The three-game sweep of the NHL starts in the most obvious of locations, Nashville, where the Predators hosted the Washington Capitals in the return of former Preds head coach Barry Trotz.
“I had some butterflies going out there,” Trotz said. “A lot of good memories. Every time I walked out there, the fans were so great, so I want to thank them. They were absolutely tremendous tonight to me.”
James Neal scored with 1:40 remaining in regulation to spoil Trotz’ return as the Predators won, 4-3.
“I think we did a good job of [being on the forecheck] all night with a team like that who has a ton of offensive guys that are great getting up in the rush and making plays,” Neal said. “I think we did a good job in the neutral zone, and our forecheck was great all night.”
With Pekka Rinne shelved for three to five weeks, Carter Hutton got the starting nod and played well, making 31 saves for the win.
“[Hutton] was great,” Neal said. “Some big saves at big times in the game. It’s been frustrating for him in the last few games trying to get a win, and guys battled tonight for him. I’m happy for a guy like that who plays behind Pekka but battles every day. A lot of people don’t see how hard he works.”
A video tribute was offered during the game to Trotz who was the only coach to walk the bench for the Predators in their first 15 years of playing in the NHL.
“It was a good hockey game,” Trotz said. “Just like always, the [Predators] come out real hard. I thought they had us a little bit on our heels in the first, and we tried to stabilize that and made a couple adjustments. I thought after that, being down 2-0, I thought we showed a lot of character.
“Got it to 3-2 and I felt we were taking the game over, playing our style a little bit more than their style. I thought we took a little bit of a poor penalty. Once they got it tied up, as I’ve been in this building many times, that seventh man. You get a lot of energy in the building. One of our defensemen just misplayed the puck there. I felt we should have got a point but we didn’t, and that’s just the magic of this building right now.”
In Columbus, the Blue Jackets and New York Rangers were each looking to get off skids. The Blue Jackets had lost three straight and the Rangers were on a two-game slide and had lost by shutout in both.
Derek Stepan returned to the Rangers lineup after missing the Boston loss and added two assists to the scoresheet in leading the Rangers to a 2-1 win over Columbus.
“There’s no doubt his contribution to our win was very important,” Blueshirts’ head coach Alain Vigneault said of Stepan. “Everybody knows that Derek is a solid two-way player, and he showed that again tonight.”
Henrik Lundqvist was solid in net in making 35 saves on the night; many of them close in as the Rangers defense seemingly has lost its way over the last three games.
“It was a fun game to play, but challenging,” Lundqvist said. “They put a lot of pressure on the net.
“We wanted to get back right away with a win. It doesn’t really matter how we do it. It wasn’t pretty, but we found a way to win.”
Sergei Bobrovsky took the loss on 24 saves but also added an assist on the Jackets’ lone goal.
Bobrovsky stopped Rick Nash close in and the puck went out to the blue line.
“It was a great save,” Columbus coach Todd Richards said. “It was an unbelievable save. You’re on the bench going ‘whew’ just because of the save, and then you get excited because you have an opportunity at the other end.”
Stepan’s presence on the bench seemed to settle the Rangers with added confidence in their game.
“I felt good [Thursday] morning. It just wasn’t good enough to go,” he said. “As a group we came out in the second period and did a lot of little things very well like we did earlier in the season. We have to continue to do it, because when we execute in the second like we do, we’re a really tough team.”
In Raleigh, the Vancouver Canucks posted their second straight shutout in a 3-0 win over the Hurricanes.
Ryan Miller made 28 saves for the shutout win.
“Just because you do something one [game] doesn’t mean you’re going to do it again,” said Miller, who has five shutouts this season. “You just get to the right mental place and then trust that everything works out. I came out to play a puck today, then things slowed down and I got very lucky it didn’t go in. Different game.”
It was not an easy shutout as the Canes battled throughout the game and in particular in the first period.
“Sometimes you need your goalie to bail you out and Ryan did,” Vancouver coach Willie Desjardins said. “It certainly gave us a chance tonight. It was great to win, but maybe a game we didn’t deserve to win without our goaltender.”
The Canucks were coming off a whitewashing of Philadelphia.
“Carolina is a lot like Philadelphia,” he said. “Being in the [Eastern Conference] for a long time, I know how these teams play in their buildings. They’re going to come out and push hard with their defense. Having us back-to-back, they were going to push hard in the first.”
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