Tag Archives: Hockey

Rinne shines as Preds blank Oilers

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Pekka Rinne stopped 31 shots for his 42nd career shutout, leading the Nashville Predators to a 2-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night.

Viktor Arvidsson and Ryan Johansen each had a goal and an assist to help Nashville win for the second time in three games.

Cam Talbot made 25 saves for Edmonton, which has lost two straight.

Rinne, who had his second shutout of the season, beat the Oilers for the eighth straight time - including three shutouts.

Arvidsson scored the game's first goal at 1:26 of the second period. He carried the puck up ice and sent a slap shot from the right faceoff dot high to the short side over Talbot's glove for his 13th.

Johansen doubled the Nashville lead in the final minute of the second. With the puck just inside the Edmonton blue line, Filip Forsberg stickhandled past three Oilers players before sending a pass to Arvidsson at the right faceoff dot. There, Arvidsson slid a cross-ice pass to Johansen at the left dot, where he beat Talbot with a one-timer.

Early in the second, Rinne kept the game scoreless, making three consecutive saves on Edmonton defenseman Oscar Klefbom with the final two coming at close range.

Rinne had to be sharp at the start of the third as well, stopping Ryan Nugent-Hopkins on a breakaway at 29 seconds.

NOTES: Nashville D Matt Irwin played his 200th career NHL game. ... Johansen has four points in two games against the Oilers this season. ... Nashville is 16-1-5 when scoring first. ... Edmonton LW Milan Lucic played his 700th career NHL game. ... The Oilers have not allowed a power-play goal against in their last four games.

UP NEXT

Oilers: At Carolina on Friday night.

Predators: Host Detroit on Saturday night.

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Lightning’s Boyle: ‘If you accept losing, then you’re a loser’

Just over two weeks since calling his club's free fall down the standings "disgraceful," Tampa Bay Lightning forward Brian Boyle hasn't changed his tune.

Tampa Bay lost again Thursday, a 5-2 result to the Ottawa Senators, giving the Lightning a 3-5-2 record over its last 10 games.

The Lightning are one point clear of last-place Detroit, shocking positioning for team pegged as Stanley Cup contenders entering the season.

For Boyle, again, it's simply not good enough.

"If you accept losing, then you're a loser," Boyle said following Thursday's decision. "That's the bottom line."

"There's not going to be a flip or switch. It's going to be hard work," Boyle added when asked what it will take to get out of the frustrating slump.

With 30 games remaining, the Lightning have an eight-point deficit to overcome to qualify for the playoffs.

Time to stop being losers.

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Andrew Shaw planted to Canadiens bench after needless penalty

Montreal Canadiens forward Andrew Shaw didn't see a single shift after taking an unnecessary interference minor Thursday in a 3-1 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers.

While pivoting on the blue line to remain onside with Montreal in possession, Shaw reached out and needlessly twisted Nick Cousins to the ice.

Claude Giroux tied the game on the corresponding power play, and the Flyers tacked on two more unanswered goals.

Canadiens head coach Michel Therrien had this explanation for keeping Shaw planted to the bench for the remainder of the game.

"We can't accept to take that type of penalty as a team," he said, according to TSN's Dan Robertson. "Pretty simple."

Shaw declined to speak with the media after the game.

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Senators beat Lightning, move 10 points clear in Atlantic

TAMPA, Fla. - Mark Stone had two goals and an assist, Mike Condon made 19 saves and the Ottawa Senators beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-2 on Thursday night.

The Senators, second in the Atlantic Division, also got goals from Kyle Turris, Mike Hoffman and Chris Kelly.

Ottawa coach Guy Boucher was behind the bench in Tampa for the first time since being fired by the Lightning midway through the 2012-13 season. He led Tampa Bay to the Eastern Conference finals in 2011.

''It was such a great experience. It was so positive,'' Boucher said, after Thursday's morning skate, about his time with the Lightning. ''For me coming back, it just brings a great smile.''

Tyler Johnson and Brayden Point scored for the Lightning, who have lost 11 of 14 (3-9-2). Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 25 shots.

After Johnson opened the scoring 3:39 into the second, Ottawa went up 2-1 on goals by Stone (6:33) and Turris (11:03) on the power play. Turris has 24 points (nine goals, 15 assists) in 23 games against Tampa Bay.

Hoffman made it 3-1 early in the third with a power-play goal.

Point's second goal in two games after missing 14 due to a hand-wrist injury midway through the third pulled Tampa Bay to 3-2.

Stone's nifty redirection, coming 1:36 after Point scored, gave Ottawa a 4-2 lead. He has seven goals in 11 games against the Lightning.

Kelly had a late empty-netter.

Condon, who is 4-0 against Tampa Bay, made a pair of strong saves on Nikita Kucherov in the second period.

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Watch: Marleau becomes 45th NHLer to reach 500 goals

There it is.

