In the three-game sweep of the NHL from Wednesday, we start in Ottawa where the Senators were coming off a tough OT loss to the New York Rangers. But lucky for the Sens they were facing the Toronto Maple Leafs.
If nothing exemplified the Leafs effort Wednesday and indeed the entire season it was 
the Sens’ second goal of the game.
Erik Karlsson scored the first of his two on the night on a 3-on-1 break leaving Maple Leaf players trapped in the offensive zone and none really making a concerted effort to get back to help defend.
James Reimer was left to twist in the wind of the Senators’ breakout on that one play and the rest of the game as well.
“When the game was on the line in third, we didn’t give them much,” Karlsson said. “Even though we didn’t create a lot either, we kept it tight and, again, we deserved to win the game today.”
Craig Anderson made 37 saves for the win.
“We’re getting chances and they’re just not going in. Phil is a great scorer and he usually buries that 80 percent of the time and it’s just not going in for him now,” Maple Leafs defenseman Jake Gardiner said. “If our whole team starts getting some bounces, it will start going our way.”
Unsure what game Gardiner was watching but this is a Leafs roster that yields the first goal and then gives up. There is no air in the sails of this bench.
The Leafs have now lost six straight heading into the All Star break.
“I scratch my head when I talk about that first period. That was totally by ourselves, to ourselves, by a team that played last night,” Toronto coach Peter Horachek said. “We wanted to play more like we did in the second and third period. It’s a strange situation. We have to correct that for sure.”
There are heavy salaries on the roster and moving some of the dead weight will be difficult.
In Denver, Ryan O’Reilly was the hero as he forced extra time for the Colorado Avalanche in their 3-2 shootout win over the Boston Bruins.
“(Cody) McLeod and (John) Mitchell were battling in the corner, Everberg was there and I was trying to find that soft area in front,” O’Reilly said. “It was nice to put it in. The puck came in and I don’t know exactly what it hit, but it came right on my tape and I was lucky enough to get it up and over (Rask).”
The Bruins had built a 2-1 lead after Jarome Iginla had scored with no time left on the clock in the first to give the Avs a 1-0 lead.
“I didn’t even know that it was so close on the time,” Iginla said. “You know that time is running down in the period, you are just trying to go to the net. I didn’t realize it was that close as far as no time left. (It was) definitely a nice break. It almost feels like you scored twice because at first, you’re like, ‘Yeah’ and then you are like, ‘Oh no, are they taking it away?’ And then we get excited again, so it feels good.”
Semyon Varlamov stopped all three Boston shooters in the skills competition for the win.
“It’s definitely disappointing considering we were up with a couple minutes left,” said left wing Brad Marchand, who gave the Bruins a 2-1 lead at 4:47 of the third period in his return after serving a two-game suspension. “We did get a point. It could be worse, we couldn’t have gotten any. Going into the [All-Star] break, we’ve got to be happy with how we battled back and put ourselves in a playoff position.”
In Pittsburgh, the Chicago Blackhawks rescued a win from near defeat after giving up a 2-0 lead to the host Penguins.
Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane scored in the talent portion of the game to give the Hawks the 3-2 win.
“We played smart tonight,” Toews said. “We played an offensive team that knows how to create chances, and for the most part we were pretty good in our own end and the penalty kill was good too. It’s a good road win, especially with the games we’ve played in the last five to six days.
“I think it always comes down to one break. If it’s a shootout, we have great confidence we have a goaltender that can make stops. We have shooters that want to be in that situation. So I just think we like our odds given the circumstance. We just feel like we’re going to be more desperate, we’re going to get that extra point.”
It was the second loss in a row for the Pens who dropped an OT decision to the Flyers earlier in the week.
“It was disappointing to lose those two games,” Pens goalie Marc-Andre Fleury said. “But I thought tonight we were a little better. We had some good chances. We missed a few … a post or an open net there. But I thought it was a good game. They’re a good team and we had a good battle.”
The win gives Chicago a bit of a boost after a lackluster January.
“When games are tied in the third period, you have to make sure you get points,” Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said. “You’re not as comfortable as you’ve been, as we’ve been, in the past years in that situation. We probably played a little tighter, but we found a way to get it done.”
The Pens head into the All Star break on a slide.
“We were so hot to begin the year, then we went very cold,” Pittsburgh coach Mike Johnston said. “I’ve thought lately it’s actually picked up. You saw last night, it was a deciding factor in the game that we didn’t score on the power play. We need to score on the power play.”
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