The sweep of the NHL from Saturday starts in San Jose, where the Sharks got first period goals from Matt Tennyson and Chris Tierney and then held on to defeat the Arizona Coyotes, 4-1.
“We knew the importance of it,” Sharks coach Peter DeBoer said. “We talked about the importance of it again between the second and third [periods], a chance to really put some distance between us and that team. We knew they were going to be desperate.
“Been in their spot before when you’re four or five or six points out at this point of the year. They’re must-win games. I loved our third period. We only gave them one shot. We kept our foot on the gas and did a great job.”
The win put more distance between the second place Sharks and the fading Coyotes.
“We worked hard,” Coyotes coach Dave Tippett said. “It was some [poor] execution that led to some mistakes that ended up in the back of our net. We had lots of ‘try.’ We couldn’t execute enough to ourselves back in the game.”
Martin Jones made 22 save for the win; Louis Domingue had 24 saves in the loss.
“This game is frustrating,” Domingue said. “Really [ticked] me off. We have to win those games. It’s crucial. They come out hard in this building and then a deflection. I was squared to the puck but it still found its way in. I don’t know what to say — 99.9 percent of the time it’s going to hit me. Our PK has been solid. It gives us a chance to hang around in games, and that’s what we did tonight.”
Tomas Hertl and Joonas Donskoi also scored for the Sharks.
“We got that 2-1 lead and you want to push for that third one,” Sharks captain Joe Pavelski said. “It’s good to see us get that one. We wanted to get one more to really put it out [of reach] and their power play had some looks but guys just kept going.”
Martin Hanzal s was the lone scorer for Arizona.
In Edmonton, the Winnipeg Jets found a way to get a much needed road win, 2-1, over the Oilers in the skills competition.
Ondrej Pavelec got the win in his first game since November after a knee injury.
“To win always feels good,” said Pavelec, who missed 33 games because of the injury. “It was nice to be back after almost three months; I enjoyed it. The guys did a great job to keep them outside. [The Oilers] were patient, they were waiting for their opportunities in the first few minutes, and that helped me a lot. I was able to move a little bit around the net without a shot, and it was a good first period for the guys, and it was a good win.”
Recent Oilers call-up, Laurent Brossoit, was solid in the net making 32 saves through extra time but surrendered two goals in the skills competition in the loss.
Matt Hendricks scored the Oilers regulation goal.
Blake Wheeler and Andrew Ladd beat Brossoit in the shootout.
“We played a good game,” Wheeler said. “If you give those guys opportunities, if you turn pucks over at the line, you try to do too much in the offensive zone, that’s when they kill people. If they are going to out-battle us in their defensive zone, take the puck 200 feet down the ice and score a goal, then you have to tip your cap to them. But if we made them come 200 feet, we knew we would make it a long night for them.”
Wheeler also scored in regulation for the Jets.
“I thought we were real good through 50 minutes of hockey or maybe a little longer than that,” Jets coach Paul Maurice said. “When we made some mistakes, our goaltender was the difference. We had some real good efforts by a number of defensemen tonight. I think the guys did a good job of letting our goaltender break in a little early and not see anything too dangerous, and then he settled in through the second.”
In Sunrise, there was a power failure for the Panthers as they were shut out by the Nashville Predators, 5-0.
In another rare start for a goalie Saturday, Carter Hutton 22 saves in the win.
“Whenever they give me starts, I play,” Hutton said. “Anything I can do to help our team win. I understand my role. At the same time, just any way I can contribute is what I try to do.”
James Neal, Miikka Salomaki, and Shea Weber scored for the Preds and Calle Jarnkrok had two goals.
“I thought we controlled it pretty good once we got it in there,” Predators coach Peter Laviolette said of their power play. “Right now, [the Panthers have] given up a few goals and we talked about that, trying to exploit it. But they’ve got good penalty-killers over there. Right now, they might be in a little bit of a rut, so we were able to take advantage of it.
The game was delayed in the second period after Hutton sent a puck over the glass to clear it. But the puck struck a young girl in the face, in the stands.
Hutton sent his goalie stick into the seats for girl.
“Obviously, you feel bad,” Hutton said. “It [stinks]. At first, I didn’t even realize. All I’m trying to do is make sure I get glass on it so it’s not a penalty, and it hits a little kid. I didn’t really see if it was a boy or a girl; someone just said it hit a little kid. So I just tried to get a stick over to give to the little kid. I’m sure at that point, they probably wanted to break the stick. It was the least I could do. Obviously, I felt pretty bad. It was one of those things, unfortunately.”
The girl and her family left the arena shortly after, the girl under her own power.
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