The three-game sweep of the NHL from Tuesday starts in Columbus where the Blue Jackets finally had a home game after a roadie and promptly lost to the Buffalo Sabres.
Michal Neuvirth made 45 saves to lift the Sabres to a 4-2 win.
“He played another strong game for us,” Buffalo coach Ted Nolan said.
To say the least.
Zemgus Girgensons, Cody Hodgson, Mark Pysyk and Chris Stewart scored for the Sabres.
Girgensons left the game after taking a slap shot off his ankle.
“Every time we win there’s a reason and excuses why we win and there’s excuses why we lose too,” Nolan said. “They say, ‘Hey, they’ve got a weak goalie, that’s how you won.’ A win’s a win and we’ll be happy with it.”
Columbus got goals from Matt Calvert and Kevin Connauton.
“It’s not winning hockey,” Columbus forward Nick Foligno said. “Falling behind by that many goals, it’s not easy to come back from in this League. We’ve got to find a way to make our starts better. We have to give ourselves a chance to win and we haven’t done that the last couple of games.”
The Nashville Predators are a gaudy 26-3-1 at home this after defeating the Colorado Avalanche, 5-2, Tuesday.
“I think we were hanging onto the puck, but with that I think we were moving our feet when we got it,” Predators forward Craig Smith said. “There was no hesitation. Guys were sharp from the get-go, making plays, hitting the tape. You could tell getting up the ice was no problem tonight.”
Pekka Rinne made 18 saves for his 35th win of the year.
Pekka Rinne earned 35th win over Avs Tuesday – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
Nathan MacKinnon gave the Avs the early lead but Calle Jarnkrok tied it 15 seconds later and the Preds reeled off four goals before the Avs got back on the board in the third.
“I thought the first period was OK,” Avalanche coach Patrick Roy said. “I thought we didn’t have as many shots as we’d like, but I thought we had a decent first period. You have to give them credit. This is a good team, well-balanced. They have the best home record for a reason. I love their intensity. They were quick on pucks, put a lot of pressure on our defense.”
Predators captain Shea Weber was active in the first period with a fighting major and misconduct for instigating.
“We’ve had some ups and downs,” Weber said. “I think tonight was a good effort, especially against a team that we knew was going to come at us with their best because they’re kind of on their last leg here trying to make the playoffs, so we knew we were going to get their best. I think we responded and did a really good job.”
In Boston, Zack Kassian scored the game-winner for the Vancouver Canucks early in the third period to send the Canucks past the Bruins, 2-1.
“There’s bounces going in. I don’t think it’s the best [play] of my career,” Kassian said. “I think on the stat sheet you’re scoring goals, so it might seem like it. But there’s still definitely things I can improve on. But it’s definitely nice to get rewarded with some goals.”
Eddie Lack made 40 saves for the win.
“I mean it was a busy night,” Lack said. “But it felt like we kept them a lot to the outside. So it was a good overall effort from everyone.”
“It was real good. I always thought Eddie was good,” Canucks coach Willie Desjardins said. “He was so good the other night against the Islanders, he was unbelievable there, and he just followed up again tonight. He made some real big saves for us. It’s good to see. You like to see a guy getting hot.”
Tuukka Rask made 26 saves in the loss and Daniel Paille scored the lone goal for the B’s.
For Rask, it was his 18th straight start.
“Well as always, you just try to take the positives out of it, I guess, and learn from the bad stuff. But I don’t think there was too much bad stuff today,” Rask said. “We played one of the better defensive games this year, I thought, as far as their quality chances go. We just couldn’t pounce on those loose pucks. There was a lot of loose pucks around the net today and we just, we were always second layer, couldn’t just capitalize. It’s a tough one.”
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