March 4th NHL Recap

Boston Bruins 4, Florida Panthers 1 (from Boston) - The Bruins improved to 39-17-5 on the season thanks to a 4-1 win over the Florida Panthers, dropping them to 23-32-7.

Goals:

BOS - David Krejci (14) - unassisted (7:29 1ST)
BOS - Jarome Iginla (19) - from Jordan Caron and Chris Kelly (11:01 1ST) *GWG*
BOS - David Krejci (15) - from Kevan Miller (19:12 2ND)
FLA - Brian Campell (6) - from Sean Bergenheim (12:47 3RD)
BOS - David Krejci EN (16 - Hat Trick) - from Milan Lucic and Jarome Iginla (19:46 3RD)

Goalies:

WG - Chad Johnson (23 saves on 24 shots: 12-3-1) LG - Tim Thomas (35 saves on 38 shots: 16-20-3)

Three Stars:

3. Chad Johnson (23 saves on 24 shots for the win) - Boston

2. Jarome Iginla (1 goal, 1 assist, GWG) - Boston

1. David Krejci (3 goals) - Boston

New Jersey Devils 4, Detroit Red Wings 3 (from New Jersey) - The Devils improved to 27-23-13 on teh season thanks to a 4-3 win over the Detroit Red Wings, dropping them to 28-21-12.

Goals:

NJD - Adam Henrique (19) - unassisted (0:27 1ST)
DET - Johan Franzen (13) - unassisted (11:26 1ST)
DET - Brendan Smith (2) - from Justin Abdelkader (7:03 1ST)
NJD - Patrik Elias PPG (14) - from Marek Zidlicky and Damien Brunner (0:41 3RD)
NJD - Travis Zajac (10) - from Jaromir Jagr and Ryan Clowe (6:30 3RD)
DET - Todd Bertuzzi PPG (8) - from Johan Franzen and Gustav Nyquist (9:43 3RD)
NJD - Stephen Gionta (4) - from Mark Fayne and Dainius Zubrus (19:23 3RD) *GWG*

Goalies:

WG - Martin Brodeur (20 saves on 23 shots: 15-11-4) LG - Jimmy Howard (25 saves on 29 shots: 13-14-9)

Three Stars:

3. Adam Henrique (1 goal) - New Jersey

2. Johan Franzen (1 goal, 1 assist) - Detroit

1. Stephen Gionta (1 goal, GWG) - New Jersey

Columbus Blue Jackets 4, Dallas Stars 2 (from Columbus) - The Blue Jackets improved to 32-25-5 on the season thanks to a 4-2 win over the Dallas Stars, dropping them to 29-23-10.

Goals:

CBJ - Boone Jenner (11) - from Ryan Johansen and Nathan Horton (1:14 1ST)
CBJ - R.J. Umberger (17) - from Brandon Dubinsky and James Wisniewski (11:29 1ST)
CBJ - Artem Anisimov PPG (17) - unassisted (15:00 1ST) *GWG*
DAL - Alex Goligoski PPG (4) - from Ray Whitney and Jamie Benn (1:39 3RD)
DAL - Trevor Daley (5) - from Sergei Gonchar and Erik Cole (3:22 3RD)
CBJ - Artem Anisimov (18) - from Dalton Prout and Marian Gaborik (15:53 3RD)

Goalies:

WG - Sergei Bobrovsky (31 saves on 33 shots: 23-15-3) LG - Dan Ellis (16 saves on 20 shots: 5-6-0)

Three Stars:

3. Boone Jenner (1 goal) - Columbus

2. Sergei Bobrovsky (31 saves on 33 shots for the win) - Columbus

1. Artem Anisimov (2 goals, GWG) - Columbus

Colorado Avalanche 4, Chicago Blackhawks 2 (from Chicago) - The Avalanche improved to 40-17-5 on the season thanks to a 4-2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks, dropping them to 36-13-14.

