RALEIGH
Evgenii Dadonov Jersey Kids , N.C. (AP) After allowing 19 goals in his previous four games, Thomas Greiss finally had the breakthrough night he and the
New York Islanders were looking for.Greiss stopped 45 shots for his first
shutout of the season, and the Islanders beat the Carolina Hurricanes 3-0 on
Friday night.”He was great,” Islanders coach Doug Weight said. ”He was
confident. He came in and did a job. He made the saves he had to.”Article
continues below ...Johnny Boychuk, Anthony Beauvillier and John Tavares scored
for the Islanders, who moved past the Hurricanes into the second wild card spot
in the Eastern Conference. Greiss got his eighth career shutout one night after
Jaroslav Halak had 50 saves in a 3-0 home win against the crosstown-rival
Rangers.”It was a huge win for us, especially after emotional last night at
home,” Islanders center Brock Nelson said. ”Both goaltenders were crucial. That
was a big push for us, to get four points.”Cam Ward finished with 20 saves for
the Hurricanes, who lost their second straight and fell into a tie with Columbus
one point behind the Islanders for the conference’s last playoff spot.Jeff
Skinner had his game-tying goal in the third period waved off after a replay
review ruled he was offside when he entered the zone.”By an inch, maybe,”
Skinner said. ”It was tough..I tried to slow up as best I could. I should’ve
probably dragged my foot. It was close.”Carolina failed to get a better scoring
chance the rest of the night despite getting nearly twice as many shots as the
Islanders.The Hurricanes outshot the Islanders 16-7 in the first period and
28-15 through the second. Greiss kept Carolina off the scoreboard with a superb
effort, turning aside scoring chance after scoring chance.”We owed him at least
one good game in front of him,” Beauvillier said. ”He was really good tonight.
He made some unbelievable stops.”Greiss’ work bought the Islanders’ offense time
to get going, and it finally broke through near the midpoint of the second
period.After a battle behind the Hurricanes net, Nelson fished out a rolling
puck along the boards and pushed it to Boychuk at the right point. With the puck
still rolling, Boychuk fired a slap shot that wiggled and elevated over Ward’s
shoulder into the upper left corner of the net for his fourth of the
season.Skinner thought he tied the game four minutes into the third when he
flipped a loose puck in front of the net over Greiss’ glove. But a coach’s
challenge by the Islanders forced a video review, and officials ruled the puck
was offside on Carolina’s zone entry.”Before it ever went in I was told it was
offside on the entry, so I wasn’t surprised,” Hurricanes coach Bill Peters said.
”Disappointed obviously, but we knew.”The dejected Hurricanes got only one shot
off in the next eight minutes, at which point Beauvillier put the game away. He
picked up a mishandled pass at the Islanders blue line, split two Carolina
defenders, skated the length of the ice and pushed a shot under Ward’s pads
despite being hooked by Noah Hanifin.”I just saw that fumbled puck at the blue
line there and just tried to get my speed going, try get on the breakaway,”
Beauvillier said of his 14th of the season. ”I kind of closed my eyes when I
shot at the net there. It was getting pretty tight with the goalie.”Tavares was
awarded a goal, his 30th, after he was tripped from behind as he approached the
empty net with 32 seconds left to finish it.NOTES: The back-to-back shutouts by
the Islanders were their first two of the season. … Boychuk’s goal was his first
since Nov. 22 against Philadelphia. He also scored against the Hurricanes on
Nov. 16. … Skinner’s waved off goal would have been the 200th goal of his
career. … The Hurricanes saw their home win streak snapped at three games.UP
NEXTIslanders: Host Minnesota on Monday.Hurricanes: Host New Jersey on Sunday.
CALGARY, Alberta (AP) It was a bittersweet night for rookie center Mark
Jankowski.Jankowski scored four times, and the Calgary Flames finished off a
disappointing season with a 7-1 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights on
Saturday.”Not the way we wanted it to end, we want to keep on playing, but
definitely a building year,” said the 23-year-old Jankowski
http://www.officialhockeypanthersshop.com/authentic-adidas-james-reimer-jersey , who had just three points in his previous 18 games. ”I just take everything I
learned this year from all the vets and use that as fuel in the summer to come
back into camp and even better player.”Calgary entered the night in an offensive
funk, having mustered only nine goals over the previous nine games, eight of
them losses. The seven goals was the club’s biggest offensive outburst since a
7-4 victory over St. Louis on Nov. 13.”It’s one of those things. Tonight, for
some reason, everything bounced in and I think we could have had even more,”
Flames captain Mark Giordano said. ”It’s nice to end it on that note, but it’s
been a tough year and obviously a disappointing year.”Before the game, players
from both teams and the officials formed a circle at center ice for a moment of
silence for the 15 people who lost their lives in the Humboldt Broncos bus
accident.”You have those guys, that community, the team, on your mind all day,”
Giordano said. ”We’re one big community, the hockey community, there’s a lot of
people feeling this one.”Afterward, the Saddledome crowd broke into a chant of
”Broncos! Broncos!””We talked a lot to our guys about the emotion and the purity
of the game,” Flames coach Glen Gulutzan said. ”Just think about the young men
on that bus, who would love to be in the seats that we are. That was their goal
and we wanted to play as well as we can to honor that.”Spencer Foo, Garnet
Hathaway and Johnny Gaudreau also scored for the Flames (37-35-10), who missed
the playoffs for the seventh time in the past nine seasons. A big factor was
Calgary’s 17-20-4 home record, its worst mark since 2000-01.Cody Eakin scored
for Vegas (51-24-7), which finished first in the Pacific Division and will open
the playoffs on home ice against Los Angeles. Vegas is the first modern-era
expansion team in any of the four North America pro spots to win its division in
its first season.”Right from the start it’s been a fun season,” goaltender
Marc-Andre Fleury said. ”It’s fun to be a part of this team and this
organization through it all. I’m really proud of the way this team has done
throughout the season. Playoffs are fun, intense, exciting. I’m looking forward
to getting it going.”Golden Knights veteran James Neal was impressed at how
quickly the team gelled after being thrown together at the expansion draft.”What
impressed me most about our group is the consistency we played with, the way we
rolled four lines, we counted on each player and needed each guy every night and
every guy brought their game,” he said.Down 3-0 after the first period, Vegas
scored 51 seconds into the second. But the Flames responded with three more
unanswered goals before the period ended.Jankowski secured his first NHL hat
trick with a short-handed goal at 18:06, bringing over 100 hats raining down
onto the ice.He completed the scoring at 1:32 of the third. It was Calgary’s
first power-play goal in 14 games, snapping a 0-for-35 skid.Jon Gillies had 26
stops for Calgary. Fleury gave up six goals on 18 shots before being replaced to
start the third period. Malcolm Subban had 12 stops in relief.NOTES: Both teams
wore Humboldt Broncos decals on their helmet. The Flames also announced they
were donating their $84,055 half of the 50/50 prize pot to those affected by
Friday’s tragedy.UP NEXTGolden Knights: Face Los Angeles in the first round of
the playoffs.Flames: Offseason.
