March 2nd NHL Recap

New York Rangers 4, Nashville Predators 1 (from New York) - The Rangers improved to 39-17-6 on the season thanks to a 4-1 win over the Nashville Predators, dropping them to 41-16-7. 

Goals:

NYR - Marc Staal (5) - from Mats Zuccarello and Derick Brassard (6:36 1ST) 

NYR - Chris Kreider (17) - from Mats Zuccarello and Derick Brassard (4:14 2ND) *GWG*

NSH - Matt Cullen (7) - from Taylor Beck and Mike Santorelli (15:24 2ND)

NYR - Dominic Moore (6) - from Dan Girardi and Tanner Glass (5:51 3RD)

NYR - Rick Nash EN (38) - from Kevin Klein (19:16 3RD)

Goalies:

WG - Cam Talbot (25 saves on 26 shots: 13-6-3) LG - Pekka Rinne (36 saves on 39 shots: 35-11-3) 

Three Stars:

3. Chris Kreider (1 goal, GWG) - New York

2. Mats Zuccarello (2 assists) - New York

1. Cam Talbot (25 saves on 26 shots for the win) - New York

Chicago Blackhawks 5, Carolina Hurricanes 2 (from Chicago) - The Blackhawks improved to 38-21-5 on the season thanks to a 5-2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes, dropping them to 24-31-7.

Goals:

CHI - Jonathan Toews (20) - from Michal Rozsival and Niklas Hjalmarsson (8:07 1ST)

CHI - Jonathan Toews SHG (21) - from Duncan Keith (0:44 2ND)

CHI - Brandon Saad (20) - unassisted (9:42 2ND) *GWG*

CHI - Marcus Kruger (6) - from Andrew Shaw (15:42 2ND)
CAR - John-Michael Liles (2) - from Andrej Nestrasil and Nathan Gerbe (4:29 3RD)
CHI - Marian Hossa (18) - from Jonathan Toews and Michal Rozsival (7:55 3RD)
CAR - Alex Semin (3) - from Eric Staal and Jay McClement (18:50 3RD)

Goalies:

WG - Corey Crawford (27 saves on 29 shots: 25-14-4) LG - Cam Ward (14 saves on 18 shots: 17-20-4), Anton Khudobin (7 saves on 8 shots in relief of Ward) 

Three Stars:

3. Michal Rozsival (2 assists) - Chicago

2. Brandon Saad (1 goal, GWG) - Chicago

1. Jonathan Toews (2 goals, 1 assist) - Chicago

San Jose Sharks 4, Montreal Canadiens 0 (from San Jose) - The Sharks improved to 31-25-8 on the season thanks to a 4-0 shutout of the Montreal Canadiens, dropping them to 41-17-5. 

Goals:

SJS - Ben Smith (6) - from Marc-Edouard Vlasic (6:51 1ST) *GWG*
SJS - Joe Pavelski PPG (32) - from Brent Burns and Joe Thornton (19:13 1ST)
SJS - Matt Irwin (7) - from Tommy Wingels and Ben Smith (6:28 2ND)
SJS - Patrick Marleau PPG (15) - from Joe Pavelski and Logan Couture (13:07 3RD)

Goalies:

WG - Alex Stalock (20 saves on 20 shots: 6-7-1) LG - Carey Price (33 saves on 37 shots: 36-12-3) 

Three Stars:

3. Joe Pavelski (1 goal, 1 assist) - San Jose

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

1. Alex Stalock (20 saves on 20 shots for the shutout) - San Jose

Interesting Stats of the Night:

-Jonathan Toews scored his 20th goal of the season, the 8th consecutive season to start his career he has scored at least 20 goals.

-The Predators lost 3 consecutive games for the 1st time this season.

-The Rangers improved to 10-2-2 with Henrik Lundqvist out of the lineup.

-Brandon Saad scored his 20th goal of the season, the 1st time in his career he has scored 20 goals.

-Ben Smith scored 6:51 into his Sharks debut hours after being dealt from the Blackhawks. Smith had gone the previous 28 games without scoring.

-Alex Stalock picked up his 2nd shutout of the season.

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

Ottawa Senators - 5 game winning streak
Pittsburgh Penguins - 4 game winning streak

Arizona Coyotes - 9 game losing streak
Dallas Stars - 6 game losing streak

Columbus Blue Jackets - 4 game losing streak 

Los Angeles Kings - 3 game losing streak

Nashville Predators - 3 game losing streak

Forman Faceoff Highlight of the Night:

-Taylor Beck gets it tonight with this beautiful no-look pass from his knees to set up Matt Cullen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJs--2Yvc58

What's up next - Tuesday March 3rd: There are 10 NHL games on tap for Tuesday night:

1. Nashville Predators vs. New Jersey Devils at 7:00 PM ET (In New Jersey)

2. Calgary Flames vs. Philadelphia Flyers at 7:00 PM ET (In Philadelphia)

3. Washington Capitals Columbus Blue Jackets at 7:00 PM ET (In Columbus)

4. Buffalo Sabres vs. Tampa Bay Lightning at 7:30 PM ET (In Tampa Bay)

5. Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Florida Panthers at 7:30 PM ET (In Florida)

6. Ottawa Senators vs. Minnesota Wild at 8:00 PM ET (In Minnesota)

7. New York Islanders vs. Dallas Stars at 8:30 PM ET (In Dallas) {***Forman's Game of the Night***}

8. Anaheim Ducks vs. Arizona Coyotes at 9:00 PM ET (In Arizona)

9. Los Angeles Kings vs. Edmonton Oilers at 9:30 PM ET (In Edmonton)

10. San Jose Sharks vs. Vancouver Canucks at 10:00 PM ET (In Vancouver)

-Joel Forman - The Forman Faceoff