BOSTON (AP) Buffalo star Jack Eichel went down with an injury and his teammates responded with one of their best performances of the season.Scott Wilson had a goal and an assist during Buffalo’s big second period
New York Islanders Hoodies Authentic , helping the Sabres cool off Tuukka Rask and the Boston Bruins with a 4-2 victory on Saturday night.”I thought the guys made a terrific effort tonight,” Buffalo coach Phil Housley said. ”One of the best games I’ve seen us check.”Eichel left midway through the opening period, favoring his right knee after falling awkwardly on a check by Boston defenseman Matt Grzelcyk along the boards behind the Bruins’ net.”He got tangled up in the corner,” Housley said. ”We’ll know tomorrow when he sees our doctors.”Evander Kane and Benoit Pouliot also scored during the second and Rasmus Ristolainen added an empty-netter with 29 seconds remaining. Former Bruins goalie Chad Johnson made 25 saves as the Sabres picked up the road win with their fathers along for the trip.”To see Jack go down like that, that’s a big hole to fill,” Pouliot said. ”(The win) feels good for the dads and for everyone.”The Sabres had lost four of five and entered with the NHL’s second-fewest points.Rask stopped 24 shots, but lost in regulation for the first time since Nov. 26. It snapped his career-best 21-game streak with at least a point (19-0-2), the fourth-longest in team history.The Bruins were bothered by their subpar effort.”I think it was pretty obvious that wasn’t our best game – the way we want to play – but those games happen,” Rask said.Boston center Patrice Bergeron agreed they had a poor effort from the start.”We were flat,” Bergeron said. ”When you do that, you don’t deserve it – plain and simple.”Ryan Spooner and David Backes accounted for Boston’s goals. The Bruins failed to get a point for just the second time in 24 games (18-2-4).Backes scored with 59 seconds left after Rask was replaced by an extra skater. But Ristolainen fired one nearly the length of the ice for his fifth of the season.Kane made it 1-0 when he broke in on a clean breakaway after Bruins forward David Pastrnak flubbed a pass near the right point and Sam Reinhart passed the puck to the winger. Kane fired a hard wrist shot that beat Rask on the glove side inside the right post 7:44 into the second.Wilson made it 2-0 just over five minutes later when he collected a loose puck that was blocked by Bruins defenseman Adam McQuaid and slipped a wrist shot into the net.Spooner’s goal sliced the lead in half before Pouliot one-timed Wilson’s pass by Rask at the end of a 3-on-1 break with 71 seconds left in the second.Rask made a pair of nice pad stops in a relatively quiet opening period. Boston’s first shot on goal by a forward came in the final minute.NOTES: Kane’s goal snapped his 10-game scoreless stretch. … Sabres C Jacob Josefson played his 300th NHL game. … Bruins D Kevan Miller missed his fourth straight game because of an upper-body injury. … The teams play again Feb. 25 in their final regular-season matchup.UP NEXTSabres: Host Colorado on Sunday. They beat the Avalanche in the only other meeting this season.Bruins: At New Jersey on Sunday. Boston won the first meeting, at home on Jan. 23. ST. PAUL
New York Islanders Hats Authentic , Minn. (AP) — The Arizona Coyotes struggled to do almost anything right for two periods Tuesday. Early in the third period, they could do no wrong.Josh Archibald had two goals and an assist, and the Coyotes rallied from a two-goal, third-period deficit to defeat the Wild 4-3.Minnesota led 3-1 after two periods and appeared to have the game in hand after a dominant second period. The Coyotes didn’t register a shot on goal in the first 17 minutes of the second.But Arizona broke loose with a three-goal flurry in the first 8:39 of the third to pull ahead and held on for the win.“The overall mood was good,” defenseman Alex Goligoski said of the Coyotes locker room during the second intermission. “No one was really going crazy, banging sticks or anything. It was just like, ‘Alright, that one’s over. Let’s get one here early and see what happens.'”And that’s exactly what happened, as Archibald scored his first goal of the season to pull the Coyotes to within one 3:07 into the third. Lawson Crouse, who scored Arizona’s first goal, picked up a turnover in the Minnesota zone and fed Archibald, who beat Devyn Dubnyk with a wrist shot from the high slot.Minnesota challenged the goal
