A mixed victory for the New York Islanders who won 4-3 in overtime over the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday.
In the race for a place in the playoffs, the Islanders of course collect two points in the standings, but by going to overtime, they also offered an important point to the Flyers, who are also fighting for a place in the spring dance.
Patrick Roy’s men now have 79 points and remain out of the playoff picture, so the Flyers now have 83 points in the standings. Despite a fifth consecutive defeat, Philly would still qualify if the season ended today.
Between the Islanders and Flyers in the standings, there is the Detroit Red Wings who are desperate to punch their ticket.
It was a goal from Brock Nelson after 1:24 of play in overtime that ensured this victory for the Islanders. His 30th of the season was obtained following a turnover in the Flyers zone.
The Islanders were less than ten seconds away from reaching their goal and winning on par when Morgan Frost forced extra time with 9.6 seconds left on the clock, much to the chagrin of the Islanders coach.
The New Yorkers scored two goals in the space of 18 seconds in the first period. This is the fourth time this season they have recorded two goals in 18 seconds or less this season.
Matt Martin was the first to score for the Islanders at 12:03 before Horvat followed suit. Anders Lee gave the Islanders a 3-2 lead late in the second period.
Horvat’s goal allowed him to join the 500-point club, becoming the fifth player drafted in 2013 to reach this select group. Nathan MacKinnon, Aleksander Barkov, Elias Lindholm and Sean Monahan are the others.
Freshly arrived in North America after being released by CSKA Moscow, giant Russian goaltender Ivan Fedotov experienced his baptism of fire in the NHL. At 27, he made his first appearance in front of the Flyers net, replacing Samuel Ersson after 20 minutes of play.
Tortorella tortures his players
“It was soft. There was only one player who showed up, and it was the goalkeeper [Fedotov]. (…) We discover things with this kind of performance. Yes, it’s still the regular season, but it’s a whole different type of hockey. Some guys don’t have a clue how to play in this type of situation or don’t have it in them. In a way, I’m glad we faced them. We need to sort things out.
“That second period, it was downright embarrassing, playing that way in a Philadelphia Flyers uniform. Embarrassing. A mention to how we bounced back in the third. But again, it was only some of our guys,” he insisted.
Fedotov, a seventh-round pick of the Flyers in 2015 who was retained in his native country for military service, gave up two goals on 21 shots.
Islanders goaltender Semyon Varlamov was solid, facing 32 shots
Noah Cates and Travis Sanheim provided the rest of the response for the Flyers.
The Flyers lost the services of their captain Sean Couturier, who left following a check on a sequence that led to the Islanders’ Bo Horvat’s goal in the first period.
Kucherov joins MacKinnon
David Perron scored the game-winning goal with 2:40 left and the Detroit Red Wings defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-2.
Patrick Kane, Robby Fabbri and Lucas Raymond also beat Andrei Vasilevskiy. Alex Lyon stopped 34 pucks for the Red Wings.
Lyon won its first game since February 27, an 8-3 victory against the Washington Capitals.
Anthony Cirelli and Steven Stamkos scored for the Lightning and Vasilevskiy blocked 28 shots. Thanks to his assist, Nikita Kucherov joined Nathan MacKinnon at the top of the NHL scoring charts with 127 points.
The Red Wings opened the scoring 37 seconds into the second period, when Kane took advantage of Dylan Larkin’s rebound. Kane hit the target with a backhand.
Cirelli tied the score before the end of the period, but Fabbri scored early in the third period to give the Red WIngs the lead again.
Stamkos made it 2-2 by scoring at 5:59 of the third period on the power play.
Raymond put the finishing touch into an empty net.
Perfetti delivers the Jets at the end of the 3rd
Cole Perfetti scored two goals, Kyle Connor had three assists and the Winnipeg Jets beat the Los Angeles Kings 4-2.
The Jets took advantage of the first power play of the game to score midway through the third period. He beat goalkeeper Cam Talbot with a low shot.
Josh Morrissey had a goal and an assist and Sean Monahan also found the back of the net in the victory.
Laurent Brossoit blocked 25 shots for his team.
Viktor Arvidsson, Kevin Fiala and Anze Kopitar scored despite their team’s defeat. Desinger Vladislav Gavrikov finished the game with two assists and Talbot stopped 28 shots.
Nylander takes care of the Avalanche
Alexander Nylander scored two goals and the Columbus Blue Jackets defeated the Colorado Avalanche 4-1.
The Blue Jackets scored three times in the second period to net the victory.
Kirill Marchenko scored and had an assist, Cole Sillinger also scored and Eric Gudbranson had two assists.
It was only the fourth time this season that the Blue Jackets had won back-to-back.
Daniil Tarasov stopped 46 shots in his first game against the Avalanche.
Chris Wagner found the back of the net and Justus Annunen stopped 21 shots for the Avalanche.
Marchenko scored the first goal of the game at 9:35 in the second period, beating Annunen between the pads. It was his 20th goal of the season.
Nylander doubled his team’s lead with a wrist shot with 5:48 left in the period. The forward then scored his second goal of the game with 1:57 remaining in the period.
Nylander has scored 10 goals in 17 games since joining the Blue Jackets, a team record.
Sillinger put the finishing touch into an empty net with less than two minutes left in regulation.
