NHL Roundup: Avs keep rolling, Rangers top Kings, Flames burn Blues, and more
The Daily Goal Horn
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Monday night’s NHL schedule featured seven contests that included two shutouts and two blowouts.
The Calgary Flames look to be clicking again as they demolished the St. Louis Blues. In Colorado, the Avalanche continue with their winning ways as they blank the Blackhawks.
Let’s dive into all the recaps.
Avalanche 2, Blackhawks 0
Pavel Francouz had 24 saves for his second shutout in as many starts and the Colorado Avalanche beat the Chicago Blackhawks 2-0 in Denver on Monday night.
“The schedule’s tight right now, so I think it helps when we can alternate and not get too tired,” Francouz said. “It’s worked pretty well for the team and I hope we will keep rolling.”
Nazem Kadri and Mikko Rantanen scored goals for the Avalanche, who have won 16 in a row at home and seven straight overall.
Colorado tied the 1975-76 Boston Bruins for the fifth-longest home winning streak in league history. It is also the longest streak since the Detroit Red Wings won an NHL-record 23 straight at home from Nov. 5, 2011-Feb. 19, 2012.
Marc-Andre Fleury had 27 saves for the Blackhawks, who have lost all three games to Colorado this season with one more left between the teams. Chicago is 0-2-2 in its past four games.
Knights 1, Capitals 0
Robin Lehner made 34 saves for his first shutout of the season and visiting Vegas extended its road win streak to seven games with a shutout victory over Washington.
It was the 17th career shutout for Lehner. Michael Amadio, playing in his 200th NHL game, scored his first career game-winning goal for Vegas. The win was the second straight for Vegas, its first two-game win streak this month.
Vitek Vanecek stopped 28 of 29 shots for the Capitals, who dropped to 3-5-2 over their last 10 games. It marked the first time this season that Washington was shut out.
Rangers 3, Kings 2 (SO)
Adam Fox scored the game-winner in the sixth round of a shootout as New York beat Los Angeles to extend its home winning streak to five games.
“I’m not too familiar in the shootout — I’m glad Shesty gave me a chance with a save,” Fox said after the winner. “I didn’t know what I was going to do before, but I kinda committed to that and I’m glad it went in.”
The Rangers’ Chris Kreider scored his league-leading 30th goal with 1.5 seconds left in the first period, earning a goal in his sixth consecutive game. Barclay Goodrow also scored for the Rangers, and Igor Shesterkin made 34 saves to win his seventh straight start.
Blake Lizotte and Alex Iafallo produced the Kings’ goals. Jonathan Quick finished with 28 saves, including 26 after the first period and 13 during New York’s five power plays.
“I think he should be one of our top shooters,” New York coach Gerard Gallant said. “I think after tonight’s goal he’s going to get a lot of confidence from it. He’s got skill, he’s got talent and he made an incredible move. I talked to him earlier in the year about going [in the shootout] and he said, ‘No, I don’t feel comfortable going.’ I think that’s going to change now.”
Stars 3, Flyers 1
Roope Hintz had a goal and an assist, Jacob Peterson and Joe Pavelski each scored a goal and Dallas won at Philadelphia, extending the Flyers’ winless streak to a franchise-record-tying 12 games.
Jake Oettinger made 27 saves for the Stars, who improved to 3-0-0 on a road trip that concludes Tuesday against the New Jersey Devils.
Ivan Provorov scored the lone goal for the Flyers, who have dropped 12 in a row. The current winless mark with nine regulation defeats and three overtime losses matches a winless streak in 1998-99 of eight losses and four ties. Keith Yandle appeared in his 964th consecutive game, tying the longest streak in NHL history.
Ducks 5, Bruins 3
Ryan Getzlaf had a goal and an assist to help visiting Anaheim to victory against Boston.
Hampus Lindholm tied his NHL career high with three assists, and John Gibson made 23 saves for the Ducks, who are coming off a 5-1 win against the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday after losing four straight. The Ducks scored the first two goals and never surrendered the lead in the opener of the five-game road trip.
David Pastrnak had a goal and an assist, Taylor Hall and Erik Haula also scored, and Tuukka Rask made 22 saves for the Bruins, who had won seven of their previous eight games.
Flames 7, Blues 1
Johnny Gaudreau collected one goal during his second four-point game in three outings and Matthew Tkachuk recorded five assists to lead host Calgary to a thrashing of St. Louis.
“We’re coming off a loss and they’re coming off a win, and I think we wanted it a little bit more tonight,” Gaudreau said.
Nikita Zadorov, in a two-point game, Christopher Tanev, Elias Lindholm, Sean Monahan, Blake Coleman and Adam Ruzicka also scored for the Flames. Jacob Markstrom made 20 saves.
Tyler Bozak replied for the Blues, and Jordan Binnington made 28 saves on 35 shots before giving way to Ville Husso for the third period. Husso stopped all 13 shots he faced in relief.
Wild 8, Canadiens 2
Nico Sturm had a goal and two assists, Connor Dewar scored his first career goal and had an assist, and Minnesota stormed past Montreal in St. Paul.
Jared Spurgeon, Mats Zuccarello, Kevin Fiala and Matt Boldy each notched a goal and an assist for the Wild, who posted a season high in goals. Jordie Benn and Marcus Foligno also scored for Minnesota, which won its third in a row.
Mike Hoffman and Rem Pitlick scored for Montreal, which is winless in its last three (0-1-2).
–Field Level Media