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Tag: Patrik Laine

  • Rantanen’s hat trick leads Avs past Blue Jackets in Finland

    Rantanen’s hat trick leads Avs past Blue Jackets in Finland

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    TAMPERE, Finland — Mikko Rantanen scored three goals in his native country and the Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 6-3 on Friday night in the NHL’s second visit to Europe this year.

    Cale Makar had a goal and an assist, Logan O’Connor and J.T. Compher also scored and Nathan MacKinnon contributed four assists for the Avalanche, who stopped a two-game skid.

    Colorado blew a three-goal lead in its previous game, a 5-4 loss to the New York Islanders on Saturday, and allowed Columbus to tie it after taking a 3-0 advantage this time. But Rantanen put the Avs ahead for good in the third period with his second goal.

    “Two points are obviously the biggest thing,” Rantanen said, but he added of the hat trick, “I was obviously happy with that too.”

    Patrik Laine had a goal and an assist for the Blue Jackets in front of a sellout crowd of 12,882 in his hometown, Jakub Voracek scored Columbus’ first power-play goal of the season and Sean Kuraly also scored for the Blue Jackets, who dropped their fourth straight.

    The teams will play again Saturday at Tampere’s Nokia Arena as part of the league’s Global Series. Nashville swept two games from San Jose last month in Prague to kick off the regular season, the first NHL games in Europe since before the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Rantanen made it 4-3 with a one-timer from the right circle on the power play at 8:54 of the final period. He completed his hat trick with an empty-netter, his seventh goal of the season, to the delight of the fans chanting his name.

    “The crowd chanting that was pretty cool. I had chills on the bench,” he said.

    MacKinnon assisted on the empty-netter.

    “I knew he was probably gonna pull up and maybe look for me so I was skating up there,” Rantanen said. “It was a good pass from him for an assist, it tells how good of a player he is and a nice guy, I’d say.”

    Alex Newhook fed O’Connor to score the opening goal with a snap shot past goaltender Elvis Merzlikins 1:36 into the game. Compher doubled the lead on the power play with by deflecting Devon Toews’ shot from the blue line into the net with 7:36 to go as Avalanche dominated the opening period, outshooting Columbus 16-7.

    Rantanen made it 3-0 just 35 seconds into the middle period.

    Voracek reduced the Avalanche’s lead to 3-1 a minute after Rantanen’s goal on power play.

    Laine got the Blue Jackets within one from the left circle at 7:16 of the period for his second of the season.

    It was his fifth NHL goal in Finland after four in two regular-season games for the Winnipeg Jets against the Florida Panthers in their 2018 series in Helsinki, most of all NHL players in games outside North America.

    “I think satisfied is the wrong word, but I feel like we had some good looks,” Laine said. “Especially after the stretch we’ve had, we were really happy the way we were moving. We got a lot of chances and could have easily had a couple more, but it wasn’t bouncing our way. We can’t wait and hope for the bounces. We have to create our own luck and work harder and bury next time.”

    Kuraly tied it 2:32 into the final period. The Blue Jackets outshot the Avalanche 39-36, but Alexandar Georgiev stopped 36 of those shots.

    “It was an exiting game for the fans but the coaches would disagree a little bit, maybe too many penalties and scoring chances against, but Georgiev was really good in the net again and made some key saves at the key times again,” Rantanen said.

    This is the ninth season the NHL has played in Europe in hopes of connecting with hockey-mad fans. Colorado played Ottawa in Stockholm in 2017, while the Blue Jackets played overseas for the first time since 2010, when they faced San Jose in Stockholm.

    NOTES

    It was the 31st regular-season game played in Europe, the eighth in Finland and the first in Tampere, and the 37th NHL game contested outside North America. … Avalanche leading scorer Valeri Nichushkin (lower body) did not play for the third straight game. … Captain Boone Jenner returned from an illness to play his 600th game for Columbus, moving past Nick Foligno for third-most in franchise history.

    UP NEXT

    The teams complete the series on Saturday night.

