NHL Capsules: Halak carries Blues past Oilers
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Jaroslav Halak made 15 saves for his second straight shutout, and Alex Pietrangelo scored with 5:14 left in the St. Louis Blues' 1-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night.
St. Louis has earned points in a franchise-record 14 straight home games. The Blues are 7-0-1 in January, an NHL-best 20-3-3 at home and lead the league with nine shutouts.
The Blues are tied for second overall in the NHL, a point behind Detroit.
Edmonton has dropped 12 of its last 13 road games.
Halak, coming off a 1-0 victory over Dallas on Monday, has four shutouts this season and 20 overall. He improved to 10-0-3 in his last 13, hasn't allowed a goal in 148:28 and hasn't lost in regulation since Nov. 22.
Pietrangelo scored his eighth goal of the season on a wraparound. He has at least one point in a career-best eight games.
RED WINGS 3, COYOTES 2, SO
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Todd Bertuzzi scored in regulation, then spun in front of the net and made a spectacular backhand shot in a shootout to give Detroit its fifth victory in a row.
Three of the wins in Detroit's streak have come in shootouts, two of them over Phoenix by identical scores.
Ian White also scored for the NHL-leading Red Wings.
Gilbert Brule scored his second goal in the five games since Phoenix claimed him off waivers from Edmonton. Raffi Torres scored the other goal for the Coyotes.
ISLANDERS 4, FLYERS 1
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Evgeni Nabokov made 40 saves, and Josh Bailey, Matt Moulson, Mark Streit and Michael Grabner scored to help New York Islanders snap a 13-game losing streak in Philadelphia.
The Islanders also broke an eight-game losing streak against Philadelphia, which had won 23 of its previous 24 games against the Islanders. The victory was the Islanders' third in their last four games, and it marked the first time New York won in Philadelphia since April 7, 2007, a 4-2 victory.
Matt Read scored for Philadelphia.
BRUINS 4, DEVILS 1
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Nathan Horton and Gregory Campbell scored in a 35-second span in a four-goal third period that carried Boston past New Jersey.
Defenseman Andrew Ference tied it at 3:01 of the period and Horton and Campbell put the Bruins ahead for good as they beat New Jersey for the third time in three games this season. Chris Kelly had an empty-net goal.
Tim Thomas made 30 saves as Boston snapped the Devils' three-game winning streak with the three-goal outburst in the 4:44 span. Petr Sykora scored for the Devils.
PENGUINS 4, RANGERS 1
NEW YORK (AP) — Richard Park scored the go-ahead goal 2:23 into the third period, Evgeni Malkin padded the lead with two, and Marc-Andre Fleury made 30 saves in Pittsburgh's victory over New York.
Malkin has 24 goals this season, including seven in four games.
Fleury played in his 19th straight game for the Penguins, who have won four in a row following a six-game streak. Chris Kunitz also scored for Pittsburgh. Carl Hagelin scored for New York.
SENATORS 4, SHARKS 1
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Colin Greening scored twice and Craig Anderson made 36 saves in Ottawa's first victory in San Jose in eight years.
Kyle Turris and Erik Karlsson also scored for Ottawa. The Senators have won six of their last seven games and have points in 11 of 12. Anderson won his fifth straight road game and is 7-0-2 in his last nine road games. Brad Winchester scored for the Sharks.
JETS 4, SABRES 1
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) — Ondrej Pavelec made 25 saves and Winnipeg extended Buffalo's franchise-record road losing streak to 11 games.
Andrew Ladd, Tobias Enstrom, Tim Stapleton and Nik Antropov scored for Winnipeg, with Enstrom and Stapleton connecting on two of the Jets' four power-play chances.
Drew Stafford scored for Buffalo.
MAPLE LEAFS 4, WILD 1
TORONTO (AP) — Phil Kessel scored his team-leading 25th goal, and Joffrey Lupul had three assists to lead Toronto past Minnesota.
Nazem Kadri, Joey Crabb and Mikhail Grabovski also scored to help Toronto snap a three-game losing streak.
Jonas Gustavsson made 20 saves, allowing only Nick Johnson's late goal.
FLAMES 2, KINGS 1, SO
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jarome Iginla scored the tying goal on a power play in the second period, Olli Jokinen and Michael Cammalleri connected on Calgary's first two shots in a shootout, and the Flames ended a six-game road losing streak with a victory over Los Angeles.
