| MONTREAL (AP) After weeks without a win Pittsburgh Penguins Hoodies Authentic , the Montreal Canadiens finally found a team they could beat in the struggling New York Rangers.Antti Niemi made 31 saves and the Canadiens topped the Rangers 3-1 on Thursday night to snap their six-game losing streak.Tomas Plekanec, Jeff Petry and Phillip Danault scored for Montreal (23-29-8), which won for the first time since Feb. 4 and avoided matching its longest skid of the season.”Regardless of what happens all year, this is the feeling you play for,” said Brendan Gallagher, who got his team-leading 36th point with an assist. ”The more we can do this, the happier we’ll be. It’s rewarding. A lot of guys played a really good hockey game tonight and we got what we deserved.”For the crowd, it’s been a while since we’ve been able to put smiles on their faces.”The Canadiens have the third-worst record in the Eastern Conference and are 11 points out of a playoff spot.”It’s been a frustrating year for everyone,” said Petry Pittsburgh Penguins Hats Authentic , who scored the game-winner in the second period. ”It’s about playing a strong game. We have a lot to prove still, whether it be personally or as a team. Nobody wants to give up in here. We want to fight until the end.”Niemi got the start in place of injured Carey Price.Before the game, Montreal announced Price will be sidelined indefinitely with a concussion. The goalie took a shot to the mask in Tuesday’s loss to Philadelphia.Earlier on Thursday, the Canadiens also announced Shea Weber will miss the rest of the season because he needs surgery for a torn tendon in his left foot. The 32-year-old defenseman, likely injured on opening night in early October, has not played since Dec. 16.”Those are big losses for us,” Danault said. ”We have to learn to play without them. It’s part of the game.”Kevin Hayes scored for the Rangers (27-29-5), who have lost five in a row. Alexandar Georgiev, making his NHL debut Custom Pittsburgh Penguins Jerseys , stopped 38 of 40 shots.”I felt great about my game today,” said the 22-year-old Georgiev, who was solid throughout. ”The guys played really great in front of me and blocked a lot of shots. It really helped me. I just played my game and it was very fun from the first second of warmups.”Hayes spoiled Niemi’s shutout bid with exactly three minutes remaining. The Rangers’ forward appeared to have kicked the puck straight into the net, but instead deflected the puck with his stick before it crossed the line.With Price and Weber out of the lineup, another veteran stepped up for Montreal.Plekanec made it 1-0 at 6:59 of the first period with his sixth goal of the season. The 35-year-old beat defenseman Rob O’Gara to the puck and buried a no-look feed from Paul Byron.In the second period, Charles Hudon connected with Petry on a 2-on-1 for Montreal’s second of the game at 3:50. Hudon’s saucer pass narrowly avoided Brady Skjei’s slide and landed right on Petry’s stick at the side of the net. Petry has scored 10 goals for the first time in his career.The play got started with a big hit by Nicolas Deslauriers in the neutral zone.Danault scored into an empty net from deep in his own zone with 1:17 left.NOTES: After the game, the Rangers traded speedy winger Michael Grabner to the Devils in the first trade between the cross-river rivals. New Jersey sent a 2018 second-round draft pick and 20-year-old defensive prospect Yegor Rykov to New York. … Grabner and Rick Nash were healthy scratches for New York, likely to avoid any injuries before Monday’s trade deadline. Two weeks ago, the Rangers organization www.officialsharks.com , in a letter to fans, strongly suggested a roster overhaul was imminent. … Montreal’s Noah Juulsen made his NHL debut. He finished with two shots, one blocked shot and four hits in 17:14 of ice time.UP NEXTRangers: Host the Minnesota Wild on Friday night.Canadiens: Host the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday night.— SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — There are easier ways to start a West Coast road trip than against the perennial Pacific Division power San Jose Sharks in their notoriously loud arena.That assignment was just fine with Columbus Blue Jackets forward Nick Foligno.“A team that comes out so hard at you, so you have to be in that mindset,” he said.The Blue Jackets’ mindset was right on point Thursday night.Foligno scored twice, Anthony Duclair had a goal and an assist and Columbus skated to a 4-1 victory over San Jose.“No matter what people say on the outside, we know better,” Foligno said. “Our identity is a hard-working San Jose Sharks T-Shirts Authentic , tenacious team, and then our skill takes over from there.”Sergei Bobrovsky made 44 saves as the Blue Jackets won for the third time in four games. Seth Jones also scored.“I felt like a part of the team and I did my thing,” Bobrovsky said. “I didn’t try to create too much and I didn’t need that. So I just focused on my things, played my game and just enjoyed, had fun.”It was San Jose’s first regulation loss since Oct. 14 at New Jersey. The Sharks were 4-0-2 in their last six games since dropping three of four during a road trip.“We weren’t good enough to win the game,” coach Peter DeBoer said. “We were doing enough to hope to win. We have to do better.”The Sharks jumped in front on a power-play goal 11:50 into the first period. Logan Couture and Marc-Edouard Vlasic assisted on Kevin Labanc’s second goal of the season.But that was it for San Jose against Bobrovsky, and Columbus tied it on Duclair’s fifth goal at 16:30 of the first. Ryan Murray and Alexander Wennberg had assists on the play.The Blue Jackets went ahead to stay when Jones scored on a give-and-go with Duclair 9:15 into the second. Lukas Sedlak also had an assist on Jones’ second goal of the season.Foligno added a breakaway goal with 1:20 left in the period. Foligno slipped a backhand inside the left post past Aaron Dell.Foligno also had an empty-netter with 1:01 remaining.“We probably played our best game away from the puck,” Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella said.“We’ve done a lot of talking in meetings the last couple of days about, we’re not going to be a safe team San Jose Sharks Hoodies Authentic , we don’t want to be a safe team, but that doesn’t mean you can’t play above the puck when we don’t have it. A lot of our offense comes from being above the puck and in transition we stop teams before they get to our blue line, because we have back pressure.”Dell made 23 saves.“It’s simple. We didn’t play well,” Couture said. “We didn’t pass well, we didn’t spend enough time in their end, we didn’t forecheck, we turned the puck over. Columbus played harder than us. They boxed out around the net. We didn’t do a good job of creating traffic around the net and when we did, that’s when we created chances. It was just few and far between.”NOTES: Blue Jackets C Brandon Dubinsky (oblique strain) participated in Thursday’s skate but hasn’t received medical clearance to play. The 32-year-old missed his 10th straight game but hopes to play on the team’s three-game West Coast trip. … Columbus failed to capitalize on its only power play. The Blue Jackets are 6 of 45 in that department (13.3 percent) on the season. … Sharks RW Timo Meier was back on the first line with Joe Thornton and Joe Pavelski. Meier started the season on the top line. … Couture extended his point streak to eight games.UP NEXTBlue Jackets: Visit the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday night.Sharks: Host the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday night. |
