News » Burdened with a franchise-record

ST. PAUL New Jersey Devils Hats Authentic , Minn. (AP) — losing streak, the Anaheim Ducks got a spark after a roster makeover. The Minnesota Wild were left reeling after the trade of a popular teammate.John Gibson made 37 saves for his second shutout of the season, Adam Henrique and Rickard Rakell scored 11 seconds apart in the first period and the re-tooled Ducks snapped a franchise-record 12-game losing streak by beating the Wild 3-0 on Thursday night.Brian Gibbons added his second goal of the season for Anaheim, which made four trades in the previous three days.“I think you lose 12 in a row, you need to change something,” Gibson said. “I’m not saying anything about the guys that moved or anything like that, but I think you get new players, you get some new faces, you get some new energy in here and it helped us and we fed off that. We needed a change, and tonight it worked out and we have to keep going with it.”The Ducks added forwards Devin Shore and Derek Grant, and defenseman Michael Del Zotto in a series of deals Custom New Jersey Devils Jerseys , along with receiving minor league forward Justin Kloos in an exchange with Minnesota.“Hopefully, we hit a few buttons that can give ourselves some life here and some momentum that we can carry this forward,” Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle said of the win.Alex Stalock allowed three goals on eight shots for the Wild before being pulled in favor of Devan Dubnyk, who stopped 15 shots after he was expected to get another night of rest.Minnesota has also been busy making deals. Earlier Thursday, Minnesota traded forward Nino Niederreiter to the Carolina Hurricanes for center Victor Rask. Pontus Aberg played his first game for the Wild after being acquired from Anaheim for Kloos.“Yeah, a guy was traded mid-afternoon and they find out at 4 o’clock or what have you,” Minnesota coach Bruce Boudreau said. “But our job is our job. I mean, we’re professionals. Trades happen. They had six transactions and I didn’t see them worrying about it.”The Ducks started quickly in this one as Henrique scored his eighth goal of the season just 3:57 into the game. Just 11 seconds later, Shore drove the net and had the puck poked away by Stalock. But the loose puck when right to Rakell in front and he had an open net for his ninth goal of the season.Shore was playing his second game with Anaheim since being acquired from Dallas.Gibbons scored less than four minutes later, tipping a shot from the point from defenseman Andy Welinkski and ending Stalock’s night.“Sometimes that’s all it takes,” Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf said. “You get young guys in the lineup and they play with energy and they did their job great tonight.”Dubnyk www.officialislanders.com , the Wild’s All-Star representative, had started 16 of 17 games before Stalock led Minnesota to a win against Los Angeles on Tuesday with 31 saves. Boudreau said Dubnyk was feeling tired and tried to give his top netminder another night off Thursday.“We’ve got to start winning or it’s more stuff like that is going to happen,” Minnesota forward Zach Parise said of the trades. “You never want to be in that position where you’re putting yourself in a spot where they have to make that decision and all of a sudden you have to start getting rid of players. It’s a tough spot to be in and I just hope that we can rebound and climb ourselves back in.”NOTES: Del Zotto and Kloos were scratched for Anaheim. Del Zotto, acquired from Vancouver, isn’t expected to join the team until the current road trip ends on Sunday. … Anaheim F Max Jones made his NHL debut after being recalled a day earlier when Jakob Silfverberg and Ryan Kesler were placed on injured reserve with lower-body injuries. … Both teams were 0 for 4 on the power play and Minnesota has now killed off two of the past 21 opponent power plays. … Thursday represented the first time Stalock has started two straight games since a career-best seven in a row from Dec. 14-27, 2017. … Parise had a career-high 11 shots on goal.UP NEXTDucks: Play at New Jersey on Saturday.Wild: Host Columbus on Saturday. RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Making the playoffs was all but a given for the Washington Capitals. It’s still a big deal for the player whose late goal wrapped up their latest postseason berth.Nic Dowd scored on a deflection with 4:56 remaining, and the Capitals clinched a playoff berth with a 3-2 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday night.Brett Connolly and Jakub Vrana scored and Braden Holtby made 24 saves. The reigning Stanley Cup champions scored twice in the third period to reach the 100-point mark for the fifth straight year and wrap up their 11th spot in the playoffs in 12 seasons.Still, it’s a first for Dowd — who never skated in a postseason game while playing the past three seasons for Los Angeles and Vancouver before signing a free-agent deal with Washington in the summer.“I’m excited. I’ve never even come close to making it, to clinching playoffs or even playing for it, so I’m really excited New York Islanders T-Shirts Authentic ,” Dowd said. “I’m sure the guys in here obviously kind of echo what I say, too. It’s just one of those things where you’re happy to get it out of the way, and then we can resume the rest of the season and play well and carry it into the playoffs.”Warren Foegele and Nino Niederreiter scored for the Hurricanes, who lost consecutive games in regulation for the first time since mid-January and missed out on an important two points that would have helped their chase for their first playoff berth in a decade.Carolina, which started the third period with a 2-1 lead, fell to 30-3-2 when leading after two periods.“We have to find a way to win these games, tight games, but I think the effort was there and it was a good effort by us,” center Sebastian Aho said. “We had lots of chances to win this game. Their chances, they made them count.”Washington’s game-winner came after Nick Jensen’s shot from the boards clipped Dowd’s stick and slipped between Curtis McElhinney’s pads.“Just got there and the puck happened to find me,” Dowd said. “Good timing New York Islanders Hoodies Authentic , I guess.”That goal came about 3 minutes after Holtby’s best save of the night, gloving Niederreiter’s shot from about 10 feet, and Holtby then robbed Brett Pesce and Niederreiter again with about 90 seconds remaining.Alex Ovechkin — who entered with 49 goals — was held off the score sheet and missed a long shot toward an empty net with about 45 seconds remaining.McElhinney finished with 17 saves for Carolina, which went 0-3-1 this season against the Capitals and lost to them twice in a three-night span.“The fact that you got zero points from both games … we just have to bounce back from this,” Aho said.Jensen’s assist on the winner came after he was embarrassed on the goal by Foegele that put Carolina up 2-1 with 7:30 left in the second. The Hurricanes rookie juked past Jensen and beat Holtby with a forehand — then celebrated his first goal since Feb. 8 with an Ovechkin-style leap into the glass.Vrana tied it 95 seconds into the third when he took a pass from Evgeny Kuznetsov, got behind two Hurricanes and slipped the puck between McElhinney’s legs.“It was a tight game, and we never stopped playing,” Vrana said.That came after Niederreiter put the Hurricanes up 1-0 at 4:31 of the first when he poked a loose puck at the post past Holtby for his 13th goal in 31 games with Carolina. Connolly tied it 42 seconds later with his goal on a 2-on-1.NOTES: Vrana also hit the crossbar early in the first. … McElhinney was Carolina’s nominee for the Masterson Trophy, given to the player who exemplifies perseverance and dedication to the sport. … The Capitals’ nominee was D Brooks Orpik. … Carolina D Dougie Hamilton skated in his 500th career game.UP NEXTCapitals: Visit Tampa Bay on Saturday in a matchup of the East’s division leaders.Hurricanes: Host Philadelphia on Saturday.