The three-game sweep starts in New York where the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs were undone by a single line. And that line included Rick Nash. Not that Nash scored but that he and Derick Brassard contributed three assists each to all three goals the Rangers scored.
And those goals came from Mats Zuccarello.
“He seems to be around the puck a lot and seems like he always has a good effort each night,” Nash said. “He finds the areas and I think the one thing that’s underrated is his hockey sense. He understands the game and finds you all over the ice. He’s one of the smartest players that I’ve played with.”
Rangers coach Alain Vigneault reunited the line after six games.
“They had their best game of the year,” Vigneault said of his top line. “Not only offensively did they make some real solid plays that led to Grade A opportunities that they were able to finish, but I thought both ends of the rink, they were real solid.”
Jonathan Bernier had 23 saves on the night earned praise from his coach Mike Babcock.
“I thought we had some opportunities and thought Bernier had his best night of the year,” Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock said. “We did some good things, but we have to find a way to win games.”
But the night belonged to Zuccarello.
“We’ve played with each other for a while now, and especially me and Brassard, we’re kind of connecting,” Zuccarello said. “It’s not every day we’re going to connect like this but it’s really nice when it happens.”
In Minnesota, it was game of scoring early in the period. The Wild’s Jason Zucker scored just 18 seconds into the first period and Nino Niederreiter scored with 32 seconds elapsed in the third.
That third period goal stood up as the game-winner as the Wild edged the Chicago Blackhawks, 5-4.
“You’re trying to set the tone, especially at home,” Wild captain Mikko Koivu said. “Getting a goal is huge. You can’t always get that, but it’s very important to get off to a good start.”
The early period efforts set the tone from the crowd.
“They’re just light and they’re playing the game,” Wild coach Mike Yeo said. “Those guys, certainly things have gone well for them and that helps, they’re playing the game at a real high level and that helps. They’re doing whatever it takes and with that, they’re getting rewarded.”
Devan Dubnyk made 25 saves on the night for the win and Scott Darling stopped the same number in the loss.
In Detroit, the visiting Ottawa Senators got a strong game from Andrew Hammond in net, 29 saves, and the Sens defeated the Red Wings, 3-1.
“I felt a lot better,” said Hammond. “… Tonight, I was able to settle in pretty early, and the team played pretty well in front of me. We had great structure throughout the game.”
Hammond is coming off a groin injury that sidelined him.
Bobby Ryan, Kyle Turris and Matt Puempel scored for the Senators.
“We needed it. We’ve got to start to get on a roll,” Ryan said. “It’s two points in a division road game, a four-point game.”
Henrik Zetterberg picked up the lone goal for the Wings.
“We’re talking about it,” Zetterberg said. “We’re trying to do the right things, keep it simple, get the pucks in, play in their end. Obviously, they’re going to spend some time in our end. It is frustrating. After the first three games, this is downhill pretty fast. We have bits and pieces here and there where we were showing what we can do, but the lowest level has got to be way higher than this, and it goes for everyone.”
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