The sweep of the NHL schedule from Tuesday night starts in Nashville, where the Predators were tripped up by the Dallas Stars, 2-1.
The Stars got a goal midway through the third period from Jason Spezza to get win.
“Depth in the League is so important now,” Spezza said. “You need contribution from every line different nights. I think there’s going to be a lot of games in a short period of time so for [role players] to step up. Early in the year you see that sometimes, too. The goals are around the net.”
Dallas’ Adam Cracknell had opened the scoring in the second period to give the Stars a 1-0 lead.
“Just a little hungrier around the net, getting available for that open shot,” Cracknell said. “You’re not always going to have the perfect shot. I think [Oduya] was just shooting at the middle of the net, it goes off of McKenzie and then off of my foot and in. We’re just in the right areas, and we’ve got to go where the puck goes.”
Mike Fisher beat Kari Lehtonen for his second goal of the season to tie the game.
“They came out strong in the first,” Fisher said. “I didn’t feel like we got our legs going at all. It just wasn’t a good game for us. They won most of the battles, and they looked quicker. It was just not a good game for us. We’ve got to be a lot better, for sure. But the positive is [Rinne] played unbelievable. It would’ve been 5-1 if it wasn’t for him.”
The Vancouver Canucks continued their winning ways, though they seem to need extra time to make that happen. Nonetheless, the Canucks are now 3-0-0 on the season after a 2-1 win over the previously unbeaten St Louis Blues.
Bo Horvat  knotted the game up late in the third period to send the teams to extra time.
Henrik Sedin then scored 1:40 into overtime to give the Canucks the win.
“After the first two games, when you know you are able to come back, it just brings a calmness to the team,” Sedin said. “Even being down against a really good team tonight, we are confident we are going to get chances and come back, and that’s a huge difference.”
Jacob Markstrom  had 23 saves for the win.
Vladimir Tarasenko stayed hot for the Blues with his fourth goal on the season and Jake Allen made 24 saves in the loss.
“It’s tough at the end to give one up like that,” Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo said. “We sat back. We had some good energy, then we started to sit back. We just didn’t execute at the end of the third like we had to. We got a point out of it. So far it’s a point in every game.”
In Montreal, the Canadiens got a 36-save effort from Al Montoya and defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins, 4-0.
“I feel like I’ve been trying to make a statement for a while, for me it’s just an opportunity to play,” Montoya said. “I don’t try to overdo anything. I come out here, have fun and play my game and let the rest take care of itself.”
David Desharnais  scored twice and Max Pacioretty and Alexander Radulov  added goals for the Habs.
“We’re going to play for each other in this room all year, and when you see (Montoya) make some of those saves, it kind of gives us the opportunity to step up and try and get him the shutout and get some goals for him,” Pacioretty said. “So you’ve got to credit most of that game to (Montoya), he played phenomenal.”
Marc-Andre Fleury made 28 saves for the Pens who lost their second straight game.
“(Montoya) played well, he made some good key saves,” Fleury said. “They came out strong at the start of the game. But I think after we took control, we calmed down a bit, it was better. The penalties, I think last game we took a lot of penalties, so we have to pay attention to that a little bit.”
Pittsburgh was undisciplined in the game, giving up seven penalties to the Habs.
“We clearly have to be more disciplined,” Pens coach Mike Sullivan said. “We can’t take the penalties that we’re taking game in and game out and expect to get the results we’re looking for. We put ourselves in a real tough spot. Having said that, the first half of the game we had the majority of the power plays and our power play didn’t execute. So the power play had an opportunity to be the difference and get us a lead, and we didn’t get it done tonight.”
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