NHL podcast with Joe Lami: Wild get defense and four goals to beat Leafs; B’s bomb tough Flames; Sabres keep pouring it on 4-3 over Panthers; plus more

msn photo: Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Michael Hutchinson (30) looks on as Minnesota Wild players celebrate a goal by Zach Parise (11) during the third period of an NHL hockey game, Thursday, Jan. 3, 2019 in Toronto.

On the NHL podcast with Joe:

#1 The Minnesota Wild (19-17-3) got goals from Charlie Coyle, Mikko Koivu, Jerod Spurgeon, Zach Parise in a Wild 4-3 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs (26-12-2).

#2 The Boston Bruins (25-14-4) beat Calgary (25-13-4) 6-4. Bruins goals; John Moore (2), Jake Bebrusk (12), Brad Marchand (14 & 15), and David Pastrnak (25)

#3 The Buffalo Sabers (22-13-6) got by the Florida Panthers (17-16-6) 4-3, Panther goals, Jeff Skinner (27) and (28), Tage Thompson (5), Sam Reinhart (9)

#4 The Carolina Hurricanes (17-17-5) got by the Philadelphia Flyers (15-20-5) 5-3, Hurricane goals Dougie Hamilton ((4), Justin Williams (8), Teuvo Teravinen(9) and (10), and Warren Foegele (5)

#5 The New York Islanders (22-13-4) got by the Chicago Blackhawks (15-21-7) 3-2 in overtime. The Hawks have now lost two in a row. The Isles got goals from Matthew Barzal (11 & 12) and Devon Towes (1).

Joe does the NHL podcasts each Friday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

NHL podcast with Matt Harrington: Ducks get an OT gift from Getzlaf; Backstrom’s hat trick helps pace Caps; Barkov gets OT goal as Panthers slip by Sabres 3-2; plus more

photo from newsobserver.com: Carolina Hurricanes’ Jordan Martinook (48) has his shot blocked by Anaheim Ducks goaltender John Gibson (36) during the first period of an NHL hockey game, Friday, Nov. 30, 2018

On the NHL podcast with Matt:

#1 The Anaheim Ducks on Friday night got a key win over the Carolina Hurricanes in overtime when the Ducks’ Ryan Getzlaf got a breakaway goal that rang the post to give the Ducks a 3-2 win over the Canes. Getzlaf’s goal came at 1:15 in the overtime.

#2 Nicklas Backstrom hadn’t had a hat trick since 2014, but got one for the history books on Friday night for the Washington Capitals as this team is hot with seven straight wins as they picked up a three-goal win over New Jersey.

#3 The Florida Panthers’ Alexsander Barkov at 2:26 in overtime got the game-winner as the Panthers edged the Buffalo Sabres 3-2. Buffalo lost it’s second game in two nights.

#4 There was no stopping the Calgary Flames as Mikael Backlund got two goals and assist to put away the Los Angeles Kings on Friday night 4-1.

#5 The St. Louis Blues in overtime got a goal from Colton Parayko to defeat the Colorado Avalanche 3-2. The last place Blues improved their record to 9-12-3 while the Avs dropped their record to 15-6-5 Avs are in second in the Central. The Avs snapped their six-game win streak with the loss to the Blues.

Matt does the NHL podcasts each Saturday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

San Jose Sharks podcast with Mary Lisa Walsh: Sharks now 0-3 on current five-game road trip; Look to rebound on Saturday in Ottawa

Photo credit: @SanJoseSharks

On the San Jose Sharks podcast with Mary Lisa:

#1 You just can’t keep the Buffalo Sabres and the Toronto Maple Leafs down as both beat the San Jose Sharks on back-to-back nights Tuesday and Wednesday. The Sabers with a 3-2 win Tuesday and the Leafs with a two-goal 5-3 win Wednesday.

#2 The Sabers on Tuesday got some key scoring from Jeff Skinner, who has a streak for scoring the first goal to start a game in which turned out to be crucial in the win.

#3 The Sabers are now 25-17-6 while the Sharks dropped their second game of this road trip in Buffalo. On Wednesday San Jose dropped to 12-9-5 in Toronto–the loss was San Jose’s third straight.

#4 San Jose’s Joe Pavelski scored #14 and #15 in the third period on Tuesday. On Wednesday, he scored one goal #16 , but no matter Joe’s efforts, the Sharks have come up short.

#5 This long five-game road trip continues to Ottawa on Saturday and in Montreal Sunday as the Sharks will give it a go to salvage the trip with a couple of wins.

Mary Lisa Walsh does the Sharks podcasts each Thursday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

NHL podcast with Matt Harrington: Sabres’ OT goal sinks Habs 3-2; Ducks gain confidence in win over Oilers after losing two; Tuch gets key goal in Vegas’ shutout over the Flames; plus more

photo from yahoosports.com: Buffalo Sabres’ Sam Reinhart (23), Jeff Skinner and Jck Eichel (9) celebrate a goal during the third period of the team’s NHL hockey game against the Montreal Canadiens, Friday, Nov. 23, 2018, in Buffalo N.Y.

