| Colorado was forgettable. He made his second one against the Avalanche memorable.Delia made 35 saves in his first NHL start of the season and the Chicago Blackhawks beat the Avalanche 2-1 on Friday night for their third straight victory.Recalled Monday from Rockford of the AHL after Corey Crawford sustained a concussion Alex Killorn Jersey Kids , the 24-year-old Delia made his third career start. In his previous start, he surrendered five goals late last season in a loss to the Avalanche.“Probably a little bit of vengeance,” Delia said. “I didn’t have the best outing last time so I did everything in my power to prepare to be ready for this game.”Alex DeBrincat and Artem Anisimov scored for Chicago. The Blackhawks swept their two-night, two-game road trip.“We didn’t seem to have as much juice in the legs,” Chicago coach Jeremy Colliton said. “It was a battle all night, it felt like we were playing uphill but credit to our guys they found a way to survive and we got some timely saves. We got great goaltending tonight.”J.T. Compher scored for Colorado, and Philipp Grubauer stopped 26 shots.Colorado’s Colin Wilson left the game early when he fell over Andreas Martinsen and landed on his left shoulder. Wilson was helped off and didn’t return because of an upper-body injury.Later in the first period, Blackhawks defenseman Samuel Girard crashed into the end boards after getting tangled with Jonathan Toews. He skated off the ice and went to the locker room.Avalanche coach Jared Bednar said Girard should be fine, but Wilson will miss some time.“I would say he is week-to-week, not day-to-day,” Bednar said.Grubauer had 35 saves against Montreal on Wednesday night and made some key saves in the second period to keep it tied. He stopped Anisimov on a great chance early in the period Andrei Vasilevskiy Jersey , then stopped a point-blank shot by Dylan Sikura after the puck bounced off the boards right to the center.The goalie gave up a rebound early in the third period and Chicago capitalized. Grubauer made the initial stop on Patrick Kane’s shot but it trickled through and Anisimov knocked it in at 1:19.“It was one that I would have love to have back,” Grubauer said. “One horrible goal cost us the game.”Delia made sure the lead stood with 11 saves in the third period and got a little help from the posts. Colorado hit three in the game, including one by Compher in the third period.“Obviously, you want to get a little puck luck, but you make your own luck,” Delia said. “You battle, you work hard and you think you deserve those bounces. On the road you’re not going to ask why the puck stayed out of net, we’re just happy with the two points.”Chicago struck first when Dominik Kahun came out of the box after serving a minor for too many men and got the puck from Connor Murphy in the neutral zone. He slid a pass across to DeBrincat, whose shot went off Grubauer’s blocker and in at 8:07 of the first. It was his 16th of the season.The Avalanche tied it when Alexander Kerfoot sent a backhand pass from the end boards to Compher crashing the net, and he flicked it past Delia at 2:58 of the second.Colorado came into the game third in the league in power-play percentage but went 0 for 5.“The penalty kill made the difference for us,” Toews said.NOTES: Colorado D Nikita Zadorov was out with a lower-body injury and will miss Saturday night’s game at Arizona as well. The Avalanche recalled Anton Lindholm from the Colorado Eagles of the AHL.UP NEXT:Blackhawks: Chicago: Host Florida on Sunday.Avalanche: At Arizona on Saturday night. TORONTO (AP) The Winnipeg Jets had to wait nearly the entire season to make up for an embarrassing home loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs in the opener.Josh Morrissey and Dustin Byfuglien scored 1:10 apart in the second period as the Jets beat the Maple Leafs 3-1 on Saturday night.Winnipeg lost 7-2 to Toronto to open the season on Oct 4 http://www.officiallightningprostore.com/authentic-adidas-anton-stralman-jersey , and was also coming off a disappointing 6-2 loss in Chicago two nights earlier that ended a six-game winning streak.”We kind of owed them one,” Morrissey said. ”We didn’t like the way the last meeting went at the start of the year … and with the way we played in Chicago the other night we really wanted to rebound.”We had a lot of motivating factors.”Andrew