Monday National Hockey League Capsules.
TORONTO 4, ST. LOUIS 3 (SO)

TORONTO Defenseman Luke Schenn scored the decisive goal in the fourth round of the shootout as the Toronto Maple Leafs skated to a 4-3 preseason victory over the St. Louis Blues.

Andy McDonald gave St. Louis the edge in the first round of the bonus format, beating goaltender Vesa Toskala with a wrist shot. But blue-liner Pavel Kubina evened things by putting a wrister past netminder Manny Legace in the third round.

Toskala turned aside Paul Kariyas shot before Schenn put a backhander by Legace. Toskala then denied T.J. Oshie on the Blues last chance, securing the win.

Niklas Hagman scored twice and Alex Steen also tallied for Toronto, while Toskala made 28 saves.

Brad Boyes scored his league-leading fourth goal of the preseason and David Backes netted his first for St. Louis. McDonald notched his league-high eighth point when he scored with 8:14 remaining in the third period to forge a 3-3 tie.

Legace turned aside 27 shots, including 10 in the first period.

PHOENIX 5, SAN JOSE 1

GLENDALE, Arizona Peter Mueller recorded a hat trick and Mikkel Boedker added two goals as the Phoenix Coyotes posted their first preseason victory, a 5-1 triumph over the San Jose Sharks.

Mueller, who recorded a pair of hat tricks as a rookie last season, led a furious comeback by Phoenix, which trailed, 1-0, after one period. Drafted eighth overall in 2006, the 20-year-old native of Minnesota single-handedly erased the deficit, scoring goals 49 seconds apart in the middle session before Boedker gave the Coyotes a 3-1 lead just 98 seconds later at 8:46.

Mueller completed his three-goal effort with 2:57 remaining in the period and Boedker – the eighth overall selection in this past Junes draft – capped the scoring at 4:40 of the third. In losing its first four exhibition games, Phoenix netted a total of eight tallies.

Ilya Bryzgalov made 19 saves over two periods before Mikael Tellqvist turned aside all nine shots he faced in the third.

Former Coyote Brian Boucher stopped 16 shots and Lukas Kaspar scored the lone goal for the Sharks, who went 0-for-6 on the power play.

COLUMBUS 7, CHICAGO 1

COLUMBUS, Ohio Captain Rick Nash scored two goals and set up two others as the Columbus Blue Jackets rolled to a 7-1 preseason victory over the Chicago Blackhawks.

Kristian Huselius and defensemen Rostislav Klesla and Fedor Tyutin each added a goal and two assists for the Blue Jackets, who totaled just nine tallies in their first four exhibition contests.

Blue-liner Christian Backman, who also had an assist, snapped a scoreless tie at 7:28 of the second period with a slap shot from the left faceoff circle during a 5-on-3 power play, and Nash doubled the lead 54 seconds later with a man-advantage goal. Raffi Torres made it 3-0 just 23 seconds afterward, and Huselius increased the lead to 4-0 just over two minutes later.

Acquired from Edmonton over the summer, Torres was playing for the first time since suffering a torn ACL on December 12. However, the 26-year-old former first-round pick of the New York Islanders separated his shoulder late in the second period of this contest and is expected to miss six weeks.

Nash and Tyutin, who along with Backman was obtained in an offseason trade with the New York Rangers, added tallies in the third before Petri Kontiola got Chicago on the scoreboard with a power-play goal midway through the period. Klesla capped the scoring during a man advantage with 3:32 remaining.

Pascal Leclaire made 22 saves for Columbus, which went 3-for-6 on the power play.

Hours after placing Nikolai Khabibulin on waivers, the Blackhawks saw Cristobal Huet yield all seven goals on just 22 shots. Huet was signed to a four-year, $22.54 million contract in July.

WASHINGTON 3, NEW JERSEY 2

NEWARK, New Jersey Brent Johnson stopped all 18 shots he faced, Michael Nylander set up a pair of second-period goals and the Washington Capitals remained unbeaten in exhibition action with a 3-2 victory over the listless New Jersey Devils.

Making his second preseason appearance, Johnson made 13 saves in the first period, when he helped kill an early two-man advantage for New Jersey. He turned aside five shots in the second period before giving way to Jose Theodore, the Capitals No. 1 netminder.

Nylander helped break a scoreless deadlock with a power-play tally 3:09 into the second period. After working a give-and-go with Nicklas Backstrom, he backhanded a pass through the low slot to defenseman Mike Green, who swept the puck into a half-empty net.

The Capitals struck again just over four minutes later as Nylander found Boyd Gordon, who shifted to his backhand and beat goaltender Kevin Weekes for his second preseason goal. Nylander leads Washington, which improved to 4-0-0 this preseason, with six points in three games.

The Devils started the third period on the power play, but reigning Hart Trophy winner Alex Ovechkin finished a 3-on-1 shorthanded break with his third goal in two exhibition contests.

New Jersey, which totaled one shot in the first 12 1/2 minutes of the second period, finally got on the board midway through the third, when Zach Parise whacked the puck past Theodore during a goalmouth scramble. Petr Vrana drew the Devils within one with 1:52 remaining, deflecting in defenseman Wade Brookbanks shot from the point.

Weekes, who was pulled for an extra attacker during a power play with over four minutes remaining, finished with 23 saves.

Posted on September 30th, 2008 by admin
Filed under: NHL hockey news