ST. PAUL
New York Islanders Hats Authentic , Minn. (AP) —Ducks are still among the teams jockeying for playoff positioning in the
Western Conference.Ryan Miller made 31 saves for his 44th career shutout as the
Ducks beat the Minnesota Wild 4-0 Tuesday night for their third win in four
games. Jakob Silfverberg, Corey Perry, Ryan Kesler and Hampus Lindholm scored to
help Anaheim pull three points behind the Wild for the second wild card in the
Western Conference.Anaheim’s newfound confidence comes after the team lost seven
in a row and eight of nine.“I think when you stick together through a time like
we went through, you come out of it on the other side a closer team and a better
team because of it,” Kesler said.Miller got his second win in two starts since
returning from a knee injury that sidelined him for 24 games. His latest came
two days after he set the all-time wins record for a U.S.-born goalie with a
victory over Washington. He now has 376 for his career.Devan Dubnyk finished
with 20 saves in Minnesota’s fifth straight loss. The Wild have been shut out in
consecutive games for the first time all season and haven’t scored in the last
156 minutes.“It’s obviously frustrating. We need to find ways to score goals,”
Wild defenseman Ryan Suter said. “You can’t win games if you don’t score
goals.”The Wild remained one point ahead of Chicago, Vancouver and Colorado,
with Arizona tied with Anaheim another two points back.Anaheim took advantage of
the first penalty of the game with a power-play goal early in the second.
Silfverberg managed to find the loose puck in front of Dubnyk and got his 16th
goal at 4:22. The play was set up by a backhand from Devin Shore. Dubnyk made
the initial save but couldn’t corral the rebound. A scrum in front of the net
ensured before Silfverberg put it in.Minnesota appeared to tie it at 6:29 of the
third as Mikael Granlund poked the puck past Miller on a delayed penalty but the
play was whistled dead.“It was just one of those plays I got the benefit of the
doubt, I guess,” Miller said. “The hockey gods put me out for 10 weeks, so this
is a little bit of retribution.”Anaheim’s penalty kill was put to the test in
the third period. The Ducks were called for three penalties in the period but
managed to kill off all three. Minnesota had the man-advantage for six minutes
in just under a nine-minute span in the period but couldn’t score.“I didn’t
think we paid the price to win. Simple as that
Custom New York Islanders Jerseys ,” said Wild coach Bruce Boudreau, who ended his postgame press conference after just two questions. “You gotta get to the
front of the net. You gotta get the dirty goals.”Minnesota’s penalty kill unit
continued to struggle. Silfverberg’s goal was the 15th power-play goal allowed
in the Wild’s last 13 games. That included a pair given up against St. Louis on
Sunday.Perry, Kesler and Lindholm scored in a 4:35 span to make it 4-0 with just
over a minute left.NOTES: Linesman Devin Berg left the game early in the first
period after getting hit by a puck just below the waist on a dump-in by
Minnesota’s Jason Zucker. Berg remained down momentarily before being helped off
the ice and did not return to the game. … Wild C Matt Hendricks (upper body)
missed his third straight game due to injury. … Ducks RW Daniel Sprong was a
healthy scratch for the second straight game.UP NEXTDucks: At Calgary on Friday
night.Wild: At New York Rangers on Thursday night. CALGARY, Alberta (AP) The
Florida Panthers have been on quite a roll since the All-Star break.Mike
Matheson scored twice, Aleksander Barkov had a goal and two assists, and the
Florida Panthers beat the Calgary Flames 6-3 Saturday night for their seventh
win in eight games.”We’ve been doing a lot better job of playing within our
systems,” Matheson said. ”Early on in the year we were trying to get used to it
a little bit. Since having a bit of time off at the All-Star break, I think
we’ve been able to come back hard knowing we really can’t afford to be leaving
points out there.”Article continues below ...Roberto Luongo stopped 30 shots in
his first appearance since a groin injury on Dec. 4, and picked up his first win
since Nov. 27.”Still not quite as sharp as I want to be, but for the first game
back I thought it was pretty good,” Luongo said.Evgenii Dadonov and Vincent
Trocheck each had a goal and an assist, and Jared McCann also scored to help the
Panthers get their fifth straight road win.Florida went into the league’s
four-day break 12 points out of a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.
They’ve cut the margin in half
www.officialhockeyrangersshop.com , now trailing the New York Islanders for the second wild card spot by six
points.”Guys are playing like it’s our playoffs right now,” Panthers coach Bob
Boughner said. ”We’ve got to just keep digging in and getting as many points as
we can right now. We’re still in the thick of it and we have some games at
hand.”Dougie Hamilton scored three goals for his first career hat trick for the
Flames, who are 0-3-3 in their last six at home. It was the first three-goal
game by a Flames defenseman since Al MacInnis in 1992.”Obviously a cool thing to
do, but tough in a game like that,” said Hamilton, playing in his 400th NHL
game. ”I’ve had two goals before and you always say to yourself, well maybe
there’s a chance you can score a hat trick, but never did it. The last one I had
that I remember was minor hockey. It’s been a while.”David Rittich started and
gave up four goals on 15 shots before he was pulled early in the second period.
Jon Gillies came on and stopped 13 of the 15 shots he faced.The Flames, the
league’s second-best road team, just completed a 4-2-0 trip. However, they
couldn’t carry that over in their return home.”What happened tonight is what
everybody fears and talks about,” coach Glen Gulutzan said. ”You come home from
a road trip
New York Rangers T-Shirts Authentic , you have a successful road trip, your first game back and every guy didn’t have enough to get us through this
game.”Tied 1-1 after the first period, Florida blew the game open in the second
with three goals in the opening 6:03.Trocheck completed a nifty give-and-go with
Barkov by slipping a shot past Rittich at 58 seconds to put Florida ahead. With
Barkov providing the screen, Dadonov deflected Keith Yandle’s shot past Rittich
at 3:09 to make it 3-1. Barkov then gave the Panthers a three-goal lead at 6:03
as he redirected Dadonov’ shot between Rittich’s shot. Gillies came on after
that.”We just weren’t executing,” Flames captain Mark Giordano said. ”It felt
like we were a little bit off right from the start of the game.”Calgary pulled
to 4-2 with 7:45 left in the second on Hamilton’s second power-play goal of the
night.Matheson got his second of the game at 3:41 of the third, and McCann made
it 6-2 just more than two minutes later.Hamilton capped the scoring with 8:05
left when he banked in a shot from the corner off the leg of Panthers defenseman
Aaron Ekblad.NOTES: It was Rittich’s first start at home. His previous nine
starts all came on the road. … Injured starting goalie Mike Smith (lower body)
skated before the Flames’ game-day skate Saturday morning, but didn’t face any
shots. His status remains day-to-day. … Hamilton played in his 400th NHL game. …
Flames F Johnny Gaudreau snapped an eight-game scoring streak (four goals, seven
assists). … Ekblad extended his point-streak to six games (three goals, five
assists).UP NEXTPanthers: At Winnipeg on Sunday night.Flames: Host Boston on
Monday.
