March 16th NHL Recap

Philadelphia Flyers 4, Pittsburgh Penguins 3 (from Pittsburgh) - The Flyers improved to 35-25-7 on the season thanks to a 4-3 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins, dropping them to 44-19-4.

Goals:

PHI - Brayden Schenn (17) - from Wayne Simmonds and Vincent Lecavalier (2:06 1ST)

PHI - Wayne Simmonds PPG (20) - from Kimmo Timonen and Claude Giroux (6:47 1ST)

PHI - Wayne Simmonds PPG (21) - from Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek (13:41 1ST)

PIT - Brooks Orpik (2) - from Robert Bortuzzo and Joe Vitale (17:33 1ST)

PIT - Matt Niskanen (10) - from Rob Scuderi and Jussi Jokinen (5:50 2ND)

PHI - Matt Read SHG (19) - from Luke Schenn (12:11 2ND) *GWG*

PIT - Jayson Megna (5) - from Brian Gibbons (16:19 2ND)

Goalies:

WG - Steve Mason (20 saves on 23 shots: ) LG - Jeff Zatkoff (19 saves on 20 shots: ) in relief of Marc-Andre Fleury (12 saves on 15 shots)

Three Stars:

3. Matt Read (1 goal, GWG) - Philadelphia

2. Claude Giroux (2 assists) - Philadelphia

1. Wayne Simmonds (2 goals, 1 assist) - Philadelphia

Vancouver Canucks 4, Florida Panthers 3 (SO) - (from Florida) - The Canucks improved to 31-29-10 on the season thanks to a 4-3 shootout win over the Florida Panthers, dropping them to 25-35-8.

Goals:

FLA - Jimmy Hayes PPG (8) - from Tom Gilbert and Brandon Pirri (16:28 1ST)
VAN - Dan Hamhuis (5) - from Alex Burrows and Henrik Sedin (17:42 1ST)
VAN - Nicklas Jensen (2) - from Alex Burrows and Henrik Sedin (18:35 1ST)
FLA - Vincent Trocheck (2) - from Quinton Howden (4:19 3RD)
VAN - Alex Burrows PPG (3) - from Alexander Edler and Kevin Bieksa (5:34 3RD)
FLA - Jimmy Hayes PPG (9) - from Brian Campbell and Brandon Pirri (18:25 3RD)
Shootout winner - Nicklas Jensen (VAN)

Goalies:

WG - Eddie Lack (26 saves on 29 shots: 12-13-4) LG - Roberto Luongo (29 saves on 32 shots: 21-18-7)

Three Stars:

3. Alex Burrows (1 goal, 2 assists) - Vancouver

2. Jimmy Hayes (2 goals) - Florida

1. Nicklas Jensen (1 goal, shootout winner) - Vancouver

Washington Capitals 4, Toronto Maple Leafs 2 (from Washington) - The Capitals improved to 32-27-10 on the season thanks to a 4-2 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs, dropping them to 36-25-8.

Goals:

WSH - Troy Brouwer PPG (19) - from Marcus Johansson and Nicklas Backstrom (3:34 1ST)
WSH - Jason Chimera (13) - from Joel Ward and Karl Alzner (6:57 1ST)
WSH - Joel Ward PPG (20) - from Dustin Penner and Evgeny Kuznetsov (8:44 1ST) *GWG*
TOR - Troy Bodie (3) - from Mason Raymond and Dion Phaneuf (17:15 1ST)
TOR - Dion Phaneuf (8) - from Carl Gunnarsson and Joffrey Lupul (8:05 2ND)
WSH - Troy Brouwer EN (20) - from Karl Alzner (19:56 3RD)

Goalies:

WG - Jaroslav Halak (27 saves on 29 shots: 27-11-4) LG - James Reimer (29 saves on 32 shots: 11-9-1)

Three Stars:

3. Dion Phaneuf (1 goal, 1 assist) - Toronto

2. Troy Brouwer (2 goals) - Washington

1. Joel Ward (1 goal, 1 assist, GWG) - Washington

Edmonton Oilers 2, Carolina Hurricanes 1 (from Carolina) - The Oilers improved to 24-36-9 on the season thanks to a 2-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes, dropping them to 29-30-9.

