The three-game sweep of the NHL starts in Toronto where the Maple Leafs put up a “fight” in their 4-3 overtime loss to the New York Islanders. All the usual suspects were absent for the Leafs including Phil Kessel who was a -1 on the night with no points, two penalty minutes and five shots on goal for le3ss than 19 minutes of ice time.
John Tavares scored game-winner over Leafs in OT – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
John Tavares scored the game-winner as he skated through all four Leafs players in extra time to take a shot on goal.
“Yeah, it was great,” Tavares said. “I had a lot of friends and family here. When I get the opportunity to get one, especially in overtime, it’s a good feeling. It’s nice to come through.”
Tavares caught the Leafs flat-footed or perhaps that was their standard posture on the ice.
“I just tried to gain some speed,” Tavares said. “I saw the defenseman reacting, he backed off and I was able to hesitate enough to open up Bernier. I was happy it trickled in because I didn’t get a whole lot on the shot.”
The Isles rallied from a two-goal deficit in the third to tie the game.
“No. 91 leads out team and his game-winner was a great individual effort,” New York coach Jack Capuano said. “If you look at our team nobody gave us a chance to be in the playoffs, so now that we’re winning people seem to talk a little about us. He’s our captain and he’s having a tremendous year. At the beginning of the year, the numbers were not there for him. He’s been on a good run and hopefully that will continue. He leads by example and he has been real good of late.”
The Leafs tried to find some positive from another loss.
“I think there were some good things and you have to try to take away the positives when we have a lot of guys out of the lineup,” Maple Leafs coach Peter Horachek said. “But when you have a 3-1 lead, that’s the part that stings a little bit. You fought for it and you want to finish the right way.”
In Glendale, the Nashville Predators escaped the desert with a 2-1 overtime victory.
James Neal scored midway through the extra session to end the Preds’ longest losing skid of the season.
The Coyotes forced extra time when Kyle Chipchura scored early on in the third period.
“Our best hockey of the night came after they tied it up,” Nashville coach Peter Laviolette said. “That’s when we looked like we were most in sync.”
Pekka Rinne got back in win column with 2-1 decision over Arizona – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
Pekka Rinne made 27 saves for the Predators for the win.
“I don’t think it was anyone’s intention to take a deep breath and go to sleep for a couple of weeks,” Laviolette said. “Guys want to win, they care, but there’s no doubt that in some of the games in this stretch, we didn’t play very well. And in others, we played OK and didn’t get the results we were looking for. But it doesn’t matter; 0-6 isn’t good enough and you need to get back on track.”
The Preds are now tied with the Ducks with 91 points, most in the NHL.
The win was a relief for Rinne.
“It felt great to see that one go in. It’s been a long time (between wins),” Rinne said. “You never want to go through these things, but hopefully it makes us better and makes us appreciate what we have and what we’ve done this season.
“For a long time, everything was going our way, and lately it wasn’t. You have to battle through it. It’s crazy how good of a league it is, and for us to lose six in a row and still be on top is great. We had a seven-point lead, and I don’t know if we got comfortable or what, but it’s a good learning experience. I’m grateful we’re still battling for the top spot.”
In San Jose, the Sharks managed a rare home win in 2015 by edging the Pittsburgh Penguins 2-1 after a marathon eight-round shootout.
Tommy Wingels scored the game-winner for the Sharks and Antti Niemi stopped Steve Downie to secure the win.
“Maybe a win like that injects some life and emotion into a team because of how excited everyone was,” Wingels said. “Just keep going and keep the gas pedal down. I know that’s cliché to say that, but that’s what we have to do now. We can’t keep talking about doing different things. At this point, with 15 games left, everyone knows what we need to do to win games. That’s what we have to do.”
Antti Niemi helped Sharks win marathon skills competition over Pens – file photo by Jack Lima
The Sharks need a great deal of help from outside and inside the locker room. They need points and some losses around them.
“I think when you’re sitting there, you think about what you’re going to do if your number is called,” Wingels said. “I wanted to get a good fake in and go backhand. I think he would have been a little bit worried about covering the five-hole after Melker’s good move. So [I was] fortunate it went in.”
Niemi had 39 saves on the night for the Sharks.
“I thought Nemo was terrific tonight,” Sharks coach Todd McLellan said. “Maybe his best game this season. First saves, second saves. Those are some very gifted, skilled players that are getting some good looks. Shootout-wise he was tremendous as well.”
Marc-Andre Fleury had 29 saves in the loss.
“I thought both goalies were awesome,” Penguins forward Brandon Sutter said. “Niemi definitely took a lot of chances in the third and the pucks around the crease [but] we just couldn’t bang them in. He stood his ground. I thought Fleury did the same thing for us. It was a pretty good goalie battle. I thought we got stronger as the game went on. Especially the last half of the game, I thought we really turned it up but we really didn’t get much and we had a lot of chances.”
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