Custom New York Islanders Jerseys , alleging that Archibald was offside, but video replay confirmed the call on the ice.The Coyotes then scored twice in less than two minutes to take the lead. Michael Grabner tied it when he took a pass from Brad Richardson, who had set up behind the net, and shot past Dubnyk.Goligoski set up the go-ahead goal when he fired a pass from behind his own net to the Minnesota blue line, where Archibald split two defensemen, took the pass in stride and beat a diving Dubnyk for his second goal of the game and a 4-3 lead for the Coyotes.“(Goligoski) saw me coming right off the bench and made a great pass,” Archibald said. “I saw that (Dubnyk) was coming out to poke check and snap the pads on me. The puck rolled on me a little bit, kind of helped me in a way, and I was just able to chip it over him and in the net.”Charlie Coyle, Zach Parise and Jason Zucker scored as the Wild took command through two periods. Jared Spurgeon assisted on all three goals, matching his career high for assists in a game.But for the third time in 10 days, the Wild suffered a third-period collapse at home. On Nov. 17
www.officialhockeyrangersshop.com , they led Buffalo 2-1 in the third period and lost 3-2. Four days later they entered the third period leading Ottawa 4-1. The Senators rallied to tie the game before Minnesota scored the last two in a 6-4 win.For a team fighting for position in the tough Central Division, it’s a trend that Wild players know they need to reverse.“We’ve got to mature as a group. It’s the same stuff that’s happening,” Spurgeon said. “We’ve got to fix it now or we’re not going to go anywhere.”Dubnyk, who missed Minnesota’s last game with a stomach bug, stopped 10 of 14 shots.“It’s a strange little three-game stretch here,” said Dubnyk, who was in the nets for all three recent third-period collapses. “But the worst thing you can do is let it affect the things that have been going well here.”Antti Raanta stopped 17 of 20 shots before leaving with a lower-body injury after two periods. Rookie Adin Hill stopped all five Minnesota shots in the third period to help the Coyotes snap a four-game losing streak.“It was unbelievable actually how the team rallied together there,” Hill said. “We played with some desperation and found a way to put the puck in the net and get the job done tonight.”NOTES: F Nick Schmaltz made his debut with the Coyotes on Wednesday. Schmaltz was acquired from the Chicago Blackhawks in a trade for forwards Brendan Perlini and Dylan Strome. … The Coyotes won for the first time (1-10-1) when trailing after two periods. … Minnesota is now 6-2-1 when leading after two. … Dumba has a point in seven straight games, tying the franchise record scoring streak for a defenseman.UP NEXTCoyotes: At Nashville on Thursday night.Wild: At Columbus on Thursday.
BOSTON (AP) Buffalo star Jack Eichel went down with an injury and his teammates responded with one of their best performances of the season.Scott Wilson had a goal and an assist during Buffalo’s big second period New York Islanders Hoodies Authentic , helping the Sabres cool off Tuukka Rask and the Boston Bruins with a 4-2 victory on Saturday night.”I thought the guys made a terrific effort tonight,” Buffalo coach Phil Housley said. ”One of the best games I’ve seen us check.”Eichel left midway through the opening period, favoring his right knee after falling awkwardly on a check by Boston defenseman Matt Grzelcyk along the boards behind the Bruins’ net.”He got tangled up in the corner,” Housley said. ”We’ll know tomorrow when he sees our doctors.”Evander Kane and Benoit Pouliot also scored during the second and Rasmus Ristolainen added an empty-netter with 29 seconds remaining. Former Bruins goalie Chad Johnson made 25 saves as the Sabres picked up the road win with their fathers along for the trip.”To see Jack go down like that, that’s a big hole to fill,” Pouliot said. ”(The win) feels good for the dads and for everyone.”The Sabres had lost four of five and entered with the NHL’s second-fewest points.Rask stopped 24 shots, but lost in regulation for the first time since Nov. 26. It snapped his career-best 21-game streak with at least a point (19-0-2), the fourth-longest in team history.The Bruins were bothered by their subpar effort.”I think it was pretty obvious that wasn’t our best game – the way we want to play – but those games happen,” Rask said.Boston center Patrice Bergeron agreed they had a poor effort from the start.”We were flat,” Bergeron said. ”When you do that, you don’t deserve it – plain and simple.”Ryan Spooner and David Backes accounted for Boston’s goals. The Bruins failed to get a point for just the second time in 24 games (18-2-4).Backes scored with 59 seconds left after Rask was replaced by an extra skater. But Ristolainen fired one nearly the length of the ice for his fifth of the season.Kane made it 1-0 when he broke in on a clean breakaway after Bruins forward David Pastrnak flubbed a pass near the right point and Sam Reinhart passed the puck to the winger. Kane fired a hard wrist shot that beat Rask on the glove side inside the right post 7:44 into the second.Wilson made it 2-0 just over five minutes later when he collected a loose puck that was blocked by Bruins