NHL Roundup: Penguins explode for 11 goals, Scheifele keeps Jets hopes alive, and more
Anthony Scultore
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NHL Roundup for Sunday, March 27, 2022 recaps all the action from the 8 games on the schedule.
Mark Scheifele scored in OT to keep the Winnipeg Jets in the playoff hunt. The goal to beat the Arizona Coyotes 2-1 keeps the 2 points back of the Vegas Golden Knights for the last wild card spot in the West.
However, we start our recaps with an offensive explosion for the ages by the Pittsburgh Penguins. Led by Evgeni Malkin’s 4 points, they became the first team in the salary cap era to score 11 goals in beating the Detroit Red Wings.
NHL Roundup: Penguins 11, Red Wings 2
Evgeni Malkin had a hat trick plus an assist Sunday as the Pittsburgh Penguins clobbered the visiting Detroit Red Wings 11-2 to set a team high for goals this season.
Also for Pittsburgh, Teddy Blueger added a goal and three assists; Sidney Crosby, Bryan Rust and Rickard Rakell each had a goal and two assists; Jeff Carter and Danton Heinen notched a goal and an assist; and Kasperi Kapanen and Brian Boyle scored.
Dylan Larkin and Jakub Vrana scored for the Red Wings, who have dropped three straight (0-2-1).
Detroit goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic allowed four goals on 12 shots and was replaced by Calvin Pickard, who gave up four goals on 13 shots. Pickard left with an undisclosed injury in the third, and Nedeljkovic gave up three more goals.
“Tonight was substantially more fun than the other night (against the Rangers),” Rust said. “To kind of play on our toes and not be on our heels at home, also very fun. I think we’ve just got to take what we did well this game and build on it.”
NHL.com
Devils 3, Canadiens 2 (SO)
Jack Hughes scored two goals and Yegor Sharangovich scored the winner in the seventh round of the shootout as New Jersey defeated Montreal in Newark, N.J.
Each team had scored three times over the first six rounds of the shootout before Sharangovich led off the seventh round, circled in from the left side and ripped a wrist shot past Montreal goaltender Sam Montembeault’s glove side. Paul Byron followed with a chance to tie it but Devils goalie Nico Daws deflected his wrist shot wide of the goal.
It was the 15th multi-point game of the season for Hughes. Jesper Bratt extended his point streak to a career-best seven games with an assist. Rem Pitlick and Josh Anderson scored for Montreal while Montembeault finished with 30 saves.
Rangers 5, Sabres 4 (OT)
K’Andre Miller scored at 2:02 of overtime to give New York a win against visiting Buffalo.
Frank Vatrano gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead at 3:59 of the first period, scoring from the top of the right circle off a 2-on-1.
He doubled the advantage just 18 seconds later, skating in alone on Anderson after picking off Sabres center Tage Thompson’s pass attempt. The quick strikes are the fastest two goals by a Rangers player since Jaromir Jagr tallied twice in 15 seconds on Nov. 12, 2005.
Kyle Okposo drove down the left side and cut to the front of the net before slipping it through Georgiev’s pads to put Buffalo ahead 3-2 at 6:48.
Shortly after being denied by Anderson on a breakaway, Alexis Lafreniere took a feed from Filip Chytil on the rush, drove to the net from the left side and slid a backhander by the netminder at 11:46 to tie the score at 3.
Artemi Panarin put the Rangers back in front 4-3 at 3:52 of the third period. Anderson made a pad save on a point shot by Jacob Trouba and the rebound bounced to Panarin at the bottom of the right circle.
Jeff Skinner tied it 4-4 on the power play from in front of the net at 13:07.
Rasmus Dahlin had two assists for the Sabres. Craig Anderson made 26 saves.
Alexandar Georgiev made 13 saves for the Rangers. Ryan Strome left the game after the first period with a lower-body injury.
