NHL Minute: 1/30/13

If you're a fan of comeback stories, the NHL had a night for you. Six of Tuesday's 10 games saw a team come from behind to earn a victory, and I have them all covered for you here, including a look ahead to Wednesday's matchups.

TUESDAY'S RESULTS

• New Jersey Devils 1, Boston Bruins 2 (S/O) - Devils reserve goalie Johan Hedberg held the Bruins scoreless for over 56 minutes until Nathan Horton beat him five-hole to send the game into overtime, where the Bruins emerged victorious after five minutes of play and six shootout rounds.  Bruins goalie Tuuka Rask stopped six of seven New Jersey power plays and denied five of six skaters in the shootout. Both teams remain undefeated in regulation.
• Toronto Maple Leafs 4, Buffalo Sabres 3 (OT) - Part one of two in the Maple Leafs' bid for legitimacy is complete, as they won a back-and-forth battle in the final seconds of overtime. Leaf winger Matt Frattin, who was called up from the minors last week, scored two soft goals, including the game winner with 1.5 seconds remaining in overtime. Toronto (3-3) now has to beat Washington at home on Thursday for me to take them seriously as playoff contenders. Buffalo has now lost four straight since starting the season 2-0.
• Philadelphia Flyers 1, NY Rangers 2 - Both teams' goalies came up big in the Garden, but Henrik Lundqvist and the Rangers held on thanks to power play goals from Michael Del Zotto and Ryan Callahan. Trailing 2-0 in the second period, the Flyers had a 5-on-3 for over a minute that was more like a 5-on-2 when a Rangers forward lost his stick. The Rangers D held strong, though, and things continued nicely for New York until Callahan left the game with a shoulder injury he received in a fight. Philly put one in the net shortly after, but weren't able to beat Lundqvist again. It was a disappointing game for New York's top line, who failed to score against one of the more beatable defenses in the league. While Philly goalie Ilya Bryzgalov did make 27 saves, New York can't be happy that neither Nash nor Gaborik or Richards lit the lamp. Philly's Danny Briere had 10 shots in a losing cause.
• Winnipeg Jets 3, Montreal Canadiens 4 - Canada loved this game, which really had it all.  Montreal jumped out to an early 2-0 lead before Winnipeg stormed back with three straight goals, eventually leading back to a tie game when Montreal's Erik Cole scored for the first time this season. Montreal would lead once and for all when center Tomas Plekanec drove home a slap shot on the power play in the opening minutes of the third period. Montreal's Carey Price did well to close the night's scoring activity there, stopping 11 shots in the final 20 minutes. While Winnipeg's Olli Jokinen (1) was able to score this game, Byfuglien and Kane only notched an assist each. Once again, those guys need to produce for Winnipeg to win games.
• Washington Capitals 2, Ottawa Senators 3 - Ovechkin didn't score and the Capitals lost again. Washington carried the play for the first half of the game but let a 2-0 lead slip when Ottawa's fourth line scored just before the second intermission, bringing new life to the Senators. Washington took six penalties and eventually paid for it when Sens veteran defenseman Sergei Gonchar scored on the power play with 2:30 remaining. Ottawa is now 4-1-1 but has yet to beat anyone good; they get a shot at an unproven Canadiens team tonight in Montreal.
• NY Islanders 4, Pittsburgh Penguins 1 - In the surprise upset of the night - the only game I didn't get right - the Islanders went into Pittsburgh and played fast, turnover-free hockey to win easily. While Isles goalie Evgeni Nabokov was busy, making 37 saves, he was facing a Penguins O that was taking a shot approach that was high in quantity but low on quality. Nabokov was looking at a shutout until Pittsburgh scored a junk-time goal with a minute left. New York's Matt Moulson scored his fourth goal of the season in the win, and young stud John Tavares (2) also found twine for the second time in as many games.
• Florida Panthers 2, Tampa Bay Lightning 5 - The Lightning feasted on easy prey. Tampa Bay had five different goal scorers, including Steven Stamkos (4), in the blowout. 
• Dallas Stars 1, Detroit Red Wings 4 - In a game filled with penalties and also had two first-period fights, Detroit edged Dallas thanks to two sweet feeds from Pavel Datsyuk to Valtteri Filppula (1, 2). Dallas had a 1-0 lead halfway through the game but Detroit scored four answered, including a 5-on-3 goal right before the second intermission. Despite allowing four goals, Dallas' Kari Lehtonen can really only be blamed for one of them and actually played a strong game in net. The next time these two teams face each other will be April 27 in Dallas, and based on this game the next one is going to be one to watch.
• Columbus Blue Jackets 2, Minnesota Wild 3 - Minnesota whooped Columbus in the game's early going, scoring two first-period goals and outshooting the Blue Jackets 15-3 in the second period. It was the Blue Jackets, however, that were the only team to score in the second, and subsequently tied the game up in the third. Columbus goalie Steve Mason made some awesome saves and was a key part of the comeback. In a complete reversal, however, the Wild were outshot by Columbus 11-3 in the third but came away with the game winner with 5 minutes left. Minnesota's second through fourth forward lines hadn't scored a goal in their previous four games, so the Wild were pleased when second-line winger Pierre-Marc Bouchard scored the game-winning goal. 
• Anaheim Ducks 2, San Jose Sharks 3 (S/O) - The Sharks played their worst game of the season, yet still managed to squeak out a win at home and stay undefeated thanks to opportunistic shooting. San Jose was sloppy from start to finish, as they had numerous turnovers trying to get the puck out of their zone, passed poorly, weren't driving the net, and overall as a team were just bad. Anaheim should have won this game, but they allowed two quick-strike regulation goals: one on a breakaway (Pavelski) and one on a fast-break (Couture, trailing 2-1 with three minutes left in the game). San Jose was without defenseman Dan Boyle (illness), and with Marc-Edouard Vlasic playing one of the poorest games of his career, the Sharks struggled mightily against a Ducks attack that had plenty of opportunities to blow the game open. Sharks goalie Antti Niemi had an incredible performance and without a doubt won the game for San Jose. Just check out this save in overtime:

WEDNESDAY'S SCHEDULE

• Montreal (4-1) at Ottawa (4-1-1) - (4 PT) - Two unproven teams with inflated records face off in Canada's game of the night. Both teams won long, eventful games on Tuesday night, so keep an eye on player fatigue in this one.
• Chicago (6-0) at Minnesota (3-2-1) - (5 PT) (NBC Sports Network) - Two division leaders square off as Chicago looks to remain undefeated. Minnesota lacks the scoring depth to match Chicago's attack, so a rested Blackhawks team should remain undefeated and advance to 7-0.
• Edmonton (3-2) at Phoenix (2-4) - (6:30 PT) - Phoenix will try to put together another tremendous defensive performance in front of goalie Chad Johnson, fresh off a shutout in his season debut. This one will be close unless the Coyotes find themselves in penalty trouble, where Edmonton's league-leading power play attack can single-handedly win a game.
• Colorado (2-3) at Vancouver (2-2-2) - (7 PT) - Colorado is still without captain Gabriel Landeskog, who suffered a concussion during Saturday's loss to San Jose. Vancouver's dirty play will probably go without consequence and wear down on the Avalanche, who have only one power play goal this year. Expect the Canucks to pull out a tight victory.