COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The Columbus Blue Jackets look to extend their home winning streak to eight games when they host the Colorado Avalanche at Nationwide Arena on Monday at 7 p.m.The surging Blue Jackets (10-4-2) will be playing the second game of a back-to-back after they beat the Washington Capitals 3-2 at the Verizon Center on Sunday for their fourth straight win. The Avalanche (8-9-0) claimed a 3-2 victory over the Minnesota Wild on Saturday at the Xcel Energy Center.The Blue Jackets hold a 5-0-0 record versus current division leaders (Montreal, Anaheim, New York Rangers and Chicago) and are 2-0-0 versus Washington, the reigning Presidents Trophy winners. They are 8-1-1 in their last 10 games and have won seven stright at home.One of the reasons Columbus is having consistent success is 22-year-old center Alexander Wennberg. He leads the team with 14 assists and is second to captain Nick Foligno in points with 17.Now in his third year with the team, Wennberg (3-14-17 in 16 games) is showing more confidence in shooting the puck while showcasing the latent skill the club hoped for when they drafted the Swede 14th overall in 2013.Hes an important guy for us, for as young as our team is, said Blue Jackets head coach John Tortorella. Hes probably one of the most skilled players, most skilled center (on team). Its a big year for him to take more responsibility in his play, away from the puck and with the puck.Hes still young, but hes a third-year pro. This is a big year for him and I think hes started off very well.Goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky (10-4-1) has started 15 of 16 games for Columbus, holding a 2.19 goals-against average and a .931 save percentage.The Avalanche are 4-6-0 in their last 10 games. They are without the services of two of their centers and team leaders due to injury. Colorado captain Gabriel Landeskog has a lower-body injury suffered in Los Angeles last Tuesday and assistant captain Matt Duchene suffered a concussion on Nov. 11 against Winnipeg.Duchene hopes to be able to play at Columbus.I would say its definitely a possibility, he told the Denver Post. Im not going to say for sure, because I thought I was going to be good for Dallas and then two hours later, Im sitting on the plane and Im not feeling good. Its an up-to-the-minute thing. Itll probably be a game-time decision even then.Despite missing his fourth consecutive game on Saturday, the 25-year old Duchene still leads the team with six goals in 13 games (five assists, 11 points). Landeskog is third on the team in points with eight (four goals, four assists in 15 games).Center Nathan MacKinnon, 21, leads the club in assists and points, recording 4-8-12 in 17 games.Weve pushed hard in some of the games, especially the Dallas game, lately, Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar told the Denver Post. But we came up short. (Saturday) we kept pushing. It didnt matter what the score was, we tried to stay with our game.Its showing the character that our guys have and were starting to move in the right direction.The Avalanche are hoping goaltender Semyon Varlamov asserts himself soon. Hes 4-8-0 with a 3.01 goals-against average and .901 save percentage in 12 games. Backup netminder Calvin Pickard is 4-1-0 in six games with a 2.07 GAA and .931 save percentage. Twins Jerseys China . Coach Mike Munchak says Fokou stretched ligaments in his left knee Oct. 13 against Seattle, which could keep out up to five weeks even though the linebacker didnt need surgery. Cheap Custom Twins Jersey . Jordan Lynch, the all-purpose Heisman Trophy finalist from Northern Illinois, failed to make it into that exclusive club. http://www.customtwinsjersey.com/custom-harmon-killebrew-jersey-large-72s.html .Y. -- Vancouver Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo had little trouble picking up his first shutout of the season against a Buffalo Sabres team thats having trouble scoring goals. Custom Twins T-shirts . -- Chicago Bears cornerback Tim Jennings was selected Monday to his second straight Pro Bowl, while guard Kyle Long made it after a solid rookie season. Custom Twins Jerseys . Clarkson had been dealing with an elbow injury in early January and will be out of action for at least one week. He has three goals and five assists through 36 games with the Leafs this season. DETROIT -- Jimmy Howard made 30 saves and Gustav Nyquist scored twice, helping the Detroit Red Wings beat the San Jose Sharks 3-0 on Saturday night.Andreas Athanasiou also scored for Detroit, which won its fourth straight after losing its first two games of the season.San Jose goalie Martin Jones stopped 29 shots. The Sharks have lost three of four.Howard got his 23rd career shutout and his first this season.Nyquist scored twice in the second period to give Detroit a 2-0 lead.FLYERS 6, HURRICANES 3PHILADELPHIA -- Jakub Voracek scored twice and the Flyers pulled away from the road-weary Hurricanes.Wayne Simmonds and Shayne Gostisbehere each had a goal and an assist, and the Flyers won for the first time at home this season and snapped a three-game winless streak.Brandon Manning and Matt Read also scored for the Flyers. Steve Mason made 27 saves for his first win of the season.Justin Faulk, Jordan Staal and Lee Stempniak scored for the Hurricanes, who fell to 1-2-2 on the fifth stop of their season-opening six-game road trip. Eddie Lack made 21 saves.CANADIENS 4, BRUINS 2BOSTON -- Carey Price stopped 19 shots in his second start, and Brendan Gallagher and Phillip Danault each had second-period goals to lift the Canadiens to a win over the Bruins.Price, playing just his second game after a bout with the flu at the start of the season, missed most of last season with a right knee injury. He won his season debut, stopping 27 shots against Arizona on Thursday.Torrey Mitchell and Paul Byron