NHL Recaps: Canes win outdoors, Ryan O’Reilly successful Leafs debut, Elias Pettersson goes off, and more
The Daily Goal Horn
|
NHL Recaps: February 18, 2023
It was a jam-packed Saturday for hockey fans across North America with 13 games on the schedule.
The Toronto Maple Leafs easily beat the Montreal Canadiens with their two new trade acquisitions from late Friday in the lineup. In Boston, the Bruins annihilated the New York Islanders and the New Jersey Devils topped the Pittsburgh Penguins. Those losses allowed the Buffalo Sabres to creep within 3 points of a wild card berth in the East with their win over the San Jose Sharks.
The Calgary Flames held off the streaking New York Rangers for a 3-2 overtime win, but victories by Pacific Division leaders the Vegas Golden Knights, Los Angeles Kings, and Seattle Kraken keep the Flames at bay.
In Vancouver, Elias Petterrson had a five-point evening to lead the Vancouver Canucks over the Philadelphia Flyers. However, we start our recaps outdoors with the Carolina Hurricanes beating the Washington Capitals.
NHL Recaps: Canes beat Caps in Stadium Series
Hurricanes 4 vs Capitals 1
Martin Necas had a goal and two assists as the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Washington Capitals 4-1 in a Stadium Series game in front of 56,961 fans Saturday night in Raleigh, N.C.
Frederik Andersen stopped 24 shots and also recorded an assist.
“It was something that all of us will never forget, and obviously when you do win it feels much better,” Necas said via NHL.com. “Every second of it was time you enjoy. You try to focus on the game, but you still feel the fans and the energy. It was my first outdoor game and it was unbelievable.”
Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Teuvo Teravainen also had one goal and one assist each, while Paul Stastny also scored for the Hurricanes, who won for the 10th time in 11 games.
Tom Wilson scored for Washington with 9:28 remaining, preventing Andersen’s first shutout of the season.
Goalie Darcy Kuemper made 31 saves for the Capitals, who’ve lost four games in a row and played for the third straight game without star forward Alex Ovechkin, who’s dealing with the recent death of his father.
Avalanche 4 vs Blues 1
Defenseman Bowen Byram scored twice as visiting Colorado beat St. Louis.
Mikko Rantanen scored his 200th career NHL goal and added an assist for the Avalanche, who extended their point streak to four games (3-0-1).
Sammy Blais scored and Jordan Binnington made 29 saves for the Blues, who were playing their first game since trading captain Ryan O’Reilly and forward Noel Acciari to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Blues forward Pavel Buchnevich departed in the second period of Saturday’s game against the visiting Colorado Avalanche due to a lower-body injury. He did not return.
Buchnevich initially was injured in the first period and tried to return in the second before bowing out for good.
Buchnevich, 27, received 6:04 of ice time in his fourth game since returning from an ankle injury.
In 42 games this season, Buchnevich has 16 goals and 27 assists during his second campaign with St. Louis.
Predators 7 vs Panthers 3
Roman Josi scored once and had two assists — all during a streak of five consecutive Nashville goals — as the hosts flattened Florida.
Nashville also got two goals from Thomas Novak and one each from Matt Duchene, Ryan Johansen, Colton Sissons and Yakov Trenin (empty-netter). Ryan McDonagh added a game-high three assists. It was McDonagh’s first three-point game since Dec. 5, 2021.
Nick Cousins — who played the past two seasons for Nashville — scored for the Panthers, along with Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Reinhart. It was the 28th goal of the season for Tkachuk.
Bruins 6 vs Islanders 2
Boston scored three goals in each of the first two periods on the way to a win over visiting New York.
Trent Frederic registered the third two-goal game of his career to lead the Bruins to their third consecutive win and a season sweep of the Islanders. Jake DeBrusk and Nick Foligno each finished with a goal and an assist, while David Pastrnak hit the 300-assist milestone for his career and Linus Ullmark stopped 26 shots.
Kyle Palmieri and Matt Martin scored, and Semyon Varlamov made 21 saves for New York, which is 1-2-2 in its last five games. Boston led 3-0 before the Islanders finally got on the board courtesy of Palmieri, who scored at 6:46 of the second.
Devils 5 vs Penguins 2
Nico Hischier had two goals and two assists to lead visiting New Jersey past Pittsburgh.
Dawson Mercer had a goal and an assist for the Devils and Dougie Hamilton and Jesper Bratt also scored. Evgeni Malkin scored both goals for the Penguins, who have lost three of four.
Pittsburgh goaltender Dustin Tokarski, the organization’s No. 3 option, started with Tristan Jarry injured and backup Casey DeSmith having played less than 24 hours earlier. Tokarski made 38 saves. At 14:43 of the third, Malkin closed it to 4-2 with a rising wrist shot from the slot, but then Hischier added an empty-netter with 2:04 left.
Blue Jackets 4 vs Stars 1
Defenseman Adam Boqvist scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period to lift visiting Columbus to a victory over Dallas.
Columbus’ Mathieu Olivier collected a goal and two assists, Eric Robinson had one of each and Liam Foudy scored his first career NHL regular-season goal. Joonas Korpisalo turned aside 28 shots for the Blue Jackets, while forward Johnny Gaudreau sat out because of a lower-body injury, ending his streak of playing in 349 straight games.
Ty Dellandrea scored in the second period and Scott Wedgewood made 33 saves for the Stars, who have dropped four games in a row (0-2-2) and seven of their past nine (2-2-5).