defenseman Adam McQuaid and slipped a wrist shot into the net.Spooner’s goal sliced the lead in half before Pouliot one-timed Wilson’s pass by Rask at the end of a 3-on-1 break with 71 seconds left in the second.Rask made a pair of nice pad stops in a relatively quiet opening period. Boston’s first shot on goal by a forward came in the final minute.NOTES: Kane’s goal snapped his 10-game scoreless stretch. … Sabres C Jacob Josefson played his 300th NHL game. … Bruins D Kevan Miller missed his fourth straight game because of an upper-body injury. … The teams play again Feb. 25 in their final regular-season matchup.UP NEXTSabres: Host Colorado on Sunday. They beat the Avalanche in the only other meeting this season.Bruins: At New Jersey on Sunday. Boston won the first meeting, at home on Jan. 23. ST. PAUL New York Islanders Hats Authentic , Minn. (AP) — The Arizona Coyotes struggled to do almost anything right for two periods Tuesday. Early in the third period, they could do no wrong.Josh Archibald had two goals and an assist, and the Coyotes rallied from a two-goal, third-period deficit to defeat the Wild 4-3.Minnesota led 3-1 after two periods and appeared to have the game in hand after a dominant second period. The Coyotes didn’t register a shot on goal in the first 17 minutes of the second.But Arizona broke loose with a three-goal flurry in the first 8:39 of the third to pull ahead and held on for the win.“The overall mood was good,” defenseman Alex Goligoski said of the Coyotes locker room during the second intermission. “No one was really going crazy, banging sticks or anything. It was just like, ‘Alright, that one’s over. Let’s get one here early and see what happens.'”And that’s exactly what happened, as Archibald scored his first goal of the season to pull the Coyotes to within one 3:07 into the third. Lawson Crouse, who scored Arizona’s first goal, picked up a turnover in the Minnesota zone and fed Archibald, who beat Devyn Dubnyk with a wrist shot from the high slot.Minnesota challenged the goal Custom New York Islanders Jerseys , alleging that Archibald was offside, but video replay confirmed the call on the ice.The Coyotes then scored twice in less than two minutes to take the lead. Michael Grabner tied it when he took a pass from Brad Richardson, who had set up behind the net, and shot past Dubnyk.Goligoski set up the go-ahead goal when he fired a pass from behind his own net to the Minnesota blue line, where Archibald split two defensemen, took the pass in stride and beat a diving Dubnyk for his second goal of the game and a 4-3 lead for the Coyotes.“(Goligoski) saw me coming right off the bench and made a great pass,” Archibald said. “I saw that (Dubnyk) was coming out to poke check and snap the pads on me. The puck rolled on me a little bit, kind of helped me in a way, and I was just able to chip it over him and in the net.”Charlie Coyle, Zach Parise and Jason Zucker scored as the Wild took command through two periods. Jared Spurgeon assisted on all three goals, matching his career high for assists in a game.But for the third time in 10 days, the Wild suffered a third-period collapse at home. On Nov. 17 www.officialhockeyrangersshop.com , they led Buffalo 2-1 in the third period and lost 3-2. Four days later they entered the third period leading Ottawa 4-1. The Senators rallied to tie the game before Minnesota scored the last two in a 6-4 win.For a team fighting for position in the tough Central Division, it’s a trend that Wild players know they need to reverse.“We’ve got to mature as a group. It’s the same stuff that’s happening,” Spurgeon said. “We’ve got to fix it now or we’re not going to go anywhere.”Dubnyk, who missed Minnesota’s last game with a stomach bug, stopped 10 of 14 shots.“It’s a strange little three-game stretch here,” said Dubnyk, who was in the nets for all three recent third-period collapses. “But the worst thing you can do is let it affect the things that have been going well here.”Antti Raanta stopped 17 of 20 shots before leaving with a lower-body injury after two periods. Rookie Adin Hill stopped all five Minnesota shots in the third period to help the Coyotes snap a four-game losing streak.“It was unbelievable actually how the team rallied together there,” Hill said. “We played with some desperation and found a way to put the puck in the net and get the job done tonight.”NOTES: F Nick Schmaltz made his debut with the Coyotes on Wednesday. Schmaltz was acquired from the Chicago Blackhawks in a trade for forwards Brendan Perlini and Dylan Strome. … The Coyotes won for the first time (1-10-1) when trailing after two periods. … Minnesota is now 6-2-1 when leading after two. … Dumba has a point in seven straight games, tying the franchise record scoring streak for a defenseman.UP NEXTCoyotes: At Nashville on Thursday night.Wild: At Columbus on Thursday.