We start the sweep in San Jose where Martin Jones made 26 saves en route to a 4-0 win over the New Jersey Devils.
The Sharks got goals from Chris Tierney, Patrick Marleau, Logan Couture and Brent Burns in the win that snapped a three-game scheid for them.
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“I thought we played well the whole night,” Jones said. “I thought we were smart with the puck. We didn’t turn a lot of pucks over. When we play like that, we’re tough to beat.”
While San Jose was ending their skid, the Devils continued on theirs with a third straight loss to end the road trip.
“We had a big opportunity to have a good road trip, and to come with the lack of effort, I guess you can say, it was disheartening,” Devils defenseman Andy Greene said.
Tierny got the gme-winner on a penalty kill.
“That was a big start for us,” Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer said. “I thought we had good jump all night, and it started there.”
New Jersey was 0-for-3 on the penalty kill and the one shorthanded goal.
“Our special teams haven’t nearly been special enough the last couple of weeks. We got outworked, and that’s what threw us off,” New Jersey’s Ben Lovejoy said.
In Edmonton, the Oilers’ Cam Talbot made 31 saves as he shutout the Chicago Blackhawks, 5-0.
For Talbot, it was his third shutout of the season.
Leon Draisaitl had two goals for the Oilers and Oscar Klefbom, Andrej Sekera and Anton Slepyshev added markers for Edmonton.
“They’ve been playing really well, and for us to get a win like that is definitely big for the confidence moving forward,” Edmonton’s Connor McDavid said. “We’ve been able to snap out of a bit of a funk and we’re looking to go on a run now. Once you get out of one of those, it is important you take off from there.”
Corey Crawford made 22 saves in the loss; it was the second shutout the Hawks have suffered since hitting the road.
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“That wasn’t our team, it was a tough loss and we just have to forget about it and worry about the next game,” Crawford said. “I don’t take anything away from this one. We created a few good chances, but it was one of those games were nothing was going right. Everything they touched was going in and it just felt like one of those games.”
The Oilers have now won two straight after a five-game losing streak.
“That’s the closest we’ve come to a complete game,” Oilers coach Todd McLellan said. “It’s a really good sign for our team going forward.”
In Nashville, the Predaotrs offense was sparked with P.K. Subban who scored two goals in a 3-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning.
“I think that our ability to generate offense as a group is pretty exceptional,” Subban said. “I mean, we have guys that can skate the puck and have the ability to make plays. I think that when we’re at our best is when we really just keep it simple and take what the other team is giving us.”
Pekka Rinne made 23 saves in the win.
“Last game, I hardly looked like an NHLer [in a 3-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues on Saturday],” Subban said. “I didn’t have a very good game. I think even aside from the two goals, I had kind of a slow start again. I don’t know why but when the puck finds its way in the net, sometimes it gives you a boost of confidence. I just had the bounces today.”
Rinne had a shutout until Tyler Johnson scored with under 50 seconds left in regulation.
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“It was just one of those games where we needed to get the lead and that was it,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “We didn’t get it. We kicked the first one in our own net, so right then we were chasing a little bit. We had a couple of early chances to score. We didn’t. Rinne was on his game, and after that they skated. It just felt like we were chasing the whole time.”
Viktor Arvidsson also scored for the Preds.
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