The sweep of the NHL from Friday night starts in Calgary where the Colorado Avalanche’s Mikkel Boedker has rediscovered his scoring touch in netting the game-winner in the skills competition in a 4-3 Avs win over the Flames.
“It was huge. It was really, really big,” Boedker said. “That gives you just slightly more breathing room. You can’t take anything for granted, but the more points you can gain when they aren’t playing the better. We can’t rely on anybody else to do it for us. We have to do it ourselves. I think that’s the way we look at it.”
Erik Johnson, Tyson Barrie and Carl Soderberg scored for the Avs in regulation.
“We just came in after the second and said that we can feel sorry for ourselves or go out and play hard and have a great period,” Johnson said. “We played really well. Tied it up late there and got it to a shootout. Just a huge win, but a little separation between ourselves.”
The Flames got goals from Matt Stajan, Mark Giordano and Freddie Hamilton.
“I felt this homestand we played some very good games,” Calgary coach Bob Hartley said. “I like what I saw from our guys. We’re experiencing some young kids in the lineup and they’re doing well. Our veterans are leading by example. They’re bringing in great performances, plus also some very good leadership. It’s good.”
Calgary went 3-1-2 on their homestand.
“The last two, three weeks, I’ve really liked our pressure, the way we can really squeeze the opponents around our blue line,” Hartley said. “They run out of room and without cheating the game we’re on our toes and we’re using our speed to create offense. Those were two great goals”
In Edmonton, Cam Talbot stopped 40 shots in a 2-0 win over the Vancouver Canucks.
“We knew we were going to have to weather the storm and we did a good job in front of the net boxing out, tying up sticks and getting to rebounds, so credit goes to the guys in front of me,” Talbot said. “I feel more confident than I have pretty much my whole career and I’m giving the guys a chance to win, and they’ve been playing some pretty solid hockey in front of me.”
Cam Talbot – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
Jordan Eberle and Matt Hendricks were the goal scorers.
“[Talbot] played really well,” Eberle said. “Every time there was a chance, he was there to answer. If there’s a mistake, it’s not always in the back of your net. In the latter part of the season, he’s been the hero in most of the games.”
Hendricks’ goal came early in the third to give the Oilers a bit of breathing room.
“We’d been struggling at home as of late, but the last two games we came away with two big [wins],” Hendricks said. “It’s a tough time of the season for players because of the way our season’s gone as a whole and it’s tough for our fan base here in Edmonton, so it’s nice to get a win. It’s a good feeling right now. We want to go out on a high.”
The shutout was Talbot’s 11th of his NHL career between Edmonton and the New York Rangers.
“I thought [Talbot] was really good,” Oilers coach Todd McLellan said. “It’s hard to criticize a win, but I thought our team was sluggish tonight. We started well and played the first 15 minutes with energy, but after that, we fell off. There was not a lot of support. There would be one man and four guys watching. As a result, we played in our own end a lot and didn’t have the puck much, and our goaltender needed to be superb, and he was.”
In Buffalo, Sabres rookie Sam Reinhart scored his 20th of the season as the Sabres downed the Ottawa Senators, 3-1.
“I think we came out and really wanted to turn around our starts,” Reinhart said. “As of lately, they haven’t been the best and we’ve been better as the game’s gone on. To get that first one early and that next one right after, that got us going on the right page and we followed that up. It was a good effort tonight.”
Reinhart joins fellow rookie Jack Eichel in the 20-goal club for Buffalo.
“You look at the raw talent [Eichel and Reinhart] have, that’s great, but the goals they score, they’re not by mistake,” Sabres defenseman Zach Bogosian said. “They’re in the right areas; they have a head for the game. Obviously Jack being an explosive skater gets in those areas very quick, and Sam may not be as explosive as Jack, but he thinks the game quick, he has a good hockey IQ, and they definitely score their goals differently. Sam’s a great net-front guy; he’s got good hand-eye coordination. As a defenseman, you know when you’re shooting it on net he’s mostly likely to get a stick on it. It’s impressive to see two young guys score that much, but more importantly how they’re scoring them and the time in the game that they’re scoring them is really impressive.”
Bogosian also scored in the game along with Nicolas Deslauriers for the Sabres.
“Not good enough,” Senators coach Dave Cameron said. “Disappointing, didn’t seem like we had a lot of energy tonight. I thought that we left a lot of rebounds around the net that we didn’t get to, and our special teams.”
Alex Chiasson was the lone goal scorer for the Sens.
“Tough one; we need more pride; need to battle a little hard,” Chiasson said. “We’re fighting for our life, for our playoff hope. Not the effort that’s demanded of us. We should expect more from ourselves.”
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