The three-game sweep of the NHL starts in Nashville with two teams heading in opposite directions. The Chicago Blackhawks won their 12th straight game, 4-1, over the fading the Predators in Nashville.
“It’s a great run,” Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said. “We’ve been starting quick, and today we had to weather a good start by them. I thought we were patient with our team game and scoring first, a couple nice plays on the goals. We defended well in the 
third. We’ve had the lead a lot in this stretch here, which really helped our team.”
Patrick Kane, Artem Anisimov, Richard Panik, and Andrew Desjardins scored for Chicago.
“We’re getting contributions from everybody, all throughout the lineup,” Blackhawks defenseman Duncan Keith said. “A huge goal by Panik tonight. [Crawford] again was great; our goaltenders … [Scott Darling] has been great. Like I said, we’re getting contributions from everybody, all four lines, all six [defensemen]. It’s one game at a time. I think we’re trying to be smart and playing a good team game.”
Corey Crawford made 38 saves in the win.
“I think we’re just playing the game right,” Crawford said. “We’re playing with speed and skill. We’re not making too many mistakes. We’re not taking too many penalties. I think everything about our game is working right now, and you can really see the chemistry throughout all the lines, throughout all of the [defense] pairings. I thought our [defense] were really solid again tonight. I don’t remember too many shots right from the slot. We’re really taking that away, clearing rebounds.”
In Montreal, the Boston Bruins got a goal from David Pastrnak who returned to the lineup and defeated the Canadiens, 4-1.
Patrice Bergeron, Max Talbot and Brad Marchand also scored for the Bruins.
“They are hardworking guys,” Pastrnak said. “I tried to take some skills into the line and a little skating, and I think we did our job tonight.”
Mark Barberio scored the lone goal for the Habs.
“Really what it comes down to is we’ve got to stay positive right now and every day’s a new day,” Montreal captain Max Pacioretty said. “The only way we’re going to get out of this is by being positive, working hard, and trying to get different results, but through that process. Obviously we’re frustrated, we want to get better and we want to win games, but we’ve just got to work hard every day and get out of this.”
The Habs are 0-4-1 in their five games.
“We’ve been going through a tough time and I have enough that people are criticizing those guys because, you know what? Their work ethic, it’s outstanding,” Montreal coach Michel Therrien said. “Again tonight, the only thing that I could ask to play them in a structure and it’s going to allow them to get scoring chances, to get pucks at the net, and to play solid defensively. The execution, is it there all the time? Probably not, probably not, like all teams and all players. But those guys don’t deserve to get criticized with their effort. They don’t deserve to get criticized.”
Tuukka Rask made 38 saves for the win and Mike Condon made 20 saves for the Canadiens.
In Tampa, the Lightning have rebounded from a brutal stretch of games and have now won six straight, this time defeating the Edmonton Oilers, 6-4.
“We’re finding ways in situations where earlier in the season we might have panicked and lost complete control of the game,” Tampa’s Steve Stamkos said. “It’s probably going to happen a couple more times this season and we have to stay calm and collected.”
Brian Boyle scored the game-winner and Ondrej Palat, Vladislav Namestnikov, Nikita Nesterov, Nikita Kucherov and Alex Killorn scored for the Bolts.
“Kucherov, Johnson, Killorn all played well,” Palat said. “It’s huge to be able to roll out four lines and have chances. We found our swag, we are playing with more confidence and making plays.”
Zack Kassian, Mark Letestu, Leon Draisaitl and Iiro Pakarinen scored for the Oilers.
“We’re not going to win too many giving up five,” Oilers coach Todd McLellan said. “Misplay or not, at the end of the night that’s too many. They’re too talented a team for us to play as loose and poorly as we did in our zone. I thought some of our grinders did their thing tonight. I wasn’t overly impressed with a lot of our skill players. I don’t think they produced or performed to the level we needed to.”
The Lightning and Chicago Blackhawks will face each other in Tampa Thursday.
“You know we’ve turned the page on last year, but the storylines are going to read, ‘Stanley Cup Finals [rematch],'” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “But they won [Tuesday] and their streak is at 12 and we’re at six so that’s 18 wins between us. It’s going to be good one.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.