NHL Scores And More: Senators, Islanders And Flames All Win
A newcomer came through for the Senators against Ottawa, the Islanders topped the Jets in a shootout and a poor second period helped the Flames past the Wild.
Kyle Turris, acquired in a trade by the Senators just this last weekend, wasted little time making his presence felt on his new team, assisting on the game-winner in the third period. From DarrenM of Silver Seven:
The Ottawa Senators' newest player had just over 16 minutes of ice-time tonight, finished +2, and was dynamite in the face-off circle, winning 7 of 9 draws. He was solid in all three zones, and made a couple of key defensive plays -- notably saving a probable goal when Sergei Gonchar turned the puck over right in front of Craig Anderson. Turris assisted on the game-winner with a great rebound pass to Erik Condra, and seemed to get better as the game went along.
Evgeni Nabokov saw his first action in over a month when he entered the game to replace an injured Al Montoya late in the second period. He showed little signs of rust, though, stopping all 19 shots he faced through the end of regulation, overtime and the shootout. From Dominik of Lighthouse Hockey:
Evgeni Nabokov relieved, thrust into his first appearance since Nov. 17, and did well, stopping a combined 19 shots in the third period and OT, plus two challenging moves in the shootout.
Both Nabokov and Ondrej Pavelec traded saves through traffic during OT, but otherwise that extra frame was more of a careful 4-on-4 chess match, though the Jets outshot the Isles 5-2 there as they continued a push that began in the third period. (Final shot tally: 38-33 for the Jets. It was 22-19 Isles at the 2nd intermission.)
The Islanders extra-time luck appears to have swayed back their way with their first two shootout wins of the year coming in consecutive games on this road trip, with Danish judgment handed down swiftly both times.
After trading goals in the first period, Jarome Iginla scored the game-winner in the second period for the Flames. Not surprisingly, Wild fans weren't thrilled to see how that second period went down. From BReynolds of Hockey Wilderness:
This was, without a doubt, one of the worst periods of hockey they have played all year. It is difficult to question the play with so many fill-in players in the line-up, but this was a period full of basic hockey mistakes. Missed assignments, bad passing, coasting, complete shut down of all physical play. Absolutely brutal. Iginla saw it, capitalized on it, and good on him for doing so.
The third was much better, but as everyone who was around last year knows it was too little, too late. A couple very good chances were stopped by a suddenly very good Miikka Kiprusoff, and far too many chances were passed on in favor of yet another pass. At one point, Marek Zidlicky took a shot, had it blocked, the shot came right back to him, and rather than shoot through the now open lane, he attempted to skate with it and lost it.
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