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Teemu Selanne scored the game-winning goal in the third period for the Ducks, who beat Pittsburgh by a 2-1 final. In Montreal, Brad Marchand was guilty of clipping yet again as Boston topped the Habs in a shootout.
Clip someone once, shame on you. Clip someone twice?
Boston Bruins forward Brad Marchand, already suspended this season for clipping, was guilty of a repeat infraction during Wednesday's 4-3 shootout win over the Montreal Canadiens.
At the end of the second period, Marchand came in low on Alexei Emelin, undercutting Emelin's legs and sending him crashing to the ice. Emelin was not injured on the play, but Marchand received a clipping minor. This hit looks very similar to the clipping penalty Marchand took Jan. 7 against the Vancouver Canucks.
Marchand received more discipline on the hit against Sami Salo during the game -- a five-minute major and a game misconduct -- and from the league in a form of a five-game suspension.
NHL Senior Vice President of Player Safety Brendan Shanahan explained his reasoning behind suspending Marchand Jan. 9:
"While we understand that in certain circumstances a player may duck or bail instinctively in order to protect himself from an imminent, dangerous check, we do not view this play as defensive or instinctive. Rather, we feel this was a predatory low hit delivered intentionally by Marchand in order to flip his opponent over him."
The question is whether Marchand's intent was as malicious Wednesday as it was last month. Shanahan has proven that he has little tolerance for repeat offenders, so perhaps Marchand will have some more explaining to do.
The last game between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Edmonton Oilers featured nine goals between the two teams, with the Leafs taking the 6-3 victory. This time, there were seven -- three of which were scored between within the game's first 2:32 -- yielding a 4-3 win for Toronto.
Joffrey Lupul and Matthew Lombardi put the Leafs up front with a quick 2-0 lead over the Oilers. However, just under a minute after Lombardi scored, Ben Eager put Edmonton on the board. Shortly thereafter, Eager dropped the gloves with Mike Brown for a good bout to fill out a high-octane first five minutes. The period ended with no more goals but still held the end-to-end action.
Scoring slowed in the second period, but the Oilers knotted it up, thanks to a solid feed from Sam Gagner to Taylor Hall. Then Edmonton started to take over the game as if they were never down by two goals, putting bodies in front of James Reimer.
However, the Leafs didn't take long to reclaim the lead, as Jake Gardiner sent a blast from the point on the power play that was redirected past Nikolai Khabibulin. Still, the Oilers didn't go away, earning their first power play in the two games played between the Leafs and Oilers, and Jordan Eberle knotted the score again soon after.
The game-tying goal sent the game to overtime, and while Edmonton looked like they would have the upper hand, Tim Connolly came through and scored to give Toronto a much-needed two points. The Leafs are now four points back of the Ottawa Senators, but three points ahead of the outside spot. They will conclude the West Coast trip Saturday against the Vancouver Canucks.
As the Florida Panthers start a four-game home stand vs. the Ottawa Senators, the home team looked for an opportunity to build their lead in the Southeast Division and keep their club in a strong playoff position, while the visitors found themselves within three points of home ice advantage.
With both sides motivated, the difference came down to a combination of special teams and goaltending to determine the winner, and the Ottawa Senators had both in spades.
With the Panthers surrendering the first goal for the fifth time in their last six games, it would be a memorable one for Jim O'Brien, who scored his first NHL goal on a wraparound try against Scott Clemmensen.
Former Panther Craig Anderson would get the start for Ottawa against his old club, and the netminder turned aside several early chances before the Panthers finally tied the game on a Shawn Matthias wrister that tucked just inside the top corner of the net.
The goal and a late-period power play would power Florida for 14 shots in the opening period, but the game would be tied at 1 as the second period opened, though that would not last long.
Kaspars Daugavins would clean up a loose puck in the crease early in the period to put Ottawa ahead, and Bobby Butler would follow just over two minutes later on a perfect setup courtesy of Milan Michalek and Jason Spezza.
Matt Bradley would challenge Zack Smith in an attempt to get the Panthers bench back into the game, and the Panthers were able to draw back-to-back power plays, but the situation would backfire. Chasing the puck into the neutral zone on the PK, Daniel Alfredsson would burst through the Panther defense before charging down Clemmensen and slamming the puck home.
That goal would mark the end of the night for Clemmensen, with Jose Theodore returning to the Florida crease. The veteran netminder was able to staunch the bleeding through the end of the second period, but the Senators would extend their lead to five goals when Michalek tipped an Erik Karlsson shot from the point, redirecting it from just outside the crease.
With the Panthers back on the power play for the fourth time in the game, Brian Campbell would maneuver the puck through traffic before finding a shooting lane, and Sean Bergenheim would redirect the shot past Anderson to bring the Panthers back within three goals.
Unfortunately, Florida would be unable to break through the Senators' defense again, while Ottawa would put one last goal on the board, this time a power play tally from Filip Kuba, to finish a 6-2 victory in style.
