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It was business as usual in the NHL on Tuesday night, with nine games being played. A couple of teams made big gains, while one team ran their losing streak to six games.
Henrik Lundqvist stopped 42 shots and Ryan Callahan scored the only goal New York would need in leading the New York Rangers to a 3-0 victory Tuesday over the defending Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins.
The Rangers used a familiar formula in defeating the Bruins by jumping out to a lead, then putting on the clamps and locking down the opposition. "King Henrik" was incredible in outplaying the Bruins' Tim Thomas, as the Rangers were outshot 42-20 for the game, which included an amazing 32-8 over the final two periods. Despite the wide margin in shot differential between the clubs, there was a feeling of calm from the confident Rangers that they were in control throughout.
With the triumph, New York took a stranglehold lead in the race for the Eastern Conference crown. They now lead Boston by nine points, and the Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins by 10 each.
New York took full advantage of their only power play of the night and the fact that Boston's top defenseman Zdeno Chara was in the penalty box for closing his hand on the puck, as Callahan scored his 23rd goal of the season midway through the opening period to stake the visitors to a 1-0 lead.
The Rangers added to their lead in the waning moments of the first period, when a Ryan McDonagh shot from the left half wall banked off Chara in front of the Boston net and caromed past Thomas with just 11.8 seconds remaining before the first intermission. The goal was a backbreaker, as Lundqvist and New York with a two-goal lead is a virtual lock these days.
Thomas kept the score close late in the second when he made a glove stop on a Brad Richards shot that was ticketed for the top corner to thwart a New York odd-man rush.
But Artem Anisimov was able to snap a wrist shot high to Thomas' blocker side off another odd-man rush to add an insurance marker, scoring his 10th of the year to make it an insurmountable 3-0 lead at 2:53 of the third.
The Bruins appeared to break through the force field that Lundqvist provided in front of the cage, as a Dennis Seidenberg point shot got past the goaltender's right pad and looked to have entered the corner of the net. But as the netminder and teammates looked at the net in bewilderment, it was apparent the puck lodged in the outside apron of the net. After video replay, it was confirmed that the puck had never entered the goal.
Lundqvist's best saves of the night came in the second and third frames. In the middle stanza, the Lundqvist save was made while he was flat on his back on a Chara blast from the slot that hit off the back of his helmet or between his shoulder blades and deflected to the corner. In the third, he made a spectacular glove save on Tyler Seguin on a last-minute power play breakaway.
The 29-year-old Swede improved his record to 27-11-4, with an NHL-leading seventh shutouts on the year, passing Jaroslav Halak of the St. Louis Blues and Jonathan Quick of the Los Angeles Kings, who each have six. Lundqvist is now 15-4 in his last 19 decisions.
The Rangers have now won four in a row and are 8-1-1 in their last 10 games, with both losses coming at the hands of the New Jersey Devils. One was 4-3 in a shootout, and the other a 1-0 shutout that New York appeared to tie in the final three seconds of regulation, only to be incorrectly disallowed when Marian Gaborik was cross-checked into goalie Martin Brodeur by Devil David Clarkson.
The Bruins dropped to 2-4-0 in February and have now been shutout in three of their last six contests.
The Anaheim Ducks got off to a slow start, but thanks to some clutch performances from their best players, they were able to take home two points in a 2-1 win on the road against the Minnesota Wild Tuesday. Josh Harding did his best to hold the Ducks back, but Jonas Hiller was one better than his goalie counterpart.
Anaheim is currently on an eight-game road trip. As expected, they came out a little slow: the Ducks' 10th ranked penalty kill gave up a goal to the Wild at just the 3:56 mark of the first period. While Dany Heatley's good positioning with the man-advantage got the early goal and momentum, Anaheim started to buzz toward the end of the frame.
The Ducks were unable to find the back of the net, despite outshooting the Wild 15-9 by the end of two periods. The Wild were steadily catching up to the Ducks in blocked shots and won more faceoffs -- until the 8:17 mark of the third when Niklas Hagman took advantage of Minnesota's defensive zone turnover and hacked away at his own rebound until it went behind Harding. Just over four minutes later, Corey Perry scored his 27th goal of the season, as he picked his spot and put it away.
Within the last minute of the game, the Wild gained possession of the puck and pulled Harding to begin the late-game barrage. Unfortunately for Minnesota, it was "Hiller-Time," and the Ducks escaped with a 2-1 victory to win their first game when trailing after two periods this season.
Anaheim is now 2-0-1 after game three of eight on the road. They will play the very next day in Pittsburgh, which is also a hot team, to continue their efforts to climb into the playoff race.
Tuesday was a moderately slow night in the NHL, but there was still more than enough exciting hockey to go around. Let's take a look at some of the developments from around the league on Tuesday.
The Calgary Flames kept piling on in this game, as the Toronto Maple Leafs were unable to score after a goal in the first period. The Leafs continue their skid and have now lost four in a row. Chemmy from Pension Plan Puppets comments on the loss.
