Dose: Nyquist day and night
There were 10 games in the NHL on Halloween day and night. Let’s get right to it.
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NEW JERSEY 3 NEW YORK ISLANDERS 2 (Shootout)
Mike Cammalleri scored in the fourth round of the shootout to lead the Devils to a 3-2 win over the Islanders Saturday afternoon.
The Islanders were missing their best player as John Tavares sat out with an illness.
John Moore with his first of the season and Bobby Farnham with his first in his debut with the Devils scored in the first period to give the Devils an early lead but Anders Lee with the man-advantage and Frans Nielsen shorthanded tied the game in the second to give Cammalleri his chance at heroics.
Cory Schneider moved his record to 6-2-1 with the win while Jaroslav Halak’s record fell to 3-1-1.
DALLAS 5 SAN JOSE 3
Antoine Roussel and Vernon Fiddler each had a goal and two assists to lead Dallas to a 5-3 win over San Jose.
It was the battle of teammates as former Sharks netminder Antti Niemi got the start for the Stars while his backup from last season, Alex Stalock got the start in net for San Jose.
Niemi stopped 26 shots for his sixth win against only one loss while Stalock lost his second of the season in as many decisions.
Jason Demers, Tyler Seguin and Patrick Sharp each had a goal and an assist for the winners.
Joel Ward had a goal and an assist for the Sharks with Matthew Nieto and Joe Pavelski also finding the back of the net.
LOS ANGELES 4 NASHVILLE 3 (Overtime)
Jeff Carter’s overtime marker with 18 seconds remaining was the winner as the Kings knocked off the Predators 4-3.
It was all power plays in the second period after a scoreless first as Tyler Toffoli opened the scoring for the Kings but had James Neal and Shea Weber reply for the Predators.
Toffoli’s second of the game tied the score at two in the third and then Kings resident tough guy Andy Andreoff gave them a 3-2 lead before Ryan Ellis sent the game into overtime for Carter’s eventual winner.
It was two of the best in net as Jonathan Quick outdueled Pekka Rinne. Quick stopped 31 to run his record to 6-3 while Rinne is now 6-1-2 after turning aside 25 shots.
PITTSBURGH 4 TORONTO 0
I was actually at this game and the best costume outside of a couple dressing up as the Hansen brothers were the many players on the Maple Leafs masquerading as hockey players.
Coach Mike Babcock has a tough road ahead of him. His system is terrific and you can see Toronto is definitely putting in the effort but the talent is just not there.
Predictably, Phil Kessel heard some boos whenever he touched the puck and that wasn’t fair to the former Maple Leaf.
Eric Fehr led the way for Pittsburgh with a goal and an assist in his Penguins debut. Matt Cullen had similar stats with Chris Kunitz and Patric Hornqvist also finding the back of the net.
Marc-Andre Fleury stopped all 21 shots directed his way for his 40th career shutout. Jonathan Bernier gave up a couple of soft goals (the first and the last) in lowering his record to 0-6-1.
It’s going to be a long season in Toronto.
DETROIT 5 OTTAWA 3
The Red Wings won the return match against Ottawa as the two teams played a home-and-home series.
The two squads changed their respective goaltenders as Petr Mrazek made 33 saves for his third win of the season while Craig Anderson gave up five goals on only 28 shots to drop to 4-3-1.
It was a big night for Jonathan Ericsson who scored first of the season and had 14 penalty minutes. Chris Neil had a whopping 24 minutes in the sin bin for the Senators.
It was a big night for Gustav Nyquist as he had a goal and an assist as well as a penalty minute. Nyquist was even better in the afternoon as the horse by the same name won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at odds of 9-2.
Tomas Tatar and Danny DeKeyser each had a goal and an assist for the winners as well, but no such luck at the Breeders’.
Mark Stone had a goal and an assist for Ottawa who had beaten the Red Wings 3-1 the night before.
BOSTON 3 TAMPA BAY 1
The Bruins completed the sweep of the state of Florida by knocking off the Lightning 3-1 Saturday, the same score they defeated the Florida Panthers on Friday.
