Archive for March 9th, 2010

Avalanche victimized by comeback Canucks

Written by on Tuesday, March 9th, 2010 in Latest News.

While not as prolific around the net as many of his Vancouver Canucks teammates, Jannik Hansen certainly has made the most of his 14 goals in 91 NHL games.

The third-year right-winger was at it again Tuesday night, notching his fourth career game-winning goal and second in as many games to cap a come-from-behind 6-4 win over the Colorado Avalanche.

As he skated through the crease, Hansen had the puck hit off him and then Avalanche goalie Craig Anderson before it crossed the goal line to give the Canucks a 5-4 lead with two minutes and eight seconds left in regulation.

Hansen also place Vancouver ahead to stay in the third period of Saturday’s 4-2 win over Nashville.

IWith the win, the Canucks opened a four-point lead on second-place Colorado in the Northwest Division as they prepare to end off their 14-game road trip against the Phoenix Coyotes on Wednesday.

More to come

Maple Leafs bowl over Bruins in OT

Written by on Tuesday, March 9th, 2010 in Latest News.

Luca Caputi’s huge homecoming had to share the spotlight with Nikolai Kulemin’s overtime heroics.

Kulemin scored 4:10 into overtime, lifting the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 4-3 win over the Boston Bruins on Tuesday.

While Kulemin was the hero with the game-winner, it was also a huge night for Caputi. The young forward from Toronto scored in his first home game as a Leaf after being bought at last week’s trade deadline from Pittsburgh for Alexei Ponikarovsky.

Toronto coach Ron Wilson sent Caputi out on left wing for the game’s opening faceoff, giving the 21-year-ancient who grew up rooting for the Leafs a unique moment in front of family and friends in attendance.

Caputi rewarded his coach by scoring a game-tying goal 7:13 into the third, setting up Kulemin’s winner.

“The fans gave me a pretty loud cheer there,” Caputi said. “I can’t really describe it right now.

“I reckon in the next couple days, hopefully it will sink in. I’m still in La-La Land right now.”

Caputi’s goal was indicative of the hard-nosed way he’s expected to approach the game.

“I thought he played pretty well considering he was a small bit nervous before the game with all his family here,” Wilson said. “To be getting the tying goal the way he did, that’s something I’m sure we’ll see a lot of — around the goal crease, bumping, scuffling with the goaltender and stuff like that. Excellent for him.”

As for sending him out to start the game, Wilson figures he may have curried some favour with the Caputi clan.

“I like to do that with young guys and at least I get their parents on my side for a couple weeks,” Wilson joked. “Usually I get a nice letter from a mom, ‘Thank you for starting my son, it’s the thrill of a lifetime.’”

‘I saw the puck and place it in’

Kulemin’s decisive strike came on a bit of a broken play when Mikhail Grabovski tried to slide the puck over to him on a two-on-one. Boston’s Michael Ryder dove back to break up the play, but the puck found its way to Kulemin’s stick. He patiently waited as Ryder became entangled with goalie Tim Thomas, then fired a high shot into the goal for the victory.

“I was just waiting, I saw the puck and place it in,” Kulemin said.

Grabovski was playing for the first time after missing 23 games with a broken wrist.

Wayne Primeau and Carl Gunnarsson also scored for Toronto, while Jonas Gustavsson stopped 26 shots for the win.

Luke Schenn picked up a pair of assists for the Leafs, including a nice play to keep the puck in the offensive zone just before Caputi tied the game.

‘We stopped moving our feet’

Mark Recchi and Marco Sturm each scored a goal and added two assists for Boston (29-24-12), while Patrice Bergeron got the Bruins’ other marker.

The Bruins, in a battle for one of the Eastern Conference’s final playoff berths, played their first game since losing top centre Marc Savard to a concussion following a controversial hit to the head by Pittsburgh’s Matt Cooke last Sunday.

Boston also took a hit on the blue-line as captain Zdeno Chara missed the game with a lower body injury.

