NHL Review Friday December 22 2017

FRIDAY’S RESULTS

Home Team in Caps

BUFFALO 4, Philadelphia 2

FLORIDA 4, Minnesota 2

Montreal 3, CALGARY 2

ARIZONA 3, Washington 2 (OT)

ROOKIES FISCHER, KELLER RALLY COYOTES FOR OT WIN
Christian Fischer tied the game with 1:01 left in regulation and Clayton Keller (1-1—2) notched his first career overtime goal to help the Coyotes snap a seven-game skid (0-6-1).

Fischer’s goal marked the 49th time this season that a team scored a tying goal in the final five minutes of regulation, and the fourth such instance in the past two nights after the Ducks (Rickard Rakell at 18:45; 5-4 OT W), Oilers (Connor McDavid at 16:19, 3-2 W) and Blue Jackets (Artemi Panarin at 16:14; 3-2 SO L) each did so on Thursday.

Keller scored his 13th goal of the season to move into sole possession of second place among rookies; he also ranks third among rookies with 28 points, behind Canucks forward Brock Boeser (19-14—33) and Islanders forward Mathew Barzal (9-23—32).

This marks the fourth consecutive season that a Coyotes rookie has scored at least 13 goals, with a total of six players achieving the feat in that span – compared to the previous 20 seasons combined when only three Coyotes/Jets rookies hit the mark.

ATLANTIC DIVISION CLUBS SECURE VICTORIES
The Canadiens (16-15-4, 36 points), Panthers (14-16-5, 33 points) and Sabres (9-19-7, 25 points) all survived tightly-contested matchups to collect victories.

Carey Price made 21 saves to help the Canadiens withstand a late Flames rally and improve to 6-3-1 in their last 10 games.

Jonathan Huberdeau scored twice in the third period as the Panthers overcame a pair of one-goal deficits to earn their second straight victory. Vincent Trocheck, who led the Panthers in scoring last season, netted Florida’s first goal of the contest and has collected 4-8—12 in his last 10 games.

Jack Eichel (2-0—2), Ryan O’Reilly (1-1—2) and Evander Kane (1-1—2) each collected two points during a six-goal third period to help the Sabres snap a three-game skid (0-2-1). Philadelphia’s Jakub Voracek assisted on both Flyers goals to take over the League lead with 36 assists; he has collected 1-13—14 in his last nine contests to move into fifth place in NHL scoring (8-36—44).

CULLEN SKATES IN 1,400TH CAREER GAME
Wild forward Matt Cullen became the 38th player in NHL history to skate in 1,400 career regular-season games. Cullen has spent time with eight different NHL clubs – ANA (427 GP), CAR (266), MIN (227), PIT (154), NSH (139), FLA (86), NYR (80) and OTT (21) – en route to becoming the fourth active player to reach the milestone.

 

NHL Schedule for Saturday, Dec 23

Matchup	Time
Detroit@ Boston	1:00 PM ET
Winnipeg@ NY Islanders	1:00 PM ET
Montréal@ Edmonton	7:00 PM ET
Minnesota@ Tampa Bay	7:00 PM ET
Ottawa@ Florida	7:00 PM ET
Chicago@ New Jersey	7:00 PM ET
Toronto@ NY Rangers	7:00 PM ET
Anaheim@ Pittsburgh	7:00 PM ET
Buffalo@ Carolina	7:00 PM ET
Philadelphia@ Columbus	7:00 PM ET
Washington@ Vegas	8:00 PM ET
Colorado@ Arizona	8:00 PM ET
Nashville@ Dallas	8:00 PM ET
St. Louis@ Vancouver	10:00 PM ET
Los Angeles@ San Jose	10:00 PM ET