We start the three-game sweep of the NHL with a game in St Paul, where the Wild were in need of a win. Minnesota had won only once in seven games, 1-3-3, and are in danger of losing touch with the wild card spot.
Friday night was different as Darcy Kuemper stopped 34 shots from the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Wild posted a 3-1 win on home ice.
“It’s been a tough little stretch,” Kuemper said. “I definitely feel like I’m in a better place mentally right now. It starts to wear on you and your confidence starts to sag a bit, but that break gave everyone a chance to go home and come back refreshed.”
The Leafs had their offense moving well throughout the game but Kuemper was equal to the except for a goal from Toronto’s Kyle Brodziak in the first period.
“Hopefully this is the style of play we adopt, and we feel we can execute at that level,” Leafs head coach Randy Carlyle said. “It all starts in our own end with our puck recoveries and defensive-zone coverage. We weren’t as porous, and they didn’t hold us into the offensive zone. They had a few flurries, but on the possession time, we had as much in their zone as they had in ours, maybe more.”
In Newark, after a scoreless first period, the Montreal Canadiens built a 3-0 lead early into the third period and then went on to beat the New Jersey Devils, 4-2.
The Habs got two goals from Michael Bournival and Carey Price made 22 saves for the win, his 200th career NHL win in his 400th NHL game.
“It’s a long season, everybody needs to chip in every once in a while,” Price said. “It seems like everybody is doing their part at the right time of each individual game and we’re finding ways to win hockey games.”
In the Devils net, Keith Kinkaid got a rare start and made 22 saves in the loss. New Jersey has now lost nine of its last 11 games.
“I thought the first two periods, I didn’t think we gave ourselves a chance,” Devils interim co-coach Lou Lamoriello said. “In the third period, we came back, we had an opportunity, and that’s what you ask for.”
In Raleigh, the Philadelphia Flyers lost to the Carolina Hurricanes, 2-1, but no one was particularly interested in the final score only the health of their captain, Claude Giroux who was injured less than five minutes into the third period.
The Canes’ Justin Faulk and Giroux went into the corner in the Canes zone and Faulk inadvertently stepped on Giroux’s lower left leg leaving him bloodied and unable to put weight on the leg.
“My first reaction was [Erik] Karlsson, and what happened to him (with his Achilles injury in 2013),” Giroux said after the game. “I got lucky. It was pretty scary. I’ll see how it feels, but I would think [I can play Saturday]. I’m just happy I’m good.
“I knew I got hit. I tried to put pressure on [my leg] and it was really weird and didn’t feel really good so I kind of panicked a little bit. The doctors did a good job, and I’m pretty lucky they were there.”
Cam Ward made 23 saves on the night to get the win.
“Those guys skate very well. Especially Voracek, when he gets the puck in his own zone he can fly,” said Ward, who made 23 saves. “I thought we did a great job of containing them.”
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