Wild Holds Off Rangers in First Regulation Win
Petr Sykora had a goal and an assist, and Eric Belanger and Antti Miettinen also scored to help the host Minnesota Wild defeat the Rangers, 3-2, its first win in regulation this season.
“We talked all day about trusting your teammates and believing in yourself,” said Miettinen, who broke a 20-game scoreless streak.
Mikko Koivu added two assists, and Niklas Backstrom stopped 18 shots for Minnesota. Dane Byers scored his first goal for the Rangers, and Marc Staal added a third-period goal.
The game was originally billed as the return of the Rangers star Marian Gaborik to Minnesota. But Gaborik, who played his first eight seasons with the Wild before joining the Rangers before this season, was injured this week.
Sykora, who was benched by Coach Todd Richards on Wednesday night against Nashville, scored the game’s first goal. It was only the fourth time the Wild had taken a 1-0 lead in 13 games.
Henrik Lundqvist stopped 29 shots for the Rangers (8-5-1), who are 1-4-1 in their last six games after starting the season with seven wins in eight games.
“We go back to work, there’s no magic potion trying to get out of this here,” Rangers Coach John Tortorella said. “It’s just a matter of trying to cut down on our mistakes, especially the turnovers in the neutral zone, and go back to work and find a way.”
Trailing by 3-1 entering the third period, the Rangers cut the lead to 3-2 when a shot by Staal from the left circle beat Wild goalie Niklas Backstrom at 5 minutes 1 second. The Rangers controlled play for most of the period, but Backstrom made seven saves in the final 20 minutes.
ISLANDERS 4, CAPITALS 3 Mark Streit scored 53 seconds into overtime to give the visiting Islanders their second straight victory and third of the season. Dwayne Roloson made 37 saves to help the Islanders end the Capitals’ winning streak at six.
PANTHERS 6, STARS 5 Steven Reinprecht had a natural hat trick in a 5:11 span of the first period, and Rostislav Olesz scored in the second round of a shootout for host Florida. Reinprecht got the scoring started at 10:38 of the first period on a rebound past goaltender Alex Auld, who started because Marty Turco was sidelined with flulike symptoms. Reinprecht fired in another rebound at 15:20 and completed his spree 29 seconds later when he swept in a loose puck.
PENGUINS 4, BLUE JACKETS 3 Pittsburgh scored twice in the final three minutes of regulation to tie it and Sidney Crosby had the only goal in the shootout at Columbus. The Penguins (11-2-0) improved to 6-0-0 on the road, the franchise’s best road start.
SABRES 3, MAPLE LEAFS 2 Tim Connolly scored a power-play goal 1:04 into overtime for host Buffalo (8-1-1), which matched its second-best start after 10 games since entering the N.H.L. in 1970.
BLACKHAWKS 3, CANADIENS 2 Patrick Sharp scored with 4:10 left for host Chicago, taking a centering pass from Patrick Kane and converting a shot between the circles past Carey Price.
AROUND THE LEAGUE The Blackhawks’ captain, Jonathan Toews, missed his fourth straight game because of concussionlike symptoms. ... Red Wings forward Valtteri Filppula is out indefinitely after breaking his right wrist. ... The players union fired Ian Penny, its interim executive director.
Petr Sykora had a goal and an assist, and Eric Belanger and Antti Miettinen also scored to help the host Minnesota Wild defeat the Rangers, 3-2, its first win in regulation this season.
“We talked all day about trusting your teammates and believing in yourself,” said Miettinen, who broke a 20-game scoreless streak.
Mikko Koivu added two assists, and Niklas Backstrom stopped 18 shots for Minnesota. Dane Byers scored his first goal for the Rangers, and Marc Staal added a third-period goal.
The game was originally billed as the return of the Rangers star Marian Gaborik to Minnesota. But Gaborik, who played his first eight seasons with the Wild before joining the Rangers before this season, was injured this week.
Sykora, who was benched by Coach Todd Richards on Wednesday night against Nashville, scored the game’s first goal. It was only the fourth time the Wild had taken a 1-0 lead in 13 games.
Henrik Lundqvist stopped 29 shots for the Rangers (8-5-1), who are 1-4-1 in their last six games after starting the season with seven wins in eight games.
“We go back to work, there’s no magic potion trying to get out of this here,” Rangers Coach John Tortorella said. “It’s just a matter of trying to cut down on our mistakes, especially the turnovers in the neutral zone, and go back to work and find a way.”
Trailing by 3-1 entering the third period, the Rangers cut the lead to 3-2 when a shot by Staal from the left circle beat Wild goalie Niklas Backstrom at 5 minutes 1 second. The Rangers controlled play for most of the period, but Backstrom made seven saves in the final 20 minutes.
ISLANDERS 4, CAPITALS 3 Mark Streit scored 53 seconds into overtime to give the visiting Islanders their second straight victory and third of the season. Dwayne Roloson made 37 saves to help the Islanders end the Capitals’ winning streak at six.
PANTHERS 6, STARS 5 Steven Reinprecht had a natural hat trick in a 5:11 span of the first period, and Rostislav Olesz scored in the second round of a shootout for host Florida. Reinprecht got the scoring started at 10:38 of the first period on a rebound past goaltender Alex Auld, who started because Marty Turco was sidelined with flulike symptoms. Reinprecht fired in another rebound at 15:20 and completed his spree 29 seconds later when he swept in a loose puck.
PENGUINS 4, BLUE JACKETS 3 Pittsburgh scored twice in the final three minutes of regulation to tie it and Sidney Crosby had the only goal in the shootout at Columbus. The Penguins (11-2-0) improved to 6-0-0 on the road, the franchise’s best road start.
SABRES 3, MAPLE LEAFS 2 Tim Connolly scored a power-play goal 1:04 into overtime for host Buffalo (8-1-1), which matched its second-best start after 10 games since entering the N.H.L. in 1970.
BLACKHAWKS 3, CANADIENS 2 Patrick Sharp scored with 4:10 left for host Chicago, taking a centering pass from Patrick Kane and converting a shot between the circles past Carey Price.
AROUND THE LEAGUE The Blackhawks’ captain, Jonathan Toews, missed his fourth straight game because of concussionlike symptoms. ... Red Wings forward Valtteri Filppula is out indefinitely after breaking his right wrist. ... The players union fired Ian Penny, its interim executive director.
Source: New York Times
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