Devan Dubnyk made 30 saves in win over Habs – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
The sweep of the NHL from Saturday starts in Montreal where the Minnesota Wild helped their playoff push with a 4-1 thumping of the Canadiens.
Mikael Granlund scored twice and Nino Niederreiter and Erik Haula added goals.
“It was nice, for sure, it’s always nice to score goals, but I think those two points we got tonight, that’s the most important thing and that’s what we need to keep doing if we want to get to the playoffs,” Granlund said.
Devan Dubnyk made 30 saves for the win as the Wild are tied with the Colorado Avalanche for the second wild card slot in the west.
The Avs lost in Winnipeg, 3-2.
“I heard. I wasn’t watching at all during the game,” Dubnyk said. “No, you have a peek up during the TV timeouts and stuff, and all obviously we can worry about is winning but to have that happen we’re going to need some of that too down the stretch so that’s nice to see.”
Mark Barberio scored the lone goal for the Habs and Mike Condon made 18 saves in the loss.
Montreal is a MASH unit these days with 11 players out of the lineup with injuries or illness.
“They played hard. I thought we matched them,” Condon said. “I thought we had a really good effort and tonight was a game of inches and they got what they needed, and we didn’t.”
In Dallas, the Stars hosted the St Louis Blues and lost 5-4 in extra time.
Alex Pietrangelo scored midway through the extra session to give the Blues the win.
“I think we were all thinking, ‘We’ve got to change [lines],'” Pietrangelo said. “We were out there for a while, the three of us [Patrik Berglund, Paul Stastny and me]. [Robby Fabbri] went off and just the lane opened up. I saw low blocker, think it hit his pad and went in.”
Kevin Shattenkirk scored twice in win over Stars – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
Kevin Shattenkirk scored two goals and Vladimir Tarasenko and Troy Brouwer added markers for St Louis.
“We’re getting something out of everyone, I think,” Shattenkirk said. “It’s a different game, each guy’s stepping up, and I think we’re doing a great job of everyone just sticking with it and rolling with the punches. We’re playing a great team game right now. This is the time of the year when the intensity starts to ramp up and I think we’re doing a great job of handling it.”
Jake Allen made 34 saves for the win.
The Blues and Stars are now tied for first in the Central Division on the strength of a 4-0-0 week for St Louis.
“It’s a great week, played great, scored a lot of goals and had a lot of threats to score too,” Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said. “Like I said, this is a week if you’d said we were going to go 4-0, I think everybody wouldn’t have been shocked, so we’re really happy, happy for the guys.”
Jason Spezza scored twice and Cody Eakin and Jamie Benn added goals for the Stars.
“It’s disappointing to lose in overtime,” Spezza said. “It was good mental resolve to stick with it and tie the game up late. It’s definitely a big point, but I sure would like to have seen us get the win there in overtime.”
In Ottawa, Craig Anderson made 29 saves in backstopping the Senators to a 4-0 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs Saturday.
Zack Smith , Mark Stone, Mika Zibanejad, and Cody Ceci scored for the Sens.
The Senators responded well after a 6-2 drubbing at the hands of the Florida Panthers earlier in the week.
Craig Anderson made 29 saves in shutout of Maple Leafs – File photo by Lewis Bleiman
“I think we’re all proud guys, and we were embarrassed the other night, so we all knew we had to respond in the right way,” Anderson said. “We did that tonight. What I really liked was our attention to detail.
“We responded in the right way. Tonight was an excellent game by all 20 guys, from the drop of the puck in the first period all the way to the end.”
Garret Sparks got the net duties for the Leafs and made 13 saves in the loss.
“I didn’t think we were competitive enough,” Toronto coach Mike Babcock said. “I thought they were ready to go in the first period, and obviously the first two shifts of the second and the third we gave up goals.”
This was the eighth shutout the Leafs have suffered this season.
“Over the course of the season not every game is going to be perfect, but as a team we have to find ways to battle through it and find our game,” Toronto defenseman Morgan Rielly said. “Tonight we weren’t exactly able to do that. We had our chances on the power play (0-for-4) and we have to be better in that area.”
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