NHL Recaps: Ryan McDonagh lifts Preds over Caps, Jets soaring, Flames roast Isles, and more

NHL Recaps:  January 6, 2023

There were six games on the NHL docket for Friday night.

The Winnipeg Jets continue their strong season by doubling up the Tampa Bay Lightning to give them four straight wins and moving them to within one point of the Central Division lead. Meanwhile the Calgary Flames dominated the visiting New York Islanders to improve their playoff positioning in the West.

John Klingberg helped his trade value with an overtime goal to lift the Anaheim Ducks over the San Jose Sharks. The Florida Panthers edged the Detroit Red Wings in an Atlantic Division clash. In Chicago, the Arizona Coyotes lost to the Blackhawks but help themselves in the Connor Bedard draft lottery by doing so.

We begin the recaps with Ryan McDonagh, who had a tough offseason after being a salary dump move by the Tampa Bay Lightning where he spent the last five years winning two Stanley Cups. He ended up in Nashville and finally scored his first goal as a member of the Predators, and it was a memorable one.

Let’s dive in.

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NHL Recaps: Ryan McDonagh scores first with Preds

Predators 3 vs Capitals 2

Ryan McDonagh scored in the third period for his first goal of the season as Nashville beat host Washington.

“I think everybody was a little surprised. I was surprised myself there,” McDonagh said via NHL.com. “You obviously don’t get too many breakaways as a defenseman. Just happy to contribute here and help the guys find a way.”

Yakov Trenin added a goal and an assist and Thomas Novak also scored for Nashville. Kevin Lankinen made 30 saves to extend the Predators’ winning streak to three games.

Sonny Milano and Nicolas Aube-Kubel scored for the Capitals, and Charlie Lindgren made 18 saves. Washington had a nine-game (7-0-2) point streak snapped.

Ducks 5 vs Sharks 4 (OT)

John Klingberg scored 1:08 into overtime, Mason McTavish added two goals and two assists and the Anaheim Ducks rallied for a 5-4 victory over the visiting San Jose Sharks on Friday.

Anaheim’s Troy Terry, who was named an All-Star this week, carried the puck to the front of the San Jose goal in overtime and sent a pass back to Klingberg, who beat Sharks goaltender Kaapo Kahkonen.

Trevor Zegras and Ryan Strome added goals for the Ducks, while Anthony Stolarz had 37 saves in his first game since he faced the Sharks on Dec. 9. Stolarz (lower body) spent nine games on injured reserve before he was activated on Sunday.

Timo Meier had two goals for the Sharks, while Erik Karlsson added a first-period assist to extend his franchise-record point streak to 14 games. Matt Nieto and Steven Lorentz added goals for the Sharks, Kevin Lebanc logged two assists and Kahkonen made 24 saves.

Flames 4 vs Islanders 1

Goals by Milan Lucic, Blake Coleman and Nikita Zadorov staked Calgary to a three-goal, first-period lead and the hosts held on for a victory over New York.

Nazem Kadri also scored for the Flames, who are on a 6-2-1 run. Jacob Markstrom made 24 saves, including a pair of key second-period breakaway stops on Casey Cizikas and Jean-Gabriel Pageau.

Zach Parise scored for the Islanders, who were without their leading point producer, Mathew Barzal, a forward who was riding a five-game goal-scoring streak in which he tallied six times. Semyon Varlamov stopped 17 shots.

NHL Recaps: Jets soaring

nhl recaps winnipeg jets
Jan 6, 2023; Winnipeg, Manitoba, CAN; Winnipeg Jets forward Pierre-Luc Dubois (80) is congratulated by his team mates on his goal against the Tampa Bay Lightning during the second period at Canada Life Centre. Mandatory Credit: Terrence Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Jets 4 vs Lightning 2

Kyle Connor broke a third-period tie with Winnipeg’s second five-on-three power-play goal and Pierre-Luc Dubois scored twice as the Jets beat visiting Tampa Bay.

“It’s a tough league,” Connor said via NHL.com. “A close game like that, everybody gets competitive and everybody wants to win. That’s what it comes down to.”

In a 2-2 game, Connor shot a one-timer for his club’s first lead at 5:38 of the third. Morgan Barron put the game away with an empty-net marker at 18:34. Winnipeg’s Josh Morrissey had three assists, Mark Scheifele had two and Connor Hellebuyck stopped 26 of 28 shots to go to 20-9-1.

The Lightning’s Anthony Cirelli scored a goal and recorded his 100th career assist. Nikita Kucherov tallied once, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 16 saves.

Panthers 3 vs Red Wings 2

Aaron Ekblad scored two power-play goals and Aleksander Barkov assisted on both to lead Florida past host Detroit.

Gustav Forsling also scored and Sergei Bobrovsky made 29 saves for Florida, his 17th win in his last 18 starts against Detroit. The Panthers won their second straight game.

Jonatan Berggren and Robby Fabbri scored for Detroit, and Filip Hronek assisted on both. It was Fabbri’s first goal of the season in his second game back following ACL surgery. Red Wings goalie Ville Husso stopped 17 shots.

Blackhawks 2 vs Coyotes 0

Jake McCabe scored midway through the second period and Tyler Johnson added an empty-netter to back a 22-save shutout from Alex Stalock as host Chicago beat Arizona.

Chicago snapped a five-game losing streak while prevailing on home ice for the first time since Dec. 23, when the Blackhawks beat the Columbus Blue Jackets to end an eight-game slide.

The Blackhawks had been outscored 9-3 in the first two games of a seven-game homestand, but they clamped down against the Coyotes, whose road winless streak grew to 12 games (0-10-2). Arizona goalie Connor Ingram made 30 saves.

–Field Level Media

–The Daily Goal Horn contributed to this article

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