In the three-game sweep of the NHL we start in St Paul where the story for the Minnesota Wild was the payoff from their trades this season. Sean Bergenheim scored a goal, Chris Stewart kicked in two points on the night and Devan Dubnyk continued his solid work in net with 30 saves in a 6-2 thrashing of the New Jersey Devils.
Bergenheim was on the fourth line Tuesday after going pointless in his previous six games with the Wild.
“You can look at [being moved to the fourth line] as a punishment if you want, but it really wasn’t,” Wild coach Mike Yeo said. “We were surrounding him with a couple of players that would help him play the kind of game he needs to play. He responded really well and that line was dangerous all night.”
Bergenheim was pleased with his contribution.
“This was a better day,” Bergenheim said. “I think there’s still stuff that can be improved and I’m going to keep on working on those things.”
Thomas Vanek scored twice for the Wild.
“They were hungry, they beat us to loose pucks and really took over the area in front of the net,” said Devils interim co-coach Lou Lamoriello.
The wild chased Cory Schneider after the fifth goal of the night.
“When you don’t come prepared to play from the goalie on out, it’s going to be a long night,” Schneider said. “As a group we know we can all be better.”
Schneider continues have issues with his teammates.
In Uniondale, the Islanders hosted the New York Rangers for the final time on the Island.
Rick Nash scored 39th for win over Isles – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
In a classic match between two bitter rivals, the Rangers escaped with a 2-1 win on a goal from Rick Nash, his 39th.
“It was a real lucky goal,” Nash said. “I was thinking about dumping it, and then I saw I could get the blue line, so I gained the blue line, pulled up, and I saw three of our guys going to the net. I just shot in anywhere in the direction of the net, and lucky enough it went in.”
Despite four power play chances the Isles were unable to score or put many shots on goal.
“The power play was non-existent tonight. …We didn’t shoot any pucks,” Islanders coach Jack Capuano said. “Not the fact that we didn’t score on the power play, the fact that we didn’t shoot any pucks and make it difficult.”
Cam Talbot made 29 saves, many of the difficult, and continued to play well in net for the Blueshirts.
He allowed only the one goal, to Anders Lee, in the first period.
“I went paddle-down, and it must have gone under my blocker or something like that,” Talbot said. “My back leg was up trying to anchor myself up against the post in case he jammed it. I think it just slid under there.”
Talbot is 3-0-1 in his last four starts.
“We’ve always had a lot of confidence in him, and we’ve got confidence in our group,” Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said. “Cam had some saves to make, and he did. It was another playoff-type game.”
In Montreal, the Tampa Bay Lightning Tyler Johnson scored in overtime to give the Bolts a 1-0 win over the Habs.
“[Kucherov] was battling with their guy, so I was just trying to get it somewhere in there where he could do something with it, but I think it ended up hitting off a [defenseman’s] skate and kind of going in there,” Johnson said. “A lucky goal, but we’ll take it.”
Ben Bishop made 19 saves for his fourth shutout of the year.
Carey Price was brilliant in OT loss to Bolts – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
“We’ve had some really good games in this building and we’ve had some frustration last spring,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. “But when you play a team in the playoffs, I think there’s a little extra whatever it is, motivation or satisfaction or whatever it is when you play a team that knocked you out.
“I know these are regular-season games, but it’s just a confidence-builder for our team knowing we can come into this building and win. It’s a tough environment to play in. It’s the Holy Grail of hockey. It’s a lot of fun to play here, and it’s really that much more fun when you win.”
Carey Price was brilliant in net and made 35 saves in the game before Johnson’s goal.
“Carey was phenomenal again tonight, and we ended up picking up one point,” Montreal coach Michel Therrien said.
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