San Jose Sharks forward Patrick Marleau scored the 500th goal of his career Thursday night in Vancouver, becoming the 45th player in NHL history to accomplish the feat.

Marleau, drafted second overall in 1997, is only the 18th player ever to amass 500 goals with one team, and the first in Sharks history to break the threshold.

The 37-year-old had logged 1,462 games entering Thursday's contest, and with a release like that, it's no wonder Marleau got into the exclusive club.

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Flyers neutralize Canadiens again, limiting them to season-low shot total

Bottled up.

Limiting the Montreal Canadiens to 16 shots in a 3-1 win Thursday night, the Philadelphia Flyers are now responsible for the Atlantic Division leader's two fewest shot totals on the season. In those two outings, they reduced Montreal to a combined 33 shots, or as many as the Flyers allowed in their first contest this season.

It was, however, the Flyers' first win over the Canadiens in three tries. Michal Neuvirth, who earned the victory on Thursday, allowed five goals on 17 shots in the team's Nov. 5 loss in which they outshot Montreal 38-17.

The Canadiens are one of seven teams averaging more than three goals a game, but their output hasn't been the product of a steady onslaught. They rank just below the league average with 29.7 shots per game.

They remain a top-10 team in total attempts, but were limited to just 44 versus the Flyers, and out-produced in all three periods.

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Watch: Hossa dashes through Coyotes’ defense en route to slick snipe

Vintage Marian Hossa.

The 38-year-old Chicago Blackhawks winger showed he still has quite a bit of giddy up left, exploding past Arizona's defense - if you can call it that - before tucking home his 19th goal of the season.

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What could the Senators realistically fetch for Lazar?

This isn't the classic case of a top prospect failing to find traction, and change in scenery being the only practical recourse.

But it's trending that way.

Ottawa Senators former first-round draft selection Curtis Lazar can't crack Guy Boucher's lineup, can't produce when he does dress - either for the big club or the farm - and seems in danger of circling the NHL drain.

Lazar has diminished in the final season of his entry-level deal, contributing one assist in 27 appearances with the Senators, and just three goals and four points in 13 games at minor-league Binghamton.

He has 12 goals and 36 points in 170 games since the Senators spent their first draft pick - and the 17th overall selection - on the Edmonton Oil Kings forward three years ago.

Chosen to be a top-six contributor for many seasons, Lazar has instead offered 0.80 points per 60 minutes at five-on-five. There's merely a handful of active players, essentially each stone-handed checkers, producing at a similarly meager rate.

Still, teams have apparently inquired about his status in the trade market. It raises the question: What could the Senators possibly receive in return?

It's hard to pinpoint a comparable, because he's hardly formed an NHL identity. His stats compare to players he isn't billed to be, and his development seems stunted by the negligible ice time he's logged - which has fallen to just over eight minutes a night under Boucher.

But if we base his value on the market, an inference can be made from the Edmonton Oilers' extrication of the quintessential draft bust in the salary-cap era: Nail Yakupov.

The Oilers accepted a conditional third-round pick and a warm body in a trade with the St. Louis Blues for the former first overall draft selection. Their return will be upgraded to a second-round draft selection if Yakupov scores 15 goals this year.

He's got three.

Even still, Yakupov has twice as many goals, as well as almost double the points Lazar has mustered, in the 170 NHL games they've each played across the last three seasons.

Though Edmonton's desire to cut bait certainly factored into the return for Yakupov, the deal suggests that Lazar's current market value isn't anything greater than a late-round pick.

If the Senators are offered a deal comparable to the Yakupov trade, they might be wise to jump at it. But because Lazar has little value, less leverage, and many seasons of control, it's hard to imagine a scenario where he's dealt before the March 1 deadline.

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Watch: Nesterov blasts 1st goal as member of Canadiens

With plays like this, it wont take long for Montreal Canadiens' fans to warm up to Nikita Nesterov.

The new guy in town, acquired last week from the Tampa Bay Lightning, wired his first goal as a Hab - and fourth of the year - on Thursday in his second game with the club, giving the Canadiens a 1-0 lead.

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Shaw among NHL’s You Can Play ambassadors

Montreal Canadiens forward Andrew Shaw was announced as an ambassador for the You Can Play Project on Thursday as part of NHL's "Hockey is for Everyone" initiative in February.

The month is directed in part by the You Can Play Project, a nonprofit lending support to the LGBTQ community and dedicated to fighting homophobia in sport. Each of the NHL's 30 teams have named a You Can Play ambassador who will "lead the way" in combating homophobia in their markets.

The entire list can be found here.

Last spring, when Shaw was a member of the Chicago Blackhawks, he was suspended for directing a homophobic slur at an official.

The You Can Play Project contacted the NHL, condemning Shaw's actions, but also expressing desire to work with and educate Shaw.

Shaw seemed contrite when he apologized for the incident, and now he's supporting that remorse with what will hopefully be meaningful action.

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