December 15th NHL Recap

New York Islanders 3, New Jersey Devils 2 (SO) - (from New York) - The Islanders improved to 21-10-0 on the season thanks to a 3-2 shootout win over the New Jersey Devils, dropping them to 11-15-6.

Goals:

NJD - Marek Zidlicky PPG (4) - from Scott Gomez and Jaromir Jagr (12:15 1ST)

NJD - Scott Gomez (2) - from Jaromir Jagr and Marek Zidlicky (15:20 1ST)

NYI - Josh Bailey (5) - from Ryan Strome and Mikhail Grabovski (1:51 2ND)

NYI - Matt Martin (4) - from Casey Cizikas and Calvin de Haan (10:45 3RD)

Shootout winner - Josh Bailey (NYI)

Goalies:

WG - Jaroslav Halak (26 saves on 28 shots: 16-6-0) LG - Keith Kinkaid (31 saves on 33 shots: 0-1-2)

Three Stars:

3. Matt Martin (1 goal) - New York

2. Scott Gomez (1 goal, 1 assist) - New Jersey

1. Josh Bailey (1 goal, shootout winner) - New York

Pittsburgh Penguins 4, Tampa Bay Lightning 2 (from Pittsburgh) - The Penguins improved to 20-6-4 on the season thanks to a 4-2 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning, dropping them to 19-10-3.

Goals:

PIT - Brandon Sutter SHG (7) - from Rob Scuderi (19:09 1ST)

TBL - Jonathan Drouin PPG (2) - from Tyler Johnson and Nikita Kucherov (19:33 1ST)

PIT - Bryan Rust (1) - from Andrew Ebbett (2:55 2ND)

PIT - Steve Downie PPG (5) - from Patric Hornqvist and Evgeni Malkin (19:26 2ND) *GWG*

PIT - Brian Dumoulin (1) - from Steve Downie and Nick Spaling (7:47 3RD)

TBL - Nikita Kucherov (12) - from Valtteri Filppula (16:56 3RD)

Goalies:

WG - Marc-Andre Fleury (28 saves on 30 shots: 17-4-2) LG - Evgeni Nabokov (18 saves on 21 shots: 3-4-1) in relief of the injured Ben Bishop (4 saves on 5 shots)

Three Stars:

3. Bryan Rust (1 goal) - Pittsburgh

2. Nikita Kucherov (1 goal, 1 assist) - Tampa Bay 

1. Steve Downie (1 goal, 1 assist, GWG) - Pittsburgh

Buffalo Sabres 5, Ottawa Senators 4 (SO) - (from Buffalo) - The Sabres improved to 13-16-2 on the season thanks to a 5-4 shootout win over the Ottawa Senators, dropping them to 12-12-6.

Goals:

OTT - Bobby Ryan (7) - from Mike Hoffman and Mika Zibanejad (7:24 1ST)

BUF - Rasmus Ristolainen PPG (2) - from Chris Stewart and Brian Gionta (4:11 2ND)

BUF - Matt Moulson (7) - from Andrej Meszaros and Tyler Ennis (7:00 2ND)

BUF - Marcus Foligno (5) - from Brian Flynn and Tyler Myers (7:32 2ND)

OTT - Mark Stone (7) - from Kyle Turris and Cody Ceci (13:42 2ND)

OTT - Curtis Lazar (1) - from Erik Condra and Alex Chiasson (2:02 3RD)

OTT - Alex Chiasson (7) - from Mark Borowiecki (5:04 3RD)

BUF - Brian Flynn (4) - from Marcus Foligno and Andre Benoit (16:31 3RD)

Shootout winner - Matt Moulson (BUF)

Goalies:

WG - Jhonas Enroth (29 saves on 33 shots: 10-10-1) LG - Robin Lehner (29 saves on 33 shots: 6-4-2)

Three Stars:

3. Marcus Foligno (1 goal, 1 assist) - Buffalo

2. Alex Chiasson (1 goal, 1 assist) - Ottawa

1. Brian Flynn (1 goal, 1 assist) - Buffalo

Interesting Stats of the Night:

-The Devils have now lost 17 of their last 18 shootouts dating back to last season.

-Bryan Rust scored his 1st NHL goal for the Penguins.

-Brian Dumoulin scored his 1st NHL goal for the Penguins.

-Curtis Lazar scored his 1st NHL goal for the Senators.

-After starting the season 1-8-1 in his first 10 games, Jhonas Enroth has since gone 9-2-0 including 4 straight wins.

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

Anaheim Ducks - 7 game winning streak

Columbus Blue Jackets - 6 game winning streak

Toronto Maple Leafs - 5 game winning streak

St. Louis Blues - 4 game winning streak
Buffalo Sabres - 4 game winning streak
San Jose Sharks - 3 game winning streak
New York Rangers -3 game winning streak

Arizona Coyotes - 5 game losing streak

Carolina Hurricanes - 5 game losing streak

Calgary Flames - 5 game losing streak

Edmonton Oilers - 4 game losing streak

What's up next - Tuesday December 16th: There are 11 NHL games on tap for Tuesday night:

1. Tampa Bay Lightning vs. Philadelphia Flyers at 7:00 PM ET (In Philadelphia)

2. Anaheim Ducks vs. Toronto Maple Leafs at 7:30 PM ET (In Toronto) {***Forman's Game of the Night***}

3. Carolina Hurricanes vs. Montreal Canadiens at 7:30 PM ET (In Montreal)

4. Columbus Blue Jackets vs. Detroit Red Wings at 7:30 PM ET (In Detroit)

5. Washington Capitals vs. Florida Panthers at 7:30 PM ET (In Florida)

6. Los Angeles Kings vs. St. Louis Blues at 8:00 PM ET (In St. Louis)

7. Boston Bruins vs. Nashville Predators at 8:00 PM ET (In Nashville)

8. Buffalo Sabres vs. Winnipeg Jets at 8:00 PM ET (In Winnipeg)

9. Minnesota Wild vs. Chicago Blackhawks at 8:30 PM ET (In Chicago)

10. New York Rangers vs. Calgary Flames at 9:00 PM ET (In Calgary)

11. Edmonton Oilers vs. Arizona Coyotes at 9:00 PM ET (In Arizona)

-Joel Forman - The Forman Faceoff