In the sweep of the NHL schedule from Wednesday night there were only two games and in Newark, Curtis Glencross, Sean Monahan and TJ Brodie scored for the Calgary Flames and Karri Ramo made 26 saves to lead the Flames past the Devils, 3-1.
“They were points that we needed desperately and we were desperate enough to get the win,” Ramo said. “I know I played on Tuesday but the coach asked me before the game if I felt good enough and I said ‘OK.’
“My body felt good and mentally I was OK.”
The win pushed the Flames into the second wild card spot ahead of the Minnesota Wild.
Cory Schneider took the loss on 23 saves.
“It’s just tough to lose that one; it was an important game for us,” Schneider said. “They made plays and we made plays, they made mistakes and we made mistakes. But that sequence at the end of the second and beginning of the third cost us. Sometimes you play well and lose. I know how much everyone wanted this game so it’s tough. We just have to get up for Friday.”
The loss ended a four-game streak by the Devils that had them eyeing the post season.
Mike Cammalleri had given the Devils a 1-0 lead in the first but Glencross’ goal came with 14 seconds left in the first to tie and deflate the Devils and the arena.
“Any time you get a goal in the last minute it’s a momentum switch,” Glencross said. “Right now you have to win games with the spot we’re in. You can’t lose too many in a row so it was huge for us.
“For me, personally, until I get the call that says I’m something different I’m a Flame. I don’t know if [he will be traded] or not; we’ll see what happens. … Right now I’m here to win games any way I can and that’s the bottom line.”
In Washington, the Pittsburgh Penguins managed a 4-3 win over the Capitals in a nasty contest between rivals.
“I thought early in the series against them we had a lot of new people in the lineup,” Penguins coach Mike Johnston said. “The last game (a 3-1 loss Feb. 17) was probably our best game against them, and then tonight we notched it up. To our credit, Washington ran around quite a bit, tried to get hits, tried to play outside their game. We just stuck to the way we needed to play. It was a good hockey game. A lot of emotion in the game.”
Patric Hornqvist, Brandon Sutter, Sidney Crosby and Chris Kunitz scored for the Pens; Sutter’s goal was a shorthanded marker in the first period that gave the Pens a 2-0 lead.
“We had good focus the first three times and we got victories,” Capitals coach Barry Trotz said. “Tonight we weren’t as focused and we deserve the loss.”
Braden Holtby made 22 stops in the loss.
“You look [at] the way the game went, the first 10 minutes of the first period, they dominated us 5-on-5,” Holtby said. “Second period, we were shorthanded for almost the whole period. It’s tough for us to win games like that because how we control the game is 5-on-5, our forecheck, our grit and our speed and skill combination.”
The scoresheet was littered with penalties and the Caps were unable to capitalize on theirs until Alex Ovechkin scored late in the third while the Pens took advantage with a power play goal and the shortie.
“When you’re entering the stretch run, getting that extra one or two power plays a game is very important,” Johnston said. “But I thought early in the game one thing we did well was they got three power plays in a row, and it didn’t rattle our group. We just killed the penalties. We hung in there. We stuck with it, and you know eventually over time you’re going to get a power-play chance.”
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