The three-game sweep of the NHL starts in St Louis where the Blues shook off the doldrums of the recent past and brushed aside the New Jersey Devils, 5-2, Tuesday night.
Patrik Berglund scored two power-play goals for the Blues to lead the offense.
It was only Berglind’s sixth game of the season after recovering from surgery in the offseason.
“I’m almost there. Not all the way but pretty close,” Berglund said. “It feels pretty good 
out there. I feel comfortable. Today I was just in the right place at the right time for us, and it was nice.”
Ty Rattie, Scottie Upshall and David Backes also scored for St Louis.
“He’s playing really well right now,” Hitchcock said of Berglund. “This is really five of the [six] games he’s played really well in. When you see that, you can afford to play him at a high level.
“You’re always worried for a player coming back from such a long-term injury, when does he hit the wall, but I think he hit the wall earlier than we thought and now he’s punched through it. He seems more energized than he’s even been, which is a good sign for us.”
The Blues won despite having seven skaters missing for injuries.
Bobby Farnham and Lee Stempniak had goals for the Devils and Keith Kinkaid made 32 saves in the loss.
In Raleigh, the Hurricanes continued their solid play and upended the Pittsburgh Penguins, 3-2, in overtime.
Jeff Skinner scored the game-winner at 3:02 of the extra session.
The win improved the Canes record to 19-18-7 marking the first time in two seasons the club has been above the .500 mark.
“I don’t like that number,” said Carolina alternate captain Justin Faulk. “It’s talked about too much for my liking, .500. It’s nice to be above it, but we want to be better than that. We want to be higher in the standings, but there’s nothing we can do right now except keep going every game.”
Carolina has been playing more confidence and a sense of purpose, more than just getting wins but moving up the divisional ladder.
“We’re in the hunt for sure,” Canes coach Bill Peters said. “We’re right in the thick of things. We’re playing better hockey. Every time the calendar clicks off and it’s a new month, I think we take a step in the right direction.”
Eric Staal and Kris Versteeg gave the Canes a 2-0 lead before the Pens rallied on goals from Kris Letang and Chris Kunitz to tie it.
Marc-Andre Fleury had 18 saves in the loss and Cam Ward got the win on 23 saves.
In Glendale, the Arizona Coyotes got a hat trick from Max Domi and defeated the Edmonton Oilers, 4-3 in extra time.
“It’s pretty cool. It comes in a win, that makes it really special,” Domi said. “The team was winning and everyone was in a good mood, so not scoring for a while doesn’t matter as much. At the same time it’s good to see that puck go in the net.”
Oliver Ekman-Larsson scored the winner in extra time with just under nine seconds left in the session; it was his sixth game-winner of the season.
It was the Coyotes’ fourth straight win.
“I think he’s been unbelievable all season,” Ekman-Larsson. “It’s not all about scoring points and he’s working hard every day. I’m happy he got the hat trick there.”
Leon Draisaitl, Justin Schultz and Benoit Pouliot scored for the Oilers.
Anders Nilsson took the loss for Edmonton on 27 saves and the Coyotes’ Louis Domingue made 25 saves in the win.
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