Miikka Kiprusoff made 31 saves and stopped two of the three he faced in the tiebreaker. Dustin Brown scored in the first period for the Kings, who are 8-1-6 since Darryl Sutter replaced Terry Murray as coach.
Calgary's victory was Brent Sutter's 200th as an NHL head coach. The only other time he and his brother were behind opposing benches was Saturday, when the Kings beat the Flames 4-1 in Calgary. Darryl coached the Flames in 2003-04, when they were beaten in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals by Tampa Bay.
PREDATORS 3, BLUE JACKETS 0
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Pekka Rinne made 38 saves — 18 in the third period — for his fourth shutout of the season, and Martin Erat had a goal and an assist in a 2:03 span in the second period for Nashville.
Mike Fisher scored on a power play, and Shea Weber had a long short-handed goal into an empty net.
Columbus fell to 2-3 under interim coach Todd Richards.
Other NHL News
Mueller getting back on track after head injury
DENVER (AP) — Peter Mueller was in the spotlight and at long last the glare didn't make his head hurt.
The Colorado Avalanche forward scored twice in a 4-3 overtime win over Florida on Wednesday night, his first goals since returning last week from concussion symptoms that have plagued him for nearly two years.
These days, Mueller wears bigger shoulder pads along with a custom-fitted helmet that loops around his ears to better cushion his head and neck. He also dons a tinted visor that cuts down on the reflection from the arena lights, which at one point really affected him.
Not as much anymore as he's starting to feel like himself again.
Mueller certainly showed flashes of his offensive flair on Wednesday with two nifty scores and an assist on Paul Stastny's game-tying goal late in the third period.
"It feels unbelievable," Mueller said.
Maybe even a touch surreal.
This has been an arduous road back for the gifted goal scorer, one full of false starts and hopes. He missed all of the 2010-11 season because of a head injury and then a chunk of games this season.
"What a battle it is to get back to where I am right now," Mueller said. "I wish that would never happen to anyone."
But it is — and to the game's biggest and brightest stars, too. Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby is sidelined indefinitely with a recurrence of concussion-like symptoms. That's the frustrating thing with this injury — there's simply no timetable for a return.
And even a return to the ice guarantees nothing.
Mueller thought he was well on his way to recovery at the beginning of the season, only to suffer a relapse and have to sit out 40 more games. It was tough to swallow.
"You don't practice, you don't see the guys — you almost feel like you're not part of the team," Mueller said. "But now, coming in every day, being a part of everything, it's a great feeling. It's long overdue."
His smirk after the game was proof of that. Ryan O'Reilly may have scored the overtime game-winner against Florida, but Mueller stole the spotlight.
"I can't tell you what this means to me," said Mueller, who's from Bloomington, Minn. "I feel good, a little tired, but I felt great out there."
Steadily, he's been getting his touch back, especially as his ice time increases. He played 13 minutes in his return four games ago at Nashville on Jan. 12 and logged nearly 20 minutes on Wednesday.
In the second period, Mueller broke a long scoring drought by lining a shot past Panthers goaltender Jose Theodore.
It was his first goal since April 4, 2010, against San Jose — a game he will never forget.
He also suffered a head injury in that contest, which has hindered him ever since. Mueller was tracking down a puck in the corner when he was smashed into the boards. He missed the rest of that season and the playoffs.
Mueller tried to return in the fall of 2010, only to hurt his head again in a preseason game.
From there, it's been a grinding march back to health with something as simple as stepping into the sunlight giving him instant headaches.
That is, until recently.
"Everything is coming back to normal," Mueller said. "Slowly, but it's coming back."
Here's an optimistic sign: Mueller isn't as fearful of hard checks anymore. He's even learned to reposition his body in a way to better absorb the blows.
Not only that, but he's been dishing out some licks, too.
"And nothing has been bothering me, which is awesome," Mueller said. "Every time I get touched or hit, there seems to be no problem. I'm looking to get right back into the play. Things have been great so far."
The only real obstacle has been his conditioning. He still needs a few more games to get his hockey legs back.
"I'm right there," Mueller said. "Just a couple of more notches and then it will be good."
Not that his teammates have noticed any rust. He still resembles the player the Avs acquired in a deal that sent Wojtek Wolski to Phoenix in March 2010.
Right away, Mueller showed his scoring prowess, notching 20 points in 15 games.
And then came the head injury.