On the NHL podcast with Matt:

#1 The Buffalo Sabres’ Jeff Skinner had himself an evening against the the Montreal Canadiens, scoring the game-winning goal in overtime to hand the Sabres a 3-2 victory. Skinner also scored a goal late in third period as the Sabres have won eight straight games.

#2 The Anaheim Ducks reassured their confidence with a win over in overtime over the Edmonton Oilers on Friday night. The Ducks had lost two straight games to the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Colorado Avalanche. The Ducks’ Richard Rakell scored in first 14 seconds of the overtime stanza to beat the Oilers.

#3 At the T-Mobile Center in Las Vegas, the Vegas Golden Knights’ Alex Tuch nailed a goal and an assist as the Knights got a 2-0 shutout win over the Calgary Flames Friday night.

#4 In a match that was physical to say the least between the Minnesota Wild and the Winnipeg Jets, the Wild got a go-ahead goal that proved to be the gamer when Eric Staal got a goal with just 2:54 left in the regulation. The game saw it’s share of penalties and the Wild were up on the Jets 2-0 after two periods. Wild win it 4-2.

#5 The Washington Capitals got goals from Michal Kempny and Alex Ovechkin at 1:56 in the third period to help defeat the Detroit Red Wings 3-1. The Caps have won four straight and the Wings are 10-10-2 with 22 points sixth place in the Atlantic Division.

Join Matt for the NHL podcast each Saturday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

NHL podcast with Matt Harrington: Jackets on a roll, get ninth win past Caps; Leafs with five-goal win, 6-1, over New Jersey; NHL matchups for tonight

Photo credit: nhl.com/bluejackets

On the NHL podcast with Matt:

#1 The Columbus Blue Jackets (9-6-1) got by the Washington Capitals 2-1 Friday night. The Jackets got a goal from Oliver Bjorkstrand at 17:16 in the first period and Anthony Duclair got goal number seven of the season at 5:09. Not much offense from the Caps.

#2 The Toronto Maple Leafs (11-5-0) and the New Jersey Devils (6-7-1)  skated to a 6-1 five-goal Leafs victory Friday night. The Leafs scored four goals in the second period and they’re not slowing down.

#3 The Vancouver Canucks (10-7-1) are in Buffalo (9-6-2) tonight. How dangerous, how improved are these Canucks this season?  The Sabers won it by a goal 4-3 in a shootout beating a tough Canucks team after having a two goal deficit.

#4 The Chicago Blackhawks (6-7-3) face the Philadelphia Flyers (8-7-1) at the Wells Fargo Center. Is this an evenly matched game or do the Flyers have the home ice advantage when the puck drops tonight? The Flyers blanked the Blackhawks 4-0 for the Hawks seventh straight loss.

#5 Tonight, the Golden Knights (7-8-1) are in Montreal (8-5-3). Taking a look at the Knights’ offensive leaders: Jonathan Marchessault leads the team with 14 assists, seven goals, and William Karlsson eight assists, and for the Montreal Canadiens, Max Domi 19 points, nine goals, and Jeff Petry with 11 assists.

Matt does the NHL podcasts each Saturday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Sabers best Sharks in Buffalo

By: Phillip Torres

BUFFALO-The San Jose Sharks (38-17-6) were defeated by the Buffalo Sabers (18-34-8) 4-2 in a disappointing game at First Niagara Center on Friday. This was a game that San Jose normally a does not lose, as the Sabers entered the game with double the amount of losses as they had wins. 

The Sharks never held a lead throughout the entire game. Buffalo took the early 1-0 advantage in the first period at 10:59 on the power play goal. Cody Hodgson knocked the puck into the net with a wrist shot on the power play. Christian Ehrhoff and Tyler Meyers earned the assists on the play. The power play was set up for the Sabers because of a Tyler Kennedy holding penalty.

The Sharks tied the game in the second period at 9:38 after a goal from James Sheppard. The goal was Sheppard’s second of the season. The wrist shot that found the net was assisted by Dan Boyle and Marc-Edouard Vlasic. The rest of the frame was scoreless and the score remained 1-1 heading into the third and final period.

The third period was an offensive explosion for the Sabers as thy put up three goals, as the Sharks managed to just get one more on the board. Brian Flynn scored the first goal of the period to regain the lead for Buffalo. The next goal was scored by Matt Moulson. This goal extended the Sabers lead to 3-1, and eventually served as the game winning goal.

Meyers scored an empty net goal shortly after Patrick Marleau pulled the Sharks to within one goal with left than two minutes remaining.

The Sharks will be back on the ice on Sunday as they will be hosted by the New Jersey Devils. The puck will drop at 12 PM.