Goals:

EDM - Matt Hendricks (5) - from Boyd Gordon and Justin Schultz (6:43 1ST)
CAR - Jordan Staal (14) - from Eric Staal and Justin Faulk (19:42 1ST)
EDM - Justin Schultz PPG (9) - from David Perron and Taylor Hall (9:01 3RD) *GWG*

Goalies:

WG - Ben Scrivens (29 saves on 30 shots: 13-11-4) LG - Anton Khudobin (31 saves on 33 shots: 14-10-0)

Three Stars:

3. Jordan Staal (1 goal) - Carolina

2. Ben Scrivens (29 saves on 30 shots for the win) - Edmonton

1. Justin Schultz (1 goal, 1 assist, GWG) - Edmonton

San Jose Sharks 1, New York Rangers 0 (from New York) - The Sharks improved to 45-17-7 on the season thanks to a 1-0 shutout of the New York Rangers, dropping them to 36-29-4.

Goals:

SJS - Logan Couture SHG (19) - unassisted (11:48 1ST) *GWG*

Goalies:

WG - Antti Niemi (41 saves on 41 shots for the shutout: 34-13-6) LG - Henrik Lundqvist (28 saves on 29 shots: 25-22-4)

Three Stars:

3. Logan Couture (1 goal, GWG) - San Jose

2. Henrik Lundqvist (28 saves on 29 shots) - New York

1. Antti Niemi (41 saves on 41 shots for the shutout) - San Jose

Colorado Avalanche 3, Ottawa Senators 1 (from Ottawa) - The Avalanche improved to 44-19-5 on the season thanks to a 3-1 win over the Ottawa Senators, dropping them to 28-26-13.

Goals:

COL - Andre Benoit (6) - from Patrick Bordeleau and Matt Duchene (15:49 2ND)
COL - Nick Holden PPG (7) - from Jamie McGinn and Matt Duchene (3:10 3RD) *GWG*
COL - John Mitchell (9) - from Gabriel Landeskog and Nathan MacKinnon (17:02 3RD)
OTT - Mika Zibanejad (12) - from Erik Karlsson and Bobby Ryan (19:54 3RD)

Goalies:

WG - Semyon Varlamov (38 saves on 39 shots: 34-13-5) LG - Robin Lehner (19 saves on 22 shots: 7-12-5)

Three Stars:

3. Nick Holden (1 goal, GWG) - Colorado

2. Matt Duchene (2 assists) - Colorado

1. Semyon Varlamov (38 savesv on 39 shots for the win) - Colorado

Montreal Canadiens 2, Buffalo Sabres 0 (from Buffalo) - The Canadiens improved to 37-35-7 on the season thanks to a 2-0 shutout of the Buffalo Sabres, dropping them to 19-41-8.

Goals:

MTL - Dale Weise (4) - from Alex Galchenyuk and David Desharnais (14:41 1ST) *GWG*
MTL - Brendan Gallagher (17) - from Tomas Plekanec and Alexei Emelin (16:07 1ST)

Goalies:

WG - Dustin Tokarski (29 saves on 29 shots: 2-0-0) LG - Jhonas Enroth (20 saves on 22 shots: 4-17-5), Nathan Lieuwen (10 saves on 10 shots)

Three Stars:

3. Dale Weise (1 goal, GWG) - Montreal

2. Brendan Gallagher (1 goal) - Montreal

1. Dustin Tokarski (29 saves on 29 shots for the shutout) - Montreal

Chicago Blackhawks 4, Detroit Red Wings 1 (from Chicago) - The Hawks improved to 39-15-14 on the season thanks to a 4-1 win over the Detroit Red Wings, dropping them to 30-24-13.

