Dose: A couple of shutouts
The Philadelphia Flyers did a nice thing on Friday when they traded away veteran defenseman Kimmo Timonen to the Chicago Blackhawks for a second round pick in 2015 and a conditional 2016 pick.
Timonen has never won the Stanley Cup and decided to return to the NHL for one last season when doctors discovered blood clots in his lungs and legs in the off-season. He was finally given the okay to go by doctors about a month ago and he has been trying to get in shape ever since.
Timonen will give the Blackhawks some veteran depth on the blueline and since they do have an opportunity to win the Cup, the Flyers while getting a nice draft pick, did a good thing since they are on the fringe of the playoff race at best. It would be a good thing for the soon to be 40-year old to get his name finally inscribed on the Stanley Cup.
Don’t forget, for everything NHL, check out Rotoworld's Player News, and follow @Rotoworld_ HK and @mfinewaxhockey on Twitter.
BOSTON 3 NEW JERSEY 2 (Overtime)
It was a great time to score your first ever NHL goal and Ryan Spooner did just that in overtime to lead the Bruins to the win and a four point lead in the battle for the eighth and final playoff spot.
Daniel Paille opened the scoring for the Bruins and David Pastrnak put them up by two early in the third before Travis Zajac on the power play and Jordin Tootoo tied things up for the Devils.
Niklas Svedberg stopped 29 shots to pick up the win as he got the start when Tuukka Rask was unable to go due to an illness. The Bruins were forced to recall Jeremy Smith to back up Svedberg. Rask’s status for Saturday’s game against Arizona is still up in the air.
Cory Schneider was sharp in the New Jersey net as he made 31 saves. His record is now 22-23-6.
NEW YORK ISLANDERS 2 CALGARY 1
Cal Clutterbuck’s empty net goal with 42 seconds remaining was the eventual winner as the Islanders defeated the visiting Calgary Flames 2-1.
The goal gave the Islanders a 2-0 lead after Ryan Strome’s first period power play goal. It looked like Strome’s 14th of the season would be the only goal of the game but Clutterbuck scored and then Josh Jooris found the back of the net with 21 seconds left in the game to ruin Jaroslav Halak’s shutout bid.
Halak stopped 26 shots for his 33rd win of the season while Karri Ramo kicked aside 37 of 38 to see his record drop to 10-7-1.
Mark Giordano tried to go and participated in the pre-game skate but was forced to the press box with an upper body injury suffered Wednesday against the Devils.
CAROLINA 3 WASHINGTON 0
Anton Khudobin (who gets a shutout this season every time that Brett Bellemore has scored this season) stopped all 28 shots to earn a 3-0 win over the Washington Capitals.
Bellemore got things started with his first of the season (see) while Jeff Skinner scored his sixth goal in his past eight games to up the lead to 2-0. The Capitals pulled Braden Holtby in an attempt to get on the scoreboard but Nathan Gerbe scored his seventh into the empty net to finish the scoring.
Holtby was busy in the Washington cage as he was forced to make 35 saves. He is now 29-15-9 this season.
TAMPA BAY 4 CHICAGO 0
Ben Bishop stopped 28 shots to shutout the Chicago Blackhawks 4-0. Bishop has been in a goaltending battle of late with Andrei Vasilevskiy of late but with Vasilevskiy’s poor performance on Sunday as he allowed five goals on only 18 shots and Bishop’s shutout Friday, it looks like advantage – Bishop.
Steve Stamkos scored twice with Ryan Callahan and Brian Boyle also scoring for the Lightning. Jason Garrison picked up a couple of assists to give him 22 this season.
Jonathan Drouin picked up his 23rd assist of the season. Too bad he has been able to score only twice this year.
Scott Darling made 25 saves to see his record drop to 6-3. Expect to see Corey Crawford in goal on Monday against the Hurricanes.
COLORADO 5 DALLAS 4 (Shootout)
Ryan O'Reilly was the only player to score in the shootout as he led the Avs to a 5-4 win over Dallas.
After a scoreless first period. Cody Eakin potted his first of two goals to get things started in the second. Jason Spezza and Antoine Roussel also scored for the Avalanche as Eakin also set up Roussel’s third period marker.
Nate Guenin scored his second of the season and also chipped in with two assists, as did Tyson Barrie, to lead the way for the Avs. Gabriel Landeskog had a goal and an assist with Jarome Iginla also scoring.
Semyon Varlamov made 32 saves to push his record to 19-16-7 while Kari Lehtonen stopped only 19 shots as he is now 25-13-10.
ANAHEIM 4 LOS ANGELES 2
Corey Perry scored twice to lead the Anaheim Ducks to a 4-2 win over the Los Angeles Kings. It was the Kings second straight loss after eight consecutive wins.
Ryan Kesler had a goal and an assist with Emerson Etem potting his fourth of the season as the Ducks overcame a 2-0 deficit to score four times in the third stanza for the win.
Trevor Lewis with his eighth and Brayden McNabb with his first NHL goal of the season and only the second in his career, gave the Kings the 2-0 lead heading into the third.
Martin Jones got a rare start and stopped 28 of 31 shots as his record dipped to 4-4-2. John Gibson stopped 20 pucks as he ran his record to 7-5. Frederik Andersen returned and backed up Gibson in the Anaheim net.
Andrej Sekera made his first start for the Kings since being acquired on Wednesday from Carolina. Drew Doughty played 28:31, his third lowest total in February.
NIGHTLY LEADERS
GOALS
Steve Stamkos 2
Cody Eakin 2
Corey Perry 2
ASSISTS
Andrej Nestrasil 2
Jason Garrison 2
Tyson Barrie 2
Nate Guenin 2
SHOTS
Nathan Gerbe 8
Steve Stamkos 7
David Pastrnak 6
HITS
Cody McLeod 11
Dennis Seidenberg 8
Brad Malone 7
PENALTY MINUTES
Tom Wilson 7
Duncan Keith 6
Brett Bellemore 5
PLUS /MINUS
Tyson Barrie +3
Cam Fowler +3
BLOCKS
Nate Guenin 6
Jyrki Jokipakka 5
Ben Lovejoy 5
PLUS/MINUS
Martin Havlat -3