Copp had the other goal for the Jets, while Connor Hellebuyck stopped 28 shots in a matchup of the only two Canadian teams headed to the playoffs.Winnipeg was eager to get back to playing a physical, defensively sound game after the loss to the Blackhawks.”We were on the puck much better,” Jets captain Blake Wheeler said. ”That’s a (Toronto) group that wants time, wants space, wants to be creative.”Patrick Marleau scored for Toronto, and Curtis McElhinney had 26 saves. The Maple Leafs were playing for the third time in in four nights, including the second of a back-to-back following Friday’s 5-4 victory at the New York Islanders.”I’m disappointed,” Leafs coach Mike Babcock said. ”When you don’t have quite as much juice, you’re not quite as good. … It was tight. In the end Womens Brayden Point Jersey , they were better.”The Maple Leafs are all but assured of finishing third in the Atlantic Division. The Jets, meanwhile, look just as certain to wind up second in the Central.Both teams are hoping to use these final few outings as playoff tuneups.”It just shows you’ve got to be sharp each and every night, and sometimes the details of the game is the difference – most of the time it’s the difference,” Marleau said. ”Tonight was no different.”Toronto’s only blemish at home in more than two months coming into this game was Monday’s 3-2 loss to last-place Buffalo that snapped a 13-game winning streak at Air Canada Centre.Scoreless after a first period lacking much in the way of emotion, Toronto grabbed a 1-0 lead just 2:02 into the second when the league’s third-ranked power play went to work. Auston Matthews looked primed to shoot on Hellebuyck from the left faceoff circle, but passed to Marleau, who redirected his 26th of the season home from the top of the crease.After a pad stop on Blake Wheeler’s deflection later in the period, McElhinney could do nothing at 8:30 when Morrissey’s blast from the point past a screen caught him moving the wrong way for the defenseman’s sixth.McElhinney was then run into by Winnipeg’s Mark Scheifele after he stopped Wheeler’s breakaway seconds later, but no penalty was called on the play.Playing without rookie defenseman Travis Dermott because of a lower-body injury suffered in the first, the Leafs went to the penalty kill when play resumed after Jake Gardiner cross-checked Scheifele hard into the boards Braydon Coburn Jersey , much to the chagrin of home crowd.The Jets’ power play – which was fourth overall coming in – went to work, and Byfuglien snapped his seventh off the post and in past a screened McElhinney at 9:40.Winnipeg pulled ahead 3-1 seemingly out of nothing on a broken play with 2:26 left in the period when Copp fired his sixth shortside off a pass from Adam Lowry.”It’s tough when you give up a power-play goal,” Morrissey said. ”That’s some of the growth in our team – we got right back on our horse and really went after it.”That’s something we’re going to have to do definitely going forward here and into the playoffs.”Playing the second of a back-to-back, McElhinney saw his first action in place of Frederik Andersen since making 33 saves in a 4-0 win over Montreal on March 17.Toronto went back to the man advantage midway through the final period after Winnipeg was whistled for too many men, but neither unit could connect despite extended zone time.The Leafs pressed further with McElhinney out for an extra attacker, but couldn’t find a way past Hellebuyck before Ron Hainsey took a holding penalty on Copp with 67 seconds left in regulation to kill any hope of a comeback.Hellebuyck had to be sharp to snag Nazem Kadri’s deflection of a shot by Marleau midway through the first before also blocking Connor Brown’s batted effort and rebound chance from in close with under two minutes left.Brown had another opportunity with Hellebuyck swimming in his crease moments later, but couldn’t quite find the handle on a loose puck.NOTES: Toronto came in 8-2 over its last 10. … Leafs forward Mitch Marner saw his 11-game point streak (five goals, 11 assists) come to an end. … Leo Komarov replaced Andreas Johnsson on Toronto’s fourth line after missing seven games with a lower-body injury. … Winnipeg D Jacob Trouba (concussion) returned to the lineup following a five-game absence.UP NEXTJets: At Ottawa on Monday night.Maple Leafs: Host Buffalo on Monday night. |