Goals:

CHI - Nick Leddy PPG (7) - from Marian Hossa and Ben Smith (8:44 2ND)
DET - Gustav Nyquist PPG (17) - from Daniel Alfredsson and Niklas Kronwall (15:10 2ND)
CHI - Ben Smith (9) - from Duncan Keith and Patrick Kane (19:46 2ND) *GWG*
CHI - Marian Hossa (25) - from Patrick Sharp and Duncan Keith (6:33 3RD)
CHI - Jonathan Toews SHG (27) - from Marian Hossa (17:50 3RD)

Goalies:

WG - Corey Crawford (19 saves on 20 shots: 26-12-10) LG - Jimmy Howard (26 saves on 30 shots: 14-16-10) 

Three Stars:

3. Duncan Keith (2 assists) - Chicago

2. Ben Smith (1 goal, 1 assist, GWG) - Chicago

1. Marian Hossa (1 goal, 2 assists) - Chicago

Winnipeg Jets 7, Dallas Stars 2 (from Winnipeg) - The Jets improved to 31-29-9 on the season thanks to a 7-2 win over the Dallas Stars, dropping them to 32-24-11.

Goals:

WPG - Jacob Trouba (8) - from Blake Wheeler (3:11 1ST)
DAL - Alex Chiasson (12) - from Alex Goligoski and Cody Eakin (6:25 1ST)
DAL - Tyler Seguin (30) - from Valeri Nichushkin and Jamie Benn (7:02 1ST)
WPG - Michael Frolik (14) - from Tobias Enstrom (11:54 1ST)
WPG - Tobias Enstrom (8) - from Blake Wheeler and Patrice Cormier (17:02 1ST) *GWG*
WPG - Olli Jokinen (16) - from Blake Wheeler and Dustin Byfuglien (0:29 2ND)
WPG - Dustin Byfuglien PPG (18) - from Olli Jokinen and Tobias Enstrom (16:30 2ND)
WPG - Dustin Byfuglien (19) - from Blake Wheeler and Olli Jokinen (3:14 3RD)
WPG - Evander Kane (16) - unassisted (7:33 3RD)

Goalies:

WG - Al Montoya (25 saves on 27 shots: 11-5-3) LG - Tim Thomas (13 saves on 17 shots: 18-21-4), Christopher Nilstorp (14 saves on 17 shots in relief of Thomas)

Three Stars:

3. Olli Jokinen (1 goal, 2 assists) - Winnipeg

2. Dustin Byfuglien (2 goals, 1 assist) - Winnipeg

1. Blake Wheeler (4 assists) - Winnipeg

Three Stars of the Night:

3. Wayne Simmonds - Simmonds scored 2 goals and added an assist in the Flyers 4-3 win over the Penguins.

2. Blake Wheeler - Wheeler picked up 4 assists in the Jets 7-2 win over the Stars. 

1. Antti Niemi - Niemi stopped all 41 shots in the Sharks 1-0 win over the Rangers. 

Interesting Stats of the Night:

-The Flyers beat the Penguins for the 2nd time in 24 hours.

-Claude Giroux picked up 2 assists in his 400th career game. 

-Roberto Luongo let in 3 goals and lost in a shootout 4-3 in the first game against his old team the Vancouver Canucks.
-Antti Niemi picked up his 4th shutout of the season
-Dustin Tokarski picked up his 1st career shutout.

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

Boston Bruins - 8 game winning streak

San Jose Sharks - 6 game winning streak

Buffalo Sabres - 6 game losing streak

Forman Faceoff Highlight of the Night:

-Jonathan Toews gets it tonight with his great short-handed goal: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upebRegSJnM

What's up next (March 17th) - There are 4 NHL games on tap for Monday: 
1. Minnesota Wild vs. Boston Bruins @730PM ET (In Boston)
2. Vancouver Canucks vs. Tampa Bay Lightning @730PM ET (In Tampa Bay)
3. Winnipeg Jets vs. St. Louis Blues @8PM ET (In St. Louis) {***Forman's Game of the Night ***}
4. Phoenix Coyotes vs. Los Angeles Kings @1030PM ET (In Los Angeles)

-Joel Forman - The Forman Faceoff