SUNRISE
Gordie Howe Jersey , Fla. — Two struggling teams – the host Florida Panthers and the New Jersey Devils — will meet Monday night at the BB&T Center. The Devils, who lost 5-2 to the host Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday night, will be playing on shorter rest than Florida. The Devils (9-10-3) are also last in the Metropolitan Division with 21 points and are 2-9-0 on the road.Devils left winger Taylor Hall, who won league MVP honors last season when he scored 39 goals and dished out 54 assists, was held without a point on Sunday.Article continues below ...So far this season, he has seven goals and 16 assists in 22 games. He has no power-play goals this season after getting 13 with the man advantage last season.Hall’s monster season in 2017-2018 helped the Devils reach the playoffs for the first time in six years.As for New Jersey’s defense, they will likely turn to Keith Kincaid in goal on Monday. Kincaid, who won a career-high 26 games last season, is 9-5-3 so far this season, posting a 2.65 goals-against average and a .914 save percentage.New Jersey’s other goalie, Cory Schneider, took the loss on Sunday at Tampa Bay and is 0-5-0 so far this season.Meanwhile, the Panthers (8-9-4) are in last place in the Atlantic Division with 20 points. They are just 3-3-2 at home and blew a game to the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday night that hit them like a really hard punch in the gut.Chicago’s Alex DeBrincat scored with just 1.8 seconds left in regulation to force overtime, where Erik Gustafsson got the game-winner, leaving Florida with just the one point.Florida is allowing 3.62 goals per game, which is the second-worst average in the league, better than only the Ottawa Senators.Offensively, the Panthers rank 12th among 31 teams with 3.24 goals per game. But defensively …“We can’t be allowing five or six (goals) per game
Authentic Gustav Nyquist Jersey ,” Panthers winger Mike Hoffman said. “We have to take ownership of that as a group. We have to learn from this. It’s happened too many times now. It’s unacceptable.”Hoffman, who last week set a Panthers record with a 17-game points streak, leads Florida with 11 goals and 22 points.The Panthers rank second in the NHL in most shots on goal per game (35.7), and there are no major issues on face-offs as they are winning 50.4 percent of their draws.Florida’s power play, with the trade acquisition this past offseason of Hoffman, has been hot and has moved up to sixth in the league (25.6 conversion rate).But the Panthers are killing just 75 percent of their penalties – only three NHL teams are worse.Even so, Panthers captain and center Aleksander Barkov said the biggest problem for Florida is a lack of concentration.“We (tend) to outshoot teams and out play teams – 45 minutes of good hockey,” Barkov said. “But then we give (opponents) five minutes every period that they can do whatever they want. We sit back and don’t play confident, and that is costing us games.” LAS VEGAS (AP) — Nick Cousins said he “couldn’t put a finger on” why teams are playing better in Las Vegas this season.Nor does he care.Cousins scored his first game-winning goal of the season and goaltender Darcy Kuemper made 41 saves to lead the Arizona Coyotes to a 5-2 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday night.The Coyotes snapped an 0-3-1 slide on the road, while handing Vegas its fourth consecutive home loss, the second time in franchise history it’s lost four straight at T-Mobile Arena.“I think guys maybe took ’em a little bit lightly since they were coming with the expansion,” Cousins said. “Obviously us, we’re not gonna take ’em lightly any time. And I think that might be it. We’ve played ’em well here.”Arizona, which improved to 2-1-1 in Las Vegas, was the recipient of a wild bounce after Cousins’ initial shot was deflected wide. Vinnie Hinostroza collected the puck and fired it in front, where Cousins was there for a one-timer that slipped past Vegas goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury.Kuemper, who recently earned a point in nine straight starts, improved to 8-2-3 since the calendar flip to 2019. He’s made a league sixth-best 378 saves since Jan. 1.“He was solid tonight
Womens Henrik Zetterberg Jersey ,” Arizona coach Rick Tocchet said. “Kemps is seeing the puck. I thought he made a good save in the third, a glove save, that was a rocket going short side, he made that glove save. That was a big one for us.”Jordan Oesterle, Alex Galchenyuk, Josh Archibald and Richard Panik also scored for Arizona.Brandon Pirri and Nate Schmidt scored for Vegas, which is now 16-8-3 at home and has lost six of eight. Fleury, who made his league-leading 50th start of the season, made 21 saves.It marked the fifth time in eight games Vegas’ normally high-powered offense was limited to two or fewer goals.Alex Tuch, who leads Vegas with 40 points, is now mired in a six-game drought without a point or an assist, while first-line forwards William Karlsson and Jonathan Marchessault had their three-game point streaks come to halt.“We keep taking penalties, it hurts you,” Vegas coach Gerard Gallant said. “We kill both of them, but we lost momentum. Your top players are killing penalties then you try and get back. It was a 2-2 game and all of a sudden, we try and get cute again and start making drop passes and passes through the slot, and turnover and they go the other way on odd-man rushes. … In my opinion we gave them three goals from our mistakes, not from what they deserve.”Meanwhile
Jimmy Howard Jersey , the Coyotes, who entered the game leading the league with an 85.1 penalty kill percentage, kept Vegas silent on its lone power-play opportunity.After Oesterle buried a wrist shot to break a scoreless tie during a power play midway through the second period, Galchenyuk made it 2-0 when he took a pass from Nick Cousins and broke free down the left side on a breakaway, deked Fleury to his left and slipped the puck into the net.Pirri ended his six-game drought 29 seconds later when he sniped Kuemper short side to cut Arizona’s lead in half. Shortly after Reilly Smith had a chance to tie the game for Vegas with a penalty shot, but clanked it off the post, Schmidt found the back of the net with 30 seconds left in the second to make it 2-2 for his 100th career point.Archibald and Panik scored late to ice the game for Arizona, which inched closer in the Western Conference wild-card race. The Coyotes are four points behind the second wild-card spot, currently held by Minnesota, which has 59 points. Sandwiched between is Vancouver with 57.Tocchet agreed with Cousins in that teams are no longer surprised by Vegas’ talent, and are arriving a bit more poised and prepared to play hockey, rather than being distracted by what the city has to offer the night before games.“I think teams are coming in here a little more serious, I just feel like when we come in here, the job’s to win a hockey game,” Tocchet said. “It’s no different than going to any other city. You go to dinner and whatever your guys do. Vegas, I think people are being a little more serious before the game.”NOTES: The Coyotes were on their annual “Dads Trip.” … Arizona’s Kevin Connauton played in his 300th career game. … Cousins’ 17 assists are a career high. … Stepan has registered three goals and four assists in eight career games against the Golden Knights. … Vegas’ Deryk Engelland played in his 599th career game. … Vegas’ Paul Stastny has at least one point in 14 of last 19 games (4 goals, 15 assists).UP NEXTArizona: Hosts St. Louis on Thursday.Vegas: Hosts Toronto on Thursday.