NHL Recaps: Ryan O’Reilly wins Leafs debut
Maple Leafs 5 vs Canadiens 1
Michael Bunting scored two goals and Toronto defeated visiting Montreal. New trade acquisition, Ryan O’Reilly also registered an assist in his Maple Leafs’ debut just hours after arriving from St. Louis.
“It’s kind of like going into cold water; it’s better just to kind of jump headfirst than tip-toe into it,” O’Reilly explained. “It was a little crazy, but I think it was the way to do it. I think the longer we waited, the more thinking creeps in and such, it’s better just to get here and start playing and let the hockey do it. It’s been great so far.”
Pierre Engvall added a goal and an assist for the Maple Leafs, who have won two straight to end a three-game homestand. William Nylander and Davd Kampf also scored for Toronto and Auston Matthews and Rasmus Sandin each added two assists. Joseph Woll made 29 saves.
Josh Anderson scored for the Canadiens, who have lost two straight after winning three in a row. Jake Allen stopped 36 shots.
Flames 3 vs Rangers 2 (OT)
Mikael Backlund scored the overtime winner and added an assist to give the host Calgary Flames a 3-2 victory over the New York Rangers on Saturday, snapping a two-game losing skid.
Andrew Mangiapane and Nazem Kadri also scored for the Flames, who relinquished a 2-0 lead built in the opening minute but recovered. Goaltender Jacob Markstrom made 18 saves in a fantastic netminding duel and Jonathan Huberdeau collected two assists.
Vladimir Tarasenko and Alexis Lafreniere replied for the Rangers, who saw their seven-game winning streak snapped, but are still on a torrid 8-0-2 run. Goalie Jaroslav Halak made 29 saves and Vincent Trochek collected two assists.
With Adam Fox in the penalty box for high-sticking, Backlund was parked at the doorstep and deflected Huberdeau’s shot 88 seconds into overtime. It was Backlund’s 11th goal of the season.
Golden Knights 5 vs Lightning 4
Jonathan Marchessault scored two goals and Shea Theodore had a goal and two assists to lead the Vegas Golden Knights to a 5-4 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday night in Las Vegas.
It was the third two-goal game of the season for Marchessault. Brett Howden and Nicolas Roy also scored, and Reilly Smith had two assists for the Pacific Division-leading Golden Knights, who moved into a tie with the Dallas Stars atop the Western Conference with 72 points.
Adin Hill finished with 20 saves to win his fourth straight start.
Corey Perry and Vladislav Namestnikov each had a goal and an assist, and Steven Stamkos and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare also scored goals for Tampa Bay. Victor Hedman and Mikhail Sergachev each added a pair of assists, and Andrei Vasilevskiy finished with 21 saves.
Kings 6 vs Coyotes 5 (SO)
Kevin Fiala had two goals and an assist, and the Los Angeles Kings held on for a 6-5 shootout win against the visiting Arizona Coyotes on Saturday night.
The Coyotes trailed 5-1 late in the second period before sending the game into overtime.
Blake Lizotte, Anze Kopitar and Matt Roy each had a goal and an assist, and Jonathan Quick made 27 saves for the Kings, who have won four straight since the All-Star break.
Clayton Keller scored two goals. Josh Brown and Travis Boyd each had a goal and an assist, and Christian Fischer also scored for the Coyotes, who have earned points in eight straight games (4-0-4) for the first time in 11 years.
Karel Vejmelka gave up five goals on 14 shots before he was replaced by Connor Ingram, who stopped all 23 shots for Arizona.
Ingram made 47 saves for his first NHL shutout in a 1-0 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday.
Kraken 4 vs Red Wings 2
Jordan Eberle scored twice and had an assist as the Seattle Kraken defeated visiting Detroit 4-2 Saturday night, snapping the Red Wings’ five-game winning streak.
Jamie Oleksiak and Eeli Tolvanen also tallied and Matty Beniers had two assists for the Kraken, who extended their points streak to four games (3-0-1). Goaltender Philipp Grubauer made 21 saves.
Pius Suter and Dylan Larkin scored for Detroit and Ville Husso stopped 22 of 26 shots. The Red Wings will wrap up their five-game trip Tuesday in Washington.
Canucks 6 vs Flyers 2
Elias Pettersson had two goals and three assists and Anthony Beauvillier scored twice as the host Vancouver Canucks halted one losing streak and extended another with a 6-2 victory over the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday.
Both teams came into the contest riding three game losing streaks, are well back in the standings, and are trying to salvage their respective seasons.
Andrei Kuzmenko and Phillip Di Giuseppe also scored goals and rookie Arturs Silovs made 35 saves for the Canucks, who won just their second game in the last seven.
Scott Laughton and Morgan Frost scored for the struggling Flyers, who were coming off consecutive losses to the Seattle Kraken and have now lost eight of their last 10 games. Goalie Carter Hart stopped 17 shots.
Sabres 4 vs Sharks 2
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 33 saves to help the visiting Buffalo Sabres to a 4-2 win against the San Jose Sharks on Saturday.
Jeff Skinner and Alex Tuch each had a goal and an assist for the Sabres, who have won two straight after a four-game losing streak.
Evgeny Svechnikov and Alexander Barabanov scored the Sharks, who have lost 21 of their 26 home games (5-14-7) this season. Kaapo Kahkonen made 27 saves.
Dylan Cozens scored for the third straight game to give Buffalo a 1-0 lead at 3:01 of the first period. Cozens scooped up a San Jose clearing attempt deep in the Sabres’ zone and went coast-to-coast up the right side before firing a wrist shot from a sharp angle at the bottom of the left circle.
–Field Level Media
–The Daily Goal Horn contributed to this article