"It's been a tough year and a half for him," Stastny said. "He's been through a lot of ups and downs, but he's been battling through that and his spirit has stayed high. To see him have a night like this, it's awesome for him."
Mueller added his second goal of the night with a laser of a slap shot in the third period. Later, he nearly completed the hat trick as fans littered the ice with hats after believing Mueller, not Stastny, had tapped in the tying goal.
"Would have been nice if he got the hat trick," Stastny said. "He was flying all night and it was long time coming for him. I think it was something special for him."
Sure was, feeling right at home again in the glare of the spotlight.
"Nothing comes easy in this league, especially if you're dealing with your health," Mueller said. "Everyone has been so supportive through this whole process. What a night to cap it off."
-- Pat Graham
CBJs lose Martinek, sign Lebda
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Brett Lebda's back in the NHL.
The Columbus Blue Jackets announced Thursday that defenseman Radek Martinek will miss the rest of the season because of post-concussion symptoms. To fill his spot on the roster, the club has signed Lebda, a veteran defenseman, to a one-year contract.
"That was always the goal from the beginning of the year," Lebda said on Thursday. "I had to take a different route to get here than I thought but it worked out well. Columbus gave me a chance to come in and play a lot of minutes at Springfield. I feel I can still contribute at this level."
Lebda, 30, has 19 goals and 53 assists in 367 career NHL games with the Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs. He played for Columbus' American Hockey League affiliate in Springfield, Mass., this season.
His first game might just come against his old team on Saturday. The Blue Jackets play in Detroit.
"I haven't been told," he said of his first game with the Blue Jackets. "The first practice will be tomorrow and we'll see how that goes and take it from there."
He said his style hasn't changed.
"I'm not going to go out there and kill anyone," he said. "I'm solid defensively, positionally, get the puck out of our end as fast as possible; making the good pass and chipping in on the offense when I can."
Martinek, 35, scored one goal in seven games with Columbus this season before suffering a concussion in a game at Detroit on Oct. 21 that has sidelined him for the past 39 games.
He was signed by the club as a free agent last July and has 22 goals and 82 assists in 460 games with the Blue Jackets and New York Islanders.
Preds change policy to sell $10 game-day tickets
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The Nashville Predators' $10 tickets on game day are proving so popular that team officials are changing how those tickets get sold on Saturdays.
Predators President Sean Henry said Thursday they made the switch for the convenience of fans after seeing some camp out overnight. Henry says the switch gives everyone who comes down a chance at the toughest ticket in town.
The team will start Saturday handing out raffle tickets 30 minutes before the box office opens to those 12 and older in line for the 100 $10 tickets to that night's game with the first 25 fans chosen getting the chance to buy up to four tickets each.
Tickets to Predators' games can range from $26 to $378.
Predators claim F Yip off waivers
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The Nashville Predators have claimed forward Brandon Yip off waivers from the Colorado Avalanche and activated forward Jerred Smithson off injured reserve.
The 26-year-old Yip has 41 points in 113 career NHL games and all with Colorado as an eighth-round draft pick in 2004. The Vancouver, B.C., native has played only 10 games this season with no points due to an arm and groin injuries, and his contract is worth $750,000.
The 6-foot-1, 195-pound right wing played in college at Boston University and won the 2009 national championship. Predators forward Colin Wilson was a teammate of Yip's in Boston.
Devils D Henrik Tallinder sidelined 6-8 weeks
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey Devils defenseman Henrik Tallinder is going to be sidelined six to eight weeks because of a blood clot in his left leg.
Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello released a statement during Thursday night's game against the Boston Bruins, saying: "Henrik Tallinder has been diagnosed with acute thrombophlebitis of the lower left leg and will be out six to eight weeks."
Elsewhere
Suspect in taped Winter Classic fight posts bail
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The New Jersey man has posted bail stemming from charges over a street fight that left another hockey fan unconscious outside a Philadelphia cheesesteak shop following the NHL Winter Classic.
Online court records say Dennis Veteri was released Wednesday after 10 percent of the $400,000 bail was posted. A judge had raised bail from $100,000 earlier in the day.
Video of the Jan. 2 fight posted online shows a confrontation between Philadelphia Flyers fans and New York Rangers fans escalating into a brawl that ends with a man motionless on the ground.
Police say Veteri was the aggressor and landed the punch that knocked out Woodbridge Township, N.J., police officer and Iraq war veteran Neal Auricchio. Veteri's attorney says the case is a fistfight that's being blown out of proportion.