Jonas Gustavsson got the start and won his third straight in as many decisions, as he stopped 21 shots.
Only Nikita Kucherov beat him while Brad Marchand had a goal and an assist to give him four goals and eight points in his last five games. Matt Beleskey and Brett Connolly (who had the winner against his former club) also scored for Boston who are now 6-3-1.
WASHINGTON 2 FLORIDA 1 (Overtime)
Evgeny Kuznetsov scored the winner in overtime as the Capitals got by the Panthers 2-1.
Jussi Jokinen opened the scoring for Florida while Jay Beagle tied it in the third as Alex Ovechkin (who set up both goals) and Justin Williams had the assists.
Both netminders saw 27 shots on net with Philipp Grubauer stopping 26 while his Florida counterpart Al Montoya turned aside 25.
Jaromir Jagr sat out his second consecutive game with a lower body injury.
WINNIPEG 3 COLUMBUS 2
Andrew Copp scored his first NHL goal Saturday in the Jets 3-2 win over Columbus.
Bryan Little and Blake Wheeler each chipped in with a goal and an assist while Brandon Saad and Scott Hartnell replied for the Blue Jackets.
Columbus netminder Sergei Bobrovsky was pulled after the first period in which he allowed all three Winnipeg goals on just 11 shots. Curtis McElhinney started the second and finished the game, stopping all 16 shots.
Ondrej Pavelec made 19 saves for his third win of the season. He is in a battle with Michael Hutchinson for the top job with the Jets but is trailing right now as Hutchinson has been sensational in the early going.
ST. LOUIS 3 MINNESOTA 2 (Overtime)
David Backes scored his first two goals of the season including the overtime winner to lead the Blues to a 3-2 win over Minnesota.
There were a flurry of goals in the first (well, actually four) and then it took until the 4:26 mark of overtime for another marker.
Alexander Steen scored his fifth of the season to give the Blues a 2-0 lead but Jason Zucker and Erik Haula replied for the Wild to tie the game at a deuce.
Jake Allen made 29 saves for his fourth win of the season as he seems to be pulling ahead of Brian Elliot in the race for the number one goalie in St. Louis.
Devan Dubnyk saw his record drop to 7-2-1 with 23 saves on 26 shots. While his record is great, his peripherals leave a lot to be desired as he is 28th in the NHL with a 2.58 GAA and a .898 save percentage which is 37th overall in the league.
CALGARY 5 EDMONTON 4
Michael Frolik scored the hat trick (the first of his career) including the winner with nine seconds left on the clock to lead the Calgary Flames to a 5-4 win over their provincial rivals, the Edmonton Oilers.
Brandon Bollig and T.J. Brodie, each with their first of the season, also scored for Calgary.
Taylor Hall and Leon Draisaitl each had a goal and two helpers for the Oilers. The three point effort gives Draisaitl three goals and five points in the two games since he was recalled by Edmonton earlier in the week. It’s going to be tough to send the third overall pick in the 2014 Draft back to Bakersfield after another great offensive performance.
Brandon Davidson and Teddy Purcell, both on the pp scored for Edmonton while Connor McDavid saw his seven game point streak come to an end.
Karri Ramo picked up his first win of the season but it wasn’t pretty as he made 19 saves on 23 shots. Cam Talbot is now 3-6 as he made 27 saves on 32 shots for the loss.
NIGHTLY LEADERS
GOALS
Michael Frolik 3
Tyler Toffoli 2
David Backes 2
ASSISTS
Done by many 2
SHOTS
Michael Frolik 7
Drew Doughty 6
Filip Forsberg 6
HITS
Leo Komarov 6
Mark Borowiecki 6
PENALTY MINUTES
Chris Neil 24
Jonathan Ericsson 14
PLUS /MINUS
Antoine Roussel +3
Vernon Fiddler +3
Robert Scuderi +3
Michael Frolik +3
Matt Stajan +3
Josh Jooris +3
BLOCKS
Drew Miller 4
PLUS/MINUS
Brent Burns -3