NHL Review Thursday February 22 2018 – LUONGO ADDRESSES PANTHERS CROWD HONORS  SHOOTING VICTIMS

THURSDAY’S RESULTS
Home Team in Caps
TORONTO 4, NY Islanders 3 (SO)
Minnesota 4, NEW JERSEY 2
PHILADELPHIA 2, Columbus 1
MONTREAL 3, NY Rangers 1
Tampa Bay 4, OTTAWA 3
Buffalo 3, DETROIT 2 (OT)
FLORIDA 3, Washington 2
NASHVILLE 7, San Jose 1
EDMONTON 3, Colorado 2 (OT)
Calgary 5, ARIZONA 2
Dallas 2, LOS ANGELES 0

LUONGO ADDRESSES PANTHERS CROWD . . .
Goaltender Roberto Luongo, a longtime resident of Parkland, Fla., addressed the crowd at BB&T Center with an emotional speech as the Panthers honored victims of last week’s shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Speaking for nearly three minutes, Luongo expressed his love for the Parkland community, called for positive action in the wake of tragedy, addressed family and friends of the victims and commended the efforts of teachers and students.

The pre-game ceremony included a stirring rendition of “God Bless America” and a video tribute to the 17 victims, whose names were projected onto the ice through the end of the moment of silence.

The Panthers (27-25-6, 60 points) scored twice in the final 3:42 of regulation – including the winning goal by Vincent Trocheck with 18.7 seconds remaining – to erase a 2-1 deficit and earn a victory over the Metropolitan Division-leading Capitals (34-20-7, 75 points). Florida moved within five points of Columbus (30-26-5, 65 points) for the final Wild Card spot in the Eastern Conference, with three games in hand.

MAPLE LEAFS, FLYERS EARN WINS TO EXTEND STREAKS

The Maple Leafs (38-20-5, 81 points) and Flyers (32-19-10, 74 points) each earned wins to extend streaks and move closer to second place in their respective division.

Auston Matthews scored the tying goal with 3:29 remaining in regulation as the Maple Leafs overcame deficits of 2-0 and 3-2 en route to a shootout victory, their eighth consecutive home win. Toronto is third in the Atlantic Division and moved within one point of Boston (37-13-8, 82 points) for second place.

Nolan Patrick scored the go-ahead marker with 10:11 remaining in regulation – his third straight contest with a goal (3-0—3) – to help the Flyers extend their point streak to 10 games (8-0-2), including four straight wins. Philadelphia moved into a tie with Pittsburgh (35-22-4, 74 points) for the second-most points in the Metropolitan Division; the Penguins, however, have more wins.

RINNE RECORDS 300TH WIN AS PREDATORS CONTINUE TO ROLL

Pekka Rinne (33 saves) recorded the 300th win of his NHL career and seven different Predators (37-14-9, 83 points) scored as the club extended its lead atop the Central Division standings. Nashville, who scored seven goals in a game for the second time this season (also 7-1 W on Dec. 13 at VAN), improved to 8-2-2 in the month of February and moved within one point of Vegas (40-16-4, 84 points) for first place in the Western Conference.

Rinne, the Predators’ all-time leader in wins, became the 34th goaltender in NHL history to record at least 300 victories and just the third Finnish-born netminder to do so.

NHL schedule for Friday, Feb 23 2018

Matchup	Time
Minnesota@ NY Rangers	7:00 PM ET
Pittsburgh@ Carolina	7:30 PM ET
Winnipeg@ St. Louis	8:00 PM ET
San Jose@ Chicago	8:30 PM ET
Vancouver@ Vegas	10:30 PM ET