Hockey roundup: Griffins' Postava posts third shutout; Flyers meet Wings again
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Grand Rapids Griffins goalie Michal Postava made 18 saves in a 5-0 victory over the Rockford IceHogs on Wednesday at the BMO Center in Rockford, Illinois.
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Postava was returned to Grand Rapids by the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday after he backed up goalie John Gibson in a 5-2 win over Buffalo last week.
Postava is 14-6-0 with the Griffins this season with three shutouts, a 1.86 goals-against average and a .932 save percentage in 21 games.
Eduards Tralmaks had two goals and one assist, Michael Brandsegg-Nygard had a goal an an assist, Amateur Lombardi added a goal and Erik Gustafsson had two assists.
Wings, Flyers face off in critical game
The Detroit Red Wings and Philadelphia Flyers failed to gain ground in the playoff race Tuesday, but they get another opportunity when the teams square off Thursday in Philadelphia.
Detroit (39-27-8, 86 points) and Philadelphia (37-25-12, 86 points) both trail the Columbus Blue Jackets by two points for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. The Red Wings and Flyers both have eight games remaining, including another matchup in Detroit next week.
The Red Wings are coming off a 5-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins – their fourth defeat in five games and their seventh loss in the last 10 outings.
John Gibson was pulled for the second straight game, this time after allowing three first-period goals. Cam Talbot came on in relief and could be in line to get the start Thursday, when Detroit aims to steady the ship after a 5-7-2 March.
"We'll write our own story," Red Wings coach Todd McLellan said. "We've written it. The book is closed on March now. We move to April. … There's teams that are elevating right now and there's teams that aren't, and right now, we're one of them that aren't."
Dylan Larkin scored the lone goal for the Red Wings – marking his sixth career 30-goal season – but it wasn't nearly enough.
"Seems to be a different story every night," Larkin said. "That's a tough one, but I think when you come to the rink, you put your equipment on and it's hockey, no matter what time of the year. It gets elevated this time of the year, but you have to make plays, you have to want the puck on your stick."
Philadelphia has been trending in the other direction, with six wins in seven games entering Tuesday's matchup in Washington. However, the Flyers were outgunned by the Capitals, 6-4, as their eight-game road winning streak came to an end.
"It's frustrating," Philadelphia winger Travis Konecny said. "Just on to the next game. We've been playing some really good hockey and we're just going to keep applying pressure. That's all we can do."
The teams also met last week in Detroit, as all three of their meetings this season take place between March 28 and April 9. The Flyers won the first matchup 5-3 as they zipped to a 4-0 lead – highlighted by Owen Tippett's hat trick – before allowing three late goals. With things getting dicey, Sean Couturier deposited an empty-netter to seal the win.
"You can't get behind 4-0 and expect to come back," Detroit's Alex DeBrincat said that night. "You can't have games like that at this time of the season."
Blue Jackets desperate to break drought
The Carolina Hurricanes will look to defeat the Columbus Blue Jackets for the second time in three days when the Metropolitan Division rivals meet on Thursday in Raleigh, N.C.
Tuesday's game in Columbus was tied until 12:42 of the third period, when Nikolaj Ehlers' long-range shot beat a screened Jet Greaves. Ehlers' goal was the first of three unanswered tallies for Carolina in a 5-2 away win.
As Columbus defenseman Zach Werenski put it, "the penalty kill kind of killed" the Jackets' chances. The Hurricanes were 3-for-5 on the power play, while the Blue Jackets were 0-for-3 with the extra attacker.
"Our kill has to get it done," Werenski said. "We can't give up three power- play goals in a game, especially this time of year. That's the deciding factor, since I thought 5-on-5 it was pretty even."
The Jackets have killed only five of 11 penalties over their last three games, while the Columbus power play is 1-for-12 in its last seven games.
In contrast, Carolina's special teams units are among the hottest in the NHL. The Hurricanes are 16-for-17 on the penalty kill over their last six games, and 11-for-23 on the power play during a streak of seven consecutive games with at least one power-play goal.
Just about everything is clicking for a Hurricanes team that leads the Eastern Conference. Carolina (47-21-6, 100 points) has a game in hand over the Buffalo Sabres, whose matching 100 points have come in 75 games.
Carolina and Columbus could meet again in the playoffs, as the Jackets (38-35-12, 88 points) hold the second and final East wild-card berth.
The Blue Jackets' 0-3-1 record in their last four games has hampered their chances in both the division and wild-card races. Columbus is four points behind the Pittsburgh Penguins for second place in the Metropolitan Division, but four teams also sit within three points of the Jackets for the wild card slot.
Werenski leads the Jackets in assists (57) and points (78). Kirill Marchenko leads Columbus with 26 goals, but the forward snapped an eight-game drought with a tally on Tuesday.
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This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Detroit Red Wings prospect Michal Postava earns third shutout