The Rangers snapped their six-game losing streak against the beat up and battered Penguins. Ryan Callahan scored twice and added an assist while Henrik Lundqvist settled down nicely after a rough first period to get the win making 26 saves. Marc Staal had a pair of assists as the Rangers were able to stop their playoff-spot-threatening slide. For the Penguins, their tour of New York ends meekly with their injury-depleted roster, dropping games to the Isles and Rangers and fitting a bus accident in between all of that.
Los Angeles 1 - Philadelphia 0
L.A.'s road trip marches on and their hellish run through Pittsburgh, D.C., and Philadelphia ends with them going 2-0-1 and giving up just three goals as Jon Quick earned his sixth shutout of the season stopping 40 Flyers shots in the win. Drew Doughty’s second period goal was all the Kings would need to win as they shutdown the NHL’s third highest-scoring team. The Kings are now 4-0-2 on their 10-game road trip and head to Columbus to play the Blue Jackets on Wednesday.
NY Islanders 7 - Buffalo 6 (F/OT)
Everyone expected firewagon hockey to make a comeback today, right? Michael Grabner capped off a wild game scoring his hat trick goal in overtime to give the Sabres a defeat they’ll be kicking themselves over. Grabner’s three goals give him 24 on the season and suddenly he’s vaulted into the discussion for the Calder Trophy for the league’s best rookie. Kyle Okposo and Frans Nielsen each had three assists to help lead the Isles to victory. The Sabres Drew Stafford had a hat trick of his own, his fourth of the season giving him 23 goals of his own on the season. The goalies were a massive letdown in this one as Isles starter Mikko Koskinen was chased after giving up fout goals on 14 shots. Al Montoya took over and earned the win after giving up just two more. Ryan Miller looked bad today giving up all seven Isles goals and stopping just 19 shots. Buffalo with the loss blows a big chance to climb up the standings in the East as they try to get back in the playoff picture.
When a team is rolling and getting solid goaltending, sometimes the captain has to step up and elevate things to another level. Good thing for Columbus they’ve got Rick Nash around to do that. Nash’s second period goal snapped a 1-1 tie and Steve Mason would do his job and shut down the Stars the rest of the way to give Columbus their fifth win in their last six games. Mason saved 29 shots to get the win while Kari Lehtonen was a bit of a hard-luck loser stopping 37 shots in the loss. Matt Calvert also scored for Columbus while Brad Richards scored Dallas’ lone goal.