The three-game sweep starts in St Paul where two goalies entertained and held their teams in the game. The Wild’s Devan Dubnyk and the Ottawa Senators’ Andrew Hammond made matching saves throughout regulation and overtime before the Wild finally settled things with a 3-2 shootout win.
“I really wanted to get that last one,” Dubnyk said. “When you have two chances [to win] and they score on both. … I really wanted to make that last one, so it felt good, especially when the points are as important as they are right now.”
The Wild welcomed newcomers to the lineup including Matt Dumba who scored twice and Chris Stewart who added an assist and several big hits on the night.
“When you have some guys out, it’s an opportunity for some guys to come in and step up,” Wild coach Mike Yeo said. “Certainly [Dumba] has taken advantage of it. Needless to say, it was a pretty strong game for him.”
The Senators fell behind 2-0 in the game but managed to rally to force extra time and play push for push with the Wild.
“You have to respond. You have to pushback at the right time,” Senators coach Dave Cameron said. “We stuck with it. Falling behind 2-0, huge pushback, that’s a big point for us.”
In Vancouver, the San Jose Sharks, in a dogfight for the post season, scored three first period goals and went on to beat the Canucks, 6-2.
Chris Tierney, Melker Karlsson and Logan Couture scored in the first period to set up the Sharks’ win.
Jacob Markstrom was victimized in the Canucks net in his first NHL start.
“It’s on everyone, not just him,” Henrik Sedin said.
Markstrom faced four shots in his debut, stopping one.
“We knew it was his first game in the NHL in a long time,” Tierney said. “We wanted to try to get to him early, get a lot of shots on him, chase him. That happened, so it was good.”
Henrik Sedin scored twice in the middle frame for Vancouver to tighten the match up a bit.
Markstrom was relieved by Eddie Lack after yielding three goals.
“We kind of invited them in the chase a little bit,” Lack said.
Matt Nieto scored in the second and third and Marc-Edouard Vlasic scored an empty-netter in the third for the Sharks.
“We know everyone has to hold themselves accountable” Nieto said. “These last two games we’ve done that. We are going to have to keep doing that, every game is important.”
In Dallas, the Stars found enough fortitude to edge the New York Islanders, 3-2, in extra time.
Anders Lee had forced the extra session when he scored with 1.1 seconds left on the clock.
“It was huge,” Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen said. “We’ve been working hard but not getting results lately. To get two points against a great team like that is always good.”
Dallas got regulation goals from Brett Ritchie and Vernon Fiddler.
“I thought we played simple [in the third period],” Ritchie said. “We didn’t give them much coming to the outside. (Lehtonen) came up with some big saves there. That’s what we need to do in these third periods coming forward.”
Josh Bailey also scored for the Isles.
“I knew there was literally less than 10 seconds [left],” Lee said. “I saw Johnny (Boychuk) in the back door out of the corner of my eye and just threw it on. I think it hit off a skate or something.”
The Stars lost Trevor Daley in the first period on a kneeing incident with New York’s Matt Martin who received major and match penalties.
“That’s a suspension. It’s another stupid hit that makes you just shake your head,” Dallas coach Lindy Ruff said. “We’ve already lost our best forward (Tyler Seguin) and now we’ve lost probably our best defenseman for a period of time on a play that just wasn’t necessary.”
The Isles bench boss had a different view.
“In my view, (Martin) was planted and there was no intent,” Jack Capuano said. “First of all, he is not that kind of a player. He’s an honest guy. It was a tweener for me. It’s unfortunate for both guys. Hopefully (Daley) will be alright.”
Unfortunate, but its Daley who will miss weeks of action according to Ruff.
Cody Eakin scored the game-winner for Dallas in overtime.
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