March 31st NHL Recap

Ottawa Senators 2, Carolina Hurricanes 1 (SO) - (from Ottawa) - The Senators improved to 32-29-14 on the season thanks to a 2-1 shootout win over the Carolina Hurricanes, dropping them to 32-32-11 (.500).

Goals:

OTT - Mika Zibanejad (14) - from Patrick Wiercioch and Ales Hemsky (1:41 1ST)

CAR - Jeff Skinner (30) - unassisted (4:03 1ST)
Shootout winner - Ales Hemsky (OTT)

Goalies:

WG - Craig Anderson (30 saves on 31 shots: 23-14-8) LG - Cam Ward (28 saves on 28 shots: 9-11-6)

Three Stars:

3. Jeff Skinner (1 goal) - Carolina

2. Mika Zibanejad (1 goal) - Ottawa

1. Craig Anderson (30 saves on 31 shots for the win) - Ottawa

New Jersey Devils 6, Florida Panthers 3 (from New Jersey) - The Devils improved to 32-28-15 on the season thanks to a 6-3 win over the Florida Panthers, dropping them to 27-41-8.

Goals:

NJD - Travis Zajac (14) - from Jaromir Jagr and Mark Fayne (0:12 1ST)

NJD - Jaromir Jagr (24) - from Ryan Clowe (9:24 1ST)

NJD - Travis Zajac PPG (15) - from Ryan Clowe and Eric Gelinas (11:33 1ST)

FLA - Dmitry Kulikov SHG (8) - from Nick Bjugstad (17:22 1ST)

FLA - Brad Boyes (20) - from Nick Bjugstad (0:50 2ND)

NJD - Ryan Clowe (7) - from Travis Zajac and Jaromir Jagr (3:05 2ND) *GWG*

FLA - Brandon Pirri (10) - from Dylan Olsen and Vincent Trocheck (6:35 2ND)

NJD - Jacob Josefson SHG (1) - from Ryan Carter (4:02 3RD)

NJD - Travis Zajac (16 - Hat Trick) - from Tuomo Ruutu and Jaromir Jagr (9:37 3RD)

Goalies:

WG - Martin Brodeur (6 saves on 9 shots: 18-14-5), Cory Schneider (13 saves on 13 shots in relief of Brodeur) LG - Dan Ellis (26 saves on 32 shots: 5-10-0)

Three Stars:

3. Ryan Clowe (1 goal, 2 assists) - New Jersey

2. Jaromir Jagr (1 goal, 3 assists) - New Jersey

1. Travis Zajac (3 goals, 1 assist) - New Jersey

Anaheim Ducks 5, Winnipeg Jets 4 (OT) - (from Anaheim) - The Ducks improved to 49-18-8 on the season thanks to a 5-4 OT win over the Winnipeg Jets, dropping them to 33-33-10 (.500)

Goals:

WPG - Jacob Trouba (9) - from Michael Frolik and Bryan Little (8:48 1ST)
WPG - Matt Halischuk (5) - from Evander Kane and Eric O'Dell (13:39 1ST)
WPG - Blake Wheeler PPG (27) - from Dustin Byfuglien and Ondrej Pavelec (0:33 2ND)
WPG - Eric Tangredi (3) - from Zach Redmond and Anthony Peluso (10:54 2ND)
ANA - Nick Bonino (20) - from Jakub Silfverberg and Pat Maroon (17:44 2ND)
ANA - Ryan Getzlaf PPG (31) - from Pat Maroon and Mathieu Perreault (3:06 3RD)
ANA - Hampus Lindholm (6) - from Daniel Winnik and Saku Koivu (4:16 3RD)
ANA - Corey Perry (39) - from Ryan Getzlaf and Kyle Palmieri (19:37 3RD)
ANA - Stephane Robidas (5) - from Andrew Cogliano and Luca Sbisa (0:16 OT) *GWG*

Goalies:

WG - Frederik Andersen (33 saves on 37 shots: 18-5-0) LG - Ondrej Pavelec (31 saves on 36 shots: 20-25-7)

Three Stars:

3. Blake Wheeler (1 goal) - Winnipeg

2. Ryan Getzlaf (1 goal, 1 assist) - Anaheim

1. Stephane Robidas (1 goal, OT winner) - Anaheim

Minnesota Wild 3, Los Angeles Kings 2 (from Los Angeles) - The Wild improved to 39-26-11 on the season thanks to a 3-2 win over the Los Angeles Kings, dropping them to 44-26-6.

