January 7th NHL Recap

Washington Capitals 6, Toronto Maple Leafs 2 (from Toronto) - The Capitals improved to 21-11-7 on the season thanks to a 6-2 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs, dropping them to 21-17-3.
Goals:

WSH - Marcus Johansson (11) - from Evgeny Kuznetsov and Troy Brouwer (5:10 1ST)

TOR - Daniel Winnik (2) - from Cody Franson and Phil Kessel (4:49 2ND)

WSH - Eric Fehr SHG (12) - from Jay Beagle and Matt Niskanen (6:20 2ND)

WSH - Brooks Laich (5) - from Eric Fehr (8:58 2ND) *GWG*

TOR - Trevor Smith (1) - from Leo Komarov and Roman Polak (16:08 2ND)

WSH - Marcus Johansson (12) - from John Carlson and Troy Brouwer (16:50 2ND)

WSH - Eric Fehr (13) - from John Carlson and Mike Green (11:20 3RD)

WSH - Alex Ovechkin EN (20) - unassisted (19:33 3RD)

Goalies:

WG - Braden Holtby (31 saves on 33 shots: 19-8-6) LG - Jonathan Bernier (20 saves on 25 shots: 15-10-3)

Three Stars:

3. John Carlson (2 assists) - Washington

2. Marcus Johansson (2 goals) - Washington

1. Eric Fehr (2 goals, 1 assist) - Washington

Boston Bruins 3, Pittsburgh Penguins 2 (OT) - (from Pittsburgh) - The Bruins improved to 20-15-6 on the season thanks to a 3-2 OT win over the Pittsburgh Penguins, dropping them to 24-10-6.

Goals:

PIT - Beau Bennett (2) - from Evgeni Malkin and Simon Despres (3:37 1ST)

BOS - Zdeno Chara (3) - from Reilly Smith and David Krejci (17:57 1ST)

BOS - Patrice Bergeron (9) - from Dan Paille and Milan Lucic (15:37 2ND)

PIT - Evgeni Malkin (18) - from Christian Ehrhoff (0:14 3RD)

BOS - Patrice Bergeron (10) - from Milan Lucic and Torey Krug (2:43 OT) *GWG*

Goalies:

WG - Tuukka Rask (37 saves on 39 shots: 16-10-6) LG -  Marc-Andre Fleury (21 saves on 24 shots: 20-7-4)

Three Stars:

3. Tuukka Rask (37 saves on 39 shots for the win) - Boston

2. Evgeni Malkin (1 goal, 1 assist) - Pittsburgh

1. Patrice Bergeron (2 goals, OT winner) - Boston

Detroit Red Wings 3, Calgary Flames 2 (from Calgary) - The Red Wings improved to 22-10-9 on the season thanks to a 3-2 win over the Calgary Flames, dropping them to 21-17-3.

Goals:

CGY - Mason Raymond (6) - from David Jones and Mikael Backlund (2:27 1ST)

DET - Riley Sheahan (8) - from Darren Helm (7:58 1ST)

DET - Henrik Zetterberg (10) - from Justin Abdelkader and Gustav Nyquist (17:28 2ND)

DET - Justin Abdelkader PPG (11) - from Gustav Nyquist and Henrik Zetterberg (2:03 3RD) *GWG*

CGY - Mikael Backlund SHG (2) - from Paul Byron and T.J. Brodie (5:13 3RD)

Goalies:

WG - Petr Mrazek (28 saves on 30 shots: 5-2-1) LG - Jonas Hiller (7 saves on 9 shots: 13-12-2) in relief of the injured Karri Ramo (12 saves on 13 shots) 

Three Stars:

3. Henrik Zetterberg (1 goal, 1 assist) - Detroit

2. Mikael Backlund (1 goal, 1 assist) - Calgary

1. Justin Abdelkader (1 goal, 1 assist, GWG) - Detroit

New York Rangers 4, Anaheim Ducks 1 (from Anaheim) - The Rangers improved to 22-11-4 on the season thanks to a 4-1 win over the Anaheim Ducks, dropping them to 26-10-6.

Goals:

NYR - Derick Brassard (11) - from J.T. Miller (9:10 2ND)

NYR - Rick Nash (25) - from Kevin Klein (2:32 3RD) *GWG*

ANA - Francois Beauchemin PPG (2) - from Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry (10:09 3RD)

NYR - Mats Zuccarello (7) - unassisted (14:27 3RD)

NYR - Dominic Moore EN (3) - from Lee Stempniak and J.T. Miller (17:46 3RD)

Goalies:

WG - Henrik Lundqvist (24 saves on 25 shots: 19-8-3) LG - Ilya Bryzgalov (26 saves on 29 shots: 0-2-0)

Three Stars:

3. J.T. Miller (2 assists) - New York

2. Rick Nash (1 goal, GWG) - New York

1. Henrik Lundqvist (24 saves on 25 shots for the win) - New York

Three Stars of the Night:

3. Justin Abdelkader - Abdelkader scored the game-winning goal and added an assist in the Red Wings 3-2 win over the Flames.

2. Eric Fehr - Fehr scored 2 goals and added an assist in the Capitals 6-2 win over the Maple Leafs.

1. Patrice Bergeron - Bergeron scored 2 goals, the 2nd being the OT winner, in the Bruins 3-2 win over the Penguins.

Interesting Stats of the Night:

-The Leafs lost their 1st game under Interim Head Coach Peter Horachek.

-Alex Ovechkin scored his 20th goal of the season, which is the 10th consecutive season that Ovechkin has scored at least 20 goals.

-All 4 road teams (Capitals, Bruins, Red Wings and Rangers) won tonight.

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

Washington Capitals - 3 game winning streak

New York Rangers - 3 game winning streak

Buffalo Sabres - 5 game losing streak

Toronto Maple Leafs - 3 game losing streak

What's up next - Thursday January 8th: There are 10 NHL games on tap for Thursday night:

1. New Jersey Devils vs. Boston Bruins at 7:00 PM ET (In Boston)

2. Washington Capitals vs. Philadelphia Flyers at 7:00 PM ET (In Philadelphia)

3. Buffalo Sabres vs. Carolina Hurricanes at 7:00 PM ET (In Carolina)

4. San Jose Sharks vs. St. Louis Blues at 8:00 PM ET (In St. Louis) {***Forman's Game of the Night***}

5. Dallas Stars vs. Nashville Predators at 8:00 PM ET (In Nashville)

6. Chicago Blackhawks vs. Minnesota Wild at 8:00 PM ET (In Minnesota)

7. Ottawa Senators vs. Colorado Avalanche at 9:00 PM ET (In Colorado)

8. Winnipeg Jets vs. Arizona Coyotes at 9:00 PM ET (In Arizona)

9. Florida Panthers vs. Vancouver Canucks at 10:00 PM ET (In Vancouver

10. New York Rangers vs. Los Angeles Kings at 10:30 PM ET (In Los Angeles)

-Joel Forman - The Forman Faceoff