The three-game sweep of the NHL from Saturday starts in Pittsburgh, where the coaching change behind the Penguins’ bench has yet to show any positive results.
The Carolina Hurricanes used power play goals from Jordan Staal and John-Michael Liles to edge the Pens, 2-1.
Cam Ward made 37 saves to get the win.
“I think we got off to a good start. I made a couple good saves early that got me into the game and I don’t really care what anybody says about the Penguins,” Ward said. “They got a really good team over there, some high-end skill, and you really have to be on your toes. Fortunately tonight, I felt really comfortable. I felt ready and the whole entire team competed.”
The Penguins have lost four regulation tilts under new coach Mike Sullivan and things are not getting better.
“I think, as a team, we generated a lot of scoring chances,” Sullivan said. “I thought our even-strength play was as good as it’s been since I’ve been here. I don’t think we got rewarded for our efforts, but I think I see signs of improvement in a lot of areas. I thought we limited Carolina’s chances at our end of the rink. I thought our power play was better. … For me, there’s a couple of positive things to look at and take out of this game.”
Evgeni Malkin scored the lone Penguins’ goal.
“It was nice [to score],” Staal said. “It would’ve been better against [Fleury], but obviously I’ll take it against the Penguins. It was a good effort from everyone.”
Matthew Murray got the start in the Pittsburgh net as Marc-Andre Fleury continues to recover from a concussion.
“It’s kind of hard to see the good in things right now,” Murray said. “It’s pretty frustrating, but it was a very exciting day for me. Unfortunately, it didn’t go the way I planned, but I was proud of how I played.”
In a season drifting away from them, the loss was another frustrating example of the lack of cohesion and effort in Pittsburgh.
“It’s one goal. It’s not enough,” Malkin said. “We scored a power-play goal, but it’s just one goal. We need to score maybe a couple goals 5-on-5. We played better, but it’s a tough loss. … We had great chances to score, but it’s still bad luck. I don’t know what’s going on, but I see that we play better.”
In Dallas, the Stars’ Jamie Benn had two goals and three points on the night in a 6-2 drubbing of the Montreal Canadiens Saturday.
Jamie Benn’s 3 points led Stars in win over Habs – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
“He obviously is one of the best players in the world. He plays physical, he does everything. When your captain’s going like that, it definitely lifts your bench up,” Stars forward Vernon Fiddler said.
Patrick Sharp, Jason Spezza, Tyler Seguin and Patrick Eaves also scored for the Stars.
The Habs goals came from Daniel Carr and Paul Byron.
In a season where no one team is running away things, the Canadiens lost their third straight in Dallas and have now lost seven of eight.
“We got a good start. I thought the first period, we were playing some solid hockey. We hit some posts, but the story of the game is I thought couple of the defensemen really had a hard time tonight,” Canadiens coach Michel Therrien said. “They turned pucks over, (made) bad decisions with the puck.”
In Denver, the Colorado Avalanche won their fifth straight game with a convincing 5-1 win over the Edmonton Oilers.
Semyon Varlamov made 39 saves for the win.
“We managed to win and I thought we did a lot of good things out there, regardless of the fact that they outshot us [40-29],” Avalanche coach Patrick Roy said. “I’d like to cut down on the shots against, no doubt about it. But this is a team that puts a lot of pucks at the net.
“If someone had to said to me at this point we’d be one game over .500, it’s not that I wouldn’t believe it, but at the same time we’ve had a tough schedule and our players deserve a lot of credit, and it’s nice to see them rewarded. They work hard and they believe in themselves. I am very proud of our players.”
The Avs picked up goals from five different players including Blake Comeau, Tyson Barrie, Nick Holden, Jarome Iginla and Jack Skille.
“Varlamov at the other end played well all night,” Oilers coach Todd McLellan said. “We probably had enough offense to be in a game. When the forwards were trying to finish around the net, we didn’t get pucks up on him at all in and around the blue paint. He was there the whole night, right to the bitter end, and he made some tremendous saves.
“Are we expecting to score six on him? Not a chance. Even on his bad nights we’re not getting six on him. We gave up way too many to have a win. It was a 5-1 game at the end of the night. It could have been a 6- or 7-1 game. It also could have been a 7-6 game. Varlamov played well to keep his number at one; we played loose and poor enough to elevate our number to five.”
Andrej Sekera scored the lone Oilers goal.
Anders Nilsson took the loss for the Oilers with 26 saves.
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