Bergeron's shootout goal gives Bruins win
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The Associated Press - Published: November 20, 2009
ATLANTA — Michael Ryder scored twice, Patrice Bergeron had the only goal of the shootout and the Boston Bruins snapped Atlanta's four-game winning streak with a 4-3 victory over the Thrashers on Thursday night.
Boston halted a three-game slide, which included two overtime defeats. The Thrashers at least picked up a point when Maxim Afinogenov scored with 41.4 seconds remaining in regulation to send the game to overtime.
Tuukka Rask stopped all three Atlanta skaters in the shootout, turning aside shots by Rich Peverley, Slava Kozlov and Ilya Kovalchuk. Bergeron scored on Boston's opening attempt, faking Ondrej Pavelec completely out of position and stuffing the puck into an open net.
The Bruins were less than a minute away from a regulation win, leading 3-2 when Atlanta pulled Pavelec for the extra skater.
Kovalchuk, who had already scored his 13th goal in 12 games, managed to keep the puck in the Boston zone, wheeled around and whipped a cross-ice pass to Afinogenov, the puck just missing the stick of flailing Bruins defender.
Afinogenov had time to settle the puck and rip a shot past Rask, just inside the far post for his eighth goal of the season. Afinogenov pumped his right fist and was knocked to ice by an exuberant Kovalchuk.
The Thrashers had the best chances in overtime but couldn't beat Rask. Ditto for the shootout.
The Bruins jumped ahead 2-0 in the opening period. Marco Sturm deflected in a shot by Mark Recchi and Ryder added to the lead with less than 2 minutes remaining, beating Pavelec with a wrist shot from the left circle.
The Thrashers stormed back in the second. Nik Antropov redirected a shot from Tobias Enstrom past Rask for his first goal of the season. Before that, Antropov had 16 points in 17 games — all with assists.
Then there's Kovalchuk, who's all about goals. He tied the game at 2 with a perfectly placed shot into the upper left corner off a pass from Enstrom, who picked up his second assist.
Boston, which came in with the league's worst power play, finally came through when Peverley off for hooking. Ryder scored his second goal of the night and sixth of the season, pushing the Bruins back to a 3-2 lead.
NOTES: Atlanta has lost seven straight to the Bruins. ... Boston was bolstered by the return of Milan Lucic, who missed 14 games because of a broken finger. Boston was still missing another top-line forward, Marc Savard, who is close to returning from a broken foot. ... Boston went with Rask in goal over Tim Thomas, who was 2-2 with a 3.45 goals-against average in five appearances at Philips Arena.
Hurricanes 6, Maple Leafs 5, SO
RALEIGH, N.C. — Tuomo Ruutu and Jussi Jokinen scored in the shootout and the Carolina Hurricanes rallied from three goals down to beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 6-5 on Thursday night.
The latest meeting of the NHL's worst teams had a wild finish. Ian White put the Maple Leafs ahead 5-4 with 29.9 seconds remaining, but Erik Cole tapped in a rebound with 2.9 seconds left to force overtime.
After an uneventful overtime, Ruutu and Jokinen beat Jonas Gustavsson with wrist shots and Manny Legace stopped Phil Kessel and Lee Stempniak to preserve his first victory with the Maple Leafs.
Alexei Ponikarovsky had a goal and an assist, and Matt Stajan, Lee Stempniak and Mikhail Grabovski also scored for the Maple Leafs, who led 3-0 after one period but extended their winless streak to five.
Tim Gleason scored twice in the third period, Matt Cullen had a goal and an assist, and he and Stephane Yelle scored 43 seconds apart in the second to lead Carolina. Legace stopped 27 shots, and Ruutu finished with four assists for the Hurricanes in their club-record fourth straight overtime game.
Gustavsson finished with 40 saves — and assisted on Ponikarovsky's third-period goal — for Toronto, which picked up points for the first time since Nov. 7, having lost four straight in regulation since.
When these teams last met two weeks ago, the Hurricanes were in the midst of their club-worst-tying 14-game winless streak and lost to the Maple Leafs to claim the indignity of being the worst team in the NHL. Since then, Carolina lost two goalies to injury, including franchise cornerstone Cam Ward, and Legace was brought in to stabilize things for a while.
The situation in the standings hasn't improved much for either team: Carolina entered winless in 15 of its last 16 and haven't won a game in regulation since Oct. 9.
The Maple Leafs came in with a lengthy slump of their own, having won only once since their previous visit to Raleigh. The teams entered with a combined record of 6-23-10, and each had 11 points — four behind Anaheim.
Early on, anyway, Toronto seemed determined to stop its slide, scoring 61 seconds in — the quickest goal Carolina has allowed this season — on its second shot of the night, then pushed its lead to 3-0 when Grabovski whipped in a rebound in the final moments of the period.
Gleason, who entered with two goals all year, and nine in his career, tied it at 4-all with 8:04 remaining with his second goal — charging hard to the net, taking a pretty feed from Brandon Sutter and beating Gustavsson with a wrist shot.
That came after Yelle started Carolina's comeback with about 3 minutes left in the second by banging in a loose puck. Moments later, Cullen beat Gustavsson with a wrist shot to make it a game again.
NOTES: Yelle's goal was his first with Carolina. ... Toronto scored first for just the third time this season. ... Carolina D Andrew Alberts rang the left post midway through the first. ... RW Patrick Dwyer was in the lineup for the Hurricanes, who called him up from Albany earlier in the day.
Senators 6, Penguins 2
OTTAWA — Chris Phillips scored twice in his 800th regular-season game and Pascal Leclaire made 25 saves, leading the Ottawa Senators to a 6-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday night.
Phillips, who entered with one goal in 18 games, scored goals 2:03 apart in the third to put Ottawa up 5-1 and chase Pittsburgh goalie Marc-Andre Fleury.
Milan Michalek got his 100th career goal and Matt Carkner, Chris Kelly and Jonathan Cheechoo also scored for Ottawa, which won its second in a row. Mike Fisher had three assists for the Senators.
Jordan Staal scored early in the first, and Evgeni Malking had a power-play goal late in the third for Pittsburgh, which gave up six straight goals after taking a 1-0 lead 1:09 in.
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