Jets 2, Coyotes 1 (OT)
Mark Scheifele’s second goal of the game came in overtime and gave host Winnipeg a much-needed victory over Arizona.
“Obviously, we want to make the playoffs, but we know we’re not going to make the playoffs in one game,” Scheifele said via NHL.com. “And all you can do is take each game in stride, play your best, leave it all on the ice and control what you can control. That’s all we can do.”
Goalie Connor Hellebuyck made 28 saves for the Jets, who blew a third-period lead for the second consecutive game but won them both in overtime. Scheifele’s goal came with 9.7 seconds remaining in overtime. The Jets, who have won six of eight games, are two points behind the Vegas Golden Knights for the final wild-card spot in a tight Western Conference race.
Nick Ritchie scored for the Coyotes, who have lost five straight games and sit last in the Western Conference standings. Goalie Karel Vejmelka stopped 38 shots.
Predators 5, Flyers 4
Tanner Jeannot scored the go-ahead goal with 1:19 remaining as Nashville rallied from a two-goal deficit to defeat visiting Philadelphia.
Jeannot, a rookie who missed the previous game to be with his wife for the birth of their first child, had a Gordie Howe hat trick — a goal, two assists and a fight. Yakov Trenin scored twice and Luke Kunin and Filip Forsberg also tallied for Nashville, which had lost its previous two games by identical 6-1 margins. Goaltender Juuse Saros made 19 saves.
Travis Sanheim, Joel Farabee, Max Willman and James van Riemsdyk scored for the Flyers, who lost for the 15th time in their past 16 road games (1-13-2). Martin Jones stopped 30 of 35 shots.
Wild 3, Avalanche 2 (OT)
Kevin Fiala notched a power-play goal 15 seconds into overtime to lift Minnesota to a win over Colorado in Saint Paul, Minn.
Kirill Kaprizov and Ryan Hartman also scored for the Wild, who won their sixth game in a row. Mats Zuccarello tallied three assists for Minnesota.
Nazem Kadri and Mikko Rantanen scored one goal apiece for Colorado. The Avalanche earned at least one point for the eighth time in their past 11 games.
Fiala scored a one-timer from the right circle on a perfect feed from Zuccarello.
Cam Talbot earned the victory in net for the Wild after stopping 40 of 42 shots.
Avalanche goaltender Darcy Kuemper took the overtime loss despite stopping 26 of 29 shots.
Lightning 4, Islanders 1
Victor Hedman and Alex Killorn scored fewer than nine minutes apart in the second period in Elmont, N.Y. for visiting Tampa Bay, which beat New York in the first game on Long Island between the teams since Game 6 of last June’s NHL semifinal series.
Ross Colton and Mikhail Sergachev added insurance goals in the third for the Lightning, who beat the Islanders in the NHL semifinals in each of the last two seasons on their way to back-to-back Stanley Cups.
Brock Nelson remained red-hot by scoring in the first for the Islanders, who have lost two straight for the first time since dropping two in a row on March 1 and March 3. New York is 19 points behind the Washington Capitals, who occupy the second wild card spot in the East.
Maple Leafs 5, Panthers 2
John Tavares scored two power-play goals, Morgan Rielly had a goal and two assists, and Toronto defeated visiting Florida.
“It was good, good to finish some plays off,” Tavares said. “A great couple of plays by [Mitchell Marner], and especially around the net, an area I want to be good at and I think is a strength of mine. It was definitely nice to contribute in a really good way against a good opponent in a key game, so it was nice to see them go in.”
NHL.com
Ilya Mikheyev and Auston Matthews also scored for the Leafs, who have won four of their past six games. Matthews’ empty-netter gave him 48 goals for the season, a new career high. Mitch Marner added three assists to give him 302 for his career.
Brandon Montour and Ryan Lomberg scored for the Panthers, who completed a 4-2-1 trip. Spencer Knight stopped 20 shots for Florida while Petr Mrazek made 33 saves for Toronto.
–Field Level Media contributed to this report