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    More AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/NHL and https://twitter.com/AP—Sports

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  • Stamkos scores 2, Lightning beat Blue Jackets 5-2

    Stamkos scores 2, Lightning beat Blue Jackets 5-2

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    COLUMBUS, Ohio — Steven Stamkos scored twice, and Corey Perry and Ross Colton each had a goal and an assist, as the Tampa Bay Lightning beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 5-2 Friday for their first win of the season.

    Cal Foote also scored for the Lightning, and Vladislav Namestnikov, Alex Killorn and Mikhail Sergachev each added two assists. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 26 shots.

    “It was a well-rounded game,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “It was something we needed, and now we’re just going to have to carry it into tomorrow.”

    Johnny Gaudreau got his first goal since signing with the Blue Jackets in the offseason, and Gus Nyquist also scored for Columbus. Daniil Tarasov remained winless in seven NHL appearances, finishing with 34 saves.

    Columbus dropped its first two games for the third time in four seasons and the seventh time in franchise history. The Blue Jackets were playing their first game without star forward Patrik Laine, who injured his shoulder in the opening loss against Carolina and is expected to miss 3-4 weeks.

    “We were sloppy,” Blue Jackets coach Brad Larsen said. “We weren’t good enough tonight….We had some bad bounces but that’s not why we lost tonight. We lost because they were the better team.”

    Colton picked up a loose puck in the right circle and quickly fired a shot past Tarasov to give the Lightning a 3-2 lead with 1:05 left in the opening period.

    Foote’s deflection of a pass from Colton went off the right skate of Blue Jackets defenseman Jake Bean and in past Tarasov to push Tampa Bay’s lead to 4-2 at 7:45 of the second.

    Columbus failed to capitalize on a 5-on-3 powerplay to end the second period, before Stamkos got his second of the night and third in two games this season to make it a three-goal game at 7:57 of the third.

    “Whenever you kill a 5-on-3, it’s a boost to the team and gives you energy,” Namestnikov said.

    Gaudreau put Columbus on the board at 2:21 of the first, taking a behind-the-net feed from Justin Danforth and burying it past Vasilevskiy to earn chants of “Johnny! Johnny!” from the sellout crowd.

    “I thought, we had a good start,” Gaudreau said. “In the second they kind of took it to us to us. We lost focus. We just weren’t making the right plays in our D-zone.”

    Perry and Stamkos scored 1:13 apart late in the opening period to put Tampa Bay ahead. Perry tied it with a power-play goal with 5:52 left for the 406th score of his career, tying him with Rod Gilbert and John LeClair for the 99th place in NHL history. Stamkos put the Lightning ahead with a shot that bounced off the skate of Columbus defenseman Adam Boqvist into the back of the net.

    “You knew they were going to come our hard with their home opener, and you knew their juices would be flowing for them,” Perry said. “The crowd was into it early. They got an earlier one, but we found a way on the power-play to get one right back. We answered and we continue to do the good things.”

    Nyquist, however, tied it 34 seconds later with his first of season with just over 4 minutes remaining in the period.

    WELCOME HOME

    Gaudreau was one of three Blue Jacket players making their Nationwide Arena debuts Friday. He was joined by forward Mathieu Olivier, who was acquired from Nashville via trade, and defenseman Erik Gudbranson, who signed last summer as a free agent and assisted on Nyquist’s goal.

    FEELING BLUE

    Stamkos (14 goals, 16 assists) has recorded more goals and points against Columbus than any skater in Lightning franchise history and has nine points in his last four games against the Blue Jackets.

    CENTURY MAN

    Tampa Bay defenseman Victor Hedman played in his 900th career game and notched an assist on Colton’s goal.

    ON THE MOVE

    Elvis Merzlikins returned from sickness to be the Blue Jackets’ backup netminder, with goalie Jet Greaves returned to Cleveland of the AHL. Forward Kent Johnson was recalled and skated on the third line. … The Lightning recalled defenseman Trevor Carrick from AHL Syracuse to fill the void left by the suspension of Ian Cole.

    UP NEXT

    Lightning: At Pittsburgh on Saturday night to finish a season-opening three-game trip.

    Blue Jackets: At St. Louis on Saturday night.

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