Panthers cap 5-0 road trip
Vincent Trocheck scored with less than 5 seconds remaining to lift the Florida Panthers to a 2-1 victory against the Blues last night in St. Louis.
Jonathan Marchessault also scored and James Reimer stopped 26 shots to help the Panthers complete a 5-0 road trip — their first perfect trip of at least that many games in franchise history.
Reimer has won five straight decisions and has not lost in regulation since Jan. 7 against the Bruins, going 6-0-1 since.
Kyle Brodziak, playing for the second time after missing 10 games because of a broken foot, scored for the Blues, and Jake Allen finished with 31 saves. St. Louis lost its second straight since winning six in a row.
The Jaromir Jagr, Aleksander Barkov, Jonathan Huberdeau line put on a dazzling display of puck control for a 1:29 shift while peppering Allen with six good scoring chances only to be denied. After scoring 11 goals and 21 points in the six games they had been reunited, the trio was kept off the score sheet for the first time.
Then the second-line trio of Trocheck, Jussi Jokinen and Reilly Smith controlled the puck in the final minute until Trocheck fired a straightaway slapper past Allen with 4.6 seconds left in regulation for his 21st goal. Not settling for a gritty one-point effort, the Panthers outshot the Blues 18-11 in the final period.
Coyotes 3, Ducks 2 — In Glendale, Ariz., Radim Vrbata capped Arizona’s three-goal first period in a victory against Anaheim.
Christian Dvorak and Jakob Chychrun also scored for Arizona, and starting goalie Mike Smith had 27 saves before leaving about 41
2 minutes into the third period after a collision in the net. Marek Langhamer helped kill a power play after being pressed into action for his NHL debut and stopped six of the seven shots he faced.
The Coyotes have won four of their last six.
Langhamer gave up Ryan Getzlaf’s second goal of the night with 26.8 seconds to play, but thwarted two quality shots in the final seconds.
Jonathan Bernier gave up three goals on six shots in the first period for the Ducks. John Gibson came on to start the second and stopped all 14 shots he faced.
Before the game, the Calgary Flames acquired defenseman Michael Stone from the Coyotes for two draft picks. Stone has a goal and eight assists in 45 games with the Coyotes this season and will be counted on to help shore up Calgary’s defense as it makes a playoff push. The Flames are one point up on Winnipeg for the second Western Conference wild card spot.
Dvorak’s backhand off a pass from Shane Doan gave the Coyotes the lead 2:02 into the game. It was Dvorak’s sixth goal in the past nine games.
Ryan White delivered a pinpoint cross to Chychrun in the middle, and the young third-line defenseman beat Bernier at 4:46.
Elsewhere in the NHL — The league suspended Winnipeg Jets defenseman Jacob Trouba for two games for an illegal check to the head of Ottawa Senators forward Mark Stone. The incident occurred at 6:42 of the third period of Winnipeg’s 3-2 win in Ottawa on Sunday.