National Hockey League Game Capsules
Uniondale, NY (SportsNetwork.com) – Kyle Okposo notched his first career hat trick, including the game-winner in the third period, and totaled four goals as the New York Islanders rallied for a 6-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins. Ryan Strome and Michael Grabner had the other goals, while Josh Bailey and John Tavares each posted three assists for the Islanders, who have won four straight games. Jaroslav Halak turned away 21 shots in the win. Sidney Crosby had two goals and an assist, while David Perron also scored for the Penguins, who had a two-game winning streak snapped. Marc-Andre Fleury was tagged for five goals on 34 shots.
Final Score: Vancouver 3, Carolina 0
Raleigh, NC (SportsNetwork.com) – Ryan Miller made 28 saves to record his fifth shutout of the season and second in as many nights as the Vancouver Canucks defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 3-0 on Friday. It was the first time in franchise history the Canucks recorded back-to-back shutouts on the road in consecutive days. Derek Dorsett, Shawn Matthias and Alexandre Burrows all scored in the second period and Kevin Bieksa supplied two assists for the Canucks, who beat Philadelphia 4-0 on Thursday. Cam Ward allowed all three goals on 13 shots over the first 40 minutes and Anton Khudobin turned aside all four shots fired his way in the third. Vancouver has won its last four games against the Hurricanes.
Final Score: NY Rangers 2, Columbus 1
Columbus, OH (SportsNetwork.com) – Henrik Lundqvist’s 35 saves got the New York Rangers back on track with a 2-1 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena. After being shut out by the Islanders and Boston over their previous two games, the Rangers received second-period goals from Marc Staal and Chris Kreider to support Lundqvist’s sharp effort. Derek Stepan assisted on both markers. Scott Hartnell produced Columbus’ lone goal and Sergei Bobrovsky finished with 24 saves in the loss, the Blue Jackets’ fourth straight.
Final Score: Nashville 4, Washington 3
Nashville, TN (SportsNetwork.com) – Barry Trotz received a warm welcome back from the Bridgestone Arena crowd in his return to Nashville. His former team didn’t quite return the generosity, however. James Neal scored his second goal of the night with 1:40 remaining, capping a furious late comeback from the Predators that produced a 4-3 triumph over Trotz’s Washington Capitals. Nashville overcame a 3-2 deficit by scoring twice in the final 4 1/2 minutes, with Mattias Ekholm netting the equalizer on a power play to help the Predators to their first five-game win streak in three years. Trotz was behind the bench for that run, as well as many others while serving as the Predators’ head coach for the franchise’s first 15 seasons of existence. That tenure came to an end when he was fired at the conclusion of the 2013-14 campaign, shortly before taking over in Washington. Seth Jones added a goal and an assist for Nashville, while Carter Hutton came up with 31 saves in his first start since the Predators announced standout goaltender Pekka Rinne would miss 3-to-5 weeks with a sprained knee. Alex Ovechkin notched a pair of goals in the loss, which halted a stretch of 10 straight games of recording at least one point for the Caps. Braden Holtby finished with 26 saves.
Final Score: Winnipeg 4, Chicago 2
Chicago, IL (SportsNetwork.com) – Chris Thorburn and Bryan Little scored 28 seconds apart in the third period to lead the Winnipeg Jets to a 4-2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday. Andrew Ladd and Zach Bogosian each posted a goal and an assist, while Michael Hutchinson stopped 31 shots for the Jets, who have won three straight. Brandon Saad and Teuvo Teravainen each notched a marker for the Blackhawks, who have dropped two of their last three. Corey Crawford allowed three goals on 34 shots.
Final Score: Anaheim 5, New Jersey 1
Anaheim, CA (SportsNetwork.com) – Jakob Silfverberg scored twice as the Anaheim Ducks closed out an eight-game homestand with a 5-1 win over the New Jersey Devils on Friday. Patrick Maroon and Hampus Lindholm each tallied a goal and an assist, Corey Perry also lit the lamp and Ilya Bryzgalov made 14 saves in his third start of the season for the Ducks, who went 6-2-0 over their residency. Martin Havlat scored the lone goal for the Devils, who have dropped three of their last four games. Keith Kinkaid allowed four goals on 25 shots in relief of starter Cory Schneider, who appeared to suffer an upper-body injury after stopping a Matt Beleskey shot during the first period. Schneider turned aside 14 shots over the first 20 minutes.
Categorized in: NHL