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Congratulations to defenseman Zdeno Chara on playing his 1,600th career game Saturday. The veteran defenseman is playing for his fourth NHL team after starting his career as a New York Islander, getting dealt to Ottawa in the Alexei Yashin fiasco and then going to Boston as an unrestricted free agent after the 2005-06 season where he played for the Bruins for the next 14 seasons before going to Washington in the off-season.
Chara had some great fantasy seasons as he had seven straight seasons with 100 or more penalty minutes, he scored in double digits in 10 different campaigns and had 40 or more points on nine occasions.
Overall, he has 207 goals and 458 assists in his career as well as 1,983 penalty minutes and most importantly, was a huge factor on the blueline with his long reach (Chara is six-feet, nine inches tall) and hard-hitting style at 250 pounds. The Slovakian star is a shoo-in for the Hall of Fame.
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PITTSBURGH 1 BOSTON 0
Tristan Jarry stopped all 30 shots as he and Jeremy Swayman of the Penguins went save-for-save in the first two periods as Pittsburgh shut out Boston 1-0.
Jake Guentzel’s blast in the third period off a nice feed from Sidney Crosby, was the lone goal of the game as Pittsburgh took over first place in the East, a point up on Washington, who were idle Sunday.
It was Guentzel’s 21st of the season and gives him 52 points in 49 games. He has meshed so nicely with Crosby and Bryan Rust on the Penguins top line.
Brian Dumoulin also had an assist on the Guentzel goal.
Jarry’s shutout was his first of the season as he is 21-8-3 with a 2.70 GAA and a .911 save percentage.
It was only the second loss of the season for the rookie Swayman who is 5-2-0. He has given the Bruins great goaltending in limited action, giving up more than two goals in only one of his seven starts. Swayman stopped 28 shots and has a sparkling 1.56 GAA and a just as sensational .946 save percentage.
It was an odd start to the game with no goals or penalties in the first two periods, the first time that has occurred this season.
Kasperi Kapanen had five shots on goal.
Kevan Miller had six hits.
Patrice Bergeron took the lone penalty of the game as he was sent to the box for high-sticking with only 1:28 left in the contest.
Taylor Hall was the only Bruins forward without a shot on goal.
NEW YORK RANGERS 6 BUFFALO 3
Mika Zibanejad had the hat trick and led the Rangers to a 6-3 win over Buffalo Sunday.
Zibanejad has been quite hot of late with 16 goals and 34 points in his last 22 games after starting the season with only three goals and 11 points in his first 27 contests.
Kaapo Kakko scored twice and Kevin Rooney scored into the empty net for the Rangers.
Sam Reinhart continued his furious pace with a goal and an assist. Reinhart has 21 goals and 35 points this season and is the top scorer on the Sabres with Jack Eichel out for the season.
Victor Olofsson and Jeff Skinner also scored for Buffalo who were unable to pass the New Jersey Devils with the loss.
Igor Shesterkin is 14-11-3 this season after stopping 31 shots. He has a 2.46 GAA and a .919 save percentage.
Dustin Tokarski gave up five goals on 28 shots. He is 2-8-2 with a 3.08 GAA and a .908 save percentage.
Adam Fox has been on fire since March 17 as he has three goals and 31 assists in his last 22 games including three assists Sunday.
Pavel Buchnevich had two assists.
Zibanejad had seven shots on goal.
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PHILADELPHIA 4 NEW JERSEY 3 (Shootout)
Claude Giroux scored twice, just 22 seconds apart in the third period to send the game into extra time and an eventual shootout as the Flyers came back to beat the Devils 4-3.
The Devils were looking to snap a nine-game losing streak and were up 3-1 with less than two minutes left in the third before Giroux potted his pair of goals. The good news is that New Jersey picked up their first point in 10 games with the shootout loss.
Kevin Hayes beat Mackenzie Blackwood in the sixth round to give the Flyers the victory.
The Devils got off to a 1-0 lead (their first lead in the 10-game losing streak) when Michael McLeod found the back of the net at the 4:56 mark of the first but Sean Couturier evened the score with his 14th of the season.
Miles Wood scored the only goal of the second and when Pavel Zacha scored in the third, it looked like the Devils were finally going to break their nine-game losing streak.
But Giroux ended those dreams and it was just another L in the loss column, albeit, in the shootout loss column.
Brian Elliott picked up the win as he stopped 29 shots to go to 13-6-2 with a 2.88 GAA and a .896 save percentage.
Blackwood made 33 saves but saw three shots beat him in the shootout to Elliott’s two. Blackwood is 9-16-4 with a 3.09 GAA and a .901 save percentage. Blackwood is 0-7-2 in the month of April.
James van Riemsdyk and Jakub Voracek each had two assists for the Flyers while Nathan Bastian had two helpers for the Devils.
Scott Laughton, Miles Wood and Yegor Sharangovich all had five shots on goal.
Andreas Johnsson was hit into the boards in the third period by Scott Laughton and did not return.
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TAMPA BAY 4 COLUMBUS 3 (Overtime)
It only took 10 seconds of overtime for the Lightning to win as Victor Hedman ripped home a wrister from the slot and beat Elvis Merzlikins to give Tampa Bay a 4-3 win over Columbus.
Merzlikins was forced into action at the 2:41 mark of the third period after starter Joonas Korpisalo suffered a lower-body injury on Alex Barre-Boulet’s first career NHL goal. Barre-Boulet’s first shot went wide and it appeared that Korpisalo injured himself at that time. Barre-Boulet scored on his subsequent shot and Korpisalo departed the contest at that point.
Ondrej Palat had a goal and two assists while Mathieu Joseph with his 12th, also scored for the Lightning.
Eric Robinson scored a pair for Columbus with Mikhail Grigorenko with his third, also scoring for the Blue Jackets.
Brayden Point had three assists while Max Domi had two for Columbus.
Andrei Vasilevskiy picked up the win, turning aside 19 shots as he improved his record to 28-8-1. He has a 2.13 GAA and a .927 save percentage.
Vladislav Gavrikov had six blocked shots.
Barre-Boulet had six shots on goal.
NIGHTLY LEADERS
Goals
Mika Zibanejad – 3
Eric Robinson – 2
Kaapo Kakko – 2
Claude Giroux – 2
Assists
Adam Fox – 3
Brayden Point – 3
Ondrej Palat – 2
Pavel Buchnevich – 2
Nathan Bastian – 2
Jakub Voracek – 2
Max Domi – 2
Shots on Goal
Mika Zibanejad – 7
Blake Coleman – 5
Kasperi Kapanen – 5
Miles Wood – 5
Scott Laughton – 5
Hits
Kevan Miller – 6
Penalty Minutes
Ryan Strome – 4