The three-game sweep of the NHL starts in Dallas where the Calgary Flames fended off a challenge from the Stars and won, 5-3. The game was the back end of back-to-back wins for the Flames.
“I think our conditioning and our commitment [has been the difference],” Flames coach Bob Hartley said. “Our players are working hard. We always find a way to get back in games. That speaks volumes about the leadership of this hockey club and the fact that our young players are really focusing on being good teammates and listening to our leaders.”
Johnny Gaudreau, Raphael Diaz, Jiri Hudler, Dennis Wideman, and Mikael Backlund scored for the Flames.
“We emptied the tank again and we played extremely hard,” Stars coach Lindy Ruff said. “There were some tough breaks. But for me it’s not over yet. We’re going to keep pushing.”
Jonas Hiller made 33 saves for the win.
“They played a pretty good second half of that second period, obviously,” Dallas’ Jamie Benn said. “They found a way to get a bunch of goals and it made the difference in the game.”
The win pushed the Flames three points up on the LA Kings who lost in Chicago.
“All year I’ve been praising our group, how proud I was of them, how hard I thought we worked night after night, how resilient we were,” Avalanche coach Patrick Roy said. “But tonight I have to admit I was not pleased with our effort. The effort was not good enough to beat any NHL team tonight. I was very disappointed in our effort tonight.”
That was how Roy summed up his Avs’ loss to the Edmonton Oilers Monday night in Denver.
The Oilers drilled Colorado for a 4-1 win and kept the Avs from inching closer to the Winnipeg Jets for the final spot.
“We are going to believe in ourselves until it’s over,” Roy said. “The day they’re going to say it’s over it’ll be over, but I’m going to push, and that’s all I’m thinking. It’s the way I am and I like to think the players will do the same.”
Hometown goalie Richard Bachman made 29 saves for the Oilers win.
“Love Denver, it’s a great city,” said Bachman. “It’s special to come here and play here and play in this building and be able to get a win.
“The team’s been real good the last couple of games. The key is playing the right way. You can see guys are really starting to play for each other, and that’s huge. You don’t want to let the guy next to you down.”
The Oilers have been playing well of late and this was the second win over the Avs in just over a week.
“I think we’re starting to understand if we play the game the right way for 60 minutes, we’ll have success,” Oilers coach Todd Nelson said. “Where we get in trouble is when we try to take the easy way out. Tonight was a night I thought, for the most part, for 60 minutes we played the right way. That’s one thing, and we’re getting good goaltending. It’s a good team game right now.”
It was a bitter loss for the Avs who needed to get within six points of the idle Jets with a win.
“I don’t know which words to use to describe it, but it just wasn’t good enough,” Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog said. “From the get-go, it didn’t feel like we were ready to compete, and to compete hard enough to win a hockey game.
“It doesn’t matter where a team is in the standings or who you’re playing, if they’re out-competing you and working harder than you, they’re ultimately going to beat you. That’s what happened here tonight and it’s unacceptable.”
In St Louis, the Bleus had a chance to clinch a playoff spot in a game with Vancouver but the Canucks appeared to be playing for more than the Blues in a 4-1 win Monday night.
“This is a tough building to win in, and we’ve done well here against St. Louis this year because we rise to the occasion against those good teams,” said Canucks center Nick Bonino, whose goal was the game-winner in the second period. “We’ve done it all year and it’s going to need to happen again tomorrow in Nashville.
“Just another solid road game. We played really tight in the neutral zone.”
The Canucks made it look easy.
“This is really effort-based,” Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said. “This is really … as the game went on, this is two games in a row now where quite frankly, we’ve lost a lot of board battles, we’ve been indecisive with the puck, we’ve been slow in our heads, and I think sometimes when you’re slow in your head, any information you’re getting is too much information.
“We’re playing slow. Everything we’re doing is slow. We’re surprised by pressure, we’re surprised by getting checked, we’re getting beat on board battles. This is your reaction to this time of the year.”
Eddie Lack made 23 saves for the win.
“That was big,” Canucks coach Willie Desjardins said. “St. Louis had a real good start to the game. I thought they controlled the first 10 minutes and then we got going.”
Radim Vrbata had a goal and an assist for the Canucks who needed the two points to stay ahead of the Flames and Kings in the Western Conference race.
“He’s been unbelievable,” Desjardins said of Vrbata. “They were coming out hard and that was such a big goal for us. If they get one, it’s totally different and we were able to beat the pinch and turned it the other way. He put it away for us.”
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