The Bruins took their third lead of the game when Bergeron scored 3:07 into the final frame, but couldn’t hold any of them, coughing up a precious point in their struggle to make the playoffs.

“We stopped moving our feet and being hard on the forecheck,” Bergeron said. “We were hard on their defencemen early and had success, but then we got away from that.”

‘They got the result tonight’

Boston opened the scoring when Recchi swatted a rebound past Gustavsson just 2:47 into the game as Strum caused some havoc in front of the Toronto goal.

It marked the 11th time in their past 12 games that the Bruins scored first.

The Leafs failed to pull even during a 50-second two-man advantage in the first period, but tied the game on Primeau’s second-period goal.

Schenn hit Primeau in full flight through the neutral zone and the huge Leafs winger stuck a puck through the pads of Thomas.

Boston used a two-man advantage of its own to regain the lead. Recchi, the crafty Bruins veteran, sent a quick pass to the side of the net, where Sturm fired the puck past Gustavsson.

Toronto tied the game 2-2 when Gunnarsson’s point shot appeared to deflect on its way to the goal, eluding Thomas with just 1:22 left in the second period.

The Leafs played their best period in the third before taking the two points in overtime.

“Toronto is a team that never stops working hard and they got the result tonight,” Bergeron said.

Canadiens victorious in critical East matchup

Written by on Tuesday, March 9th, 2010 in Latest News.

Scott Gomez scored a goal and set up two others as the Montreal Canadiens downed the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-3 on Tuesday night for their fourth win in five games since the Olympic break.

Mathieu Darche, with two, Glen Metropolit and Benoit Pouliot also scored for Montreal (33-29-6) in the victory over one of the teams chasing them for an Eastern Conference playoff spot.

Steven Stamkos scored his 41st goal of the season and helped on one by Martin St. Louis for Tampa Bay to extend his point streak to 17 straight games. It was also Stamkos’s team-record 17th power-play goal of the season.

Matt Walker also scored for the Lightning (27-27-11), who have lost six of their last seven games. Tampa Bay has the league’s second worst road record at 9-19-5, better only than Edmonton’s 8-21-2.

Gomez, a major off-season acquisition for Montreal, has two goals and six assists in his last four games and five goals and 10 assists in his last 11.

The Lightning were called for too many men on the ice only 1:49 into the game and it took only a minute for Montreal to open the scoring.

Gomez carried the puck in, went around the net and fed Metropolit who shot to the far post. It was Metropolit’s team-leading ninth power-play goal.

It was also the much-travelled centre’s 15th goal of the season, a career high and one more than he scored in 61 games for Montreal last season.

Gomez then picked up a loose puck in the corner and walked in front to beat Antero Niittymaki at 12:02.

The Lightning exerted heavy pressure during a power play and Hal Gill threw a Jaroslav Halak rebound right onto Stamkos’s stick for a goal 3:47 into the second.

Gomez fed Pouliot going to the net for a goal only 41 seconds later and Darche added another at 7:33. He converted a Metropolit feed to chase Niittymaki, who allowed four goals on 13 shots, in favour of Mike Smith.

Walker’s point shot went in off Montreal winger Travis Moen’s stick at 10:03. It was only the third goal in 292 career NHL games for the native of Beaverlodge, Alta.

Tomas Plekanec pushed a puck forward for Darche to steer between Smith’s pads 3:36 into the third period and St. Louis backhanded a shot over Halak with 1:07 left to play.

Plekanec, the Canadiens scoring leader, was helped off and went to the dressing room at 16:25 of the first period after a knee-on-knee collision with Tampa defenceman Mattias Ohlund, but was back on the bench a minute later and did not miss any action.

On the injury front, Ryan Malone (upper body), tough guy Zenon Konopka and Matt Smaby did not dress for Tampa Bay. Coach Rick Tocchet said Konopka has back spasms and will be out for about a week.

Canadiens forward Maxim Lapierre served the third game of his four-game suspension for a hit from behind on San Jose’s Scott Nichol.



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