February 28th NHL Recap

Florida Panthers 5, Buffalo Sabres 3 (from Florida) - The Panthers improved to 27-22-13 on the season thanks to a 5-3 win over the Buffalo Sabres, dropping them to 19-39-5, 

Goals:

BUF - Cody Hodgson (4) - from Matt Ellis and Nicolas Deslauriers (2:57 1ST)
BUF - Andrej Meszaros (3) - from Johan Larsson and Cody Hodgson (7:18 1ST)
FLA - Brandon Pirri PPG (10) - from Brian Campbell and Jussi Jokinen (12:01 2ND)
FLA - Brandon Pirri PPG (11) - from Brian Campbell and Brad Boyes (13:24 2ND)
FLA - Nick Bjugstad (22) - from Jussi Jokinen and Brad Boyes (18:31 2ND)
BUF - Torrey Mitchell (6) - from Matt Moulson and Nikita Zadorov (12:54 3RD)
FLA - Scottie Upshall (7) - from Derek MacKenzie and Shawn Thornton (14:02 3RD) *GWG*
FLA - Derek MacKenzie EN (4) - from Brad Boyes and Jussi Jokinen (19:43 3RD)

Goalies:

WG - Roberto Luongo (11 saves on 14 shots: 23-16-11) LG - Michal Neuvirth (42 saves on 46 shots: 6-17-3) 

Three Stars:

3. Michal Neuvirth (42 saves on 46 shots) - Buffalo

2. Jussi Jokinen (3 assists) - Florida

1. Brandon Pirri (2 goals) - Florida

Detroit Red Wings 4, Nashville Predators 3 (from Nashville) - The Red Wings improved to 35-15-11 on the season thanks to a 4-3 win over the Nashville Predators, dropping them to 41-15-7. 

Goals:

DET - Brendan Smith (4) - from Joakim Andersson and Drew Miller (7:22 1ST)
DET - Drew Miller (4) - from Tomas Jurco (2:03 2ND)
NSH - Matt Cullen (6) - from Craigh Smith and Roman Josi (2:33 2ND)
NSH - Mike Fisher (15) - from Cody Franson and Matt Cullen (6:02 2ND)
NSH - Shea Weber PPG (15) - from Mike Ribeiro and Roman Josi (16:08 2ND)
DET - Alexey Marchenko (1) - from Justin Abdelkader and Niklas Kronwall (3:56 3RD)
DET - Tomas Tatar PPG (25) - from Pavel Datsyuk and Niklas Kronwall (9:06 3RD) *GWG*

Goalies:

WG - Jonas Gustavsson (37 saves on 40 shots: 3-2-1) LG -  Pekka Rinne (21 saves on 25 shots: 35-10-3)

Three Stars:

3. Drew Miller (1 goal, 1 assist) - Detroit

2. Matt Cullen (1 goal, 1 assist) - Nashville

1. Tomas Tatar (1 goal, GWG) - Detroit

Carolina Hurricanes 5, New York Islanders 3 (from New York) - The Hurricanes improved to 24-30-7 on the season thanks to a 5-3 win over the New York Islanders, dropping them to 41-21-2.

Goals:

NYI - Michael Grabner (7) - from Ryan Strome and Johnny Boychuk (11:47 1ST)
CAR - Jay McClement (5) - from Chris Terry and Brad Malone (17:41 1ST)
CAR - Justin Faulk PPG (12) - from Eric Staal and Victor Rask (1:26 2ND)
CAR - Jay McClement (6) - from Andrej Nestrasil and Nathan Gerbe (9:50 2ND)
NYI - Nikolay Kulemin (12) - from Cal Clutterbuck and Travis Hamonic (15:11 2ND)
CAR - Brad Malone (6) - from Andrej Nestrasil and John-Michael Liles (17:46 2ND) *GWG*
CAR - Michal Jordan PPG (2) - from Jeff Skinner and Alex Semin (19:52 2ND)
NYI - John Tavares (30) - from Anders Lee and Nick Leddy (9:35 3RD)

Goalies:

WG - Cam Ward (21 saves on 24 shots: 17-19-4) LG - Chad Johnson (36 saves on 41 shots: 8-8-1) 

Three Stars:

3. Johnny Boychuk (1 assist) - New York

2. Brad Malone (1 goal, 1 assist, GWG) - Carolina

1. Jay McClement (2 goals) - Carolina

New Jersey Devils 2, Columbus Blue Jackets 0 (from Columbus) - The Devils improved to 26-27-10 on the season thanks to a 2-0 shutout of the Columbus Blue Jackets, dropping them to 26-31-4.