With Florida firing 44 shots on net, the play of Anderson cannot be overstated -- this was an exceptional performance by the Ottawa netminder -- just five saves short of the franchise record that Anderson, himself, set last season.
Corey Perry scored late in the second period and Teemu Selanne tallied the game-winning goal midway through the third to lead the red-hot Anaheim Ducks to a 2-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins Wednesday night at CONSOL Energy Center.
Left for dead earlier in the season as they appeared destined to be locked in a battle with the Columbus Blue Jackets for last place overall in the NHL, the Ducks are now 14-2-3 in their last 19 games to miraculously get back to within just six points of the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
There is no doubt that the key to the turnaround was the day the team signed Bruce Boudreau, who had just been fired by the Washington Capitals. While the Capitals continue to struggle with new head coach Dale Hunter, Anaheim, after a short adjustment period, has caught fire.
Pittsburgh had been 11-2-1 in their prior 14 games, but missed out on a chance to pass the idle Philadelphia Flyers and grab sole possession of fourth place in the Eastern Conference standings.
Jordan Staal put the Penguins up with a nice move just 6:27 into the contest. Leading a two-on-one rush along the right wing side, Staal cut to the center of the ice and when defenseman Sheldon Brookbank sprawled to block an anticipated pass, the Pittsburgh center instead shot back against the grain, beating Jonas Hiller high to the blocker side and under the crossbar for his 17th goal of the season to give Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead.
After being held in check for the first half of regulation, Anaheim began to get better quality scoring chances on Pittsburgh netminder Marc-Andre Fleury late in the second period.
Fleury had to kick out the right pad to stop Niklas Hagman on a partial breakaway, then Andrew Cogliano drilled the post after beating Fleury over the right shoulder on a shorthanded odd-man rush several minutes later.
The Penguins did have chances to add to their lead. Defenseman Zbynek Michalek carried the puck behind the Anaheim cage and attempted a wraparound, but Hiller was able to get his right pad across the crease to stop the shot at the goal line. Michalek was injured after taking a puck to the right side of the head after diving in front of a Lubomir Visnovsky shot in front of the Penguins' net.
Evgeni Malkin, the NHL's leading scorer, nearly doubled the home team's lead late in the stanza when he gathered the puck on a broken play and broke in on Hiller's right, but his shot rang off the goal post past the netminder's glove. Malkin was held off the scoresheet to snap a five-game scoring streak.
Perry finally broke through in the final minute of the middle frame, snapping a quick shot that snuck under the Pens' goaltender before Fleury could get set for the shot. It was the 28th goal of the season for the Ducks' leading goal-scorer, and it came with just 52 ticks remaining on the clock in the second period.
Selanne took a cross-ice pass from Matt Beleskey and broke in alone on Fleury along the left wing in the third period, and as he moved in, went to the backhand and tucked a shot between the goalie's arm and body for his 19th goal of the year to give Anaheim their first lead of the night at 2-1 with 12:09 left in regulation.
It was also the 656th goal of Selanne's illustrious career, tying Brendan Shanahan for 12th place on the all-time goal-scoring list.
The Ducks nearly added to the lead when Fleury made a save on a Perry shot, but the puck squeezed through the backstop's equipment and trickled toward the yawning cage. Defenseman Kris Letang was able to catch up to the disc at the goal line, just before it crossed the line for what would have been an insurance goal.
Letang's efforts gave the Pens a chance to tie the game with 4:30 still remaining, but Pittsburgh could not penetrate the Anaheim defense. And when they did, Hiller was there to turn them away.
Hiller stopped 25 of 26 Penguin offerings to improve to 5-0-1 in his last six decisions and is now 21-19-9 on the season, while Fleury made 27 saves on 29 shots while his record dropped to 29-14-3.
Avalanche Vs. Canucks: Vancouver Scores Twice In 3rd For 3-1 Victory
The Colorado Avalanche didn't lose any ground in the chase for the eight spot in the Western Conference playoff standings, but they didn't gain any either with Wednesday's 3-1 loss to the Vancouver Canucks. With the current occupant Phoenix Coyotes and Calgary Flames off on Wednesday, the Avalanche are still three points away from a playoff spot.
Colorado allowed a David Booth goal just 13 seconds into the game, but that was the only goal allowed by Jean-Sebastien Giguere -- he left the game with a groin injury during the first period. Semyon Varlamov took over in net and kept the Canucks off the board until the third period.
Avalanche defenseman Erik Johnson netted his third goal of the season at 10:20 in the second period to tie the game at 1. The Canucks, however, struck back in the third period with goals by Jannik Hansen and Alex Burrows.
Varlamov filled in nicely for the Avalanche just allowing one goal while in net. He made 20 saves on 21 shots. Roberto Luongo was just a bit better and made 29 saves on 30 shots.
For more on these teams, check out Avalanche blog Mile High Hockey and Canucks blog Nucks Misconduct. Stay with SB Nation NHL for the latest on the upcoming NHL Trade Deadline.
Feb 16 8:01a by Russ Oates - 0 comments