Alexandar Georgiev made the final decisive save at the expense of Alexis Lafrenière in the shootout to secure the Colorado Avalanche’s 3-2 victory over his former team, the New York Rangers, on Tuesday night.
Mikko Rantanen and Evan Rodrigues each beat Igor Shesterkin in the session, while Artemi Panarin was the only one to hit the mark in the defeat, Rangers’ third in a row.
Georgiev finished the game with an impressive 44 saves, including 18 in the first period and another superb save against Lafrenière in the second period, but Shesterkin was no slouch either, stopping 42 shots.
Valeri Nichushkin got his seventh goal of the season already to open hostilities in the first period, on the power play, so he joined Steven Stamkos and Andrei Svechnikov at the top of the NHL scoring charts. He totals no less than 10 points in his first six meetings.
Barclay Goodrow then tied the game in second by completing the play of Samuel Blais and Jacob Trouba.
With a man in the penalty box, the Avalanche still took the lead through Logan O’Connor, but once again the Rangers came from behind as Goodrow added an assist to his roster on the Adam Fox equalizer.
Everything is rolling for the Bruins
The Boston Bruins cemented their lead in the East with a 3-1 win over the Dallas Stars.
David Pastrnak scored his fifth goal of the season on a first-period power play for the Bruins, who have won their last three games and are undefeated at home in five games.
Wyatt Johnston tied the game in the top of the second for the Stars, but the game-changing goal came from Taylor Hall with 63 seconds left in the middle period. Pastrnak notably collected an assist.
It was Hall’s third consecutive game-winning goal.
The score remained like this until the last seconds of the third period when Patrice Bergeron completed in an empty net.
Linus Ullmark made 30 saves in front of the Bruins net. He made a fine save on Luke Glendening on a three-on-one comeback with just over 15 minutes left in regulation time. Then he frustrated veteran Joe Pavelski with about 90 seconds left.
Dallas (4-2-1) takes a second loss in a row. Jake Oettinger made 26 saves in the loss.
Both goaltenders started the game with an identical record of 4-0.
Bratt and Mercer spread their wings
Dawson Mercer found the back of the net, Jesper Bratt stood out and the New Jersey Devils defeated the Detroit Red Wings 6-2.
Bratt scored two goals and added an assist to his tally for the night.
Dylan Larkin opened the scoring for the Wings in the third minute of the opening period, but just under nine minutes later Mercer responded with his third goal of the season.
Jack Hughes allowed the Devils to retreat to the locker room with the controls. Bratt and Yegor Sharangovich increased the Devils cushion to three goals and that was more than enough for Vitek Vanecek.
The goaltender only faced 22 shots in the game. He also allowed a goal to Dominik Kubalik.
Nico Hischier also beat Alex Nedeljokovic who finished the game with 35 saves on 41 shots.
Gostisbehere goes on the attack
Defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere took charge with a two-goal production and an assist in the Arizona Coyotes’ 6-3 win over the Blue Jackets in Columbus.
The Coyotes gave themselves a five-goal lead before seeing the locals succeed in getting the guns heard.
Zack Kassian got his first of the season in the win.
Dylan Guenther, Jack McBain and Lawson Crouse in an empty net have the others for Arizona.
Clayton Keller had two assists.
Johnny Gaudreau was the author of his fifth for the Blue Jackets. He has six points in seven games.
Kent Johnson and Andrew Peeke scored the others in the loss. Johnson has scored in each of his last three games and now has a point in his last four.
Connor Ingram made 31 saves for the Coyotes, who had lost their last two games.
The Blue Jackets were shut out in five power plays. The club is 0 in 20 this season.
Young Blue Jackets goaltender Daniil Tarasov, who recently picked up his first career win, had a rough night. He was foiled four times on 12 shots. He was removed from the game after 35 minutes. He was replaced by Elvis Merzlikins who stopped five of six shots.
The Coyotes (2-4-0) will finally play their first game in Arizona on Friday against the Winnipeg Jets.
The Hawks have the best over the Panthers
The Chicago Blackhawks upset the Florida Panthers with a 4-2 win.
Chicago took control of the game with three straight goals through Taylor Raddysh, Patrick Kane and Philipp Kurashev. It was Kane’s first goal of the campaign.
Tempers flared in the second half when Max Domi made contact with Sergei Bobrovsky even though he was trying to brake while heading for the net.
The gesture still has no more to Radko Gudas who approached the Hawks striker. A scrum ensued on the rink, but it was quickly subdued.
The Panthers, however, did not give up with two goals in just over a minute apart in the third period. Eetu Luostarinen first beat Alex Stalock and moments later Matthew Tkachuk rattled the strings for the fourth time this season.
Jonathan Toews closed the books for the Hawks with 23 seconds left with an empty net goal. Sergei Bobrovsky gave up three times on 21 shots while Stalock saved 29 pucks.
3 point party for Sprong
Daniel Sprong had a goal and two assists as the Seattle Kraken edged the Buffalo Sabers 5-1.
Kraken defender Jamie Oleksiak opened the scoring less than three minutes into the game. Morgan Geekie, Jared McCann and Matty Beniers have
also flickers the red light for the Kraken.
Martin Jones made 15 saves in the win.
Dylan Cozens provided the response for the Sabers. Rasmus Dahlin got an assist on the goal for his team and leads the NHL defensemen with nine points.
The Sabers and San Jose Sharks are the only teams to have lost to the Kraken three times since joining the NHL last season. The Sabers have never beaten the Kraken.
The Sabers will resume the collar Thursday, in Buffalo, against the Montreal Canadiens.
The Kings finally have the upper hand over the Lightning
The Los Angeles Kings defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-2, ending a 10-game losing streak against the Bolts that dated back to Jan. 16, 2017.
Phillip Danault fired the Kings forward 7:20 into the game, his fourth goal of the season, but Brandon Hagel tied the game.
Gabriel Vilardi broke the deadlock in the second period with his fifth goal of the season, redirecting Drew Doughty’s shot on the power play.
Blake Lizotte then increased the lead to two goals.
After being frustrated by goalkeeper Andrei Vasilevskiy, Adrian Kempe came back strong to make it 4-1, as Nikita Kucherov scored in a losing cause.
Sick, Viktor Arvidsson was not in uniform for the Kings.
Tsar Shesterkin ladies and gentlemen!