also scored for Montreal, which has not lost in regulation through its first five games (4-0-1). Byrons goal was short-handed.Dominic Moore and Ryan Spooner scored for Boston, which is winless in its last nine games at home against its longtime rivals. Backup goalie Anton Khudobin made 25 saves.PREDATORS 5, PENGUINS 1NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Kevin Fiala and Viktor Arvidsson scored two goals each to lead the injiury-riddled Predators to a victory over the defending champion Penguins.Calle Jarnkrok also scored and P.K. Subban and Filip Forsberg each added two assists for Nashville. Juuse Saros had 34 shots for his first NHL victory as the Predators snapped a three-game skid.Scott Wilson scored early in the first period for Pittsburgh. Marc-Andre Fleury gave up the five goals on 23 shots through the first two periods before being replaced by Mike Condon, who stopped all seven shots he faced in the third.Arvidsson tied the score on the power play at 3:08 of the first period, and Fiola started a four-goal second with his first of the season at 2:26.BLUE JACKETS 3, STARS 0DALLAS -- Sergei Bobrovsky made 32 saves in his 13th career shutout and the Blue Jackets beat the Stars.The Blue Jackets won their second game in two nights after losing their first two games of the season. Dallas is 0-1-1 in the last two games, both at home.Josh Anderson, Scott Hartnell and Matt Calvert scored for Columbus.Andersons goal came at 16:04 of the second period. Boone Jenner passed across the goal mouth and Anderson tapped in the puck from the left side before Dallas goalie Kari Lehtonen could slide back into position.Hartnell scored at 9:02 of the third period. Calvert added an empty-net goal with 1:12 to play.Columbus has won seven of the last 10 games between the teams. Bobrovsky is 8-1-1 in his career vs. DallasLehtonen had 23 saves.RANGERS 4, CAPITALS 2WASHINGTON -- Rookie Jimmy Vesey scored the tying and go-ahead goals 3 minutes apart in the second period to lead the Rangers to a victory over the Capitals.Rick Nash scored a late empty-net goal and had an assist as New York won its sixth game in eight visits to Washington. Brandon Pirri also scored in a three-goal second period that began the Rangers comeback from two goals down en route to their first road win.ddddddddddddlex Ovechkin scored his third goal of the season to give Washington a 2-0 lead in the first. Lars Eller added his first goal as a member of the Capitals, who had a three-game win streak snapped and failed to earn at least a point for the first time this season.New Yorks Henrik Lundqvist made 26 saves. Braden Holtby stopped 22 shots for Washington.BLACHAWKS 5, MAPLE LEAFS 4, SOCHICAGO -- Jonathan Toews and Artemi Panarin scored in the shootout to give the Blackhawks a win over the Maple Leafs after Chicago came back with two late goals to force overtime.Artem Anisimov scored his second goal of the game on a rebound with 2:28 left to cut it to 4-3, then Richard Panik knocked in a loose puck in front of the goal 60 seconds later.Anisimov connected as Blackhawks goalie Scott Darling was heading to the bench for an extra attacker. Darling was on the bench when Panik tied it.Toronto rookie William Nylander scored twice for his first multi-goal game, with his second goal putting the Maple Leafs ahead 4-2 early in the third. But Toronto blew a lead in the final period for the third straight game and failed again to win at Chicago for the first time since February 2003.PANTHERS 5, AVALANCHE 2SUNRISE, Fla. -- Shane Harper scored his first two NHL goals to lift the Panthers over the Avalanche.Vincent Trocheck and Jonathan Marchessault each had a goal and an assist and Aaron Ekblad also scored a goal for the Panthers while Roberto Luongo made 26 saves.Matt Duchene and Blake Comeau scored goals for the Avalanche. Semyon Varlamov made 33 stops.The Panthers blew the game open in the third period as they scored three of four goals in a span of 2:26.Ahead 2-1, Marchessault skated in on a breakaway and fired the puck between the pads of Varlamov at 4:30 to make the score 3-1. Harper followed with his second goal of the game on a one-timer from in front to stretch the lead to 4-1.Duchene poked in a rebound past Luongo 16 seconds later to close the gap to 4-2.Trocheck slid a loose puck into the net at 6:56 to make the score 5-2.LIGHTNING 4, SENATORS 1OTTAWA, Ontario -- Andrei Vasilevskiy made 27 saves, Vladislav Namestnikov and Steven Stamkos scored early in the first period, and the Lightning beat the Senators.Alex Killorn and Valtteri Filppula also scored for the Lightning, who were playing their first road game of the season.Chris Neil scored the lone goal for the Senators, and Craig Anderson stopped 31 shots.Anderson was solid for much of the game for the Senators, but Killorn was able to sneak one through his right arm to give the Lightning a 3-1 lead midway through the third. It was Killorns fourth goal of the season.Filppula made it 4-1 late in the third.DEVILS 2, WILD 1, OTNEWARK, N.J. -- Taylor Hall scored 29 seconds into overtime and the Devils rallied to beat the Wild.PA Parenteau tied it late in the third period and Cory Schneider made 28 saves for the Devils. They won at home for the second time in two games and ended the Wilds three-game winning streak.Joel Eriksson Ek scored for Minnesota in his NHL debut and Devan Dubnyk made 30 saves.It marked the second straight home game in which Hall has provided the winner. He carried the puck into the Wild zone, left it for Adam Henrique and then went to the net and took the return pass and beat Dubnyk between the pads.After being stoned by Dubnyk on their first 26 shots, Parenteau tied it with 8:04 left in regulation. The right wing took a cross-ice pass from Mike Cammalleri and beat Dubnyk with a shot from above the right circle for his second goal of the season. ' ' '
