March 31st NHL Recap

Boston Bruins 3, Florida Panthers 2 (from Boston) - The Bruins improved to 39-25-13 on the season thanks to a 3-2 win over the Florida Panthers, dropping them to 35-27-15. 

Goals:

BOS - Loui Eriksson (20) - from Carl Soderberg (16:57 1ST)

FLA - Brandon Pirri PPG (21) - from Brian Campbell and Jimmy Hayes (0:55 2ND)

FLA - Brad Boyes (13) - unassisted (12:37 2ND)

BOS - David Pastrnak (11) - from Ryan Spooner and Milan Lucic (9:47 3RD)
BOS - Milan Lucic (18) - from David Pastrnak and Ryan Spooner (18:51 3RD) *GWG*

Goalies:

WG - Tuukka Rask (22 saves on 24 shots: 32-19-12) LG - Roberto Luongo (26 saves on 29 shots: 26-18-12) 

Three Stars:

3. Brad Boyes (1 goal) - Florida

2. David Pastrnak (1 goal, 1 assist) - Boston

1. Milan Lucic (1 goal, 1 assist, GWG) - Boston

Washington Capitals 4, Carolina Hurricanes 2 (from Washington) - The Capitals improved to 42-25-10 on the season thanks to a 4-2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes, dropping them to 28-37-11. 

Goals:

WSH - Mike Green (8) - from Tom Wilson and Curtis Glencross (2:46 1ST)

WSH - Alex Ovechkin (50) - from Evgeny Kuznetsov and Matt Niskanen (11:12 1ST)

CAR - Nathan Gerbe (9) - from Jordan Staal and Alex Semin (5:00 2ND)

CAR - Eric Staal (22) - from Chris Terry and John-Michael Liles (10:33 2ND)

WSH - Brooks Laich (7) - from Jason Chimera and Mike Green (17:06 2ND) *GWG*

WSH - Joel Ward (17) - from Alex Ovechkin and Evgeny Kuznetsov (18:28 2ND)

Goalies:

WG - Braden Holtby (23 saves on 25 shots: 38-19-9) LG - Cam Ward (16 saves on 20 shots: 20-22-5) 

Three Stars:

3. Evgeny Kuznetsov (2 assists) - Washington

2. Mike Green (1 goal, 1 assist) - Washington

1. Alex Ovechkin (1 goal 1 assist) - Washington

Columbus Blue Jackets 3, New Jersey Devils 2 (OT) - (from Columbus) - The Blue Jackets improved to 37-35-4 on the season thanks to a 3-2 OT win over the New Jersey Devils, dropping them to 31-33-12. 

Goals:

NJD - Mike Cammalleri PPG (26) - from Eric Gelinas and Adam Henrique (19:04 1ST)

CBJ - Nick Foligno PPG (27) - from Alexander Wennberg and Ryan Johansen (1:49 2ND)

CBJ - Brandon Dubinsky (10) - Penalty Shot (4:44 2ND)
NJD - Mike Cammalleri SHG (27) - from Dainius Zubrus and Adam Larsson (17:31 3RD)
CBJ - Jack Johnson (7) - from David Savard and Ryan Johansen (0:56 OT) *GWG*

Goalies:

WG - Sergei Bobrovsky (24 saves on 26 shots: 26-17-2) LG - Cory Schneider (28 saves on 31 shots: 26-28-9) 

Three Stars:

3. Sergei Bobrovsky (24 saves on 26 shots for the win) - Columbus

2. Mike Cammalleri (2 goals) - New Jersey

1. Jack Johnson (1 goal, OT winner) - Columbus

Toronto Maple Leafs 3, Tampa Bay Lightning 1 (from Toronto) - The Leafs improved to 29-42-6 on the season thanks to a 3-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning, dropping them to 47-24-7. 

Goals:

TOR - Nazem Kadri PPG (17) - from T.J. Brennan and Jake Gardiner (8:53 1ST)

TOR - David Booth (7) - unassisted (12:03 1ST) *GWG*

TBL - Ryan Callahan PPG (23) - from Ondrej Palat and Nikita Kucherov (18:04 1ST)
TOR - Morgan Rielly (8) - from Nazem Kadri and Jake Gardiner (0:24 3RD)

Goalies:

WG - James Reimer (40 saves on 41 shots: 9-15-0) LG - Andrei Vasilevskiy (25 saves on 28 shots: 7-5-1) 

Three Stars:

3. David Booth (1 goal, GWG) - Toronto

2. Nazem Kadri (1 goal, 1 assist) - Toronto

1. James Reimer (40 saves on 41 shots for the win) - Toronto

Ottawa Senators 2, Detroit Red Wings 1 (SO) - (from Detroit) - The Senators improved to 38-26-12 on the season thanks to a 2-1 shootout win over the Detroit Red Wings, dropping them to 40-23-13.

