The three-game sweep of the NHL starts in Dallas where the Stars hung a 5-1 loss on the Columbus Blue Jackets Tuesday.
Tyler Seguin scored two goals in just 30 seconds to lead the Stars’ offence.
The Stars’ effort was not good enough for their bench boss.
“Pretty frustrated with the way we played,” Dallas coach Lindy Ruff said. “The mental part of the game, the focus part, the way we played in the neutral zone was pretty disappointing. We’ve worked hard to get to where we’re at, and we’re on a little bit of a 
rollercoaster ride with the way we’re playing right now. I have to straighten that out.”
Kari Lehtonen made 34 stops to secure the win.
“Tyler decided that he was going to dominate the game,” Ruff said. “He decided he was going to go out and get the legs going and put the puck in the back of the net. And those couple shifts were the difference, but let’s start the game like that.”
The Blue Jackets held a player-only meeting after the game that lasted 15 minutes.
“They surged,” Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella said of the Stars. “That’s one of their strengths. That six or seven minutes [in the second period] buried us. I thought our first period was probably the best period we’ve played all year. I thought we had some good chances in the second but they surged and they scored the goals and our chances, we just didn’t finish. You wonder what happens if you finish on some of our chances, but yeah, so we end up getting caught there.”
It can only fuel to the fire under the Tortorella kettle with the loss and closed door meeting.
“It’s really none of my business as far as I’m not sure what went on in there and I won’t ask any questions,” Tortorella said. “I’m hoping that’s a step in the right direction. I hope it was productive for them because that’s the key. This is about them. If it’s productive for them, I love it. We’ll find that out when we go into Arizona.”
In St Paul, the Minnesota Wild whacked the Vancouver Canucks, 6-2.
Thomas Vanek and Mikko Koivu each scored a goal and each added three assists on the night.
“We got off to a good start, which is something we wanted to do to start this homestand off on the right way,” Wild forward Zach Parise said. “It was fun. It felt like we had the puck a lot, a lot of shots, a lot of good scoring chances. The power play moved it around well.”
Parise added a goal and two assists in the win.
Darcy Kuemper had 29 saves in the win.
“The talk in San Jose [on Saturday] was, I thought we were going to break out that night,” Wild coach Mike Yeo said. “I knew that if we kept playing the same way, offensively, things would start clicking a little more.”
The Wild broke the game open with a four-goal second period.
“Our play without the puck has been better,” Yeo said. “Because of that, we’ve had the puck a lot more. You could see the execution, getting our [defensemen] involved, a little more zone time. We’ve had the puck more and obviously that creates more opportunities to score goals and creates more counterattack opportunities.
“We knew if we could stick with it and maybe get a little bit hungrier around the net that we could break loose.”
This was the start of a long road trip for the Canucks and the effort did not please their coach.
“There’s quite a bit that bothered me,” Canucks coach Willie Desjardins said. “I don’t think our compete level was high enough. We have a few guys that are playing hard. I thought Miller had an outstanding game. If it wasn’t for him, it would have been bad.”
In Chicago, the Colorado Avalanche continued their climb with a 3-0 win over the Blackhawks.
“It wasn’t our best game,” Chicago defenseman Duncan Keith said. “They have a good skating team, a good team. It was a big two points on the line, and that’s what we’re disappointed about. It was a [Central Division] game. We need to be better and regroup now.”
Patrick Kane’s point streak ended at 26 games.
“It was a good run,” Kane said. “[I] didn’t have it tonight, so you know, I can just focus on playing hockey, and it’ll be nice not to talk about it anymore. When you have to talk about it every day, it gets a little taxing, but I’m excited just to play hockey now.”
Semyon Varlamov made 29 saves in the shutout win.
“I don’t think we thought about [ending] it until the end,” said Avalanche forward Matt Duchene. “When he was on the ice there at the end, we were kind of like, ‘OK, it’d be a nice little feather in our cap to end it.’ Our biggest goal was to win tonight. [Varlamov] was outstanding, and we got some big games from some guys, so it was great.”
Varlamov has won eight straight over the Hawks since 2013-14.
“My secret? I don’t have any secrets,” Varlamov said. “It’s all about my teammates. They play well in front of me every time we’re here in Chicago. No secrets. I like to play here in this building, and [this] was a big game for us.”
Zach Redmond and Gabriel Landeskog also scored for the Avs.
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