Goals:

NJD - Andy Greene (2) - from Patrik Elias (15:47 1ST) *GWG*
NJD - Travis Zajac EN (10) - from Stephen Gionta and Mike Cammalleri (19:30 3RD)

Goalies:

WG - Cory Schneider (33 saves on 33 shots: 23-23-6) LG - Curtis McElhinney (17 saves on 18 shots; 10-12-2)

Three Stars:

3. Curtis McElhinney (17 saves on 18 shots) - Columbus

2. Andy Greene (1 goal, GWG) - New Jersey

1. Cory Schneider (33 saves on 33 shots for the shutout) - New Jersey

Boston Bruins 4, Arizona Coyotes 1 (from Boston) - The Bruins improved to 31-22-9 on the season thanks to a 4-1 win over the Arizona Coyotes, dropping them to 20-36-7 

Goals:

BOS - Milan Lucic (13) - from David Pastrnak and Ryan Spooner (2:40 1ST)
BOS - Brad Marchand (18) - from Reilly Smith and Patrice Bergeron (14:13 1ST) *GWG*
BOS - Patrice Bergeron (18) - from Zdeno Chara and Reilly Smith (3:02 2ND)
BOS - Zdeno Chara PPG (5) - from Reilly Smith and Milan Lucic (11:50 2ND)
ARI - Martin Erat (9) - from Shane Doan and Keith Yandle (10:21 3RD)

Goalies:

WG - Tuukka Rask (31 saves on 32 shots: 25-16-9) LG - Mike Smith (16 saves on 20 shots: 10-30-5), Louis Domingue (14 saves on 14 shots in relief of Smith) 

Three Stars:

3. Patrice Bergeron (1 goal, 1 assist) - Boston

2. Zdeno Chara (1 goal, 1 assist) - Boston

1. Brad Marchand (1 goal, 1 assist, GWG) - Boston

Montreal Canadiens 4, Toronto Maple Leafs 0 (from Montreal) - The Canadiens improved to 41-16-5 on the season thanks to a 4-0 shutout of the Toronto Maple Leafs, dropping them to 25-32-5. 

Goals:

MTL - Manny Malhotra (1) - from Dale Weise (5:00 1ST) *GWG*
MTL - Tomas Plekanec (19) - from Andrei Markov and P.K. Subban (12:57 1ST)
MTL - David Desharnais (10) - from Brendan Gallagher and Max Pacioretty (1:02 3RD)
MTL - David Desnarnais EN (11) - from Max Pacioretty and Brendan Gallagher (17:28 3RD)

Goalies:

WG - Carey Price (30 saves on 30 shots: 36-11-3) LG - Jonathan Bernier (19 saves on 22 shots: 18-19-5) 

Three Stars:

3. Manny Malhotra (1 goal, GWG) - Montreal

2. David Desharnais (2 goals) - Montreal

1. Carey Price (30 saves on 30 shots for the shutout) - Montreal

Philadelphia Flyers 4, New York Rangers 2 (from Philadelphia) - The Flyers improved to 27-15-11 on the season thanks to a 4-2 win over the New York Rangers, dropping them to 38-17-6. 

Goals:

PHI - Matt Read (6) - from Sean Couturier and Jakub Voracek (9:42 1ST)
NYR - J.T. Miller (6) - from Carl Hagelin (10:06 1ST)
NYR - John Moore (1) - from Tanner Glass and Dominic Moore (11:55 2ND)
PHI - Michael Raffl (14) - from Braydon Coburn and Vincent Lecavalier (14:37 2ND)
PHI - Michael Del Zotto SHG (8) - from Sean Couturier (1:19 3RD) *GWG*
PHI - Wayne Simmonds EN (25) - from Michael Raffl (19:59 3RD)

Goalies:

WG - Steve Mason (34 saves on 36 shots: 12-13-7) LG - Cam Talbot (30 saves on 33 shots: 12-6-3) 

Three Stars:

3. Michael Raffl (1 goal, 1 assist) - Philadelphia

2. Steve Mason (34 saves on 36 shots for the win) - Philadelphia

1. Michael Del Zotto (1 goal, GWG) - Philadelphia

Minnesota Wild 3, Colorado Avalanche 1 (from Colorado) - The Wild improved to 33-22-7 on the season thanks to a 3-1 win over the Colorado Avalanche, dropping them to 27-25-11.

Goals:

MIN - Erik Haula (7) - from Justin Fontaine and Kyle Brodziak (10:49 1ST)
COL - Max Talbot (5) - from Nick Holden (1:32 2ND)
MIN - Justin Fontaine (8) - from Erik Haula and Jonas Brodin (9:09 2ND) *GWG*
MIN - Jason Pominville (13) - from Mikael Granlund (5:50 3RD)

Goalies:

WG - Devan Dubnyk (33 saves on 34 shots: 24-8-3) LG - Semyon Varlamov (29 saves on 32 shots: 19-17-7)

Three Stars:

3. Erik Haula (1 goal, 1 assist) - Minnesota

2. Justin Fontaine (1 goal, 1 assist, GWG) - Minnesota

1. Devan Dubnyk (33 saves on 34 shots for the win) - Minnesota

St. Louis Blues 2, Edmonton Oilers 1 (from Edmonton) - The Blues improved to 40-18-4 on the season thanks to a 2-1 win over the Edmonton Oilers, dropping them to 18-35-10.

