Already badly affected by injuries, the Colorado Avalanche made matters worse on Monday in a 5-3 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers.
Nathan MacKinnon retired to the locker room in the first period of the game. The Avalanche announced that he would not return in the second half due to an upper body injury.
The circumstances surrounding this injury remain somewhat unclear. He took some good checks near the Flyers dugout that made him wince and could be to blame. He then fired a wrist shot towards the net and suddenly leaned forward in pain before stepping back and being evaluated by medics.
At that moment it was a 1-1 draw between the two teams.
The Avalanche lack the services of Gabriel Landeskog, Valeri Nichushkin, Artturi Lehkonen and Evan Rodrigues in particular, and only the healthy Mikko Rantanen remains in the top 6 in offense.
MacKinnon had time to contribute to the first goal for his side, the first of two from Alex Newhook, who opened the scoring after 3:50. MacKinnon has thus picked up an eighth point in his last six fights.
The Flyers, however, took the opportunity to distance themselves. Tanner Laczynski put the Flyers in front soon after by jumping on Joel Farabee’s return, then coming back from first half, Tony DeAngelo made it 3-1 on the power play when his shot wound its way through traffic.
Owen Tippet extended the lead midway through the third period with his seventh goal of the season and Travis Konecny completed the scoring into an empty net.
Rantanen was the other scorer in the Avalanche’s loss. Charles Hudon was playing his first game in an avalanche uniform. He took seven shots on target and was 14:28 on the ice.
Goaltender Carter Hart rounded out his night job with 29 saves.
An excellent third saves the Rangers
K’Andre Miller, Alexis Lafrenière and Chris Kreider were on target in the third period as the New York Rangers came from behind the St. Louis Blues 6-4 on Monday night.
Vincent Trocheck contributed a goal and an assist to the win. Braden Schneider and Adam Fox scored the other goals for Rangers, who won for the second time in seven games (2-4-1). They also ended a four-game winless streak at home (0-3-1).
Artemi Panarin provided two assists, Lafrenière added one and goalkeeper Igor Shesterkin stopped 25 shots.
In the loss, Jordan Kyrou scored one goal and added an assist. Other Blues goals were scored by Pavel Buchnevich, Vladimir Tarasenko and Ryan O’Reilly. Goaltender Jordan Binnington stopped 18 pucks.
For the Blues it is the sixth defeat in seven outings after seven straight victories.
The Blues led 4-3 after 40 minutes when Miller tied the score with his first of the season at 4:48 of the third period.
Lafrenière broke the tie at 8:16 when he deflected a long-range shot from Mika Zibanejad for his fourth goal of the season.
After Trocheck was caught hooking up with 6:21 to go, Kreider rattled the ropes shorthanded with 25 seconds into the penalty.
That 13th goal by Kreider sent a wave of joy among the spectators at Madison Square Garden, where the Rangers had squandered lead in three of their four losses.
It is the first time this season that the Blues have lost a game in which they led after two periods, following seven wins.
Kadri assists in all three of the Flames’ goals
Nazem Kadri got his third point of the game at 3:42 of the final period, and the Calgary Flames earned a 3-2 victory over the Arizona Coyotes.
It was the ninth goal of the season for Kadri, who joined the Flames as a free agent late in the offseason.
While Jakob Chychrun was in jail, the #91 Calgary had a nice exchange with Jonathan Huberdeau and Tyler Toffoli near Karel Vejmelka’s net.
Daniel Vladar was the winning goalkeeper. The latter faced 20 pitches from the Coyotes, who scored late in the second and early in the third to tie the game 2-2.
Shayne Gostisbehere and Chychrun were the goalscorers for André Tourigny’s side.
Huberdeau also picked up an assist for Elias Lindholm’s ninth goal of the season.
The Quebec winger now has four goals and nine assists to his name in 21 games.
Dan Vladar was called up to make his fifth start in the Flames’ last seven games.
Caps throws 50 times at Skinner
Nic Dowd scored the game-winning goal as the Washington Capitals snapped a short two-game losing streak with a 3-2 victory over the Edmonton Oilers.
Lars Eller and TJ Oshie also found the back of the net for the Capitals (11-12-4), who are 2-5-3 in their last 10 road outings.
Charlie Lindgren made 28 saves.
Brett Kulak and Connor McDavid offered the answer of the Oilers (14-12-0), who have lost two of their last three games.
Stuart Skinner blocked 47 shots.
The Oilers returned to the locker room after the first period without giving up a goal, despite beating the Capitals 22-12.
The Oilers broke the 0-0 lead at 1:44 of the second period, when Kulak fired a hard shot from the blue line, with heavy traffic in front of Lindgren’s net. It was his first of the season.
Less than six minutes later, the Capitals tied the game. Leon Draisaitl lost control of the puck in his zone, giving Eller the chance to get into the net. Thanks to a feint, Eller scored his fourth goal of the season.
The Oilers regained the lead with 4:35 left in the middle period when McDavid intercepted a pass from John Carlson before passing to Lindgren, who hit with a shorthanded shot between the pads.
It was his 22nd goal of the season, his career-best start after 26 games.
The Capitals tied the score again on the same power play as Oshie completed a game three.
Dowd scored the game-winning goal at 7:13 of the third period on a play started by Aliaksei Protas.
