pt behind the Dallas Stars who hold the first.

Gabriel Landeskog had three assists and Semyon Varlamov made 36 saves for Colorado, who are 6-2-1 in their past nine games.

Visiting defenseman Erik Johnson played his 700th NHL game. The first pick in the 2006 NHL draft became the first defenseman from that class to reach 700.

Up Next:

Avalanche v Ducks – Sunday, March 3rd (4pm)

Blackhawks v Sharks – Sunday, March 3rd (10pm)

 

KEY

 

ALL TIMES U.S. EASTERN