Michel Therrien decided to go with Peter Budaj in net to try to put a stop to the Bruins' 12-game winning streak, and his gamble ended up paying off. The Canadiens' backup netminder stopped 28 of 29 shots through regulation and overtime in addition to all four shots he faced in the shootout to lead the Canadiens' to a 2-1 win in Boston.
NHL Scores: Bruins streaks comes to an end; Carter helps lead Kings to win in Philadelphia
Peter Budaj and Alex Galchenyuk ended the Boston Bruins 12-game winning streak, while Jeff Carter silenced the boos in his return to Philadelphia.
Alex Galchenyuk ended it in the fourth round of the shootout when he beat Tuukka Rask to bring Boston's winning streak to an end in a game that seemed to be a nice preview for a potential playoff matchup. There was a lot of anger, big hits, fights and some wildly entertaining play for 65 minutes. The only disappointment is that the two teams weren't able to keep playing to settle their tie and were forced to end it in a shootout.
Elsewhere on Monday, Jeff Carter and Mike Richards were making their first trip back to Philadelphia since the two were traded following the 2011-12 season and they heard quite a few boos for most of the night. They ended up getting the last laugh as the Kings were 3-2 winners thanks in part to a Carter goal in the first period to open the scoring. The Kings also received a little bit of puck luck when Philadelphia's Vincent Lecavalier pulled off what would have been an amazing trick shot by hitting all three posts on one shot. Sometimes hockey can be a game of inches, and when you lose a one-goal game on a night where that happened, it can be a pretty frustrating evening.
In Tampa Bay, Steven Stamkos demonstrated that he has some baseball skills when he scored his 21st goal of the season, batting the puck in out of mid-air from an impossible angle. It wasn't enough for the Lightning as they lost in a shootout to Ottawa, 4-3.
All the NHL Scores
Kings 3, Flyers 2
Canadiens 2, Bruins 1
Senators 4, Lightning 3
Three things we learned
1. The Canadiens and Bruins don’t like each other very much
OK, maybe we already knew that, but their hatred for one another was on display on Monday night as soon as the puck dropped and it never let up all night. It all started when Alexei Emelin sent Milan Lucic flying through the air with an open-ice hip check. Later in the game Lucic did this, via Stanley Cup of Chowder.
Just a friendly game.
2. For the Coyotes, two-goal leads really are the most dangerous leads
It’s an overused cliche in hockey to say that a two-goal lead is dangerous, but in the case of the Coyotes over the past couple of weeks it really does seem to be a problem that they need to find a way to get over. For the third time in five games they allowed a two-goal lead to disappear on Monday night, and while they were able to come away wins the first two times, they weren’t quite as lucky in Madison Square Garden dropping by a 4-3 overtime decision to the Rangers. Making the loss even worse is the fact they lost starting goalie Mike Smith to an injury late in the third period.
3. The Jets are done
If there was any small chance of the Jets pulling off a late season miracle and making the playoffs they absolutely, positively needed to beat the Dallas Stars on Monday. That did not happen and they fall to seven points back of the final wild card spot with just nine games to play. Pack it up, see you next season.
Impact Moment
The one play or moment from Monday that is going to be making headlines over the next couple of days.
Mike Smith's injury did not look good for the Coyotes, and if he has to miss any significant period of time that is going to be a huge blow to their playoff chances, especially with the way he's been playing over the past couple of months. When Smith is on his game he can carry the Coyotes, and they sometimes rely on him a little too much to do just that. During the past two months he's been more than up to the task. The combination of the Coyotes gaining a point in their overtime loss to the Rangers and the Stars beating Winnipeg leaves Phoenix with a one-point lead in the race for the final wild card spot heading into action on Tuesday. Phoenix play in Pittsburgh on Tuesday and backup Thomas Greiss is expected to get the start in net.
Stat of the Night
Philadelphia's Nicklas Grossmann had a pretty miserable night against the Los Angeles Kings. With him on the ice during 5-on-5 play the Flyers were outscored 2-0 and were a minus-16 (8-24) in shot attempts. Without him on the ice they actually outscored the Kings 2-1 and were a plus-7 (37-30) in the shot attempt battle. If the Flyers were a boat, Nicklas Grossmann would have been the anchor holding them down on Monday.
Post to Post
- What is going on with James Reimer in Toronto lately?
- The Carolina Hurricanes signed young defenseman Justin Faulk to a six-year, $29 million contract extension.
- What is wrong with the San Jose Sharks' power play?
- Look out behind you, Paul Maurice!
- Pavel Datsyuk hopes to return soon for the Detroit Red Wings.
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