Goals:

DET - Gustav Nyquist (25) - from Justin Abdelkader (5:43 2ND)
OTT - Clarke MacArhtur (14) - from Mark Stone and Kyle Turris (15:58 3RD)
Shootout winner - Mark Stone (OTT)

Goalies:

WG - Andrew Hammond (16 saves on 17 shots: 15-1-1) LG - Petr Mrazek (33 saves on 34 shots: 15-7-2)

Three Stars:

3. Clarke MacArthur (1 goal) - Ottawa

2. Petr Mrazek (33 saves on 34 shots) - Detroit

1. Mark Stone (1 assist, shootout winner) - Ottawa

Vancouver Canucks 5, Nashville Predators 4 (SO) - (from Nashville) - The Canucks improved to 45-27-5 on the season thanks to a 5-4 shootout win over the Nashville Predators, dropping them to 47-22-9.

Goals:

NSH - Cody Franson PPG (7) - from Mike Fisher (4:30 1ST)

NSH - Taylor Beck (8) - from Paul Gaustad (8:15 1ST)

VAN - Linden Vey (10) - from Derek Dorsett and Dan Hamhuis (4:04 2ND)
VAN - Jannik Hansen (15) - from Nick Bonino and Dan Hamhuis (6:04 2ND)
NSH - Viktor Stalberg (2) - from Anton Volchenkov (19:30 2ND)
VAN - Alex Burrows SHG (16) - unassisted (1:23 3RD)
VAN - Chris Higgins PPG (12) - from Alex Burrows and Nick Bonino (5:48 3RD)
NSH - Mike Fisher PPG (19) - unassisted (14:57 3RD)
Shootout winner - Radim Vrbata (VAN)

Goalies:

WG - Eddie Lack (34 saves on 38 shots: 16-11-4) Pekka Rinne (21 saves on 25 shots: 41-15-5)

Three Stars:

3. Nick Bonino (2 assists) - Vancouver

2. Mike Fisher (1 goal, 1 assist) - Nashville

1. Alex Burrows (1 goal, 1 assist) - Vancouver

New York Rangers 3, Winnipeg Jets 2 (from Winnipeg) - The Rangers improved to 48-21-7 on the season thanks to a 3-2 win over the Winnipeg Jets, dropping them to 39-26-12.

Goals:

WPG - Jim Slater (4) - from Chris Thorburn and Jiri Tlusty (3:16 1ST)

NYR - Mats Zuccarello (15) - from Rick Nash and Derick Brassard (9:42 1ST)

WPG - Lee Stempniak (11) - from Mathieu Perreault and Adam Lowry (1:24 2ND)
NYR - Derick Brassard PPG (17) - from Ryan McDonagh and Keith Yandle (10:13 2ND)
NYR - Chris Kreider (21) - from J.T. Miller and Derek Stepan (16:14 3RD) *GWG*

Goalies:

WG - Henrik Lundqvist (32 saves on 34 shots: 26-12-3) LG - Ondrej Pavelec (21 saves on 24 shots: 19-16-7)

Three Stars:

3. Lee Stempniak (1 goal) - Winnipeg

2. Henrik Lundqvist (32 saves on 34 shots for the win) - New York

1. Derick Brassard (1 goal, 1 assist) - New York

Three Stars of the Night:

3. Alex Ovechkin - Ovie scored his NHL-leading 50th goal of the season and added an assist in the Capitals 4-2 win over the Hurricanes.

2. James Reimer - Reimer stopped an impressive 40 of 41 shots in the Leafs 3-1 win over the Lightning.

1. Milan Lucic - Lucic scored the game-winning goal and added an assist in the Bruins 3-2 win over the Panthers.

Interesting Stats of the Night:

-Alex Ovechkin became the 1st player in the NHL to score 50 goals this season. He has now scored at least 50 goals for 6th time in his career which puts him in an elite class with Wayne Gretzky (9), Mike Bossy (9), Mario Lemieux (6), Marcel Dionne (6) and Guy Lafleur (6) of players with at least 6 50-goals seasons.

-Loui Eriksson scored his 20th goal of the season, the 5th time in his career he has reached 20 goals.

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

Columbus Blue Jackets - 7 game winning streak

Minnesota Wild - 5 game winning streak
Anaheim Ducks - 3 game winning streak

Edmonton Oilers - 3 game winning streak

Boston Bruins - 3 game winning streak

New Jersey Devils - 6 game losing streak

Forman Faceoff Highlight of the Night:

-Alex Ovechkin with an absolute rocket for goal #50: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcA10Izdnk8

What's up next - Wednesday April 2nd: There are 4 NHL games on tap for Wednesday night:

1. Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Buffalo Sabres at 7:30 PM ET (In Buffalo)

2. Philadelphia Flyers vs. Pittsburgh Penguins at 8:00 PM ET (In Pittsburgh) {***Forman's Game of the Night***}

3. Edmonton Oilers vs. Anaheim Ducks at 10:00 PM ET (In Anaheim)

4. Colorado Avalanche vs. San Jose Sharks at 10:30 PM ET (In San Jose)

-Joel Forman - The Forman Faceoff