Goals:

COL - Max Talbot (7) - from Erik Johnson and Jan Hejda (2:49 2ND)
CHI - Ben Smith (8) - from Brandon Bollig and Nicklas Hjalmarsson (16:52 2ND)
COL - Ryan O'Reilly (24) - from Matt Duchene and Erik Johnson (1:23 3RD)
CHI - Jonathan Toews PPG (22) - from Patrick Sharp and Duncan Keith (7:17 3RD)
COL - Tyson Barrie PPG (9) - from Erik Johnson and Ryan O'Reilly (12:50 3RD) *GWG*
COL - Paul Stastny EN (20) - from Nathan MacKinnon and Tyson Barrie (19:27 3RD)

Goalies:

WG - Semyon Varlamov (36 saves on 38 shots: 31-11-5) LG - Corey Crawford (17 saves on 20 shots: 23-11-10)

Three Stars:

3. Erik Johnson (3 assists) - Colorado

2. Semyon Varlamov (36 saves on 38 shots for the win) - Colorado

1. Tyson Barrie (1 goal, 1 assist, GWG) - Colorado

St. Louis Blues 4, Tampa Bay Lightning 2 (from St. Louis) - The Blues improved to 41-14-6 on the season thanks to a 4-2 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning, dropping them to 34-23-5.

Goals:

TBL - Alex Killorn (15) - from Teddy Purcell (7:08 1ST)
TBL - Tyler Johnson PPG (18) - from Martin St. Louis and Victor Hedman (14:49 1ST)
STL - Patrik Berglund (11) - from Jaden Schwartz and Vladimir Tarasenko (3:32 2ND)
STL - T.J. Oshie SHG (15) - from Alexander Steen and Alex Pietrangelo (17:04 2ND)
STL - Alexander Steen (29) - from David Backes and T.J. Oshie (3:47 3RD) *GWG*
STL - Vladimir Tarasenko EN (19) - from David Backes and Jaden Schwartz (19:21 3RD)

Goalies:

WG - Ryan Miller (15 saves on 17 shots: 17-22-3) LG - Ben Bishop (25 saves on 28 shots: 29-11-4)

Three Stars:

3. Vladimir Tarasenko (1 goal, 1 assist) - St. Louis

2. Alexander Steen (1 goal, 1 assist, GWG) - St. Louis

1. T.J. Oshie (1 goal, 1 assist) - St. Louis

Pittsburgh Penguins 3, Nashville Predators 1 (from Nashville) - The Penguins improved to 41-16-4 on the season thanks to a 3-1 win over the Nashville Predators, dropping them to 26-26-10 (.500).

Goals:

PIT - Matt Niskanen (8) - from Sidney Crosby and Brian Gibbons (0:27 2ND)
NSH - Patric Hornqvist (12) - from Nick Spaling and Mike Fisher (0:39 2ND)
PIT - Matt Niskanen PPG (9) - from Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby (7:29 3RD) *GWG*
PIT - Chris Kunitz (28) - from Sidney Crosby (17:05 3RD)

Goalies:

WG - Marc-Andre Fleury (18 saves on 19 shots: 32-14-3) LG - Pekka Rinne (16 saves on 19 shots: 4-5-1)

Three Stars:

3. Evgeni Malkin (1 assist) - Pittsburgh

2. Matt Niskanen (2 goals, GWG) - Pittsburgh

1. Sidney Crosby (3 assists) - Pittsburgh

New York Islanders 3, Winnipeg Jets 2 (OT) - (from Winnipeg) - The Islanders improved to 24-32-8 on the season thanks to a 3-2 win over the Winnipeg Jets, dropping them to 30-26-7.

Goals:

WPG - Andrew Ladd (16) - from Bryan Little (10:57 1ST)
NYI - Colin MacDonald (5) - from Ryan Strome and Anders Lee (17:30 1ST)
NYI - Anders Lee (3) - from Michael Grabner (1:33 2ND)
WPG - Andrew Ladd (17) - from Olli Jokinen (14:53 3RD)
NYI - Michael Grabner (12) - from Cal Clutterbuck (3:53 OT) *GWG*

Goalies:

WG - Anders Nilsson (36 saves on 38 shots: 2-3-2) LG - Ondrej Pavelec (24 saves on 27 shots: 20-22-5)

Three Stars:

3. Anders Lee (1 goal, 1 assist) - New York

2. Andrew Ladd (2 goals) - Winnipeg

1. Michael Grabner (1 goal, 1 assist, GWG) - New York

Phoenix Coyotes 1, Vancouver Canucks 0 (from Phoenix) - The Coyotes improved to 28-23-11 on the season thanks to a 1-0 shutout of the Vancouver Canucks, dropping them to 28-26-10.

