NHL Recaps: Rangers rock Bolts, Flames down Jets in playoff push, and more
The Daily Goal Horn
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NHL Recaps: April 5, 2023
Wednesday night’s NHL schedule was light with only three games on tap.
In a rematch from last season’s Eastern Conference Final, the New York Rangers got rough and rowdy to defeat the Tampa Bay Lightning. Plus the Calgary Flames pull even for the last wild card in the West after beating the Winnipeg Jets. Let’s dive into the recaps.
NHL Recaps: Rangers roll over Bolts
Rangers 6 vs Lightning 3
Chris Kreider moved up a spot in New York’s record book by scoring twice, Tyler Motte added two goals and the hosts beat Tampa Bay in a feisty battle of third-place clubs.
“Direct hockey, closing on guys, physical, getting in battles, winning battles, advancing pucks, that was a strong game for us for the majority,” Kreider said. “The thing on a lot of the goals was attacking the net, attacking the net.”
NHL.com
The victory by the Metropolitan Division’s Rangers allowed them to move within three points of the idle New Jersey Devils — with each team having four games left. Kreider’s two scores gave him sole possession of fifth place on New York’s all-time career goals list with 264, breaking a tie with Vic Hadfield.
The Atlantic Division’s Lightning are 2-5-1 in their last eight games against New York and they stayed six points behind the idle Toronto Maple Leafs. Brandon Hagel and Alex Killorn each had one goal and one assist, while Darren Raddysh added a goal and goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 31 shots.
NHL Recaps: Flames tie for second wild card
Flames 3 vs Jets 1
Fourth-liner Walker Duehr scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period and Jakob Markstrom made 34 saves to fuel the visiting Calgary Flames to a 3-1 victory over the Winnipeg Jets on Wednesday.
Andrew Mangiapane and defenseman Nikita Zadorov each collected a goal and an assist for the Flames (37-27-15, 89 points), who have won five of their last six games to pull even in points with the Jets (43-32-3, 89 points) for the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference. Winnipeg, however, has four games remaining on its schedule while Calgary has three.
Kyle Connor scored a power-play goal in the first period and Connor Hellebuyck made 32 saves for the Jets.
Oilers 3 vs Ducks 1
Klim Kostin had a goal and an assist and Jack Campbell made 27 saves as visiting Edmonton earned its sixth straight win, beating Anaheim.
Nick Bjugstad and Zach Hyman also scored for Edmonton, which closed to within one-point of Pacific Division-leading Vegas. The Golden Knights have four games remaining compared to three for the Oilers.
It was the sixth multi-point game of the season for Kostin as Edmonton extended its point streak to 12 games (11-0-1). Troy Terry scored a goal and Lukas Dostal stopped 30 of 32 shots for Anaheim, which took a franchise-record ninth straight regulation loss.
–Field Level Media