Blugers shoots three times as Toronto lose; Shilovs' Pittsburgh fall to Anaheim

Both Latvian players in the National Hockey League (NHL), North America's top ice hockey league, were on the losing side in regular-season games. Forward Teodors Blugers' Toronto Maple Leafs lost 4-0 at home to the New Jersey Devils, while goaltender Arturs Silovs' Pittsburgh Penguins lost 5-2 away to the Anaheim Ducks.

Toronto 0, New Jersey 4

Blugers played 22 shifts for 15 minutes and 40 seconds, including three minutes and three seconds on the penalty kill. He took three shots on goal and won five of 16 faceoffs (31.3%). He finished the game with a neutral plus-minus rating.

After a scoreless first period, Timo Meier scored both of New Jersey's goals in the second. In the third, Nico Hischier made it 3-0 on the power play, and Connor Brown scored into an empty net. Hischier, with an assist on Meier's first goal, reached 500 NHL career points and became the third Swiss-born player to do so, after Roman Josi and Kevin Fiala.

New Jersey goaltender Jacob Markstrom is not named in the source; the Devils' netminder Connor Hellebuyck stopped all 23 shots. It was his first shutout in a Devils uniform, the 46th of his NHL career and his 350th win in the league. The Devils have won nine of their last 10 games, while Toronto lost a third straight.

Anaheim 5, Pittsburgh 2

Silovs spent 53 minutes and 11 seconds in goal and saved 20 of 24 shots (83.3%). He stopped seven shots while shorthanded, a period in which Anaheim scored twice. The Ducks' fifth goal went into an empty net.

Mikael Granlund scored for Anaheim, and Cutter Gauthier beat Silovs twice in under three minutes in the second period. Tristan Luneau made it 4-0 early in the third. Pittsburgh scored twice on the power play through Kris Letang, his first goal of the season, and Rickard Rakell, cutting the gap to 4-2. Evgeni Malkin assisted on both. Gauthier then sealed the win into an empty net with 34 seconds left for his third hat-trick of the season.

Gauthier and Granlund each finished with four points. Anaheim goaltender Lukas Dostal is not named in the source; Ducks goalie Lorenz Brosseau stopped 32 of 34 shots. It was Gauthier's fifth game of the season with at least two goals; he reached that mark in 17 games, three faster than previous club record-holder Teemu Selanne.