NHL Recaps: Flames spoil Johnny Gaudreau return, Rangers thump Panthers, and more
The Daily Goal Horn
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NHL Recaps: January 23, 2023
There were four games on the NHL docket for Monday night.
The Buffalo Sabres picked up a big OT win on the road over the Dallas Stars. In Toronto, William Nylander’s four point night helped crush the struggling New York Islanders. And the New York Rangers tweaked their lines to the tune of 6 goals to beat the visiting Florida Panthers.
We start the recaps in Calgary where Johnny Gaudreau played his first game since bolting as a free agent in July. The first time he touched the puck, Johnny Hockey was met by thunderous boos, and he heard them again as he failed on a penalty shot less than five minutes into the game.
“It’ll probably be easier next time, but I’m sure I’ll still get booed,” said Gaudreau, who played his first eight NHL seasons with the Flames. “It’ll be a lot easier. The first time back is a lot of emotions. [I was] a little nervous before the game started, but I was excited to be back. It was a lot of fun playing here.”
NHL.com
NHL Recaps: Flames spoil Johnny Gaudreau’s return
Flames 4 vs Blue Jackets 3 (OT)
Andrew Mangiapane scored once and collected two assists, one of which came on Dillon Dube’s overtime goal, as the host Calgary Flames claimed a 4-3 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets in a spirited clash Monday night.
Walker Duehr and Nazem Kadri also scored for the Flames, who improved to 5-2-2 in their past nine games. Calgary goalie Dan Vladar made 22 saves. Patrik Laine scored once in a three-point outing for Columbus, while Kirill Marchenko and Boone Jenner scored once. Joonas Korpisalo stopped 45 shots.
The back-and-forth battle ended when Mangiapane fed a pass that Dube one-timed for his 12th goal of the season at the 2:25 mark of overtime. Calgary surrendered leads of 2-0 and 3-2 against the Eastern Conference’s last-place team. Columbus lost for the fourth time in five games (1-3-1).
Mangiapane restored Calgary’s lead with 3:43 remaining in the second period, netting his 10th goal of the season after another Blue Jackets turnover led to a shot from the slot. However, Jenner again tied the game 4:34 into the third period when he elected to shoot on an odd-man rush and found the mark for his 13th of the season.
While Flames fans did boo Gaudreau for most of the night, when the Flames played a tribute video, they gave him a standing ovation.
Sabres 3 vs Stars 2 (OT)
Owen Power scored 56 seconds into overtime to give visiting Buffalo a win against Dallas.
“Yeah, it’s nice,” Power said. “I mean, obviously it’s been a long time coming, so it was obviously a nice feeling.”
Power scored near side from the bottom of the left circle for his first goal of the season. Craig Anderson, appearing in his 700th NHL game, made 29 saves. Rasmus Dahlin and Victor Olofsson scored for the Sabres, who have won three straight and are 4-1-1 in their past six.
Jamie Benn gave the Stars a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 1:48 of the first period. Jason Robertson scored Dallas’ other goal at 5:58 of the third to force the extra period, and Joe Pavelski had two assists for the Stars, who lost for the first time in three games. Jake Oettinger made 22 saves.
NHL Recaps: Rangers thump Panthers
Ranges 6 vs Panthers 2
Mika Zibanejad scored twice and collected an assist, Adam Fox added a goal and two assists and New York pulled away in the third period for a victory over visiting Florida.
“I think we were just getting to open areas for each other,” said Fox, who is All Star Game bound. “The big thing on a couple of those goals was spread the ice, spread them out, open things up and got some good looks from that.”
The Rangers bounced back from a home loss to the league-leading Boston Bruins on Thursday and improved to 15-5-2 in their past 22 games. They picked up their latest win with a revamped lineup featuring Zibanejad playing alongside Artemi Panarin (three assists) and Chris Kreider on the top line.
Alexis Lafreniere and Filip Chytil each had a goal and an assist, Jimmy Vesey also scored and Kaapo Kakko had two assists for New York. Carter Verhaeghe scored in the first period and Aleksander Barkov tallied on a six-on-five with about nine minutes left in the third for the Panthers, who fell to 4-1-1 in their past six games.
Maple Leafs 5 vs Islanders 2
William Nylander had two goals and two assists in the second period and Toronto defeated visiting New York.
“I’m trying to pick up my game,” Nylander said via NHL.com. “Every night that’s what I’ve been trying to focus on doing, so it’s nice to get that night.”
John Tavares added a goal and an assist for Toronto. Calle Jarnkrok and Auston Matthews also scored for the Maple Leafs in the opener of a five-game homestand. Justin Holl added two assists. Ilya Samsonov stopped 31 shots and earned an assist.
Anders Lee scored twice for the Islanders, who have lost five in a row. Ilya Sorokin made 34 saves for New York and stopped Michael Bunting on a penalty shot in the second period.
–Field Level Media
–The Daily Goal Horn contributed to this article