NHL Recap: March 25, 2013: Bruins Down Leafs, Ducks On Losing Streak
It was a busy night for a Monday around the NHL, with 6 games outside of Ottawa’s shootout win over New Jersey. There was one Eastern Conference game that featured the teams right above and right below the Senators, and of course it was a 3 point game. Here is a quick tour around the league:
Mar 25, 2013; Chicago, IL, USA; Los Angeles Kings goalie Jonathan Quick (32) makes a save against Chicago Blackhawks center Michael Frolik (67) during the first period at the United Center. Mandatory Credit: Rob Grabowski-USA TODAY Sports
- Joffrey Lupul and Nikolai Kulemin put the Leafs ahead 2-0 in the second period, but it wasn’t enough to beat the Bruins. Milan Lucic got Boston on the board less than 2 minutes after the Kulemin goal and then Patrice Bergeron tied it up midway through the third period to send the game to overtime, and evenutally the shootout. Tyler Bozak scored for the Leafs in the shootout, but Tyler Seguin and Bergeron beat James Reimer to seal the extra point for the Bruins.
- Dustin Brown had the game winner with 87 seconds remaining to give the Kings a come from behind win over the league leading Blackhawks 5-4. The game featured a bunch of lead changes, as they exchanged goals in a see-saw manner. Chicago opened the scoring with Michael Frolik‘s first of 2 on the night, in the first period. Anze Kopitar and Jarret Stoll put the Kings up in the second, before Frolik tied it and the Patrick Kane gave the Hawks the lead once again. Dwight King tied it up in the last second of the second, but Jonathan Toews scored to give the Hawks their third lead of the game early in the third. Tyler Toffoli scored his second of the season to tie it up, setting up Brown’s game winner.
- Edmonton scored the first and last goals of the game, but it was Nashville’s 3 in between that sent the Oilers away with the loss. Taylor Hall opened the scoring on a power play, but before the first period was out Sergei Kostitsyn had tied it up. Kevin Klein and Chris Mueller put the Preds up by 2 in the second before Shawn Horcoff brought it close before the midway point of the third.
- Minnesota peppered Dallas goalie Kari Lehtonen with 41 shots and beat him 6 times en route to a 7-4 win over the Stars. Zach Parise had a pair for the Wild, who got singles from Mikko Koivu, Matt Cullen, Kyle Brodziak and Dany Heatley before Pierre-Marc Bouchard‘s empty netter. Jaromir Jagr, Alex Goligoski, Philip Larsen and Trevor Daley scored for the Stars, who dropped from the 8th seed to 10th in the West.
- Pavel Datsyuk had a goal and an assist including the game winner in Detroit’s 3-2 win over Phoenix. Ian White and Johan Franzen also scored for Detroit who stayed in the 5th seed in the West. Phoenix, who lost their 4th straight game without Mike Smith in the lineup, got goals from Martin Hanzal and Rob Klinkhammer. Phoenix is now 4 points out of the playoffs, sitting in 12th place.
- Anaheim lost their third straight game, 5-3 to the Sharks. Brent Burns, Joe Pavelski and Martin Havlat put the Sharks up 3-0 in the first 21 minutes. Emerson Etem put the Ducks on the board in the second and Francois Beauchemin scored in the first minute of the third to bring Anaheim within one. James Sheppard restored a two goal lead midway through the final frame, which ended up being the game winner. Corey Perry scored with 1:40 left to give the Ducks a chance, but Dan Boyle iced it with an empty netter. The win was huge for the Sharks, who moved into the 8th seed in the Western Conference.
That concludes our tour around the NHL for Monday. There are 9 games on Tuesday night, including a matchup between the top two teams in the East, as the Canadiens travel to Pittsburgh to face the new look Penguins. Five other games will have playoff implications in the East, including huge games between Washington and the Islanders, and Winnipeg and Carolina. Check back tomorrow for a full recap of all the action.