The sweep of the NHL schedule from Saturday starts in St Paul where the Minnesota Wild managed to edge the Carolina Hurricanes in the skills competition, 3-2.
Devan Dubnyk made 31 saves to help the Wild climb up the playoff ladder.
“This time of the year, going into the shootout, you work and compete your best and hopefully you get the extra point,” Dubnyk said. “But going into a shootout right now, getting one point is not good enough for us.”
Devan Dubnyk was solid in win over Canes – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
David Jones and Jason Zucker scored in regulation for the Wild who now trail the Colorado Avalanche by one point for the second wild card spot in the west.
“It’s always nice to get a goal. But more than that, it was nice to help the team get a win tonight, in any way,” Zucker said. “Whether that’s shots on net, blocking shots or getting a goal, it was nice to help us get that win. It was two very needed points.”
Zach Parise scored the second Wild goal in the skills round for the winner.
“You’re always looking for two [points], right? There’s no question about that. We’ve got to make one more play. It seems like each and every night, we’ve played six out of seven in [overtime],” Hurricanes coach Bill Peters said. “It’s that tight around the League, no matter who you play or where you play. Everyone is competing very hard and everyone’s desperate for points.”
Chris Terry and Jordan Staal scored for the Canes in regulation.
Cam Ward made 30 saves in the loss.
In Ottawa, the Senators got a strong game from Andrew Hammond who made 30 saves in a 5-0 win over the Montreal Canadiens.
Andrew Hammond shutout the Habs – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
Special teams were a highlight for the Sens as they scored three shorthanded goals in the win.
“Our No. 1 thing is to make sure we kill the penalty off, and we’ve struggled this year,” Ottawa coach Dave Cameron said. “Probably the upside of that, or the positive you can take out of it, is we have scored some shorthanded goals. But over the course of the year, our penalty kill hasn’t been good enough. It’s been good lately, but over the course of the year it hasn’t.
“Any time you get one shorthanded goal, you look at it as a bonus. To get three is kind of the exception.”
Jean-Gabriel Pageau, Curtis Lazar and Alex Chiasson scored the shorties for the Sens.
“I’m happy I contributed tonight, but I think it all started with Hammond,” Pageau said. “He stopped all of their shots. I think we can be proud of ourselves tonight. We played the way we wanted.”
Marc Methot and Mika Zibanejad also scored for Ottawa.
“Regardless of where we are in the standings right now, I think we’re a high-character group,” Hammond said. “When you take a game like [Friday] night, the way we did, you know you need to respond the next night. Fortunately for us, we were able to play back-to-back and not have to sit on that effort from [Friday] night too long. We really responded with a good one.”
Before Saturday, the Canadiens had never yielded three shorthanded goals in a single game.
“First of all, I think that’s the first time that I see that (three shorthanded goals in a game). It’s matter of execution, concentration. Pretty simple,” Canadiens coach Michel Therrien said.
In Vancouver, the St Louis Blues got a much-needed boost from Brian Elliott who made 19 saves in a 3-0 win over the Canucks.
“The guys made it a little easier on me, getting 50 shots on net, spending a lot of time in their zone, playing the type of game that wins us hockey games,” Elliott said. “I just tried to stay big, cover the ice, and let the guys do the rest of the work.”
Elliot had not started a game since late February and was out with a lower-body injury.
Brian Elliott returned form injury to blank Canucks – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
Despite facing only 19 shots he felt he was busy all night.
“It wasn’t too many long breaks between shots, and they had some scoring opportunities, so it’s just trying to stay focused,” Elliott said. “And when you have been off for a month, it’s almost nice to have a little break in between shots so you can regroup.”
Troy Brouwer, Vladimir Tarasenko and Jaden Schwartz scored for the Blues.
“That’s the style of game we want to play,” Brouwer said. “Cut down shots against and limit them to a couple sustained offensive shifts. Guys took a lot of pride in the backcheck, and it contributed to few shots against and going the other way a lot.”
Ryan Miller was very busy in the Canucks net as he made 47 saves in the loss.
“He’s kind of getting used to it,” Canucks captain Henrik Sedin said. “He’s been in a few of those this year. He’s been really good this year. It’s unfortunate the amount of chances he sees every night.”
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