NHL Friday: Hurricanes best Blue Jackets on three straight goals

While the scoreboard read 1-0 Chicago coming into the third period, Buffalo was barely hanging onto the one-goal deficit. Netminder Chad Johnson saved 42 shots in the loss, including 19 in the second period alone. The game was the Blackhawks to lose after allowing the Sabres back into it on Ryan O’Reilly’s 17th goal of the year halfway through the third. Buffalo never really had a chance, however, with just six shots offered up in the final frame.

It was rookie Phillip Danault’s first career NHL goal that unknotted the game for the Blackhawks and ultimately won the match for Chicago. Moments after O’Reilly’s tally, Danault glided in from center ice to the faceoff dot with ease before lifting a wrister that beat Johnson top shelf.

In a scary situation Friday evening, forward Alden Hirschfeld of the Grand Rapids Griffins in the AHL suddenly collapsed on the bench in a medical incident. During the second period of their game against the Milwaukee Admirals, tweets filtered in that an unidentified player was being tended to on the Griffins bench after collapsing.

The Griffins Twitter account announced that Hirchfeld was being taken to the hospital in “stable condition” just before 9 p.m. There’s no word on what caused Hirchfeld’s collapse, but the video below shows the shift before the incident occurred.