The sweep of the NHL from Tuesday starts in Chicago where the visiting Dallas Stars hung a 6-2 loss on the Blackhawks.
Dallas clinched a playoff berth with the win, a game they won in the first period with four goals in the opening 20 minutes.
Vernon Fiddler scored twice in win over Hawks – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
“The last couple years, we’ve been that team that’s been fighting for it right up until the last couple games, so obviously it’s nice to get the ‘X’ beside Dallas [in the standings],” Dallas’ Vernon Fiddler said. “We still know we have lots of work ahead of us, and we’re prepared to do that.”
Fiddler had two of the first period goals.
The Hawks are stumbling of late with seven losses in their last nine games.
“I don’t know if it’s confidence or whatever, but I think we have to find a way to rectify the way we play and play with more urgency,” Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said. “It’s hard to measure confidence to me. If you play hard, you find your way through it.”
Chicago is 10-12-3 in their last 25 games.
“I’m not sure why that’s the case,” Patrick Kane said. “Obviously when you get down, you want to continue to play the same structure and the same way, to try to work your way back into the game. For whatever reason, that hasn’t been the case. We can do a lot better job of generating chances [and] holding onto the puck.”
Patrick Eaves, Colton Sceviour, Radek Faksa, and Cody Eakin also scored for the Stars.
Andrew Shaw and Richard Panik were the Chicago goal scorers.
Scott Darling took the loss but was replaced by Michael Leighton at the start of the second period.
Kari Lehtonen made 30 saves for the win.
In San Jose, the visiting St Louis Blues’ Brian Elliott made 37 saves in a 1-0 shutout of the Sharks.
“We kept their chances to a minimum tonight again, just like Vancouver,” Elliott said. “What chances they did [have] I could see. It’s just about battling. It’s kind of a playoff atmosphere out there. Tough rink to play in with big bodies all over the ice. I thought our guys handled it really well.”
Brian Elliott shutdown the Sharks in 1-0 win – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
Robby Fabbri scored the only goal of the game in the third period.
“We took away lanes,” Elliott said. “[Joe] Thornton was holding onto the side of the net there, and we kind of just took away everything, and when they did have something they let me see it. It was huge. That’s a big kill for our team and especially at this time of year.”
Martin Jones took the loss on 23 saves.
“You don’t coach for 6-on-3,” Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said. “We didn’t even know what to say. They had so many one-timers. Guys were locked and loaded. They just couldn’t get them the puck. We really got in the lanes well. We really took their seam plays away. It was a good hockey game. Both teams played really hard, really well. It was a playoff game.”
Elliot picked up his third shutout of the season in the win.
“We came on at the end a little bit, but we didn’t get one by him (Elliot),” San Jose’s Joe Pavelski said. “It’s tough. We’re disappointed we lost there. We had an opportunity on the power play. We’ve got to come up with a big one there.
“Teams aren’t losing much this time of the year and we had a chance to push it at least to overtime. It’s a missed opportunity for sure. There aren’t many games left to really make up a lot of points so you’ve got to make a chance like that count.”
In Columbus, the Blue Jackets defeated the Philadelphia Flyers, 3-2, in the shootout.
Despite the loss, the Flyers moved into the second wild card spot in the east.
Steve Mason made 51 saves in the loss.
“We gave away the extra point there. That’s real disappointing,” Mason said.
The Flyers had the game well in hand until the Jackets scored twice in the final 1:04 of regulation when Boone Jenner and Cam Atkinson tied the game forcing overtime.
Boone Jenner helped Jackets rally to down Flyers – file photo by Brent Clark
“[Mason] played great,” Flyers defenseman Radko Gudas said. “He’s the reason we stayed in the game. Unfortunately we couldn’t pull it out for him.”
Claude Giroux and Ryan White scored regulation goals for the Flyers.
“At the end of the day we’ve got to worry about ourselves,” Giroux said. “If we play like that, even if we make the playoffs, we’ll be out soon. We need to find a way to play better because it’s not good enough.”
Sergei Bobrovsky picked up the win
“The guys worked hard for the two points and we’re rewarded,” said Bobrovsky, who tied the franchise record for career wins with 96. “It feels unbelievable right now. It’s a huge win.”
The collapse in the final minute was bitter for the Flyers coach Dave Hakstol.
“It doesn’t sit very well but we’ll go back at it two nights from now,” Hakstol said. “We’ve got three out of four points, no matter how it happens, in the first two games of the road trip.”
Boone Jenner scored the game-winner in the five-round skills competition.
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