NHL Recaps: Rangers roast Hawks, Canes clip Pens, Flames end skid, and more
The Daily Goal Horn
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NHL Recaps: December 18, 2022
Five matches were listed on the schedule for Sunday which included a late afternoon tilt between to top teams in the Metro Division.
The Carolina Hurricanes rallied from a 2-1 deficit in the third period to defeat the Pittsburgh Penguins and tie the new Jersey Devils for first place. Meanwhile, the Minnesota Wild, Seattle Kraken, and Calgary Flames also proved victorious.
We start our recaps in the Windy City where the New York Rangers exploded for 7 goals to extend their winning streak to 7 games by beating the Chicago Blackhawks.
NHL Recaps: Rangers score 7 to hit 7
Rangers 7 vs Blackhawks 1
Artemi Panarin had a goal and two assists and Igor Shesterkin made 29 saves, boosting visiting New York to a rout of Chicago for its season-high seventh straight win.
Filip Chytil, Kaapo Kakko and Vincent Trocheck each had a goal and an assist as seven Rangers notched multiple points. Adam Fox had three assists, while Mika Zibanejad and Alexis Lafreniere contributed two apiece. New York has outscored opponents 33-14 during its surge, which started on the heels of a 5-2 home loss to the Blackhawks on Dec. 3.
In that loss, Jacob Trouba exploded first at the Blackhawks by laying out Andreas Athanasiou with a big open ice, then at his teammates by tossing his helmet yelling at them to wake up. Athanasiou took a jab at Trouba for being an $8 million player with zero goals at the time, so when Trouba scored he told him, “Do you want the puck?”
“We’re playing, finding ways to win hockey games,” Rangers coach Gerard Gallant said. “We’re just playing as a group, and it’s four lines and six [defensemen] on the goals. Everyone’s playing good, solid hockey. You get on a little roll and things happen good. We weren’t getting much puck luck the first part of the season, now we’re getting a lot more of it.”
NHL.com
Blackhawks goaltender Arvid Soderblom (19 saves) allowed three goals in a 5:59 span of the first, but Chicago trimmed the deficit to 3-1 on Philipp Kurashev’s unassisted goal at 1:33 of the second. A centering attempt for Jonathan Toews glanced off a Ranger’s skate and past Shesterkin for the Blackhawks’ only marker of the game.
Blackhawks defenseman Jarred Tinordi took a slapshot to the face in the contest and is being evaluated. Rangers forward Filip Chytil also left the game after a late hit into the boards and has been ruled day-to-day with an upper-body injury.
Update: Jarred Tinordi has a facial fracture.
Wild 4 vs Senators 2
Kirill Kaprizov topped the 200-point mark for his career and extended his home point streak to 12 games as Minnesota held on for its season-high fifth straight victory, defeating Ottawa in Saint Paul, Minn.
Kaprizov finished with a goal and two assists. Mats Zuccarello extended his overall point streak to 10 games with a goal and an assist and Sam Steel added two assists for the Wild, who have won nine of 11 overall and seven straight at home.
However, Minnesota nearly blew a 3-0 lead after Ottawa’s Mark Kastelic bested Minnesota goalie Filip Gustavsson (26 saves) 4:58 into the third period, and Claude Giroux drove home a net-front puck, with Ottawa’s goalie pulled, to make things interesting with 1:40 remaining in regulation.
NHL Recaps: Hurricanes clip Penguins
Hurricanes 3 vs Penguins 2
Jordan Staal’s goal with 6:27 to play gave the Carolina Hurricanes a 3-2 comeback victory against the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday.
The outcome extended Carolina’s point streak to 11 games. However, Pittsburgh’s seven-game winning streak, which was the longest active mark in the NHL, came to a close.
“I thought in the third period we took control of the puck and started to play our style and created some offensive chances,” said Staal via NHL.com. “The more you do that, the better your odds of winning.”
Derek Stepan and Brady Skjei both had a goal and an assist for the Hurricanes, who have three one-goal victories to begin a four-game homestand. Staal also had an assist as Carolina won its fifth straight game. Goalie Pyotr Kochetkov made 23 saves as the rookie continued a stellar stretch of results.
Brock McGinn scored at the 5:03 mark of the third to give the Penguins a 2-1 lead before Skjei provided the equalizer and Staal put home the game-winner. Rickard Rickell, who was appearing in his 600th NHL game, also scored for Pittsburgh.
Kraken 3 vs Jets 2
Jared McCann scored the tiebreaking goal at 15:28 of the third period as Seattle rallied to defeat visiting Winnipeg for its first victory in five all-time meetings.
Jordan Eberle and Ryan Donato also scored for Seattle, which had lost two in a row and five of its previous six games following a 12-1-1 run. Goaltender Philipp Grubauer made 15 saves.
Pierre-Luc Dubois had a goal and an assist for the Jets, who had a two-game winning streak snapped and missed an opportunity to move past Dallas and into first place in the Central Division. Mark Scheifele also scored, and Josh Morrissey had two assists. David Rittich stopped 31 of 34 shots.
Flames 5 vs Sharks 2
Elias Lindholm scored twice in a three-point outing and the visiting Calgary Flames rode a three-goal third period to a 5-2 victory over the San Jose Sharks on Sunday in the first half of a two-game Northern California set between the clubs.
The win ended a five game losing streak (0-2-3) for Calgary.
“First one was just ‘Huby’ came out of the box and made a really nice pass to me. Just stayed out there,” Lindholm said. “Then the second one, ‘Ras’ made a nice play. Probably not going to happen again, scoring two goals that quick, but I’ll take it.”
NHL.com
Tyler Toffoli collected one goal and one assist, while Milan Lucic and Dillon Dube also scored for the Flames, who snapped a five-game losing skid. Goaltender Jacob Markstrom made 24 saves, and Nazem Kadri collected two assists.
Tomas Hertl scored once and netted one assist, while Timo Meier also scored for the Sharks, who lost in regulation for the first time in five outings. Erik Karlsson posted two assists and goalie Kaapo Kahkonen stopped 20 shots.
The clubs will meet again on Tuesday in San Jose.
–Field Level Media
–The Daily Goal Horn contributed to this article