Hornqvist puts his shoulder into it, and Panthers nip Red Wings
Edmonton continues its domination
SUNRISE, Fla. — Sergei Bobrovsky made 31 saves and Patric Hornqvist was credited with the eventual winning goal when a teammate’s shot bounced off his shoulder and into the net as the Florida Panthers beat the Detroit Red Wings 2-1 on Tuesday night.
Bobrovsky improved to 4-0-1 this season. Alex Wennberg also scored for the Panthers.
Hornqvist’s winner and sixth goal of the season came on a power play when a shot by Aaron Ekblad deflected off his shoulder and over the head of Thomas Greiss at 8:04 of the second period, making the score 2-1. Hornqvist also had an assist.
Filip Zadina scored for the Red Wings.
Greiss stopped 20 shots in his eighth straight appearance.
The Panthers are 10-1-1 over their last 12 games against Detroit. The Red Wings have lost nine of 10.
Zadina put the Red Wings ahead 1-0 at the 3:31 mark of the first.
Dylan Larkin’s assist on Zadina’s goal, his first point in four games, gives him 20 points (nine goals, 11 assists) in 22 games against the Panthers.
OILERS 3, SENATORS 2: In Ottawa, Ontario, defensemen Darnell Nurse, Evan Bouchard and Tyson Barrie provided the scoring and Edmonton beat Ottawa.
With the defense providing the offense, Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl saw their 10-game point streaks come to an end. Draisaitl hit the post with the net empty in the final seconds.
With the win, the Oilers (8-7-0) moved above the .500 mark for the first time this season. The move is largely due to their success against struggling Ottawa (2-11-1).
It was the fourth game between the teams in 10 days. Edmonton won the first three — 8-5 and 4-2 in Edmonton and 3-1 Monday at the Canadian Tire Centre. They will meet five more times in the regular season.
Connor Brown and Evgenii Dadonov scored for Ottawa.
PENGUINS: Ron Hextall’s relationship with the team is complicated. His mandate as its new general manager is not.
The Penguins hired Hextall on Tuesday to build a team capable of winning the Stanley Cup. Not in five years. Not in three years. This year.
It’s a level of pressure Hextall — whose father Bryan Hextall Jr. played for Pittsburgh in the early 1970s and who clashed with Mario Lemieux and the Penguins repeatedly during his lengthy run as the top goaltender for the Philadelphia Flyers — can live with.
“You’ve got players, (Evgeni) Malkin and (Sidney) Crosby and (Kris) Letang, we want to be as good as we can be right now with three of the best players in the world,” Hextall said Tuesday afternoon following a whirlwind courtship that began in earnest last week.
BLUE JACKETS: Columbus center Mikko Koivu, 37, said Tuesday he has decided to retire in the midst of his 16th NHL season. He had signed a free-agent contract with Columbus before this season after 15 years in Minnesota.