Goals:

PHX - Antoine Vermette (22) - from Shane Doan and Brandon McMillan (17:04 1ST) *GWG*

Goalies:

WG - Mike Smith (23 saves on 23 shots: 21-18-10) LG - Eddie Lack (31 saves on 32 shots: 9-10-4)

Three Stars:

3. Antoine Vermette (1 goal, GWG) - Phoenix

2. Eddie Lack (31 saves on 32 shots) - Vancouver

1. Mike Smith (23 saves on 23 shots for the shutout) - Phoenix

Edmonton Oilers 3, Ottawa Senators 2 (from Edmonton) - The Oilers improved to 21-34-8 on the season thanks to a 3-2 win over the Ottawa Senators, dropping them to 27-24-11.

Goals:

OTT - Jason Spezza (16) - from Milan Michalek (5:22 1ST)
EDM - Ales Hemsky PPG (8) - from Nail Yakupov and Andrew Ference (14:30 1ST)
EDM - Ales Hemsky (9) - from Sam Gagner and Taylor Hall (8:58 2ND)
EDM - Jordan Eberle (20) - from Boyd Gordon and Taylor Hall (4:26 3RD) *GWG*
OTT - Erik Karlsson (17) - from Marc Methot (17:05 3RD)

Goalies:

WG - Ben Scrivens (34 saves on 36 shots: 11-9-4) LG - Craig Anderson (27 saves on 30 shots: 20-13-8)

Three Stars:

3. Jason Spezza (1 goal) - Ottawa

2. Ben Scrivens (34 saves on 36 shots for the win) - Edmonton

1. Ales Hemsky (1 goal) - Edmonton

Carolina Hurricanes 3, San Jose Sharks 2 (OT) - (from San Jose) - The Hurricanes improved to 27-26-9 on the season thanks to a 3-2 OT win over the San Jose Sharks, dropping them to 39-17-7.

Goals:

CAR - Jiri Tlusty (10) - from Alexander Semin and John-Michael Liles (12:07 1ST)
SJS - Martin Havlat (5) - from Tyler Kennedy and Andrew Desjardins (13:05 1ST)
SJS - Brent Burns (15) - from Raffi Torres and James Sheppard (19:32 1ST)
CAR - Elias Lindholm (5) - from Eric Staal and Andrej Sekera (4:16 2ND)
CAR - Jay Harrison (3) - from Elias Lindholm and Andrej Sekera (4:18 OT) *GWG*

Goalies:

WG - Anton Khudobin (35 saves on 37 shots: 14-8-0) LG - Alex Stalock (32 saves on 35 shots: 10-4-1)

Three Stars:

3. Alex Stalock (32 saves on 35 shots) - San Jose

2. Elias Lindholm (1 goal, 1 assist) - Carolina

1. Anton Kuhdobin (35 saves on 37 shots for the win) - Carolina

Three Stars of the Night:

3. Mike Smith - Smith stopped all 23 shots in the Coyotes 1-0 shutout of the Canucks. 

2. Sidney Crosby - Crosby assisted on all 3 goals in the Penguins 3-1 win over the Predators. 

1. David Krejci - Krejci scored his 3rd career hat trick in the Bruins 4-1 win over the Panthers.

Interesting Stats of the Night:

-Jaromir Jagr moved into 9th place all-time in assists with his 1041st career assist, passing Marcel Dionne. 

-Nathan MacKinnon extended his rookie-best point streak to 8 games with an assist tonight, tying the longest streak in NHL history for an 18-year old (with Wayne Gretzky).
-Ryan Miller is now 2-0 with the Blues, with both wins being 4-2 where Miller let in the first 2 goals of the game.
-Erik Karlsson scored his 17th goal of the season, the most of any defenseman this season.
-Mike Smith picked up his 3rd shutout of the season.
-David Krejci picked up his 3rd career hat trick.

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

Minnesota Wild - 5 game winning streak

Los Angeles Kings - 5 game winning streak

Anaheim Ducks - 3 game winning streak

Colorado Avalanche - 3 game winning streak

Columbus Blue Jackets - 3 game winning streak

Toronto Maple Leafs - 3 game losing streak

Forman Faceoff Highlight of the Night:

-T.J. Oshie gets it tonight with his magnificent short-handed goal, one of the goals of the year: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RU01fzCakYo

What's up next (March 5th) - There are 4 NHL games on tap for Wednesday: 
1. Toronto Maple Leafs vs. New York Rangers @7PM ET (In New York)
2. Washington Capitals vs. Philadelphia Flyers @8PM ET (In Philadelphia) {***Forman's Game of the Night***}
3. Ottawa Senators vs. Calgary Flames @930PM ET (In Calgary)
4. Montreal Canadiens vs. Anaheim Ducks @10PM ET (In Anaheim)

-Joel Forman - The Forman Faceoff