NHL Recaps: Matt Boldy tricks Kraken, Isles dump Devils, and more
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NHL Recaps: March 27, 2023
The NHL schedule for Monday had six games on tap with the results of two contests sending more teams to the playoffs.
With the losses by the Florida Panthers and Buffalo Sabres, both the Toronto Maple Leafs and New York Rangers have clinched postseason berths. That brings the total to five teams, all in the Eastern Conference (Boston Bruins, Carolina Hurricanes, New Jersey Devils).
We begin our recaps with young star Matt Boldy leading the Minnesota Wild to a victory.
NHL Recaps: Matt Boldy hat trick leads Wild
Matt Boldy scored his second hat trick in nine days as the Minnesota Wild defeated the Seattle Kraken 5-1 Monday night in St. Paul, Minn.
“Same kid I was in February when things weren’t going in, so I think the more you just kind of stick with who you are and don’t change much, the better,” Boldy said.
NHL.com
Jake Middleton and Ryan Hartman also scored and Marcus Johansson, Jared Spurgeon and Joel Eriksson Ek had two assists apiece for the Central Division-leading Wild, who improved to 15-1-4 in their past 20 games and pulled within three points of Western Conference-leading Vegas. Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury made 35 saves.
Jaden Schwartz scored for the Kraken, who lead the West’s wild-card race. Goalie Philipp Grubauer stopped 9 of 13 shots before being pulled early in the third after Boldy scored to make it 4-0. Martin Jones stopped 6 of 7 shots the rest of the way as Seattle had an eight-game road point streak snapped (7-0-1).
Boldy completed the hat trick 50 seconds into the third. Eriksson Ek stole a clearance attempt and passed to Boldy for a one-timer from the slot. Boldy also had three goals in a 5-3 victory against Washington on March 19.
Canadiens 4 vs Sabres 3 (SO)
Brendan Gallagher’s 200th career goal tied things up just before the midway point of the third period, and Montreal eventually won in a shootout against host Buffalo.
With the Canadiens down 3-2, Gallagher leveled things when he rang the post via his milestone goal with 11:25 remaining in regulation. Jordan Harris and Alex Belzile also had goals, and Michael Pezzetta’s score in the sixth round of the shootout was the difference for the Canadiens.
Lukas Rousek scored on his first NHL shot and added an assist in his league debut for the Sabres. JJ Peterka and Riley Stillman also scored, while Eric Comrie made 38 saves for Buffalo, which played without star Tage Thompson (upper-body injury).
Senators 5 vs Panthers 2
Brady Tkachuk had a goal and an assist, Mads Sogaard made 32 saves and Ottawa scored three power-play goals to beat visiting Florida.
The win moved the Senators closer in their pursuit of an Eastern Conference wild-card spot. The Pittsburgh Penguins, who were idle on Monday, are in the second wild-card slot with 82 points, while the Panthers are just behind them despite being on a season-high, four-game losing streak.
Ottawa’s Alex DeBrincat, Tim Stutzle and Erik Brannstrom all scored on the power play, with each score coming near the end of each period. After its 3-for-4 performance on Monday, the Senators’ streaking power-play unit is 10-for-28 over the past eight games. Gustav Forsling scored both of the Panthers’ goals.
NHL Recaps: Isles dump Devils
Islanders 5 vs Devils 1
Kyle Palmieri scored twice against his former team for New York, which earned a pivotal victory by beating New Jersey in Elmont, N.Y.
Pierre Engvall scored in the first period and Bo Horvat and Zach Parise each scored empty-netters late in the third for the Islanders, who stopped a two-game losing streak and lengthened their lead in the Eastern Conference wild-card race. Islanders goalie Ilya Sorokin made 30 saves.
“To a man, everybody worked; there wasn’t any passengers,” New York coach Lane Lambert said. “Certainly, full marks to our guys for the effort they put in.”
NHL.com
Erik Haula scored in the second period for the Devils, who lost for the sixth time in eight games (2-4-2) and missed a chance to move within one point of the idle first-place Carolina Hurricanes in the Metropolitan Division. New Jersey goalie Vitek Vanecek recorded 31 saves.
Avalanche 5 vs Ducks 1
Nathan MacKinnon and Bowen Byram each had a goal and an assist as the visiting Colorado Avalanche cruised to a 5-1 victory over the Anaheim Ducks on Monday for their third consecutive win.
Valeri Nichushkin, Jack Johnson and Samuel Girard also scored goals and Cale Makar added two assists for Colorado (43-23-6, 94 points), which remained one point behind first-place Minnesota in the Central Division. Colorado, which has a game in hand, will oppose the Wild on Wednesday night in Denver.
Jonas Johansson stopped 29 of 30 shots to improve to 4-1-0 in his career against the Ducks.
Derek Grant scored for Anaheim (23-41-10, 56 points) which took its fifth straight loss. John Gibson made 39 saves for the Ducks, who finished an eight-game homestand with just a 1-6-1 record to fall to 12-22-3 at the Honda Center this season.
Oilers 5 vs Coyotes 4
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored a third-period tiebreaking goal, Leon Draisaitl netted the 300th of his career, and the Edmonton Oilers swept the season series from the Arizona Coyotes with a 5-4 win in Tempe, Ariz., on Monday.
By scoring in his 630th game, Draisaitl used the fourth-fewest games to reach 300 goals among active players — behind Alex Ovechkin (473), Steven Stamkos (550) and Sidney Crosby (622).
Zach Hyman notched his career-high 32nd goal, Evan Bouchard had a goal and an assist, and Darnell Nurse scored short-handed for the Oilers, who won all three from Arizona and are 12-4-1 in their past 17 overall.
Goaltender Jack Campbell (19-9-4) made 29 saves to move to 5-2-1 against the Coyotes.
Arizona (27-35-13, 67 points) got two goals apiece from Matias Maccelli and Barrett Hayton. Lawson Crouse dealt three assists and Jack McBain had two.
Clayton Keller stretched his point streak to 13 games — the NHL’s longest active one — with a helper. Goalie Karel Vejmelka (18-22-5) stopped 24 shots as Arizona fell to 0-3-2 in its past five matches.
–Field Level Media