The three-game sweep starts in Nashville where the Predators had a gaudy 26-3-1 home record before facing off with the Minnesota Wild Thursday night.
The Wild managed a 4-2 win to keep their post season hopes alive and thriving.
Nino Niederreiter scored twice including a beautiful in the second off a series of down 
low passes to give the Wild a 3-2 lead they would not relinquish.
“It was my goal to get as many goals as possible,” Niederreiter said. “I’m very happy that I had a chance to reach the 20-goal mark. I’m very proud of that, but I’m trying not to stop now.”
Devan Dubnyk made 27 saves for the win to improve to 14-3-1 since coming over from the Arizona Coyotes. With the Coyotes mired in an eight-game losing streak it is hard to comprehend that trade.
“I think to go into a building like this, I think that’s maybe their fourth regulation loss, and they played a good game too,” Wild coach Mike Yeo said. “It was an up-and-down game, but I do feel that we deserved the win tonight. We did a lot of good things. I thought the play of our defensemen was outstanding all night.
Kyle Brodziak had a goal to tie things up at two all in the second period.
“They came out aggressively, had a good push early in the game,” Brodziak said. “I think from the second period on, we really didn’t feel like we played in the [defensive] zone too much, and when we were in there, we weren’t giving them the high-quality chances like we talk about. And any chance we gave up, [Dubnyk], like he has been for the last who knows how long, has been great for us.”
Sean Bergenheim skated for the first time with the Wild since being traded from the Florida Panthers.
“I really liked his game,” Yeo said. “A couple chances early in the first, I liked his wall play. Overall, I thought that it was a good, strong first performance.”
In Toronto, Jonathan Bernier made 47 saves in lifting the Maple Leafs to a 3-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers who have dropped two straight after a torrid pace earlier in the month.
“[Bernier] stole us the game,” Maple Leafs captain Dion Phaneuf said. “He was outstanding start to finish. We gave him too much work. We gave up too many key opportunities. We gave up over 45 shots. That’s too much work for him. But he was outstanding, he stole the game for us, and we’ll take the win.”
Bernier has won two straight after a 10-game skid.
“Even in my bad stretch I’m just trying to go shot by shot and not really focusing on the end result,” Bernier said. “Tonight we got fortunate I got a few bounces, good blocks, good stick, and a couple big saves, and we found a way to win.”
Ahead of the game, The Leafs announced they had traded David Clarkson to the Columbus Blue Jackets for Nathan Horton who is injured with back issues and has not played this season.
“No one is untradeable; I think there’s never anyone that’s untradeable,” said Phaneuf. “Anyone can be moved.”
In New York, the Rangers the hosted the Arizona Coyotes and it felt like a bad loss through the first period as the Coyotes controlled play and abused Cam Talbot for three goals on 14 shots.
But Talbot settled down and stopped the 26 shots and Lee Stempniak and Chris Kreider each scored twice to lead the Rangers to a 4-3 win and a share of first place in the Metropolitan Division.
Ryan McDonagh gave up body on final Coyotes shot to preserve win – file photo by Jack Lima
“There’s pride obviously, and you want to do well in your division, but I don’t think that’s our focus right now,” Rangers captain Ryan McDonagh said of being in first place. “We can’t feel good about ourselves just because we’re there now. We’ve gotta continue to fine tune because it only gets tougher down the road here.”
Mike Smith faced 38 shots on the night, saving 34 but was sent out of control after Kreider scored the equalizer as the second period was about the close out.
“We constantly turn pucks over and against good teams you’re going to get it jammed back down your throat,” Smith said. “It had nothing to do with the call. We continued to shoot ourselves in the foot. At that point it’s a 3-2 lead, under a minute left in the period, faceoff in their end, and somehow they get a breakaway. You have to know what time it is in games, what the score is, and that determines how you play and what kind of chances you take. We continue to make tough decisions at tough times in games and it ends up in the back our net.”
A series of missed calls by the officials led to a stoppage of play in the Rangers’ zone. Arizona won the faceoff but Kreider recovered the errant pass to the point and raced in on Smith and beat on a rebound of his own shot.
Livid, Smith broke his stick on the goal post and was assessed a minor for unsportsmanlike conduct.
“They (on ice officials) say all four of them missed it, which I find hard to fathom,” Coyotes coach Dave Tippett said. “It should’ve been a double-minor. It doesn’t get called. It comes back down; they’re still on the power play.
“So really, it’s a six-minute turnaround in the game,” Tippett said. “and that’s a big factor in the game.”
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