Tonight was an absolute horror show by Dion Phaneuf, and the easy jokes for radio call ins will be that Calgary is glad to be rid of him. They only see him once a year now and after the game he turned in I'm not sure he did a lot to disprove them. It's only one game for him, though without Carl Gunnarsson who might be the only defensive d-man on the team the Leafs D is in trouble. Toronto had climbed all the way to 19th in shots against per game, a number sure to get worse the longer Gunnarsson is gone.
The New York Islanders sunk the Winnipeg Jets behind a superb performance by goaltender Evgeni Nabakov, who had 37 saves and only allowed one goal to the home team, which came in the first period. After that, it was all Islanders. Dominik at Islanders blog Lighthouse Hockey offers his take on the win.
A key to holding a third-period lead and hanging on for a 3-1 win: The New York Islanders penalty kill was once again both strong and fortunate, keeping the Winnipeg Jets to just two registered shots on three full powerplays.
Even strength was another story -- the Jets outshooting the Isles 36-24 (including 2-0 on a 4-on-4) to make it another night of playing careful and hoping to hang on as Evgeni Nabokov held the fort.
Fortunately, all wins count the same, except in this case a regulation win almost counts more: The clean two points means the Islanders pull to within two of the Jets in the Eastern Conference standings.
The Ottawa Senators are still solidly in second place in the Northeast Division, despite being 2-6-2 over their last 10 games. They picked up a big win on Tuesday night with a shutout of the hometown Tampa Bay Lightning. Clark J Brooks at Lighting blog Raw Charge has this to say:
The Lightning have now been held scoreless against Ottawa for the last 71:52. Steven Stamkos was the last Bolt to find the back of the net against the Senators when he scored the lone Tampa Bay goal of the game at 8:48 of the third period in the 4-1 loss at Ottawa on January 5th.
It's not often when the clear worst team in the league knocks off one of the very best teams in the conference, but the Columbus Blue Jackets pulled off the big upset on Tuesday. Gallagher at St. Louis Game Time has the perspective from the losing end.
Well, they made it close with a goofy scramble at the very end, but the Blues lost a game they didn't deserve to win tonight. They looked strong in the first, but not great in either the second or third and it wasn't until the end when they seemed to realize that the Jackets weren't going to realize that they are terrible and should just quit.
The New Jersey Devils are technically in fourth place in the Atlantic Division, but are now just one point behind both the Flyers and Penguins for second place with a big win over the last-place Buffalo Sabres. John Fischer at In Lou We Trust offers his take on the win.
In tonight's 4-1 win by the New Jersey Devils over the Buffalo Sabres, two players stood out from everyone else on the ice. Two players didn't bring their "A" games, they each displayed their "A+" work at the First Niagara Center in Buffalo, New York. Two players made highlights happen and fully deserve to be in all of them on Tuesday morning. Two players were simply sensational and could not be stopped by conventional means. Two players were more than a big reason why the Devils won 4-1 tonight, they were massive. Those two players were Devils forward Ilya Kovalchuk and Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur.
The Chicago Blackhawks continue to slide. They have now lost six straight games and are falling farther behind in the Central Division. They are in fourth place and are now seven points behind the third-place Nashville Predators, who picked up the home win on Tuesday. Dirk Hoag from At The Forecheck comments on the Predators victory.
Ryan Ellis answered the critics tonight...
Ellis led the way offensively tonight, with a goal and an assist as the Nashville Predators topped Chicago 3-2. Besides opening a 7-point gap over the Blackhawks for 5th place in the Western Conference, this game extends Chicago's plummet to 0-8-1 over their last nine games, which will only increase the pressure on players, coaches, and the front office to do something to turn things around.
Stars Vs. Red Wings: Detroit Break Home Win Streak Record In 3-1 Victory
The Detroit Red Wings are in a league of their own.
The Red Wings' 3-1 win over the Dallas Stars gave them their unprecedented 21st consecutive home win.
Entering Tuesday's game, the Red Wings were tied with the 1929-30 Boston Bruins and 1975-76 Philadelphia Flyers with 20 straight homes win, but after Henrik Zetterberg, Brad Stuart and Jiri Hudler scored to give the Red Wings a 3-0 lead, it was just a matter of time.
Detroit has not lost a game at home since Nov. 3, and the streak started Nov. 5. The Red Wings have also outscored their opponents 31-9 in those 21 games. The 21-game streak is seven longer than the longest streak since the advent of the shootout in 2005-06 (the 2008-09 Bruins won 14 straight at home.)
The Red Wings still have 14 games at Joe Louis Arena this season and the "Joe" is no longer average. The team, however, knows that is nothing more than a consolation.
"We're thrilled this has happened for our team," head coach Mike Babcock said to the media. "I think it's really good for our logo, it's really good for our ownership, our team. I'm proud of the guys. They've worked hard and now let's get on with it."
Feb 15 8:00a by Adam Vingan - 0 comments