Goals:

STL - Dmitrij Jaskin (10) - from Paul Stastny and Patrik Berglund (12:11 1ST)
EDM - Justin Schultz (5) - from Jordan Eberle and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (6:31 2ND)
STL - Paul Stastny (12) - from Ian Cole (14:20 3RD) *GWG*

Goalies:

WG - Brian Elliott (21 saves on 22 shots: 20-9-2) LG - Ben Scrivens (25 saves on 27 shots: 12-20-7)

Three Stars:

3. Justin Schultz (1 goal) - Edmonton

2. Brian Elliott (21 saves on 22 shots for the win) - St. Louis

1. Paul Stastny (1 goal, 1 assist, GWG) - St. Louis

Ottawa Senators 4, San Jose Sharks 2 (from San Jose) - The Senators improved to 27-23-10 on the season thanks to a 4-2 win over the San Jose Sharks, dropping them to 30-24-8

Goals:

SJS - Tommy Wingels (13) - from Matt Irwin and Matt Nieto (2:27 1ST)
OTT - Erik Karlsson PPG (15) - from Kyle Turris and Mike Hoffman (7:29 2ND)
SJS - Patrick Marleau PPG (14) - from Joe Pavelski and Brent Burns (13:19 2ND)
OTT - Mark Stone (15) - from Kyle Turris (3:52 3RD)
OTT - Mike Hoffman PPG (22) - from Mika Zibanejad and Erik Karlsson (7:59 3RD) *GWG*
OTT - Mike Hoffman EN (23) - from Mark Stone (18:50 3RD)

Goalies:

WG - Andrew Hammond (28 saves on 30 shots: 5-0-0) LG - Antti Niemi (27 saves on 30 shots: 24-17-7)

Three Stars:

3. Erik Karlsson (1 goal, 1 assist) - Ottawa

2. Mark Stone (1 goal, 1 assist) - Ottawa

1. Mike Hoffman (2 goals, 1 assist, GWG) - Ottawa

Three Stars of the Night:

3. Carey Price - Price stopped all 30 shots he faced for the shutout in the Canadiens 4-0 win over the Leafs.

2. Cory Schneider - Schneider stopped all 33 shots he faced for the shutout in the Devils 2-0 win over the Blue Jackets.

1. Mike Hoffman - Hoffman scored 2 goals (including the game-winner) and added an assist in the Senators 4-2 win over the Sharks.

Interesting Stats of the Night:

-The Predators lost back to back regulation games for the 1st time this season.
-Alexey Marchenko scored his 1st NHL goal for the Red Wings.

-John Tavares scored his 30th goal of the season, the 2nd time he has reached 30 goals in his career.
-Cory Schneider picked up his 4th shutout of the season.
-Carey Price picked up his 6th shutout of the season. He also picked up his NHL-leading 36th win.
-Manny Malhotra scored his 1st goal as a member of the Canadiens. Malhotra also became the 500th different player to score for the Canadiens in franchise history.
-The Senators swept their California road trip with Andrew Hammond going 3-0-0 and allowing only 2 goals. He is now 5-0-0 to start his NHL career.

Current Winning/Losing Streaks (3 or more games):

Ottawa Senators - 5 game winning streak
Montreal Canadiens - 4 game winning streak
Pittsburgh Penguins - 3 game winning streak
Carolina Hurricanes - 3 game winning streak

Arizona Coyotes - 9 game losing streak
Dallas Stars - 5 game losing streak

Washington Capitals - 3 game losing streak
Columbus Blue Jackets - 3 game losing streak

San Jose Sharks - 3 game losing streak

Forman Faceoff Highlight of the Night:
-Steve Mason gets it for this flurry of great saves in one sequence: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qzi19fKYbhM

What's up next - Sunday March 1st: There are 6 NHL games on tap for Sunday night:

1. Los Angeles Kings vs. Winnipeg Jets at 4:00 PM ET (In Winnipeg) {***Forman's Game of the Night***}

2. Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Florida Panthers at 5:00 PM ET (In Florida)

3. Columbus Blue Jackets vs. Pittsburgh Penguins at 5:00 PM ET (In Pittsburgh)

4. Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Washington Capitals at 7:00 PM ET (In Washington)

5. Anaheim Ducks vs. Dallas Stars at 8:00 PM ET (In Dallas)

6. St. Louis Blues vs. Vancouver Canucks at 9:30 PM ET (In Vancouver)

-Joel Forman - The Forman Faceoff