Goals:

LAK - Alec Martinez (11) - from Anze Kopitar and Justin Williams (6:30 1ST)
MIN - Zach Parise PPG (28) - from Mikael Granlund and Mikko Koivu (3:37 2ND)
LAK - Justin Williams (19) - from Marian Gaborik and Willie Mitchell (11:49 2ND)
MIN - Matt Moulson (22) - from Jason Pominville and Erik Haula (3:54 3RD)
MIN - Mikko Koivu (10) - from Charlie Coyle and Zach Parise (4:56 3RD) *GWG*

Goalies:

WG - Ilya Bryzgalov (18 saves on 20 shots: 9-8-7) LG -  Jonathan Quick (17 saves on 20 shots: 26-16-2)

Three Stars:

3. Zach Parise (1 goal, 1 assist) - Minnesota

2. Justin Williams (1 goal, 1 assist) - Los Angeles

1. Mikko Koivu (1 goal, 1 assist, GWG) - Minnesota

Three Stars of the Night:

3. Mikko Koivu - The Wild's Captain scored the game winning goal and added an assist in their 3-2 win over the Kings. 

2. Jaromir Jagr - Jagr scored his 24th goal of the season and dished out 3 assists in the Devils 6-3 win over the Panthers. 

1. Travis Zajac - Zajac scored 3 goals and added an assist in the Devils 6-3 win over the Panthers.

Interesting Stats of the Night:

-Travis Zajac scored his 1st career hat trick.
-Jeff Skinner reached 30 goals for the 2nd time in his career.
-The Ducks scored 5 unanswered goals to win 5-4 after being down 4-0 late in the 2nd. 
-Stephane Robidas scored his 1st goal with the Anaheim Ducks, which was also the OT winner. 

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

Montreal Canadiens - 5 game winning streak

Colorado Avalanche - 3 game winning streak

Boston Bruins - 3 game winning streak

Ottawa Senators - 3 game winning streak

Toronto Maple Leafs - 8 game losing streak

Buffalo Sabres - 4 game losing streak

Chicago Blackhawks - 3 game losing streak

Florida Panthers - 3 game losing streak

Forman Faceoff Highlight of the Night:

-Jaromir Jagr gets it tonight for this absolute snipe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEspaEiEvUs

What's up next (April 1st) - There are 11 NHL games on tap for Tuesday:

1. New Jersey Devils vs. Buffalo Sabres @7PM ET (In Buffalo)
2. Calgary Flames vs. Toronto Maple Leafs @7PM ET (In Toronto)
3. Florida Panthers vs. New York Islanders @7PM ET (In New York)
4. Carolina Hurricanes vs. Pittsburgh Penguins @7PM ET (In Pittsburgh)
5. Dallas Stars vs. Washington Capitals @7PM ET (In Washington)
6. Colorado Avalanche vs. Columbus Blue Jackets @7PM ET (In Columbus)
7. Montreal Canadiens vs. Tampa Bay Lightning @730PM ET (In Tampa Bay)
8. Philadelphia Flyers vs. St. Louis Blues @8PM ET (In St. Louis) {***Forman's Game of the Night***}
9. New York Rangers vs. Vancouver Canucks @10PM ET (In Vancouver)
10. Winnipeg Jets vs. Phoenix Coyotes @10PM ET (In Phoenix)
11. Edmonton Oilers vs. San Jose Sharks @1030PM ET (In San Jose)

-Joel Forman - The Forman Faceoff